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posted @ Sun, Apr 6, 2025 3:18:12 pm EDT from 136.158.100.127

MATT - Thanks. I'm glad you've been enjoying my reviews.

MATTHEW - Your comments on such organizations (whether the Illuminati or the Light) going corrupt feels all the more apt in light of the scene we mentioned in "Bad Guys" a while back, where Monsieur LeMaire is expressing concern to the Director about their organization possibly heading down the same path. That conversation grows all the more in force with the possibility that the same thing had already happened to the Illuminati (the very group they're opposing).
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, Apr 5, 2025 7:56:57 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

Thanks for all these re-visits, Todd. I know I have not often commented on them, but I read them and enjoy what you have to say. Your perspective has always been enlightening!

Four weeks until Free Comic Book Day!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Sat, Apr 5, 2025 11:16:36 am EDT from 47.233.90.133

MATTHEW - Thanks for your comments. Based on my knowledge of dragon legends, I wouldn't indeed be surprised if dragons also had different looks for various regions; comparing the "classic European dragon" look (which Wyvern clearly follows) with the Chinese dragon, for example.

I've probably mentioned this before, but it seems all the more appropriate that gargoyles and dragons are closely related, since a medieval legend claimed that the practice of gargoyles stemmed from a dragon named Gargouille, who ravaged much of France until he was defeated by a certain Saint Romanus; afterwards, they mounted Gargouille's head upon the walls of a city (I think it was Rouen), and the notion of gargoyle sculptures supposedly derived from it - not to mention that Gargouille's name was clearly (in the legend) the origin of the word "gargoyle". I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Gargouille existed in the Gargoyles Universe.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, Apr 5, 2025 9:25:39 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

Whoops, missed out on even more issues this time.

The last few issues had the younger gargoyles and Alesand as the center points of the narrative and I think that was a good choice. The first few issues were focused on Goliath and his generation along with the "grown ups" of the clan and the humans, much like the series itself. But we never really got the perspective of youthful gargoyles or children so this was not only an interesting break but a chance to change up the narrative style.

This also demonstrates an important lesson about prejudice and bigotry being something that's passed on, but so can friendship and kinship. Alesand's adventures with the Quartet demonstrate that tension never needed to happen as commonalities can be found even among two different species. Alesand determined to give names to the Quartet and declaring Antiope her new best friend isn't just adorable, it speaks to the sincerity that only comes from children free from jaded cynicism that too often comes with age. It's the kind of thing that tends to get curbed early nowadays but there's still something we can learn from it. While it doesn't last long in this story it does foreshadow Gnash's own adventure later on.

It was brought up that the Light-Bringers seem a much less sinister group in this era (albeit they still have their shadowy agenda). One thing that stands out to me is Shahrizad staying behind to look after the children even while her compatriots pull off the theft. It actually brings to mind what season 3 and 4 revealed about the Light and how early on they weren't the dark cabal made up of DC's most famous villains. But Vandal's continuous use of unscrupulous methods turned a would-be group of protectors into the most persistent foes for the heroes. We still know very little about the history of the Illuminati and this softer image in the past may just have been an illusion. But it would still fit Greg's style of even kind or noble people losing their path when their supposed noble goals are corrupted by dark actions, even if done with the best intentions.

And finally the Dragon. We've all presumably seen the concept art back when Dark Ages was being pitched but I have to say the art here has blown it all away. The reveal that dragons are more closely related to gargoyles took us all by surprise if I remember correctly. What there deal is and whether like the gargoyles their shapes and forms vary depending on region is something I hope to see more of in the future.

Good coverage, Todd.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Sat, Apr 5, 2025 12:38:41 am EDT from 73.170.51.164

Reread Chapter Six of "Dark Ages: Alliance", "The Pledge", completing the mini-series.

We get a dragon battle - and it struck me just how small the gargoyles look compared to Wyvern. Definitely a way of bringing across the scale. In the end, the only thing that saves them all from the dragon's wrath is that Peredur and Blanchefleur recovered Excalibur from his hoard.

Wyvern's statement that "humans are the problem" reminded me of all the legends about dragon-slayers (and note that Wyvern is the only living dragon we've encountered so far in "Gargoyles"); it offers a suggestion of why he would take such a stance. Maybe he's got something in common with Demona there (though we haven't seen any sign of the suppressed guilt that is one of her major traits) - even looking upon such figures as Sigurd, Beowulf, St. George and the rest the same way Demona looks upon the Hunters.

