Happy Mother's Day, everyone! (And it feels all the more appropriate to say it this year, with the next "Gargoyles" story coming up being about Demona becoming a mother to Angelika, and seeing how she'll take on that role.)
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sun, May 11, 2025 9:36:20 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

RIP Peter Morwood.
Antiyonder
posted @ Sun, May 11, 2025 9:19:05 am EDT from 68.119.3.1

Welcome back, Blaise! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reviews with us.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Sat, May 10, 2025 8:06:10 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

****Blaise zooms into the Room like a hot rod, screeching to a halt...and then stopping to put out the fires on his feet.****
OK, it took a bit longer to get back here than anticipated, and I've got a lot to catch up on. I'll front load the happy stuff first (try to cut down on the mood whiplash).

JURGAN> Congratulations! Sorry that's coming as late as it is, but seriously that is a tremendous achievement and you have every right to be proud.

MORRAND> Congratulations to you, too! Safe flying!

Right, onto the thing I've been trying to get here to write about for a week:
GARGOYLES: DEMONA: BETTER ANGELS: A PRIZE BEYOND COMPARE> (May this be the only form of "colon cancer" I ever deal with.)
[SPOILER] So, Demona is breaking into the Met where there is an exhibit on "Vikings in Japan" (never knew about that...neat!). And she has apparently decided to suit up for this. I don’t know where she’s been keeping this armor, or why she doesn’t wear it more often/is wearing it now. The idea that there is a sentimental aspect to it (as the ending will suggest) seems plausible to me, though it makes me think back to "Vows" and Demona calling Goliath a "sentimental fool" for bringing his half of the Pheonix Gate to the wedding. "Rule for thee but not for me," Demona? Either way, she seemingly hasn’t simply killed the guard, just incapacitated him. She did something similar in "The Mirror," so most likely she’s again putting higher priority on achieving her goal than offing a nobody. And based on the date, we know this is taking place during the time skip in "Acquisitions", so she knows the clan is currently searching for her and she needs to keep on the move.

I’ll take a moment right now to gush about Frank Paur’s art here--DAMN, this is nice! Best since Guler back in "The Gate." Love the panel of Demona in partial silhouette, eyes gloing; the various panels of the artifacts in the case, culminating in the big panel of them all arrayed around a central shield (with stylized imagery of Odin on Slepnir--with 8 legs!); and then Demona smashing the case with the "SHATTTRRR" onomatopoeia on the next page. All lovely, and if I couldn’t wait to see the rest of the series before, I definitely can’t now!

Demona strolls out the front of the Met with shield and sword in hand (where did she get that from...or where was she hiding it?). I’ve seen folks talking about how much in stride the people around seem to be taking this, but it makes some sense to me as A) this is after Goliath’s trial, so some of the "unknown" factor has been dispelled, B) most folks probably still haven’t seen a gargoyle right in front of them, so there might be a bit of "Am I really seeing this?" still, and C) this is New York City. The people around still look a bit unsure about her, though, and they have good reason to be. But first, battle!

Goliath, Angela and the Trio show up to foil Demona’s plot...which must be taking that shield, of course. She just knocks Broadway and Lex aside and locks blades with Brooklyn (been waiting for something like that). I love the "Gargoyle of the Sword" bit, and am intrigued both by Demona referring to Katana as Brooklyn’s “bride,” a rather human turn of phrase, I would think, and calling the current battle a "charade." I mean, we'll find out it is to her, but still....

Speaking of Katana, though, we cut to her and Hudson in conversation. Hudson remarks on the oddity of Katana not joining the battle, both because of the exhibit involving her homeland and the fact that they’re still trying to stop Demona from getting the Three New Keys to Power, of which this shield might be one. I find Katana’s reply, that "Goliath led a force large enough for...*whatever* Demona seeks to achieve," interesting. Does she maybe know something we don’t yet...? At any rate, she leaves to check on Egwardo (probably still not used to having her egg anywhere other than within an arm’s reach).
By the way, I have already praised and will continue to praise Frank’s art, but I did notice some oddities with Katana: she has three toes in front (instead of her usual two) and seems to be bare shouldered. It’s not ruining anything for me (any more than Lexington having caped wings in two shots of "Possession" does), just something I noticed.

