Underwater

Gargoyles #6 by David Nakayama

"Underwater" is the sixth issue of the Gargoyles comic by Dynamite Entertainment. It was released on May 31st, 2023. [1]

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

Solicitation

Brooklyn feels the strain of leadership as hopes for Goliath's release from prison grow dimmer by the hour. Can the members of the Manhattan Clan put aside their differences before the crime syndicates of New York combine to crush the entire city?

Review

This issue continues to develop both storylines, Goliath's being held prisoner and his upcoming "trial", and Dino Dracon's scheme to destroy the rival gangs of New York.

Brooklyn is the narrator, and feels overwhelmed by his new responsibilities as clan leader; he had clearly expected the position to be brief, lasting long enough to free Goliath, but now realizes that Goliath will be behind bars for a much longer period of time. He's now convinced that he's doing a poor job as leader (even though, as many readers have pointed out, his raid on Rikers in the previous issue was well-planned, and only failed because of Goliath's refusal to be rescued), and longs for the comparative simplicity of his TimeDancing days (accompanied by an impressive depiction of many of the incidents during his TimeDancing — see below for details). He still manages to carry out his duties well, though, ordering the rest of the clan to stop patrolling the city and stay at the castle for now (a sensible precaution — though one which Broadway and Lexington ignore), placing Coldstone and Coldfire (the two clan members who are active in the daytime) in charge of protecting them during their stone sleep.

Dino, in the meantime, is continuing to strike at the other gangs. He had already set Yingpei and Huracan at war with each other through kidnapping Rosaria and Peter (in a nice touch, we learn that he was inspired by the newspaper story featuring them that Hudson and Broadway were reading back in "High Noon" — another example of a bit moment in Gargoyles turning out to have major consequences many episodes later). Now he sets up a car bomb for Volkov, designed to look as if it had been set by Jack Dane; Volkov survives, but declares war on Dane (and Brod). With the additional complication that he's brought his son in to attack Brod in Rikers — and that son is none other than Wolf. (The revelation is made on the final page, with Volkov's son, up till that point, being represented only through "off-stage speech balloons" — Greg Weisman is clearly taking full advantage of the comic format here; no danger of anyone recognizing Clancy Brown's voice, as would have been the case if this had been a television episode.) Furthermore, Wolf's decided to take advantage of the situation to pay a little call on a new inmate while he's at it....

The last of the rival gang leaders, Izaak Slaughter, Dino is targeting directly — probably because he has an odd number of rivals, making the "setting him against someone else" harder to carry out. Glasses and Pal Joey launch an attack on him with cybots (somehow acquired from Cyberbiotics — furthermore, Glasses is controlling them via a RECAP visor from "Legion"). The attack becomes more complicated when Broadway and Lexington come to Slaughter's rescue; Broadway had been alerted to Dino's plan by Antoinette Dracon (who somehow managed to gain access to the Eyrie Building, despite Xanatos's announcement that he was denying access to it — and with Owen cooperating in her speaking with Broadway), and he and Lexington had sneaked out to intervene. (Antoinette and her actions will, I hope, receive more attention in upcoming issues, though it has been made clear that she's understandably alarmed by her uncle's methods; his plan could turn New York into a battlefield that wouldn't be worth controlling. Her seeking out Broadway makes sense; he was the one member of the clan to appear in all the past stories featuring the Dracon family, and so the natural candidate. At the end, we learn that she is also eavesdropping on Dino and Wolf's conversation; we will doubtless see the results of this in succeeding issues.) Unfortunately for Lex and Broadway, it turns out that Glasses has a lot of cybots at his disposal....

Goliath's upcoming trial is given comparatively less development, but we do learn that it will take place — and that the focus on it will be to determine if he is a sentient being or just a wild animal. (We also spot Castaway in the courtroom when the decision is made, which may be a sign of further complications....)

Another fine issue, increasing the suspense — and we know that next issue, for additional complications, one of the leading enemies of the clan will return....

First Appearances

Characters

• Sidor
• Wolf's Ma (Mentioned Only)

Location

• Slaughter Films

Objects

• U.S.S. Nashville
• Flying Saucer
• Terracotta Warriors

Tidbits

Brooklyn's words on the first page, "Brooklyn. I'm Brooklyn", are a repeat of his words when he first picked his name in "Awakening: Part Four".

The moments in Brooklyn's TimeDancing displayed in this issue (each one given a specific date) are:

• Brooklyn's initial meeting with the Phoenix (1997)
• Brooklyn meeting his petrified self atop Castle Wyvern (997)
• Brooklyn and Fu-Dog encountering a few terracotta warriors from the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (210 B.C. — the year of Qin Shi Huangdi's passing in actual history)
• Brooklyn, Katana, and Fu-Dog encountering a flying saucer, with the Eyrie Pyramid in the background (2198)
• Brooklyn, Katana, Fu-Dog, and the egg that will hatch into Nashville on board the U.S.S. Nashville (1942)
• Brooklyn and his family's return to Manhattan (1997).

Brooklyn is first shown wearing an eyepatch in the U.S.S. Nashville scene, indicating that he lost his eye somewhere between his visit to 2198 and his visit to 1942.

Cover Gallery

Links

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