Wes’s Guide to Gargoyles: Gargoyles #7

Welcome back everybody to the latest issue of Gargoyles. In our last issue, while an imprisoned Goliath awaited his trial, a trial which will determine if he and his people can be considered legally sentient, Brooklyn struggled to fill the role of clan leader in Goliath’s absence. While all this was going on, Lexington and Broadway finally decided to take some initiative and teamed up to thwart the latest effort by Dino Dracon to eliminate the competition standing between him and control of New York’s Underworld. To that end, Lex and Broadway intervened to prevent an assassination attempt on a rival crime lord named Izak Slaughter, only to be cornered by an army of Cyberbiotics robots.

Today’s issue opens with a red haired woman driving home at dusk. The woman, who most fans will quickly identify as Dominique Destine, the human alter ego of the evil Demona, is on narration duty for this issue. In said narration, Demona begrudgingly admits that her “situation” (that being her curse to transform into a human during the day), distasteful though it may be, does have its advantages, particularly the fact that it has drastically reduced her need for sneaking around in the shadows. Once home, Demona sheds are human clothes, dons her more familiar attire and transforms into her Gargoyle form. A news report in the background mentions Goliath’s impending trial. Demona, wanting more insight than the local news can provide uses the last remaining spell that she tore out of the Grimorum Arcanorum, as well as the blood samples she stole way back in The Reckoning, to spy on her former clan.

First up, Demona looks in on Lexington and Broadway, who are having trouble with the attack robots. Lexington deduces that the robots are being controlled remotely and despite not wanting to leave Broadway alone to fend for himself, he heads out to find whoever’s holding the remote.

Demona next looks in on the incarcerated goliath who is receiving a visit from his attorney, Tobe Crest. Goliath is grateful to Crest for taking his case, but both express concerns regarding the likelihood of victory, Crest breaking out the old “humans fear what they don’t understand“ chestnut.

Back with Lex and Broadway, while Broadway fends off the robots as best he can Lexington has found Glasses and promptly destroys the virtual interface that the gangster was using to control the deadly machines. Glasses hauls ass as soon as he sees a Gargoyle but mentions that Dino has a contingency for their inevitable involvement in his plans. But in any case, with the bad guys foiled, Lexington and Broadway head home, Slaughter saying that, even though he doesn’t like it, he owes the Gargoyles his life.

Back with Goliath and Crest, the attorney thinks it might be a good idea to bring in some character witnesses to sway the jury in their favor. Goliath throws out names like Halcyon Renard and surprisingly, David Xanatos, though both agree the latter probably isn’t a good idea. Xanatos may be the smartest, richest and coolest man in New York City if not the entire world, but he is still a convicted felon who made his fortune by bending the space-time continuum over a cold steel rail and making it call him daddy. Not exactly someone you want on the stands when you’re trying to prove to the world that you can be trusted. Crest suggests bringing in Elisa Maza, but Goliath does not wish to put Elisa in that position and shoots down the suggestion immediately. Goliath also mentions that he has no way of paying Crest, but Crest informs him that everything has already been paid for, though he is not at liberty to say by whom.

Demona next looks in on Brooklyn who is fuming at the fact that Lexington and Broadway went off on their own, despite his direct orders. Brooklyn tries to read them the riot act once they return but they’re too busy celebrating their big victory to care about anything their brother and interim leader has to say.

Demona is now done looking in on her old clan and invokes the spell for its true purpose. Remember our old pal the Archmage? Remember how he sought out the Grimorum Arcanorum, the Phoenix Gate and the Eye of Odin, the three keys to ultimate power? Well, as any Gargoyles fan would know, Archie ate the Grimorum like a sandwich and he exploded, Odin took back his eye and put it back in his own head (I hope he washed it first, that thing spent a lot of time in close proximity to Goliath’s balls) and the Phoenix Gate dissolved and transformed back into the Phoenix itself. Okay, even I didn't know about that last one, but it sounds cool. Anywho, as Demona explains, the cosmic flow of the universe or whatever won’t allow a power vacuum for too long and with the eye, the book and the gate out of commission, three new keys to ultimate power will soon present themselves. Demona hopes to possess these keys in order to conquer the human world once and for all

This was a very interesting issue. The obvious big draw was the long-awaited return of Demona, and that aspect of the story was done splendidly. Demona setting her sights on these three new keys seems like set up for something much bigger to come once the present storylines (I.E. Dino Dracon and Goliath’s trial) have wrapped up. Speaking of, this issue had a lot of interesting moments and posed a few intriguing questions. I really enjoyed Lexington and Broadway rediscovering their bond of brotherhood during their shared ordeal, even if it comes at the cost of further alienating Brooklyn. I also really appreciated that Goliath suggested Xanatos as a potential character witness. It was probably the right call to shoot down that suggestion, but like we discussed issue three, it once again shows that Goliath and Xanatos’s relationship has evolved past their initial antagonism. He may not fully trust Xanatos, but it is clear that Goliath no longer considers him his enemy. On that note, I am curious about who’s footing the bill for Goliath’s legal fees. My initial assumption was that it was Xanatos, and it may still be, but certain lines of dialogue in this issue suggest someone else may have hired Crest. The question is, if it’s not Xanatos, then who is Goliath’s benefactor and what do they have to gain from his victory in court? All in all I found this to be an excellent issue, and I am very much looking forward to more.