I noticed this time around that his eyes glow as well - though golden, rather than white like male gargoyles or red like female gargoyles.

We get a moment where Antiope, believing that Alesand is in danger, looks truly fierce - a definite case of how, even in childhood, gargoyles have a strong protective instinct.

When Angel enters Wyvern's treasure chamber, she looks at a golden cup as if it's the treasure that she came for - before picking up a flute (apparently Puck's flute, which we'll be seeing more of in some issues' time) instead. I wonder whether the "bait-and-switch" moment was inspired by two major storis about a cup being stolen from a dragon's hoard (to the dragon's anger) - first in "Beowulf", and then in "The Hobbit". (Shortly after "The Hobbit" was published, Tolkien got a letter from a reader asking him if Bilbo stealing the cup from Smaug's treasure was inspired by "Beowulf" - an understandable question to ask, in light of Tolkien's interest in the great Anglo-Saxon poem as part of his day job. Tolkien replied that it was more a case of the needs of the story taking the same course in both cases, saying "It is difficult to think of any other way of conducting the story at that point. I fancy the author of 'Beowulf' would say much the same.")

Wyvern had somehow not only gotten hold of Puck's flute (Puck must have recovered it from the Archmage somehow, to use it in his visit to Hamelin - traditionally dated to 1284), but Excalibur as well (how he got it after Bedivere threw it back in the lake, presumably to be received by the Lady of the Lake, is as yet unknown, beyond the statement that he stole it), with the hint that this was one reason why Peredur and Blanchefleur came there. (We see Blanchefleur glow in the cave - echoing her "Grail Damsel" role in Roger Lancelyn Green, presumably.) I wonder how it got from Peredur and Blanchefleur to that dragon statue in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (though the hints we've gotten about the Illuminati's purpose, from Peredur's point of view, raises the possibility that Peredur was setting it up for Arthur's return, not expecting that it'd be two centuries ahead of schedule.) And we then see them running for Carbonek - with Brother Valdez behind them....

The ending has that hopeful tone that arises in "Gargoyles" even amid its darker moments. We see a lovely moment as Lefty and a human stonemason hiappily work together on the castle wall - and a more poignant one as Mentor looks up at the sky and sees a vision of Verity in it. And in the final scene, humans and gargoyles alike crowded around Shahrizad to hear another of her tales - with the gargoyle beasts nestled beside her, and General Bones next to them. We know that it won't last, that twenty-three years later the whole thing will come crashing down in a most dramatic fashion, but it's still a beautiful moment.

One thing that struck me this time around, as I read the final "Once Upon a Time There Were Three Brothers" - Kenneth II asks Prince Malcolm "Do we leave this struggle for Maol and Kenny and this new Constantine to fight?" And, although they go to war with Culen in part to prevent this, it happens anyway, as we see in Brooklyn's first Timedancer adventure.

I really enjoyed "Dark Ages: Alliance"; it makes a great prequel to the series, with so much of the elements (both medieval and good storytelling) that appealed to me about "Gargoyles".

FAVORITE LINES:

MENTOR: The alliance between our kinds is working! And there's no wisdom in trying to keep the humans at a distance, for we have ere learned that human problems soon become gargoyle problems!

WYVERN: Human problems do not become stone-flesh problems, for humans are the problem!


PRINCE MALCOLM: Archmage, do something!

ARCHMAGE: I need to wait for my moment, Prince. I'll likely get but one chance.

PRINCE MALCOLM: Is that strategy talking - or self-preservation?

ARCHMAGE: Honestly? Both.

From "The Tale of the Three Brothers": There was no performance on the sixth night, because, well.... DRAGON!
Todd Jensen
posted @ Fri, Apr 4, 2025 7:51:48 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

So glad I came across this post.
www.yourfurnaceandcarpetcleanersedm.com - [yourcarpetcleanersedm at hotmail dot com]
posted @ Fri, Apr 4, 2025 5:55:12 am EDT from 175.176.52.37

Reread Chapter Five of "Dark Ages: Alliance", "The Dream", today. The chapter that fully introduces us to Wyvern the dragon.

