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Tazmanian TIger

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Jan Rott writes...

Hi there,
The Tazmanian Tiger has two thylacines named Benjamin and Natasha. Can you tell from the picture (https://gargwiki.net/images/9/98/TazmanianTiger.JPG) which of the two is Benjamin and Natasha?

Greg responds...

Not without more context. I feel like it's clear somewhere in the comic. Maybe not in that panel.

Response recorded on August 05, 2022

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Gothic Cowboy writes...

Mr. Weisman, will we see the Tasmanian Tiger again, or has he largely fulfilled his purpose?

Greg responds...

Given the opportunity, yes.

Response recorded on March 17, 2010

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Mary C. writes...

Hi Mr. Greg! Long time fan, first time submitter :) I don't have a question for you this time, but I wanted to share some info I though you'd find cool. I've seen alot of comments about G:BG issue #1 and the Tasmanian Tiger and is real life extinct companions. Today I found this article online about scientists transplanting a tasmanian tiger gene to a mouse. It's funny how odd things like this always seem to pop up at a relevant time, here's the link to the Yahoo article for ya: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080520/sc_afp/scienceanimaldnaaustralia;_ylt=An3qxdBHbEV4ht9_yAJgwcd4hMgF

Greg responds...

Thanks.

Response recorded on July 09, 2008

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Rebel writes...

Hi Greg, this is something I meant to ask in my earlier comment, but I forgot to. For the comic, how much direction do you give to your artists in coming up with the designs for new canon characters?

I am specifically referring to the two new London Gargoyles at the end of #7. I know you had mentioned before that the London gargs would look like unicorns, lions, or griffins. Did you change your mind recently, or had it always been your plan to make them look like other heraldry animals, and you were just teasing us? Did David Hedgecock talk you out of it? Did the two of you decide together what animals they would resemble, or had you already decided? If you chose beforehand, did you give him specific details about their appearance, or relatively vague details and let him come up with them himself? I would be interested to know any information you can tell me about this. I find the process of creating a character's look to be very interesting.

Also, feel free to volunteer information about the development of the designs of other new characters which have appeared in the comic. Shari, the Tasmanian tiger villain in Bad Guys, Coyote's new look, etc. Whatever comes to mind.

Greg responds...

Here's my description in the script of the two characters, minus a couple of personal details that I don't choose to reveal at this time:

• [New Male Gargoyle] - Biologically age 19. [New Male Gargoyle] is a gargoyle of the London Clan. His head is modeled off a large stag (i.e. male deer) with fairly magnificent silver antlers. He should have feathered white wings. And deer-like hooves for feet, but his hands should look like normal gargoyle hands. He should be tall (and feel even taller thanks to the antlers) and slim in build. Not so slim that he looks fragile, but he's definitely not the bulky type. This is a new character, but for inspiration take a look at UNA at http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/Screencaps/GL_Una.htm.
• [New Female Gargoyle] - Biologically age 19. [New Female Gargoyle] is another gargoyle of the London Clan, this one modeled off a wild boar or sow. She has a pig-snout and tusks. She is brown. Her wings are the more traditional bat-like wings we're familiar with. Normal gargoyle hands, more pig-like feet. She's medium-height, muscled and burly - nothing fragile about [New Female Gargoyle].

As you can see, the basic choices were mine, but I give Dave full credit for bringing them to life.

Here's my descriptions of the other characters you asked about (and some you didn't)...

