A Prize Beyond Compare...
"A Prize Beyond Compare..." is the Free Comic Book Day release for the Gargoyles comic by Dynamite Entertainment. It was released on May 3rd, 2025. [1]
The promotional comic also includes "Send Up a Flare!", a bonus story to start off the Gargoyles Meets the Fantastic Four miniseries.
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Contents
Solicitation
VENGEANCE TEN CENTURIES IN THE MAKING!
The tragic tale of Demona, sworn enemy of Disney’s Gargoyles, begins in Dynamite Entertainment’s special Free Comic Book Day issue #0 of Gargoyles: Demona!
For a thousand years, while the heroic Gargoyles slept, their nemesis Demona has been wide awake — scheming and plotting her revenge against humanity for destroying her kind. And although Goliath and his clan of Gargoyles will do everything they can to protect their adopted New York City, they are not prepared for the lengths to which Demona will go in order to enact her twisted plan for justice — or for how large a part they themselves will play in carrying it out!
Written by Gargoyles creator GREG WEISMAN, illustrated by acclaimed artist (and veteran of the original animated series) FRANK PAUR, and featuring a stunning cover by MEGHAN HETRICK, Gargoyles: Demona #0 kicks off an electrifying new chapter in the timeless saga of the Manhattan Clan — culminating in an unbelievable four-page preview that will leave readers old and new clamoring for more!
The Story
On the night of August 8th, 1997, a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vikings in Japan, drew the attention of Demona. Clad in a suit of armor, the immortal gargoyle easily overpowers the security guard before sauntering her way towards the exhibit. She approaches a glass case containing various trinkets such as swords, daggers, masks, a locket, axe-heads, and at the center, a shield depicting Odin astride Sleipnir. Using both fists, she smashes the casing and makes off with her prize.
Strolling through the front doors of the museum, paying no mind to the bystanders watching, Demona grins maliciously as Goliath roars her name from the air. The leader of the Manhattan Clan alongside Brooklyn, Broadway, Lexington, and Angela attack her, refusing to allow her to take the shield. Using the shield itself as a weapon, she rams into Broadway and Lex, knocking them aside before drawing her sword and striking at the clan's second, sparks flying from their blades. "Well, if it isn't the Gargoyle-of-the-Sword," she sneers before asking about Katana's whereabouts and why she declined to participate in this battle.
Atop the battlements of Castle Wyvern, Hudson expresses surprise that Viking artifacts were found in Japan of all places, and even greater surprise that Katana had no interest in seeing it. Hudson also assumes that, should the centerpiece of the exhibit actually be Odin's shield, then it would be a talisman of substantial mystic might which they cannot allow Demona to acquire. But Katana, deep in thought, steps away – confident that Goliath led a force large enough to stop her – leaving to go check on their egg.
Back on Fifth Avenue, Demona coils her tail around Brooklyn's ankle and tosses him aside before facing off against Angela. Demona apologizes to her biological daughter, knowing she disapproves, but her current prize has a value beyond comparison. The immortal smashes into Angela like a battering ram before slashing her across the bicep with her talons, "after all," she says, "I do this out of love." Broadway rushes to attend to Angela, the young female clutching her injury. But Brooklyn scoffs at the notion that Demona even understands the meaning of the word "love". But Demona's eyes burn red as she warns her enemies do not for one moment think they actually know her. But Goliath attacks Demona, grabbing hold of Odin's Shield, reminding his former mate that he knows her too well – enough to not permit her to achieve her goal. Goliath pins Demona to the ground, wrestling the shield away. Demona smirks, telling him that nothing in her millenium of life has meant as much to her as this prize. But Goliath successfully grapples the shield away from her, advising that she learn to live with disappointment. Furious at her defeat, Demona screams!
The flame-haired gargoyle rises to her feet as Broadway shouts that it's over. Demona, enraged, surveys her surroundings. Goliath holds the shield in hand as Brooklyn advances with his sword drawn, Lexington is ready to strike, and Angela nurses her wound. Her eyes burn red and she roars as she sees an opening and leaps on one yellow taxi cab after another. Brooklyn and Lex attempt to stop her, but Demona takes to the air and drops two flash grenades which quickly go off blinding the two warriors. She is gone – escaped again. But Goliath is satisfied, they have Odin's shield. Her will for now has been thwarted.
Demona soars downtown towards her Gramercy Park townhouse and enters the open balcony doors of her bedroom where Antoinette Dracon awaits, asking how things went. But Demona responds with only a knowing grin – "exactly as needed" as she reveals a Gold Locket which, for her entire millenium of life, nothing has meant as much to her as this prize. As a single tear streams down her cheek, she opens the locket revealing two locks of hair, one red and the other blonde, braided together. She mutters only a single word: "Angelika..."
Review
This issue serves as a prelude to a new Gargoyles mini-series, focusing on Demona's backstory. Set in the present (in the middle of Gargoyles: Quest, after Demona had obtained Puck's Flute and both halves of Gungnir, but before she acquired Cleopatra's Necklace), it depicts what appears to be another attempt by Demona to obtain a powerful magical object. But the appearance is deceptive....
Demona breaks into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and raids a new exhibit there, "Vikings in Japan" (complete with a lot of artifacts evoking the two different worlds that have somehow crossed paths – the Viking Age and Japanese samurai), making off with the Shield of Odin (a second artifact connected to Odin that she's stolen – a third, if you count her taking the Eye of Odin at the Weird Sisters' bidding back in Season Two). Goliath and his clan show up to thwart her (they make the understandable assumption that it's another of the Three New Keys to Power – of course, those members of the audience who've already read Gargoyles: Quest know that it isn't, but the Manhattan clan don't have that advantage), and after a fierce battle, take the shield from her. But the shield was a decoy target; what Demona was really after is a small locket...
Unlike her past targets, the locket is no powerful magical object that could help Demona in her pursuit of her goals; its significance to her is entirely sentimental. It contains two locks of hair entwined, belonging to herself and a certain Angelika. She does not reveal (either to Antoinette or to us) who Angelika is or what their connection to each other is, but it's clear that this will be the subject of the story in the next five issues. (In another good example of "playing fair with the audience", the locket is clearly visible in the panels depicting the exhibit, before Demona smashes the case.)
The mystery about Demona and Angelika is intriguing, but not the only one in this issue. Katana chooses not to accompany the other gargoyles to the museum, even though the special exhibit there is connected to her original homeland (something which Hudson points out), displaying seeming indifference towards it. Why is she so uninterested in going? Something about this scene suggests that the issues to come will reveal the reason for that (it helps that Demona calls attention to Katana's absence during her fight with the clan).
This makes a fine start to the new series – helped, all the more, by Frank Paur's art skills (he gives us a very impressive set of Viking and Japanese arms and armor in the exhibit, including a Sutton Hoo-style helmet). I look forward to seeing the issues to come.
Featured Characters and First Appearances
| Gargoyles | Humans | Oberon's Children |
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Quotes
Tidbits
See Also
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