Gotham Academy, Second Semester - Volume 2 - The Ballad of Olive Silverlock

Yet another series comes to a close with this second, and final, volume of Gotham Academy: Second Semester. I never would have believed I would like this series so much, and I likely would never have even picked it up had my friend, Kevin, not encouraged (well, strongly urged and pushed would be more like it!) me to give the series a try.  After the first graphic novel collection, I was hooked.  A cross between the Dana Girls, Batman, and a little bit of Dark Shadows thrown in for good measure, and you've got Gotham Academy.

"The Ballad of Olive Silverlock" starts off with a one-issue tale about a haunted circus that leads their rather grumpy headmaster to some closure from his past. It is a touching tale that is a bit out of the standard norm for Gotham Academy, yet, at the same time, allows each of the characters to grow just a bit.

After that, however, comes the four-part tale that brings to a fiery conclusion the tale of young Olive Silverlock and her internal struggle with the spirit of Amity Arkham, who has been slowly taking the girl over in order to exact her revenge, not only on those who wronged her, but on all of Gotham!  It's up to Maps, Pomeline, Colton, and Kyle to figure out a way to save her from herself.  But what happens when Olive (really Amity) puts Kyle in the hospital?  Can Maps separate Amity's actions from Olive and still help save her friend, or will she let Olive fall prey to the evil spirit within her as punishment for hurting her brother?  It takes a break-in into Wayne Manor and a run-in with Damien Wayne (a/k/a Robin) to help Maps realize what is really important.

There are secret societies, masks, bat-lines, ancient incantations, deadly fires - - all this, plus Two-Face and Penguin, as well!  (Just in case you forgot this was a bat-related title.)  Plenty of mystery, plenty of mayhem, and plenty of suspense to keep you wondering whether Olive is going to make it out the other side unscathed...

Brendan Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, and Becky Cloonan definitely take this series out with a bang and provide readers with a very satisfying conclusion to a story that has been building since the very first issue of the first series.  Readers finally get the final showdown between Amity Arkham and the Detective Club, and while every subplot the series has been building does not get resolved, the major story that has headlined this book from the beginning does, and I think readers will read to the final page and feel like they've read a complete novel.  I know I did!

The question now is - what will DC do with any of these characters, if anything at all?  It seems a real shame that with the series over, we will not be seeing any more of Olive, Maps, Pomeline, Kyle, or Colton any more.  These were actually very likable characters, who were fleshed out and developed nicely over the 20 or so issues of these two Gotham Academy series.  But, I guess in an age where dark, brooding superheroes are the "in" thing, a series about a group of children in a haunted academy just isn't a bestseller (sigh).  It seems it's always the series that I really enjoy that get the boot, while DC adds 12 more Batman titles every other month.  (Hey - this was Batman-ish-related, so why not give it another shot????)

Anyway, to anyone on the border about Gotham Academy - pick them all up, as they are WELL worth the read!

RATING:  9 400-year old breathing sticks out of 10 for wrapping up this beloved series so nicely!

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

Gotham Academy, Volume 3 - Yearbook

I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous two Gotham Academy collections, but I have to admit - this third volume did not exactly hit the mark.  While the previous stories certainly had some fun and games within them, they were still tales of mystery, monsters, and mayhem with a touch of gothic suspense mixed in.  This collection of "yearbook" tales, however, not only lacked in any mystery elements (save for the last issue in the collection), but the rotating artists were less then stellar.

Gotham Academy: Yearbook collects issues 13 through 18 of the ongoing series, in which Mia and Olive take a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about various events that have occurred at the school (but which stories have not been previously told).  Perhaps to give the regular artists a break, or maybe simply to give each of these tales their own special feel, DC had a rotating cast of artists drawing each of these flashback tales, and quite frankly, most of the art was childish and not at all to my liking - which, sadly, distracted me and pulled me out of the story.  I am not a big fan of these recent trend of artists to draw like 5 and 6 year old children, where the people do not look like people, but like caricatures of people.  I've always preferred good, solid art where people and backgrounds resembled real people and backgrounds - Curt Swan, George Perez, Phil Jimenez, Stephen Sadowski, Jerry Ordway, and others.  Even some with their own style, such as Jim Aparo and Alan Davis, still retained a realistic look to their art.  But this nonsense, child-like art that seems to be growing in the comic community just turns me off completely.

