Gotham Academy #5 Review

writers: Becky Cloonan & Brenden Fletcher / artist: Karl Kerschl / DC Comics The rap game is Gotham Academy, y’all. Are there other great stories? Definitely. Are there better characters? Maybe. Is there a DC series more fun to read? Not on your life. In a universe all too serious and with a crooked city like Gotham, the Academy makes this place livable, like “It’s okay! Look – children are here! Regular, mischievous children!” Tie them in with some classic Gotham lore and the happiness long forgotten in the city, and this comic has me seriously considering my stance against raising children in New York. Issue #5 is no exception, as this is the closest we’ve seen to a fully Maps-centric issue. She doesn’t lead the story – Olive drives this one again, and drives it well – but Maps drops mixtape bars that leave you waiting for that solo track. How would you react if you were in a decrepit building, found yourself trapped, and ran past Killer Croc? Because this is how Maps handles such situations:

And she doesn’t even stop there! She goes sprinting around corners, runs into Olive, and does a situation report cause she’s oh so militant. “Crap! You won’t believe this – I saw a Lizard Man! Lots of hit points but they never drop anything good. Friend or Foe?” Clone this child. Clone this child and spread them throughout the states. Maps and Olive run into Killer Croc, and Olive – who previously morphed into full fearless Buffy status in issue #4 – wants nothing more than to int…