At any rate, back to the battle. I love it when gargoyles use all of their appendages to their advantage in battle, so Demona tripping up Brooklyn with her tail is great. And she doesn’t even let Angela say anything more than "Mother" before Demona shield bashes her to the side, saying she’s doing it “for love.” Brooklyn calls her out on not knowing the meaning of love, she gives the "you don’t know me" line, Goliath counters that *he* does and manages to knock her down and take the shield. Demona had been saying that in her millennium of life, "nothing has meant as much to [her] as this prize" and...how many of us were sure she was talking about the shield at this point?

Well, Demona gives a big “NO” and uses some flashbangs to cover her escape, but Our Heroes are satisfied that they saved the shield from her. Hey guys? Remember "The Mirror"? Maybe remain a bit more suspicious until the Met has done a full inventory of the burgled exhibit.

Well, we see Demona return to her townhouse and be greeted by Antoinette. The bottom panel of this page is gorgeous, and notable because Demona’s smile here seems...not simply triumphant in her usual, smug, villainous way, but genuinely happy. Antoinette seems a little harder to read (I can’t say she looks happy here), but Demona simply repeats what she said earlier, about nothing meaning as much to her as this prize while looking at a locket. And yeah, I went back to look at the display case panels on page two and was happy to see the locket there, hidden in plain sight. (Still not sure what happened to that sword, though.)

I love the ambiguity of the dialogue with Demona in the earlier fight. Everything she said was true, but her enemies misinterpreted it. Even what she said to Angela could be interpreted as Demona’s twisted "tough love" justifications for her atrocities (and normally, that would be right), but this time it’s simply recovering a memento of a loved one.

And we see that memento as Demona, with a tearful smile, looks in the locket at a cord made of twined red and blonde hairs and says the name, Angelika. I hadn’t pegged them as hairs when I first read this but am surprised that didn’t occur to me until someone said it here.
This was an excellent appetizer for the upcoming meal!
And once again...Goliath's the "sentimental fool" Demona? [/SPOILER]

THE “EPILOGUE”> [SPOILER] I love how the change in artist (nice to see Kambadais again, of course) is kind of a signal that what follows...isn’t quite the same as what just came before, despite this being called an epilogue. The dialogue picks up right from the end, though, with the gargoyles talking about Elisa returning the artifact to the museum and how they had just caused "a scene" all over Fifth Avenue. This does make me wonder what fallout Goliath may have to deal with from this back at the precinct. But for now, he’s going to talk with Hudson and Coldfire while Brooklyn heads down to talk with his Timedancer family, leaving the three “teenage” gargoyles to notice a very particular flare in the night sky. This prompts them to investigate (and Broadway to muse on getting a special big "G" flare for their clan’s use). The three make their way to the location of the flare...the top of the Baxter Building, where four particular heroes had been attempting to summon three *other* heroes but the gargoyles arrived instead.... [/SPOILER]

