Todd Jensen writes...

Just bought and read Gargoyles #7 today. I'm especially delighted with it.

I had suspected for a while that this issue would involve the Stone of Destiny (the hints in the descriptions of #7 - #9 fitted that, as did the timing), and so was not surprised. I enjoyed Shari's account of the Stone's past history to Thailog, all the way up to its arrival in Ireland. Some of it (such as Jacob using it as a pillow in Bethel) was familiar to me; some of it was new. (I'd heard of Gathelus and Scota before, but only a little; I certainly want to find out more about them, such as whether they really were associated with an origin-myth concerning Portugal's name.) I liked the touch of Shari telling Thailog part of the story as he's carrying her about - a dark counterpart of Goliath carrying Elisa about, perhaps?

The team-up between Coldsteel and the new Coyote didn't entirely surprise me either (I remember you'd hinted at that in your Masterplan document), but I liked seeing its beginning. And I thought it very appropriate that Xanatos would incorporate the Coyote Diamond from "Her Brother's Keeper" into his latest Coyote.

So Macbeth was involved in the 1950 theft of the Stone of Destiny? Another amusing touch.

And now it seems that Maggie's pregnant. I also like the notion of Dr. Sato now becoming better acquainted with the Mutates as well as the gargoyles.

When you gave Macbeth a home at Berkeley Square, did you have the stories about the nasty hauntings at No. 50 there in mind?

I hope you don't mind this, but I spotted a couple of errors (or possible errors) on the fourth page, when Macbeth's explaining to the gargoyles about the Stone of Destiny. The flashback to his coronation shows it taking place in the open air, but it was in indoors in "City of Stone Part Three". And Macbeth claims that the Stone is being returned to Scotland after eight hundred years - it should be seven hundred, since Edward I took it in 1296.

I liked the jet lag scene for Lexington and Hudson. (At least Goliath, Angela, and Bronx didn't seem to suffer from that on the Avalon World Tour. Did Avalon's magic compensate?)

A lovely scene between Goliath and Elisa as well. I particularly liked the allusions to their break-up conversation in #3.

And a great cliff-hanger ending with King Arthur and the London gargoyles suddenly appearing. Apparently they don't all look like lions, unicorns, and griffons after all. I look forward to learning about these two new members - and also more about Lexington's "I'll call you Amp" line. (To anyone who's read about the series' comedy development, it's a wonderful in-joke.)

Looking forward to #8.

Matt writes...

My Review For Gargoyles #7, "The Rock"...

- Picked up a couple copies of "The Rock" today. There were only a couple issues left and the store had only been open an hour, which was cool. It was also nice to see that the store apparently had ordered some more issues of "Reunion". When I checked out, the clerk said "Good choice" which led to a long discussion about the series and the comic. She is apparently a huge Elisa fan. Our discussion reminded her to put the DVDs on her x-mas list. We talked a while more and she is really wanting to go to the Gathering, so who knows, she might end up riding there with me (St. Louis to Chicago). Nice to make friends over Gargoyles.

- On to the comic. When I first saw the cover (we didn't have any released previews this time!) I laughed. Reading "Stone... At Night?!" I actually said (under my breath) "What sorcery is this?!" Spotting Big Ben I quickly figured out what was going on. Nice to see Hudson featured better than he has been on covers so far. Lex looks good too. Nice cover.

- Okay, so the book itself. I knew it was going to be non-linear, and I knew Greg could pull that off. I guess I didn't know what to expect, but I loved it. I've read the book twice already and like all the previous chapters it is exciting to read, full of surprises and finishes with a bunch of anticipation and questions. This is the kind of story that I will almost have to wait until Issue #9 to really review. That said, there are a couple things I really enjoyed:

- I know it is a very minor point, but I liked seeing many of the recurring human characters (Macbeth, Fox, Xanatos) in something besides their typical series costume. That is definitely a strength of the comic book. Of course, Elisa is still in her usual jeans, black t-shirt and red jacket. Maybe it helps her keep a sense of "normalcy"!

