JEB writes...

Gathering Journal - Saturday, June 23, 2007

Repeating my pattern from yesterday, I lazed about before heading out to the dealer's room. This time, I ran into Greg B., then bought a substantial stack of inexpensive comics (thus patching some holes in my collection). After hauling them back to my room, I headed on down to the Con Suite, and sat through the tail end of "Eye of the Beholder" and all of "Vows" before going back upstairs to get a replacement for my badge (it had suffered some water damage). Back to the con suite again, where I sat through 98% of "City of Stone", chatted with Mandi, then worked on the Gargoyles "Krossword" for a long while before going upstairs to see the radio play.

The radio play itself was excellent - based on "Clan-Building" Parts 3-5 (which, yes, includes the as-yet-unreleased July issue). Good performances all around. The best thing is, the play will be posted on YouTube in August... I'm not allowed to describe the plot of the July issue, but suffice to say it's got some great moments in it.

After the play, I wound up hanging out with Mandi, Kathy, Emambu, Stephanie, Lynati and Mara in Mandi and Kathy's room, where we had pizza. I didn't really find any good ways into the conversation (not their fault), so after they headed to MGT3K, I opted to go back to my room for a little while and have a little snack. I headed back upstairs for the Blue Mug, arriving just after MGT3K finished.

Notable bits from the Blue Mug:
- Greg won't reveal if Brooklyn is a virgin when he meets Katana; if Delilah is sterile; if Lexington will meet his future mate before Brooklyn TimeDances; or if Coldstone is present in 2198.
- Gargoyle males are born circumcised.
- Hudson apparently wears pants instead of a loincloth because he feels he needs more dignity.
- Thailog designed Delilah to be a proper companion, not a mere sex slave - more than a minion, but less than an equal. Her diction has always been better than that of her fellow clones.
- Greg may consider doing a Blue short story, but he makes no promises. He suggested an auction for it may be in order, if done...
- Greg once contacted Phil Foglio on the possibility of a XXXenophile-type work featuring gargoyle-like characters. Although Foglio was intrigued, he was too busy, not to mention getting away from that sort of material after joining a local school board...
- Gargoyles and humans besides Goliath and Elisa have fallen in love, but it's extremely rare. It's so rare there isn't even a cultural taboo against it. Sometime between c. 3000 BC and 2199, there is only one other human-gargoyle relationship - and no, Greg isn't telling.
- Now that Puck is stuck as Owen for the long haul, we may see some changes in Owen's behavior.
- When Puck becomes Owen, there is a psychological transformation as well as a physical one. However, this does not mean Puck and Owen exist as distinct personalities in one form- when he's Puck, he's just Puck, and when he's Owen, he's just Owen.
- One issue of the comic is about equal to one act from a TV episode. Greg admits he's become used to writing for television rather than comics, but he hopes to break that pattern with Bad Guys.
- Greg chose not to have a fictional president, because - outside of the obvious fantasy elements - he likes to make the Gargoyles universe as close to reality as possible.
- It's important that sales of the regular comic not lag due to the pending release of a collected edition. If the regular comic doesn't sell, there might not be collected editions to buy... Greg also hopes to have some bonus material in the trade paperback (including a foreword by Wendy Pini), and possibly also a trade paperback of Bad Guys.
- A very complicated spell could enable the reattachment of a severed limb during stone sleep (assuming the gargoyle didn't die from the shock of the damage).
- The TimeDancer miniseries will be a "fragment" from his 40-year trip.
- Thom thinks Lex's pick of the litter would be Coldstone. He also never saw Lex as a monster, but just a 17-year-old guy.
- At this point in the comic, Lex is not sure of his sexuality.
- Coldstone does not age, but he is subject to normal wear and tear.
- Greg may eventually cover Molly/Banshee again.
- There were occasional squatters at Castle Wyvern between 994 and 1994, but no one stayed, as it was too creepy (not to mention the discouraging presence of Hakon and the Captain's ghosts).
- Judge Roebling's dialogue in the comic is indeed inspired by Foghorn Leghorn.
- In terms of Trio literacy - Lexington knew how to read in the 990s; Brooklyn knew how to read a little in the 990s, and improved under Lex's tutelage in the present day; Broadway chose not to learn until after "Lighthouse." When they were naming themselves, Lex probably read street signs for them, or they overheard the names.
- When Hunchback of Notre Dame was being developed, they stopped by the Gargoyles production area to compare their gargoyles with their gargoyles. They were pleased they bore no similarity to one another.
- Favorite reading material: Greg regularly reads the Los Angeles Times, as well as detective fiction; Thom is a "complete freak" for true crime books (and he also likes self-help books).
- When "Dominique Destine" was forming a relationship with "Lennox MacDuff," she presented herself as a good Catholic French girl.
- Macbeth probably spent years drunk, but he's not so suicidal anymore. By 2198, he is a hermit.
- Fox could be trained to use her mystical powers, but it'd be much more difficult for her than it is for Alex.
- Greg's career: Greg considers himself a good boss, but a bad employee. He's starting to run into executives who are Gargoyles fans.
- Greg told a rather lengthy tale involving why Nana Visitor was not the voice of Fox, and why Jonathan Frakes was briefly not the voice of Xanatos. Suffice to say it involved a lot of errors and office politics... Frakes never let Greg forget that he was temporarily fired, and humorously brought it up whenever possible.
- The ten-year gap between the end of the animated series and the beginning of the comic allowed Greg a lot of time to refine his ideas.
- Despite Atlantis: The Lost Empire not being part of the Gargoyles universe (due to various contradictions), the Praying Gargoyle still has an Atlantean crystal at its core. Greg would like to use the Team Atlantis characters in an adaptation of the story in comic form, but if he can't, he'll use analogues.
- There were also some bits related to comic issue #5, but I can't speak of them...

