Titanium Dragon writes...

I have a question about the episode "The Mirror". In it, Demona has Puck in chains (presumaly iron ones, given the nature of the fey). The thing about that episode was that it always felt to me like Puck wasn't really her captive at all, and was really just playing with her and using her as an excuse to do mischief. Was this intentional, or am I reading it wrong?

Purplegoldfish writes...

Hi Greg. I've known about this place for years and yet I've never posted here before. I'm not sure why. I know you get this all the time but I just wanted to say that I wouldn't be the same person I am today without "Gargoyles." I believe it has changed my life for the better and I wanted to thank you and those who worked on it for bringing those amazing charcters to life, and for sticking by it for all this time.

Anyway, here's my review for comic #3, "Invitation Only." Beware, it's quite long.
First off, the art-as a whole, it's okay. Not great, but certainly good. My major complaint is that the characters sometimes look distorted, particularly Elisa. In the beginnig of her talk with goliath, she looks like she's aged twenty years-it reminded me of the off-model old Demona in the beginning of "Hunter's moon," Not that big of a deal though. The scenes in the labyrinth look good. One little continuity gaffe I noticed: in some scenes the mutates have tails and in some they don't. It's a little disconserting. And Morgan's skin appears too light-he struck me as being much darker in the cartoon-more like that Cedric Harris guy's skin color. Nothing major, just some things I noticed.

On to the story. It's awesome! Obviously setting up the characters for what's to come. Goliath and Elisa's relationship is my favorite element of the series, so I'll focus a large part of the review on them. I've really been looking forward to Elisa and Goliath's discussion. I've always wanted to know what you had in mind for it. It wasn't particularly surprising-I've pretty much already figured what Elisa's argument would be, but it was nice to see it finally come to fruition.
I like Elisa's scenes with Morgan and Jason. It seems what Morgan said about not bringing Goliath to a picnic and never tallking about him is what promted her to rethink things. I mean, she'll have to hide her relationship with goliath from most people for her whole life-she'll have to appear to be single to the outside world.
And Jason's line about her needing to be with a man who will give her everything she's ever wanted-I wonder if he's implying himself. I aslo wonder if he knows that Elisa's "mysterious boyfriend" is goliath...he's got to have thought of it at least.
Anyway, I really feel for elisa. She's obviously torn, and her feelings are genuine and realistic. When she was telling goliath that she wanted to be a "gargoyle-loving cop" and have a normal life with a house and kids, I thought to myself that would be impossible. A "normal" life for her went down the tubes once she became the gargoyles' friend and protector. Their relationship is harder for her than it is for him, I think. She has to live in two different worlds in a way.
Something interesting to note, when I read through the discussion the second time, I thought about the second page with the Xanatos' little family moment and felt there was a connection there with Elisa and Goliath. Here's what elisa wants- a happy little "normal" family with a husband and a child. But as we all know, the Xanatos' are anything but normal and two of them aren't even fully human.

I felt really bad for Goliath throughout the issue. He's not having a good time in these comics so far. I thought he would say more while Elisa is breaking up with him-but his expressions says it all. He's not happy. I almost had to laugh when he asks delilah out later-he doesn't even look her in the eye! No wonder her answer to him is so emotionless.

One thing that really interests me about whole elisa/goliath thing in the comics is that it's not so subtle anymore. In the cartoon there was this kind of wink-wink, nudge-nudge thing going on with them, but now we're getting words like "boyfriend," and "Mate" and "Husband" thrown around! Even though they're experiencing a setback, I can't help thinking it's about time! I can't wait to see them finally getting together for good. All the years of waiting will be worth it :)

As for the rest of the comic: I like how the title of the story coincides with the Xanatos invitation on the title page. I also find it amusing for some reason that Foxs' name comes before David's on the invite.
I like the little family moment with the Xanatos'-and like I mentioned earlier, I think it segues in nicely with Elisa's little break-up speech later in the issue.
The radio(television?) broadcast is amusing-typical media-never have their facts straight.

It's nice to see some new cops at the 23rd other than elisa, matt, and morgan. I already knew Morgan's full name but it was kind of weird seeing "Morgan Morgan" in print as canon. I wonder what people who don't know the backstory will think...heh maybe some will think it's a typo. I'm also curious to know what the taskforce members think of the gargoyles (other than elisa, matt, and margot).

The Illuminati has got to stick its nose into everything-playing all sides. I wonder what their true goal is, and what they're getting out of it. After this issue, I find myself becoming more interested in the Illuminati. I haven't really been before.
And Martin Hacker-I find myself really disliking him. He's even more slimy than Xanatos! Whenever we got the closeup of him saying "32" I had the urge to slap that smirk off his face.

