KingCobra_582 writes...

What a time for comic books. Especially when they're adaptations of unaired seasons. In this case, Buffy Season 8 (picked up Buffy #3 and Gargs #4 today) and (the real) Gargoyles Season 3. But since this is a Gargoyles site and not a Buffy one, I'll leave a review on Gargs #4, and maybe I'll discuss Buffy later. Maybe at the con or something.

Anyway.

**WARNING. SPOILERS.**

It was a fun issue. The artwork seemed (to me, anyway) to be a little more cartoon-ish. It was a little hard for me to tell just what was going on in some panels. At least, not right away. Though on the other hand, it was a different kind of artwork, and who doesn't appreciate variety? So the art did not bother me. In fact, I somewhat enjoyed it.

And nice props on 'Cyborg Lex' too. Made me flash back to Future Tense, which is/was one of my favorite episodes. I wonder if it creeped Goliath out any? Though I have to admit I (at first glance) thought Lex WAS going as the Tin Man, to collaborate with Broadway and Angela's Wizard Of Oz costumes. But now that I think about it, Lex conveinently (albeit unknowingly) dressing up as the Evil Lex of Goliath's worst nightmare made more sense. You obviously did that to mess with the fans, Greg, and I applaud you for it. Bravo for the WTF moment you drew out of me. :D

And of course we can't leave Margot Yale. Berating poor Brendan. Plus, I guess that, despite all their encounters in the past, she can't even recognize a Gargoyle in costume, going so far as to praise Lex for it. It's either short-term memory issues or her inability to believe that the 'monsters' are anything but or both.

Thailog in the Labyrinth was a treat. Just as bad-assed as ever. That's what makes him one of my favorite characters. He's Goliath's evil side. I guess he never changes and never will. Shooting at Maggie and being able to manipulate his 'property' into helping him attack Goliath at the end. Claw, another of my beloved characters, came into play a bit here as well. I dunno what I expected to happen next after #3's climax, but it definitely wasn't that. Claw is so cool. Too bad he can't overpower Thailog.

And when Thailog STABS Goliath at the end! Holy. Crap...!

More Elisa and Goliath angst, too. Ho hum.

More Illuminati greeting too. Now if only I knew what the numbers represented. I'm guessing rank, but you're the only one who really knows. And knowing you, you're not saying.

What's Xanatos' mission at the White House anyway?

Oh, and it took me a little bit to remember who Judge Roebling was. Is he going to slowly and over time develop more?

Nice little Brooklyn/Angela moment too. Even if she's mated and she only wants to see his costume, it's nice that Brooklyn finally gets SOME kind of positive time with a female. It's not the romantic kind that he wants, but it's better then him being used, rejected, or attacked.

Hopefully the events of Timedancer will come soon, but that's my own personal anticipation, and there's no rush.

**END SPOILERS**

Another great issue, Greg. Cool story, decent animation, Thailog at his best, and some great moments of irony ('Future Tense' Lex) all chalk up to another great installment. I'm definitely psyched for #5.

Oh, and I'm definitely bringing all my comics (Buffy in the chance you might want to read it, and Gargoyles for autographing.) to the con next month.

See you then.

Cobra out.

Jason Aiken writes...

Hey Greg,

Just got done reading Gargoyles #4...it was a great balance between drama and all out action.

I liked the scenes with Thailog the best... he's got to be my favorite "villain" in the series, as he thinks he's doing the right thing, but he's just got it all wrong.

It also seems like the Illuminati plot is thickening... this time Xanatos said "thirty-six" and the waiter said "two", not "thirty-two"... I'm looking forward to seeing what this all means.

Also, I was wondering why the comic now has a floppier paper cover and still costs the same. The first three had solid stock covers which I assumed is why it was 3.50 instead of the normal 2.99 price that most comics are..

Keep up the great work, it's great to see the Gargs storyline moving forward.

Matt writes...