The trio help bring it about, thanks to a few more moments of acting almost like the gargoyle counterparts of the Three Stooges. First, they get too curious about the wheel-device being used to help build the castle (an actual medieval building tool, by the way). I particularly liked the discussion of the wheel by Lefty and Alexander; Lefty looks upon the wheel (and presumably, human technology in general) as a case of humans being less physically strong than gargoyles and having to make up for it in other ways, but Lex really likes the wheel (a sign of what's to come) - followed by "Caesar" and "Charlemagne" (as I suppose we should call them at this point - though I keep on almost typing their more familiar New York names in). Then, after that lovely moment where they take Alesand gliding (in a way that mirrors her dream so well), they enter the cave and let slip to Wyvern about the humans - to his absolute fury.

Their visit to the cave also shows us so many of its familiar features from "Long Way Till Morning" and "Shadows of the Past": the weird carvings (still a mystery), the monstrous mouth where the Archmage will make his seeming-last stand in 984, and the "ghost-cage", as Antiope calls it, that will play a major role in "Shadows of the Past". (And how does she know about it?) "Charlemagne" is displaying the same lack of interest in literacy that he'll later show in "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time".

And, upon meeting Wyvern the Dragon, we find out that he brought the Wyvern clan to that part of Scotland with him, to help watch over his hoard (naturally, the classic impressive dragon's treasure - right up there with the hoards of Fafnir, the dragon in "Beowulf", and Smaug).

We get a few glimpses of everyone else: Nicholas's interest in acting (and his being apprenticed to the village weaver - a detail that got me pondering his future identity), "Desdemona"'s "warrior-priestess" lessons, and Angel's reading lessons (she has an understandable challenge with "knew" - another of those "odd spelling" words like "right" that I really ought to look up on and how they got spelled that way).

The "belling the cat" fable that Demona's reading feels particularly appropriate for a medieval Scottish setting, since according to legend, it played a part in Scottish history (if a few centuries later). King James III of Scotland, so the story goes, had a corrupt advisor named Thomas Cochrane, who was taking advantage of the king's favor for his own benefit. The king's nobles wished to put a stop to Cochrane for the good of the kingdom, but were afraid to confront him at first, leading someone to recall the "Who will bell the cat?" story. Archibald, the Earl of Angus, announced that he would do so - which earned him the nickname of "Archibald Bell-the-Cat", and proceeded to seize Cochrane and have him put to death. (The historical evidence suggests that, in fact, Cochrane wasn't an "evil favorite", but had simply sided with the king against the nobles who really wanted to control him, with the "wicked favorite" story being invented to justify their actions. It seems that Cochrane may have been another victim of "History is written by the winners" like Macbeth.)

Speaking of Macbeth, King Duff (whose fate we saw in the "Once Upon a Time There Were Three Brothers" in this chapter), contributed, in a way, to Shakespeare's play about him. Shakespeare's account of Macbeth murdering Duncan was based on a description in Holinshed's "Chronicles" about how Duff was murdered by a nobleman named Donwald, at the urging of Donwald's wife. The description of Duff's death in "Gargoyles", however, seems more evocative of the final days of Uther Pendragon, King Arthur's father; Uther also went into his last battle in a litter (though he was incapacitated by illness rather than by an injury - and actually won the battle). One of Shakespeare's first plays, "Henry VI Part One", alludes to it, when the Duke of Bedford (Henry V's younger brother, in charge of the English war in France) is borne into his final battle the same way, saying "once I read,/ That stout Pendragon, in his litter, sick,/ Came to the field, and vanquished his foes".

Alesand also shared with us a bit of information about the "ur-Othello" play performed by Peredur and Blanchefleur's acting company (which clearly had some differences from Shakespeare's version; for one thing, Desdemona is apparently still alive at the end to mourn Othello). I thought it fitting that she said of it "I think I understood it better" the second time she saw it; I've noticed that I similarly understood many of the "Coldstone" episodes better the second time I saw them (particularly "Legion" - as I mentioned earlier, the first time I saw it, I thought that Coldstone's odd behavior was a case of the virus constantly resetting his memory; on later viewings, I understood it was caused by "Desdemona" and "Iago" taking turns in being the dominant gargoyles in his body.)

FAVORITE LINES.

PRINCE MALCOLM: Watch where ye swing that pallet! You want to brain your own countrymen?

MENTOR: And you there, quit yer lollygagging! By the Dragon, at this rate, it'll take ten years to build the castle!

PRINCE MALCOLM: You know, Mentor, it usually takes about ten years to build a castle.

MENTOR: Well, dinnae tell them that Prince. Or we'll ne'er have this one done in twenty.


CAESAR: Can you read those chicken scratches?

ALEXANDER: No, but I want to learn how.