So Xanatos plans to reveal the gargoyles after the party. Even though he harbors them, he still does sneaky things behind their backs-I can't wait to see how this all plays out in later issues. I don't understand the significance of Hacker taking off his ring and putting it in his pocket during his scene with Xanatos.

Demona's cameo: I'm not sure if this really fits in with the pacing of the rest of the issue, but I am curious to find out what she's planning now. I think the remnants of the praying gargoyle statue could've been made more apparent. If I didn't read the spoilers, I would have no idea what's going on there. I'm glad I know some of the backstory with the Atlantean Crystal. And a smiling Demona is never a good sign!

I'm really glad to see the labyrinth again. I've always liked the subplots with the mutates. I don't understand what goliath means when he says they have to honor their obligations before going to the labyrinth. It seems the only purpose he has for going there is to ask Delilah out, and brooklyn tags along because he's sick of seeing broadway and angela together.

I'm very intrigued by this new character in the labyrinth. She does kind of look like a young punk version of Elisa, but I seriously doubt that it's her in disguise, as some people seem to think. I wonder her name isn't revealed in this issue. I hope she'll play a part in more Gargoyle stories, and isn't just there for a conveniant way to bring newcomers up to speed on the story of the mutates and clones-speaking of which, it's a little annoying to have to have two pages of backstory that most fans already know, but it was told and illustrated well so I think it's still entertaining. I like Al here too-he's got a great personality. I like his little name for Talon-"Boss-Cat" Cute.

I noticed that both Talon and Maggie proclaim "Send in the Clones!" heh, they're certainly meant for each other. The clones' big dramatic entrance is a little corny though. I look forward to seeing more of Delilah, and I'm very curious as to her role in the rest of this story arc. Brooklyn gets snubbed by Goliath. I don't know, for some reason I don't feel all that sorry for him-maybe it's because of his mopy "poor me" attitude since the beginning of the story arc. I would have thought that Goliath would have told Brooklyn on the way to the Labyrinth his intention of asking out delilah. I guess he didn't. I'm sure if brooklyn had showed an interest in her beforehand Goliath would't have intruded.
The scene where brooklyn and delilah are saying hi to each other is kind of sweet though. It made me wonder if you ever briefly considered pairing these two up. I am very curious to find out who delilah's mate will be.

And then of course we got Thailog. I had a feeling he would show up at the end of this issue. The smile with all the teeth is really creepy-a bit much, I think. A great cliffhangar, and it will be hard to wait for the upcoming books. I'm very excited to see how this all plays out. And I thank you for reading.

Tony writes...

Gargoyles #1 - Cover Art: Awesome
Gargoyles #2 - Cover Art: Average
Gargoyles #3 - Cover Art: Awesome
Gargoyles #4 - Cover Art: Average?

I love the comics, truly I do, but how do I ask this without sounding unappreciative, why isn't the inside artwork as awesome as the above cover art? Is it a time issue?

Greg Bishansky writes...

Just a little something I've been thinking about. One of the things I always liked about "Gargoyles" was the status quo could always be changed. The cast was rich enough that the perspectives would alone would be fascinating. Case in point, the revelation of gargoyles to the world.

Obviously, we know how Goliath feels about this, and he dreams of one day bringing about a new golden age.

We haven't seen Demona react to, or comment on the revelation, but her thoughts and plans are only too guess. Kill them before they kill us.

But, Thailog on the other hand, he's much harder to predict. He has never shown an interest in "race relations", nor demonstrated any animosity towards humans. But, at the same time, he is a gargoyle. He has to have an opinion on this. The Quarrymen are as much a threat to him as they are to Goliath and his clan.

As I said, he's hard to predict. I don't see him trying to reach out and build bridges, like Goliath. Nor do I see him working towards their destruction, like Demona. For one, he's not that wasteful, and he clearly likes the idea of holding economic power, or else why would he have helped form Nightstone Unlimited?

Of course, it all depends on what Thailog's goals are. So far, everything we've seen him do seem like means to an end. Adding to his wealth, by robbing Xanatos, and eliminating Demona and Macbeth. Creating flunkies and his own concubine when creating Delilah and the clones, and forming Nightstone, which he lost to Demona. But, these don't feel like overall goals, more like stepping stones. Which makes me think, what does he want? For that matter, does he even know what he wants beyond proving himself to be superior to Goliath and Xanatos?

I'm sure you have something in mind, and hopefully future issues of the comic will shed some light on this. Overall, I think Thailog is a fascinating character, a great villain. And I eagerly anticipate seeing more of him in issues 4, 5 and beyond.

