NAMES

It's February, 1992 and we're circling in on our concepts. Trying to find names for our characters. Here's a memo I wrote to organize an effort to get the names once and for all. The people addressed include my bosses Gary Krisel (President of TV Animation) and Bruce Cranston (Vice President of Development for TV Animation), Gary's assistant Kim Mozingo (who was copied to make sure that Gary actually got this e-mail). My assistant Hali Helfgott (who I asked to copy the e-mail to the artists who didn't have computers, including Art Director Bob Kline, character designer Greg Guler and development artist Paul Felix.) Also copied were Development Associates Kat Fair, Fred Schaefer and Mike Ryan. This, at the time, was the team involved in developing the series.

[3] From: Greg Weisman 2/l/92 8:13PM (4538 bytes: 86 ln)
To: Gary Krisel, Kimberlee Mozingo, Greg Weisman, Bruce Cranston, Kathy Fair,
Fred Schaefer, Mike Ryan, Hali Helfgott
Subject: GARGOYLE NAMES

------------------------------- Message Contents ------------------------------
Hali, please copy Bob, Paul and Greg.

We need to come up with new names for most of the characters in Gargoyles. The method we used for "Wind-Ryders" seemed fairly successful, so we'll try it again. [Wind-Ryders was another series we developed and failed to sell. Wind-Ryders was just one of its names. It was set in a VR world. The Cade & Togo characters mentioned in a previous memo came from Wind-Ryders.] Please take a few minutes to write up your suggestions and then turn them into me a.s.a.p.

I've included our theory on names. It's only a working theory, however, so if you've got a great name that doesn't fit, don't hesitate to include it. (Though you might also try to give me one that does fit the theory just in case.) I'll collate all the entries and we'll put em to a vote again.

Gary and I discussed the notion that naming things is a human peculiarity. [This actually became the key to solving our name problems. I think deep down I realized that. But I didn't yet have confidence in it.] Gargoyles don't normally do it, referring to each other by their job-descriptions, (e.g. Gargoyle-Master or Gargoyle-Warrior) or by "Hey, you!"

When they all wake up in the 20th century, their new friend detective Maria feels that they need names. My guess is the three kids each pick their own fun names and also choose a name for the dog. [See. We did that.] Demona might pick her own name as well, either before or after she leaves them to join Xavier. [Back then, we had Demona waking up WITH the other gargs. Then switching sides. (As you may recall, the Demona name was left over from the old comedy development. When Dakota became Demona.]

Ralph probably can't think of a name, so Maria picks one for him. [This more or less happened with Hudson, except that Hudson's naming, became the catalyst and key to our other New York City inspired names. This THEMING of all the names was eventually very important to give us all something to hold onto, instead of having a bunch of random names, as listed below.]

The Gargoyle-Master might choose his own name or Maria might choose it for him. Shouldn't matter much, we still want something heroic and classical, I think. [We eventually allowed the tenth century humans to name this guy, instead of Maria/Elisa.]

Here are the characters we need names for:

THE GARGOYLE-MASTER (I'd rather not have anything reminiscient of "Vincent" the name of the live-action T.V Beast. Whether he chose his own name or not, we might want to wind up with something Shakespearean or Mythological. Something that sounds heroic, certainly, but might have an edge of sadness to it. This is the tough one.) [I wrote a few notions of my own on my copy of this memo: "ATLAS, STONE, CALABAN, PROMTETHIUS, TITAN". You can see that I didn't have the name "Goliath" yet, but I had the feeling I wanted in mind.]

DEMONA - (We might still use this name, but Gary is concerned that it might be too on the nose for the pitch. Would she pick a name that labels her as a villain? Does any villain think of him or herself as a villain?) [I wrote: "Angelica, Carve, Dagger". When Demona's "origin" was altered (to in effect take over the tragic idea of a gargoyle being ALIVE AND AWAKE for a thousand years) this dilemma went away. The idea of Macbeth naming her and her liking the name came later. But you can see that the Angelica/Angel/Angela (opposite of Demona) name was already roaming about in my head.]

RALPH - This is our old past-his-prime former Warrior. Caretaker for the young gargoyles. [I wrote: "ROLF, RALPH, ROCK" For some reason, I really liked the name Ralph for this character, this proto-Hudson. I was stuck on it for awhile.]

CUBBI - This is the small, male, trouble-making, adventure seeking Gargoyle. [I wrote: "NASTI, AMP, STATIC, MOE". This was the garg that looked a bit like Lex, but had Brooklyn's personality. He had been called (at least briefly) "Amp" in our old comedy development. I was still stuck on that. Cubbi, of course, was the name of a Gummi Bear, another of our inspirations.]

