Harvester of Eyes writes...

GATHERING JOURNAL, PART ONE.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

This was probably the best Gathering I've been to so far. I missed seeing a couple of people at this one, but for the first time, I had someone to bring with me (who wasn't related to me): my girlfriend, Stephanie.
We woke up at 6:30, and actually left on time. The threat level at Richmond International was high, and I got randomly checked by security. And the plane seemed to leave in a hurry. Almost too quickly.
But the flight passed without incident, and we made the connecting flight without a problem. Only noteworthy incident was on the final approach to LAX, when we could see Mexico out the left side of the plane, and the United States out the right side. Also, my girlfriend and I sat next to a girl who was going to a World of Warcraft convention in Anaheim. Naturally, we told her all about where we were going.
Plane landed ahead of schedule, and from there, we had a fun walk to the baggage claim. Another pleasant surprise was that I did not expect it to be only 67 degrees when we stepped out of the airport. Of course, the string of good luck couldn’t last.
We found a cab who took us to a Wachovia, so that Steph could make a withdrawal, and from there, we hit traffic as soon as we got on the parkway. I spent most of that ride reading the novel I’d brought (Frank Herbert’s “Children of Dune”) so that I’d be distracted from watching the meter. Trips can never seem to go without incident.
When we arrived at the hotel and were checking in, we bumped into several con staffers who were walking past the front desk. Said hi to Greg X, but unfortunately, he couldn’t chat long, since we needed to get our stuff up to the room, and he was busy with staff duties.
Once up in the room, I grabbed a shower. And then Steph and I went hunting for sustenance, since they barely fed us anything on either flight, and the last real food I had was an egg sandwich that morning. We wound up at Saddle Ranch, one of the many overly tacky places that made up City Walk. The food was actually really good. I had the pan-seared Ahi tuna steak and a Newcastle Brown Ale.
After dinner, we walked down the hill to a liquor store that Steph saw on the cab ride over. The liquor store itself was misleading: looked ghetto on the outside, but inside they sold real champagne.
We bought some cheap liquor (I love how inexpensive it is out here) and trekked back up the hill to the hotel room. I made a note to myself not to make that hike for the rest of the weekend.
Once back in the hotel room, we cooled off, during which time Greg X showed up briefly before heading down to the staff dinner. But he left me his copy of the Bad Guys trade paperback to read, which had some nice surprises.
Hung out in the room after that, drank a few beers, and tried to find something on TV. Greg came back to the hotel room between 10 and 10:30, and we wound up hanging out and talking about the trade paperbacks and the fandom.
During this time, our fourth roommate, Karl, showed up. Steph was a good sport during all this, attempting to sleep while I continued to chat with the other roommates until we each nodded off a little after midnight.