Gerin writes...

Hi again Greg,

not a question really, but I recently read an older post of yours where you explain your negative opinion about "Return of the Jedi" and the confrontation between Luke and the emperor in particular. Since you sometimes ask your fans to ramble too, here's why I think this is one of the best standoffs in the history of movies:

THE EMPEROR:
High class villain. Fragile, feeble, understated. Gives definition to "sinister", implies awesome aura.
And witty! Usually, when Good Guy (James Bond, Superman, Elisa) is at the mercy of Bad Guy (Blofeld, Lex Luthor, Demona), isn't Bad Guy all outspoken and arrogant, but alas, Good Guy always has wittier deliveries, better puns etc.?
Whatever Luke throws at him, Palpatine's got the retorts. "Your arrogance is your weakness", says Luke. Any other villain would now start throwing around threats, acting all superior, unwillingly confirming the statement. Not Palpatine. He's even kind of agreeing by saying "The trust in your friends is yours." And Luke is speechless.

THE DARK SIDE EXPLAINED:
For two and a half movies, we've been lectured constantly on how fear and anger lead to the dark side. Morale, good and evil, yadda-yadda. Always play nice. Yeah, as if it matters. Power is power, right?
Suddenly, it does matters and the concept becomes tangible: Vader threatens Luke's sister, and boy does Luke get mad. And powerful! No finesse anymore, just sheer rage. It's filmmaking at its best! Listen to the choir. Watch how this outlashing is not strung out to minutes. It's a matter of seconds, the point is made.

FORCE LIGHTNING:
Eventually, Luke spares Vader. Luke states: "I'm a jedi.", again no threats from the emperor, just acknowledges the fact: "As you wish, jedi." And then, he tells Luke how puny he is. And shows him.
Unfortunately, the climax that these force lightings represent don't come across anymore because they have become common through the videogames, not to say Ep. II and III where they are used without abandon.

No intent to argue. Just my ramble, really. :-)

Gerin writes...

Hey Greg,

thank you very much for communicating with fans for all these years. Really cool!

Was so glad to read you liked "Firefly" and "Serenity". So, my questions:

1) Did you ever meet Joss Whedon? If yes, do you know if saw "Gargoyles"? Did he like it? I'd ask him myself, but there is no "Ask Joss", and it would be interesting to know if you two ever talked about your shows.

2) I realize "Gargoyles" and "Firefly" differ in almost every regard, but I'm still aching to understand why my favourite shows always get axed prematurely. So, do you see any similarities between the two shows? Any common ground regarding their discontinuation other than their ratings not living up to expectations? Why is it that these shows did not catch on more? Is there something you and Joss maybe learned from it?

3) How would you explain that "Firefly" got a movie, whereas the "Gargoyles"-movie hasn't been made (yet)? Was it luck, was it that Disney would never let go of a property the way Fox has for "Serenity"?

Thanks for your time, all the best, can't wait for the comics to appear in Europe.

Audra writes...

Hi Greg,
I just got comic #3 in the mail yesterday, and after reading it, I'm very excited! I'm so happy to have new Gargoyle stories written by you. For many years I have told my friends how I miss Gargoyles so so much... And when I say that, I meant new stories.

The art in comic #3 I think more like the TV show then the first two. (And I think it looks great!) I was quite surprised by what happened with Goliath and Elisa though. For some reason, I never thought Elisa would do that. Especially after Hunter's Moon. I don't know, I guess I am just a hopeless romantic, heh. But I guess I can't really relate to Elisa. I don't care so much about having kids, and having the normal family life... But it's important to me to be love with someone who loves me. I am in a long distance relationship, and have been for almost two years. I love my boyfriend so much and even though our relationship is hard because he lives on the other side of the world, I wouldn't change it for anything. (We see each other a few times a year, and he will be moving here after next year, but that's besides the point) I guess I just felt like Goliath and Elisa's love was strong enough to over come anything, but I guess not... Or at least, Elisa is not thinking of that at that moment... I really look forward to more comics, and I really want to know what happens with Goliath and Elisa... I'm so happy though about these comics being made!

Matt writes...

How does the writing process differ between the comic and the show? Since you guys often butted heads over ideas for the show, and ultimately ended up making good decisions, do you feel that being the sole writer of the comic loses that synergy?

Dallen817(David T.Allen) writes...

