Wherein Gotham Academy finally becomes dullsville.
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:
You know you’re in trouble when Batman calls you to the principal’s office! To stop the new threat to the Academy, Detective Club must team up with the Dark Knight. Not even Batarangs, however, can stop the sting of betrayal.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having been a really big booster of Gotham Academy when it started, struggling toward the end of the first run, and having mixed feelings with the second semester, it’s finally reached its breaking point for me. Six issues into the new run and there’s a sense of meandering about the book where it has the right ideas but doesn’t know how to put them together. Part of what makes me feel that even more is looking at the sheer number of people involved in the project from the creative side at this point as the opening page credits reminds you of the too many chef’s line. These are people who have been involved in it for some time but it really comes across as losing its focus and ending up with an issue like this one where it just feels worse than superficial.
To the point where I’m not even really sure anything happens of not. Yeah, Colton is upset about having to leave soon as he knows things are going to go bad on that front and his confession with Kyle is nice enough, but it’s something that was never given enough room to breathe amid all the other chaos. Olive isn’t even a secondary character in this book at this point and her minimal time here makes her even less interesting, as well as her relationship with Maps – something that was one of the best parts of the series throughout. There are some decent things that can be explored here with all the characters dynamics, and the number of mysteries, but it’s all moving at such a weird pace and without a strong enough hook that it’s easy to lose interest with each subplot within a few panels.
The main arc that’s moving along here is with Pom, Tristan, and the map, as she makes her way under the tree with the knowledge she has now and Tristan’s strength to get it open. There’s some back and forth about how she’s getting his help but mostly it leads to some of the more traditional elements of mystery adventuring, which is fun enough and beautifully illustrated. But the plot point already feels drawn out and there’s not enough grounding and context to make it interesting. The rest of the character material in this issue should have been jettisoned in order to focus on this story, expanding and moving it forward, instead of just being what it is – another tease without anything to back it up with.
In Summary:
With this issue of Gotham Academy I am formally out. I’ll probably revisit it in a year or two when the books are all on sale or something, but the monthly run is done for me as I’ve unsubscribed. I love the characters, the artwork, and the potential of it, but there are so many voices directing it here that it feels disjointed and without a clear direction – something that has plagued it since just before the Yearbook run in the first semester. It’s unfortunate as DC Comics often does some great stuff in coming up with fringe characters that can hold their own and expand the shared universe in great ways as all of these characters have so much evolving ahead of them that it could be limitless. It really needs much better direction and a stronger voice with a paring down on the creative side to figure it all out.
Grade: C-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 8th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99