And now:
GARGOYLES MEET THE FANTASTIC FOUR> This part doesn’t need to be in SPOILER tags, right?
I belong to several Facebook groups of "Gargoyles" fans, and many times I’ve seen people ask, or rather *demand*, for "Gargoyles" to be made part of the official Marvel universe. Mind you, that’s just one of many crossovers that have been insisted upon (I’ve recently seen posts from one person who wrote a "Gargoyles/Aladdin" crossover script that they want to send to Disney and have be made canon), but they all seem to completely disregard the logistics and continuity snarls such things would entail. And I’ve always preferred "Gargoyles" as its own separate property (and we all know about the "action universe" history, so it's big enough on its own), so I mostly just skip over these sorts of posts. Then one day I saw a post with artwork that looked like Kambadais’s style where Broadway, Angela and Lex were meeting the Fantastic Four, and my first thought was, "Oh great, somebody’s using AI to mimic Kambadais and crowbar 'Gargoyles' and a Marvel property together." Then I saw that it was posted by Greg Bishansky, and I realized, "Holy $#!t, this is *real.*"
Since then, I’ve been excited for this. I did not for a minute think this was going to be anymore canon or “in continuity” than the “Spectacular Spider-Man” and/or “Young Justice” crossovers of previous conventions, so I’m just here for the fun ride. It’s an official crossover at last!


And, now that all the happy stuff has been touched on, time to address the sad news:
PETER MORWOOD> This sucks. There's no other way to say it. These days, 68 years old feels still too young. And my heart goes out to those he leaves behind, such as Diane Duane.
He has left a body of work behind him that will keep his name remembered past this day, and we will, of course, continue to watch and re-watch the episodes he and Diane worked on. I feel especially fortunate that "Voices From the Eyrie" managed to get him and Diane on an episode and we could hear him speak.
Actually, that's one of the episodes I haven't re-listened to, yet. I think I know what I'm doing today.

****Blaise pops in some earbuds and begins listeing to the "Voices From the Eyrie" episode on "The Hound of Ulster" as he walks out of the Room.****
Blaise
"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."--The Doctor
posted @ Sat, May 10, 2025 4:40:08 pm EDT from 45.48.46.39

I'll echo what everyone else has said. The two episodes he and his wife wrote are among my favorites. And his visit to Voices was awesome. Sounds like he was a great guy. Thank you, sir for your contributions to this franchise. You have made an impact!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 9:19:33 pm EDT from 47.233.90.133

What can I say? Peter Morwood was terrific. Warm, friendly, a razor-sharp wit, fast. And brilliant.
Greg Bishansky
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 8:30:30 pm EDT from 67.189.200.184

morrand > Congratulations! The users here are accomplishing all sorts of great things lately.

As for Peter Morwood, I knew fairly little of him until his Voices from the Eyrie appearance a few weeks ago. I'm so grateful we got that recording, as he came across as such a genuine, knowledgeable, warm, and funny guy. I was so glad to hear that he and Diane Duane were still together and seemed to have a great dynamic. I could have listened to the two of them discuss mythology for hours, and now that I understand what a fantastic presence he was, my heart really breaks for Diane for her loss.
Craig
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 8:11:00 pm EDT from 69.118.30.106

BRAINIAC - I'm sorry to hear about Peter's passing.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 7:44:22 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

In less happy news, I regret to inform you all we have lost someone significant to our fandom...one of the namesakes for Arthur Morwood-Smyth, Diane Duane's husband and partner for 40 years, Peter Moorwood, has passed.

https://www.tumblr.com/dduane/783067867808776192/peter-morwood

Requiescat in pace.
Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 7:20:23 pm EDT from 162.154.8.4

Congrats morrand. Continue to take even the skies from gargoyles!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Fri, May 9, 2025 11:22:19 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

Ed: [SPOILER] I'm not sure Demona being in a good mood would lead to her showing...well, maybe "showing mercy" assumes too much, but at any rate to leaving the guard (apparently) alive. Maybe she's just in a very sentimental mood. [/SPOILER]

It's not on-topic, and likely what an unrelated board I've been on used to call MPMSIMS, but I also wanted to mention that I passed the flight test and gained my instrument rating yesterday.
morrand - [morrand276 at gmail dot com]
posted @ Thu, May 8, 2025 8:58:26 pm EDT from 108.69.72.60

Welcome back, Ed! Great to hear from you again, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on "Demona #0" with us.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, May 7, 2025 8:50:27 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

Huh - seems like a lot has been going on since I checked in!

