There's also the first season of Star Wars: Rebels if three (soon-to-be four) seasons felt daunting. And unlike W.I.T.C.H. it has easier means of viewing, with both DVD/Blu-rays and Disney+ to boot.

Patience is an old hat for any fan here, but after the first two novels, I remain hopeful we'll see Rain, Charlie, Miranda, and Bastian (and the rest) in Masque of Bones one day :-)
Phoenician
"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" -- Willy Wonka
posted @ Sun, Nov 8, 2020 4:31:05 pm EST from 68.231.96.196

"Young Justice" does seem like the most likely follow-up.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, Nov 7, 2020 7:08:23 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

Well I figured we'd start Young Justice next, I don't know if anyone else wants to take point on that, I don't mind doing it myself but if you thought I was wordy on Spider-Man just see what will happen when I cover more than one superhero 'verse.

In the meantime, I'm probably going to start work on the next Gargoyles review for my blog.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Sat, Nov 7, 2020 4:35:57 pm EST from 64.85.245.77

I think you did a fine job of reviewing the two "Rain" books, Matthew. Thank you.

So what will we be doing next week here?
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, Nov 7, 2020 7:51:41 am EST from 68.231.71.191

So my final thoughts on "Spirits of Ash and Foam" this is the book where I think that Greg really came into his own when it came to literature. The book's longer length allows for the story to breath more and lets the narrative flow more naturally. The highlights of the story are well connected to one another, the hunt for the zemis, the mystery behind Cash's murder, the nature of the supernatural, even Miranda's efforts in becoming friends are woven together really well. None of it feels contrived which is a trap many writers or showrunners fall into when trying to balance multiple plot points.

The story feels a lot more, let's say, organic once it becomes a proper trio with each personality of the kids helping balance the other. Rain's tough as nails yet headstrong attitude, Charlie's attentive and supportive yet pliable demeanor and Miranda's kind and accepting yet naïve nature creates a great group dynamic. And I genuinely like the character progress Rain goes through this book; her strong, tomboyish attitude is strongly put to the test through the big dramatic events to even the little things like asking Miranda not to cry or she'll start to as well.

The stakes feel much higher as we learn more about the nature of the zemis and the ghosts and demons. One thing Greg has been especially good at is escalation, when to use it and when to dial things back a bit and make the odds smaller or more personal. A murderous swarm of mosquitoes is bad yet nothing compared to the living, malevolent hurricane that is Guanayoa from the last book. And still his nature and that of Aycayia made them much more serious in this book than she was.

I'd love for Greg to be able to pick this series back up someday, even if it's not plausible right now. I want to go back to the Ghosts which feel more real and lived in now, to see what zemis they would find, explore more of the islands (I wonder if that volcano La Geante was the First Fire spoken of this book), find out more about Callahan and Setebos and see where Rain's journey would take her.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Sat, Nov 7, 2020 1:54:01 am EST from 64.85.245.77

Trying to refrain from politics... but I'm just going to leave this here:

https://www.thewrap.com/democrats-assemble-election-2020-gets-the-avengers-meme-it-deserves/

Watch the video if you like.
Matt
posted @ Fri, Nov 6, 2020 6:59:11 pm EST from 24.107.111.141

ANTIYONDER - I do, and I think it's a lot of fun.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Fri, Nov 6, 2020 6:38:27 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

Yeah been reading Gunnerkrigg Court myself since 2014.

