Wes’s Guide to Gargoyles: Fantastic Four X Gargoyles

Friends, it is happening. Gargoyles is crossing over with Marvel Comics. I have made my love of crossovers abundantly clear over the years, and the love of my favorite TV show of all time, Gargoyles, even clearer. Believe me, no one is more hyped for this than I am. I’m going to hold off on lengthy introductions since I think most people are familiar with The Fantastic Four and anyone who has talked to me longer than five minutes likely has an intimate knowledge of Gargoyles whether they like it or not. On that note, let’s check out this big crossover between The Manhattan Clan and Marvel’s First Family.

We open in Valencia Spain in 1094, one hundred years following the massacre at Castle Wyvern where we see a pissed off Demona gliding through the streets brandishing a sword. I am not certain if this is before or after her time with MacBeth but it doesn’t come up in this story so I’m not going to worry about it. In any case, Demona has been searching for a young Gargoyle girl who is being held captive by a man in green and purple robes. This is Diablo, and he will be our main antagonist for this crossover. I’ll level with you guys, I don’t really know a whole lot about this character apart from the fact that he’s some kind of alchemist who occasionally menaces the Fantastic Four. Even the fact that he’s apparently immortal is something I just now learned by reading this comic. That actually provides me with a nice segue back into our plot as we learn that a key ingredient in the elixir Diablo uses to maintain his longevity is Gargoyle Blood, hence why he’s captured the young Gargoyle Girl whom we learn is named Angelika. Also, it’s sort of implied, though never explicitly confirmed that Angelika is Demona’s daughter. Hardly surprising that Demona has other offspring given how long she’s been alive, but this is definitely a huge deal if canon. In any case, Demona and the child escape the evil alchemist, leading us into our title page.

We open properly in present day, or at least present day for a series set in 1997, where Angela, Broadway and Lexington are having a standoff with the Fantastic Four atop the Baxter Building. Well, this comic certainly isn’t wasting any time. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, there was some kind of Free Comic Book day issue or some such that led directly into this moment, so I guess this technically isn’t completely out of nowhere, but it can be a bit jarring to those like myself who didn’t actually read the aforementioned prelude. Anywho, because Susan Storm is both level-headed and genre savvy there will be no misunderstandings that lead into hugely pointless battles today, much to the disappointment of Ben. In any case, introductions are made, the Gargoyles explain that they’re here because they saw what they believed to be some sort of distress signal (probably just Johnny dicking around) and the FF say that they actually could use a hand dealing with The Grey Gargoyle, a Marvel villain with the ability to turn people to stone with his touch.

Elsewhere, what appears to be a completely new Gargoyle is seen breaking out of some sort of holding cell and heading off towards the Eyrie building saying he “Must Warn Them.” More on that in a minute.

Now though, It, Is Happening. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the REAL crossover, for we now join my favorite character in all of fiction, the smartest, richest and coolest man in the room, David Xanatos, having a business meeting with the one man in the entire multiverse (besides maybe Goliath) who might be capable of making him jealous. That man is, of course, none other than one Anthony Edward Stark, The One and Only Iron Man!

David Xanatos… and Tony Stark… in the same room.

Hang on, let me check…

Yup, that is indeed an erection.

Holy Hell… it feels like the past thirty six years of my life have culminated in this moment. That’s it, we’ve peaked. We finally have these two iconic suave billionaire playboy icons together, and everything just feels right. Honestly, I have what I came for now, everything that happens after this is just gravy. The remaining twenty-eight pages of this comic could be nothing but Ben Grimm sitting on the toilet taking a big rocky shit and as far as I’m concerned, this comic will still be a ten out of ten.

Okay, deep breaths Wes, we got that out of our system, now we have a job to do. Let’s keep it in our pants and press on. Anywho, we find Xanatos touring a Stark industries facility, which comes across as little more than an excuse for Tony to show off all his cool shit and rub it in the face of his competitor, clearly a part of an ongoing game of one-upmanship that’s implied to have been going on between the two most smug billionaires on planet earth for some time now. Xanatos seems to take a particular interest in a large containment vault in the corner of the room before leaving, cryptically saying that he will be seeing Tony soon.

