Gotham Academy, Second Semester - Volume 1 - Welcome Back

So the kids of Gotham return to the academy in the first of the new set of graphic novels collecting the "second semester" of DC's Gotham Academy comic series.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first three graphic novels chronicling the first semester of these students, so I was anxiously looking forward to reading more of these kids adventures.

While I won't say the second semester was off to a poor start, I will say that these first several stories just did not hold up to the original series collected in the first three graphic novels.  The opening story, "Welcome Back to Gotham Academy" starts out well enough, with conflict created when Olive suddenly finds herself with an unexpected and unwanted new roommate.  And while the ultimate revelation as to the identity of the roommate was a surprise, the character change in Olive was somewhat jarring and felt forced - as if the writers were purposefully changing Olive to fit the whole origin story for Olive's heritage.

A few things I did like in these stories are the homages to the 1960s television show - with Aunt Harriet, the ceramic bust, and so on.  I am also glad they finally pushed Colton's story forward as he revealed his feelings for Maps' brother.  And there's the continued use of the Detective Club, even though they had to search high and low to find a mystery to solve in this collection.  I even felt a bit sorry for Maps, as Olive grew more and more distant from her friends and closer to her roommate, Amy.

I do have to give the writers props in one area - they have quite a number of characters to manage, yet all of them do have "screen time," so to speak, and none of them are used superfluously.  Each character has a purpose for being there in each story, and clearly some of them are set ups for future stories to be told.

I guess being a Batman-related book, Batman had to make an appearance - I could have done without it.  He is so overused in the DC universe of comics, and I hate the fact that they have grounded Olive's origin tale with Batman-involvement.  I won't spoil anything for those who haven't read it yet, but her backstory could have been just as powerful without the Batman appearance.

The art continues to be well done - the characters' looks remain consistent, and the Gothic tone of the panels and colors keep the book balanced with the not-too-dark stories.

Despite my feeling of lackluster towards  most of this collection, I am curious to see where they are going to take it from here, considering the final pages.  That's quite a cliffhanger, and with Olive origin out there for all to know, it will be interesting to see what it does to the group's dynamic.

RATING:  6 circuit-board lined witches' hats out of 10 for not being afraid to take chances with these characters and take them in directions that, while I might not like it, will make me curious to see what's next