Friday, August 21, 2009
Woke up around eight, and wanted to go downstairs for some continental breakfast. It was only after I got my food and sat down that I realized that it’s not complimentary. So a bowl of cornflakes, some cantaloupe, coffee, and a croissant wound up costing fifteen bucks. Good canteloupe, though.
Went back up to the room after eating to shower and shave before the registration table opened. After Steph had gotten ready, we went downstairs to the fourth floor to pick up our stuff. We mingled with a few con-goers, and I got the last sign-up spot for the Greg Weisman Mug-a-Guest.
Had some time to kill before the mug, so Steph and I looked over the convention schedule while chatting with Blaise (who I hadn’t met before, but knew from Station 8) and a Fan. Fan kept trying to trade me stuff from past Gatherings.
Greg’s mug-a-guest was fun, even though we didn’t deviate from talking about “Gargoyles.” Although I did learn why the Cantina scene in "Star Wars" doesn't work. When the mug got out, I stopped in the Dealer’s Room to buy some Demona shirts (one for me, one for a friend) and a copy of the Bad Guys TPB. Had to wait a while for someone to bring a cashbox, but while we waited, me and other con-goers swapped retail job stories with Cindy Kinnard. She did a very good job keeping us entertained.
Eventually, I bought the goods and went upstairs to stash them in the room. After that, Steph and I went down to the lobby restaurant for some lunch. We wound up splitting a BBQ chicken pizza, which was very filling (we still had half left over when we were done). They also served rolls with a variety of spreads, one of which appeared to be pureed olives. Fantastic stuff.
After eating, I went up to Thom Adcox’s panel. Thom still seemed to remember me, for some reason, pointing at me after the panel had started and saying, “Hey, you!” As always, the panel itself was entertaining. I never get tired of listening to his anecdotes about the business. This year, he told a very interesting tale involving Ed Asner and a cup.
When the panel got out, I went up to the room to collect Steph, and then we went down to the ground floor for Opening Ceremonies. Which were delayed, so I killed time by chatting with Matt, Greg X, and Blaise about the comics.
Opening Ceremonies had a few bittersweet moments, including a very nice tribute to Gary Sperling, which was presented to his family. Also, Greg W showed all the Gargoyles promo reels because as he said, what the hell? It was the last Gathering. For some reason, the Ceremonies were shorter than they actually felt. After they got out, Steph and I went up to the room to change for dinner.
After we were both ready, we walked up to City Walk, and had a very nice sushi dinner at Wasabi’s. The food was good, but I was disappointed with the hot sake. Even after two rounds, I was barely buzzed. I must have had the wrong kind. Or maybe I should have gotten the large.
We also hit some stores on the way to Wasabi’s and back. We stopped in a comic store, where we were pleased to see that they were showing Gargoyles, S2 V1 on their TV (it was the episode “Leader of the Pack”). Steph checked the stores to see if they had any Deanna Troi figures (for the signing the next day), but sadly they didn’t. We also stopped in Hot Topic, where I bought an 8-Bit Nintendo shirt, and Steph bought a GIR notebook.
Greg and our fifth roommate, John, were both in the room when we got back. Had a few more drinks while we hung out, chatted about science fiction shows, and watched stand-up on Comedy Central. Finally nodded off a little after midnight.

Random Fan writes...

I'm kinda going on a question spree now that I have some down time and this is something else that poped into my head that I haven't seen yet. Are Brooklyn and Katana biologicly the same age when they meet?

Random Fan writes...

I know you hate biology questions, but I think this ones realatively painless, so you might not bite my head off. Of course you reserve the right to bite peoples heads as you see fit so I may be a little a head of my self hear. Any way I should stop rambleing and get to the question. From what you've revealed so far on gargoyle geneologies a pattern seems to emerge. it seems like you have a 1st gender 2nd gender 1st gender pattern on couples eggs, of course I'm probably just reading to much into what little you've reaveled on the subject but it bugs me now and I'm hopeing you ,oh master of the garg universe,could confirm or denie, or at least have some comment that would put my thought to rest. thanks for the consideration and sorry for misspellings

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Quick couple of comments on the recent graphic novels...

It was such a pleasure to read new material and emerse again in the world of gargoyles. I hope we get a chance to do so again quite soon.

Clan Building-
Loved the Star Wars homage cover

I was a little confused by the events with the stone. The explanation helped, but I still liked it.

There is a thread on the Girl-Wonder forums about female characters who look fantastic and none sexualized. Coco met with approval. I'd have to go back and check, but I believe the word was "awesome" :)

I found it odd that the Rosetta Stone was included among the list of stones. Are there legends about the stone? I thought it was just the one in the British Museum. Absolutely loved the "Hey" "Hey" between the stone and grail.

Also surprised by the "Bugger Off". Isn't that rather obscene in the UK? I know the intent to keep the comics as all age friendly as the cartoon has slipped a bit. (Strangely the hand being cut off flew by me (no pun intended). Dingo's mother's death shocked me.) But a substitution phrase would be easier that replacing events. (Of course I am blanking on such a phrase at the moment...unless Sod Off is a smidge more polite. Drop Dead doen't sound particularly British.)

Loved the Timedancer part. Had you always intended to start Time Dancer so soon? Had the cartoon continued on air, would Brooklyn have gone and returned season 3 or did it come sooner in response to the new medium. In general did any events move up for the comics?