CHARLEMAGNE: What's the point? They'll just come up with new chicken scratches to confuse you.


ALEXANDER: And the alliance makes a lot of sense!

CHARLEMAGNE: Right! We protect the humans during the day, and the humans protect us at night!

ALEXANDER (elbowing him): No, strike that. Reverse it.

CHARLEMAGNE: Sorry, sorry. I'm nervous. Never met a dragon before....


ALEXANDER: He can't fit in here!

CAESAR: No but can dragons really breathe fire?

CHARLEMAGNE: Um...

{A blast of flame roars behind them.}

CHARLEMAGNE: They definitely can!


CHARLEMAGNE: Why don't you eat someone your own size?

WYVERN: An interesting challenge, cousin. And where exactly would I find such a meal? Or are you volunteering?

ALEXANDER: You'd eat us?

WYVERN: No, not really. We are too closely related to make that appetizing. Nevertheless, I urge you to stay out of my way. Lest you get... damaged.

ALEXANDER: Listen, the folks at the castle know we're down here. If anything happens to us - .

WYVERN: Castle?

CAESAR: You had to mention the castle....


MENTOR: By the Dragon....

PRINCE MALCOLM: It's a dragon....
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 8:28:45 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

It looks like it's also possible to order issues directly from Dynamite. Has anyone done this?https://www.dynamite.com/disney/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513035567601011
Craig
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 12:58:35 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

A pain in terms of price, sometimes.
Greg Bishansky
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 11:26:51 am EDT from 67.189.200.184

A pain in terms of price or...?
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 11:13:18 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

There is always https://www.midtowncomics.com/

Their shipping is a pain in the ass, though.
Greg Bishansky
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 10:38:08 am EDT from 67.189.200.184

Todd> I also recently discovered that Things From Another World will be closing at the end of the month. Anyone have any suggestions for a similiar site that we can use to preorder physical copies of the comics and trades?
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Thu, Apr 3, 2025 10:33:39 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

The touch of Robbie bringing Alesand up to the Wind Ceremony (in issue 3), saying, "Respect must be paid," really reinforces his relationship with them (as well as helping lay the ground for Alesand's reaching out to the Trio+ coming up). It's also suggestive: Robbie evidently knows enough of this ceremony to understand its significance, and it speaks to much more than a distant tolerance between his village and the Wyvern clan.

Echoing Matt's comment, one of the terrific things about this story is the great warmth that comes through between the two groups, once they get to working together (and of course we see that in a very tangible way later on as a castle starts to go up). This is not an alliance of convenience, certainly not after the first battle, and under all of the struggles there is that undertone of hope for the future, which is really quite lovely for as long as it'll last.

Todd: I suspect that the medieval reputation of the Welsh that you mention has not entirely dissipated in some places (based strictly on some online reaction, elsewhere, to my account of vacationing in Cardiff, coincidentally during a NATO conference--but that's another story). As for the conversation between Peredur and Valdez, it brought to mind something completely else:

RAVELLI: How did you get to be Roscoe W. Chandler?
CHANDLER: Say, how did you get to be an Italian?
RAVELLI: Never mind that, whose confession is this?

I'm guessing that was not really the intended reference, though.
morrand - [morrand276 at gmail dot com]
posted @ Wed, Apr 2, 2025 8:50:24 pm EDT from 108.69.72.60

Just found out that "Things From Another World" is shutting down its "order on-line" feature, so I'll have to find a new way of ordering "Gargoyle" comics. (I remember ordering from a different group for "Here in Manhattan" #2; I'll have to check if they're still in business.

Reread Chapter Four of "Dark Ages: Alliance", "The Promise", today.

This one's a sort of bridge between the opening adventure (the war with Culen) and the closing one (Wyvern the dragon). The focus is on character interaction and introduction - plus the start of the building of Castle Wyvern.

I particularly liked the touch of the ruins at Castle Wyvern. They serve the obvious convenience of explaining how the castle was complete by 975 ("Vows), when they began building it just four years before, but have the additional advantage of offering a new mystery. Who built and lived in the first castle? What happened to them? Did they have ties to the gargoyles as well?

