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Gargoyles: Clan Building #1-6
Gargoyles: Clan Building, Volume 1
Stone by day, warriors by night, the Gargoyles were betrayed by those they had sworn to protect. Now here in modern Manhattan, the spell that held them frozen for a thousand years is broken, and the Gargoyles live again! Based on the popular Disney/Buena Vista animated television series of the 90s, Gargoyles is back with original canon stories from series creator Greg Weisman.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 23, 2007
About the author
Greg Weisman
242 books126 followersGreg Weisman (BA Stanford, MPW U.S.C.) has been a storyteller all his life. His first professional work was as an Editor for DC Comics, where he also wrote Captain Atom.
Greg worked at Walt Disney Television Animation from 1989 through 1996. In 1991, Greg created and developed a new series for Disney: GARGOYLES, becoming Supervising Producer and Supervising Story Editor of that series.
In 1998, Greg became a full-time Freelancer. He wrote the new Gargoyles and Gargoyles: Bad Guys comic books for SLG Publishing, while producing, writing, story editing and voice acting for Sony’s The Spectacular Spider-Man. He then moved over to Warner Bros., where he produced, story edited, wrote and voice acted on the new series, Young Justice, as well as writing the companion Young Justice monthly comic book for DC.
Greg was a writer and Executive Producer on the first season of Star Wars Rebels for Lucasfilm and Disney, and he’s also writing the spin-off comic Star Wars Kanan: The Last Padawan. His first novel, Rain of the Ghosts, was published in 2013; its sequel, Spirits of Ash and Foam, arrived in bookstores in 2014.
Greg worked at Walt Disney Television Animation from 1989 through 1996. In 1991, Greg created and developed a new series for Disney: GARGOYLES, becoming Supervising Producer and Supervising Story Editor of that series.
In 1998, Greg became a full-time Freelancer. He wrote the new Gargoyles and Gargoyles: Bad Guys comic books for SLG Publishing, while producing, writing, story editing and voice acting for Sony’s The Spectacular Spider-Man. He then moved over to Warner Bros., where he produced, story edited, wrote and voice acted on the new series, Young Justice, as well as writing the companion Young Justice monthly comic book for DC.
Greg was a writer and Executive Producer on the first season of Star Wars Rebels for Lucasfilm and Disney, and he’s also writing the spin-off comic Star Wars Kanan: The Last Padawan. His first novel, Rain of the Ghosts, was published in 2013; its sequel, Spirits of Ash and Foam, arrived in bookstores in 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 11, 2019
I do wish the art could have been better, but this is a pretty fun continuation of the Gargoyles universe.
November 17, 2008
Gargoyles was easily one of the finest cartoon shows of the 90s, and certainly some of the best televised fantasy ever. After recently re-watching the series, I was hankerin' for more, so I picked up this collection, which was written by series creator Greg Weisman. It's ok. Somewhat ham-handed compared to the TV show, possibly due to the lack of the amazing voice actors, or the steady, minimalist draftsmanship from some of the Korean (Japanese?) animation teams, or maybe even the need for subtlety and understatement imposed by a younger audience. Still, I like the story Weisman is trying to tell, even if it is a bit rushed and the delivery leaves something to be desired (Thailog lackadaisically stabbing people was particularly groan-worthy). I think my dream artist for this series would be Wendy Pini (who wrote the intro), possibly followed by Marc Hempel.
October 25, 2012
I've been a huge fan of Gargoyles since it began in 1994. Many of us through the years have retained hope that the series will come back. God knows its creator Greg Weisman would be willing. But, it looks like this comic is all we'll have. Thanks for the stories, Greg!
June 1, 2009
Continues from the end of the Second Season, where creator Greg Weisman left the show. It follows the convoluted storylines that he wanted to present to us throughout the years. In addition to this there are a couple of spinoff comics; very very satisfying to ardent fans of the show in its heyday.
November 1, 2021
All I want is a Goliath/Elisa romance, okay?
