Gargoyles: Here in Manhattan
by
Greg Weisman (Writer) and George Kambadais (Illustrator)
This series was a real blast from the past for me – I was an avid watcher and very much appreciated and enjoyed the animated series this is a continuation of and was both excited and a little uncertain what to expect.
Recently there was a burst of interest in this property with James Wan being enlisted to make rebooted adaptation, a newly launched line of toys by NECA as well this revived comic series, amongst others.
The basic series (for the uninitiated) hac the premise that creatures called Gargoyles exist in our world and they are nocturnal to the extreme, i.e, when the sun rises they literally become stone and at sunset they live again. The original storyline had a clan of Gargoyles betrayed by the humans with whom they co-existed in a tenuous peace in ancient Scotland and all but a six members of the clan were destroyed and the survivors in turn were cursed and stayed stone for a thousand years! Eventually they were freed from said curse and built a new life in Manhattan – new friends were found amongst the humans, as well as new enemies; they met all kinds of strange and fascinating folk and creatures and became mysterious protectors of their newfound home-city and their clan.
It is in this milieu, some significant time after the end of the series that we find ourselves once again and if you are new to the series, don’t be afraid by this paragraph here – the comic itself does a solid job easing you into a lot of it.
We are once again sharing in the adventures of the Manhattan Clan led by Goliath (originally voiced by the inimitable Keith David) and the clan has now grown substantially with many new members and even the beginnings of a new rookery for their eggs. Brooklyn has grown into his new roles as second in command of the clan, husband and even father; Broadway is embracing his new interests, Coldstone and others are fully in the fold and there is a good and healthy relationship with the Mutant Clan as well. There is a calm in the city of New York as many of the worst that the clan faced are gone or in hiding and everyone seems to be in a good place, even Goliath and Elisa who in the first issue/chapter itself share a long, long overdue kiss and are clearly a couple now which alone is worth the price of admission for many long-time fans.
Of course as you might guess, when things seem too good to be true, that means they usually are and such is the case here as we see the re-emergence of many familiar faces in short order – Thailog, Sevarius, Xanatos and even the gangs that once waged war in the streets of NY. To make matters worse, the infamous Dino Dracon gets released from prison and he is a brand of vicious that no one sees coming and all kinds of hell is unleashed on our heroic clan and their friends and family.
It is a deeply challenging job when picking up the pieces of a pre-existing franchise/I.P and re-introducing it to a new audience at the best of times and more so when it’s NOT a reboot and you need to pick up where others left off. To that end it clearly has been a huge boon to have the original series’ creator Greg Weisman being the writer in charge of this series. He has an intimate knowledge and clear affinity for this series and its characters and that shows when you read this from the very first page. There is a love for the content and there is a nice balance of serious moments and story beats and the lighter moments that make everything feel fleshed out and surprisingly content-dense yet not heavy right from the first issue. Coupled with the artwork that really calls back to the source material but adds it’s own visual pop with the colour palette and flair, all makes this both brilliant for newcomers I think and a solid read for old-hands like myself.
You can also view all my reviews over on Goodreads
One Happy Monk 
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