Don't suppose anyone here reads Phoebe and Her Unicorn?
Antiyonder
posted @ Fri, Nov 6, 2020 4:39:12 pm EST from 71.93.3.194

I keep forgetting this comment room exists.
BrooksBabe
posted @ Fri, Nov 6, 2020 4:49:17 am EST from 70.73.134.102

It reminded me of the character "Jones" from "Gunnerkrigg Court", though I doubt that Greg had that in mind.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Nov 5, 2020 8:56:51 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

Thanks Todd, her last name is pretty innocuous, I missed it on the first read.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Thu, Nov 5, 2020 8:27:22 pm EST from 64.85.245.77

Thanks for your review, Matthew. (I'll have to reread those last chapters to find out what Ariel's last name was, since I'd missed that part.)
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Nov 5, 2020 8:13:22 am EST from 68.231.71.191

Today marks the conclusion of Spirits of Ash and Foam and ultimately the true story of Guanayoa, Aycayia and her son Jurupari. As I covered a couple weeks ago it was incredibly important for Aycayia to offer the Kims the choice on whether staying dolphins or returning home. Because as we see in these chapters she was given no choice over her own life, not her marriage, not as a slave to Guanayoa, even her immortality was her decision. There's some saying about the choices we make for ourselves and the choices others make for us and how it's important to know the difference. The great tragedy of this is even if Jurupari may have been the First Murderer he ultimately had no choice but to be that as Guanayoa made that one for him. In the end the only choice Aycayia had was to end the vicious cycle of her son.

I once wrote about what we create in our imagination when we read, there was a few times in the story when Rain sees the image of a boy in the swarm of mosquitoes. At the end when the swarm has been devoured I couldn't help but picture the image of a baby, crying and alone. In the briefest of moments, the Mosquito Demon was gone and what remained was baby Jurupari, sobbing for his mother like any other child.

I'd like to talk a bit about our main villain Guanayoa, Greg tends to favor morally and emotionally complex villains in his works. But she stands out by just how vile she is, she lorded her power and beauty and resented those who had that as well. It's like she wants the world to become as bitter and ugly as she became. There's a bit of irony in the fact that so much of her backstory was built to stopping her own death and now her central threat Rain, regularly seeks help from ghosts. It also speaks to just how utterly petty she is, cursing the 7 sisters and transforming them into animals. But in another great irony though she took away their beauty, the dolphins became symbols of intelligence, good omen and care. The manatee inspired the mermaid image and to this day is regarded as a gentle beast and a creature to be protected. Though she could take away their beauty (and not even permanently for Aycayia) she could not destroy their inner beauty nor change how the world would see them.

To conclude, Miranda is finally brought in on the full story and Cash has become a full ally to the gang, also we find out Ariel's last name. Isaac is given some closure of his own and looks like he may act as sort of a bridge between the world of myth and today. We also find out more about the second zemi, The Protector of the Taino and by extension about Maq himself. You know a few days ago I was looking up the Loa of Voudo and was reading about one figure, Papa Legba. A trickster figure often seen wearing a straw hat who is associated with dogs. I know that's not what Maq is but the similarity is interesting.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 9:59:30 pm EST from 64.85.245.77

Greg's hinted that [SPOILER] Demona learned about Owen and Puck being the same when she first met Xanatos, and that Owen/Puck arranged their meeting. [/SPOILER]
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 8:06:27 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

Interesting. How did Demona make the connection then? Sounds like she knew all of this before the big reveal in The Gathering
Rezzak
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 8:01:55 pm EST from 172.73.76.47

ANTIYONDER - I'm still amazed that I missed that moment in "The Mirror", the first time it aired (though I definitely noticed it when I saw it again after "The Gathering").
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 7:11:36 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

And going back to another episode [SPOILER] In The Mirror when Demona says you serve the human, she was speaking of Xanatos. And again the reference was suppose to be more direct with "You serve him" [/SPOILER].
Antiyonder
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 6:56:31 pm EST from 71.93.3.194

Yep, she does. (Greg pointed out that [SPOILER] the cables Demona used to tie Owen up contained iron, by the way [/SPOILER].)
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 6:48:06 pm EST from 68.231.71.191

When Demona says to Owen "you're the tricky one" in City of Stone [SPOILER] Does she know his true identity? [/SPOILER]
Rezzak
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 4:28:36 pm EST from 172.73.76.47

I would question how Sevarius would have realized that gargoyles raise their young communally, but he probably figured it out based on the fact that Thailog considered three different male figures to be his fathers.
Paul - [nampahcfluap at yahoo dot com]
posted @ Wed, Nov 4, 2020 3:37:35 pm EST from 76.243.192.93

Yeah it's another point for the show that things can line up or all of the little details when you look at them like:

1. The CPA clerk later revealed to be Dominic Dracon making that comment about the handsome looking fella, despite say Weisman's mention of how Benton originally wasn't Dominic.

