Bazell writes...

This is not a question, but nevertheless:
I'm sitting here in Michigan, really disappointed that I'm not at the Gathering. Lame.

amazing spider-man writes...

1.What type of animal is Kraven? I thought lion but he then I saw stripes on his face so is he a tiger or a combination of both?

2. You notice his animal form looks like Scar from Lion King? Was that intentional(since it's a Disney show) or no?

Josh writes...

Could you be more polite? I admire you, but every answer that you give to someone, you clearly seems irritated... we are fans.... just that.. we like what you do... by the way congratulations... i loved the first and second season from SSM.. maybe a third in the next three months?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

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TWELVE: PHOENIX

Amusing cover. When I first saw it I wondered what guy had tattooed his face like that. Mother always told you if you make ugly faces, your face could stick that way. Good thing it's only paint, and that hair grows back. Too bad he'll die like that.

The art in the battle scenes is very detailed and good. I love all the different gargoyles. But all the gargs seem to have belly-buttons... I don't think that's right.

That poor gargoyle, Demona's second-in-command, loses his mate. I wish there were enough pages to get to know all these gargoyles. But even without knowing them, it is tragic to see them all die. Tragic, and infuriating to see how genocidal some of the humans are.

And I think Demona blames Brooklyn almost as much as the humans.

That sorcerer, Valmont, got his hand (or both hand?) hacked off, but he got up and just walked away! Yikes!

We get more background about Findlaech and Gillecomgain. It neatly explains why Gillecomgain grew up as a peasant, even though his father is related to Findlaech. This would almost make Gillecomgain's desire to kill Findlaech understandable... almost, if the rain of arrows weren't blindingly obvious to everyone else at the battle. Besides, I can't feel actual sympathy for a guy who so joyfully murders gargoyles. The way he keeps trying to kill little Bodhe doesn't help my impression, either.

I can't help thinking that Demona is rather gullible. She believes Brooklyn when he claims that half of the Gate is enough to control the phoenix... and why should he know she has the Gate, anyway? That was a private moment between her and Goliath. Luckily she falls for it, though.

The ending of this book is a surprise. Not because I didn't know how Timedancer was supposed to finally end. But I expected Brooklyn to freak out and start kissing the ground or hugging people. Plus, I was seriously expecting Coldstone and Coldfire to keep hunting Coldsteel, and for some of the London gargoyles to join the Manhattan Clan. After all, the London Clan is facing severe population pressure, while the Manhattan Clan is way too small.

I am relieved that Brooklyn only lost an eye, instead of an entire limb. An eye I don't mind, but a whole limb would have been disturbing. It is bizarre though, how the Future Tense models keep showing up, first at the Halloween party and now here. How could Puck have predicted these specific outfits? Even if he has the power to see the future, it's quite bizarre that he can see things that specific. Is it just a meta-universe joke?

I like that Katana has a beak, although her face looks kind of squished. I wish more gargoyles had beaks. I like her model.

And they named the egg? That has to be the most pointless... and least gargoylean... thing to do, EVER. Your egg does not need a name! Neither does your sword! Or the sky! Heh. Time to reconnect with your gargoyle roots a little, you three.

I'm actually glad that I read about Timedancer on Ask Greg before reading this comic. I think the whole "40 years, a mate and kid" thing would have been too much of a shock for me otherwise. I tend to be quite averse to change. I also think it might have worked better (if there was room) to show his second jump and one panel of his second destination, to drive home that the Phoenix took him to many times and it was going to be a long trip.

I'm also sad that there wasn't room to show any bits and pieces of Brooklyn's other trips. I would very much like to have seen some of the Ishimura and Xanadu clans, or the Lost Race. Or a glimpse of the future.

I sincerely hope this is not the end. We'll see. Good luck convincing somebody to pick up a graphic novel license some day!
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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

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ELEVEN: TYRANTS

Poor Brooklyn, having to walk through the remains of his entire clan. The TV show never seemed to pay any attention to the psychological trauma and grief that the survivors must have felt, so it is good to see it addressed here. Depressing and tragic, of course, but it had to be mentioned. If only he'd had time to cremate them all before he left.

I'm glad that Mary is being more friendly towards Brooklyn than when last they met. Avalon implied that her attitudes had changed after the Massacre, but it's still good to see it. And I hope she can be reunited with Tom someday.

Mary: "Married?! My little Tom?!"
Just wait till she finds out that he eloped instead of having a proper Christian wedding... I don't think that sort of thing was accepted in the Tenth Century. Not that I mind, but she might have a fit.

Mary and Finella named their mare after the Magus?

