A happy belated birthday, Fedora Matthew! Always fun to have a new issue drop on a birthday week :--)

For whatever reason, my comic shop did not have Demona #3 in my pull box, but fortunately, I was able to snag a handful of the last covers off the shelf (evidently the shop did not receive any of the Jae Lee and June Chung covers. Odd). Anyways, it was nice to see that the other copies of Gargoyles: Demona had already been sold, but I was irked that my small part to support the series by subscribing the series by pull box since I added it back in the spring was nullified this month. Oh well, spilt milk. Some random thoughts on this issue below:

[SPOILER] I always love Moon phases in Gargoyles.

Ever the greedy fan (and GargWiki editor), I'd like to know the specific name for the cathedral in Vyonne.

Like Craig, I looked up the calendar date for the Feast of Saint Castorius. I was doubly impressed that it fell in November, the only specific detail about the year 1138 from the "The Maker of Gargoyles". To think, the Feast Day for the patron saint of sculptors hits the right time of the month and year this story takes place. It's an incredible coincidence that I'm happy Greg Weisman came across, and it makes me wonder if Clark Ashton Smith also knew.

I enjoy that Angelika's still rocking the double swords and she's wearing her locket. Bangs are also a fun look that's shifts the character model subtly from her teenage to early adult years.

Clans in France before the 12th Century. May we be lucky enough to see stories about them in a future (past) story. At the least, a fun reminder that Demona and Thailog haunt Paris in the 1990s and we'll have a Notre Dame Clan sometime after 2198.

Demona's "What is that supposed to mean?" in response to Angelika's comment is probably the most Marina Sirtis-sounding line I've felt from all of Demona's appearances in the comics so far. The look on her face just speaks volumes of the forty-five years she's spent with Angelika. We're not far from the span of time she would have spent knowing her own rookery siblings (938-994).

Like Matt, I was expecting a cameo of the Praying Gargoyle, and scanned the panels several times looking for it. Frankly, I still consider it a viable candidate, given what we know of its capabiliies in "The Last", but I can respect that such an easter egg might have impacted the tone of the issue. At the least, Demona being familiar with such magicks is definitely a story for another day.

Reynard's death was definitely spot-on to the original story, and yes it also qualifies as a Disney Death, but I couldn't help but be reminded of Judge Frollo's death at the end of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Probably with the panel was framed.

Unfortunately, this "alliance" between Reynard and Demona & Angelika was largely over as soon as it began. Had Reynard's demons (inner and magically manifested) had not been so swiftly destructive, I'm curious to think how their dynamic might have played out. [/SPOILER]

Until next issue! [SPOILER] Especially because it looks like, yes as a matter of fact, we CAN go back to Constantinople, They Might Be Giants [/SPOILER] d:
Phoenician
Gus: "I always forget you're there." Hooty: "I forget I'm here toooooo."
posted @ Thu, Sep 11, 2025 2:30:11 am EDT from 68.2.64.232

I had a chance to read Demona #3, and enjoyed it immensely, as I have all the issues of this series so far.

[SPOILER]
The prior two chapters had titles which are common aphorisms (or parts of them). They also both began with the letter "F." Chapter 3 has another "F" title, but I'm not familiar with the phrase, "For not everything with wings" (there are only two Google hits for the phrase, one of which is the Reddit discussion thread posted today about this issue). I'm guessing the full phrase is supposed to be something along the lines of, "not everything with wings can fly"?

Frank and Robby REALLY outdid themselves on this one. They just keep topping their prior work with every issue. Terrific, moody, gothic tone throughout. And I love when Greg lets the art do the talking, like on the first two pages. Absolutely stunning work.

Love that we start on the typical Gargoyles full moon, but then the phases of the moon are used as a visual cue to show the passage of time. Terrific device there by Greg.

On that first page, Reynard appears to be dreaming about carving his wife Heloise's name on a tombstone! A premonition? A wish?

The main events of the story take place on November 8, the Feast Day of St. Castorius.

As others have noted, Angelika really comes into focus here. Her relationship with Demona feels very lived-in at this point, and it's wonderful seeing her call Demona out on her stubbornness and hypocrisy.

I was unfamiliar with the Clark Ashton Smith story before it was brought up in this comment room back in May. I don't believe we've previously gotten a Gargoyles story so closely adapted from a work of fiction before. I'm not sure if the story is in the public domain, but I'm sure Greg (and Disney) did their due diligence and made sure it was, or else reached out to Smith's estate (and obviously, Smith receives an "inspired by" credit).

It's interesting to see where Greg departs from Smith's story. The most major departure is giving Reynard a wife and son, whereas in the story he seems to be unwed. The practical reason for this was presumably because Greg wanted to make clear that Reynard leaves a lineage behind after his death, since we all pretty much assume that Halcyon is his descendant. What's interesting, though, is that Greg remains faithful to Reynard's infatuation with Nicolette from the story (albeit somewhat downplayed). The result is that Greg's change actually makes the story racier, since Reynard is now a married man desiring another woman! Reynard's son is very cute (and clearly a talented chip off the old block, pun intended), while the wife receives a pretty surface-level shrewish characterization in her brief appearances.