• COYOTE 5.0 - This is only SORT OF a new character. Basically, there have been four Coyote robots that preceded this one. They all have a lot in common thematically, but they're all different too. And lucky you get to design the new one! To see Coyotes 1-4, check out: http://gargoyles.dracandros.com/Coyote_%28robot%29 or the episodes "Leader of the Pack" (for Coyote 1.0) and "Upgrade" (for Coyote 2.0) both on the Season Two, Volume One DVD. (Coyotes 3.0 & 4.0 aren't out on DVD yet.) Note the basic color scheme and the coyote-head motif. And the fact that all the later robots have a circular VID-SCREEN that displays an image of a robotic head. The head appears to be half-Xanatos and half-robot-skull. This version of the robot will have the large Coyote Diamond inside its chest cavity… with lasers shooting into it. We may want a transparent cover for that, so we can see the Diamond even after the cavity is closed. Or not. In either case, Coyote 5.0 should be BIG.
• SHARI - Arabic female, age 18. A pretty, goth-teen runaway type. She wears a lot of chains, necklaces, pendants, etc. around her neck. [Shari was also visually inspired by a real person, and I provided Dave with a photo as reference.]
• DETECTIVE CEDRIC HARRIS - African-American male.
• DETECTIVE TRI CHUNG - Chinese-Vietnamese male.
• TERRY CHUNG - Asian-American boy, age 12. He's wearing a GOLIATH Halloween costume.
• AMBASSADOR CHUNG - Terry's mother, age 42. She's a short Asian-American woman, wearing a white evening gown and carrying a white, feathered mask on a stick.
• QUINCY HEMINGS - He appears to be about 60. African-American. Gray hair, trim build. He's dressed in a white tuxedo jacket with epaulets and gold buttons. White gloves, a red bow tie, black pants. He has for decades been the "Chief Steward" at the White House, a job loosely based on the job of Chief Usher. See http://www.whitehousehistory.org/06/subs/06_a07.html for info on Chief Ushers.
• TASMANIAN TIGER - (Age 24.) The Tasmanian Tiger is a somewhat clichéd costumed super-villain. His garb is inspired by the extinct Tasmanian Tiger (a.k.a. the Thylacine), and he's flanked by two actual (cloned) THYLACINES (Benjamin & Natasha). (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine.) His costume is largely form fitting with black tiger stripes and a cowl with Tiger ears and clawed gauntlets. On his chest is a symbol with two interlocking letter Ts. (Similar to the interlocking Ds on Daredevil's costume: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Daredevil41.jpg.) The Tasmanian Tiger also carries a large blaster weapon.
• BENJAMIN - A male Thylacine, one of Tasmanian Tiger's trained pets. To see how wide a thylacine's jaw can open, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tasmanian_tiger.gif.
• NATASHA - A female Thylacine; the Tiger's other trained pet.

As you can see, sometimes I gave quite a bit of detail, sometime I pretty much left nearly the entire design to Dave or Karine or Nir's imagination. Usually, the artist does a design and sends it to me. We might do a bit of back and forth on it... but honestly, looking at the above list, with the exception of Quincy (who started out looking a bit too old and jowly for my tastes), I feel like the artists hit all of these characters on the first time out.

Response recorded on January 17, 2008

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Todd Jensen writes...

Approximately ten years passed between your resignation from "Gargoyles" and your return to it for the comic book. You've indicated that during those ten years, your ideas about the Gargoyles Universe have undergone some alterations, and new ideas have come along.

The three new stories that have come out in the comic book series so far are the Double Date with Goliath and Elisa (Gargoyles #3-5), the encounter with Coldstone in Tibet (Gargoyles #6) and the formation of the Redemption Squad (begun in Bad Guys #1). We know that you'd planned all three of those (in their basic forms) by the time that you resigned from "Gargoyles". What I'm curious about is: which of the following characters or elements had you come up by the time you left the television series, and which did you come up with afterwards?

1. Quincy Hemings

2. Shari

3. Brentwood deciding to team up with Thailog

4. The reason for Duval's phone call to Xanatos in "The Journey" being the mission that Quincy gives Xanatos in #5

5. The Tazmanian Tiger and his thylacines.

Greg responds...

You're really determined to peek behind the curtain, aren't you?

1. I had the character, not the name.

2. Since.

3. Since.

4. Not all the details, but the basics, yeah.

5. The Tiger then. The thylacines since.

Response recorded on December 12, 2007

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Matt writes...

My Review For Bad Guys #1, "Strangers"...

