One of the best comics of the year (and further proof that DC are starting to get a lot more interesting and daring than people give them credit for), the elevator pitch for Gotham Academy is "Harry Potter meets Batman". Brendan Fletcher and Becky Cloonan's writing recalls the cream of unpatronising, imaginative young adult and children's fiction, with the tale of intrigue and the supernatural at a private school within the Dark Knight's home city. Where it really comes to life, however, is in the art of Karl Kerschl. A studio partner of Cloonan's, who is primarily known for her artwork, Kerschl is Gotham Academy's real ace in the hole. His work looking less like the pages of a comic book and more like a load of stills from a particularly high-end cartoon, the character designs are equally informed by anime as they are, say, European comics and animation, with beautiful colours to match his layouts and figures. A bunch of recent additions to the Bat-Books - Gotham Academy, Batgirl, Gotham By Midnight - have been characterised by how little they feature the Caped Crusader himself. Gotham Academy especially seems at pains to distance itself from Batman, but his shadow still lingers: what better way to show that then the central characters framed by the Bat Signal?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
