Amity’s ready to roll – and burn!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl
Art: Adam Archer, Sandra Hope. MSASSYK
Colors: MSASSYK, Serge LaPointe
Letterer: Steve Wands
What They Say:
“The Ballad of Olive Silverlock” part one! With alliances irrevocably shifted, the loyalty of the Detective Club undergoes its most crucial test. The time has come to leave school behind and fight for each other and the city they love.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Gotham Academy kicks off its final storyline here with the first of four parts and it’s one that looks to deal with the Amity problem on some level. The team has had some good issues this Semester and some problematic things along the way as well, but I’m hopeful for a good closing arc. Of course, the first few pages were difficult to read as we get red cursive on pinkish-red backgrounds that on digital screens was nearly unreadable in general. There are some creative letterers out there and Steve Wands does some great stuff, but there’s this continued leaning into really creative designs that just makes it hard to read that bugs the hell out of me and practically had me ready to close the book.
Olive’s story here is definitely interesting as we see her being fully possessed by Amity and going about looking for her first target, which is the old Dent residence. She’s intent on revenge for past injustices that we learned about recently and that starts with burning down the place and hunting up those that are descended from those she engaged with in the past. What becomes interesting is that Harvey shows up later and deals with the Amity side for a bit, intrigued by her, and then becomes even moreso when he discovers her journal and what she’s really after. It’s a way to clean other houses in a sense, to try and use her as a tool to get what he wants, such as going after the Cobblepot family first. Harvey’s past plays some interesting notes here with his own time at Gotham Academy and I like how he’s handling all of this combined with the Olive as Amity element.
While this unfolds things are changing up pretty well back at the academy itself. With the lockdown in place we’ve got the bulk of students heading out since the place isn’t safe and there are other opportunities to keep things moving along education-wise. While the group is continuing their investigation to figure out how they can help Olive they’re taking some hits themselves. With Maps brother now heading out, having given up on Olive after trying to be there for her for years, things are looking bleak and the group is thinning out, especially with Olive obviously gone as well. So when Maps suddenly disappears while being in the same room, it gets even bleaker for the gang as there’s just too much uncertainty. The thinning out is a standard approach to be sure and there’s plenty of potential with this depending on what we really learn about what’s going on, but it’s mostly just serving up a fairly standard break apart the team piece as we go into the final run.
In Summary:
Gotham Academy has the potential for a good end run here but I’m wary after this issue and some of the recent issues. The Olive material with Dent is definitely the better side of things, particularly as the pieces with Maps and the gang feel so unfocused and unclear with what their intent and goals are at this stage. The book is a mix of what works and doesn’t work and at this stage it’s leaving me hopeful for a reboot of some kind down the line because there are so many possibilities with this space, particularly from what the first half of the first series was like. This issue just leaves me once again realizing that I’m here purely out of inertia in order to get to the end of it and hope for something that feels like a good resolution with some closure.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 10th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99
