Shadow Wing writes...

CLAN BUILDING: ISSUE 1 - NIGHTWATCH

First point: I like that you cut out Banquo and Fleance - they are established characters, working for Macbeth, and sticking them in with the Quarrymen seemed like just treating them as extras (I'm assuming that they'll be used again if/when Macbeth makes an appearance). The mother and the jogger were better for such a role - while they had function in their past appearances, it was simple, and they haven't had even five minutes total screen time in all 65 episodes.

The Lois and Artie scene amused me - "You may keep your weapon" - too bad for Artie, he can't use it anymore.

I seem to remember that some people disliked the exposition pages - I, however, felt they were a nice adaptation of Keith David's monologue from season 2 to introduce new readers to what has happened to the Gargs over the past two (or 1002) years (and of course, Goliath is speaking it).

The Bluestone-Chavez scene, with the Captain on crutches, brings a thought to mind - John Canmore, if I remember right, was always a little unsure about the Hunt - I seem to recall at the very least that he was willing to spare Goliath and company, and simply Hunt "the Demon." Yet now, as Castaway, he shows the same recklessness that his older siblings had before (Casualties? Innocent bystanders? Who cares?). He strikes me as being blindly dedicated to the point of obsession, or even insanity, and uncaring of how many people get between him and the eradication of the Gargoyle species.

As for the scene itself: Maria Chavez didn't reach Captain by being stupid - Matt was nervouse when she asked about Xanatos, and I doubt that escaped her notice. She probably guesses that he's hiding something.

Elisa's wakeup - I only have this to say - boxers or panties?

Vinnie's recruitment, Part 2: "I think you'll see the necessity [for the hammers]." - Castaway is so sure of what he's doing, he doesn't see how anyone could disagree with him.

On Elisa's balcony: "No way you're fighting this hard if stone-face weren't the real thing…" Let's skip the poor English and go straight to the fact that the statement is total bull!! If it were just a statue, one like that would have to be worth a fortune! I remember that bugging me even in the TV version.

That's it for Nightwatch.

Nelio writes...

I was wondering if the Gargoyles Comics were eventually going to reprinted as a graphic novel once enough issues are put out? I'm not sure if you would know about this or not, but I've always liked the material that graphic novels are printed on more than the paper back comics, and I feel that Gargoyles is worthy of that type of medium.

david writes...

hi greg. i love gargoyles. I am so confused. so will the comic book that ever come out take place after the goliath chronlicals? or are you getting ride of them for good?

PenAgain writes...

Wow! Having just read issue 3 of the comic, I must say... I was astounded! I have had my reservations about the first issues, mostly because I was uncertain of the pacing of it all. But now, things are moving briskly, but we are still seeing flashes of our characters, even when they appear only briefly in an issue. It was amazing finally seeing NEW story progression after all these years!

In the letters page, you mentioned the idea of audio comics, and let me tell you... I'd pay a very reasonable (maybe even unreasonable) price to be able to listen to this issue read in the original voice actors' voices... but I suppose we should always have something to fight for out here in Garg fandom.

My question, at last- Since issues 1 and 2 equated roughly to one 22 minute episode... do you have any sort of fixed guideline you follow in a pages to minutes conversion? Does issue 3 feel like a 22 minute episode to you, or just part of one? I'm just curious, and I know that in teh long run my question's really rather irrelevant.

Thanks for making it so easy to keep having faith in the Gargoyles Universe, Greg! And if we ever get Season 2 Volume 2 on DVD, you better be at the front of every episode with introductions again. I loved those and found them charming, not goofy (as someone once commented here... or was that you?)

KingCobra_582 writes...

Wow. It seems like I'm posting the first issue #3 review here. Cool. :D

Thank you for the first (and the first of many more to come) canon Gargs story in 11 years. It is really great.

Okay, enough of the euphoric gratitude and onto the review.