April 3, 2018
I love the Gargoyles series so very much. In my dreams I am Elisa and Goliath is mine <3
February 11, 2020
If you are a fan of the 90s Disney cartoon series but hated season 3, "The Goliath Chronicles," this will be right up your alley. The first couple of issues in this collection are identical to the first episode of that season of the show, which Greg Weisman wrote; the rest of the graphic is Weisman writing where he wanted to go with the story before it got taken over by another writer, basically retconning that part of the show. There are some fun plot twists with the Illuminati.
I just finished rewatching the show and was happy to continue reading about the characters. It's not mind-blowing, but if you are a Gargoyles fan, you will enjoy this graphic. Too bad its a collectors item now and hard to get a copy.
I just finished rewatching the show and was happy to continue reading about the characters. It's not mind-blowing, but if you are a Gargoyles fan, you will enjoy this graphic. Too bad its a collectors item now and hard to get a copy.
May 22, 2024
Dunno if the library I checked this out from had to do any re-assembly of the volume, but some of the pages were out of order near the end.
Regardless, I enjoyed this little foray back into the world where cryptids, mythology, Shakespeare, and crazy sci-fi all merge into one glorious gestalt. Supposedly picks up right after the 2nd season finale and adapts some of the premiere episodes of season 3, New York City knows of the existence of the Chernabog-lites that come alive when the sun goes down.
The Muggles, understandably, fear & hate them.
So hate groups & clones from their past are doing their best to make them miserable, BUT OH! THERE'S RELATIONSHIP DRAMA TOO!
Too bad volume 2 is going to be as difficult to find as Avatar: the Last Airbender LEGO sets...
Regardless, I enjoyed this little foray back into the world where cryptids, mythology, Shakespeare, and crazy sci-fi all merge into one glorious gestalt. Supposedly picks up right after the 2nd season finale and adapts some of the premiere episodes of season 3, New York City knows of the existence of the Chernabog-lites that come alive when the sun goes down.
The Muggles, understandably, fear & hate them.
So hate groups & clones from their past are doing their best to make them miserable, BUT OH! THERE'S RELATIONSHIP DRAMA TOO!
Too bad volume 2 is going to be as difficult to find as Avatar: the Last Airbender LEGO sets...
March 18, 2018
Since it's unjust cancellation in '97 there has been a gaping hole in my life where Gargoyles once resided. Reading this first volume just adds to the hurt. I would give anything to watch these events play out on my tv to the voice acting of Keith David, Salli Richarson, and the rest of that amazing cast.
The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is that I can't accept the changes in art style. Aside from that is was just what I needed.
The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is that I can't accept the changes in art style. Aside from that is was just what I needed.
June 25, 2018
Bad art, with muddy colours and scratchy lines. Characters changed model from one panel to the next. Bad action, to where the fights were really hard to follow.
Not particularly thrilling, and I say this a huge fan who has the whole animated series on DVD.
Not particularly thrilling, and I say this a huge fan who has the whole animated series on DVD.
April 24, 2022
Just finished rewatching the TV show on Disney+ and was disappointed by the 3rd season. When I found this story it kept the same intrigue and adventure of the TV show while expanding the love story between Goliath and Elisa. I love a good story and this was not disappointing.
June 30, 2020
This is a good continuation from season 2 of the series. It pulls some strands from the show, so it may not be as fulfilling if you have not seen any of it.
June 3, 2024
The gargoyles are revealed to the human world and face new problems.
December 10, 2017
I started reading these comics because I unequivocally loved the TV show. Lots of history; lots of mythology; lots of three-dimensional, flawed, likeable characters; lots of racial diversity; a willingness to cover a lot of darker subject matter; female characters who actually got to do stuff; complicated relationships both romantic and platonic that were properly built up and explored and expanded upon; the Best Villain Ever; and of course, my hands-down favorite romance of all time in the form of Elisa/Goliath, which is the one and only instance I can recall of seeing the relationship between an ordinary human woman and a supernaturally strong mythological creature ever having been done right. Sure, it wasn't always perfect, but this show was a childhood love of mine for very good reason, and is one of the very few childhood favorites I can continue to enjoy well into adulthood.
