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.

We are again in the Age of Gargoyles…comics.

The Gargoyles animated series opens up in New York, 1994. We get flashbacks in that episode and several others to one thousand years ago when superstition and the sword ruled in Scotland, 994 A.D. Dynamite Comics Gargoyles: Dark Ages takes readers all the way back to 971 A.D.to give fans the gift of the story that happened before the events of the Gargoyles animated series.

Today, we will take a look at Gargoyles: Dark Ages #5 published by Dynamite Comics.

Release Date: January 24th, 2024

Writer: Greg Weisman

Artist: Drew Moss

Color Artist: Martina Pignedoli

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Editor: Nate Cosby

Main Covers by: Clayton Crain, Alan Quah, Mirka Andolfo, Kenya Danino, Erica Henderson, Jeff Parker

Official Synopsis: The four youngest Gargoyles find themselves at the mercy of a menacing dragon, and while Mentor and Goliath ready their warriors to do battle with the great beast, the Archmage tells Angel that his magicks have sensed a problem – and an opportunity…

Featuring high-quality cardstock on every cover, this limited series debuts with a special 24-page main story – and every 40-page issue will include a new illustrated text story by Greg Weisman!

Covers

Gargoyles: Dark Ages has the amazing Clayton Crain as the main A cover artist for the series. His variant covers for Dynamite Comics Gargoyles #1 and Darkwing Duck #1 are among my favorite covers. His cover for Gargoyles: Dark Ages #5 features a very heavy metal album cover looking image of a stone Goliath with explosions and flames behind him and two dragon eyes. I would definitely buy that album. Clayton Crain’s cover will definitely be on my pull list each month.

The other Gargoyles: Dark Ages cover in my monthly pull list file is the action figure variant cover by Jeff Parker. This issue’s action figure cover features Mentor.

My Review

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

This story arc is titled Alliance and the fifth issue is Chapter Five: The Dream

I feel something new…or, no it’s something very old…

Construction on Castle Wyvern continues with the humans building by day and the Gargoyles building by night. It is nice to see the humans also lending a hand at night. Captain Robert’s young daughter, Alesand, enjoys playing with her new friends, young Caesar (Brooklyn), Alexander (Broadway), Charlemagne (Lexington), and Antiope. The young gargoyles take Alesand by the arms and give her a night glide through the skies which ends near the entrance to a large cave. The curious young ones discover that the cave is the home of a behemoth gargoyle dragon sleeping in stone. The slumber of the gargoyle dragon is disturbed and awakened by the racket of it’s unwanted guests. The dragon was a founding member of the Wyvern Clan and has guarded a large treasure in his cavern den from humans. Alexander and Charlemagne nervously reveal that the current Wyvern Clan are building a castle with the humans, and that they have a mutual agreement with the humans for protection. This greatly angers the beast as he smells the scent of a human in his presence, Alesand. The dragon busts out of the cavern and heads towards the Castle Wyvern build site. The next and final issue of Gargoyles: Dark Ages is going to bring the heat.

It has been almost three months since the previous issue of Gargoyles: Dark Ages was released. It felt like we were in the Dark Ages waiting in anticipation for the arrival of this ancient dragon. Drew Moss absolutely slays at drawing a dragon.

The issue ends with a few pages of text from Greg Weisman which gives readers more story and lore from the human side of what is going on around the time of Gargoyles Dark Ages. This is top tier bonus material for a top tier comic.

I can’t wait for the finale issue of Gargoyles: Dark Ages which is tentatively scheduled to be released in February. Please make sure to support Dynamite Comics other great Disney Comics while you are out buying Gargoyles: Dark Ages: Gargoyles, Justice Ducks, Negaduck, and Disney Villains Cruella De Vil.

Dynamite Comics launched a special Kickstarter for Gargoyles 30th Anniversary to bring some paperback, hardcover, hardcover signed, and special deluxe editions of long out of print Gargoyles comics from Marvel and SLG. I always wanted to own these stories, but the second market prices have been out of my financial reach. I have never backed a Kickstarter campaign faster for these new editions, and I suggest that you back it as well so that you don’t miss out on these classic Gargoyles comics. You can check out that campaign here.

Gargoyles fans…WE LIVE AGAIN!

Let us know what you thought of Gargoyles: Dark Ages #5 in the comments below. What cover(s) did you get?

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