BELUSHI - This is our larger, female, party-animal gargoyle. [I wrote: "BELUSHI". This was our female proto-Broadway character. The one who was called Coco in the comedy development. Of course, years later, we'd cast Jim Belushi as Fang. But the inspiration here was Jim's late brother John.]

KRAMER - This is our sorta out-there, easily distracted, easily fascinated gargoyle. Modeled after the Kramer character on Seinfeld. [I wrote: "LASSIE, WEDGE". This character looked vaguely like Brooklyn but had a bit of Lex's personality. Though more of an idiot savant, than Lex's technically brilliant guy.]

DOG - Our angst-ridden pet. [I wrote: "LASSIE, DOG". Our proto-Bronx.]

MARIA CHAVEZ - When we actually do the show, we might be able to go back to this name. (We'll try anyway.) For purposes of the pitch, however, we don't want a name that emphasizes that she is hispanic. [I wrote: "LISA REED, ELISA". This paragraph is really embarrassing. I had been told by my bosses that we couldn't SELL the show with an Hispanic human lead. And so I pandered to get it sold, with every intention of going back to "Maria Chavez" once I was definitely in business. In the interrum, I fell in love with the first name Elisa. So she became Elisa Chavez. (And we did end up using that name in the pitch. Later when we cast African-American/Native-American actress Salli Richardson, Elisa's last name changed to "Maza". But we used the Maria Chavez name for her boss and Captain. So I feel good about the end result. But I'm ashamed that I didn't demonstrate the courage of my convictions throughout the process.]

XAVIER - Marvel has a semi-prominent character named Xavier. So we just need a new name that gives us the same effect. [I wrote: "MR JONAH, CARRIOS, SKANE". Yuck.]

CATSCAN - Catscan is fine for his super-villain name. We need a name for the scientist, before he becomes Catscan. The first name should probably be fairly normal. The last name (though it doesn't have to be an existing word) should probably have an ominous or dangerous sound to it. [I wrote: "DR. SKANE". I'm surprised I didn't revive this Skane name for Sevarius. But it obviously didn't stick with me.]

CY.O.T.E. - CYber-operational works great for me, but I'd like to get some other options on the T. and E. [I wrote: "C.Y.O.T.I CYber-Operational Transferable Intelligence". Ultimately, C.Y.O.T.I. became just Coyote, because we didn't want to tip that he was a robot right away.]

ROBOT & ROBOT ORGANIZATION - Could be the same name. (I.e. if the organization is called TOBOR CORP. Than the Robot could be called the TOBOR-1 or something.) [I wrote: "SKARAB, R-CORP". We wound up keeping the Scarab Corp. name. But we barely used it in the show.]

Thanks, G.W.

More on villains...

Fred Schaefer was still working on villains. We had one great art card of Goliath confronting an insect-like robot scaling a building. Those of you who have seen the final pitch at a Gathering have seen it. I'm guessing -- cuz I don't remember for sure -- that the art came first and that Fred was writing up info based on that. But it's possible it's the other way around. Anyway, we were still working on Catscan (the proto-Talon/proto-Sevarius). We were looking for Catscan's real name. Fred's picks seemed too goofy to me, which is why my initial impression of the name Sevarius was negative. Too hokey. Now I'm used to it.

As for the robot, it never appeared in the actual series, but I liked the "Scarab" name and made it (at least unofficially) the name of Xanatos' robotics company.

RECEIVED BY
JAN 29 1992
GREG WEISMAN'S OFFICE
THE GARGOYLE -- VILLAINS
(Schaefer 1-29-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Krisel, Ryan, Stones, Weisman

CAT SCAN -- Thumbnail Sketch

CAT Scan is a ruthless mutant [I altered "mutant" to read "mutate"] -- part man, part panther -- who was once a dedicated scientist working for our master villain, Xavier. The victim of a grisly lab accident, he was forced to abandon his life as a scientist and become one of Xavier's most deadly weapons.

Too bad for our nocturnal Gargoyle who can't hide from the doctor's panther-like night vision and power blasts.

Alternative (non-code) names for CAT SCAN

Dr. Rapier
Dr. Havelock
Dr. Skulk
Dr. Lurk
Dr. Jag
Dr. Panzer
Dr. Pincer
Dr. Sinew
Dr. Jag Sinew
Dr. Flint Kragmore
[I wrote "Too Silly" next to all these names.]