By and large, the comics live up to the promise of the show they were based on. Not always perfect, but still wildly entertaining with the added lure of nostalgia to boot. Things that I liked:
-The story was allowed to get grittier. Even as a TV show, Gargoyles was really pushing the envelope on a lot of very heavy subject matter, from portrayals of racism to violence and death and even a handful of extremely touchy topics such as gun violence, but there was always this sense that the need to keep things family-friendly was holding it back in a lot of ways. Not so here. Here, we get to see life-threatening injuries with actual blood and language that would never have made it onto the show. It's still far from gratuitous or over-the-top gory, but it is exactly what this story calls for in this time and this place. The audience has grown up, and the tale has grown with it in the telling.
-Delilah's character development. When she was first introduced I'd just kind of taken it for granted that Delilah was never going to be a strong character, not through any fault of her own, but I never gave any real thought to the possibility of her having her own will or any sort of larger role in the story. So holy hell did I cheer when she stood up for her right to make her own choices, and in the same breath gave the old one-finger salute not only to Thailog but also to our heroes, who in their own way were trying to control her just as much as Thailog was. I'd still like some sort of acknowledgement somewhere down the road that Delilah was for all practical purposes a brainwashed sex slave created for Thailog's exploitation, but this was still an important step in that direction and it was amazing.
-
-That Brendan was the one to run for a doctor when he saw that Goliath was hurt, despite the fact that he's terrified half to death of the gargoyles and despite the fact that his own wife would have them all locked away in cages - very likely saving his life. This is a relatively minor detail, but it speaks so much to the fact that there is hope still for humans and gargoyles to be able to coexist, and that it doesn't necessarily take someone special like Elisa to put that into practice.
Things that I didn't like so much:
-The art style varies wildly, from clean and crisp enough to be a screenshot straight out of the TV show, to so lazy it's literally possible to see the pencil guidelines that nobody bothered to erase, to so off-model that I often wondered whether the artist thought they'd been assigned to draw Goliath or the Hulk. Looking more closely at the credits, I saw that each comic in the series had been drawn by a different person, which is not the way to go about telling a single coherent story. It was distracting, sometimes painfully so.
-The Illuminati subplot was never properly followed through on. We were shown that there were a lot of low-ranked members being given completely contradictory advice, and... that's pretty much it. The why of it was never answered. I don't want to be too hard on the writer over this, because it's entirely possible that he was planning to properly follow through on this in later arcs if not for the fact that Disney hates this series and managed to get it canceled (again). Still, on the whole it left me feeling rather unsatisfied.
The verdict? I want more. Now. My childhood love will not be so easily defeated.
By and large, the comics live up to the promise of the show they were based on. Not always perfect, but still wildly entertaining with the added lure of nostalgia to boot. Things that I liked:
-The story was allowed to get grittier. Even as a TV show, Gargoyles was really pushing the envelope on a lot of very heavy subject matter, from portrayals of racism to violence and death and even a handful of extremely touchy topics such as gun violence, but there was always this sense that the need to keep things family-friendly was holding it back in a lot of ways. Not so here. Here, we get to see life-threatening injuries with actual blood and language that would never have made it onto the show. It's still far from gratuitous or over-the-top gory, but it is exactly what this story calls for in this time and this place. The audience has grown up, and the tale has grown with it in the telling.
-Delilah's character development. When she was first introduced I'd just kind of taken it for granted that Delilah was never going to be a strong character, not through any fault of her own, but I never gave any real thought to the possibility of her having her own will or any sort of larger role in the story. So holy hell did I cheer when she stood up for her right to make her own choices, and in the same breath gave the old one-finger salute not only to Thailog but also to our heroes, who in their own way were trying to control her just as much as Thailog was. I'd still like some sort of acknowledgement somewhere down the road that Delilah was for all practical purposes a brainwashed sex slave created for Thailog's exploitation, but this was still an important step in that direction and it was amazing.
-
-That Brendan was the one to run for a doctor when he saw that Goliath was hurt, despite the fact that he's terrified half to death of the gargoyles and despite the fact that his own wife would have them all locked away in cages - very likely saving his life. This is a relatively minor detail, but it speaks so much to the fact that there is hope still for humans and gargoyles to be able to coexist, and that it doesn't necessarily take someone special like Elisa to put that into practice.
