Comic Stack – 06/24/2015: Graphic Novel Review: Gotham Academy Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this comis was provided to me by DC Comics via NetGalley. I would like to thank the author(s) and the publisher for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.

I know I said that I was going to start my House of M reread this week, but I totally forgot that I actually have two DC books that I’m going to review this week and next. I thought I’d just lump them together in one post, but I have enough to say about this one for it to warrant its own post. I know I said I wouldn’t focus so much on mainstream comics when I started back to doing this, but I’m capricious if you haven’t figured that out. You’ll get a little bit of everything. Besides, Gotham Academy is definitely a departure for DC, and we need to talk about this book!

Gotham Academy Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan (writer), Brenden Fletcher (writer), Karl Kerschl (illustrator)

Genre: Superheroes, Young Adult, Leading Ladies

Publisher: DC Comics (June 23, 2015)

Tiara’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

When you think of schools in mainstream comic books, you think Marvel. Admit it, after years of Marvel pounding this into our head every which way they can, you start to think of this as their thing. However, no matter how much Marvel does it, it usually ends with them getting decent results love it or hate it. Despite featuring many kids with extraordinary powers, they still manage to make them relatable, especially to children and teenagers. Their problems, struggles, hopes, and dreams feel greatly like our own. I think about 13-year-old me who saw more merit in loving Kitty Pryde and Jubilee than Batman at that age. You still can’t tell me “Jubilee’s Fairytale Theater” from the old cartoon, “Kitty’s Fairy Tale” (Uncanny X-Men #153) and “God Spare the Child” (Kitty-centric, Uncanny X-Men #129) aren’t the greatest comic book stories of all time. Hell, even  Mekanix, which is about Kitty going to college, came out when I was in college getting all wrapped up in science when so few women in my college were into the sciences. Do you know what that kind of stuff can mean to kids? So, don’t think there isn’t a need for kids and young adults to see images like these and that they don’t make an impact.

Now, DC has entered the arena with Gotham Academy, a book that follows a group of Gotham’s youngest and finest at a private school full of mystery. Maybe DC has tried their hand at this before. I admit to being a bigger Marvel fan, so I’m more familiar with Marvel’s lore. I’ve never really been into the Teen Titans comics much despite loving the cartoons, so I don’t know what their approach to school was. I can only speak for the titles I have read. However, whenever I read a DC book, even with its younger characters, school always seemed like some foggy, vague thing that may or may not happen in the DC universe. The scene that always sticks out in my mind about school and DCU is during Batman R.I.P. when Tim had this injury (a burn, I believe) and I was thinking, “How is he going to go to school like that?” because of all the stress he was going through as Robin, his personal life, and school. I think I remember him actually carrying a backpack once during that time. It was surreal. I just thought Batman taught everyone everything they needed to know. Now, they give me Gotham Academy.

Olive Silverlock and Mia “Maps” Mizoguchi are the leading ladies of this story along with a supporting cast of characters such as Pomeline Fitch, the mean girl who toes the line of posh goth as much as she can, Heathcliff, the boy whose throat Pom shoves her tongue down, Colton Rivera, the cool kid who has a unique skill set, and Kyle Mizoguchi, Maps’ older brother and (maybe-ex?) boyfriend to Olive.

My favorite of these kids easily is Maps. I adored her. They never go into why she’s called Maps. Instead they show you by displaying her love of charting, exploring, and map-making , which proves very useful in their adventures. She’s a lovable bundle of energy who talks non-stop about her gaming adventures such as how she led her party to an abandoned tower to face an evil wizard, but it was totally okay because, and I quote, “We were all, like, 9th level, anyway, so I wasn’t worried…” and how all her “dungeon crawling fantasies” were about to come true. She made me genuinely smile with her nonstop optimism and nerdiness. She was the just the right blend of cute, precocious, and geeky without the writers going overboard, which could’ve led into problematic territory if they had. Maps also proved to be a good contrast to the somber Olive.

The two girls find themselves on a real quest when strange things start to occur frequently at the school and many of the students blame the ghost of Millie Jane Cobblepot, obviously a long-dead relative of Penguin’s. This adventure proves somewhat good and somewhat triggering for Olive who has weathered a particularly hard summer. She avoids her boyfriend even though she still cares for him, but she finds needed sisterly companionship in Maps as they try to solve the mystery of Millie Jane along with their motley crew. In some subtle way, I guess you can see Batman and Robin’s (in a Dick and Tim supercombo kind of way) personalities mirrored in these two girls.

I was a little skeptical going into this book. As this is something totally different for DC and for me (as far as my DC reading goes), I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to pull off the vibe you expect from a book about teenagers. Marvel has mostly nailed it, but you expect that from them. DC’s brand has always seemed darker, edgier, more adult than Marvel in many ways, and as a reader, I was curious as to how this would translate to a young adult story. I was afraid that the characters would feel way “too old” in this school setting, or they’d completely lose what makes them different from Marvel and basically give me a “hip” Marvel book with DC characters.

Somehow, though, the writers have managed to make this work. The book is severe and edgy when it needs to be. Dark and mysterious when scenes call for it. And yes, there are even scenes that are bright and vibrant (something I don’t associate with many DC books) that all work well together to create this unique mix of stark and bold while maintaining the dynamic, younger feel of this book. With this, they have made these kids relatable, likable, and even contemptible at times. You feel for the characters on an emotional level because of their struggles and triumphs. You’re allowed to appreciate them as normal kids and not just capes and cowls, though they are heroic in their own right. They’re teens and you’re going to get some melodrama, but it’s tempered out with scenes like this where Kyle asks Olive not to break his sister’s heart as implied she’s done to him.

While Batman doesn’t feature prominently in this, he’s an ever exasperating presence in Olive’s life and it doesn’t seem to be because his light shines rather prominently in her room all the time. I’m curious to see how that will play out, but I’m afraid they’ll tread on too familiar territory in the story of Olive’s seeming contempt for Batman. I could be surprised, though. Most of the adults don’t feature more than to be authority figures. They spew wisdom here and there, but they’re mostly background characters. The story really focuses on the kids and their adventure. Sometimes, I think that’s where Marvel gets it wrong in their books with a ton of children–the adults’ problems start to take over the story when you’re expecting them to focus more on the kids.

I still wonder how books like this will translate years later when the lingo has changed and my kids are reading my comics. However, to DC’s credit, this book feels much more like something that will stand the test of time better than Marvel’s young adult books. Maybe because there’s less DOGE going on in this book and a more general young adult behavior (gaming nerdiness, pranks, urban legends about your high school, mean girl behavior–behavior that never really changes no matter what year you’re living in). I tried really hard to find something I didn’t like about this book because I’m supposed to be the curmudgeonly, critical one, but I really don’t have a bad word to say about this book if you don’t count some of the melodrama, some general unworthy of mention Scooby Doo moments that annoy me at times, and (what I believe is intentional) cheesiness at some points. I was highly surprised how much I enjoyed this book, but I know this may be too “kiddie” for some tastes. I’m actually glad they didn’t go HARDCORE with this book. There are so many books that already fill that gap. We need more books like this for young adults, too. While this skews a little older than my oldest, it’d probably still be right up my son’s alley since he’s getting more into tween/teen things.

Final Note: Maps’ “Crit Plz” shirt is awesome. I want it! Gaming nerds, you know I’m right! I don’t care what you play that has crit in it. You know we love it (or either you’re screaming about it being OP and needing to be nerfed when used against you). UNITE!