STORY: It was great. Top-notch writing done here. I felt for Goliath, going through that discussion with Elisa, and though I was in a slight state of "Arrrrrrgh....!" with her there, I could also kind of understand where she was coming from. Looking forward to seeing how this will get resolved later on, Greg. Moving along, it was great seeing Demona again. Ditto with Talon and Maggie (though they're not my favorites, I still didn't care. It is the 1st canon story in over a decade and I embrace every element of it.), along with the clones. And is it just me, or is Brooklyn starting to have a thing for Delilah now? She says "Hello" to him, and the next couple of panels just make it seem like he was aggravated with Goliath beating him to the punch. *sighs* Poor guy. Brooklyn just can't get a break. Well, at least until 'Timedancer' comes along, that is.

ART: The artwork is great here. The characters seem to be drawn well, though they looked... off... in some panels, I was able to let it go, b/c it was a rare oddity. Great little touches put in there (i.e. Alex's gargoyle costume.) that were cool. Talon was... okay-looking, but it's still early in the series (comic-wise, anyway) so I'm sure he'll improve design-wise. That close-up of Thailog's leering grin in the last panel gave me the willies. *shivers* Of course, I loved it. :) Hell, just the cover alone had me stoked. I felt like a carnivorous (sp?) dino at a McDonald's. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Hindsight, this issue gets a perfect 10 out of me. The art could still use some work (Matt looked weird in his first panel, and Talon was okay for a 1st time appearence.), but the story captured my interest in the beginning, broadened it in the middle, and had me on the edge of my seat at the end. I definitely can't wait for #4. Kudos for the great writing, Greg. I'll buy you a soda or something at the next con for that.

Cheers. :)

Laura (Ackerman) Sack writes...

Rather surprising that no post alerting readers that issue two came out... though by the time this is read it may be a post alerting of issue 10 that I'll be looking for:)

I am trying not to review comics on how they read at 2:30Am when I should be long asleep. This time I decided to reread 1 & 2 while fully awake and quite of few of my negative comments melted away. Still, there remained both pluses and minuses.

The most obvious change is the art. It seems to me that the two conflicting styles seen in issue 1 were melded together. Oddly enough the result is something far more reminiscent of the cartoon. Truth be told the art stood out more in issue 1- but so did the off model parts. This was miles away more consistent throughout the issue. There were some images that I took issue with: I don't like the new design for baby Alex, and Elisa looked rather Asian in some frames (more a problem with Dt. Yin over in The Batman) But there were some fantastic moments to more than balance. The facial expressions of Lex when baby Alex was reaching in the frame and playing with his face, or when Xanatos sheepishly admits that he knows it is not wise to annoy the Illuminati were fantastic. Broadway and Angela's scene was just lovely. And, of course, the full page of Goliath and Elisa when they first hit the ground. (also a nice frame when he is first hit by the hammer and she ducks.)

For some reason I just loved it when Elisa threw away her remaining shoe.

Some of the fighting was a little dark and muddled to my (sleep deprived) eyes. When Elisa stands above the mercenaries who had just talked about kissing their salary goodbye, I knew I was seeing a moment like Demona's, way back in Awakenings, when she appears saying, "no, you lost it all.", but I didn't feel it in my gut. (I reserve the right to feel it in my gut when I reread issue 2 with issue 3 and hopefully that night do so before midnight.) There was one very clever composition, where the hammer light swoosh and sound effects swooped through 4 levels of frames on one page. Problem was, some of the sound effects seemed a little too even. The helicopter sounds were correctly all the same, but organic sounds looked that way too. (I checked and didn't see that in #1). Of course I did get to see a downright heroic Vinny and got NOT to see Castaway escaping through the guts of the building.

Oh- and speaking of animation gaffs in the original airing…did Goliath end the issue gliding off on his injured wing?!

thanks and looking forward to #3!

La

dph writes...