As Matthew has already noted, Reynard's character is somewhat softened by Greg, with his seething bitterness and resentment being downplayed a bit (although still clearly present, just further below the surface). He also becomes a much more active participant, actually being cognizant of his sorcery, whereas in the story he seems to only subconsciously place his anger and lust in the gargoyles.

Nicolette seems much kinder to Reynard than she is in Smith's story, but is faithfully rendered by the artists as described in the story (right down to the apple-green dress).

Reynard's stone-carver competitor is unseen and unnamed in Smith's story; Greg conflates this figure with Gerome Mazzal, who in the story is a cooper. Likewise, Guillaume Maspier in the story is a clothier; Greg turns him into a prominent city councilman who revoked Reynard's commission. By giving Reynard specific grievances against these men (the Grimalkin's first two victims), Greg makes the revenge story more personal, as opposed to Reynard's blind (albeit somewhat understandable) rage at the entire town in Smith's story. Also, Maspier survives the attack in Smith's story; conversely, Jean Villom and Raoul Coupain both die in the original story, whereas Greg allows them to live.

Greg and the artists faithfully depict one of the most cinematic, striking images from Smith's story: the Satyre bursting through the tavern window. And a terrifying sequence it is too, with the Satyre's intentions made pretty clear through its lecherous grin, its single-minded focus on Nicolette, and Nicolette's torn dress. For all the talk (a lot of it from me) about Disney being particularly censorial lately, this issue does not skimp at all on brutal violence and implied sexual assault. It's all done tastefully, in keeping with the book's "TEEN" rating. But it's all clearly there on the page, and I was pretty (pleasantly) surprised that Disney gave the stamp of approval. Greg was not kidding when he called this a horror story.

That said, we do get a classic "Disney death," with Reynard falling to his doom. :) That comes directly from Smith's story, of course.

This is another really wonderful addition to the canon, and one that I look forward to revisiting many times, especially with Halloween approaching, given the story's dark spooky tone.
[/SPOILER]

Also, much thanks to Gorebash for his swift response in sorting out the issue that was blocking my post.
Craig
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 4:32:55 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

Craig: the filter you're hitting is looking for words typically used in derogatory comments. This filter isn't looking for just whole words, part of a word you're using could be one of the whole words in the filter. looking at the list, i think it'd be obvious if you look closely, but if you e-mail me at s8org.contact at gmail.com with your whole comment i'll point out exactly what's causing the filter to block it.
Gorebash
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 3:44:38 pm EDT from 204.144.15.9

Well, I've removed every potentially offending word I can possibly imagine, and I'm still getting the same notification. I'll have to try again another time.
Craig
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 3:30:28 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

I attempted to post my thoughts on Demona #3, but my submission was refused, with the notification, "Constructive comments only." I'm wondering if perhaps some word I used in my review was flagged by the site, given this issue's subject matter. If this post goes through, I'll try to edit the review and resubmit.
Craig
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 3:09:51 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

Good morning! As usual, I stayed up late to catch the digital release. Did a quick read before passing out. Read it again this morning and I have a few thoughts:

[SPOILER] -The opening pages are interested. Mostly without dialogue. And certainly you get more out of it on the second read through. I read the short story this is all based on a couple months ago and look forward to reading it again after seeing this chapter. The magic is very subtle here. But it feels like Raynard is pouring his grief, his hatred, and his lust into his work. Not to mention his sweat and blood. Is this a wordless spell that he is casting? Demona later appears to be familiar with the spell and I'm curious how. Did she see it or something similiar to it in the Grimorum? I suppose in some ways it is like the spell used to revive Coldstone, though obviously the results are much more like the spell used to awaken the Golem.

- I like Demona using the cathedral to "hide in plain sight" and her thoughts on humans decorating their structures with gargoyles. I don't think this has ever been so directly addressed. Sure, we've seen lots of stone gargoyles in the past, but never really heard the living gargoyles thoughts on these statues. Meanwhile, throughout the chapter we have Angelika really finding her voice. Like she tells Demona later, she's not a child anymore. She has her own thoughts and feelings and seems to already be calling her mother out on some of her eccentricities and prejudices. I love all of that a lot.

- Raynard's son is fairly skilled for his age. That's a good statuette of Demona. These men are clearly the ancestors of Halcyon and Fox. Sounds like integrity was already a family maxim, or perhaps we are seeing the roots of it here. Raynard's wife seems just lovely...

- This is as good of place as any to mention that I was convinced that the Praying Gargoyle would make an appearance in this chapter as the relic that awakened the stone gargoyles, but it was not the case.

- Raynard is clever enough to put things together and deduce that the new gargoyles are more than chiseled stone. He's familiar enough with real gargoyles to know when they will awaken and has a lot of admiration for their kind. I was interested to hear that in his younger days, the skies teemed with gargoyles. I know we are not that far outside of the "Age of Gargoyles", but it seems like by 1138, sightings would've been rare indeed. Reynard appreciates and honors gargoyles which is nice. And Demona "Ally with a human? Never again." decides to make yet another agreement with a human. Even Angelika is a bit surprised. I suppose she was all too happy to join the fight against these gargoyle forgeries. Still, you'd think the idea that the stone gargoyles would attack and kill humans would appeal to her. I don't know, maybe I'm reading the whole thing wrong. In any case, I can see this experience giving her the idea for what to do in Paris 1920.

