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At SDCC '15 I talked with the Burnside Batgirl crew about their creative origins, how the look that launched a thousand cosplays came to be, how to handle creative criticism, and their earliest con experiences.

By Davey Nieves

Gotham Academy #4

Story: Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan

Art: Karl Kerschl

Color: Msassyk, Serge LaPointe

Letters: Steve Wands

Publisher: DC Comics

Written by Becky Cloonan(DEMO, Killjoys) and Brenden Fletcher(Batgirl, Assassin’s Creed), Gotham Academy #4 continues its mystery as young Olive Silverlock uncovers the ghost of the north hall. The academy itself is much like Gotham City, written with an atmosphere that makes it feel living but never outshines the characters. Along the way Olive’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend Kyle continues to reach a breaking point as a possible new interest literally catches her. It’s not just her love life that’s bending. Like any young girl, Olive finds fitting in has challenges of its own. In this issue her self-esteem will be tested as she stumbles upon gossip she might not be ready to deal with.  Readers are enticed with more details as to Silverlock’s forgotten summer and the burning question of what happened to her mother.  These pages flow so well together that once you hit the end of the book it feels like a crime not to dive right in to the next issue. One of the very few minuscule problems I’ve had with the series is the way issues leave readers on a cliffhanger but subsequently pick up moments after it in the next chapter. Hopefully with the major punch this issue ends on that won’t be the case for issue five.

While the book is a rich ensemble full of unique voices from Olive’s sister figure the spunky young Maps all the way through to Headmaster; issue four is more Olive’s book as you really see her three sides. Who she is among friends, who she is to herself, and the part of her she doesn’t know. Moments in the book like her confrontation with the “ghost” of Jane Cobblepot illustrate it best.

Gotham Academy is consistently a pretty book. It plays with a Manga influence that in most other American titles would be a deterrent. Karl Kerschl’s (Majestic, Teen Titans) line work is the first part of this recipe. Where a lot of Manga-style books stumble is in the framing of their shots. Kerschl’s work doesn’t suffer from that one bit as everything feels like a natural camera position. When you add the colors of MSASSYK and Serge LaPointe it makes the page vibrant in a way few books are. The end result feels like a hybrid of Anime, cinema, and emotional Disney animation.

The series isn’t without imperfections of its own, since the first issue there’s a stumble that merely tugs on you in the way a fly tugs on an elephant. It probably only knows it’s there but doesn’t really ruin their day.  Gotham Academy has so many moving parts that some thing feels as though it falls by the waste side when I’ve seen it. Bruce Wayne’s brief appearances; they almost feel shoehorned in. Granted the book is only in the orbit of the Batman universe by association, but that means the series should get to a point where it only needs Bat appearances when absolutely necessary. It’s a minor complaint that does little to hinder the enjoyment overall, but you know… internets.

Growing up in the 90’s, for me it was all about: Batman: The Animated Series, Pepsi, and the band Rancid. Perhaps what stood out to me most about TAS was how much I cared about the players who weren’t Batman. Two-Face, Leslie Thompkins, one and done Charlie Collins, even Gotham City itself were all stories I invested in. As of late, Bat group editor Mark Doyle has added books to the bat-ecosystem that have captured a similar type of magic previously only on Fox Kids programing. Gotham Academy has been an underrated prime example of it. Issue four continues its unfolding of the institution’s connection to Gotham’s lore through the lens of adolescence.

Ultimately, Gotham Academy is a niche audience book that outstretches its boundaries by being energetic and refreshing. While its Young Adult nature might not appeal to the hardcore superhero crowd; there’s a good story about a troubled girl trying to find herself, which in a way makes her relatable to millions of people out there. If the Gotham Academy team is a band, then issue number four is their Let’s Go. What’s scary and exciting about that is the possibility that issue five could be their And Out Come The Wolves. For the non-punk rock fans out there, what that boils down to is Gotham Academy #4 figures out the strengths of the series. Issue five could be where everything fires on all cylinders and I have no doubts that it will be a book I can enjoy being a 72yr old man and then pass on to my adolescent niece. In short the definition of all age storytelling.

If words like Gretzky, Clutch, Zayn, and Archie are in your vocabulary then feel free to follow and unburden your anger at Dave on twitter @bouncingsoul217

Sneak peek at a coloured panel from #GothamAcademy issue 1, by me, @beckycloonan and @brendenfletcher: pic.twitter.com/5pwBdOXyGf

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

#GothamAcademy is coloured by the incredible Romain Gaschet, who worked with me on Teen Titans Year One. I don’t think he he’s on twitter.

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

Guys, the ENTIRE BOOK looks like this, except better because Olive and Maps are out of their chairs. :)

— Karl Kerschl (@karlkerschl) August 11, 2014

Artist Karl Kerschl teased a single panel of GOTHAM ACADEMY, the upcoming Batfamily book written by Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher and drawn by Kerschl, with colors by Romain Gaschet. The book is something of a “sister” book to the new Batgirl and presents a more “shojo” approach to the Batman universe with the story of some students at Gotham’s number one prep school and their fantastic/Gotham tinged adventures. It’s a book aimed at a younger audience, and why not as the “academy melodrama” is a hallowed tradition of storytelling?

Fletch subsequently tweeted that they couldn’t show any more but Batgirl writer Cameron Stewart averred that the two books are set in the same universe, in spirit anyway.

Nice to see DC moving forward with a book that has a fresh take on a hallowed canon.

 The Batverse is getting two ongoing spinoff series, according to EW. And not a mention of the “New 52″ in the pr….In Arkham Manor, Wayne Manor gets turned into…a home for the insane. Whch could just be Batman and Robin, but you get the point. CReative team is writer Gerry Duggan and artist Shawn Crystal.

In Gotham Academy, it’s Gossip Girl meets Gotham with the adventures at Gotham City’s most prestigious prep school. The words “twisted teenybopping universe” were used. The writers are Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher and artist is Karl Kerschl.  

This is the most non-New 52 book announced since the New 52 started. Actually both covers look very non-New 52ish — could this be the influence of Batman temporary editor Mark Doyle? 

Both books hit in October. 

lesstalkmorepaint:

Potatoshop, pixels on cintiq.

By Frazer Irving, from the new group painting blog Less Talk, More Paint featuring Ray Fawkes, Stephanie Buscema, Frazer Irving, Stuart Immonen, Camilla D’Errico, and Karl Kerschl.

IDW swept the best writer and best writer/artist category at the 2011 Eisner Awards at Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend. Follow the links below for free samples of books by some of the winners.

Joe Hill won Best Writer for Locke & Key and Darwyn Cooke won Best Writer/Artist for Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW). In addition, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz won Best Comics-Related Book and Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kerschl won the Best Digital Comic award.

Here’s more about the ceremony: “[The awards] ended on an unusual note Friday night with the Best Graphic Album-New category going to two winners: Jim McCann and Janet Lee‘s Return of the Dapper Men (published by Archaia) and Daniel Clowes‘s Wilson [PDF preview] (published by Drawn & Quarterly).”

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