Why isn’t this being turned into animation yet?
Creative Staff:
Story: Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher
Art: Karl Kerschl
What They Say:
The hunt for the Ghost of Gotham Academy begins!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Gotham Academy is a series that is definitely taking its time in teasing out its mysteries and secrets, which works well for really building up the atmosphere of it all. Even more so with this book because it’s given such a stunning visual design that, repeating myself here to be sure, makes it look like they’re pieces of animation put onto the page for the readers. There’s such a richness and depth to it all that it really elevates the whole work into something special just from that alone, and even more so with the scripting and characters that are slowly coming into focus. The downside is that in some ways it feels like it’s meandering a bit in order to tell the tale it wants, making me feel like it’ll work better when read in marathon form rather than mostly monthly installments. But I find myself so drawn to it that I want it now.
Olive and Pomeline’s investigation into the ghost of Millie Jane has certainly been intriguing, and getting their hands on her diary is going to provide a lot of clues to work with that can go on for a bit. The fallout from their investigation previously now has the north hall all locked up and secure so they can’t get into it, which means answers aren’t going to be forthcoming for a bit. And they certainly can’t talk about it, since they would get into serious trouble. But Olive feels like the headmaster knows as Hammer calls her to his office later, which gives her a chance moment of seeing Bruce Wayne with Ms. MacPherson talking together about her a little bit. That’s interesting in itself, but Olive also gets to see familiar symbols in the stone work here that gives her an idea later on, since she does survive his somewhat subtle reproach to her about what she’s been doing without calling it outright.
The book has a lot going on, from dealing with the transfer student Eric that Olive is intrigued by since he’s unlike everyone else in so many ways, to working with Maps to get information out of Eric about the symbol that she’s starting to see in more places throughout the academy. It’s good to see her and Maps working together, though Maps is doing her best to ignore Olive in regards to her talking about where things stand with her brother. What I do like amid all of this is that we get some fun in the various humanities classes, seeing the girls in the art room doing assignments as well as the play that Mr. Trent is putting on. It helps to make it feel like a more fully realized school. The neat thing though, one that I had hoped would be explored, is that Olive learns that there are secret passages within their dorm. That has her learning things she wishes she didn’t about her roommate, but it also opens up a very different turn of events at the end when she comes across someone that has been living behind her wall that escaped from Arkham.
In Summary:
I admit that I wish we had a few more answers or just a little more clarity about things, but I’m also loving the way we’re seeing so many aspects of the academy here and its student body as they go through their days. This installment focuses more on Olive and Maps to some degree as they go on a hunt for information, and that leads to some neat little reveals and fun. I really liked the small Bruce Wayne cameo, but I was also glad that the headmaster really overshadowed it after that since he’s such a fun imposing figure to work with. The mysteries continue to grow here and I’m really curious to see what the end game for this opening arc will be about just to see if there’s enough payoff to make it feel worthwhile in the sense of the story. The series is wholly worthwhile in general though simply for the artwork, but the combination of it all makes this thoroughly engaging throughout. Very, very recommended as a whole.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 28th, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
