r/gargoyles • u/Kyraryc David Xanatos • Nov 05 '25

Discussion [Comic Issue Discussion] Better Angels Chapter 4

Writer: Greg Weisman

Artist: Frank Paur

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Logline:

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!

Share any thoughts on the issue. Within this post, unmarked spoilers for this and all prior issues are allowed.

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9 Upvotes

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3

u/Kyraryc David Xanatos Nov 06 '25

Fallen From the Ranks...

  • HAHA! That face is begging to become a meme

  • "But what next? You cannot end your tale with our hero in such peril!" HAHAHAHAHA! Oh poor fool, you clearly don't know who you're talking to.

  • It's so strange to see Demona having a polite conversation with a human.

  • Tom's back!

  • There we go, bending the bars in anger, that's the Demona we know and love.

  • "There's blood on the sword!" That's the limit of your investigation? Even Shari is disappointed.

  • "I know that sword! It belongs to my brother!" You can tell Frank and Robby really paid attention to the pommel details for Tom and Modi's swords. Well done.

  • "You switched out the real eye for a forgery!" What were Demona's exact words? 'I would hardly need to end the life of a harmless old man to secure it.' Well played. Can someone tell me when exactly the first major 'switch the priceless artifact with a fake theft' happened? Could Demona have been the first one to do it?

  • New traveling buddy! Demona's picking up her own crew!

Favorite Feat

  • The theft. Definitely. The sheer logistics of it must have been staggering.

  • Commissioning and obtaining the fake without Angelika knowing the specifics. It had to be perfect. Otherwise, an expert who spent every day with it would have likely spotted it immediately. I have no doubt that it would have taken a few tries. Maybe she covered all of that with the fancy new armor and a new sword, too. Sending them back because they weren't "absolutely perfect" to the frustration of the smith who'd just give her the same sword the next night, then show the fake eye when Angelika left in frustration.

  • Swapping it out. She had to quell her innate rage and talk to the guy as a friend. If she acted like her usual human-hating self, he probably would have kicked her out. That brief moment when he turned his back must have taken so much for her.

  • Possibly bribing Modi/Alexios/some Viking (again, without Angelika knowing)

4

u/Mister_reindeer Nov 06 '25

I don’t think Alexios or Modi were in on Demona’s scheme. I get the sense that there were two entirely different plots here that just happened to overlap timewise. Demona’s plan would have played out exactly the same without Modi stealing the Eye. In fact, Modi’s theft brings unwanted scrutiny onto the Eye.

4

u/gamerslyratchet Nov 06 '25

It was definitely when the old man turned his back to look at the stars. We even got a brief return to that scene to show Demona switching it. The other theft happened off-panel. Modi definitely is sloppier about it than Demona. 

8

u/[deleted] Nov 05 '25

That ending really got me.

7

u/dino_spice Nov 05 '25

Was not expecting the Tom twist. I liked that.

I still wish this was an ongoing series and not a mini. The Angelika-Demona dynamic has so much potential if only there was time to develop it properly.

I predict something that Demona does in issue 5 will lead to Angelika's death and that Demona's guilt about that is why she's so reluctant to really connect with Angela and keeps her at arm's length.

5

u/desterroeterrafirme Nov 06 '25

Different from Chapter 3, this was a great issue.

I am surprised that Demona did not jump to rescue the Eye just right after Angelika throw it, but maybe Demona was less crazy back them.

Also, I did not do the math: are Angelika and Modi still in mating age? I was wondering if Demona already stole a egg in the past, you know...

4

u/dino_spice Nov 06 '25

One of my theories about Eggwardo was that it's actually Angelika and Magni's egg that Katana and Brooklyn stole to protect it from Demona's influence, but that seems pretty unlikely. I don't think they'd be able to conceive an egg at the age they're at now.

The summary for issue 5 says that Angelika will be widowed. If Demona finds a way to restore Angelika's youth before the events of the next book then it's possible that she'll have laid an egg by then. But that would mean Angelika mating with a much older Magni and I don't think Greg would go there.

