Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics

 

Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl's Gotham Academy is the comic I never knew I wanted until it was announced, and every moment since then has been an eternity of waiting for it to actually hit shelves. Now, with the book set for release this Wednesday, we are finally on the verge of living in a world where there is a high school adventure drama that also has Batman in it.

If, however, you can't wait, then I have some good news. Today, DC released a five-page preview of the new series, in which our lead characters, Olive SIlverlock and Maps Mizoguchi, take a tour of the ominous and imposing Gotham Academy, before immediately being caught in an equally ominous and imposing thunderstorm. Because of course there's a thunderstorm; heavy rain and blood-red skies are the only two types of weather allowed in Gotham City.

As you can see in the pages below, Gotham Academy is moving things along at a pretty mazing pace. The awkwardness of Olive being forced to "nanny" her ex-boyfriend's little sister, who is apparently oblivious about the end of their relationship, is summed up pretty fantastically right in those first two pages. It's a lot of character work done very efficiently, and it makes room for one of my all-time favorite techniques in comics, a giant cutaway that is also a Family Circus-esque follow-the-dotted-line map of the school.

I'm not even kidding. That dotted line thing is next level. Bill Keane knew what was up.

 

Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics
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Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics
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Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics
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Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics
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Gotham Academy #1, DC Comics

Gotham Academy #1 is on sale this Wednesday.

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