Ed writes...

Hi Greg,

Since GARGOYLES came back, nobody has yet posted a ramble to Ask Greg as far as I can see and I'm not even sure if you're still looking for them - particularly with the queue so long. But hopefully it is, at least, nice to vicariously share someone discovering GARGOYLES #1. (And if not, since we could be years and many rambles hence by the time you get to this one... oops).

So here, adapted from my S8 first impressions, is my ramble...

NIGHTWATCH

Amazon have annoyed me since they took over ComiXology but I can't fault them here. Getting to my local comic shop before they close at 5.30 is tight on a Wednesday but Amazon delivering the book to my account so early is absolutely perfect for me. I can take a moment in the peace to read before the chaos of the day begins. It just makes for such a pleasant experience.

I also find e-comics my favourite way to read. I can zoom in, the backlit screen makes everything look good but George Kambadais' amazing art particularly benefits.

TEENAGE KICKS

What caught my attention on the preview images was the "all-ages" label. I see it's been adjusted to "teen".

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I thought what the SLG series did with the little extra leeway was great, especially in the historical scenes.

That said, I was thinking if it was pushing to stay all-ages I might bring some issues into school for my class. I'm glad the rating has been clarified.

(Since writing this, I listened to VOICES FROM THE EYRIE #27 and it sounds like this book won't quite be as edgy as the SLG books so we'll see).

INSIDE COVER

Great stone aesthetic although I miss the punctuation. I guess new-fangled concepts like punctuation doesn't fit the old-school carved-in-stone look.

I've never heard the term "packager" before in comics and I'm grateful to Craig in the Comment Room for filling me in. Nate, from what I can tell, is doing an absolutely bang-up job of promoting the book.

CITY LIGHTS

I'm really in love with George Kambadais' colours. He does brightness so well. The lens flare is a difficult line to tread - one wrong move and he's JJ Abrams. But he manages it. Dark Age Scotland is given a genuinely fresh perspective with that bright sun on the sea and New York looks glorious. And he is master of the speed line.

The gargoyles all look themselves and yet also there's a real flair to the style. He's just such a great choice to make the book feel completely different and yet still quality.

(Which doesn't mean I still don't want to see the legends Christopher Jones, Karine Charlebois and Greg Guler back in the fold when the opportunity presents. Let's hope those spin-offs awaken as well...)

MOONLIGHTING

Of course it's a full moon. But since this is Gargoyles, it's also probably a trail of breadcrumbs to the actual date - or would be if we could pinpoint how far along Maggie was in "Clan-Building". Based on the moon calendar, my guesses were 20 April or 22 May.

Although I'm really curious to see those initial conversations with Brooklyn immediately post-dance and I kind of hope that one day we revisit that day, I do like that we've had a modest time jump. Small enough that it doesn't feel like we're catching up with radically different people which sometimes I feel can be the risk of a time jump - that you're arbitrarily distanced from the characters and have to rediscover them. But large enough that it feels like a great jump-on point.

DETECTIVE'S PERSONAL LOG

I absolutely love the choice to use Elisa as the POV character. Not only is it brilliant hearing the classic narration in Salli Richardson's voice (okay, only in my head, but still), but it feels fresh and yet also like such low-hanging fruit as the human lead is usually the access point to these kinds of shows - April discovering the turtles or the companion discovering the Doctor. In retrospect, 'Gargoyles' really stood apart in this sense -- it was always the story of the gargoyles and Elisa was, initially at least, just another threat to them. That worked brilliantly for the animated series but it makes this flip feel fresh and yet accessible in the best way.

Another VOICES revelation is that there will be different narrators for the next quite-a-few issues. Will be interesting.

TITLE TALK

Okay, a confession. I LOVE the original show's way of presenting titles. There's something about the font, the colour (including the "Hunter's Moon" variants), the use of capitals and inverted commas that's kind of ingrained in me - I just think the show had the best-looking titles in town. But I appreciate there's no sensible reason to resurrect them and frankly this feels much more fresh and modern and, as titles should be, low key. Also, some of the "Clan-Building" titles had an odd distortion where it looks like the aspect ratio had gone skew-whiff. This looks crisp and great.

There's no secret about Greg's penchant for one-word titles (in which I'm including where the only other word is "the").

At a very (very) quick tot counting chapter titles and books:
Season 1 was 40% one-worders
Season 2 was 64% one-worders
Season 3 85% one-worders

In Season 4, so far: 0% one-worders. What's happened to Greg?! (I love "Here in Manhattan" as a title mind you).

LETTER OF THE LORE

Shout out to Jeff Eckleberry. Lettering is thankless if you do it right and disastrous if it goes wrong. There were a couple of times on the SLG book where it stood out for the wrong reasons (at least in my printings). This issue is perfect -- even though there are a few tricky things to pull off like the Eyrie building panel with two different narrators. And I'm not sure outline-less captions always work for me as a general rule but it suits the art in this issue really well. Superb job.

GNASH

If it's been months I kinda feel bad for Gnash if people are misnaming him. Perhaps his parents prefer Nashville (sentimental reasons?). You'd think Lex would have learned after the Angie thing and a few months is plenty of time for him to get used to a new name. Neither of them look happy at being left by Broadway and Brooklyn.