(Does it make sense to give this character a tough, evil sounding name, when he doesn't begin as a villain? He's a dedicated scientist who later gets screwed by Xavier. He's mortified over his metamorphosis and becomes very bitter and dangerous.) [Next to this paragraph I wrote: "Think SOUND like we did w/Cade & Togo, Not Words." Cade & Togo were two characters from another show we were developing set in a virtual reality world.]

THE ROBOT -- (A Possible) Thumbnail Sketch

Part insect. Part crustacean. All machine. It's an indestructible robot that's been developed by Tech-Pod Industries (whatever). It's controlled via remote from corporation headquarters. It can scale buildings using its powerful front claws and, although massive in weight, can leap from building to building with amazing ease. Deadly. Relentless. Inexhaustible.

A termite eats through wood -- this baby eats through stone, steel, and glass. Can draw blood from a gargoyle. [I wrote "GOOD" under this.]

Possible names for the robot:

SCARAB [I put "++++" next to this, indicating that I liked the name.]
THE KRAW
THE LOCUST
THE CUSP
DECAPOD ["+++" by this one.]
DECAPODA
DECAPITATOR (because of its massive front claws)
THORAXIAN
THE TECH-POD

The Robotics Organization---(A Possible) Thumbnail Sketch

This corporation is involved in the cutting edge of robotics. Some of its divisions are clandestine, particularly the one that's a member of the Business Alliance of Infra-world Technology (B.A.I.T.). The Alliance is a [sic] underground network of weapons facilities and research labs that sells technology to worldwide crime syndicates.

Possible names for the robotics organization:

SCARAB MACHINES
SCARABEOUS, INC.
KRAY-BOTICS
KRAW-BOTICS
LOCUST, INC.
BIOCHINE, INC.
HUMACHINES, INC.
HUMECHANICS, INC.
ANTHRO-TECH, INC.
TECH-POD INDUSTRIES

[Next to all this "Robotics organization" material, I wrote: "fine don't need it now" Indicating that we wouldn't use the organization for the pitch. Just the robot itself.]

Still trying to find focus...

Again, I went to work on putting a pitch together on the series. Now again called "GARGOYLES" instead of "The Gargoyle". I was still stuck on the poignancy of the proto-Goliath having been alive and alone for the thousand years, something that we'd eventually trade over to Demona, where it sat better.

GARGOYLES Mini-pitch
(Weisman / 1-29-92)

We all think we know what GARGOYLES are. Ugly, stone statues squatting on the rooves of old buildings...
(Card 1: trio.)

But a thousand years ago, gargoyles were real, living creatures.

At night, they were the kings defenders.
Led by the Gargoyle-Master...
(Card 2: The Gargoyle.)
All the gargoyle warriors and squires would guard the castle from attack.

Everyday, they slept. Frozen in stone on the ramparts.
(Card 3: Stone.)

The one day the castle was overrun. Sacked. The people dragged away in chains. Most of the gargoyle warriors were destroyed.

The Gargoyle-Master took full responsiblity.

As punishment, a wizard layed a curse on him. He said, "Your job was to safeguard the people of this castle.
You failed. Now you will guard this empty relic alone, until it rests in the clouds."

Now, that's the kind of curse that's designed to last forever.

And our tragic hero does in fact guard the castle alone for a thousand years.

The few young gargoyles who survived the attack stay frozen in stone both night and day.

The Gargoyle-Master despairs.

Then the castle is purchased by an American.
It is moved to the top of a sky-scraper in Manhattan.
(Card 4: Castle on skyscraper.)

...Where it rests in the clouds; the curse is lifted.

And the Gargoyle is no longer alone...

He meets a young police detective who can see past his ugly form.
(Card 5: Detective.)

She offers him hope, a sense of purpose.
(Card 6: Moonlight.)

Together they'll fight tough villains...
(Card 7 & 8: Catscan and the robot.)

...and try to keep the newly awakened young gargoyles out of trouble.

"The Gargoyle" still taking form...

In late January of 1992 we were still searching for our series. Ultimately, we'd return to a more dramatic version of our old comedy development. But here was an earlier version where our proto-Goliath is still an immortal magical construct.

THE GARGOYLE
(Weisman / 1-24-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Krisel, Ryan, Schaefer, Stones

PITCH BREAKDOWN
(Third Pass - Version 1/Backstory...?)

[Please note that the dialogue is just here to show the flow of the pitch. It's not intended to be even a first pass at the correct words.]

