A month has gone by, and it’s time to let you know what I thought of the latest issue of Slave Labor Graphics’ Gargoyles (Issue number 6). I will begin by saying that I won’t be commenting on the mistake that was made with page 12 of the original print (everyone knows about it by now & SLG has already stated that they will be reprinting the issue with the corrected artwork & sending it out to the stores).

On to the issue...

The cover art was great. As with the previous issues Greg Guler & Stephanie Lostimolo continue to produce outstanding artwork for the comic, although IMHO I doubt they’ll be able to surpass the job they did with Issue 4 (one of my favorites covers). I did like the action that was evident on the cover (Angela & Bronx trying to avoid a volley of arrows), although given the nature of the story, it would’ve made sense for Angela to be wearing the same thing she wore in the series (the forum at Station 8 did make it clear, though, that the reason Greg Guler chose to draw her in the new fashion was to avoid confusion, so I won’t comment too much on that).

The artwork inside the issue was fantastic. Gordon Purcell & Dustin Evans did a great job, and I can say that this was the first issue where I was truly happy with the artwork. Thailog’s look on page 3 looked like it could have been pulled right off a cel from the original show. Hopefully these two will continue to produce artwork of this quality in the future.

The story was fantastic. This was the first stand-alone story of the series, where just about everything was wrapped up by the last page without having to deal with a cliffhanger ending, although you did have an indication that the story would be continuing at some point (Coldsteel’s dropping in on Xanatos in the final panel was evidence of that). Given what happened at the end of the story makes you wonder if Coldsteel’s appearance has something to do with Xanatos’ ‘assignment’ from the Illuminati?

I liked the story-within-a-story concept of the issue, with Shari telling Thailog a ‘bedtime story’ (is it my imagination, or does Thailog’s attire seem reminiscent of a Roman Emperor’s? Just wondering, especially given the decor of his quarters & the fact that Shari was feeding him grapes on page 3). I also liked the fact that Shari left it up to interpretation as to whether the story she told Thailog was true or not.

For all intents & purposes, the ‘bedtime story’ obviously takes place not too long after ‘The Green’ & probably happens before ‘Sentinel’ (I’m drawing this conclusion because Elisa makes a comment on page 4 about it being hotter than the rain forest where they were, & she would still be suffering the aftereffects of Lokkar’s memory wipe from ‘Sentinel’). I got a bit of a chuckle when Elisa made the suggestion to try for Hawaii after getting some idea as to where they were on page 5, and then had an obviously disappointed look on her on page 6. I did wonder (as did others who mentioned it in the Station 8 forum) about Goliath, Angela & Bronx wearing cloaks to seemingly protect themselves from the cold, since Goliath had previously stated during the series that the cold doesn’t affect gargoyles, but that could be attributed to them wanting to disguise themselves in case they ran into someone (obviously, it didn’t work).

I enjoyed Coldstone’s appearance in the issue. For a moment, I wondered why Coldfire was nowhere to be seen, but then I remembered that this was a ‘World Tour’ story, which predated ‘Possession’, so Coldfire & Coldsteel had not yet been created. His reaction to Angela’s realization that Gabriel was Coldstone’s biological son was great, and the way he seemingly turned on Goliath & his companions to avoid forced to go with them back to Avalon & possibly put his son at risk was fantastic. I also liked the implication at the end of Shari’s tale that there may be more stories to come.

Finally, I liked Thailog’s look of surprise at the end. Obviously, Shari knows more than she is telling him, and as we all know, Thailog is someone who likes being in control. The fact that Shari is obviously keeping him in the dark about certain things makes me wonder how long Thailog will tolerate her & the Illuminati’s presence in his life.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for right now. I’m keeping an eye out for Issue number 7, which I understand will be out the first week of December, and I’m also keeping an eye out for Issue 1 of Bad Guys. When those hit the stands, I’ll be sure to pick them up & give you my thoughts on them. Until later...