I know I am in a minority, but I didn't love the art at the end. It's probably just a question of personal taste. The line was more detailed, but the distortions less to my taste. I've heard some say it looked a little more anime looking, and that only sometimes appeals to me.

The relationship between Gilcomgain and the king was wonderfully creepy.

I would have thought Bodhe to be older than Gilcomgain.

Odd.. in the Gargoyles universe it seems sparing a child's life comes back to haunt you. Bodhe's father did it, Macbeth did it, death, war and heartbreak follow.

As whenever we go back in time in these stories, there is a bittersweetness to it. Most, and most probably all, of the gargoyles we meet will be murdered in the next few years. Especially when we see child gargoyles. (I think, though not prominant, one of the gargoyles we saw smashed was a child.)

"Call me Gnash" :)
"Egwardo" :)!
(I don't remember knowing that was coming, but I may just have missed it.)

Bad Guys
Already mentioned, the murder of Dingo's mother shocked me. As did Tasha's suicide earlier, (though I could see how that might have been finageled into the cartoon). Similarly, when I read over the begining of the trade I realized that we had briefly met Tasha and the others as humans. Even in that little bit it made it all the more poignant. A little thing I noted aside from all the big things others have already noted was how the aligator thug was instinctively hugging and holding the little girl to comfort her. Not just the guy with a gun we met before.

I'm a little tight for time, so I'll just say I really enjoyed it and I felt it was very successful in setting up a new series. Yes it is connected, but in the back of my mind I was expecting it to just be an extension of Gargoyles- a way to see more of that universe and extend the stories we were seeing. Instead this is its own story, in that universe, but its own.

Random Fan writes...

I have asked this qustion before but I think since I wrote it in conjuction with 2 other qustions that may not have been on the same topic I'll be on the safe side and ask them again seperately. in 2002 it says something like "Lexington continues on his journey" would you mind telling us what that journey is, and if not would you please?

Random Fan writes...

Hey there again. I have'nt found this so I'm asking. Is Demona so emotionaly attached to Angeala because shes HER daughter or because shes one of her rookery children. It seems like she values the biologic conection, and if thats true then it seems like a hipocrocy to be so bent on the "true" gargoyle and then do something so human, but thats just my misguided oppinion. If you could do something to guide it that would be most helpfull, thanks.

Balron writes...

Are you a MARVEL or a DC?
And even if you aren't one or the other, did you like the movie "Watchmen?"
Was that particular comic book any good inspiration on the works you have done in this decade? And if so, who was a favorite character of yours from that particular story?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Greetings Greg,

I have a few questions for you about the Third Race and language. Since the TV show never depicted non-English languages for technical reasons, and Avalon apparently translates in some way when it sends visitors to the mortal world, I do not assume that what sounds like English is necessarily English.

1. What language(s) do the Children of Oberon speak amongst themselves on Avalon? Do they speak a language (or languages) of their own there, or do they speak only human languages?
2. Do the Third Race have any languages of their own?
3. Did the Third Race ever have any languages of their own?

Thank you once again for answering fan questions!

FidoPaws writes...

What inspired you or what ideas came to mind when designing Katana? or did you (as in, was an art director/Greg Guler in charge of her design?)

also, I wanted to ask, as smart as Brooklyn is I doubt he's very fluent in Japanese. I recall (mistake me if I'm wrong) that the Phoenix Gate allows for translations (the reason Goliath, Angela and Elisa could understand people during the World Tour). Would the same standards apply for Brooklyn when me meets Katana and her clan?

DYlan Grant writes...

Hello, Greg!

I was wondering in that episode where spidey's villains escape from that prison, I saw most of them there except for one! Where was Dr. Octopus? Was he still in that prison "The Vault" or not? You included Ox, Molten Man, Sandman, Mysterio, but DR. OCTOPUS was missing. Also, what do you intend to do with Doctor OCtopus in the future?

Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...