1. Typical stone gargoyles. (Perhaps stone versions of our squire characters.)

"We all think we know what GARGOYLES are. Ugly, stone statues squatting on the rooves of old buildings..."

2. OPTIONAL - "Medieval Woodcut" showing gargoyles repelling barbaric invaders from the castle walls.

"But there was a time when gargoyles were real, living creatures. The kings defenders...[or something]..."

3. Modern day, beauty shot of our Gargoyle on top of a skyscraper with the full moon behind him.

"That time has come again."

4. Castle being lowered onto skyscraper by giant airships. Laputaesque. It's sunset.

"Manhattan, 1994. And an ancient scottish castle is the newest addition to the New York skyline."

5. Our FEMALE POLICE DETECTIVE hot on the trail of a major badguy.

"But JANE DOE, New York Police Detective, doesn't have time to worry about that now. She's hot on the trail of a major badguy."

6. She follows him onto a rooftop. But it's an ambush by multiple baddies. (By now it's nighttime.)

7. She's doing o.k. in the fight. Holding her own. But someone's about to nail her from behind. And from another rooftop, someTHING is watching in the shadows.

8. Reveal THE GARGOYLE, as he dives into fray from above.

9. Gargoyle lifts a badguy with either hand. While a third shoots at him, the bullets glancing off his stone-like hide. (Basic demonstration of his strength and invulnerability.)

10. OPTIONAL - Then he's gone, as quickly as he came. Leaving her to wonder.

11. OPTIONAL - But she's a born detective, innately curious. Tracks him down. They meet. Quiet moment. He'll tell her his story.

12. 1000 years ago, EVIL WIZARD creates our very menacing GARGOYLE. (Does Gargoyle have a name?) Wizard is perverting a gargoyle's true protective function, wants Gargoyle to destroy the near-by castle of the good princess.

13. PRINCESS (does she look like our detective?) convinces Gargoyle to fight for good and not evil. Touches his heart.

14. Gargoyle prepared to fight for Princess...just as the sun begins to rise. (Castle folk open gates to let Gargoyle out?)

15. Gargoyle turns to stone at rise of sun. (As the wizard's army attacks thru open gates?)

16. Sunset. The castle has been sacked. The princess is gone. Our Gargoyle is heartbroken. (More TRAGIC than pathetic.) He's failed.

17. The years pass. He haunts the ruined castle. Howling in front of the full moon?? Years spent in solitude.

18. Occasional forays into humanity? (Stealing books from library?) (World War II? Ripping the wings off a German plane?)

19. Back in present, he tells Detective how all he has left is isolation and futility. Nothing for him in this world. Nothing for 1000 years.

20. But now there's her. She offers him hope, a sense of purpose. And real human friendship. If he sees humanity as an unchanging blight on the planet, she sees humanity as an unending source of potential. She is not naive. She's a cop. She's seen good men corrupted as often as she's seen Bad men redeemed. Working to make things better is the only way they'll get better.

21. From atop the skyscraper, she shows him Manhattan. (Beauty shot of the city in the moonlight.) If Gargoyles are supposed to protect from Barbarians at the gate, then he's found the right town. Manhattan is full of "Barbarians".

22. Gargoyle fighting crime. A mugging? A car full of bank robbers?

23. Escalate. Major villain card. XAVIER perhaps.

24. Escalate. Major villain. One of the Crazies.

25. Escalate. Even tougher villain card. One of the Big Guys. (Gargoyle and Big guy fighting?)

26. Escalate. The toughest villain card. The Wizard in his new incarnation. (Any relation between Xavier and the wizard?)

27. Discussion of mood and tone. Gargoyle in city atmosphere. Emphasize gothic melodrama in very modern setting.

28. Supporting characters. (Other gargoyles, perhaps, or our lead girl's kid? Other cops? The old librarian?)

29. Where does he live? Still in Xavier's tower? With Xavier? The library maybe?

30. Other types of stories?

31. End Card.

Some possible names for our Gargoyle:

Gargoyle
Gar
Griffin
Gryphon
Lear
Calaban
Othello

Danger!

January of '92 was a busy month for Gargoyles Developers. Tad was working on other projects. Maybe Darkwing Duck (if "LP" below stands for "Launchpad"). But he was still helping us out with advice on our show. As I noted earlier, some of Fred Schaefer's villains were problematic. Too dark even for our series. I tended to agree with Tad about Catscan (the proto-Talon). But we did wind up incorporating a bit of the attitude that Tad was concerned about into Fang. (Which makes Catscan the proto-Talon, proto-Sevarius and proto-Fang all rolled into one.)

