Cold Comfort

Gargoyles #12 by David Nakayama

The twelfth issue of the Gargoyles comic by Dynamite Entertainment was released March 20th, 2024. [1]

• Writer/Creator: Greg Weisman
• Pencil Artist: George Kambadais
• Color Artists: Giovanna La Pietra & Valeria Verdi
• Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
• Editor: Nate Cosby
• Main Cover Artist: David Nakayama

Solicitation

At last, the Manhattan Clan is reunited! And it’s a good thing, too, as they’re going to need all hands on deck to prevent New York’s crime bosses from combining their resources to wreak havoc on the city! It’s the FINAL ISSUE of this series — as well as the prelude to new adventures to come!

Review

"Here in Manhattan" concludes in this issue, and brings the Manhattan clan's latest adventure, and Dino Dracon's schemes to dominate the organized crime scene in New York, to a dramatic conclusion.

Coldstone is the narrator, giving the reader much insight into his perspective. He is clearly uneasy over the turn of events for the gargoyles; while they have won a victory at Goliath's hearing, it seems to come at the cost of their autonomy, making them more subordinates to the humans than equals. He is also frustrated by how one event after another prevents him from discussing these matters with Goliath, leading to a fateful decision revealed only at the very end of the issue.

Dino Dracon makes one last attempt at destroying his competition - and his strategy suggests that, underneath his seemingly more cunning approach, he's just as bloodthirsty and violent as before. His scheme is to both blow up the five police stations nearest a summit being held by the organized crime leaders to sort out their rivalries, to make it look as if his rivals were responsible - while blowing up the summit with a bomb concealed in the chandelier. Fortunately, thanks to a timely alert from a still-suspicious Antoinette Dracon, the gargoyles prevent the explosions. Dino makes one last attempt to blow them all up in person - while boasting that he was the one who killed Anthony Dracon (Tony and Antoinette's father, his brother), only to be shot by a horrified Dominic. Dino seemingly dies the way he lived - I say "seemingly", because his body is never found.

(We learn, also, that Dino is hoping for Castaway to handle the gargoyles. This is just a brief mention, and we never see Castaway on stage in the issue, but it holds the promise of other clashes to come - besides what we got in "Trick or Treat".)

Antoinette restores order in the aftermath of the failure of Dino's schemes, though in a way that makes it clear that she'll be the "power behind the throne" with Dominic as her figurehead. As for Goliath, the NYPD requests that he join the Gargoyle Task Force, giving its name a different meaning than when it was first founded, and offering a major step forward in human-gargoyle relations (though, Coldstone fears, in a way that will weaken the clan's independence, as mentioned above).

But the big twist comes at the end, when we learn that both Antoinette and Coldstone are now working for Demona, giving her control over the gangs of New York, and an "inside gargoyle" in the clan. Which is all the more ominous, in light of the Demona-centered "Gargoyle Quest", coming next. It made a very effective surprise.

My only regret is that we didn't see Broadway and Angela's commitment ceremony, despite the build-up throughout the series. Fortunately, Dynamite isn't done with the Manhattan clan yet, and a later story may give us the opportunity to "attend" this event. (And we do get more set-up for it, as well as Brooklyn and Katana hoping that the clan will be parents to Egwardo when he or she hatches, as per the Gargoyle Way.) This aside, it makes a fine conclusion to the gargoyles' first new arc in many years.

First Appearances

Characters

• Jayla Réal
• Cenek Belinsky

Tidbits

• Goliath's badge number: 92994 is a reference to the world premiere of Gargoyles in Orlando, Florida on September 29th, 1994.

• Coldstone calls Goliath the clan's "rhydderch", making this that term's first mention outside "Dark Ages".

Cover Gallery

Links

<< Previous Episode: "Here In Manhattan" Chapter Eleven: "Young At Heart"

Next Episode: "Gargoyles Quest Chapter One">>