Hey Greg,

First off, I wanted to say thank you for publishing my Issue #2 review in "Etched In Stone". It was really a great surprise for me and I feel very honored and lucky to have ended up there.

I know you have been dissapointed that few people have written into the comic, but I think the reason is pretty obvious. Why write to the comic with little hope of getting an answer when you can write to "Ask Greg" and be guaranteed an answer of some sort? We are all big fans of the series and the comics, but I think most of us have gotten too used to this format for giving you feedback, asking questions, etc. "Etched in Stone" is great for announcements that the more hardcore fans may not be aware of, and I think you are using it well in that capacity, but, I dunno what it's place can be after all these years of Ask Greg.

But I'm glad I found my way on to the page anyway. Made my day.

Also, I wanted to say that I've really been enjoying your "This day in Gargoyles's Universe history" posts. It's nice to fill in some blanks of things that are unlikely to ever show up in future episodes. I did wonder, however, if there was any event that took place on May 11th. That day is my birthday and I was totally busy with birthday plans so I couldn't drive up to Chicago to see you (though I considered cancelling plans to do so). And because you were gone, no post was made about the day. So, I was wondering if anything happened on that day that you'd like to share.

If not, that's cool. I feel like I've been a spoiled Gargoyles fan already this week.

Thanks again for everything, Greg. I'll see you at the Gathering.

-Matt

Matt writes...

My Review For Gargoyles #4, "Masque"...

- First off, after reading it and beginning my review, I can't help notice that there isn't a title page for this issue. I can't find the title "Masque" anywhere in the book. That's not really a problem, but it did make me wonder why not.

- So, we left off with Trick or Treat and we pick back up with Trick or Treaters. Billy and Susan have obviously aged a couple years. They seem to still be big Pack fans, which is pretty cool. And then there is Billy's friend Terry. Now, I don't think any of the more hardcore fans of the series have any doubts about who he is (though Greg could throw us a curveball). I'm actually pleased that something I guessed about a long time ago is correct: "The New Olympians" spinoff is probably gonna take place roughly a decade or more after "Hunter's Moon". Terry's apparent age confirms that. It is cool that we know this kid is gonna end up being a major figure, but at the moment he is just a kid dressed up for Halloween as Goliath, as many kids were in the mid-90s.

- Little things I liked about this first scene: Sarah glancing at the Quarrymen (who are, by the way, making a presence as Castaway said, but NOT smashing Jeffrey's gargoyles), the "Nice mask" line was such a homage to one more of our great voice actors: Greg Weisman!, Gilly and Bronx by the fire.

- Since "Invitation Only", I, and others, have suspected Hudson and Bronx were on their ways to Robbins' house for the night, so that wasn't much of a shock. The conversation between Jeffrey and Hudson was fun. This is a very interesting relationship. Hudson's face in the last frame is the best part for me. I studied it for a while trying to figure out what Hudson was thinking and feeling. It seems to me that he wants to tell Robbins but is a little afraid. He is happy to have a friend, but sad that he has to cover up the truth. Feeling you can't be truthful to a friend because you'll lose the friend is an awful feeling. I hope Hudson figures out what to do. I wonder what he told Jeffrey about Bronx... "This is my shaved giant web-eared dog... don't worry, he's house trained..."

- It is weird to see so many people at the Eyrie. I believe most often we see very small groups of people there and the large crowds tend to be fleeing the building. Broadway and Angela are fun and they bring in yet another Wizard of Oz reference to the series. (As a side note: I loved seeing the stuffed Toto because Toto was a Cairn Terrier and my dog Gus is descended from him. The many Wiz Of Oz lines in "Hound of Ulster", not to mention the cairns in the episode, are a part of the reason that Cuchullain is my Comment Room avatar. He's a reference to my dog, sorta. Anyway, now I know what my dog would look like as a Gargoyles comic character.)