Things that I didn't like so much:
-The art style varies wildly, from clean and crisp enough to be a screenshot straight out of the TV show, to so lazy it's literally possible to see the pencil guidelines that nobody bothered to erase, to so off-model that I often wondered whether the artist thought they'd been assigned to draw Goliath or the Hulk. Looking more closely at the credits, I saw that each comic in the series had been drawn by a different person, which is not the way to go about telling a single coherent story. It was distracting, sometimes painfully so.
-The Illuminati subplot was never properly followed through on. We were shown that there were a lot of low-ranked members being given completely contradictory advice, and... that's pretty much it. The why of it was never answered. I don't want to be too hard on the writer over this, because it's entirely possible that he was planning to properly follow through on this in later arcs if not for the fact that Disney hates this series and managed to get it canceled (again). Still, on the whole it left me feeling rather unsatisfied.
The verdict? I want more. Now. My childhood love will not be so easily defeated.
May 31, 2022
It's the OG continuation/storyline of Disney gargoyles need I say more?
January 7, 2016
I would say that anyone who has never seen the TV show of Gargoyles would really need to watch that first before they get into this comic, because this does require you to know some basic back story of the gargoyles, of who their enemies are and what is going on in the whole dynamic of the gargoyle clan.
The first TV issues are fine, the episode is The Journey which did air in the non-canon series 3, the only episode Greg Weisman was involved in. The rest of the issues in this volume are fine, but you know that if they were fleshed out more, given time to properly grow and give more atmosphere to the whole plan it would work out so much better. In a way I kind of wish this was a book, because I know there would be far more detail in it than you would get in a comic, I also know that my imagination would bring the character's to life better than the artists did.
Seriously in page four Brooklyn has no neck, his wings are under his arms and Hudson has no wings at all!
It also doesn't have that none of the penceliers or the colourists stay the same throughout each issue and it's obvious to the reader that the art changed hands many times, which is rather jarring. Was it because the comics were bi-monthly and no one was able to keep to that kind of schedule?
The story that Weisman is trying to tell is clear, he is wanting the Manhatten clan to grow, he wants to show the complicated relationship Goliath and Elisa Maza have and he wants the readers to know that the clan will continue to have adventures.
It just didn't work out as well as it could have, which is sad, it's also sad that Disney raised the license for Gargoyles so that Slave Labor Graphics couldn't afford to release the rest of the issues for this, which resulted in Volume 2 having 4 issues that were never released singly.
I would like it if it was novels, because Greg Weisman puts a lot of detail into what he's creating, and novels will bring back all the fond memories, plus maybe the cover artists could do small black and white art for the start of each chapter?
The first TV issues are fine, the episode is The Journey which did air in the non-canon series 3, the only episode Greg Weisman was involved in. The rest of the issues in this volume are fine, but you know that if they were fleshed out more, given time to properly grow and give more atmosphere to the whole plan it would work out so much better. In a way I kind of wish this was a book, because I know there would be far more detail in it than you would get in a comic, I also know that my imagination would bring the character's to life better than the artists did.
Seriously in page four Brooklyn has no neck, his wings are under his arms and Hudson has no wings at all!
It also doesn't have that none of the penceliers or the colourists stay the same throughout each issue and it's obvious to the reader that the art changed hands many times, which is rather jarring. Was it because the comics were bi-monthly and no one was able to keep to that kind of schedule?
The story that Weisman is trying to tell is clear, he is wanting the Manhatten clan to grow, he wants to show the complicated relationship Goliath and Elisa Maza have and he wants the readers to know that the clan will continue to have adventures.
It just didn't work out as well as it could have, which is sad, it's also sad that Disney raised the license for Gargoyles so that Slave Labor Graphics couldn't afford to release the rest of the issues for this, which resulted in Volume 2 having 4 issues that were never released singly.
I would like it if it was novels, because Greg Weisman puts a lot of detail into what he's creating, and novels will bring back all the fond memories, plus maybe the cover artists could do small black and white art for the start of each chapter?
October 3, 2013
First off: a non-serious 5 stars merely for existing, regardless of its merits or flaws. There was never going to be any other rating. I'm outing my bias right now at the opening of the review. This was my favourite cartoon show from my childhood (I rue the day Disney decided that there was not enough interest to produce a Season Two, Volume II). A more critical review will have to take place at another time.