(I had one odd little creativity demon, though I'm advancing it only cautiously. We know that Greg Weisman modelled Castle Wyvern's topography on the real castle of Tintagel in Cornwall. There are a few Arthurian writers who've argued that Arthur's career really took place in Scotland and tried relocating all the events traditionally located in southern Britain to Scotland; Greg's read at least one of them, Norma Lorre Goodrich. In the Gargoyles Universe, could the Tintagel where King Arthur was conceived really have been, not in Cornwall, but in Scotland - at Wyvern Hill, to be precise? A further note; Cornwall was originally known as "Dumnonia" or the homeland of the Dumnonii; in western Scotland (and we know that Wyvern Hill is on the western coast of Scotland), there was a people in early British history (around Roman times) known as the Damnonii, a name similar enough to "Dumnonii" that one could imagine some confusion. But we know that the King Arthur of the Gargoyles Universe was crowned in London, definitely in the south, so I'd be cautious about the "Scottish relocation" theory here - even if there's the additional appeal that the Atlantean word for "gargoyle" was "Gorlois" - also the name of Tintagel's ruler in the tale of Arthur's conception.)

We see the parallel trainings of Angel by the Archmage and Desdemona by "Sacrifice"; the two sets of lessons display effectively the differences between the teachers and pupils. I particularly like the way they end; "Sacrifice" says "Then we have much work to do", while the Archmage says "Then *you* have much work to do" - emphasis mine. It effectively illuminates the contrast between them and their teaching styles.

And speaking of "illuminates", we get the traveling players led by Peredur and Blanchefleur, calling themselves "the Light-Bringers". They come across as much more pleasant than the Illuminati of modern times, suggesting that their organization may well have changed a lot in the intervening thousand years. (And it won't be the last visit by the Society's members to Castle Wyvern, of course.)

Appropriately, we get a lot of nods to Shakespeare in it - from practically everyone in it except for General Bones. Peredur and Blanchefleur go by "the Player King and Player Queen", taken from "Hamlet". (I remember speculating at one point that they'd continue on to Elsinore in Denmark and stage a play there - of course, we know now that it took a different turn.) Shahrizad is called "the Dark Lady" in this chapter's instalment of "Once Upon A Time There were Three Brothers"; a clear reference to the Dark Lady of the Sonnets (and she might very well have been the original Dark Lady; I can certainly imagine her being interested in meeting Shakespeare as a fellow storyteller). Mack Kemp's surname might be an allusion to Will Kemp, a noted comic actor in Shakespeare's acting company, who is thought to have played many of Shakespeare's early comical figures (such as Nick Bottom, Dogberry from "Much Ado About Nothing", and even Falstaff); he later on left the company and did a morris-dance from London to Norwich as a publicity stunt. And Benvolio and Malvolio are allusions to two Shakespeare figures - if from different plays - Benvolio from "Romeo and Juliet" and Malvolio from "Twelfth Night" (whom I've a soft spot for, having played him a couple of times in school performances). They were in different plays, though I remember a retelling of "Twelfth Night" which gave Duke Orsino a steward named Benvolio as a foil to Malvolio. (To add to that, we'll later find out that one of their plays was a sort of "ur-Othello".)

And the new character, Brother Valdez, is suspicious towards the "Light-Bringers" (note that his name also begins with "Val"), and in a way that suggests some sort of history between them. (With different responses from Peredur and Blanchefleur; Peredur is good-naturedly amused, while Blanchefleur seems more suspicious.) I liked the touch of Peredur and Valdez bringing up each other's (apparent) backgrounds; Peredur/Percival was indeed Welsh, portrayed thus by the earliest version of his story (by Chretien de Troyes). (It fitted his characterization well; the Welsh had a reputation in medieval times for "country bumpkins", something which Chretien was clearly drawing on in his depiction of Percival as a rather simple fellow.) Peredur's remarks also, incidentally, raise the question of whether Brother Valdez might be only pretending to be Spanish and might be from somewhere else.

Finally, we have the charming moment where Alesand makes friends with the "quartet" (as we'll call them here, thanks to Antiope) - and even gives them names (much more prestigious than the New York place-names that the trio will later assume - and note that she calls Lexington "Alexander", the same name which baby Alex, whom Lexington will become close to, will also bear). Culminating in that lovely scene at the end where she dreams of flying with them. (I recall a remark on this issue about how the Alesand scenes might resonate with those who first became acquainted with "Gargoyles" at such a young age.)

(And we also see General Bones and one of the resident gargoyle beasts sniffing at each other - another sweet moment.)


FAVORITE LINES.

ALESAND: I know gargoyles don't name their young, but as soon as you hatch, I promise to give names to each and every one of you! And I will help take care of you, and you will not try to scare me, and we will all be great friends....