- One of the neatest traits of the Gargoyles Universe, and Greg's writing abilities, is that nothing ever gets wasted. I'm happy to see the Coyote Diamond again, and surprised to see it planted (for some reason) in the newest Coyote robot. Is this the first time the Diamond has been put into Coyote or has every version of him contained the Diamond? Just another question this chapter leaves us asking.

- I love how Shari's tales are told to us in sepia tones and scrolls. One has to ask where she is learning all this (particularly the Coldtrio stuff), but I like the way it is shown and told. Which leads me to the art of the book. I always liked Hedgecock's work from Issue #1, and I think he is getting better and better. Hedgecock maybe hasn't been drawing Gargoyles characters for the past eleven years, but he is catching up fast, IMHO. This is absolutely his best issue so far, and I'm glad to see him back on the book regularly. Great stuff.

- Who would've thought we'd be seeing Gruoch this soon in the comic, and who would've thought we'd EVER see the little green gargoyle from Demona's Clan (a fan favorite, I think) in the comic! Cool cameos.

- Ah, the never ending drama of Brooklyn, Broadway and Angela. This slow boiling plot is getting awfully fun to watch. I think I've said it in nearly every review so far, so I can't leave out a "Poor Brooklyn"... Seems Goliath is starting to get wise to the situation as well. And since when can Broadway just say he and Angela are gonna stay in Manhattan when Goliath has more or less ordered them to accompany Macbeth? Ah well. Speaking of Goliath, we get a nice follow-up to the Elisa-Goliath Halloween story. Well done. It really says something when fictional characters cause such an emotional reaction for the reader/viewer. And not to leave out Talon and Maggie the Cat, who may be expecting a Mutate-ling in a few months. When Sato mentioned Maggie's "condition" I wondered if maybe she was preggers, though I though maybe we are just talking about the Mutate thing in general. Then with the mention of "O.B." I got excited. Cool stuff. Nice to see that Elisa is taking advantage of Dr. Sato's expertise after the revelation to him in "Bash". Ya know, it's refreshing to think that years ago when I wrote a review for "Deadly Force" I mentioned something about how I'd love to see Dr. Sato become a friend of the Clan. Sort of the antithesis of Sevarius. Very fun.

- Still have no idea what is up with Fox's shoes. Guess I'll wait til Issue #9 to talk about that. But seriously, Xanatos is a multi-billionaire, just buy the damn shoes, hell, buy the STORE! No biggie.

- I like that gargoyles "jetlag" and I like that that is canon-ized now. I also think it's fun that Hudson and Lex can feel it. Macbeth is fun here too. It's like he keeps waiting for them to wake up and is thinking the are a bit late and a bit more late and a bit more late and finally he gets his look like "Ummm... you guys gonna wake up or not?" Long time to stand there drinking coffee.

- I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see the London Clan once we ended up in London, but I was a bit. Arthur was a bit of a surprise as well. I guess the most surprising thing was the APPEARENCE of the two London Clan members we could see clearly (it looks to me like the third in the foreground is Griff, we'll see). All these years Greg has said that Unicorns, Lions and Griffons were all we'd get. Now we see a stag-like dude and a (very cool) boar-like female. I dunno if Greg's comments were simply along the lines of "I don't want to tie the hands of the artists" or if he was just being totally elusive and deceitful, but either way it led to a great and fun ending to the book. Very very cool.

- So, overall a great book. Great writing, great reveals, great mysteries, great art. There were no errors I could find save one, in "Etched in Stone" Greg writes "Clan Building, Chapter Five: Reunion" when of course he means Chapter Six. That is one error I can live with. Looking to the trade paperback, Bad Guys #2 and Gargoyles #8. What a great time to be a Gargoyles-fan!!!

SF writes...

Gargoyles #7; "The Rock", is it about Pendragon, or Demona, or Hakon?