- Alright, first lets talk about the cover. I like the improvements we saw over the preview of this cover from a couple months ago. The title is good, with a mention of Gargoyles to ensure this is the same universe, but the "Bad Guys" is larger and the lettering is unique, I'm glad. I also like the art itself. Matrix is well drawn and I can only imagine the difficulties of drawing this silvery solid shiny dude and making it look good in 2D, but both in the cover and in the book he looks great. Now as for the concept of the cover itself... well, the idea of the wanted poster is cool, but I'm not sure it was a great choice for the first book especially. You've got a Gargoyles-related media that is going to be in black & white for the first time, but you at least get colored covers and... you go for almost an entirely brown and gray cover? I'm generally a fan of more dynamic covers anyway, but this is particularly frustrating. Having Matrix as the first cover featured Squad member wouldn't have been my first choice either. He's a very cool character, but he is kinda bland to just look at him in mug shots. And the fact that the shots are black in white isn't great either. For all new readers know, Matrix is bright pink. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the cover, the art is good, and although not particularly dynamic it does grab your attention, I suppose. And it isn't entirely colorless, as my friend Ryan pointed out. Thank goodness for those pushpins.

- Moving on to the art in the book itself, well it is really, really great. I know a lot of people wished that Karine was doing the art on the main Gargoyles book, but honestly, I think Bad Guys is better for her. I think her skills are outstanding, but I tend to think she draws animals and humans better than gargoyles. I didn't love how Yama looked, but he was only in three frames, so I'll keep an open mind for Issue #2. On the other hand, the humans look great. Matrix, as I said, is extremely well done, and Fang looks way better than he did at any time in the series. The Thylacines look anatomically perfect, right down to their impressively expansive jaws. The biologist in me was thrilled to see them at all, and even more thrilled to see them so perfectly depicted. And kudos to Greg for thinking to include them. I'm glad everyone is doing their research.

- So we start out in medias res. It appears to be the adaption of a scene from the famous Bad Guys Leica Reel. I like how the Squad has their own uniforms, and I'm particularly fond of Fang's little shorts (like I said, I love how he was drawn). Matrix's morphing throughout the issue is very well shown, as are the fight scenes. It takes a lot of skill to show such dynamic movements in a comic book, and I had no trouble following the action. The little scene between Dingo and Hunter at the beginning is a lot of fun, though I think it plays better in the leica reel. As for the explosive cliffhanger, I think many Gathering attendees know how that one is gonna play out, still really fun though.

- Back two months and down under we get our first new villain. Tazmanian Tiger comes off as a very fun traditional comic book bad guy here, which is great cuz that is just what Dingo and Matrix need to show us what they've been up to since "Walkabout". One thing confuses me though. T. Tiger says, "Congratulations. You're the first to behold [me]." Implying this villain is making his first appearance, but he also seems to know exactly who Dingo is when Dingo and Matrix show up, even with the concealing armor. Has Taz seen this pair before? Doesn't seem like it, and yet it's implied. Guess we'll see what happens. I have no doubt we'll see Tazmanian Tiger again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking up some possible storylines in his future. Anyway, I like him. Plus, I get a vibe from him... if you know what I mean.

- We get much more of the Dingo-Matrix partnership and how it works. Matrix is great. He is so driven (or obsessed) with this whole Law and Order thing. That goes right along with his character development. He is sentient, sure, and he's obviously intelligent, but he is also a very simple thinker. He can't help it, he was programmed that way. He had an objective, he has modified it slightly, but it is still his main objective. It'll be a lot of fun to watch his development. I was also pleased for the Shaman's return cameo. I like that Dingo and him have an ongoing relationship.

- We don't get to know how or why Hunter is here exactly (though the hardcore fans more or less know), and it'll be fun to go back and fill in that blank eventually. I think a great point made in this story is that all actions have consequences. Even though Dingo has become a "super"hero in Australia, he is still a wanted man back in the States. He can't pretend that part of his life never happened. So while he may be the most heroic of the Bad Guys (maybe), he still has his skeletons...

- Fantastic writing, as usual. Some of my favorite lines:

Tazmanian Tiger: "They've been extinct for sixty years so you can imagine how hungry they are!"

Dingo: "Look I've gone the super-villain route..."
Hunter: "Who hasn't?"

Oh, and I thought the last "letters" page being titled "Wanted, Posters!" was brilliant wit. Got a laugh out of me.

- Anyway, to sum it up here: A fantastic first step on what looks to be a fun series. I especially look forward to seeing the Ishimura Clan again on the Great Tengu Hunt. Always looked forward to seeing more of Sora in particular, and her interesting relationship with Yama. More of that next time. Great job everybody and thanks!

Greg responds...

Just because it was TT's first appearance, doesn't mean it was Dingo's. He's famous.

Response recorded on December 04, 2007