Please ignore this if it is a double posting. There was a paragraph I'm afraid my be flagged as an original idea. That isn't my intent, (and frankly, it wouldn't be a particulay original idea on my part), so I'm posting a slight altered version of the post (also fixed some typos;)-

More on Spidy, two slightly negative comments:

1- Mysterio's little 'gargoyles'. (I know they are homocu..., er, can't spell it.) Are they a direct lift from the comics? I know they are supposed to be funny, but giving them little personality type quips, generally right before they get destroyed, irks me. If they are autonotoms and get destroyed, (like Steel Clan robots) I'm fine with that. If they know enough to think 'oh crap!' before smashing into the wall, it is a little disturbing.

(Please correct me if I am wrong about each appearence being an entirely new homocu..er.. thing that looks like a mini gargoyle.)

2-I know you've defended this in the past, but I still don't see the Venom transition. When he first showed up I remember thinking, "How fantastic, he is destined to become this nasty personal villain, and yet he's such a fantastic stand up friend now!" It's not that I don't buy the transition could happen. And after the transition he is a great villain. But it seemed too sudden and out of the blue.

Your comments on the scene he took MJ on the motercycle helped a bit, but not completely. I was incorrectly reading it he was trying to kill her and not just being an ****. With that correction I think I can sum up my problem with the moment in that scene where he runs a red light. Running the red light and living dangerously to scare MJ makes sense. Almost running over the old lady in the crosswalk was too soon in his development.

Being nasty to Peter with his anger amped up by the symbiote makes sense. Like trying to scare the girl Peter seems to like. Jumping from that to nearly killing Gwen in the space of one episode... too soon. Gwen was his friend too, a close friend. I would have expected a transition period when he may be increasingly vicious going after Peter but rationalizing putting others he once cared about in danger.

IMHO

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Sneaking in a question or two at work lest I start falling far behind again. I apologize if I overlap anything already asked, I've been trying to avoid Spiderman spoilers. I have a stack of set aside responses for after the rest of the season airs. (Though I wonder if I should have bothered; what I didn't pick up just skimming I probably read checking the 'waiting to be asked' que. Oh well...)

First- Love the show.

I did have that first reaction to still art some did thinking it looked a little young, but between prioritizing fluidity of motion for the web slinger on the one side, and not getting that overly static look from being too faithful to the comic art on the other, I am completely won over.

Also, I am not terribly well versed in Spidy lore. (It's too expensive to get hooked on two major comic universes and I started on DC first.) Despite not getting all the references, the deference shown to the history, right down to mining the comics with the intent of not creating a single new character, really shows. Very impressive.

Second-
I thought it was particularly classy to post the credits of the episodes because they went by too quickly to be seen on screen. I assume people like working with you because they know they are not taken for granted. (Just like changing the "Staring..." in the opening credits shows respect to the characters. Love that.) I do wonder -

1- If each episode is written by a particular person or team, what do the staff writers do?
2-If you already have a voice director, what does 'casting' do? Or does the voice director not choose talent too? (I think this question was more involved when I scribbled it on my note sheet months ago, but I didn't write out the details and no longer remember.)
3- How did Cheeks Galloway end up with that nickname? I took a glance at his website and saw his autobigraphy is named "Cheeks Unclenched" Much mirth followed.

Drew Middlemas writes...

Hullo, just wanted to say first of all that I enjoyed Clan Building and Bad Guys immensely, and I hope that someday we get to see more Gargoyles stories being told.

Anyway, I have a question that I suppose loosely connects to the 2198 spin-off (I'm not sure if this has already been asked; I couldn't find it on the archives). What would happen to a gargoyle if they were ever up in space? Since technically there's no day or night in space, how would that affect them?

Thanks in advance, and wishing you all the best with your future projects.

Gargoyleslady writes...

Hi Greg! I have a question about the Manhattan Clan. I know this took place in Colorado but... what would the Clan's reaction be to the Columbine High School shootings in 1999? I imagine Broadway or Hudson would have read about it in the New York Times. Thanks for your time.

Intergalactic Celestia Leader Galaxia Lightyear writes...