- The stone gargoyles themselves are very cool. Creepy. I like that one roars and one laughs. Very creepy. They seem to be entranced to carry out the secret wills of their creator. Reminds me of the Eye Of Odin in that they reveal their inner being. I like that Angelika is wise enough to see that they are how many humans see them: monstrous demonic murderers. She even expresses some reluctance in destroying them. Demona has no such restraint and doesn't hesitate to smash animated stone gargoyles with a hammer, though she is eager to leave the "cursed place" afterwards.

- Final thoughts: I enjoyed this story. And with repeated readings I'm enjoying it more and more. I suspect a re-read of the short story it is based on will bring even more appreciation for it. The writing is good and the art is nice. With all of that said, I feel this is my least favorite Gargoyles story in a while. That is fine, they can't all be my favorites. The horror genre has never been that interesting to me, so I'm sure that is part of it for me. I've always been into the world-building and interconnected story lines and gargoyle culture and biology stuff and this story doesn't have lots of that. It feels somewhat stand-alone, though perhaps my perspective will change with future reveals. At the least, I think the small shift in Angelika is important. [/SPOILER]

Great work Greg and Frank and Robby! I'm looking forward to #4 in 41.5 days!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 12:11:54 pm EDT from 204.184.178.1

Thank you for the birthday wishes and now on to Demona #3.

[SPOILER] This is an interesting one in that the story is centered around Blaise Reynard and his own personal demons rather than Demona and Angelika. It's also unique in that it draws from a different source of inspiration than Greg's usual well of sources, in this case the fictional town of Vyones from the Weird Tales of Clark Ashton Smith.

It was a pretty good idea to set this story in France, not just because of the etymological origin of gargoyles but because France has it's own unique history with horror, from the endless ghosts and spirits to the tales of loup-garou like the fabled Beast of Gevaudan. More than anything it shows how the flaws of humanity, both natural and supernatural, continue to feed Demona's hatred of humanity.

One thing I noticed was that unlike the story "The Maker of Gargoyles", Blaise is treated more sympathetically than his original counterpart who carries a foreboding and sullen nature whose dark, violent, and lustful desires soon become apparent for all who see. Here, his sculptures are treated more like the Monsters from the Id from Forbidden Planet, a terrible moment born from days and years of frustration and unhappiness given terrible form of the Satyre (another clever shoutout to Smith's story) and the grimalkin (a cat-like witch's familiar). And like Dr. Morbius he dies trying to deny his monsters.

What also stood out to me was the clever call-forwards in the story. I think we're all in agreement that Blaise is the ancestor to Halcyon Renard, especially since his son is named Martin Pecheur, the French name for the Kingfisher. And Blaise's failure to do the right thing reflects Halcyon's own troubles with keeping morals. The image of the lightning flash with the hammer echoes the Quarrymen and their own hammers and Demona ultimately destroying the stone creatures much like how humans killed her own people just demonstrates how self-destructive she's been towards herself and her own kind.

Fittingly she can recognize the curse of Reynard and of the town, but not her own. [/SPOILER]

Well that's all for now. Looking forward to issue #4.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
You're Gonna Carry That Weight
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 4:03:59 am EDT from 184.23.35.150

Happy birthday!
As well; 37 is not old!
Kate
posted @ Wed, Sep 10, 2025 12:32:01 am EDT from 208.102.156.56

Happy Birthday.
Antiyonder
posted @ Tue, Sep 9, 2025 8:43:16 pm EDT from 68.119.3.1

Happy birthday, Matthew!
Todd Jensen
posted @ Tue, Sep 9, 2025 9:16:54 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

Ha! Happy Birthday, Matthew!

I'll be up late tonight waiting for #3 to drop digitally. Always exciting. I assume we'll see some preview pages today some time.
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Tue, Sep 9, 2025 8:23:43 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

King Arthur: Old woman!
Me: Man.
King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that chat room over there?
Me: I'm 37.
King Arthur: What?
Me: I'm 37. I'm not old.

Had to make that reference for my birthday. Though I don't necessarily agree about the not old part.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
You're Gonna Carry That Weight
posted @ Tue, Sep 9, 2025 2:48:25 am EDT from 184.23.35.150

Third! I need to read Demona #2 still, I better get on that...
Kate
posted @ Mon, Sep 8, 2025 2:44:54 pm EDT from 208.102.156.56

MATT - So am I. (A few days ago, I reread Clark Ashton Smith's "The Maker of Gargoyles" in preparation for its release; as I've mentioned here before, I strongly suspect from the evidence that it was a major inspiration for the upcoming issue. It's a dark story, but impressively written, particularly its medieval setting.)
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Sep 8, 2025 8:43:04 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

First! Looking forward to Demona #3 this week!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Mon, Sep 8, 2025 8:17:10 am EDT from 204.184.178.1