While the DCAU Universe was taking shape in the ’90s, changing the landscape for animated children’s shows, Disney was making its mark with Gargoyles:
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, We were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken, and we live again! We are defenders of the night! We are gargoyles!
While there is no official creator credit, Gargoyles (1994–1997) was developed by former DC Comics editor and Disney director of series development Greg Weisman, co-producer Frank Paur and key writers Michael Reaves and Brynne Chandler (among other writers), and would go on for three seasons, and a total of 78 episodes. The third and last season — untitled The Goliath Chronicles — was unexpectedly ordered and mostly made by a new creative team and is now classified as non-canon.
Although Gargoyles had a decent success when it first aired, it has since gone on to become a cult classic. So much in fact that Dynamite Entertainment revived the universe a few years ago with new comic book adventures from co-creator Greg Weisman. But Dynamite weren’t the first to publish stories featuring stone protectors, as some were produced for the Disney Adventures magazine in parallel to the show’s airing. Marvel Comics also released several issues, and most importantly, a continuation of the show was produced by Slave Labor Graphics.
As Dynamite Entertainment makes the old comics accessible again with new collected editions and expands the universe with new stories, we take a look at Gargoyles’ comic book history.
Gargoyles Comics Reading Guide
Gargoyles in Disney Adventures (1994-1997)
Disney Adventures Magazine was launched in 1990, inspired by the success of Topolino, the Italian Mickey Mouse Magazine, with mix of features and comics. The Gargoyles first appeared on the cover in November 1994, the magazine included an article on the show and a short comic called “A Study in Stone” that could serve as an introduction to the world of the Gargoyles.
This was the first of the nine short or promotional comic stories featuring the Gargoyles that were published in the pages of the magazines between November 1994 and January 1997, produced by various writers and artists.
This material has not been reprinted and is considered non-canon.
Gargoyles by Marvel Comics
In 1995, Marvel Comics started to publish Gargoyles, an 11-issue comic book series based on the TV Series of the same name. It served as a companion piece that directly references events from the animated series and is loosely set between the first two seasons. The series was written by Martin Pasko (Superman) and Mort Todd,, with art from Amanda Conner and Alberto Saichann. As Greg Weisman wasn’t involved in the creation of those stories, he doesn’t consider those stories part of the official canon today.
Gargoyles was cancelled after 11 issues due to low sales, leaving the overall plot without a proper conclusion. For a very long time, those comics were difficult to find and had never been collected. This has recently changed thanks to Dynamite Entertainment, who made the original 1995 run available via the help of Kickstarter.
- Gargoyles: 30th Anniversary Vol. 1: Classic Years
Collects issues #1–11 of the original 1995 run of comics.
Gargoyles by SLG Publishing (2006-2008)
In 2006, Slave Labor Graphics began a partnership with The Walt Disney Company, which resulted in the production of comic books based on some of Disney’s properties. Gargoyles was one of them. Writer Greg Weisman came back on the franchise to continue the story started more than ten years ago. He ignored The Goliath Chronicles aka Gargoyles season 3 in which he had no creative role except for the first episode, and picked up where season 2 ended. The next year, a Gargoyles spin-off titled “Bad Guys” was launched.
However, the Adventures of the Stone Protectors were cut short at SLG due to increased licensing fees from Disney. The publisher did not renew the licence, meaning that the remaining issues were only released in trades which remained out of print for a long time. Similar to Marvel Comics, Dynamite Entertainment is making those stories available again with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. This era of Gargoyles will soon be available in two books:
- Gargoyles: 30th Anniversary Vol. 2: Clan Building
Standard-sized graphic novel collecting 12 issues of the 2006 run of comics, including a cover gallery of the previously published cover art. - Gargoyles: 30th Anniversary Vol. 3: Bad Guys
Standard-sized graphic novel collecting 6 issues of the 2006 run of “Bad Guys” Gargoyles comics.
Dynamite Comics (2022-Present)
In 2022, Dynamite made a deal with Disney to create new comics based on their properties, including Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck! The new comics written by Greg Weisman continue the story from the SLG run, although the comics are written to give the reader all the information needed without any prior reading. Since then, the Gargoyles Universe has been expanding with several limited series, specials, and out-of-continuity crossovers.
While Gargoyles is obviously successful at Dynamite Entertainment, the publisher has been affected by Diamond’s bankruptcy, which has impacted the release of the collected editions.
Gargoyles Comic Series
- Gargoyles Vol. 1: Here in Manhattan
Collects Gargoyles (2022) #1-6 - Gargoyles Vol. 2: Here in Manhattan
Collects Gargoyles (2022) #7-12 - Gargoyles: Dark Ages
Collects Gargoyles: Dark Ages #1-6 - Gargoyles: Quest
Collects Gargoyles: Quest #1-5 - Gargoyles – Demona #1-5
Gargoyles – Demona: Better Angels is a five-part story not collected yet.
Gargoyles: One-Shot Specials
- Gargoyles Halloween Special #1
Uncollected Special One-shot released for Halloween 2023 set after Here in Manhattan. - Gargoyles Winter Special (2024) #1
Uncollected Standalone Holiday Special featuring Bronx. - Free Comic Book Day 2025: Gargoyles – Demona #0
- Better Angels Prologue: A Prize Beyond Compare is a prelude for the Demona comic book series.
- Prologue: Send Up a Flare! is part of the Gargoyles/Fantastic Four crossover.
- Gargoyles Winter Special (2025) #1
Second Holiday Special.
Gargoyles: Crossovers
- Gargoyles Meets the Fantastic Four
A collaboration between Dynamite Entertainment and Marvel Comics between Marvel’s First Family and Gargoyles in three parts:
- Part 1 – “Send Up a Flare!” published in Free Comic Book Day 2025: Gargoyles – Demona #0
- Part 2 – Fantastic Four/Gargoyles #1 published by Marvel Comics
- Part 3 – Gargoyles x Fantastic Four #1
- Gargoyles / Darkwing Duck #1
A four-issue limited series where Gargoyles Meets Darkwing Duck. Coming in 2026.
Gargoyles Comics, a Canonical Reading Order
The Gargoyles Universe is expanding, and new stories explore adventures and characters’ history before or after the animated TV Series. The following is a canonical reading guide of the Gargoyles stories to (re)discover the adventures of the Stone protectors.
- Gargoyles: Dark Ages – Alliance (#1-6) – Starts in 971 and charts the early days of the alliance between the Wyvern Clan. It can be read at any moment.
- Gargoyles Season 1 – 13 episodes.
- Gargoyles Season 2 – 52 episodes.
- Gargoyles: Clan Building (#1-2) – The story continues in comic books and picks up after the conclusion of the second season, in the 1996 timeline-universe. Those two issues are also similar to “The Journey”, the season 3 opener episode.
- Gargoyles: Clan Building (#3-12)
- Gargoyles: Bad Guys (#1-6) – Spin-off series set in parallel to Clan Building.
- Gargoyles: Here in Manhattan (#1-12) – Takes place four months after the end of Clan Building.
- Gargoyles Halloween Special #1 – Takes place after Here in Manhattan.
- Gargoyles Winter Special #1 – Stand alone story that can be read at any time.
- Gargoyles: Quest (#1-5) – Picking up right after Here In Manhattan.
- Free Comic Book Day 2025: Gargoyles – Demona #0 is set during the Quest story and a prelude to Demona: Better Angels.
- Gargoyles – Demona: Better Angels (#1-5) – While the story is set between 1093 and 1274, it thematically is a direct follow-up to Quest, so we recommend reading it here
- Gargoyles Winter Special 2025 #1