Stone Cold

"Stone Cold" is a two part, sixteen page comic story that appeared in the December, 1994 and January, 1995 issues of Disney Adventures.

• Writer: Lee Nordling
• Art: Steve Leiahloha
• Lettering: Bill Spicer
• Coloring: Sam Pasrons

Summary

Part One

Demona has captured Goliath, Hudson, Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington in nets shortly before sunrise. Goliath asks why she is leaving both them and herself out in the open so close to their unprotected stone sleep. She replies that she has something important to discuss and had to get the clan's attention. But before Goliath can question or further, the Sun rises and all of them are turned to stone.

Night falls again and the gargoyles awaken. Brooklyn, Broadway, Lexington, and Hudson, now free of the nets, are ready to take on Demona. But she points out something they have failed to notice: Goliath has not yet awakened from his stone sleep and remains a statue at night. Demona explains that this was what she was trying to warn the clan of. David Xanatos, she claims, has discovered a type of magic that can trap the gargoyles in their stone sleep indefinitely and plans to use it to dominate or destroy the Manhattan Clan. Demona proposes that they join forces and – under her command – strike back at Xanatos. Brooklyn is still suspicious of Demona and doesn't want to trust her, but Hudson points out that if what Demona says is true, she's the only one who can use magic to help them restore Goliath. Reluctantly, Brooklyn agrees and the clan unites with Demona.

Meanwhile, Goliath has awakened and find himself chained up inside of a trash compactor. He suspects that Demona is behind his imprisonment and vows to make her pay once he is free.

Back in the park, the clan is following Demona to confront Xanatos. Brooklyn wants Hudson to come with them and help determine if Demona is lying or not, but Hudson instead returns to the Clock Tower to tell Elisa what has happened, promising to meet up with his clan again later. Hudson finds Elisa at the Clock Tower, wondering where everyone has gone. He takes her to the park and shows her the stone Goliath. Elisa notices chain marks on Goliath's arm and theorizes that someone may have someone may have used the chain to lift him up or set him down in stone form. Hudson wonders why someone would have gone through the trouble to move Goliath and then return him to the exact same spot.

At the Eyrie Building, Demona and the rest of the clan are confronting a very nonchalant Xanatos. They demand that he restore Goliath or suffer the consequences.

Driving in a squad car, Elisa is talking to a Mr. Blanchette about a job his company was hired to do. Hudson follow her from the air. Mr. Blanchette explains that he was contacted by two people. First, a woman left a message on his answering machine hiring him to have his men to pick up a statue from the park, take it to the local dump, and replace the statue with an identical one. Then during the day, a man paid the bill via money order. He also tells Elisa that the remaining part of the job is to crush the original "statue" in the trash compactor, which the night crew will begin doing in one hour...

Part Two

Mr. Blanchette refuses to check the paperwork and tell Elisa where his men dumped the sleeping Goliath, insisting that he doesn't want to let his asparagus casserole get cold.

Back at the Eyrie Building, Xanatos tells Demona and the clan that he has to idea what they want from him. Lexington protests when Demona threatens to kill Xanatos, pointing out that she herself said that only Xanatos could show them how to save Goliath. In response, she opens a small cabinet containing the small sculptures of the clan that Xanatos is supposedly using to perform his magic. Goliath's statue is not visible and Demona says that they must accept that Goliath is gone.

Elisa and Hudson arrive at Mr. Blanchette's home. Hudson hides in the shadows on the roof while Elisa confronts Blanchette, telling him that this is a matter of life and death and that the statue his men took to the dump was a friend of hers. She threatens to take Blanchette downtown on the grounds that he removed a statue from city property without proper authorization. Blanchette finally gives in and goes to retrieve the information Elisa needs.

From inside the compactor, Goliath hears the machine's engine start up. Angered, he begins attempting to smash his way out of his prison.

Inside the Eyrie Building, Broadway looks at the smashed remains of a small statue of Goliath, unable to believe that his leader is truly gone. Demona insists the Goliath is really dead and that Xanatos is to blame. Xanatos tells the gargoyles that this whole matter is rather tiring and reaches for the gargoyles sculptures in order to put an end to it.

At the dump, Goliath is surprised to find the compactor walls moving outward. Hudson has arrived and frees Goliath, explaining how Elisa discovered where he had been taken. Goliath thanks Elisa and she explains what happened and how Demona orchestrated Goliath's abduction and used it in her plot to gain leadership of the clan.

Meanwhile, Xanatos is gathering the gargoyle sculptures from the cabinet, but Demona strikes him, slamming his head against the wall. The Trio crowds around their fallen foe and Lex worriedly points out that he's not moving. Demona counters that he would have killed them all had she not acted. She announces her intention to lead the clan and bring about a new era of gargoyle superiority. The Trio stares at her in shock, just as Goliath, Hudson, and Elisa enter through an open window. Goliath then smashes the fallen Xanatos against a wall, revealing him to be an android. The real Xanatos shows up to express mild dismay that the plan didn't work. Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lex are confused about why Xanatos and Demona were working together. Elisa, Goliath, and Hudson explain that with Goliath out of the way, Demona intended to lead the gargoyles and Xanatos would control them through her. Demona escapes out the window. Xanatos is characteristically smug in defeat as Elisa and the gargoyles depart into the night sky.

Tidbits

This comic actually helped to inspire a canon Gargoyles story. The idea of kidnapping a gargoyle during the day and replacing him with a replica statue was borrowed from this story and used in "The Price", with Hudson as the victim.

Elisa is oddly incautious about keeping the gargoyles' existence a secret in this story. One can only guess what Mr. Blanchette thought of Elisa's mental health after she told him that the statue his men had removed was a friend of hers.

The villains in particular seem rather out of character here. It is possible that Demona would consider having Goliath killed to take over leadership of the clan. (She actually did something very similar in the apocryphal The Goliath Chronicles episode "Generations".) And one can assume that Demona would quickly turn on Xanatos after she was made leader of the clan had their plan succeeded, thus eliminating the need for her to follow his instructions and allow him to control the gargoyles though her. But Xanatos seems to greatly prefer keeping all of the clan alive for future use. More puzzling still is why the two of them couldn't figure out some way to destroy Goliath while he and the rest of the clan were sleeping in stone, rather than waiting until the following night when Goliath had a chance to escape or be rescued.

Links

• "Stone Cold - Part 1" at the Avalon Archives
• "Stone Cold - Part 2" at the Avalon Archives

<< Preceded by: "A Study in Stone"

Followed by: "Take the A Train" >>