With no more questions, Blue or otherwise, the session was ended. I hung around a little, but quickly realized there was little point. So I went back to my room and slept.

JEB writes...

Gathering Journal - Friday, June 22, 2007

Setting a pattern for the next few days, I lazed around and watched TV before actually getting on my way to the con. After getting lunch and yet more supplies, I picked up my registration (bumping into Aaron en route) and decided to check out the dealer's room. This year's dealer room was much more impressive than in most prior Gatherings - of course, I may be biased, since we had a comic book seller there for the first time. I snagged a couple comics (anyone besides me heard of Doctor Spektor?), browsed the art gallery, snagged a neat T-shirt, sat for a bit, back to the room. (While there, I also ran into A Fan, Jade Griffin and Mandi "Mandolin".)

Second trip out, decided I would see what the con suite looked like, and wait there for opening ceremonies. While there, I engaged in conversation with Emambu, Stephanie and Kathy Pogge, whereupon I discovered there's at least one person who actually reads things like my comic reviews and multiverse maps... (By the way, whoever had the bright idea of having oatmeal cream pies among the snacks deserves a commendation.)

Next was the opening ceremonies. Fairly standard for Gathering veterans, but just as entertaining as always. Due to the TV's necessarily inconvenient positioning, it was proposed, and accepted, that we should all sit on the floor. (Made me feel like I was back in elementary school - not that I minded.) We had the introductions of staff and guests, and the study of newbies vs. veterans (a goodly number of the new this year!).

Notable information from Greg:
- Regarding the DVD of Season 2, Part 2: No progress, but Greg does know who the new exec to talk to about it is. (Apparently they have a lot of turnover there.) Greg re-emphasized that the comparatively lower sales of Season 2 Part 1 vs. Season 1 hurt the chances of getting Part 2, and probably lost us Disney's attention. And he emphasized that we need to each find 1000 more fans and spread the word...
- Regarding the comic: Issue #5 concludes the current storyline. Issue #6 is a stand-alone story. Issues #7 through #9 will "blow your minds" - something strange, weird, cool and universe-opening. The first graphic novel, which will include issues #1-6, will be released this winter.
- Regarding the movie: Yes, it's still being considered! Greg was contacted regarding this earlier in the year. At this point, they've gone through 10 or so writers - none of which produced a script they liked. But they still keep trying.

Then, the so-called "Rocky Horror Gargoyles Show" began. Greg described the development of the series; showed us the Jim Cummings version of the original dramatic pitch, and his version of the same pitch (from the Season 1 DVD); showed us the original press pitch (with "It's better than Barney!"), and the pitch sent to sci-fi cons.

At this point, Greg covered Gargoyles: Bad Guys. All the art will be by Karine Charlebois, in black-and-white, and the series will last six issues. If it sells well, it will be followed by Gargoyles: Pendragon, Gargoyles: TimeDancer and maybe even another Bad Guys series. And why was Bad Guys the first spin-off to get this treatment? Because continuity-wise, it needed to be told now...

Back to RHGS! According to Greg, the Gargoyles spin-offs were proposed after Disney considered, and rejected, buying Marvel Comics around 1994-1995. (The idea was tempting, due to Warner Bros' ownership of DC, but Marvel was too unstable and chaotic at that time.) Thus, Gargoyles was selected to be the core of a possible "Disney action universe." Greg followed with the usual spin-off videos: The New Olympians, Gargoyles: Dark Ages and the Gathering-exclusive Bad Guys leica reel. Lastly, we saw the vastly enhanced fan "leica reel" of "The Last" from Team Atlantis. (If you want to help, contact Vashkoda!)

Following the completion of the ceremonies, I went out to a most enjoyable dinner at Red Lobster with Lynati, Emambu, Stephanie and Mandi. (The original plan was to eat at this place with Chinese acrobats, but they didn't serve food.) Emambu regaled us with the hilarious tale of how his brother wound up causing a massive traffic jam on I-95 (which he should really write up as a story or something!).

Upon our return, we wound up going to the temporary con suite in Atrium 2. I got there too late for the open gaming (I was hoping to show off a little game of mine), but mostly just relaxed there until Hudson's Rant began on the opposite end of the room. After Hudson ranted for a good while, the session concluded with Emambu's terrific imitation of Christopher Walken trying to order a pizza. Things slowed down quite a bit after that... after seeing some impromptu renditions of Rent tunes from Mara, Lynati and Stephanie, and Hudson et al discovering they were ripped off on pizza, I headed by the closed con suite, then went to my room.