Posted in: Comics | Tagged: disney, FOC, Gargoyles, greg weisman

Greg Weisman Recalls Pitching Gargoyles 3 Times To Disney Ahead of FOC

Published Sat, 12 Nov 2022 09:57:11 -0600

The new Gargoyles comic book written by the show creator Greg Weisman and published through Dynamite Entertainment, is up for Final Order Cut-Off this weekend. So retailers are being encouraged to up their orders while they still can, and readers are being urged to let their comic book shop know that they would like a copy. To that end, Bleeding Cool has a letter from Greg Weisman to Gargoyles' fans, which he is sharing with us to share with you, looking at how it all began at Disney.

Hey there fans, Allow me to take you on a little journey…

Back in 1991, my team and I at Walt Disney Television Animation, began developing a little show called GARGOYLES. Originally inspired by Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, it started life as a comedy-adventure series about cute little multi-colored gargoyles (with names like Amp, Coco, Lassie and Ralph), who woke up in the late 20th Century to battle a comic villain (in the Captain Hook/Duke Igthorn-mode) named Xavier and his evil gargoyle henchwoman Demona. We were extremely enthusiastic about this show and pitched it to Michael Eisner, Chairman of the Walt Disney Company.

He passed.

But we still thought there was something in the notion, so we went back to the drawing board. We created the character of Goliath to lead the Gargoyle Clan and put the entire GARGOYLES development through the prism of who Goliath was, coming out the other side with, fundamentally, the television series that ended up airing on stations across the U.S. and elsewhere. We were extremely enthusiastic about this new version of the show – coming up with idea after idea – and pitched it all to Eisner.

He passed.

But by this time, a lot of folks at Disney thought we might be onto something. So, we went back to the drawing board for a third time, to figure out what GARGOYLES was missing. Ultimately, I decided it was missing nothing. The problem wasn't the show; it was the pitch. We had thrown everything and the kitchen sink into it. We had to simplify, bring it back to the core ideas. We tossed a lot of stuff out of the pitch that did eventually get into the show. (The Pack? Out. The Mutates? Out. Etc.) And we focused everything on the core relationship between Goliath, and his human friend, Detective Elisa Maza. One last time, we pitched the series to Eisner – though to be honest, I kinda thought he'd toss me out of the boardroom for pitching it yet again.

But this time, he bought it.

With Eisner's backing, we made two seasons of GARGOYLES for television syndication. And years later, I wrote an eighteen issue "Season Three" for Slave Labor Graphics. But GARGOYLES is my baby, and I've been desperate to get back to the series and its large and wonderous cast of characters for over a decade now – as have our extremely loyal fans, who've never allowed the show to fall out of the zeitgeist. Now – thanks to Disney, Dynamite, Nate Cosby and George Kambadais – we're back for "Season Four" with Goliath, Elisa, Demona, Xanatos, Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, Bronx, Angela, Coldstone, Coldfire, Owen, Fox, Alexander, the Pack, the Mutates, the Clones, and new or newer characters like Katana, Gnash, Fu-Dog, Egwardo and Dino Dracon. I can't wait for both old fans and new readers to see these stories and adventures, to resume this long and wonderful journey…

Thanks for hopping aboard,

Greg Weisman
November 2022

And with all the newly announced FOC covers for the book, with 1:10 black-and-white-and-grey versions of the covers as well as sketch covers and black covers too.

SEP228184 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZB FOC RED BLANK AUTHENTIX
SEP228185 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZC FOC GREY BLANK AUTHENTIX
SEP228186 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZD 10 COPY FOC INCV FLEECS & FORST
SEP228187 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZE 10 COPY FOC INCV LEE B&W
SEP228188 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZF 10 COPY FOC INCV PARRILLO B&W
SEP228189 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZG 10 COPY FOC INCV KAMBADAIS B&W
SEP228190 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZH 10 COPY FOC INCV FOC LEIRIX B&W
SEP228191 GARGOYLES #1 CVR ZI 10 COPY FOC INCV CONNER PURPLE

GARGOYLES #1 CVR A NAKAYAMA
DYNAMITE
OCT220542
(W) Greg Weisman (A) George Kambadais (CA) David Nakayama
All-new ongoing series, in continuity with the epic GARGOYLES television classic!
One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was THE AGE OF GARGOYLES. Stone by day, Warriors by night, they were betrayed by the humans they had sworn to protect…frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken, and they live again! They are Defenders of the Night! THEY ARE GARGOYLES!
Series creator GREG WEISMAN and illustrator GEORGE KAMBADAIS reintroduce the Manhattan Clan, a family of Gargoyles at full strength, though modern New York City is full of attractions and distractions, and each member of the clan has begun to go their own way. But their bonds will be tested, when nefarious factions from all across the world attempt to steal that rarest, most precious of possessions…an unhatched Gargoyle egg!
In Shops: Dec 07, 2022
SRP: 3.99

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