[2] From: Tad Stones 1/17/92 8:25AM (712 bytes: 11 ln)
To: Greg Weisman
Subject: Cat-scan

------------------------------- Message Contents -------------------------------

Read the villain stuff on Cat Scan. Considering I'm getting notes from Michael Webster about cutting scenes that show LP littering, and GK is worried about doing gags about coffee and showing a gorilla wearing a dress ... do you really want to portray a character who's pumped up by violence, who says he's never felt more alive than when he was fighting?

Even though he's a villain, he's attractive because he's smart and powerful. I think this guy is over the line, however fuzzy that line is.

Developments converge...

Having gotten very far afield, we began to re-incorporate our old comedy development into our new drama. Demona, Ralph (proto-Hudson) and "Lassie, Belushi, Goslyn" (proto-Trio) are back in the show. The Master-Gargoyle (proto-Goliath) is no longer a magical creation but the leader of a different species. We've still got him living through the thousand years -- something we'd eventually give over to Demona -- but we're getting closer to where we want to be.

The following document is notes written up after a development meeting. I'm guessing the write-up is by Fred Schaefer, but I'm not sure.

RECEIVED BY
JAN 20 1992
GREG WEISMAN'S OFFICE

GARGOYLE: Notes from meeting 1/16/92
GK, GW, KF

The Gargoyle pitch needs to show the Master gargoyle as sympathetic and exciting. Need to emphasize empathy, emotion, heart and humor in series. Open in the city and flashback to brief backstory? (No mention of princess or wizard. Optional Messerschmitt card.)

Long ago there were lots of gargoyles - not millions, but thousands, all over the world. They were killed in vast numbers by humans because they were ugly, powerful, and too hard to control, although they did protect the humans by night. By day, the gargoyles sleep. A protective crust covers them, and this is shed when they wake up as the last rays of the sun disappear. Gargoyles are instinctually protective and territorial. They are not impervious to bullets, it hurts when they get shot, but bullets bounce off their thick skins. Lasers and bombs do not.

Master Gar has lived 1000 years. He tried to save as many gargoyles as he could from extinction. Put them to sleep? Has been waiting until for a time that is safe to awaken them. Detective convinces him now is the time, they're needed?

Master Gargoyle lives in the locked attic rotunda of a large downtown municipal building. Lots of arches, arched windows and outside entrances. Gar had to leave his old haunt, now owned by evil Xavier. Female police detective has key to rotunda. (Some stories with janitor accidentally coming in. Lots of boxes, some of the boxes are a door?)

CAST:

Master Gargoyle (1) - Educated, sad, world-weary.

Girl detective (1) has seen a lot, but not totally cynical. Still believes there's some good in humans.

Gargoyle Warriors (1 - Demona) - adult, vicious brutes

Gargoyle Elders (1 - Ralph) old gargoyle warrior, caretaker of the apprentices.

Apprentice/squire gargoyles (3 - Lassie, Belushi, Goslyn) - young (teen), playful, uneducated, emulate the Master.

Villains - (3 - Xavier, Cat Scan, 1 other (a gargoyle warrior?)

Need to stay away from a fatherly relationship between our Master Gargoyle and the little gargoyles.

Enter "The Sculptor"...

I don't know who came up with this guy. There's no name on it. The character as described here was too horrific for the tone of our show, but touches of him survived. In Coldstone particularly. But also in Jackal and Hyena. Particularly in that fantasy sequence where Jackal "redesigns" Goliath in THE GREEN.

[Read by GDW on 1/15/91]

GARGOYLES: Villains

THE SCULPTOR: Was a well-known eccentric artist until shark attack. Now he sculpts his victims as he was sculpted by shark. "You'd be surprised how many body parts you can do without." [Next to these first few sentences, I wrote: "Yikes".] Lives in a dim, open, downtown loft. Carefully chooses his victims, stalks them, kidnaps them and takes them to the loft for "redesigning." He's missing a right foot, a left hand, a left ear, a lower right arm, a chunk from his left thigh, and his nose. He's replaced his missing parts with cybernetics, giving him super-human (machine) strength and endurance in those parts (maybe he can run super fast or for long distances, super hearing, one strong hand for crushing, etc.). The nose just looks nasty.

I'm back... and so is Catscan...

Hi. I'm back from my sojourn in Louisiana (hi Green Baron). And it's time to continue our reprinting of old development documents from the show...