Back with the Gargoyles and the FF, we join them confronting Grey Gargoyle on the Brooklyn bridge, who appears to be turning people to stone left and right and callously tossing them into the East River, something Reed notes is not his usual MO. Also, in a moment that made me chuckle, Lex and Broadway comment on how they find the fact that this grey-skinned but otherwise human looking Frenchman calls himself a Gargoyle incredibly offensive. Our heroes are able to subdue the villain, but unfortunately, Angela and Reed end up turned to stone in the process.

Back at Stark Industries, Xanatos breaks through the wall in his own flying suit of armor, which is way cooler than Tony’s let’s be honest, and yoinks the containment vault from earlier. Tony flies out in his Iron Man suit to fight Xanatos, but of course, Xanatos planned for this and has brought every steel clan robot at his disposal to swarm Tony while he gets away with the prize. That’s right, suck it Tony. Just because you were first doesn’t mean you’re better. There’s only one David Mother Fucking Xanatos bitch!

Anywho, we finally join the rest of the clan over at the Eyrie building where the mysterious Gargoyle from earlier lands on the castle walls, after making it clear to an attacking Hudson that comes in peace, the Gargoyle introduces himself as Isaac Christians. Apparently, this character is a relatively obscure Marvel character appropriately named The Gargoyle. Apparently he’s actually human, or at least used to be, but thanks to a mystic pact, his soul was transferred into the body of a long dead Gargoyle so that he may act as a protector for his hometown in Virginia. Coldstone and Coldfire can relate to having one’s soul trapped in a foreign vessel, though Coldstone is notably uncomfortable with a human possessing one of his kind. However, as Isaac notes, we’re getting off track. Isaac is here to warn our heroes that Diablo is once again on the hunt for Gargoyle blood. Initially, the alchemist tried to use Isaac’s, but due to Isaac’s unique circumstances, his blood was unfit for Diablo’s purposes.

Once our heroes up to speed on the Diablo situation, Lexington arrives with Johnny, Hudson recognizing The Human Torch as one of the “Fantastical Fours” he saw on celebrity hockey. Okay… there’s quite a bit to unpack with that statement. First and foremost, one would think that having Johnny Storm anywhere near an ice rink would in all likelihood end very badly for all parties concerned. Second, I’m sure the game wasn’t meant to be a serious competition and to be fair, Hudson does say the FF did lose, but wouldn’t having actually superpowers put the FF at an unfair advantage? And finally, apparently their opponents were the Yancy Street Gang… whom I’m reasonably sure are not celebrities per se, just a street gang who Ben used to run with back in the day. Speaking of, did Ben have to back out of the game due to a conflict of interest? I have so many questions, but this article is already as it is and we need to keep moving or we’ll be here all month. Johnny informs our heroes about the whole Grey Gargoyle thing and how Johnny’s brother-in-law and Goliath’s daughter have been turned to stone, and not in the way she’s supposed to be in Angela’s case. Johnny does know of a way to cure them, but that cure is in the hands of an old enemy, Diablo. Hmm… our heroes are warned of Diablo hunting Gargoyle blood on the same night that one of their ranks is hit with an affliction of which Diablo holds the only cure. That’s probably not a coincidence, but our heroes don’t have time to dwell on this, they got family to save. As our heroes head out, Coldstone, who has stayed behind to guard the castle, contacts someone, probably Demona (remember in the comics it was recently revealed that the two are secretly in cahoots) to inform her of the situation.

Back with Xanatos, we join our favorite delivering the containment vault to Diablo, who has apparently promised him a share in his immortality potion in exchange for his service. Ordinarily, Xanatos serves no one, but with immortality so close he can literally almost taste it, he couldn’t say no. Plus, it gives him an excuse to steal from a business rival, not that he needs one, stealing from business rivals is what Xanatos does for fun on the weekends. Hell, it’s the whole reason he woke up the Gargoyles in the first place.

