At this point I’m just feeling like someone developed a Gargoyle fetish at this point.
Gargoyles #6
Marvel Comics (August, 1995)
“Venus Rising”
PLOT: Martin Pask & Mort Todd
SCRIPT: Mort Todd
BREAKDOWNS: Amanda Conner
FINISHES: Alberto Saichann
COLORIST: Freddy Mendez
LETTERER: John Costanza
EDITOR: Hildy Mesnik
Phobos sends Venus to stop Xanatos and kill the Gargoyles, but he only gets half his wish. While Venus does send Xanatos running she sees Goliath as her mate and opts to protect him. Demona gets her hands on the Medusa Device and stonifies Phobos after tricking him into activating the self-destruct to get rid of all her enemies and escape with the Device. However, Goliath and Elisa go after her, and Venus sacrifices herself to protect Goliath. Demona escapes with the device but Hudson manages to shoot it out of her hands, making her drop it into the ocean. In her diary Elisa writes about how seeing Venus, a fusion of her and Goliath’s DNA remember, shook her and makes her question a future with Goliath.
What they got right: Hudson’s Sean Connery comment (Ed Asner kind of does a Connery impersonation as Hudson) was a cute nod. There was a lot of good action going on.
What they got wrong: I have a feeling Venus could have had a bigger story arc. Granted at the time we the audience didn’t know about other gargoyle clans still existing around the world or the existence of Avalon but considering the comic never really felt that connected to the show giving her at least the character development of Lavonne would have sufficed. The result is I don’t really care when she’s turned to permanent stone and presumably killed the same way I do about Lavonne’s death and there would have been some interesting aspects to explore before resuming the cartoon’s status quo (or what little the comic went along with…like Demona now knowing Elisa survived her attempt to kill her in the show). And Hudson didn’t do anything that couldn’t have been accomplished by Venus’s stone body crashing into her. He’s basically pointless to the story and Bronx more so.
Recommendation: A lot of flash but any substance was lost in the end of this first comic-exclusive storyline. In the end it’s not worth getting, show fan or not.
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