My Review of issue #2

The good:

Excellent story-telling. I liked the pace that the drama went through. I ordered my comic through SLG's website and got it before Christmas.

The bad:

The artwork. Granted that I'm not an artist and that I have no sense of color aesthetics, I have some issues with the artwork. The opening scenes with Macbeth remind me of looking at myself in the mirror when I'm half-awake. Lex doesn't quite look right in the scenes with Alex.

I am looking forward to buying the next issue when it is released.

Antiyonder writes...

Knew I was forgeting something. I figured I'd comment on the JLE/Captain Atom/Gargoyle Crossover.

I enjoyed all of the stories in JLA Showcase #1, but just the same, your story alone was worth the cover price. I'm just sorry I haven't stumbled onto it sooner.

Everything from Behemoth and clans Awakening, to the introductions is hilarious. My favorite line though:

Metamorpho- I thought he said they were an endangered species?

Captain Atom sure had his priorities straight alright. Anyway, I hope my commenting was ok.

Just a few questions considering others take on the issue.

1. Did you get any complaints for those who might not have appreciated the humorous nature of the parody?

2. Did Beth, Erin and Ben read it?

2a. If yes, what were their comments.

3. Have you considered doing a ramble on the story?

Charisma82 writes...

Hey again! Here's some questions about your comic book:

1. I have hear that you are planning on starting the comic books in the year you left off, in 1996. Are you going to speed up time somehow and make the comic book in our time? That's 10 (well, almost 11) years of stuff you have to fit into a few comics. I guess you could spread it out over a series of comic books. If you do that, how would you tackle that problem? That's asking in case you do move them forward, you might decide to keep the time stream back in the 90's, but that could get confusing to people who are just starting to read the comics and never saw the show. Anyways, if you could shed some light on that subject, it would be appreciated.

2. I purchased the first comic book online at amazon.com (I love that place!) I pre-ordered the second comic book sometime back in August. Amazon kept sending me e-mails each month since that time, telling me that the book still was not out yet. Finally, in December, it told me that they could not send me that comic book. What!? I was wondering if this was because you didn't have it out yet or if they are just not selling them on Amazon anymore. That would be stupid if they are not. Also, why is it taking so long to get the 2nd one out? I thought they were supposed to be a bi-monthly thing? Did something go wrong? Just curious.

Thank you for your time and efforts. They are appreciated.

-Charisma82

Charisma82 writes...

Hey! It's great Ask Greg is up again. Well, I waited 2 years for 2 posts I made to be answered. The first one somehow got erased 1 month before you could answer it. ONE MONTH! Can you believe it? I waited 2 years and it gets erased one month before? Ahh! I'm not saying it's your fault or anything. It's just annoying, that's all….

Here is the question that somehow never made it to you:

I've been wondering about Hudson's human friend Jeffrey

1. I know that in the Goliath Chronicles that Jeffrey figures out that Hudson is a gargoyle, and I wanted to know if you had the same idea for him (if he doesn't already know. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew Hudson was a gargoyle the first minute they met). If not, does Jeffery ever figure out what Hudson really is? Would he be comfortable with the fact his friend is really a gargoyle or not? (personally, I think that Jeffrey wouldn't mind, but you never know what the story has in hold for you).

2. Are you planning on having one of the comic book stories based mostly around Jeffrey and Hudson? (them not being just a side dish to Goliath, Elisa, and the trio's main course?)

3. Are we ever going to learn more about Jeffrey's personal life? Was he ever married? Did or does he have kids? Does he have any family around, like siblings?

I looked for anything on Jeffrey in your archives and only found 3 posts under his name. I know it'll be a while before you get this, so maybe he'll have more posts when you read this. If you hadn't noticed, Jeffery if one of my favorite characters on the show, even if he was only in 2 of the episodes that you worked on. He was great in the "Lighthouse" episode. I wish that he could get a little more attention.

Thanks for your time and hope to hear back from you.

-Charisma82