First I need to ask why you and your team why you don't intergrate The Goliaths Cronicles into your new comics series. Secont could you put a link to ask or make our coments on the new comics series some whare on the CreatureComics web site. Third I've read the previouse Gargoyels Comics I've seen all the episodes from both searies and picked up the two sets of Dvds and I wish for you to try and ad all the searies together like George Lukas has done with his property Star Wars. The continuety is complete from films to novels,cartoons to comics and the through line is a complete vision.

Ed Reynolds writes...

Let's see. I first discovered 'Gargoyles' when I was 11. I started posting at S8 when I was 13. And the first original material to be released since then was released on 28 March, which was my 23rd birthday. A great birthday present, though first I had to wait a week for it to cross the pond -- better than waiting 6-8 weeks from unreliable mail order companies like with #1 and #2 though. Now I've found a local comic trader, thankfully.

I didn't think a week would be too long to wait -- it's been eleven years since new material, right? I can wait 7 puny days, and I'd managed to keep quite cool waiting for #3 so far. But from the 28th, I was going out of my mind. Whenever I checked my e-mails I kept looking S8 up and crossing it out when I saw the words SPOILERS. I deleted S8 from my bookmarks and scrubbed my history so I couldn't be tempted to access it via the location bar. I found myself humming the theme tune. Real geekgasm.

So today, I went to the comic shop with my brother in tow (he was shopping for a card). I picked up my copy, handed it to my bro. He, of course, starts reading it and since he's got special needs spends roughly an hour engrossed in the comic, reading it at his own pace, digesting everything carefully, brow furrowed in deep concentration while I'm cursing myself for not ordering two copies. His conclusion is that "I really like Thailog!" (no spoiler, he's been saying that for the last decade) and he asked me "do you like that drawing?" (meaning the artwork) in such a way that suggests he's a little ambivalent about it. He's excited for #4 and more Demona, and he likes Matt Bluestone.

(On a personal note, it's the first time since we were kids that my bro and I have really been able to share this sort of thing. As kids, we used to watch the same cartoons, read the same comics, play the same games - and, of course, we watched 'Gargoyles' together. But obviously over the years we've drifted apart in that respect; a lot of the stuff I'm into these days goes over his head and a lot of the stuff he's into just doesn't excite me. Plus, he stopped wearing his hearing aid and cochlear implant a lot of the time as a teenager so striking up a conversation is a much more laboured effort. We just don't have that much to chat about these days. But we both love 'Gargoyles' and we had a really good geek-out chat about it earlier of the sort we haven't had for... well, years. His memory is actually much better than mine and he reminded me of a lot of things in "The Reckoning" I'd forgotten, not having seen the back half of S2 for many years. I told him about 'Bad Guys' and he's excited for it, though he hasn't quite grasped the concept. Thailog's the baddest guy in the universe, the comic's called 'Bad Guys', Thailog's got to be the star, right? Anyway, it's nice to have a genuine shared obsession, just like the old days and besides being delighted at the return of the comic as a fan, I'm particularly grateful for that.)

Anyway, cutting to the chase -- the issue is splendid. And only, like, 20% of that is pure bias. It's genuinely a good read -- especially considering it's the equivalent to the first act of an episode, the set-up.

- My absolute favourite bit: Xanatos's plan to have the great and good mix with gargoyles so they can't then deny their sentience! That is GENIUS -- vintage Xanatos. Man, you've kept that up your sleeve for a long time (and I'm glad you did).

- I love the news report at the start pointing out that gargoyles can't speak so you don't have anything to worry about from ones that do. It's interesting because it gives the Quarrymen a genuine reason to feel vindicated -- they know (or are told) that the gargoyles are sentient, and malevolent to boot.

- Cedric Harris, Tri Chung, Phil Travanti, nameless Labyrinth girl -- pretty awesome to get some new characters. Even more awesome when they have lines. Guess I'm going to have to voice cast them myself. Nifty that Travanti's featured before. One of the things that particularly excited me about the comic was that I knew that soon I'd be able to rewatch my DVDs with a new perspective on things. And already that's the case - I'll be able to identify and name one character. Lovely! Interesting to see the make-up of the Task Force. I'm sure Margot's not going to like the way it's being run. Hard to argue that it doesn't seem like the NYPD exactly have it as their top priority.

- 36/32 makes a great linking element -- a really simple way of establishing what the Illuminati are (without even getting bogged down even with what they're called). But what's the significance? I thought it was their own ID numbers at first, but obviously not. Some way of recognising each other, but do the numbers have greater significance? And how often do they change? I have a really cool thought for what it might be... but it might qualify as an idea so I'm not going to mention it here!

