Greg Weisman

In Gargoyles: Here in Manhattan, writer and Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman continues the story he began in the 1994-1997 Disney animated series Gargoyles. Only the first two seasons and first episode of the third season are considered canon. Further, this references Weisman’s earlier 2007-2008 comics continuation from SLG, “Clan-Building” volumes one and two as well as “Bad Guys: Redemption,” in which Brooklyn traveled through time and started a family of his own. This volume collects the first six issues of the current series from Dynamite Comics illustrated by George Kambadais with colors by Kambadais, Guilia Giacomino, Giovanna La Pietra, Andrea Izzo, and Josh Rodriguez; letters by Jeff Eckleberry; and the hardcover collection cover by Amanda Conner.

As the story begins, the public are aware of the Gargoyles’ existence following the events of the season 3 opener and “Clan-Building.” Meanwhile, the various New York gangs are preparing to go to war. Further complicating matters, Thailog, the evil clone of Goliath, makes plans with Sevarius to kidnap Maggie and Talon’s child. Goliath and NYPD Detective Elisa Maza find themselves under added scrutiny due to their working and personal relationships and connection to Talon. Meanwhile, Brooklyn and the other Gargoyles adapt to Brooklyn’s added experience from when he was timedancing. He finds himself thrust into the position of leadership after the gang war lands Goliath in prison. These events set up the public’s acceptance of the Gargoyles in subsequent issues, part of the larger narrative that Weisman is building in this sequel series and the prequel series, Dark Ages.

Having Conner illustrate the hardcover collection is an especially nice touch given her work on the 1990s Marvel comics, which are fun even if they’re not considered canon (Weisman himself acknowledges this in his introduction to this volume). They don’t contradict the show, so they may as well be enjoyed just the same as the first two seasons. Further, Conner’s style is perfect for people and Gargoyles alike. The story works as a reintroduction for fans as more than a decade passed since the last official Gargoyles continuation. It reminds them of what made the series such a source of joy while pointing the way towards a future.… (more)

After reading the first book I said to myself, might as well read the second one, it can't be any worse! And... actually, it couldn't. This book is better than the first one. But that doesn't mean it's good...

The predecessor was nigh unreadable due to the neverending avalanche of dull exposition and repetitiveness, problems which are fixed this time around as this follows immediately upon the first and thankfully assumes that the reader knows all relevant backstory by this point.

Unfortunately, this is the only thing that is fixed. The writing is still very bad. This time, we visit several different worlds and meet some new characters (thankfully not as many as in the first book), but the barren prose comes with almost no descriptions. If you hadn't seen these worlds and people on playing cards, would you get a feel for how Kaladesh looks different from Ravnica? Or Esper? Or how any of the characters look?

The book has eighty (!) chapters. It follows three main arcs plus a couple of side-plots, through super-short snippets of chapters, each one jumping to (ostensibly) another character's perspective. It's an obviously moviefied way of writing, that perhaps some authors can make work, but here it's needlessly hard to follow. "Wait, what is it this character was doing again?" Also, again, if you want the reader to feel like a movie is playing in their head while reading, you have to describe how stuff looks!

This novel focuses on slightly fewer characters from the last so you might think we could get some better characterization and development. But baffling plot twists, out-of-character, or plain dumb actions, and author-imposed spokes in their wheels make the characters suffer, and me with them. Shaggy dog stories where bad things happen to people can be valid, even great, but I don't get why this book about heroes in a teenagers' card game has to be such a downer and screw over most characters? Even to the point of regressing some characters back through years of previous character development.

And, as the last book in a (short) series, does it at least provide closure? Some plot threads are tied together, largely unsatisfactorily, some simply... dissolve, as if the author forgot them, and several new threads are created, many of which will probably never have their continuation see the light of day. Sigh.

So, it's not excruciating. Things happen in the book. It has, by certain definitions, characters and plot in it. It is possible to sit through this book. You shouldn't. But it is possible.… (more)