Congratulations to Jurgan. Out of interest, and if it's possible to convey to a layperson, what was your PhD about?

Gargoyles/FF - While I have incredibly little interest in Marvel and I'm pretty lukewarm about non-canon 'Gargoyles' stuff too, FF is probably my favourite world in Marvel and although I haven't read them regularly since Waid/Wieringo, it'll be interesting to see Greg take these characters on. Having Greg write both and having Marvel publish one of them I guess raises the prestige of the series - although if it raises it only to encourage more crossovers/non-canon stuff that seems like a retrograde step. I'm reasonably confident it won't though because hopefully by then the first "four" seasons will all be out there and there's a chance it might bring new people to the series. In this sense, it seems well-timed.

VftE - Really liked hearing about Nichelle Nichols' view of the script and also Greg's quite logical observations on the evolution of the Anansi mythology. Anansi is one of the single-appearance characters (well, apart from a cameo in "The Gathering") that I'm most intrigued to see more from.

DEMONA #0

It's strange that after all these years of hoping for spin-offs, the third spin-off is one that was never on the list anticipated - 'Demona'. I wonder whether, if 'Gargoyles' was created a couple of decades later, whether a Demona spin-off would have been a far more obvious next step. In the 90s, putting a genocidal villain in the lead understandably wouldn't have flown but these days comic villain spin-offs are ten a penny and half of them don't have a fraction the backstory to explore that Demona has.

[SPOILER] Uncharacteristic of Demona to leave the guard alive. I wonder who the guard and the woman in the car are.

Must be in a good mood - or more likely, I guess, she thought that this would prove an additional distraction to the clan to aid in their getaway.

Fantastic misdirect to put the locket right by the shield and a great twist ending to a short story.

The Sutton Hoo mask was interesting. I visited Sutton Hoo in 2022 and something that I'd never clocked was the presence of a jewel above one eye to glint as an echo of Odin's eye (and thereby suggesting the wisdom of the chieftain, one would infer). In a 'Gargoyles' context, I wonder if this jewel has any other significance.

Obviously the art was top-notch.

The FF tease was great too. I'm glad that George Kambadais is staying in the fold of 'Gargoyles'.

Great little tease for what's to come. And I'm glad that Greg is talking about a full new run of 'Gargoyles' again. [/SPOILER]
Ed
posted @ Wed, May 7, 2025 6:47:00 am EDT from 146.90.229.166

I’ve been playing for two years now. In the first year Ducktales and Talespin characters were added to the game. Then, two sets ago, Chip N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers were added to the game. I said to myself that it was a matter of WHEN not IF Gargoyles would be added, as they were clearly cycling through the Disney Afternoon. (The Ducktales cards were from both the 87 and 2017 versions)

With the announcement this morning, I felt so flipping vindicated (and extremely excited, as I really enjoy the game). I expect the set to come out in November.
Chip - [Sir_Griff723 at yahoo dot com]
Become a writer, you can be petty~~Roshni Chokshi
posted @ Wed, May 7, 2025 3:53:43 am EDT from 174.196.53.249

Didn't even know about it until you mentioned it.
Antiyonder
posted @ Wed, May 7, 2025 3:09:12 am EDT from 68.119.3.1

Don’t know if anyone in here plays the Disney themed TCG Lorcana, but they announced yesterday morning that Gargoyles will be added to the game late this year.
Chip - [Sir_Griff723 at yahoo dot com]
Become a writer, you can be petty~~Roshni Chokshi
posted @ Wed, May 7, 2025 3:00:42 am EDT from 174.196.53.249

I was wondering whether mattrose was a spambot or a genuine "Gargoyles" fan. The prominent business link raises immediate warning bells, but much of the post did seem to be the sort of thing a real newcomer might say. Taking the cautious approach seems best, though.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 7:55:26 pm EDT from 68.99.93.213