This one features two villains, Catscan & Shard, that were created by Fred Schaefer, who coincidentally traveled with me in New Orleans this past week. Catscan would eventually split into Sevarius and Talon. Shard would fade away -- too violent and without enough imagination or flare to make the cut.

[Read: GDW 1/15]

THE GARGOYLE -- VILLAINS
(Schaefer 1-13-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Krisel, Ryan, Stones, Weisman

CAT SCAN -- Part man; part panther. Has a muscular, taut, and sleek body. Walks upright most of the time, but can hit some whopping speeds on all fours. His powerful hind legs allow him to leap from one rooftop to another. He also has x-ray night vision, which is capable of duplicating objects (living or non-living) in 3-D. He uses these convincing (if short-lived) holograms as decoys to fool his enemies. He's highly dangerous (razor-sharp claws and teeth), and can kill very quickly. [Greg wrote: "Fitting the name/ May not fit origin" beside this paragraph.]

FIRST EPISODE INTRODUCING CAT SCAN

Dr. Grun is a shamelessly ambitious scientist doing top secret research on vision -- human vs. animal -- for Xavier's corporation. Xavier is involved in developing a highly-advanced "night vision" for jets and a new revolutionary decoy device using holograms. Unfortunately, Dr. Grun's experiments requires an enormous amount of animal research. Mostly on wild cats.

One day, an animal rights group infiltrated his lab. [I underlined this sentence and wrote "Makes them villians".] A violent clash ensues; Dr. Grun accidentally receives a massive dose of his own newly developed x-ray, a controversial device that melds CAT Scan technology with genetics. [I circled "CAT" and wrote "abbreviation has nothing to do w/Cats."] He's hospitalized in Xavier's in-house medical center.

Dr. Grun's body begins to undergo some drastic and extremely painful mutations. Slowly, he turns into a panther/human. He becomes angry, bitter, self-denigrating -- his career as a scientist is over! [I wrote: "Why"] Xavier becomes angry (and sickened by Grun's pathetic self-loathing; remember, powerlessness is Xavier's biggest fear); he reprimands Dr. Grun, telling him that he has acquired skills that no other human possesses. He is powerful and dangerous. Xavier wants to recruit him in his villain team.

At first, Dr. Grun is mortified. The life of a criminal is no substitute for the intellectual life of a scientist! Indignant, Dr. Grun storms out of Xavier's headquarters. That night, while wandering through dark back alleys, Dr. Grun is hounded by a beggar. In a fit of fierce anger (coupled with his feelings of frustration and self-revulsion) he lashes out and attacks the man. The Gargoyle comes to the man's rescue. He and Dr. Grun battle. Dr. Grun escapes.

Safe from the Gargoyle, Dr. Grun reflects on the violence. Surprisingly, he admits that he's never felt more vigorous in his entire life. Pumped up. visceral. ALIVE!!!! (He returns to Xavier as the self-proclaimed CAT Scan, and joins his team.)

THE SECOND EPISODE FEATURING CAT SCAN
[I crossed this out and added an arrow to the paragraph below to move it up with the previous.]

CAT Scan confronts the Gargoyle while trying to pull off one of Xavier's crimes. CAT Scan has been waiting for this moment ... a chance to face his very first opponent again. Only this time, he's more powerful and more skillful at using his CAT Scan vision. It's a tough, grueling fight.
CAT Scan loses, but not by much. He vows to get even. The score is not settled.

THE THIRD EPISODE FEATURING CAT SCAN

CAT Scan discovers that the raid on his lab a long time ago was a hoax perpetrated by Xavier himself. It was no accident that Dr. Grun was dosed by the replicating device. Xavier's rationale was: who better to understand and deal with the psychological stress of becoming a panther than a man who's studied wild cats all his life. A man who understands the physical effects of genetic mutations and the capabilities of the advanced CAT Scan x-rays. Dr. Grun was simply a tool ... and now he's a freak. An enslaved freak. He decides to kill Xavier.

The Gargoyle now finds himself in the odd position of protecting Xavier from CAT Scan. In the end, though, CAT Scan is defeated again.

HERE'S ANOTHER ONE ...

SHARD -- Randall Craig is a New York window cleaner. He's a large man, and yet has an amazing sense of balance; his bulk belies his agility. He's comfortable scaling skyscrapers and definitely not afraid of heights. Some of his coworkers think he's a little too casual on the job.