Hello. I have a very curious question. If you ever do Gargoyles again, would you plan to have certain Disney or different Special Guest Character(s) in the show? If so, what show/game would you think can join the Gargoyles for a short time?

Or if you plan to have a new character for the Gargoyles series, yet you are having trouble thinking of one, would you ask you Fans to draw or think about a new character for the series? If so, you can ask me. ^_^

Paul Zimmerle writes...

Why do the Gargoyles never upgrade their equipment with the changing times?
I understand from the archives that Hudson uses his to make up for his age, but, despite the number of times their stony rears were handed to them by technologically/magically superior foes, they never seem to try to even the playing field. Tradition is one thing, but I'm reminded of the famous Churchill quote on the subject of a major overhaul of British naval technology: "The traditions of the Navy are rum, the lash, and sodomy."

Thorgrimur writes...

Is the Director of the Redemption Squad aware of Matt Bluestone's long quest to expose the Illuminati? If so, does he know that Matt has already penitrated their ranks?

SpiderFan89 writes...

Hi, Greg. Two Spidey questions:
1) Since Norman stole Toomes' tech flight technology, did he used it to create the Goblin glider?
2) Do you have plans for Peter's parents?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

One last question before bed....

From what little we've seen, it seems that Brooklyn and Katana are parents, not just rookery parents. (All those years with just each other would make it seem inevitable. There are no rookery siblings or other parents.) You wrote that Broadway and Angela ~choose~ to raise their children in the gargoyle style. So...

1. Are there currently any clans who have adopted human parenting, like they adopted human naming? Will there be by the future series?

2. Even those choosing to raise children collectively, are their strong human influences to that thought? (For instance, noting a rookery child looks like you.)

3. Am I correct in my assumption that Brooklyn and Katana are more like human parents in that respect?

4. It has been strongly implied that Elisa and Goliath will in some way adopt. Should they raise a child, would it be as individual or collective parents?

More later, (when I can hopefully decipher my handwriting).

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Loved the trades, loved the single issues. Assuming that more stories will be published, (and I certainly hope so), is there any thought to releasing trades the size if the original art?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

In you today in Gargoyle History entries you wrote, "Rosario Sanchez & Peter Choy save 5 year old" in 1995. You also answered they'll show up later. How about the child? Is that child a boy or a girl?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Do Gargates nurse? I think that egg laying mammals nurse, so it isn't inconceivable. Why else evolve to have breats? (Though I vaguely remember something about Duck Billed Platapai sweating milk.)

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

I was sure this was in the archive, but when I checked I couldn't find it. The clones coloring is different because of the forced maturation process. Is that also why Thailog's eyes glow red instead of white.

(I could've sworn I remembered you answering it, but when I looked to confirm the answer, even going into the Thailog section and manually searching for 'red' turned up nothing.)

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

It's been ages since I posted a question. Aside from suggesting Ed Asner as a candidate to write an intro to one of the trades, it may have been years. It's not that I haven't been reading, nor that I haven't had questions, but I fell way behind and couldn't post till I caught up.

First of many questions....I guess I'll start with the one that comes to mind connected to the main reason I fell so far behind in the first place; an adorable, now one year old, time hog.

Years back I read Viewing Violence after it was suggested on this site. I commented how it was ironic that the author praised Gargoyles, (and ~very~ few other shows), to high heaven for, among other things, its clear depiction of consequence; Broadway plays with a gun, Elisa is shot -ELISA IS STILL ON CRUTCHES THE NEXT EPISODE, and yet she placed it, and all cartoons, in the chapter about the age before children have a sense of long term consequence. Having the good guys win in the end doesn't excuse bad behavior earlier when children won't make the connection. The next chapter follows children old enough to deal with complex plots and long term ramifications - her praises of Gargoyles to a T.

So my question is this: What is the youngest age you would recommend starting a new fan? (Of course ignoring the fact my little girl is an absolute genius, who will most probably finish all Shakespeare before kindergarten- I'm not looking forward to explaining the bloodier ones;)