Gotham Academy: Second Semester #8 Review — Going Out With a Bang
It is with mixed feelings that I say we are in our final arc of Gotham Academy: Second Semester. After a long slog of schizophrenic storytelling, odd tone shifts and seemingly endless “is she, isn’t she” waffling with Olive, the story is ending. In some ways this is a very good thing. But hot damn is Gotham Academy: Second Semester #8 starting the arc off with a bang. It’s not as strong an issue as last issue, but it’s maintaining the velocity set by #7.
As was revealed last issue, Amity Arkham is now driving Olive’s mind and body and she is pissed. The contents of Pomeline’s book are finally revealed to be the history of Amity Arkham, who was hanged as a witch. Her BFF, a woman with the last name Frych (heeeeeeeyyyyy…), secret’s Amity’s baby off to the Silverlock family. Frych documented all of the names of those responsible for hanging Amity, and her ghost has been restless and pissed ever since.
Frych is of course revealed to be an ancestor of Pomeline Fritch, and Olive Silverlock is the direct ancestor of Amity Arkham. So these two friends were quasi-destined to be BFFs for all time apparently. Which is going to be particularly important as Batman now has to stop yet another Amity descendant from destroying Gotham — and those who wronged her — in a mirror to what I assume her mother tried to do. It looks as though the only people interested in saving her are her friends.
Do I even need to tell you the book is full of the big names we know and love of the denizens of Gotham? I swear to God no one marries outside of the family or only has girl children; there are 10 names in the entirety of Gotham. That’s not a Gotham Academy complaint so much as an overarching DC complaint. Also, WHOO-BOY was it fortuitous that the Silverlock family adopted a girl whose hair is silver, and all of her decedents have silver hair too. WHAT A COINCIDENCE. I digress.
On one hand, this series has been too much of a mixed bag to be truly sad to see it go. On the other, these last couple of issues really hint at what this series was capable of. There was so much potential and intrigue lurking just beneath the surface, it’s a genuine shame that it’s only coming out as the series comes to a close. All I can hope for an epic ending for Olive’s arc.