Anywho, once Xanatos is gone, Diablo starts talking to the containment vault, referring to it as his “old companion” and lays out his whole convoluted master plan. Diablo deliberately allowed Isaac to escape knowing he’d warn the Manhattan clan and lead them straight to him. In addition, he hired Grey Gargoyle to go on a rampage, calculating that at least one of the Gargoyles would get encased in stone, further incentivizing the Gargoyles to seek him out for his cure. And finally, he tempted Xanatos with the promise of immortality to bring him the containment vault, hoping to use whatever’s inside it to thwart any rescue attempts. Well, it’s definitely complex, but not exactly Xanatos levels of brilliance. I give it a six out of ten.

As our heroes head to Diablo’s lair, Hudson and Coldfire hang behind to guard Mr. Fantastic and The Civilians of who have been turned to stone. Though, for some reason, they take Angela with them. I can’t really think of a reason why that makes sense other than the plot demands it, but if this weird bit of plot convenience is this comic’s biggest problem, we’re still in good shape. Also, Iron Man is here to help guard the stone civilians. I guess Tony just happened to be in the neighborhood.

Anyway, at Diablo’s lair, we finally learn what’s been in that containment vault this whole time, the monstrous android known as The Dragon Man. While Goliath, Isaac, Johnny, Lex and Ben get ready for Clobberin’ Time, Angela gets shooped away through a portal and Sue and Broadway follow her into Diablo’s lair.

Once Diablo has Angela in his clutches, he wastes no time enacting the cure, which has the effect of restoring Reed and the civilians, including frequent Gargoyles background character and all around unpleasant human being, DA Margot Yale. Sue and Broadway attempt a sneak attack, but Diablo is ready for them and uses his alchemical magic to immobilize them. Diablo definitely prepared for every eventuality… except the one that’s now holding a sword to his throat, Demona. Shocked that Demona is still alive, Diablo tries to immobilize her as well, but an extremely powerful sorceress like Demona isn’t falling for that cheap trick and blast Diablo with some magic of her own.

Outside, our heroes are struggling against The Dragon Man, but upon learning that the monster is just a machine, Lexington easily rigs up the Fantasticar to emit an electromagnetic pulse, disabling the android.

Back in Diablo’s lair, our heroes chain the villain to get him ready for the cops while Demona has disappeared completely. Angela explains to Sue that her relationship with her mother is complicated to say the least, but Broadway notes that she saved her life, which must mean something.

And so things begin to wind down. Reed works to restore Dragon Man’s more benevolent programming, Isaac is invited to join the clan, and Xanatos insists that he had no idea that Diablo’s elixir would have harmed Angela, Goliath doesn’t believe him but what else is new, and a pissed off Tony Stark is on the phone wanting a word with his contemporary. It seems all is well that’s ended well, our comic ending with both teams commenting on how they’ve each gained valuable new allies, a sentiment emphasized by the final image of the Eyrie Building and the Baxter Building framed against the New York City Skyline.

Wow… I feel like I need a cigarette after that one, and I don’t even smoke. This comic was truly excellent but it was also a lot. There are so many plot threads in this comic that it honestly feels more like a multi part mini series than a one shot. However, despite this comic feeling incredibly loaded, there is very little fat on this story and everything ties together nicely. Was it perfect… not exactly. I still give this comic top marks, but I have a couple nitpicks. Being a one shot, there are a lot of moments that feel very rushed that feel like they could have been better fleshed out if we just had more time. Also, bringing a helpless Angela with them to the villains lair makes no sense no matter which way you slice it. But again, none of those are complaints, merely nitpicks. Literally everything else in this comic was everything I wanted and more. I may have exaggerated my reaction to the Tony/Xanatos meetup a bit, but you have to admit it is still beyond cool to see those two iconic characters in the same story. I know that Greg Weisman has said that he didn’t have Iron Man in mind when he created Xanatos, but you’d be a fool not to note their similarities, and I’m just glad we finally got to see them hanging out. And while this was only a one shot, it is my hope that if this comic sells well, which certainly appears to be the case so far, I hope this opens the door for more Gargoyles/Marvel crossovers in the future. But right now, as a lover of both Gargoyles, Fantastic Four and Crossovers, I don’t see how anything is ever going to top… top… t-top…

Oh… My… God…

Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you guys in January, but for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it.