A Year of Writers 2017 Part 3

Some general thoughts on the series.


Writers: Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschi
Title: Gotham Academy


The strength of the series was the sense of history, mystery and the characters. The biggest problems were stretching out plots and not exploring characters more. Now I'm not speaking about the Year Book issues which I completely skipped. From what I hear their not critical and reading them would only make some of my complaints worse.

I don't mind Olive Silverlock as a character like some did. I got her motivation and sympathized with her problems. At the same time I do see the problem of focusing so heavily on her character to make her the main. Some don't like her mopey attitude which I get. It's not annoying to me but I've seen this trope executed better in the past. Yes her life has recently sucked but we don't get enough depth. Eventually we learn how she's connected to Calamity which is a good story in itself though it made me question her role.

Is Olive a purely a reactive character or can she move the plot forward without her friends? If it's the former then she shouldn't be the lead. I'm still questioning this since Prim was the one dead set on discovering the mysteries of the school. Maps too and to an extent the rest of the Detective Club. Is Bruce a moron? Because throughout the series he doesn't seem to realize the Silverlock family is cursed and can be possessed. He's seen this stuff before so why is he ignorant of it? Could Olive still get arrested? Why was Eric back with the group in the end? We don't get the answers.

I feel like we don't get enough of a focus on most of the cast. Maps is the break out character that becomes the hero in the end. Her anger with Olive is real and the one thing that could really tip Olive off the deep end. But just like Olive saved Maps at the start of the series Maps saves Olive. Although his role is small this is the best written Damian of the year. He knows how having someone around to support you can change a person and ends up inspiring Maps to be a hero. This is how Damian should be written instead of always backpedaling his development.



Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing
Title: Gotham City Garage


The premise of Gotham City being the last city on Earth and taken over by the "savior" Lex Luthor is interesting. I like certain twists like Kara being taken in by Jim Gordon to protect her from Luthor. The one with Catwoman is one that I'm still unsure of. All the characters have a "ride along" to keep them in line. I'm just confused by how they work as some people seem more controlled than others. If Jim was able to hack into them to plant fake memories and create a fake life for Kara why did his look like it was failing ? Couldn't he change his?Why was Kara still able to use her codes to override the robots after she was identified?

How can the GCG crew commit crimes and get away with it (at least one of them) without being recognized? Why does Catwoman think Dick will be too busy avoiding the law to reveal what she did? Kara was still there, she could easily say something to the others. Kara seemed to have her powers activated by Jason's actions yet she still needs to use a bike and didn't put her abilities to use against the robots? These questions and others might be explained in future issues. Until then there's a lot of character work like the Barda and Harley issues. Kara herself is the lead providing a much needed sense of hope.

I'd like the series better if it had a tighter script but I understand there's still a lot of world building to do and twists on characters. It's a decent read if you're looking for something different but it's probably not for everyone. I put my own reading on hold to pick up the series later to read more in one go.





Writer: Rob Williams
Title: Trinity


This arc had the first team up with the Trinity and the Outlaws. It also had the magic trio and the evil duo. There was simply too many characters and too much going on to be worthwhile. Deadman is only there to control Superman later, Zantanna is mostly there to make Constantine get emotional and he spends a good deal bleeding to death. He's kinda of annoying and not in the endearing way. The leads were mostly flat with Diana having an inspiring heroic moment at the end. Clark is there to be the powerhouse, Batman saves the day and has the only truly emotional moments worrying about Jason.

The Outlaws themselves are possessed for most of the story and barely do anything once their free. I still have no idea how they could be tricked in the first place as it made no sense. Their supposed to weaken the leads because of their emotional connect to the Outlaws except that only Batman ever shows a deep connection or is distracted. Bizarro isn't written like he is in RHATO making his appearance feel very jarring whenever he speaks. This wasn't one of the better reads this year.





Writer: Scott Lobdell
Title: Red Hood and the Outlaws


This has been my favorite series for some time mostly because of the character work Lobdell does. He continues to showcase the leads personalities and their bonds with each other. Some of the things I had problems with, like Jason randomly deciding his promise not to kill in Gotham extended over the world, were editorial mandates. That said my biggest complaint is Jason not having many solo victories or impressive feats. He does manage the latter when he's captured with the Suicide Squad although I wish there were more.

Out of all the titles I read this is the one I feel like the characters truly share a connection right out of the gate. There's so much Lobdell builds up that I'm excited about like the mysterious man or Willis' letters to Jason. I think I say a great deal about the pros and cons of this series in my reviews so there's not much else I can add here.