BROTHER VALDEZ: Your accent betrays a touch of the Welsh. Are you a Welshman, my "king"?

PEREDUR: Yours is believably Spanish. Are you a Spaniard, my "brother"?


PEREDUR: Tomorrow night, milady, I promise.

ALESAND: All right. But I'm not a lady.

PEREDUR: On even the humblest stage, every man is a knight; every woman a lady!
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, Apr 2, 2025 8:05:36 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

Missed a couple issues, but I've been away and without internet for a few days.

These two chapters really demonstrate the need for human/gargoyle alliances besides the central theme of tolerance and acceptance beyond species lines. The Dark Ages were just that, quite dark and violent. And the point of human problems soon becoming gargoyle problems is demonstrated here as not wanting your people to take part in battle doesn't mean battle won't affect you at all. These two chapters really shows how the two groups of Wyvern Hill came together in a "forged by the fires of war" sort of way. And while the story does contain the sense of hope of peace and stability that only comes from the side of good defeating evil, it also shows a bit of how conflict, violence and the like can have negative effects on people. Such as Hyppolyta's eagerness for battle and Angel's captivity drawing her to the worst possible mentor.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Wed, Apr 2, 2025 5:18:55 pm EDT from 135.180.3.149

Always enjoy reading this blog. More, please!
Nathan Gorgi - [nathansmith45 at gmail dot com]
posted @ Wed, Apr 2, 2025 9:23:24 am EDT from 49.146.220.219

Sorry for the double post, but I reread Chapter Three of "Dark Ages: Alliance", "The Oath".

This chapter concludes the war with Culen, while setting up the continuing alliance between humans and gargoyles with the decision to build a castle at Wyvern Hill. We also see the start of Angel's apprenticeship with the Archmage, the introduction of Alesand on-stage (though she was a narrator of the "Once Upon a Time There Were Three Brothers" parts - alongside Shahrazad), and our first Wind Ceremony (after reading Greg Weisman's description of this ceremony years before, we actually witness it at last) - not to mention our hint of Wyvern at the end. And it continues to be good story-telling.

I particularly liked how it opened - no speech until the final panel of the fourth page, but it's clear what's going on. Lefty keeping watch outside Culen's castle, then flying back to make his report, Culen and his gargoyle prisoner, Mentor and the Archmage working together (definitely something we never imagined happening), culminating in the attack on the stables....

Culen's musing over Angel's tiara raises the question of where indeed it came from - all the more so since we know that gargoyles generally don't show much interest in physical possessions. (Which stands out all the more now that we know that they're related to dragons, who are notorious for their great hoards - something which the one living dragon we've met in the Gargoyles Universe so far does indeed display.)

Mentor refuses to bring Hyppolyta along with him, pointing out the trouble her reckless disobedience had caused - a good point. Instead, he brings Goliath, who certainly has strong motive to take part in the rescue - leading to a very impressive moment as he frees Angel from her chains.

At the coronation, we see young Maol Chalvim suspiciously eyeing the infant Constantine - and in "Avalon Part One", we see him continuing to display that distrust.

On the Wind Ceremony: I really liked the touch of the gargoyle beasts being carried during the great gliding at the end, so that they can take part in the event.

And we have another case of "parallel actions", with Prince Malcolm and Mentor, on the one hand, discussing the alliance between humans and gargoyles and the building of the castle to come, and on the other, the Archmage using Angel's late feeling of helplessness while Culen's prisoner to manipulate her into becoming his apprentice.


FAVORITE LINES.

GOLIATH: My angel....

ANGEL: My love!

GOLIATH (seizing Angel's chains): I will free you.

ANGEL: No! There's no time! Please, please, save yourself!

GOLIATH: I will free you! I WILL FREE YOU!

{He tears her chains free from the stone floor.}


ROBBIE (looking at the burning castle): Hm. I've no love for Culen's men, but that's a horrible way to go.

GOLIATH: Not a man within perished by the flame.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Tue, Apr 1, 2025 7:53:54 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

Fourth!