Todd> Yes, the Heikegani are fascinating creatures given that they're both a real life species and a yokai of myth. They're also an excellent example of pareidolia in nature.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 1:55:43 pm EDT from 135.180.3.149

Matthew TFG> Yeah, I did a little researching into that era myself yesterday and came up with similiar results. Thanks! It will be interesting if any of that comes into play.

mattrose> Hilarious. Glad the ad spammers are getting more savvy.
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 9:45:29 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

[SPOILER] I read up a little on Japan around 1200 after reading morrand's post last night - not much, since my home library doesn't have much on Japanese history, but I did learn that it was the period when the Shogunate was founded. I also rediscovered a legend about that period that I'd learned about as a boy but had half-forgotten; in the wars leading up to the founding of the Shogunate, two rival clans, the Taina and the Minamoto, fought at sea. The Minamoto won (with their leader becoming the first Shogun), and the Taina were all drowned - drowned themselves, in fact, rather than surrender. Afterwards, it was said that their spirits lived on in the local crabs, who bore patterns on their shells similar to the faces of the Taina samurai. I wonder whether that tale will ever make its way into "Gargoyles".

Katana mentioned the Shogunate in her voice-over narration in "Here in Manhattan", which suggests that her pre-Timedancer life was after its establishment. So far, we haven't had a specific date for her beyond a vague "feudal Japan" (which might explain why Brooklyn's reminiscences over his Timedancing adventures back in #6 of "Here in Manhattan" didn't show his first meeting her; no specific year to apply to it, unlike the scenes where Brooklyn apparently first meets Fu-Dog, or where Brooklyn, Katana, and Fu-Dog land on the USS "Nashville" during World War II with an as-yet-unhatched Gnash), but maybe the later stories in "Demona" will change that.

We know that Demona winds up in Constantinople in the early 12th century with a group of Vikings during Sigurd Magnusson's travels (an actual historical event, which I'll say more about later). Presumably she and Angelika journey eastwards from there, to eventually wind up in Japan - and probably with a few Vikings - whether human, gargoyle, or both - from Sigurd Magnusson's company (there were too many Viking artifacts in that exhibit to have been brought there by just two people).

Incidentally, I tried translating the runic inscription on the rim of Odin's Shield, consulting a couple of books I have on Vikings that stated which letter of the English alphabet each rune was a part of, but I got only a weird mixture of vowels and consonants, so I assume that the production team just put them on to look "Old Norse". [/SPOILER]
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 9:26:47 am EDT from 68.99.93.213

I work for https://www.birminghamdeckingservices.co.uk, so most of my days are spent outdoors building and installing. Recently, I started getting into comics to unwind after work, and Gargoyles really pulled me in. I grew up with the show, but the comic goes way deeper—more emotion, more twists, and way more character growth. It’s kind of like our decking projects: the foundation is familiar, but the real impact comes from the details and craftsmanship. As a comic newbie, I’ve found Gargoyles to be a solid entry point—easy to get into, but rich enough to keep you hooked. Definitely glad I picked it up.
mattrose
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 8:40:01 am EDT from 180.190.254.215

Third!

And just over THREE week until Demona #1!
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 8:17:13 am EDT from 204.184.178.1

As another trivia bit, Frank Welker provided the voice of H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot in the Second "Fantastic Four" cartoon (1978).

Also the Impossible Man in one of the episodes.
Antiyonder
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 4:16:25 am EDT from 68.119.3.1

First!

[SPOILER] Matt> To answer your question on what was going on in Japan back in 1200, this was just after the end of the Genpai War and the early years of the Kamakura Shogunate. But most importantly, this was the period of time when the Samurai caste was properly established with the Minamoto clan's newly established government. On a more general note if you were to ask what was going on in Japan at the time the answer would be the country was fighting each other. This would keep happening until the end of the Warring States and the establishment of the Edo Period. [/SPOILER]
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Mon, May 5, 2025 2:06:48 am EDT from 135.180.3.149