Gotham Academy Second Semester #12

Script by: Brenden Fletcher
Pencils by: Adam Archer
Colours by: MSASSYK
Published by: DC Comics

With issue #12, Gotham Academy: Second Semester comes to a close and we are treated to the culmination of three years of storytelling to finally find out what will happen to Olive Silverlock. Can she overcome the possession that is Calamity? Will we discover the secrets buried at the Gotham Academy? Will Maps steal the show once more?

I can’t help but give major props to the writing staff that has helmed Gotham Academy from the beginning: Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan and Karl Kerschl. They have done a great job of creating a new corner in the Batman universe that was not a great read over these last three years, but also a great introduction to new characters I hope to see pop up more frequently in the rest of the Batman corner of the DC Universe. By far, the stand-out character since the beginning is Maps Mizoguchi and the writers wisely make her a central figure in this final chapter to “The Ballad of Oliver Silverlock”.

We begin this issue with Oliver being overcome by the possession of Calamity and laying waste to a good portion of Gotham, all against her will. This leads Olive to try and sacrifice herself all to prevent further destruction - which Maps will have none of (her swinging in on a bat rope is near perfect for her. All the while, the rest of the Detective club is trying to find the bones of Amity to break the hold she has on Olive.

On art, we have Adam Archer getting the nod to close out this iteration of the series and he does a great job. The series first began with Kerschl on art duties and Archer does a good job emulating his style, but also keeping it to his own. Both did a good job to make this comic different, in a good way, from others on the stand. This is also done through great colouring on the part of MSASSYK. They are credited with doing not only colours that pop, but also with background work that is very distinctive, and a little computery.

In the end, Gotham Academy will be missed. It was a fun three year ride and I truly hope some of these characters will pop up in other books down the line - if not a Gotham Academy: Third Semester book. It would be criminal never to see Maps again.