Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: Gargoyles #6

Welcome back friends to the latest issue of the ongoing Gargoyles comic. Last time, Goliath was arrested and brought to Riker’s Island by the NYPD’s Gargoyle Task Force. While the crime families of New York City declared war on one another thanks to the strategic manipulations of Dino Dracon, Brooklyn tried to stage a prison break, but upon reaching Goliath’s cell, Goliath called off Brooklyn and opted to remain in prison to await trial.

Our comic opens with Brooklyn drowning. Don’t worry, he’s not actually drowning, this is just a visual metaphor for how the burden of leadership can be overwhelming, as Brooklyn’s narration tells us. See, with Goliath in prison, Brooklyn is the leader of the clan, and while he felt that springing Goliath from the slammer with the right call, Goliath’s refusal has left him floored and unsure what he should do. Goliath says that to answer violence with violence will be to put the clan in conflict with the entire city, and if their two species are ever going to peacefully coexist, that’s something that Goliath simply cannot allow. As such, Goliath has opted to cooperate with the law and stand trial. As I said, Brooklyn has no idea how to respond. He chooses to respect Goliath’s decision but it’s very clear he doesn’t agree with it and is deeply concerned with what it could mean as well as the damage his decision to stage a breakout could have done for Goliath’s case.

Elsewhere, Dino Dracon and Glasses are discussing how thanks to their attempted kidnapping, the secret romance between Peter Choi and Rosaria Sanchez is now out in the open and the two crime families that the star-crossed lovers belong to are now at one another’s throats. Dino explains that while he was in the joint, he had a lot of time to think, and knew that if he ever got out, he’d work smarter not harder when it came to seizing power. While in Sing Sing, he read an article about Sanchez and Choi saving some kid in central park, put two and two together and worked that to his advantage. By the way, that article Dino read was actually one that we saw Hudson and Broadway reading all the way back in the episode High Noon. Wow. I know Greg Weisman liked to set up seemingly insignificant plot points to have big payoffs later on, but a completely insignificant newspaper article headline from one episode becoming a major focal point of a storyline thirty years later is some Eichiro Oda shit. Anywho, Dino and Glasses are presently implementing the next phase of their plan as across the street, a Russian crime boss named Volkov sets off a bomb when he starts his car while Dino looks on smiling.

Back at the castle, Elisa is reading Brooklyn the riot act for the stunt he pulled at Riker’s Island. Brooklyn’s narration continues to emphasize the stress this situation is causing him. Broadway suggests getting Goliath a good lawyer and Xanatos says he’s already seen to that, which I assume means that he’s the one who hired Tobe Crest from the last issue. Right on, I liked that guy. In addition, Xanatos has restricted any and all outside access to the Eyrie Building, therefore the rest of the Gargoyles will be safe provided they don’t leave the castle. Brooklyn doesn’t fully trust Xanatos but it’s not like he has a ton of options here and as he continues to drown in his own stress and self-doubt, he and the others turn to stone.

Cut to a hospital bed where a heavily burned and bandaged Volkov is talking to his son, who remains off-panel. Intercut with this is Dino Dracon talking to his own father about the plan. See, Dino didn’t just attack Volkov for no reason. He specifically used a bomb that Jack Dane, Tomas Brod’s right-hand man, has been known to use, hoping that this will convince Volkov to go after Dane and not him. The plan seems to have worked as Volkov is convinced that Dane was indeed behind the attack and tasks his son with taking out Brod at Riker’s while Dino declares that a crime boss named Izaak Slaughter will be his next target.

Back at the castle, Owen informs Broadway that he has a visitor. I’m not sure how that’s possible when Xanatos restricted access to the Eyrie building, but in any case, Antoinette Dracon, Tony’s Sister, has arrived ask Broadway for help. Broadway doesn’t trust her anymore than he does anyone else with the last name Dracon, but Antoinette seems sincere. She warns Broadway that Dino is a far greater threat than Tony on his best day and she doesn’t want to see her crazy uncle tear the city apart and appeals to Broadway’s Gargoyle protector instinct.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn laments how terrible he’s been as a leader and recalls how things felt so much easier back when he was on his time travel adventure, treating us to a flashback sequence that gives us an idea of what the Timedancer series might have been like. It even includes the line “If it were a Spin-Off Series, it’d practically write itself.” Subtle. Brooklyn’s reminiscing is interrupted by Gnash, who’s frustrated that Broadway is allowed to leave the castle and he isn’t, something that seems to surprise and enrage Brooklyn.

In Harlem, Broadway, who was apparently tipped off by Antoinette about Slaughter, has arrived at the crime bosses hideout and is ready to intervene against whatever Dino has planned. He’s soon joined by Lexington who figured it wasn’t a good time for anyone in the clan to be out alone. Before they move in, Broadway tells Lex that he and Angela are having a commitment ceremony soon and asks Lex to be his second (kind of like his best man). Broadway also asks how things are going with Staghart. Lex doesn’t answer, but he does smile at the acknowledgement. However, this tender moment is interrupted as a ton of Cyberbiotics drones, piloted virtually by Glasses attack Slaughter’s hideout and the Gargoyles leap into action.

Our comic ends with Volkov’s son, still hidden from the reader, talking to Dino about his father’s situation, the two apparently being old friends. Volkov’s son has accepted the task of breaking into Riker’s to take out Brod, but knows that an assault on Riker’s could easily go sideways and also knows that Tony shares a cell with Brod and could easily get caught in the crossfire. So, out of respect for for his old friend, Volkov’s son doesn’t want to go after Brod without Dino’s blessing. Dino, somehow caring less about what happens to to his dipshit nephew than I do, says that if Tony happens to buy it in the process, no hard feelings. And as our comic draws to a close, we reveal that Volkov’s son is none other than mutant mercenary and long standing fan favorite Gargoyles villain, Wolf, who says that while he’s in Riker’s he might as well take out Goliath while he’s a sitting duck.

This issue had a lot going on. It was pretty cool to see more of Dino Dracon’s plan take shape. I’m still not entirely convinced that he hasn’t been recruited by The Illuminati but even if he hasn’t, I’m very much invested in his plan to pit the competition against one another. In addition, I’m highly intrigued by Goliath’s upcoming day in court. Many have likely noted the similarity of this premise to an episode from the infamous non-canon third season of the show. According to a recent interview with Greg Weisman, he’d wanted to do this as an episode way back in the 90’s and the creative team for Season 3 would have had access to Weisman’s notes. I’d be curious to see how this premise would differ from that episode. One of the highlights of the comic for me was the friendly exchange between Lexington and Broadway. Since issue one, we’ve hinted many times that The Trio is slowly growing apart, so it’s nice to see them attempting to mend fences here. And finally, the big reveal of Wolf at the end, and the fact that Wolf is evidently connected to the Russian mob, was pretty cool. Side note: Between Volkov and Hakon, Wolf’s Family Tree is apparently nothing but criminals and thugs right down to the roots. Either way, Wolf getting involved is going to be pretty awesome and was a twist I genuinely did not see coming. Plus, it’s going to make my pal Hector J extremely happy. My one major complaint here is that Brooklyn’s narration is the weakest so far. Up to this point, the various narrations from issue to issue have done a great job providing a unique perspective and insight into what the narrator is currently thinking at the time, but in the case of Brooklyn, all he does is constantly repeat how overwhelmed he feels having to take on the role of leader, which is ground we’ve covered many times in the past. It really doesn’t add anything to the character or to the story. But even with that having been said, this was an excellent issue, and with Wolf now in play, and the next issue also teasing the long awaited return of Demona, that momentum doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.