If you were a kid in the '90s and you were lucky enough to come across Disney's Gargoyles in its all-too-brief three season run, there's a solid chance that, like me, you were instantly hooked on the show's striking visual, fantasy-fueled history, and remarkably mature storytelling. But Gargoyles ended way too soon, leaving its dedicated fanbase craving more for nearly 30 years now.
Thankfully, one of the show's creators and most instrumental architects, Greg Weisman, has returned to Gargoyles several times over the years with comic books that continue the story, with the most recent era of the franchise kicking off at Dynamite Entertainment back in 2022.
Now, in the latest chapter of the Gargoyles comic, Weisman is joined by one of the original producers of the cartoon, Frank Paur, and colorist Robby Bevard for Gargoyles: Demona, which digs into the secret history of arguably the show's most striking character, its embattled femme fatale Demona.
Newsarama caught up with Weisman ahead of the story's kickoff on Free Comic Book Day with a special release before the full series launches in May, digging into the history of Gargoyles, what it's like getting back together with another of the series' original creative voices, and what makes Demona so special as a character.
Newsarama: Greg, as one of the creators of Gargoyles, you've been telling stories with these characters off and on for over 30 years. How does it feel to have been able to revive Gargoyles in comics, and to have now dug so deep into the characters and their world?
Greg Weisman: I love it. I love having the Gargoyles characters back in my life on a semi-full-time basis. But I'm greedy. I want to tell even more stories in this world with these characters!
Gargoyles is a franchise full of great characters, but Demona has always been special, even beyond her place in Gargoyles. What do you see as the things that make her so compelling as both a villain and a protagonist?
Demona has legitimate gripes. But she's also her own worst enemy. Her psychology is complex, so it can carry real emotional heft, which is a great thing for a storyteller. Plus she's powerful and vulnerable. Ruthless, fanatical and occasionally charming. I think she was fairly unique as a villain in the '90s, and I think she's still fairly unprecedented even today.
Demona's new limited series digs into her past across the years the other Gargoyles were slumbering up till the era of the current continuity. How much of this backstory has been in place behind the scenes prior to this, and how much of this is you taking what we know and running with it?
Well, to be clear, we're not even attempting to cover the entire millennium of her life in just one five-issue mini-series. But we are planning to cover five snapshots of her life across the first couple centuries of that millennium. All of this fits into the master plan that I've been building for the last thirty-plus years of my life, but many of the details are things that Frank and I have worked out as we've been plotting these issues.
I have to ask about Demona's big secret - her other daughter besides Angela. What can you tell us about her?
Angela is Demona's biological daughter, who was raised by humans. Angelika is not Demona's biological daughter, but they raised each other for nearly two hundred years. I think it should be interesting for the audience to view the contrasts between Demona and Angelika, and between Angelika and Angela.
You're working with Frank Paur on Gargoyles: Demona, who was also a producer on the original Gargoyles show. What's it been like reuniting with Frank, and what does working with him allow you to do as a writer?
It's been so great working with Frank. No one else has the same understanding, the same shorthand that he and I have together when it comes to Gargoyles. Plus, Frank's pencils and inks on the book are just gorgeous. And he and I are both loving the coloring that Robby Bevard is doing on the book. Robby was the colorist for much of the old SLG run. So it's all a bit like getting the band back together for me.
As someone who's been a fan since childhood, I've always wanted more stories that dig into Demona's secret years. What do you hope fans new and old will take away from this comic?
Pain. Ecstasy. Mystery. History. Mythology. A little Shakespeare. You know... standard Gargoyles terrain. Which will be dug up in a fresh new way, with our single most dangerous character headlining. Established characters will resurface. New characters will be introduced. Each issue tells a story in a different pulp genre, with its own stakes, environments and mood. I'm hoping readers new and old take away something they couldn't put down or put away even after the final page.
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