In this review of Gotham Academy: First Year #4, Olive’s life falls completely apart after the North Hall of Gotham Academy burns down around her.
Gotham Academy: First Year #4 main cover by Karl Kerschl (DC Comics)
GOTHAM ACADEMY: FIRST YEAR #4
Written by BRENDEN FLETCHER, KARL KERSCHL, and BECKY CLOONAN
Art: MARCO FERRARI
Main Cover: KARL KERSCHL
Variant Cover: MARCO FERRARI
Page Count: 40 pages
Release Date: 5/27/26
This review contains spoilers
Gotham Academy: First Year #4 begins as Olive wanders the halls of Gotham Academy, hearing voices telling her that they want her dead, and urging her to burn her enemies. We see her burst into flames, and read the journals of Tristan Gray, the Boy-bat haunting the Gotham Academy grounds, saying he rescued her from the fire, even though she wasn’t being burned up by it, and then they started spending time together.
In the infirmary, Kyle is glad to see Olive ok, but she doesn’t remember anything. In fact, she’s completely lost nearly a month of time, finding her room out of order, and Scarecrow’s pills from her visit to Arkham. Despite Kyle and Professor MacPherson’s concern, Olive tries to figure out what happened to her. She discovers she tried to enter the ruins of the North Hall before, but has no memory of that either. Taking a bus to Arkham to try to see Scarecrow, she’s attacked by the bully Kyle exposed, triggering more wandering without memory, which is how Tristan finds her at the bus stop. Olive speaks strangely – in an old fashioned way – and Tristan tells her his origin – being found in a tree trunk. Strange Olive seems to like Tristan, but runs away, and Olive comes to herself dressed strangely, having lost more weeks, and discovering all of Kyle’s letters ripped up. She consults Professor MacPherson, but no help is forthcoming.
Tristan visits Olive’s room, and seems to believe he’s been dating Olive (but no kissing because of the Boy-bat virus), and Olive wanders out in a towel, speaking in her strange old fashioned way again. She insists that Tristan fly her around…and when Olive again awakens, she discovers herself wearing Tristan’s sweater. Desperate, Olive takes one of Scarecrow’s pills…
Analysis
Finally! After MANY long months, Gotham Academy First Year returns, just as brilliantly as ever. And in a fascinating pacing decision, our writing team of Cloonan, Kerschl, and Fletcher has zipped us right to August. As a long time fan of the Gotham Academy series, I know exactly what’s happening in Gotham Academy:First Year #4 – SPOILERS FOR SECOND SEMESTER – Olive is struggling with the spirit/second personality of Amity Arkham, her ancestor and the origin of her family’s fire powers – but I’m curious if new readers will enjoy the strangeness of Olive’s torment. END SPOILERS The introduction of Boy-bat Tristan and his romance with Olive/Strange Olive is a fun one – and definitely fleshes out why there was such a strong romance vibe without much content in the original Gotham Academy series. With only weeks left before Olive’s second Fall semester starts, it will be FASCINATING to see how the writing team fits two whole issues into that gap, having rushed through an entire year in the first four issues.
Once again, new series artist Marco Ferrari and colorist Eva De La Cruz provide gorgeously moody visuals, perfectly drawn and colored into the creepy gothic comic that Gotham Academy is at its best. It’s so wonderful to visit these characters and this corner of Gotham once again when it’s rendered with such love and skill. The Boy-bat sequences in particular are full of action and drama, giving you a real sense of the fun as well as the spookiness of the concept.
Our main cover for Gotham Academy:First Year #4 by series co-creator and original artist Karl Kerschl features Tristan the Boy-bat holed up in a tree, nicely connecting to Tristan’s prominence in the issue. Marco Ferrari, series interior artist, provides our variant, featuring Olive (or her ancestor) in old fashioned dress, Arkham symbol pendant, holding a bat in a graveyard – perfect for Olive’s morbidity!
Final Thoughts
A brilliantly moody piece of gothic comics that may not make a lot of sense to someone who hasn’t read all of the current Gotham Academy comics.