How can Maol Chalvim blame Finella for Kenneth's death? And how can she blame herself? It's obvious to anybody who knows how he died, that she isn't to blame. Unless there's a lot more to the story than what I saw in Avalon.

I do not like it when Brooklyn breaks the fourth wall. This is something I have never liked in fiction.

Brooklyn has to learn fast how to control his temper around Demona. He has every right to confront her for what she did to their clan. But if he did that, she would never help him against Constantine.

I still wonder how Brooklyn decided so quickly that he had to protect Mary, Finella, and the Grimorum, and how he decided he had to help defeat Constantine. He probably still thought that Xanatos learned about their clan by reading the Grimorum... maybe that's it.

Constantine's messenger/herald man is noticeably upset when Kenneth's herald is murdered. Constantine on the other hand just displays his lack of redeeming features yet again.

His facepaint is creepy! Eyes on the back of his head... and what made him want to put Gillecomgain's scars on his face? Obviously this is what inspired the Hunter mask, but how did it get into Constantine's head?

I'm surprised to see Bodhe ride to battle at that age. I know kids were expected to grow up fast in ancient times, but he looks so young.

And Brother Valmont turns out to be another power-hungry mage bent on conquering Scotland. This is... familiar. And nothing will come of it unless more books can ever be published.

More later...
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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

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TEN: THE GATE

"Yes, Angela, I know it's dangerous. Why do you think I want to play w-- I mean, protect it?"

Whoa, that Phoenix is huge! Is there a living creature inside the Phoenix Gate? Or is it simply an emanation from the magic that only looks alive? The two-page spread is amazing.

Hilarious lines:
"I come in peace!"
"What do we do?! What do we do!?" (cue panic)
"...wait for my clan to come eat your brains..."
"Run away! Run away!" (shades of Monty Python)
"...why don't you get in the cart before they realize my clan's not coming.... and I don't eat brains." ROFL
"Badly then?" "Aye."

Saeth ... that's one powerful spell. One word to create a very dangerous weapon that leaves no trace, except for the wounds. And how can Brookly stand, or walk, after that?

Why is the wanted poster written in Elvish?! Well, maybe medieval Scottish writing just looked that way. But it looks just like Tolkien's Elvish.

Several allusions throughout whole arc to Once Upon a Time There Were Three Brothers. I sure hope that it or Dark Ages can be published some day.

Constantine blames Finella for murdering the king... thus the official history is written. But did Kenneth II actually kill her son? Did she actually have more part in Kenneth's death than what was shown in Avalon?

Brooklyn comes to a decision to help the women surprisingly quickly, just as soon as he recognizes the Grimorum. This, and his reference to the Spell of Humility, make me think that his trip to medieval Scotland is not his first time-trip, only one taken out from the middle. But other parts of the arc make me think that it must be his first trip. Either way, he has his wits about him. But how does he know the Grimorum will be so important? Because he still believes that Xanatos read the Magus' story from it?

There's unfortunately an art error on the page with the brain-eating comments. Part of a speech balloon from the last panel is showing up in the panel above it as a white area.

I'm surprised to see Bodhe show up as a child. In City of Stone he looks to be about Findlaech's age. But since Kenneth III is clearly about the same age as his cousin, Bodhe is still a small child.

I am happy to see and examine the new gargoyle and beast models in this whole arc. And it is also wonderful to see so many of them together. Of course it is terribly tragic to see any pre-modern clan, because I know they will all die. It is especially horrible with that little girl in #11. And that green, beaked fellow looks like just a kid, too.

I'm slightly confused by the red-eyed beast. Boudicca's eyes glow white.

Gillecomgain's joy as he murders gargoyles... it is repulsive.

And there's a great full-page art of Demona.

Overall, I enjoyed the Timedancer arc the most, out of the 12 issues. That's no surprise considering that City of Stone, Awakening, and Avalon are some of my favorite episodes. I just enjoy the medieval flashbacks a lot. I suspect that if Dark Ages was ever written, it would be my favorite spin-off.
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Halo Child writes...

Greg what happened? Why did they stop airing the rest of TSS-M season 2? Why? The Gang War and the Return of GG arc will make it to Disney XD in October. Does this mean that we have to wait until November for season 3?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

TRADE PAPERBACK

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FINALLY the book was published. I had concluded that the book was cancelled. I'm still waiting for Bad Guys. Very glad that I finally have Volume Two. It is still sinking in.

Anyway, I like the book a lot, especially the medieval flashbacks. And the art has been for the most part consistent and nicely done. I actually read through all twelve issues of Clan-Building, although it took me until 3 am. That wasn't so smart. Oh well. Thank you for writing the new Gargoyles stories and jumping through hoops to get somebody to publish them.

