One of the main criticisms against the big two comic publishers is that they often don’t think outside of the box in terms of stories or content. Those wanting to tell truly original stories often have to head to the independents to get a chance at telling their original stories, as DC and Marvel box them into archetypes and formulaic writing. Every now and then though, this is thrown on its side as something a little different comes out from one of the companies.  Gotham Academy is one of these rare cases. The story focuses on a girl at a boarding school in Gotham named Olive Silverlock and the goings-on in her life. She wants to break up with her boyfriend but doesn’t do it. She is annoyed at being the person having to show the new girl around the campus (who happens to be her boyfriend’s sister) but at the same time is naturally protective of her.

One of the main problems of comics as a medium is that it examines teenage life as almost living through a microscope. Things were are contemporary for teenagers are not so much accurate in terms of how comic writers tend to depict it, thus teenagers are often shown as bizarre representatives of their true selves, built off of truisms from popular culture more than the truth. This is not the case here. I highly doubt that I am in the target demographic for this title, as it is likely aimed at people still in high school, but it was endearing enough that it makes no difference. The teenage characters here are ones dealing with real problems and are not thrown into ludicrous situations that one would expect from Saved By the Bell or something to that degree. This is even evident in a lot of minor details, such as when they show Olive’s room. Behind her are two posters, a “What Would Darcy Do?” poster, referring to Pride and Prejudice, but also a movie poster for an old movie named House of Mystery featuring an actor by the name of Karlo, referring to the old DC Comics series and the villain Clayface. It is not the case that these are realistic teenagers, but more so that if such a place as Gotham existed, that these could be realistic teenagers there. It even benefits from the presence of Batman but at the same time Batman doesn’t exactly show up either to keep it both a little more real but also fantastical at the same time.

The end result is a standout issue, in truth one of the best that I have read from DC in a long time. It stepped way outside of the formulaic box with this one and it would seem only by purposefully going back that it could misstep. It is likely going to be a shame, because when more ambitious books from the big two lose the money game they get canceled, so fans of something new should get behind this while they have the chance.

Story: Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher Art: Karl Kerschl
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy