The Gate
"The Gate" is the tenth issue of the Gargoyles comic by SLG, and Chapter Ten of the Clan-Building story arc.
On August 31, 2008, SLG's license to produce single issues of the Gargoyles comic ended. The material that would have made up single issues nine through twelve is included in the trade paperback collection Gargoyles: Clan-Building, Volume Two.
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Contents
Solicitation
"The Gate." Brooklyn could really use some time away from the Clan, but when the time-traveling Phoenix Gate materializes before his eyes, maybe the phrase "look, but don't touch" should have come to mind. Careful what you wish for, Brooklyn!
Summary
Main Plot
While out on patrol, Brooklyn stumbles upon the Phoenix Gate with Angela and Broadway nearby. The gate dissolves into the Phoenix and swallows Brooklyn whole, sending him to Scotland in 997 AD, near King Constantine and his men, who promptly attack the gargoyle. Brooklyn manages to escape, running into Mary and Finella (posing as pilgrims), also on the run from Constantine's forces. Kenneth and his allies, Maol Chalvim and Findlaech, consider how to increase their ranks and, that night, Angel discovers a cell of her clan massacred along with a royal post from the party responsible.
Subplots
In 1997, Hudson and Lexington are not yet back from their adventure in England.
In the time since Constantine usurped the throne, he and his men have been destroying gargoyles to prevent his enemies from seeking them as allies, remembering the fate of his own father. They have also been posting enchanted pronouncements blaming Finella for the death of Kenneth II and Princess Katharine's disappearance.
Brooklyn takes a sword from a guard that refused to provide refuge to Mary and Finella.
Among Constantine’s allies are Maíl Brigti and his son Gillecomgain.
The Story
Standing atop Goliath's Tower beneath the waning Moon, Brooklyn takes to the skies over Manhattan. He lands atop the Flatiron Building, where he's surprised to see Angela and Broadway land on the same rooftop, wondering what he's up to. Clearly annoyed that he couldn't be alone, Brooklyn's response is more diplomatic, claiming he's just killing moonlight. Broadway notes how dull the last few weeks have been with Hudson and Lexington still in England, wishing they'd come home already. Brooklyn mutters how that is "one" of his wishes. Beneath the Moon, an ember begins to spark in front of the three gargoyles. It erupts into a giant ball of flames and Angela recognizes it as the lost Phoenix Gate! She suggests the three tell Goliath immediately and Brooklyn agrees, quipping that magical time-traveling talismans don't just fall out of the sky everyday. Angela explains how, on their world tour, Goliath released the Gate into the timestream because he deemed it too dangerous. Figuring they can't just leave it there for anyone to pick it up, Brooklyn reaches for the medallion, but it suddenly melts before their very eyes! An instant later, a giant firebird erupts from the fluxed medallion, consuming their peripheries. The Phoenix scoops Brooklyn into its beak, swallowing him whole. Broadway and Angela leap to reach him, but they are too late. With a final wisp of flame, Brooklyn and the Phoenix are gone – perhaps forever.
Four horsemen ride late in the night. Sensing something, the one in a green hood informs the others – King Constantine, a teenage Gillecomgain and his father, Maíl Brigti. A flash of light erupts and Gillecomgain spots Brooklyn tumbling in a rough landing. Their horses begin to buck and Gillecomgain draws a knife, eager for Constantine's order: "Kill it!" Gillecomgain leaps at the "demon", despite Brooklyn's protests that he's come in peace. "I take it I'm not in Manhattan anymore," Brooklyn quips as he throws the young human off him, asking if anyone would care to mention just where he arrived (and when). Hearing Constantine complain that no one can manage to kill the gargoyle for their king, Brooklyn starts to figure that he arrived in 10th Century, Scotland. Constantine's man in the green hood conjures a fiery bow and arrow and literally fires at the airborne gargoyle, striking his left leg. Furious that Brooklyn escaped death, Constantine directs his attention to a settlement in the distance, commanding Gillecomgain to post a flyer. As his son rides off to do so, Brigti asks if it wise to chase "phantoms and gargoyles" while the Grim is forming an army. Constantine assures him that, after studying his own father's fate, he wants to ensure there are no gargoyles for the Grim to recruit. As for the "phantoms", Constantine has learned from Brother Valmont that they possess something powerful, that no army or gargoyle could stand against: the Grimorum Arcanorum.
Gillecomgain nails the wanted poster with a mallet, which features the likenesses of Magus, Tom, Mary, and Finella. No sooner than its been posted, a hand furiously rips it off the gate wall. It is none other than Lady Finella herself, with Mary drawing up their horse-drawn cart. Mary asks what the flyer says, and Finella reads that the two are wanted alive by King Constantine for the murder of his uncle, King Kenneth II, for the abduction of Princess Katharine, and for the theft of the King's Grimorum. Further, the wanted poster claims that Finella and Mary are witches in league with "demon gargoyles" and posits that Finella's actions are the result of the grief she still carries for Kenneth II murdering her son. Mary's been unsurprised by the various accusations, but the last has caught her attention. "You had a son?" Mary asks her, but however accurate the insinuation is quickly denied by Finella. Hearing their conversation from the other side of the gate, a Porter opens the gate's hatch and asks who's out there at this late hour. Mary goes with the cover that Finella is actually the "Lady Fiona of Edinburgh" on a pilgrimage and in need of shelter for the night. Meanwhile, Brooklyn lands nearby and snaps off the solid arrow that pierced his leg. The Porter explains that the gate has been locked for hours now, but when Mary offers to pay for their lodging, the Porter becomes more hospitable. But opening the gate draws the attention of the settlement's guards, who remind the Porter that it is the "witching hour" and thus is no time to invite strangers. The Porter tries to explain that the two women are pilgrims with gold, but one of the guards, ripping a regenerated flyer from the gate door, argues that "the Devil has gold aplenty, as our good King knows!" Just as Mary is about to tell the guard just what sort of person Constantine is, the soldier takes a look at the flyer and recognizes the two women as Constantine's wanted witches! With the guard drawing his sword, the Porter calls for others to help defend the gate. A crowd soon forms, demanding they burn the witches and take their gold. But the guard reminds everyone that Constantine wants them alive, although that hardly convinces the crowd. Deciding to give the crowd what they want, Finella asks Mary for the Grimorum and quietly tells her to return to the cart. Opening the spell book, Finella cries out to the growing mob, "You dare threaten the sorceress Finella?!" Threatening to summon demons in their midst, the guard accuses her of bluffing, but the Porter isn't so sure, wondering why an accused witch would bluff about using magic. The soldier is nevertheless convinced that she can't attack them all, and prepares to attack when Brooklyn swoops in and rips the sword out of the guard's hand, declaring that "the minions have come!" Seeing the gargoyle, the Porter turns to the guard and asks what they should do. Brooklyn offers them two options: "You can wait for my clan to come eat your brains . . . or you run away!" With that, the mob quickly disperses, running back through the open gate. As they do so, Brooklyn tells Mary and Finella to go to the cart quickly, before the humans realize Brooklyn's clan is not coming, "and I don't eat brains," Brooklyn adds.
Mary takes the reigns and the three drive off. With Brooklyn still holding the guard's sword, Finella notes that he's bleeding from yanking the blade away from the human. Brooklyn's not worried about the injury, and far more worried about who might be after them. Mary points out that the gargoyle is more than capable of handling Constantine and his men, but Brooklyn begins to petrify, and Mary realizes they'll have to wait out the day while the gargoyle sleeps.
Elsewhere at an army's encampment, Findlaech arrives at Maol Chalvim's tent, announcing to Prince Maol Chalvim that the Grim approaches. Prince Kenneth and his son, a young Bodhe, enter the tent and Kenneth asks Findlaech how Moray is holding up. Findlaech admits that Moray's loyalty to the Grim has, for the moment, been to its detriment. Findlaech changes the subject and asks how the young Bodhe is faring, and the boy is eager to follow his father into battle, which Findlaech points out will make Kenneth proud, to which Kenneth shares how he already is. Maol Chalvim grows impatient and, pulling out their battle plans, asks that they attend to the matter at hand, but Kenneth first asks why he's been given the moniker of "the Grim" and not his cousin. But Maol Chalvim's in no mood to discuss the irony, not when Constantine's men outnumber theirs five-to-one. Findlaech argues that the majority of the Scots favor their faction, noting that Constantine's support is drawn from the Irish. Maol Chalvim retorts that it doesn't matter the source of Constantine's soldiers – it won't help them with their lackluster numbers anyhow. But Kenneth takes his cousin's shoulder and tells him, "the solution remains the solution of our fathers, Maol . . . gargoyles!"
Meanwhile, Constantine and his men have discovered a cave of sleeping gargoyles. Gillecomgain furiously smashes the clan with a mace, and Constantine comments how driven the adolescent is to the task before him. His father agrees. Constantine orders they post another enchanted flyer, and Brother Valmont hands the scroll to the teenager who promptly secures it to the cave wall.
Mary and Finella continue to travel by cart until the the day is nearly spent. When the Sun finally sets, Brooklyn awakens and Mary takes the opportunity to ask if the gargoyle is from Wyvern Hill. Brooklyn's excited to finally recognizes her as Tom's mother as Mary introduces him to Lady Finella. As Brooklyn gives his name to the women, Mary expresses her confusion – didn't the Magus say he and the other gargoyles would sleep until Kingdom Come? Brooklyn scratches his head, unsure where to begin and Mary begins to speculate, asking if Goliath and the others are also awake. Brooklyn asks what the year is, and Finella responds, "the year of our Lord Nine Hundred and Ninety-Seven." Brooklyn assures them that the remaining gargoyles of the Wyvern Clan remain cursed, himself included. Still not grasping what Brooklyn's trying to gently explain, Finella discourages Brooklyn of the notion that this is just some dream. With that, Brooklyn becomes more direct, explaining that he's from the future, and he figures he must have been sent to protect the two women and the Grimorum. But to do that – not to mention the other issue of returning home to Manhattan in 1997 – he'll need to acquire the Phoenix Gate once more. Brooklyn comments to Mary and Finella, "And if I've got my 997 clan history straight . . . half the Gate's currently with Goliath – as for the other half . . ."
Brooklyn lets the thought trail off, dreading the notion of finding Demona's 997 self. Not yet named in this century, she is not far and furious, having just discovered Constantine's handiwork, with the enchanted wanted poster in her claws.
Review
This chapter begins Brooklyn's TimeDancing, an event I had anticipated from early on. For one thing, the consequences of his adventures, buffeted about the time-stream, would result in building up the clan (as we shall see when we reach the end of "Phoenix"). For another, we knew from Greg Weisman that Broadway and Angela would be with Brooklyn when he came upon the Phoenix Gate, and once these three young gargoyles were left behind in New York in "The Rock", I felt certain that Greg was laying pipe for this scene. And I was right.
What I had not expected was *how* the Gate transported Brooklyn into the past. As Brooklyn reaches down to take it, the Gate disintegrates, and from it rises a monstrous bird made of fire – the Phoenix after which the Gate was named. Brooklyn is borne away by it, in a truly dramatic scene, carried off to Scotland in the year 997.
Through this unexpected time travel jaunt, we are reunited with old friends and enemies. Constantine, still the usurping King of Scotland, has made the young Gillecomgain (already filled with hatred for gargoyles after his encounter with Demona three years before) his squire; he also has the aid of the sinister sorcerer, Brother Valmont, a new character. Brooklyn, narrowly escaping them when the Phoenix deposits him in front of these three (plus Maíl Brigti, Gillecomgain's father, whom we glimpsed earlier in "Hunter's Moon" Part One), finds himself in happier company: Mary and Finella, still on the run with the Grimorum Arcanorum, and hunted by Constantine. Brooklyn rescues them from some suspicious townsfolk, and they set off together.