That being said, some of the flashback tales themselves (referring to the story, not the art), were somewhat entertaining.  The story of Ham (the dog) was adorable, and the tale of Professor Milo was interesting.  "Serpents & Secrets" and "Talent Show" were both a bit touching, in that they dealt with the kids' friendships and their growing reliance and love for one another.  The final issue in the collection, though, "Broken Hearts," brought the series back to its roots, with a story of a vampire, a glowing skeleton, a beating heart, and believe it or not, time travel.  With this issue, we get back to the kids being what they should be - a group of young detectives exploring and investigating the inexplicable events that keep happening at the school.  We also finally learn just what Olive's nightmares about the grandfather clock and the arrow mean, and watch as the kids argue, divide up, and ultimately band together to stop not one, but two potentially dangerous menaces to the school and the world itself! And Colton's attraction for Kyle becomes a bit more apparent in this issue, leaving one to wonder if that story will ever be realized.

And with this volume, the first semester of Gotham Academy ends.  As with so many comics in today's market, Gotham Academy gets a re-boot and re-numbering as the second semester begins with an all-new issue number one - making me guess that the next graphic novel that will collect the first six issues of the second semester will likely go back to Volume 1 (because God-forbid any comic book series these days actually continue past issue 50 or more!).

RATING:  5 wool-wearing pranksters out of 10 for giving readers at least one really good tale out of six that is in keeping with Gotham Academy's gothic fun.

Gotham Academy, Volume 2 - Calamity

When Gotham Academy was first announced as a new ongoing series in the Batman-world of titles, I passed on it. I've never been a fan of Batman, and I assumed this would be just another one of the countless titles to feature the overused character.  Much later, a good friend told me he read the first few issues, and that it was exceptionally good and in many ways, it could be compared to the children's mystery series that we loved and collected.  So, taking a chance, I ordered the first graphic novel collection when it came out.

Boy, am I glad that I did!

Gotham Academy is very peripherally related to the Batman titles.  The series focuses on Olive Silverlock and her friend, Maps, who, in the first graphic novel, stumbled across a lot of secrets surrounding their school and its many tunnels, hidden passages, and secret rooms.  Olive discovered that she has an uncanny connection with fire, and she may very well be responsible for some of the fires that occur at the school.  Volume 2 opens with Maps on her own - well, almost on her own, for she suddenly finds herself partnered with none other than Damian Wayne (the current Robin) literally.  It seems Maps accidentally took a cursed quill, and whatever she writes with it comes to pass.  Now that she and Damian are stuck together (thanks to her writing "Maps + Damian" in her notebook), they must search for the quill and find a way to undo the spell cast upon them.  It's a fun little done-in-one issue (which are so rare in today's comics of 6-issue storylines) that provides some lightheartedness before settling into the darker storyline that follows.

The rest of Volume 2 centers more around Olive, the loss of her mother, the discovery of her mother's past as a supervillain named Calamity, and her possible inheritance of her mother's powers and insanity.  Not only do Olive, Maps, and their friends in the Detective Club set out to discover who has turned one of their fellow students into a man-bat and why a young relative of Clayface is determined to undermine the current drama production at the school; but, they also unwittingly become involved in Olive's search for the truth about her identity and what her heritage could mean for her.  Plus, amidst all of this, Maps meets not only Damian Wayne, but she meets Red Robin and gets herself a real, honest-to-goodness batarang!

The resolution of that story leaves some unanswered questions, which I have no doubt will be explored in further storylines - but I do hope that the writers, Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher, will not take her down a path of darkness and villainy - that would just be too convenient.  Cloonan and Fletcher have created a gothic mystery series here that, while on the outer edge of the bat-verse, does not rely on Batman and his army of anti-heroes to move their stories forward.  Rather, they rely on the fun, well-developed characters to capture the readers' attention.  The stories are dark in many ways, but yet they maintain some humor and lightheartedness throughout that remind readers that even the darkest stories can still be fun to read!  So, while we deal with Olive's death, we also see Maps' growing excitement as she shows off her knowledge of the school's tunnels and passages.  While we follow Tristan's search for a cure to his man-bat curse, we also have our heart-strings pulled as Kyle continues to try and win Olive's attention.

Cloonan and Fletcher have a fantastic series here, and with my luck when it comes to finding really enjoyable comic series, it will likely not last.  The third graphic novel was recently solicited, and the ongoing series has been rebooted as Gotham Academy: Second Semester, so hopefully that's a good sign that it will continue for a little while at least.  With all of the loser titles that DC has been putting out in the past five or more years, this one definitely shines as one of their best written titles.  (And, hey, the art's not bad either!)

RATING:  9 field trips to Gotham City out of 10 for successfully combining gothic tales with children's school mysteries with super-heroes and super-villains in comic format and making it so good to read!