Don't know if people have seen these, but figured I'd share a couple of neat time capsules from the Disney Afternoon era. A Darkwing Duck voice recording session for the episode "Just Us Justice Ducks" with Jim Cummings (Darkwing), the late Christine Cavanaugh (Gosalyn), our own Kath Soucie (Morgana), Hamilton Camp (Gizmoduck), Dan Castellaneta (Megavolt), Tino Insana (Bushroot), Jack Angel (Liquidator), Joey Camen (Stegmutt), Susan Silo (Neptunia), and Scott Bullock (who plays a cop in this episode). I believe Michael Bell (Martin Hacker on Gargoyles, Quackerjack on Darkwing) is there as well, but he doesn't speak in the video. Terry McGovern (Launchpad) was living in San Francisco and was recorded separately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVrQHWT9eMI&t=2s

And a Rescue Rangers making-of special, including a glimpse of Tress MacNeille and Corey Burton doing the Chip and Dale voices before they were digitally pitched-up, as well as an appearance by the legendary Carol Channing. (There's an oft-told story of Channing taking her shirt off during a Rescue Rangers recording session because her buttons were clicking, but her shirt is on throughout this video.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4c3rjXpvJs

I wonder if there are any similar videos for Gargoyles? I know there was an EPK piece on the Heroes Awaken VHS which has a very brief glimpse of a voice recording session. It would be awesome if the full video of that session still existed somewhere.
Craig
posted @ Tue, Apr 1, 2025 7:40:26 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

Reread Chapter Two of "Dark Ages: Alliance", "The Draw".

One of the big moments in this one, of course, is the death of Verity at Cawdor's hands. The facing pages showing it have almost no dialogue -beyond an anguished cry from Mentor - but bring home the loss effectively. Followed, the page after that, by "execution done on Cawdor".

Angel and Hyppolyta's decision to take part in the battle, against orders, certainly comes with its consequences. Not only is it apparently partly responsible for Verity's death (drawing her attention away from the thane coming up behind her), but it results in Culen capturing her and gaining a hostage to make a safe getaway - for the moment. But only for the moment, as it's clear that Mentor will not allow one of his own to be a prisoner.

These are the main events, but we also get the fight between the Archmage and Lord Valois, Culen's wizard. It's clear that the two have a history, though we as yet do not know what it is. As readers have pointed out, we have both Culen and Constantine (father and son, remember) employing a wizard whose name starts with "Val" in their battles, which may suggest a connection. (And we'll see a new figure later in this spin-off whose name also starts with "Val", and who winds up being linked to Peredur and Blanchefleur - who'll later on, from the perspective of the internal timeline - be shown to be working with a fourth mysterious figure with "val" in his name, though this time at the end.)

And Lord Valois is armed with what will turn out to be Odin's spear Gungnir (how it passed from Odin's keeping to Valois's, we do not know as yet), which gets broken in half by the Archmage. (Valois' name, by the way, also suggests an early version of the "Auld Alliance" for Culen; "Valois" was the name of the royal family of France in the later part of the Middle Ages, including the Hundred Years' War.)

A small touch that I liked was Culen's thanes all being named after the thanes in "MacbetH'. Furthermore, Cawdor is the one with the biggest role (killing Verity), and of the namesake originals in Shakespeare, Cawdor has the biggest role in the "Scottish play" (the rebellious noble whose title Macbeth winds up with); I don't know if Greg Weisman intended this last part or not, but I really like it.

And this is where the term "Rhydderch" first becomes revealed as the title of "gargoyle leader", at least in Scotland. (As Greg Weisman's already mentioned, it's based on Culen abducting the daughter of a British king named Rhydderch in actual history - turned here into his abducting "Angel".) I've mentioned some familiarity with a sixth century Rhydderch in my past posts; I wonder whether he was a gargoyle in the Gargoyles Universe as well.


FAVORITE LINES.

CULEN: Come not a step closer or this one's life is forfeit.

MENTOR: Tempt not my wrath, human. This night has already cost me my mate....

GOLIATH: My angel...

MENTOR: You'll find there's little wisdom in threatening my daughter.

GOLIATH: Unhand her, monster!

CULEN: Oh, we're the monster, now, are we?


PRINCE MALCOLM (to Kenneth): Brother, I swore an oath to him, and you swore one to me. Foreswearing us both must not be your first act as sovereign.


KENNETH: I cannot believe we let him go.

GOLIATH: I cannot believe we let her go.

MENTOR: We let no one go.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Mar 31, 2025 8:17:57 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Greg Bishansky
posted @ Mon, Mar 31, 2025 10:04:32 am EDT from 67.189.200.184

Second!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Mon, Mar 31, 2025 8:40:40 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

First.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Mar 31, 2025 8:33:54 am EDT from 68.99.93.213