- I love Angela. She's still the one who can look at people's behaviour from an outside angle and ask the question "is this a good thing?" And poor old Brooklyn. I love that two issues in a row he's been knocked back without him ever really being a consideration. Lex is the only beat in the comic that feels slightly wasted - partly because I can't quite imagine anyone actually saying "no poisonous stickpins" without feeling very silly and mainly because it feels like the same scene we had between these characters last issue.

- Castaway's so much fun. The character's reputation is sort of maligned by his TGC characterisation, but he's cautious as well as scary. Also? I LOVE that you used the word "clouting". Clouting! I don't hear that word enough. I must use it more often in day to day conversation.

- Man, I love Hacker. I was always sad he was one of the few characters from the pre-Avalon stories not to return later in Season 2. Duskrider Q nailed it a few questions ago when he described him as "unimposing but charismatic". His playing one side off against the other is too much fun and very well done. All this is stuff that's been spilt on Ask Greg but I still got a real buzz out of it playing out. I took from the issue that none of the motives are entirely genuine. I have to wonder how much Xanatos already knows, or guesses, about Hacker's double-dealing.

- The distinction between a "husband" and a "mate" is really good. Really sharp: not just a species thing, it suggests a lot of cultural issues to me. A husband implies a whole range of issues -- legal, social, economic -- while a mate seems to represent something much simpler in some ways, or at least more specific to the gargoyles' way of life.

- The 'distanced' page does feel a little bit jarring in pacing, and while I can't begrudge David Hedgecock the time saved doing two versions of the same panel to link scenes, I would have liked to have seen a slightly different angle. I appreciate you wanted to make the continuity between the two scenes clear though. The conversation is good and the issues are interesting. Some people seem to think that Elisa's being cold with all this, but I think it all feels quite realistic. Painful, but truthful.

- The Elisa/Morgan stuff I liked. This is where I sort of miss Keith David and Salli Richardson to give us added spin on the lines: does he believe her? Is he taking it as kind of a contrived excuse for a knock-back? It feels to me like Elisa is worried that's how he's taken it. I really like Elisa and Morgan together. As I said in the comment room during the debate about whether you'd go for Jason or Morgan in this story, I kind of hoped you'd go with Morgan because he represents a genuine shot at normalcy for her.

- Demona returns to St. Damien's. A big surprise: I hadn't expected to see it again. But there's something inside the Praying Gargoyle. I feel like this has been spilt before but luckily I don't recall the details.

- The promise Jason demands of Elisa is what nudges her to talk to Goliath. But I feel like Jason knew (or guessed) what he was doing to her there and masked that by talking about himself. I still think he's kind of a jerk. But maybe I'm being too hard on him. Maybe he was just being selfless. Great character. Well, they all are.

- A lot of characters here. I'd kind of expected the cast to settle down immediately after "The Journey", as with "Vendettas" and "Turf" after "The Gathering". I'm in two minds really. I like meeting everyone again, and it's a great call for the first story back, but it also means it feels more like a buffet than a proper meal. I can't wait to dig deep into some characters, flashbacks and all. I expect the moment you do something very tight and narrowly focused I'm going to be whining "but we haven't seen X, Y and Z for five months!!"

- The exposition pages are a necessary evil I suppose, but they do break the flow a bit. Have you considered replacing them with some kind of introductory page separate from the comic, akin to the "Previously on Gargoyles..." segment? I know you did this a few times ("The Cage" for one) but it all seems to slow the narrative down. Also, boiling it down that much doesn't really do justice to the thing. Oh well.

- I'm kind of curious about Al's friend. Their last exchange makes me think there's more to that plot that meets the eye... "It's not that..." ... but what? Hmmmmmm.

- Thailog! Well, I was spoilt by the #4 press releases for that much. The character's marvellous, but he's never captured my heart to quite the degree that many of the other antagonists on the show did so I'm probably not quite as excited as others. I didn't notice until I read Matt's review the 'trick or treat' mirroring device at the top and tail of the issue. So cool.

Anyway, the issue is fantastic. The writing is wonderful. It's lean but jam-packed with great character moments and things to speculate about. Magnificent.

Only thing I'm not looking forward to is that torturous wait after the next issue release but before it arrives in the UK. Have you considered making the comic available online like some of SLG's other comics? No replacement for the real paper issues but it would be so lovely to be able to read the comics along with others in the fandom, and I know other people have trouble getting hold of them. I realise there are all sorts of reasons why this might not be advisable, particularly if it dents off-the-shelf sales. At any rate, I guess it's a good test of my willpower.

Many thanks for your benevolent labours, Greg, and to all your co-conspirators on the comic. Keep up the fantastic work.