Gotham Academy #7

With Olive out of the Academy for a little bit, Maps still finds herself in a bit a magical adventure, only this time she has to bring along a rather unwilling adventuring companion. Luckily for the both of them though, this new and sadly temporary companion doesn’t get fazed very easily by strange happenings. 

Writers: Becky Cloonan & Brendan Fletcher 

Art: Mingue Helen Chen

Letters: Steve Wands

Gotham Academy remains to be an absolute treasure of a series bringing a sense of innocence and childlike wonder into fantasy adventure. A genre accessible to absolutely everyone. Unless magic’s not your thing. Even on a little intermission issue such as this one it still strings along the heart that Gotham Academy has been building throughout, with it’s rich characters and fantasy mysteries. 

What makes this issue absolutely special is its special guest, newest student, Damian Wayne. Damian just adds to the precious dynamic that Maps Mizoguchi already brings. It’s also exponentially increased when Chen’s stunning artwork is added into the mix. Stylistically Chen’s art has a slight Disney-esque vibe to it and when your main characters are around the 14 year old mark, it’s absolutely appropriate. Everyone who needs to look like a wide-eyed teen, does in fact look like a wide-eyed teen. 

Along with the art, the storytelling seems almost effortless. The themes from the opening panels will carry throughout the issue, and what better poem to open on in a more ‘gothic’ themed fantasy than The Raven. While this is more of an intermission-type of issue within the series, it still has small moments to pull the reader back a bit and remember the bigger picture, and still keep it relevant, especially at the end, bringing it back to where it needs to be as the story progresses forwards, but still a perfect little break to let loose a little (or as loose as Damian allows himself to get— this may be the closest he gets to fun). 

This is such an innocent story it kind of just steals your heart away without you realizing it. Due to magical circumstance Maps and Damian are stuck together by the hands (awe) and their friends (well, Maps’ friends) are kind of going loopy, so it’s up to Maps and Damian to solve the magical mystery! (All while holding hands— was it mentioned how kind of adorable that is). Luckily for Maps, Damian is surprisingly resourceful as he somehow manages to have just the right tool to help them out of a tight jam when they find themselves in one. You’d think Maps might be going a little ‘ga-ga’ for the littlest Wayne but she’s actually crazed for his gadgets. Can you blame the poor girl, I mean, Batarang. The opposing dynamic between Maps and Damian is an entertaining joy to witness. Maps is easily excitable over everything and fast to jump to conclusions, while Damian is straight faced the whole time and just wants to solve his problem seemingly efficiently. It’s a bit saddening that Damian won’t be staying around for longer, but for one issue it was perfect and fun.