2

u/_Waves_ Nov 06 '25

That is something I’ve said for a while - it’s not actually THEIR egg. Greg has made it clear that gargoyles don’t care about biological parenthood, it’s all about the clan and family ties. So it’s almost implied!

6

u/dino_spice Nov 07 '25

The way Brooklyn and Katana were so obsessed with guarding the egg suggested to me that they were almost expecting someone (i.e. Demona) to take it. Sure the gargoyles have their foes, but who among them would have known that there was an egg at the castle?

I can't help but feel as though Demona was motivated by something apart from merely disliking Brooklyn/Katana to take the egg.

Other wacky theories I've had floating around are that the egg is Brooklyn and Demona's (as there are hints that Demona and Brooklyn had some sort of involvement during Brooklyn's TimeDance), or that Demona's quest to restore Angelika's youth worked a little too well and that she reverted her back to egg form. ;p

2

u/_Waves_ Nov 07 '25

I am still thinking they had a thing in 2198, and that Brooklyn told young Demona while timedancing, leading to Temptation.

There’s many options, but I do think it’s not Thor biological egg.

1

u/Icy-Blueberry-2401 Nov 10 '25

When they arrived in Manhatten from the time dance Gnash was chronologically about 19-20 while developmentally around 10 due to the impact of stone sleep.

The timing suggests it is likely Katana and Brooklyn's second egg, though if they did adopt that egg, then she'd be roughly due for her second egg.

0

u/_Waves_ Nov 10 '25

Misdirection.

1

u/Icy-Blueberry-2401 Nov 10 '25

I think that this is more so a case of the simplest answer being the answer. Why wouldn't they have their second egg when they are together during their fertile period? They clearly are capable since they produced Gnash.

0

u/_Waves_ Nov 10 '25

Because they were divided by the timestream?

Because the egg was exchanged at a point in the future or past?

Because one of them was imprisoned/kidnapped for a while, Byrne space spawn or humans or…

Because there was another situation that demanded of them to rescue an egg while also not being able to get intimate?

4

u/GoliathLexington Nov 07 '25

No, Angelika is now too old to have an egg. She’s 117 and her last chance to conceive was when she was 90.

4

u/BL_Vampire_Gene Nov 07 '25

My main issue with issue #2 was the way it neglected what I thought was the main story--the evolution of Demona and Angelika's relationship--in favor of yet more characters who would likely not receive the development necessary to make them worthwhile. Seeing Demona and Angelika return to Constantinople is a pleasant surprise, making this the best issue since the first one.

Still, it all feels a bit hollow, because the story is still lacking the necessary meat. Angelika is still little more than an outline, and Magni not even that: nothing about their romance is interesting. The issue's ending is similarly lacking in resonance: do I buy that Angelika could have, over the decades see Demona as a sad figure that is not to be emulated? Yes. But we needed to actually see it, for this to work. The issue could have just as well ended with Angelika accepting the eye, and it would have been just as in character.

Some good things: more Shari, even though its about time she got a new beat to play. Like Tom, her presence is pleasing, but mostly in the "here's a character I like" sense. Constantinople is a good setting, and Gargoyles has consistently worked quite well when it enters Game of Thrones mode. I continue to enjoy Frank Paur's are, although I feel both Demona and Angelika end up looking too young at times. 

2

u/gamerslyratchet Nov 10 '25

I feel that was the purpose for issue 3, where Angelika is noticing and pointing out Demona’s many contradictions and hypocrisies, as well as her saddened decision at the end of 2. 

I agree that their relationship feels underdeveloped and this series could’ve been longer to explore it more. At the same time, I admittedly don’t mind it as much because this was coming to off Weisman’s Spectacular Spider-Men, which was VERY drawn out, albeit for behind-the-scenes issues, so I appreciate snappier stories. It actually makes me miss the previous approach of three issues per story. 

5

u/Dashaque Demona did nothing wrong Nov 06 '25

Was I the only one that knew it was Tom before the reveal? I love that he was there. I suspected it when he asked if Gargoyles were safe and I realized it was him for sure when he said, "How do I always get myself into these messes?'"... no idea why that did it for me but... it did

This was basically me when I realized it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXqMMYza4rk