In an industry dominated by a handful of publishers, it’s easy to overlook books from smaller companies. Today, I’m going to explain to you why “Gargoyle by Moonlight” is one that deserves your attention.
Written by Timohty Bach
Illustrated by Brian AtkinsAfflicted by a curse that turns him into a stone gargoyle every night, Gary Doyle has been passing the time punching out creepy crawly underworld demons and trying to figure out how to undo the curse. When a raging demigod bent on annihilation begins rampaging through the city, Doyle, coached by the mysterious gypsy, Drina, and assisted by the equally enchanting archaeologist, Chole Anders, must decide whether he’s a hero or the monster the world sees him as.
The title page for this book includes the mission statement of the publisher, Moonrise Comics: make the world’s best comics. That’s a wildly ambitious, intimidating goal for the small St. Louis company. It raises a reader’s expectations to a crazy high level, especially for a superhero book.
The cover features a #1, but the story sure doesn’t feel like a first issue. The Gargoyle’s origin is told through some quick narration over scenes of the current action, and references to previous adventures are peppered throughout the pages. It becomes clear pretty quickly that Bach draws some inspiration from the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, when writers crafted every issue to be a good jumping on point. If “Gargoyle by Moonlight” had a #36 on the front instead of a #1, you’d never know the difference.
That’s not to say the book feels old fashioned, though. Bach marries classic storytelling with modern dialogue and structure. In a particularly exposition heavy opening scene, he spices it up with some well written sarcasm which keeps you from realizing you’re reading an info dump. The humor in the book won’t make you laugh out loud, but it hits just the right notes to keep the story lighthearted. This stand-alone comic isn’t revolutionary, and it isn’t trying to be.
The central plot for this issue comes together very organically. The Gargoyle’s own selfish motivations lead him to oppose the villain (Serpent King) instead of coincidence or the overused “shared origin” twist. The hero and his supporting cast receive some strong development through natural sounding conversations, and off-hand comments about events and people not featured in this issue make them seem deeper still. The Serpent King is entertaining, but is ultimately a two-dimensional villain-of-the-week.
Atkins’ pencils are expressive and easy to follow. His penchant for creative angles is evident from the first panel, where the point of view is from behind a mask’s eye hole. The inventive view points add life to otherwise static dialogue scenes while maintaining proper perspective on objects and body shapes. His background detail comes and goes during the action scenes, vanishing when a blow is the center of attention, but reappearing often enough for you to keep your bearings on where everyone is. Throughout the issue, he never loses focus on body language. The little details like a background character wiping sweat from his brow, or a twirl of the hair, help tell the story as much as the dialogue. His wide variety of facial expressions help, too, of course.
Juan Romera’s colors are a perfect fit for Atkin’s lines. The bold, full saturation colors bring the story to life, and his shadow and lighting effects give the images even more depth. Where he really shines, though, are the panels where Atkins omitted backgrounds. That goes double for scenes with energy effects or the sunrise. In every instance, he chose a background/foreground combo that would provide a good contrast and direct your eye exactly where it needed to be.
Jeremiah Lambert handled the letters for this issue, and his work was just as impressive. Aside from the basic parts of lettering – spell things right, point tails at the right people, and don’t cover important parts of the art – it’s obvious he put real care into what he was doing. The styled narration boxes are unique without being overly busy, and his use of bold and emphasized words is well done. Aside from being well sized and placed, his sound effects utilize a large number of uncommon but appropriate fonts. This is most noticeable in a scene where fire goes “FOOOSHH” in something other than the standard flame-on font. There’s another scene where the wail of a siren breaks the panel borders to drift off both sides of the page. This one of two instances in the whole issue where anything breaks the panel borders, and it’s very effective.
The biggest drawback to “Gargoyle by Moonlight” is the $4.99 price tag. It’s understandable – production costs for a small print runs are higher than what Marvel or DC would pay – but that’s a big investment for a book from creators you don’t know. The group seems to know this, and they try to give you as much bang for your buck as they can by giving you 39 pages and a link in the back to at least three free additional short comics stories. There’s also a digital version available at a reduced rate, if that’s your thing. And considering how much Marvel’s been charging for some books lately, $4.99 for 39 pages of original content isn’t really that bad.
In it’s opening, Moonrise Comics said they wanted to make the world’s best comics. Do they? It’s impossible not to notice how much skill went into this book from everyone involved. However, odds are you won’t finish this issue and immediately start clamoring for “Gargoyle by Moonlight” #2. If you do take a chance on it, though, there’s a good chance you’ll take note of their names and keep an eye out for their next project.
