Fallen From the Ranks...
"Fallen From the Ranks..." is the fourth issue of the Gargoyles - Demona comic by Dynamite Entertainment. It was released on November 5th, 2025. [1]
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Contents
Solicitation
The year is 1195, and Demona and her adopted daughter Angelika have returned to the ancient streets of Constantinople, where Angelika has rekindled her romance with the Gargoyle Magni. More important than old boyfriends, however - at least to Demona is the presence in the city of the fabled relic known as the Eye of Odin, which she believes will be able to grant her aging daughter the same immortality that has kept her young for more than a century.
But when the keeper of the Eye is found dead, Demona quickly becomes the prime suspect and it's up to Angelika to find the real culprit before the heavy hand of medieval justice comes down upon them all!
Discover the shocking truth behind this Byzantine mystery in Gargoyles: Demona #4, carefully crafted by Gargoyles creator GREG WEISMAN and animated series collaborator FRANK PAUR and featuring iconic covers by PAUR, MEGHAN HETRICK, JAE LEE & JUNE CHUNG, and DAVID COUSENS!
The Story
Review
Elements from "Fortune Favors the Brave" return in this latest adventure of Demona and Angelika.
The two gargoyles return to Constantinople, to Angelika's surprise, in light of the fact that Demona has hitherto shown no desire to visit the same place twice on their travels. Not that Angelika has reason to complain, since she is reunited with her love Magni, still serving in the Varangian Guard with his rookery brother Modi, if under a different emperor (not surprising, since it's been eighty-four years since their previous visit) - and one from a different dynasty, for that matter (a detail that will prove important later on). Though Angelika and Magni are much older, they are delighted to see each other again; their love beats as strong as ever.
But Demona is more interested in a different element of her adventure with Sigurd Magnusson: the Eye of Odin, still in the imperial treasury. She meets with the archivist al-Hammad, speaking with him in (for Demona) a surprisingly good-natured and friendly fashion - and al-Hammad certainly enjoys making her acquaintance (a rarity whenever humans cross paths with Demona). But things go sour when the archivist is found dead soon afterwards, slain, and Demona becomes the leading suspect. (And given her track record with humans, few readers would be surprised.) Angelika sets out to prove her innocence, in a gripping murder mystery.
Two unexpected guest stars become involved in this adventure. The first is Shahrizad, serving (naturally) as a storyteller at the imperial court; she helps Angelika with her investigation, commenting at one point "A mystery is just story with a yet-to-be-told ending". The second is Guardian Tom, visiting Constantinople as part of his investigation of whether the outside world is safe for gargoyles (and finding out that it isn't). While he's not immediately identified, it becomes increasingly clear who he is, first when he speaks with Modi about conditions for gargoyles (Magni and Modi are still holding on to their box from their previous appearance), and more importantly, when he meets Demona - in prison, for he becomes another suspect in al-Hammad's murder. (And remember that 1195 is exactly two centuries after Tom and the others had taken refuge on Avalon.)
Angelika and Shahrizad solve the mystery at last; the culprit was Modi, who claims to be motivated, partly by the current emperor being an usurper who had overthrown the dynasty ruling when Magni and Modi had come to Constantinople, partly by a belief that the Eye of Odin (stolen when al-Hammad was murdered) belongs back in Norway. Though, since Modi had shown no interest in the Eye up to this point, the latter motive becomes suspect in Magni, Angelika, and Shahrizad's eyes - and Emperor Isaac's brother Alexios shows signs of rivalry over the throne, leading Shahrizad to consider making her next story the tale of Cain and Abel. (Shahrizad has good reason to suspect Alexios; in actual history, later that year, he overthrew and blinded his brother, seizing the throne, and starting a chain of events that would lead to the disastrous sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade nine years later.)
Demona, Angelika, and Magni will probably not need to worry over the impending sack of Constantinople, for they depart - with the revelation that, while Demona was indeed innocent of al-Hammad's death, she had indeed stolen the Eye of Odin (more accurately, switched it with a duplicate). The real treat, here, is why she stole the Eye - not to use its power for herself, but to make Angelika (who's already biologically older than her) immortal and not lose her to time. Angelika, however, rejects the Eye (all the more understandable, after seeing the effect it had had on Sigurd Magnusson so many years before), and throws it into the sea. (It'll obviously be recovered centuries later, and eventually find its way into Xanatos's possession - but that's a tale for another time.) Demona departs Constantinople, with Angelika and Magni (now planning to spend their remaining years together) in her company.
One of the best features of this story is its symmetry. The second story in this mini-series had featured Magni (and the start of his and Angelika's love for each other), Modi, and the Eye of Odin, and showed how all three came to Constantinople; in the next-to-last story in this mini-series, we see them all return. And, judging from the solicitation of "Demona" # 5, there'll be more parallels between it and the opening of this story.
Featured Characters and First Appearances
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Quotes
Continuity
Tidbits
Cover Gallery
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See Also
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