Meanwhile, other human enemies of Constantine are gathering, under the leadership of the future Kenneth III (Bodhe's father), his cousin Maol Chalvim (whom we met in "Avalon" Part One), and Findlaech, Macbeth's father-to-be. Aware that they are outnumbered, Kenneth comments that their best hope is to revive the old alliance that their fathers made with gargoyles – but that's no easy task, with Constantine and Gillecomgain slaughtering all the gargoyles that they can find. As for Brooklyn, he realizes to his alarm that the only way of getting back to his own time will be to recover the broken pieces of the Phoenix Gate, and one of those pieces lies with his old enemy Demona....
Gargoyles' visits to medieval Scotland were among my favorite moments in the television series, and this does not disappoint; the story captures the tone of this bygone era effectively, weaving more of Scotland's early history into the story, just as "City of Stone" and "Avalon" Part One had done. I enjoyed this opening chapter, as well as the surprise team-ups of many of the familiar figures from the series' backstory, and looked forward to the next two chapters after that – which, fortunately, were not far behind....
Featured Characters and First Appearances
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Quotes
- "Oh, no . . . it's the Gate! The Phoenix Gate! We should tell Goliath immediately!"
- "Well, sure, s'not every night a magical time travel talisman falls out of the sky." - Angela and Brooklyn
- "I take it I'm not in Manhattan anymore . . ." - Brooklyn
- "Hold mortals! (Get in the cart, Mary.) You dare threaten the Sorceress Finella?! Then you dare face all the demons at my command!" - Finella
- "Hyah, Magus! Hyah!"
- "You named the horse "Magus?"
- "There was something about her face . . ." - Mary and Brooklyn
Continuity
Constantine appears for the first time since "Avalon" Part One, while Maíl Brigti and Gillecomgain make their first appearance since "Hunter's Moon" Part One.
Mary and Finella make their second appearance in Clan-Building after their curious cameos in "Bash".
Constantine briefly mentions his father, Culen. The King will later appear in the spin-off Gargoyles: Dark Ages.
While the Grimorum Arcanorum was last seen in "Avalon" Part Two consumed by the enhanced Archmage in 1995, this issue marks the chapter immediately following the Magus giving the spell book to Mary and Finella in 995.
Macbeth's father Findleach makes his first appearance since "City of Stone" Part One, which takes place twenty-three years after the events of this issue.
Tidbits
Brooklyn finds the Phoenix Gate on the roof of The Daily Bugle. The Daily Bugle is a metropolitan newspaper owned by J. Jonah Jameson, which usually smears Spider-Man while, ironically, buying photos of him from Peter Parker. Given all the Gargoyles references in The Spectacular Spider-Man, it is nice to see Spidey referenced in Gargoyles.
Constantine's lie about Finella having a son who was murdered by Kenneth II is based on Holinshed's account of Kenneth's downfall, where Finella helps murder Kenneth to avenge her son's death.
Finella uses the name "Fiona" as an alias. Both Finella in "Avalon" Part One and Fiona Canmore in "The Last" were voiced by Sheena Easton.
The cry of the frightened townspeople, "Run away! Run away!" is a homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Kenneth III's line "Welcome every man according to his station, and who shall 'scape whipping?" is an echo of Hamlet's line to Polonius in Act II Scene ii of Hamlet, "use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping?"
Star Trek, so often in the background of Gargoyles, is explicitly mentioned at last, when Brooklyn mentions it as one of two television science fiction programs he's seen (Quantum Leap being the other).
In this issue, and the next two ("Tyrants" and "Phoenix"), the pages' background (surrounding the panels) is white during the daytime scenes and black during the scenes set at night and changes mid-page during the dawn and dusk scenes.
The research about 10th Century Scotland that went into Brooklyn's first TimeDancer story in this issue (and both "Tyrants" and "Phoenix") is credited to Kathy Pogge. [1]
See Also
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