It’s all about Maps.
Creative Staff:
Story: Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher
Art: Mingjue Helen Chen
What They Say:
Special guest student Damian Wayne drops by the academy—and he is not pleased to meet his new classmates!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Gotham Academy in its first six issue run is a book that really impressed me across the board when I really didn’t have any expectations about it. The book had taken a two month break, though had a special Endgame issue that tied into larger events in Gotham, which really made it clear that the main creative team is a must for this series to really shine. But now, post-Convergence, the series is back but without Karl Kerschl on the art for the moment. Filling in for what’s really a standalone issue, we get Mingjue Helen Chen and she manages to do a great job here of bringing her own style to it while also adhering to the big draw for many fans in the style that we’ve had for most of the run so far. And that helps this book to go a long way towards being enjoyable.
Bringing Damian into the series the last time around didn’t exactly thrill me as I’m not much of a fan of the character. Here, since Olive is out of the picture for the moment due to other events, the focus turns on Maps as she’s having fun playing with the quill pen she stole from the headmaster’s office. Like a lot of young girls, she’s daydreaming in Mr. Scarlet’s class about Edgar Allen Poe and The Raven, and that means writing all sorts of silly things in her notebook, wondering who Damian is, and just being wistful in her own way. Of course, the pen being whose it was, there’s more to it than meets the eye. And we get a series of odd occurrences underway that puts her in danger – and directly connected to Damian as well. When the two have their hands meet, they’re stuck and unable to pull them apart.
For Damian, he’s trying to figure out the reason for it through logic and science, but Maps is convinced it’s all about the pen. And as others whose name she wrote with it start acting funny, and practically ambling after her like zombies, you get a good idea that it may really be that. What the book does is set us through all these little adventures and encounters, but with her and Damian holding hands the whole time. He’s doing his best to treat it logically, she’s swept up in it all. There’s a decent explanation, comic book wise, about why the pen does what it does and even ties back to Batman well, which in turn has Damian puffing up his chest a bit. The dynamic between these two is an absolute treat to watch too, since she’s in awe of him – and the size of his grappling hook – and he’s slowly treating this like a real mission and is getting all mini-Batman on it all, seeing true evil everywhere, when it’s really all just a misunderstanding of sorts.
In Summary:
I had been a bit wary about the return of the book after the first six stellar issues, both to see where it was going to go with Damian and with a different artist. Thankfully, both have managed to work out pretty well here with what they do as Damian isn’t nearly as off-putting as I usually find him and Chen does a fantastic job of bringing her own style to the book while still feeling in tune to what we had before. This is a very fun standalone for the most part that helps to flesh out Maps more, to really get inside her head, and to have a spot of fun with things overall. Definitely a good reminder of how comics can be really fun and engaging but also part of the larger tapestry. As noted by Fletcher on his Twitter feed, the story here connects to world’s Finest issue 225, done by bob Haney and Dick Dillin. I love it when they do go back to the past, this one in 1974, and find a way to connect it to the present. Also check out this video to see the illustration process for the cover.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 10th, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