Although bulky, he's really a shy, somewhat innocent-looking man. A man who's hiding a deep secret: he has an uncontrollable violent streak in him that's triggered when he's being mocked, condescended to, or is ridiculed. Unfortunately, his co-workers make fun of him all the time, but he resists smashing their skulls in because he doesn't want to get fired. [By this section, I wrote: "We all feel this way".] He internalizes his rage and late at night releases it on innocent victims on the streets of New York. [By this I wrote: "can't be to [sic] uncontrollable".]

One day on the job, he cracks up. He crashes through the window of an office tower and beats the [expletive delted] out of an executive who he thought was mocking him as he worked. The broken glass severely scars his face. He's fired.

Plastic surgery can correct the damage, but he decides that he ' likes his new look -- the scars, covering most of his face, resemble a shattered mirror or window. [By these last two paragraphs, I wrote: "Won't be able to do this".]

After the incident he becomes a recluse. He always was an outsider, a loner, but now he disappears for a long period of time. When he resurfaces, it's as a maniacal, senseless murderer. Now he has an "occupation" that people will respect ... even fear. It's hard to be condescending the moment before you're murdered!

Shard spends his nights scaling skyscrapers. When-he sees his next victim, he swoops down on a rope and snatches them from the sidewalk. As he climbs up the building (to the rooftop where his crimes are committed), his victims quickly stop struggling. They are so high up, so quickly, that they don't want him to let them go. Unfortunately, they don't know what awaits them on the roof.

At the scene of Shard's crimes (always on the top of skyscrapers, leaving the police puzzled about how the killer and the victim got up there without anyone noticing them), he leaves a shard of glass -- perfectly clean, like a diamond; no fingerprints, no smudges. And as sharp as a knife. His repeated murders make the headlines of the New York Times.

Xavier relishes the mystery and the ferocity of the killer's crimes, so he sends his men out to track him down before the police do: Xavier wants him on his team! [I circled the word "team" and put a question mark beside it.]

One night, Shard swipes one of Xavier's men and begins scaling a skyscraper to the man's final resting place -- on the roof! The Gargoyle tries to save the man (unknowingly saving one of Xavier's henchmen); a high wire fight ensues; Xavier shows up in a helicopter, joins in the battle against the Gargoyle, but all of the villains are defeated... just barely.

Later, Shard is confronted by Xavier who is eager to recruit him. Shard, however, is furious and almost drops Xavier off the side of a building: he doesn't need him; the world doesn't need him; the world has Shard! Xavier, however, is amused with Shard's look on life. He can't help but laugh. Here is a man who understands ego and power! (Of course, Xavier concludes, he's not bright enough to properly use it; that's why he needs Xavier.) Shard thinks Xavier is laughing at him, so he drops him from the building top. Halfway to the ground, Xavier's saved by his helicopter. Undaunted, apparently not even angry that Shard almost killed him, Xavier laughs out loud and vows to recruit Shard one day... one day.

THE SECOND EPISODE FEATURING SHARD

Well, that day comes soon enough. Cut to the action: Shard is trapped; he's going to be captured by the Gargoyle. Only Xavier can save him, but he'll do so only if Shard vows to work for him. Reluctantly, he agrees, and is saved by Xavier, who laughs demonically at his catch. Shard is having second thoughts...

[I wrote: "Xavier doesn't have to be in everything".]

More e-mails: CATMAN

Another e-mail exchange here. This one is from Fred Schaefer who was creating our proto-Talon character. He wanted some background on DC's Catman character. So I gave it to him.

[2] From: Greg Weisman 1/13/92 10:47AM (5292 bytes: 87 ln)
To: Fred Schaefer
bcc: Greg Weisman
Subject: GARGOYLE VILLAIN
------------------------------- Message Contents ------------------------------
[FRED WROTE:]

Greg, I've created a villain (yes, he's big and powerful) called CAT SCAN. Later, I realized that you said avoid silly villains, using Cat Man as an example. What do you know about Cat Man, so I don't duplicate the character? I doubt that I have, though.

fs

[GREG RESPONDED:]
Catman is a batman villain. At his worst, he was just a guy who liked to steal cat related items. The Egyptian Cat god statue or a gold cat with ruby eyes. He was a former big game hunter who took on the identity of Catman when he got bored, I think. He'd use cat-related items to commit crimes, like a cat-o-nine-tails or a Cat-amaran or a catalogue. (I'm not kidding. At this level, he was simply stealing all the sillier aspects of the Catwoman's schtick.)

