Slan writes...

I picked up the comic today at my local shop. I couldn't find it for the life of me, but luckily my boyfriend was able to spot it. First comic book I've bought in the last 14 years! (I'm usually a manga woman)

My impressions:

The story was largely a word-for-word repeat of "The Journey". While it would have been nice to have some new material, I understand perfectly why it started there and didn't really mind the re-cap.

The cover art was really nice; it was odd but cute how Angela's outfit looked like Demona's. Nice thick cover too.

The inside art I had a lot of problems with. There were some decent panels, but it was really inconsistent and a lot of it looked just plain bad. In some spots it seemed as if the artist really hadn't taken the time to finish the art properly. I don't have a problem with the characters being restyled, this is a different meaning, but there's good restyling and bad restyling. I can't really say any character was restyled well.

Major issues with the art:
1. Many of the characters were stripped of what made them look dynamic. I would point out Castaway and Vinnie in particular. Xanatos looked like he had one too many in every frame he was in.

2. Goliath looked odd in many frames and the black outline of the shadows on his face and body looked terrible.

3. Elisa was very inconsistent and a few bad panels in particular are the one when Goliath first turns to stone. (It looks like the artist didn't even try in that one, I probably could have drawn it better and I'm not particularly high on the drawing talent scale) and the first panel of her in her dress (In which she disturbingly sports Pamela Anderson breasts and Lara Flynn Boyle arms *shudder*)

4. Matt, especially when he's with Capt. Chavez. What the heck happened to his face?! Matt is a favourite character for me too...

5. Lots of scruffy unneeded lines and hand and leg problems.

6. Brooklyn with wings in his armpits?! C'mon!

So, will I buy the next issue? Sure I will! (cross fingers art will improve) The problem is I'm not going to be able to convince anyone I know, previous knowledge of Gargoyles or not, to purchase something with such bad art. In fact, I was at the comic shop with friends, later at one friend's house we reviewed what we had purchased. Those who flipped through my Gargoyles comic (Most were at least moderate fans of the show) were interested in the story, but were pretty turned off by the artwork. No one in the group declared they wanted a copy of their own.

I really hope the comics continue, but unless the artwork improves, I think it will be hard to entice anyone beyond the diehards to buy.

Good luck to you, and thanks for the comic. I may gripe a lot about the art but I really would like to see you able to write more Gargoyles stories.