Gotham High

By: Jamie Steinberg

If you’re a DC Comics fan and ever wondered what a teenage Bruce Wayne, Joker and Catwoman would be like than Gotham High is for you! Author Melissa de la Cruz (Alex and Eliza, The Witches of East End) puts her magical spin on this graphic novel targeted at teens ages thirteen to seventeen. We follow high school student Bruce Wayne who has just returned home after being kicked out of a boarding school where he reunites with childhood chum Selina Kyle. When kidnappings begin, Bruce makes it his purpose to bring the bad guys to justice. While the plot is intriguing, the attempt to modernize and make the storyline hip goes awry. Thus, Gotham High is more visually appealing than captivating.

Sixteen-year-old Bruce Wayne is headed home thanks to some bad behavior at his current boarding school. Once back in Gotham City he meets back up with former gal pal and girl next door Selina Kyle. She’s now popular and beautiful, but is mostly concerned with caring for her father who is suffering with Alzheimer’s and has a live-in nurse. Since Bruce’s departure Selina has become besties-with-benefits with bad boy Jack Napier. When a kidnapping hits the high school, Bruce takes it upon himself to investigate. Could underground poker games targeting rich kids could be behind it?

De la Cruz is clearly a talented author and this is her first foray into the graphic novel domain. Unfortunately, the tale fails as it tries too hard to relate to the teenage audience. Bruce and Jack play video games. Jack smokes a vape pen. Selina is Hispanic and Bruce is half Chinese. Plus, Uncle Alfred (not the butler) is an openly gay man looking after Bruce. He also allows a party to be held at his home where attendees have access to alcohol. When the cops come to bust up the party, Alfred’s way of keeping underage drinking a secret is to pay off Gotham’s finest. While it’s nice to see that de la Cruz has added diversity to these well-known characters, it contains some misguided social messages.

As for the art by Thomas Pitilli, Gotham High features standout stills. We’d expect nothing less though since he’s become quite known for his work on the Archie Comics series Riverdale. He’s seriously succeeded at bringing life to the characters through the clothes they wear, the scenery they are in and their movements. Pitilli clearly has talents when it comes to coloring and shadows. It’s almost worth just reading the book to look at the pictures!

I was lucky to receive a copy of Gotham High for review and quickly devoured it. De la Cruz shines by making the tale intriguing, but it sadly falls short by making too much of an effort to keep up with current youth. Thankfully, illustrator Pitilli does a beautiful job of sketching and making each character standout in the dark world of Gotham. DC Comics fans will want to snag this graphic novel for it’s interesting plot, but it seems more of an attempt to target millennials than a homage to these time-honored characters.