Stone Cold Case
"Stone Cold Case" is the second Gargoyles Winter Special for the Gargoyles comic by Dynamite Entertainment. It was released December 24, 2025. [1][2]
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Contents
Solicitation
For Elisa Maza, December is bittersweet. She loves the snowy streets of New York City and the bustle of the holiday season - and having a Gargoyle boyfriend who carries her above the skyscrapers to see all of the festive lights is a pretty great perk.
But the month also reminds her of an unsolved mystery from her first year as a detective - a baffling break-in that featured odd clues, a stolen family heirloom, and vague descriptions of a lumbering "thing" that was seen only in the shadows. As she tells Goliath one icy winter night, the fact that she was never able to crack the case still gnaws at her, even after all these years.
And that's all that Broadway needs to overhear to convince him to don his private eye trench coat and reopen the investigation - accompanied, of course, by Bronx and his bull terrier pal, Lance!
Co-written by Gargoyles creator GREG WEISMAN and NATE COSBY, and illustrated by GEORGE KAMBADAIS, this 40-page one-shot uncovers a chilly new chapter in the saga of the Stone Guardians - frosted with crystalline covers from KAMBADAIS, JAE LEE & JUNE CHUNG, ROGER LANGRIDGE, and ALESSANDRO RANALDI!
The Story
Review
The second Gargoyles Winter Special story is another collaboration between Greg Weisman and Nate Cosby. Like the first one, it is very different from a regular Gargoyles story – though there's far more dialogue here.
While Bronx is present (and, as we shall see, the other major characters from the first Winter Special return), the focus is on Elisa and Broadway this time. During a conversation with Goliath, Elisa recalls her very first case: the mysterious disappearance of a tight-fisted landlord of a New York apartment building, a case that she never solved, and which is still bothering her. While Goliath offers her comfort, Broadway overhears them – and, clearly still feeling the thrill of detective adventuring we saw earlier in "The Silver Falcon", sets out to solve the case – even donning trench coat and fedora again. And (clearly Nate Cosby's contribution) Bronx accompanies him.
At the apartment building, Bronx is reunited with old acquaintances, the dog Lance from the first Winter Special (they're clearly delighted to see each other again) – and the woman they'd helped also returns, as one of the tenants – complete with a name (Shahpar Bamdad) and an occupation (making greeting cards). (Her cat and the kittens return as well – leading to a lovely moment where the kittens are happily perched on Bronx's head, mewing.) Broadway makes Shahpar's acquaintance as well as the friendly and caring superintendent Clarence, and (on a smaller scale) the other tenants, who are given a rich element of variety (ranging from a father with two wildly adventurous young sons to a man talking about a mysterious "super-important experiment" involving a pet tarantula, seated on top of his head).
Broadway enthusiastically investigates – if in a way that suggests he's following the surface tactics of television detectives (including peering through a magnifying glass at everything in the missing landlord's now-deserted apartment), but makes little progress (though at least Shahpar invites him and Bronx into her apartment for tea and biscuits). The investigation takes a sharp turn when Goliath and Elisa arrive; Elisa is not pleased with Broadway eavesdropping on her and trying to take up the unsolved case without even telling her about it – though she forgives him after Broadway explains why he did it.
In fact, it's Elisa who solves the case (if with a bit of help from Broadway's discoveries); Clarence the super is actually the missing landlord, returned in disguise. He'd undergone an epiphany of how selfish he'd been (in almost an echo of Ebenezer Scrooge – except the bizarre beings entered his story after his change of heart), and is making amends for how he'd earlier treated the tenants, even turning the building over to them in a joint ownership. It leads to a charming ending.
Like the first Winter Special, there's no antagonist or fight scenes (though Elisa's case at the start of the story opened with a fire that cost the life of one of the residents – and which led to the landlord's change of heart), just a very sweet story for the Christmas holidays, featuring a few gargoyles.
Featured Characters and First Appearances
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Quotes
- "I'm just a Super."
- "A super what?"
- "No, it's . . . I take out the garbage. Fix toilets. Help the tenants with whatever they need."
- "That sounds . . . super." - Clarence Huxley and Broadway
- "You handle . . . cold cases?"
- "Uh . . . yeah. In the winter." - Shahpar Bamdad and Broadway.
- "Elisa! Goliath! I'm so glad you're here!"
- "I need to hear the best possible explanation for what's going on, Broadway."
- "Right, see . . . I heard you telling Goliath about your first case and ––"
- "'I was spying on you, Elisa' is not the way to begin the best possible explanation." - Broadway and Elisa
Continuity
Tidbits
Cover Gallery
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See Also
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