Harlem Heroes, Part 21

NAME
Harlem Heroes, Part 21
(according to Wikipedia, this is the sixth and final part of a strip also known as 'Gorgon's Gargoyles', although it also states that it is a 5 part story)

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 21

DATELINE
16 July 77

PAGE COUNT
4

REPRINTS
Sam Slade Robo-Hunter (Volume 2, Issue 18), 2000AD Extreme Edition 13 and The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
With Artie Gruber unmasked, the rest of Gorgon's Gargoyles turn on him.

FIRSTS & LASTS
Last appearance of Gorgon's Gargoyles aeroball team, first appearance of the Bushido Blades

INFORMATION
A magnum grenade creates a huge explosion.

Gorgon Stadium has stadium police and is near a crematorium.

The umpire abandoned the game between the Harlem Heroes and Gorgon's Gargoyles.

Harlem Heroes have drawn the Tokyo-based Bushido Blades in the next round of the World Aeroball Championship.

GIANT
He has suspicions that Gruber was being manipulated by someone else.

ZACK
He throws a ball at Artie Gruber's face causing him to drop the grenade and damaging his nu-skin disguise.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ARTIE GRUBER
Zack throws an aeroball at his nu-skin disguise and it disintegrates revealing his true identity. Gorgon's Gargoyles turn on him, huddle around him and as a group crash into the audience seating. He is presumed dead and is sent to a nearby crematorium, but he has a weak pulse and major damage to his computronic systems. The surgeons give him a cardiac boost by remote and he is revived again. He breaks out of the crematorium and heads for a control-van outside the stadium.

MR GORGON
Owner of Gorgon's Gargoyles.

DEATHS
Potentially six. Gorgon's Gargoyles deliberately crash at full speed and do not walk away from it, but Mr Gorgon implies that he can rebuild them.

BEST LINES
Mr Gorgon: "Why, those...crazy androids! They're gonna cost me a small fortune in spare parts!"

WORST LINES
Artie Gruber: "Artie Kill!"

Yeah, yeah.

CATCHPHRASES
Gorgon's Gargoyles grunts "Awwrgh!", "Gnaaagh!" and whilst exploding "Eeeegh!"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
There are no credits printed in the strip itself and so the following are taken from Barney.

Script: Tom Tully
Artist: Dave Gibbons
Letters: Dave Gibbons

REVIEW
It seems a little odd that a strip that deals with two big revelations dramatically undermines them both. The physically unmasking of Artie Gruber is hampered by his identity becoming common knowledge last week, while his subsequent resurrection could have been something the reader knew that the Heroes didn't. The cliffhanger cannot compete with the Artie story. That said the other Gorgon's Gargoyles players turning on Artie is great.

Keep Calm + + + Thrill Factor Overload + + + Keep Calm + + +