Advance Review: ‘Gargoyles: Demona’ #1 Barely Succeeds Yet Has Potential
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
Demona is a Gargoyle. Unlike other Gargoyles she has virtual immortality. Much of her life is unknown to both fans and the other characters. So, how much of it is bloody? Also what prices must see payment because of these bloody parts of her history?
Overall
6/10The covers are by artists Frank Paur, Megan Hetrick, Jae Lee along with colorist June Chung, and Mark Spears. They are all high enough in quality in terms of execution yet they are arguably pretty standard designs.
Writer Greg Weisman tries to fill-in missing areas of Gargoyles history. The premise and title suggest the focus is on Demona’s missing time before the nineteen-nineties. Yet, there are two narrators that are not her and more focus on one of her enemies. Thus, some readers may not want to see this series through after this issue. Although die-hard fans and readers willing to give this series a chance may see it justify their faith in future issues. As it stands the dialogue and plotting are good enough to suggest there is potential for this series to possibly improve.
Paur does a decent job at when it comes to pacing and sequencing. However, most of the art looks like Paur is rushing to completion. The art mainly has the problem of being having characters appear flat in places. While the line work feels at best haphazard. Not to mention there are elements that appear like photoshop is in use to insert them rather than draw them. This results in a less thrilling experience than it should be. Nevertheless, there are a few pages with high to middle quality art that suggest Paur may do better in the future.
Colorist Robbie Bevard does an amazing job making Paur’s less than stellar art look and feel better than it is. Paur’s flattest scenes are arguably only tolerable because of Bevard’s colors enhancing them. The night time scenes feel atmospheric because of Bevard selection of hues. Bevard uses a mix of blues and purples for the sky along with some white for the stars in these post-sunset scenes. Unfortunately, the enhancement Bevard’s color palettes provide can only do so much to better beautify this issue.
Letterer Jeff Eckleberry does a great job positioning the text, but has an uphill battle at times to fit certain bits into their respective panels. If there is one debatable area where Eckleberry displays a flaw it is when overdoing the bolding on a few words around the final pages.
Gargoyles: Demona #1 sees release July 16th from Dynamite Entertainment.