Gargoyle: Clan-Building is written by the original creator of the series, Greg Weisman, and it shows. It’s pure fan service. The storyline picks up where season two ended, removing Disney's Post-Weisman (ugh) "The Goliath Chronicles" from continuity. There is a love of the characters--major and minor--that comes through quite clearly. And clearly the medium offers more freedom than a Saturday morning cartoon: the interspecies romantic tension that was simmering between Elisa Maza and Goliath throughout the series is actually voiced rather than only hinted at. There is blood, angst, melodrama.... regular comic book stuff, really. And lots of connections to the show you may have loved as a kid: the Illuminati, Macbeth, the Quarrymen, Demona, Thailog, Dr. Sevarius (who always sounds like Tim Curry when I read his dialogue), and even the ubiquitous yuppie couple of Margot and Brendan.
I can't really evaluate it as a comic book, per se. I'm no aficionado. In fact, in reading this I discovered why: I spend very little time taking in the art and setting. I know that sounds like heresy to my artist friends, but there it is. The art is largely in the same vein as the television show -- lots of clean lines, not terribly busy.
If I’m honest, it is not a perfect comic book and I could spend more time evaluating it as a story. However, I’m in no mood to be honest.
Gargoyle: Clan-Building is written by the original creator of the series, Greg Weisman, and it shows. It’s pure fan service. The storyline picks up where season two ended, removing Disney's Post-Weisman (ugh) "The Goliath Chronicles" from continuity. There is a love of the characters--major and minor--that comes through quite clearly. And clearly the medium offers more freedom than a Saturday morning cartoon: the interspecies romantic tension that was simmering between Elisa Maza and Goliath throughout the series is actually voiced rather than only hinted at. There is blood, angst, melodrama.... regular comic book stuff, really. And lots of connections to the show you may have loved as a kid: the Illuminati, Macbeth, the Quarrymen, Demona, Thailog, Dr. Sevarius (who always sounds like Tim Curry when I read his dialogue), and even the ubiquitous yuppie couple of Margot and Brendan.
I can't really evaluate it as a comic book, per se. I'm no aficionado. In fact, in reading this I discovered why: I spend very little time taking in the art and setting. I know that sounds like heresy to my artist friends, but there it is. The art is largely in the same vein as the television show -- lots of clean lines, not terribly busy.
If I’m honest, it is not a perfect comic book and I could spend more time evaluating it as a story. However, I’m in no mood to be honest.
January 14, 2015
Excepção feita aos dois primeiros capítulo, que seguem a linha do primeiro episódio das "Crónicas de Golias" este volume mostra um rumo narrativo muito mais interessante e complexo que o apresentado na segunda série de Gargoyles, sendo a principal falha o desenho.
Não obstante, continua a haver umas quantas coisas que põe em causa o senso comum de Weisman. Morgan and Elisa? Really?
Não obstante, continua a haver umas quantas coisas que põe em causa o senso comum de Weisman. Morgan and Elisa? Really?
September 20, 2016
After watching the series (seasons 1&2) recently, I wanted more Gargoyles stories, but found the comic left me lukewarm. First two issues were basically a retelling of the last episode Weisman did, and the rest mostly seemed to be setting up future storylines that never ended up getting written after this limited run of comics ended.
August 31, 2014
This was great, Kevin bought this for me randomly. I thought it was pretty fun to see what the Clan was up to after the series ended. I really want to get the rest of these in hard copy as I've read all the others up to Brooklyn going back in time and finding a girl in Japan :D
August 21, 2013
Not as good as the television series, but a fun continuation of the plot line nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, the plot makes much more sense after watching the all of the available episodes through the end of season 2.
January 12, 2017
I really like the Gargoyles series and bought this trade out of my love for the series. The stories are good and have a little a little more of an adult tone than what I remember of the TV show. The art is... hit and miss.
Read
December 12, 2013Really enjoyed this but if it's been awhile since you saw the cartoon, or if you've never seen the cartoon, you would probably not be able to follow it.
May 26, 2011
A great continuation of Greg Weisman's vision for his Gargoyles series.
Want to read
March 29, 2017Continuación canónica en historieta de la serie de dibujos animados.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews