Gargoyles #9

Cover Price: $1.50
Bargain Price: $0.50
Cover Date: October 1995

For those not in the know, Gargoyles was pretty good cartoon produced for Disney Afternoons. The last of their kind, the Gargoyles have various adventures around modern day New York, where they pal around with a female cop and fight Jonathan Frakes. Unlike a lot of licensed books, this one does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the show in both story and art. The story focuses on the gargoyles trying to recover an unhatched gargoyle egg from the Chinese mob, and regular series villain Demona, the other last remaining gargoyle who spends most of her time being sexy (for a gray skinned monster) and hating our heroes. It’s a fun and action packed little story, if, expectedly, a little light on character development and consequences. The surprise of the issue, though, and the reason I decided to pick it up, was the art by Amanda Conner, recently of Power Girl fame, whose fun, sexy, cartoony style should be a perfect fit for Gargoyles. Unfortunately, Conner only provided breakdowns for this issue, resulting in a dilution of her signature style that is a little disappointing. Still, it’s more than serviceable art, especially for a nineties licensed comic, and little bits of Conner do shine through, particularly in renderings of Demona and the Triad leader. The Comic Book Database is vague on whether or not Conner does full art for any of the other issues of the series, but I’ll be tracking them down to find out.