- And then we have Lexington... boy, THAT'S an interesting costume. Where have we seen THAT before. Oh, fun.

- Not sure how I feel about Elisa as Jasmine... Give me some time to think about that.

- There are so many neat little touches in this one I don't know if I could mention them all, but a short list is Morgan and Broadway chatting and Angela's dissaproval of Elisa bringing a date. Great stuff.

- Back to the Labyrinth. Thailog starts mowing everyone down. Glad Thailog was prepared for Talon's eel blast. Thailog vs. Claw was a lot of fun.

- I didn't expect to see Judge Roebling again. He was fun here, a very different side of him than we saw in "Vows".

- And then things get awkward. The meeting we've all been waiting for. Goliath, Delilah, Elisa and Morgan. Oh Lord. I love how the crowd seems to dissappear as these four live out their awkward moment.

- Brooklyn... Here we go again. Poor, poor Brooklyn. And Angela's attempt to make him feel better looks like it's backfiring.

- I didn't like the Broadway and Lex chowing down frame. It was kinda gross. Suddenly these two are acting like animals.

- Off to the White House and we meet Ambassador Chung, thats neat. I'm sure we'll see more of her. And Alex... I'm glad that Greg is addressing what appears to be the rapid aging of little Alex. Very interesting.

- The Illuminati Waiter is neat. "Two", eh? Greg got an eyebrow raise out of me with that one.

- Back to Claw vs. Thailog. I do wonder why Claw didn't use his eel blast against the Clones. Maybe he didn't want to hurt them. And Maggie trying to talk sense into the Clones is neat. But they don't even really consider her opinion, they just are not programmed that way, I guess. Pisses Thailog off anyway, Maggie is nearly killed. Wow.

- Probably one of the neatest moments in this episode is when Malibu tells Thailog that Goliath took Delilah on a date and for a moment Thailog gets this face like he feels rejected or shocked or something... and then he laughs! What a great character. I think that laugh is hiding something though. Jealousy at least.

- Delilah and Morgan standing on their own. How awkward is that?

- More Elisa and Goliath drama. I mean really, they have their feelings for each other, but what are they supposed to do? I have no clue. At this point I'm not sure how it's gonna work out.

- And then we have our closing scene. Owen shines in this one, so cool and collected, and his comment about endlessly rebuilding the Castle was hilarious. I kinda wondered if Bruno is among those troops. And then Thailog takes his cheap shot. Ouch. That has gotta hurt. Goliath has had a rough few nights. First his wing gets shot up, then the next night his heart is broken and he gets stabbed by his own flesh and blood. Talk about a bad week.

- My overall opinions on this episode are very good. The story was great, and it'll leave me lots to think about before our next issue. I did not hate the art, but I think Issue #3 was the best we've seen so far. The characters look pretty good all in all though, very dynamic. It is also neat to see shots like the half Thailog, half Goliath face and the double date couples alone in a crowded room. I'm eagerly awaiting Issue #5. Thanks for another great one Greg, David, Dustin, Greg Stephanie, Dan, Jennifer and Scott!!!!

Charisma82 writes...

Have you ever seen the movie "Dead Poet's Society"? (Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke were in it, if that helps ring a bell for you). If you have, what was your opinion on it? If you haven't, then I would highly recommend you see it. It is definitely in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. I would write a ramble or something on the movie, but I don't want to in case you haven't seen it. Heck, I still might right something on it even if you haven't seen it… but at a later date…

Thank you for your time and all that you do.

-Charisma82

Charisma82 writes...

Hey! I was wondering about the Pack's names. I'm assuming that each of them picked their own animal name when they joined the pack. Did each of them have a reason for picking the animal they picked, or was it like they drew straws out of a hat to see who got the coolest names? (I know that's unlikely, but you know what I mean… I hope). If they chose their own, was there an intellectual reasoning behind the name or did they just pick their favorite animal?

Thanks for you time and answer.

-Charisma82