2. Greg's mentioning in The Mirror about [SPOILER] how Puck's role as Owen was to be hinted at more with Demona mentioning you serve "him/he" rather than human was changed for it sounding like a reference to Satan, while in the show Derek makes that crack about Elisa trying to prove Xanatos is the Prince of Darkness. [/SPOILER].

3. Not that big, but Servarius dropping the "bombshell" that Goliath is Angela's biological father. Then his next words after is "Not that it matters".

Kind of fitting considering how it's been repeated in the fandom that gargoyles don't take the same approach to parenting as our race:-).

Matthew> Well then I'll drop my only two cents on the matter. It makes the viewing of Temptation more interesting if only to wonder if this would push Demona into another plan against humanity at this time in the Gargoyles Universe.
Antiyonder
posted @ Tue, Nov 3, 2020 7:05:58 pm EST from 71.93.3.194

At the risk of getting political, I will agree with Matt that we can hope this Election Day.

Anyway, I'll be covering the last five chapters of Spirits of Ash and Foam tomorrow followed with my overall thoughts on the book.
After that, who knows?
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Tue, Nov 3, 2020 6:44:53 pm EST from 64.85.245.77

(5th)Fifth!!!!!
Vinnie - [thomaspeano at yahoo dot com]
Deplorable and loving it!
posted @ Tue, Nov 3, 2020 5:51:26 pm EST from 172.14.186.123

And they didn't even know about that aspect of Owen when they were making Season One, so its "surfacing" in "The Edge" was a fortunate unintentional.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Tue, Nov 3, 2020 8:55:41 am EST from 68.231.71.191

Fourth!

I can think of lots of incidents throughout the series where Owen's true nature was coming through. "Leader of the Pack" is a good example.

Also really looking forward to more of this season of The Mandalorian. Good stuff.

Happy Election Day, my fellow Americans... or lets hope so at least...
Matt
posted @ Tue, Nov 3, 2020 5:54:58 am EST from 24.107.111.141

So that bit in The Edge where Owen denies Elisa entry into the building while asking if she has a warrant, [SPOILER] think that's Puck trolling her:-) [/SPOILER]?

Probably don't need the spoiler, but I don't know. Have we had some new faces since Plus started up?
Antiyonder
posted @ Mon, Nov 2, 2020 5:33:49 pm EST from 71.93.3.194

Yes they are included.
Antiyonder
posted @ Mon, Nov 2, 2020 10:34:00 am EST from 71.93.3.194

Third.

ANTIYONDER - Do the episodes of "The Owl House" on Disney + have the ending credits intact (the ones showing Luz walking through various parts of the Boiling Isles)? The showings on the Disney Channel and Disney XD usually leave those out, moving the ending credits to the last moments of the episode, but they did show them a couple of times, and I thought they were good.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Nov 2, 2020 8:41:06 am EST from 68.231.71.191

And I anxiously await the second episode of the new Mandalorian season.

Something I'd like to ask the chat, I always post my reviews of Gargoyles here, but I also write on plenty of other things. For any that do read those other posts, I'd like to ask. Do you enjoy any of those? And would it be okay to post non-Gargoyle related blog posts here?
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________
posted @ Mon, Nov 2, 2020 1:15:25 am EST from 64.85.245.77

Late, but doing my First D+ marathons of The Owl House and Gargoyles.
Antiyonder
posted @ Mon, Nov 2, 2020 12:14:50 am EST from 71.93.3.194