Broken Gargoyles by Bob Salley and Stan Yak is a post WWI story about the plight of heroes. Heroes shoulder burdens that the average person cannot. They take on the physical battery and emotional baggage that civilians are not built to withstand. Becoming a hero is a challenge, staying a hero, on the other hand, is infinitely more difficult. Picture this, you return from years of hardship, personal sacrifice, and war only to find that what you have been fighting to protect is indifferent when it comes to your happiness, success, or even basic needs. The particular heroes (or antiheroes) of Broken Gargoyles are the disfigured veterans of the first world war.
Broken Gargoyles combines gritty, modern artwork with a story that has so much depth that readers could fall straight into it. This is exactly what happened to me 4 pages in. Bob Salley grabbed me by the collar and yanked me into a world I couldn’t hope to understand, and yet I did. Somehow I was able to resonate with these veterans despite never having served myself. Salley’s writing evokes emotion, to say the least. He touches on a very real and serious issue while still managing to create an entertaining story, which is no easy feat.
So you return home after the worst war in global history to date. You’ve been wounded physically and mentally. Your family can no longer understand you or your experiences. Bills are piling up and the job you were promised is occupied by some shmuck that didn’t survive what you survived. You deserve better. This isn’t what you signed up for. So how do you handle the biggest betrayal of your life?
William Manco, a veteran of the 117th Infantry Regiment has returned home with half a face left. His wife and kid tolerate him but don’t seem very attached to him. His only chance at employment is hard manual labor. He is battling demons that no one around him understands. But William has accepted the hand he has been dealt. Commander Douglas Prescott however, rejects the idea of being a pariah after everything he has sacrificed for his country. Doug has become a Fight Club-esque extremist.
One veteran is a soldier without a cause. The other wants his country to pay for the lie he was sold. Two halves of the same coin. Two paths that must inevitably converge because they stem from the same beginning: war. To civilians the war had ended, what they didn’t understand is their veterans could not help but bring it home with them. Bob Salley and Stan Yak deliver a masterful introduction to the world of Broken Gargoyles in its first issue by providing thought-provoking subject matter coupled with action, likable characters, and a suspenseful ending that would entice just about any reader to want more.