Lots of subtle revelations here. Gnash has seemingly spent a fair bit of time recently in the UK - or around people who use that slang. Or perhaps just around people who like the sixth 'Harry Potter'. And we have confirmation (I'm not sure it was in "Clan-Building" that Katana is from feudal Japan). I love the "don't ask".

SISTER ACT

It's interesting that Elisa considers them sisters since she is effectively Angela's step-mother. And to be honest, even on the World Tour, I kind of looked at them more of a family unit. Of course, Elisa's a relatively young woman so she's not going to think of herself as a mother figure to an adult conceived a thousand years plus years ago. But I wonder if Angela would see it the same way.

SPINNING PLATES

Owen is just kinda standing there. It's great to see him but he's literally just holding an empty plate and staring. I feel like I'm missing something really obvious...? (It's later been clarified by more eagle-eyed Phoenician in the S8 CR).

THUG LIFE

Great to see Glasses and Jack Dane. Good thing I rewatched "Turf" recently for the first time in years as I forgot Jack Dane had partnered with Brod.

"We made them share a cell because we thought it'd be funny" - does Elisa have any control over prisoner placement?

YOU WERE ONLY MEANT TO BLOW THE BLOODY DOORS OFF

Apparently the book was too exciting because the middle pages of the comic fell out of their staples as soon as I got there. A bit disappointing - I've never had that happen with a new comic before and if it were my first read-through I'd be a bit more taken out of it.

Since then, someone else in the room has reported an issue with the Nakayama copy and the stapling. However, I bought a second Nakayama copy and the inside pages are fine, and the other copies I have are fine too.

The covers are incredible. In any other situation, I'd feel this kind of thing is a bit of a rip-off but in the case of 'Gargoyles' where the breadth of fan interest has, historically, not always been there but the depth certainly has, giving fans a value reason to buy multiple copies just makes sense. I'm not able to support (or frankly, even locate) all of these but my favourite is George Kambadais'. I do like it when there's cohesion between the cover art and the interiors but also it's just a great image. However, the Nakayama and Fleeks variants are runners-up.

STONE COLD

I wasn't sure how Coldstone and Coldfire would go down as we've really seen very little of them as characters outside their Othello/Desdemona/Iago plotline. I like how Coldstone is willing to advocate the "wrong" (or at least the selfish) choice. And Coldfire is more sympathetic but as far as I can tell is responsible for the fire and thus potentially the civilian casualty (who we've since realised is our beloved Jogger - and Todd ID'd the paramedics as from "Deadly Force" which is the deepest of deep cuts. Anyway, it makes me concerned whether or not the Coldduo are really cut out for the kind of work the gargoyles do. Hmm.

I think Coldstone will be proved right though: there is a problem if the gargoyles are only seen by the "bad guys" and don't have any wider representation. I wonder where this will go and I feel like this could have a bigger resonance across the "Here in Manhattan" arc.

BACK TO THE BACKSTORY

I love the way the recap narration here keeps us in the action. This was one of the things that jangled me a bit with previous recaps in Clan-Building #1, #3 and back in the original show in episodes like "Outfoxed" and "The Cage". In "Nightwatch" especially it felt like Goliath telling Elisa something she already knew so the audience could listen in. This feels so much more elegant.

Plus, it's just never as exciting seeing something the second time around. There's no need here to see a Sevarius flashback for the purposes of this issue so we get to see Brendan and Margot instead because... well, of course we do! (Seriously, I got so distracted by the pair of them I missed that this sequence was about the drain at first).

And more cameos - love seeing Erin, Benny and Thug in colour! And always great to see Shari back. (It must be a little weird for the real Erin and Benny that their 'mutate selves' are still, give or take, the same age as they were when they first 'debuted').

QUIET PLEASE FOR THE MAIN EVENT

One of the clever by-products of Elisa narrating the story is that the tone shifts when it goes "quiet" and we're not in her head. Thailog doesn't need an introduction or a name - he's totally the bad guy. And yet the re-use of the close-up mouth angle just emphasises he's a clone.

Thailog's final lines are pretty chilling but I wonder if there's something else happening. I just can't imagine Thailog taking to the languid pace of raising a child. Surely the accelerated pace of clone ageing is more his speed? Yes, a child born to mutates is significant, but he has the mutates' designer almost literally on his right hand. Is it just the link to Elisa that makes him want this specific child? Or is this a distraction? What a bastard.

CLIFF-LOUNGING

No mega cliffhanger for this one - not on the final page anyway. That's fine. I really love how this is kind of a chill issue, just surveying the lay of the land.

9.09% BIGGER!

I admit, I never expected this one to be 24 pages, even though the SLG books were. 22 or even 20 seems to have been such a standard for a long time (admittedly I don't currently read any other comics regularly). I am, of course, delighted.

All told -- I love it. Yes, it's very heavy on introductions but it never feels clogged with it. Everything moves along at a nice pace, we get to see where the clan and key allies are at this point in their lives. Everything feels fresh and modern and accessible. The art is amazing. The dialogue is great.

It pulls off the incredible feat of both feeling like the original series while also feeling like a modern regeneration of it. Just stunning.

Thank you to everyone involved, congratulations Greg and fingers crossed that this is the start of a truly epic reawakening.