At his best, he had a couple of other twists that made him a bit more interesting. He had this cape, that he claimed gave him 9 lives. It was left intentionally vague whether he was just lucky to escape all these dangerous situations, or whether because he believed in the cape he had the confidence to survive, or whether the cape actually worked. One time when Batman ripped off part of the cape while Catman was trying to escape, Catman survived jumping thru a "wall" of high temperature steam. The next time he resurfaced, part of his face was scarred (sound familiar) and burnt by the steam. He blamed Batman, and the fact that a piece of the cape was torn. Even after that, it was still intentionally unclear whether he was just lucky to have survived at all, or whether the cape was in some way responsible. Since then writers have often forgotten that story, and Catman has been fairly inconsistent. Plus since he's now been around for many years, he's used up his nine lives (assuming he ever had them), and writers try to beat around that bush as well.

Another interesting element to the character was the rivalry between Catman and Catwoman, with Batman in the middle. Catwoman & Batman have this love-hate thang going. Plus she occasionally tries to go straight for his sake. (In one old story, that is no longer part of the "cannon" of the DC Universe, Batman and Catwoman got married and had a daughter who grew up to become a heroine named "The Huntress".) Catman and Catwoman used to fight over who had the right to the name, etc.

The key thing however is motivation, look and goal. Catman is a good example of a silly villain, because he has no real motivation beyond liking catstuff. No good reason to even like catstuff. His goal of stealing is just the kind of thing cops should handle. He's not dangerous enough. In later stories, his goal became more murderous. He wanted revenge on Batman and/or Catwoman, but that was because they had defeated him while he was just a glorified catburglar. Finally, his look is silly. He wears a mask with little cat ears, and he wears traditional superhero tights and a cape with a "CM" on his chest. I can bring in a shot of him tomorrow if you want.

There you go, more than you ever needed to know about him.

Except this: when I set out to write my Black Canary mini-series, which never got published, I thought that cats would be natural enemies to a canary, so I teamed up Catman with a Wonder Woman villainess called the Cheetah. I gave them a romance, because Cheetah was mentally scarred (i.e. crazy) and Catman's face was scarred by the steam. They loved each other because no one else would. This was done to off-set the fact that Black Canary's love-life (with another superhero named Green Arrow) was stagnant and hollow. "Even the badguys can have a committed relationship." It was the first issue of the four parter which would act as a catalyst for the two heroes to marry. The series was killed, because DC was approached by a very popular artist/writer who wanted to do Green Arrow. But wanted to keep the character single.

There. Now that's really more than you ever needed to know.

A species is born (again)...

More e-mail. Same day. Tad sends me back word that he can't go to the comic book store, and that I worry too much about Marvel.

But it's clear here that my own thinking is starting to crystalize a bit. I don't want our proto-Goliath to be a cursed/transformed human. In fact, I'm clearly leaning away from him being "created" at all. I'm leaning toward a species with multiple members. I'm bringing it back toward the comedy development but through the dramatic prism.

The Zot! reference below goes like this. I once (more than once actually) tried to get the various companies that I have worked for to option Zot! for animation. Someone once suggested to me that I just create my own Zot!. Obviously I balked at the notion of stealing the essence of someone else's idea. Here on Gargoyles, I felt we had developed something unique and our own. I didn't want, after the fact, to have been accused of stealing someone else's idea. As it turned out, I was accused of that anyway. But at least I could document that it wasn't true.

[20] From: Greg Weisman 1/10/92 11:55AM (1799 bytes: 28 ln)
To: Tad Stones, Mike Ryan, Kathy Fair, Fred Schaefer

cc: Hali Helfgott
bcc: Greg Weisman
Subject: Gargoyle

------------------------------- Message Contents -------------------------------
[TAD WROTE:]
Sorry, I have a lunch today.

I think human to gargoyle is open territory because it's traditional horror transformation and certainly fairy tale stuff. Beauty and the Beast is the direct reference. The fact that both Marvel and DC have those characters shows that it's open territory. Not that I think the human to beast idea is necessarily the way to go.

[GREG RESPONDED:]
Personally, I don't like Human to beast. I feel a) like it's been done to death and b) like no matter how many times he says he can't be cured, you're gonna look for the cure and get frustrated when it doesn't come in a series.

It seems more unique to me if we are creating this new breed. They existed. He may be the only one left, though I might argue both sides of that issue, but it was something that has it's own traditions and mythology. Just another guy transformed ugly, Thing, Hulk, Beast, Beast, Gargoyle, Demon. That doesn't strike me as special.

And I think you underestimate the trouble that Marvel's Gargoyle might give us. We've developed to this character in a natural progression from an original notion. I personally would like to avoid taking turns that would make it look after the fact like we were copying them. It's like the Zot! situation in reverse.