The first Gargoyle, Yuri Topolov, appears in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
[citation needed] The first Gargoyle received an entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #17, where his real name was revealed.
Perlin's design was inspired by a sequence in Prince Valiant in which the titular hero disguises himself as a gargoyle.
In 1985 Marvel published a four-issue Gargoyle limited series, written by DeMatteis and drawn by Mark Badger.
Isaac Christians was an elderly man who sold his soul to an alliance of minor demons styling themselves as "The Six-Fingered Hand" in exchange for prosperity for the dying hometown that his ancestors had founded (the fictional town of Christiansboro, Virginia).
Christians made a pact with the demon Avarrish to inhabit the body of a legendary gargoyle and act as an agent of the Six-Fingered Hand.
The demons of the Six-Fingered Hand transferred Christians' life force into the Gargoyle body and sent him on a mission to capture Patsy Walker, at that time operating as Defenders member Hellcat.
[10] As a member of the Defenders, Gargoyle helped the Squadron Supreme defeat the Overmind and Null the Living Darkness.
[12] Christians later returned to Christiansboro, and was later released from the Gargoyle body and the original demon spirit re-inhabited it.
The gargoyle body was carbonized and transformed into a statue of ash, when the Defenders defeated Moondragon and the Dragon of the Moon.
[15] Alongside the Presence, Starlight, Jack of Hearts, and others, he returned to Earth from the Stranger's laboratory world.
[20] He ignored Nighthawk's offer to join the Last Defenders[21] and remained at Camp Hammond to serve as an instructor training the Initiative cadets[22] before retiring.
[24] Alyosha Kravinoff later captured Gargoyle and placed him in his zoo for animal-themed superhumans which also consisted of Bushmaster, Tiger Shark, Kangaroo, Aragorn, Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull, Dragon Man, Swarm, Mandrill, Grizzly, Frog-Man, and Rhino.
He has the ability to manipulate "biomystical" energy for numerous effects, such as shapeshifting, concussive blasts, and fear inducement.