Nothing eloquent from me, just scattered thoughts from the single issues as I re-read them:

I find it interesting that Lexington tells Alex to call him by his name. "Doggie" could be responded to in any number of ways, such as "I'm a gargoyle." But Lex is insisting on his name. Quite a contrast to Awakening.

The non-chronological format of the Stone of Destiny arc (and to a lesser extent Bad Guys, Timedancer, and Reunion) is very confusing, though of course now I know why 7-9 are written this way. But I still find it confusing, especially with the different time-zones, and the +# stuff which I do not get. I did not understand the button-pressing, nor the stone-switching, until I read the ramble. I'm still not sure what happened on the bridge.

Gathellus and Scota's wardrobe. I never noticed it before, but now this irritates me. Gathelus (Gathelos?) is an ancient Greek, and Scota is an ancient Egyptian. He and his men should be wearing tunics, chitons, or kilts. She should have a nearly shaved head, and a tripartite wig (at least at first -- after wandering around for years, maybe she couldn't replace her wigs after a while).

Vinnie: "Can you believe it? I'm going to Japan!"
Random passenger: "So is everybody on this plane, genius!"

I can hear most of the TV characters' voices in my head, but I can't get a good voice in my head for most of the new ones.
I want Constance to have an alto English accent, but in my head she always sounds like Fleance. Eugh.

I imagine doing research on legends and myths about himself feels pretty weird for King Arthur. Good thing Avalon made him literate in English (and prevented him from speaking with an incomprehensibly thick accent, too.)

NINE: ROCK OF AGES

Nice cover! I like Griff.

I am confused what King Arthur is apologizing to the Westminster guards for.

"Define this." I laughed out loud. Great line to put in Coldstone's mouth! Was it a deliberate allusion to Warf's "Assimilate this." in the movie with the Borg? Either way, it's hilarious!

Ms. Three must be Blanchefleur (sp?). Interesting that she can get into Castle Carbonek at will, without a problem.

Creepy Borg-Picard-Guy is Creepy! This is Duval. And Peredur fab Ragnal is Percival. I'm quite surprised that they are not the same character, as I had expected. Now I wonder who Duval is. In the words of Fox: "...who is this guy?"

I like that you used Peredur's Welsh name, instead of the French one. Peredur makes more sense than Percival for an ancient Brython. And it's interesting to see it confirmed that he is the son of Ragnal, which presumably makes Gawain his father. Now I wonder if he grew up in obscurity in the woods (like in R.L. Greene) and if so, what could have caused his parents to break up. I would like to learn more about what happened in the Gargoyles universe. In fact, I would probably enjoy just reading a graphic novel about the Gargoyles version of the King Arthur legends, and how the gargoyles and Third Race participated in the stories. Same for the Greek myths.

Also, I'm relieved that Peredur is not a creepy, ill-tempered cyborg. It's sad enough that a guy like Peredur has stooped to supervising the Illuminati's horrible activities, not to mention their eventual allying with the Space-Spawn. I am surprised that he looks so young and fit.

Macbeth's breaking the Stone, and its reaction, is pretty funny. He actually did a fairly poor job gluing it, there's crud oozing out of the crack.

From there it just gets bizarre. This Stone, and a bunch of other sacred and/or magical stones around the world, are temporary or shared vessels for some vast, sapient force of destiny? It even talks to Xanatos and King Arthur simultaneously, from two different stones. Once you suggested that it might be either a magic talisman or a Child of Oberon, but now I feel like it must not, cannot, be either of these. I want to know what it is! And also, why the Holy Grail can talk!

The burden of Sisyphus... he's dead and Tartaros, so isn't his rock a piece of ghostly ectoplasm, or something?

Peredur has expected King Arthur to arrive in 200 years. No surprise that that was his original intended "destination" -- a time when Earth will be conquered and bereft of all its political leaders. But how did Peredur know this? And if this was planned in advanced by some force of destiny, instead of being a hypothetical "What if?", does that mean the Space-Spawn invasion is, within the Garg-universe, an unpreventable event that's fated to happen? That would imply the aliens lack free will, which I doubt.

Also, what is Blanchefleur wearing? Her pants are falling down!

Coldsteel really is a jerk.

Why do I get the feeling Xanatos didn't actually disable that tracking device?

More later...
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Todd Jensen writes...

In the scene in "The Gate" where Brooklyn scares the suspicious townspeople away from Mary and Finella, was the cry "Run away! Run away!" intended as a "Monty Python" allusion? (Especially since you'd done such an allusion in "Future Tense", with the Xanatos Program's "bite my knee-caps off" line.)

David B. Jacobs writes...

Hey Greg!
What's Dr. Bromwell's first name?
Thanks!