The – there’s really no other way to describe it – quest to bring Wendy and Richard Pini’s ElfQuest series of comics to cinematic life has not been an easy one. Long has it lingered in the deadly marshes of development, tempted by one filmmaker or studio or another, but never quite finding the path to the screen. When last we saw it, the characters were in the hands of Dodgeball’s Rawson Thurber and Warner Bros., but now Stephanie Thorpe and Paula Rhodes think they might be able to get ElfQuest to cinemas.

Thorpe and Rhodes got a leg up on the competition by producing ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining as a short presentation, and are touting the deal at the American Film Market looking for support. They already have the blessing of the Pinis, who tell Variety that they “represent a new direction for ElfQuest.”

What direction that might be still isn’t clear, but ElfQuest itself has been remarkably resilient. First launched in 1978, it follows a tribe of elves on Two Moons who are driven from their forest by humans and go in search of something they only knew about in legends: other elves.

Since the comic’s launch, both DC and Marvel have published it. Wendy and Richard Pini have even launched a new, indie version, which is published in segments at the Boing Boing site. Check out Thorpe and Rhodes’ presentation below.