Gotham Academy: First Year #6 Review
Story: Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan & Karl Kerschl
Script: Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Marco Ferrari
Colorist: Eva De La Cruz
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover Artist & Variant Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl
Editors: Kristy Quinn & Dacy Lim
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99 US/Variant $5.99 US (Card Stock)
Release Date: August 5, 2026
When she couldn't learn what happened to her mother, Olive pushed away everyone and everything that offered her a future she didn't believe she deserved. She sought refuge in Professor Crane's pills, but they trapped her in a nightmare and fractured her identity. Can Batman rescue Olive Silverlock again? Or will another hero arise to help Olive be the champion of her own story? Let's leap into Gotham Academy: First Year #6 and see what happens!
Story
This year, the limousine leaves the Mizoguchi residence with two students heading for Gotham Academy. While Kyle eyes a position of responsibility, Mia also envisions great things. Kyle may not know what the future holds in store for him and Olive. Yet Mia is certain that she and Olive will be best friends.
When Safi brings her bags into her dorm room, Mia cannot wait to see Olive. Yet in Gotham Academy: First Year #6, Olive isn’t around. So, after Safi leaves, Mia tells her roommate about her best friend. Despite everything Olive has gone through, Mia sees her as an indomitable force. While she waits for Olive to join them, Mia instructs her new roommate in how to play Serpents & Spells. Yet, as Mia and Katherine delve into the role-playing game, danger stalks the school.
After Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, and Karl Kerschl’s story begins with Mia, the story shifts to other people who care about Olive. When Olive makes her appearance, her experiences have changed her. Yet some things remain the same. Last year, she was the insecure girl who thought she didn’t belong in Gotham Academy. Now, she’s still unsure how to view her place in the school.
Brenden Fletcher's script highlights the circular nature of life. With a new school year beginning, the students, teachers, and staff fall into familiar patterns. The students need friends and leadership. The staff and teachers recognize that some children will need more attention and protection than others. Olive suffers from some of the same issues she did at the beginning of her first year. But now, she is a Junior and more is expected of her. As Olive ponders her future at the school, Mia represents the breath of fresh air that she, and everyone at the school, needs in Gotham Academy: First Year #6.
Art
Mia stands before a character sheet, wearing her school uniform. Her face radiates happiness. Kyle hangs his head as he trudges beneath his burdensome backpack. Muscular Safi easily lugs Mia's luggage to her room. Mia and Safi’s introduction to Katherine evokes how Lucy Hunt met her roommate. The next morning, drapes obscure her roommate in the top bunk while Mia sprawls on the bottom. As she awakens, books, maps, character sheets, and other game paraphernalia cover the floor. Yet as Mia spots a red object, another character demonstrates how a year has changed her in Gotham Academy: First Year #6.
As Marco Ferrari portrays Mia’s passion for life, the school colors showcase differences between characters. While the yellow and blue suggest a mixture of concern and hope, Mia often wears one color to contrast her disposition with another's. Yet Katherine and Mia both wear blue when they meet. And when danger threatens, Mia's yellow hairbow matches Katherine's yellow hair.
Eva De La Cruz suggests that two characters are surprisingly well matched by tinging Heathcliff's lenses and Pomeline's hair with orange. Green signals someone who steals others' willpower, while a frightened character regards her surroundings through yellow lenses. As Mia glimpses a fleeing figure, her blue shirt looks indigo in the night, while violet tinges her skin. Yet before the school year gets underway, red links two characters, perhaps temporarily, or perhaps forever.
Black lowercase letters fill white balloons and yellow boxes, while letters grow bold for intonation and fade for lowered voices. A glimpse of handwritten words provokes anger, while red exclamation marks signal a life-threatening situation. Sound effects enhance Mia’s first day at school, a fight for life, and an act of heroism. Still, white words on a brown poster suggest a more positive literary interest than rereading The Castle of Otranto. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.
Final Thoughts
Mia has a plan. She intends to storm the school and reshape it in her image. Yet while “Maps” is forging her new identity, Olive wrestles with her self-worth. Some students and teachers will shine radiantly, others will lock themselves in prisons of their own making, and the rest will tread toward whatever future awaits them in Gotham Academy: First Year #6.
Rating 9.8/10
To look inside see my preview of Gotham Academy: First Year #6.
For what happened last time, see my preview of Gotham Academy: First Year #5.
For what happened before that, see my review of Gotham Academy: Year One #4.
For how this series started, see my preview of Gotham Academy: First Year #1.
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