[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and DC Entertainment in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Bruce Wayne gets kicked out of his exclusive prep school for defending another student from bullies. So he ends up at Gotham High.
There he reconnects with the literal “girl next door,” Selina Kyle. Since Bruce has been away, Selina’s mom has died leaving her alone to care for her father with Alzheimer’s who needs full time care. Bruce also meets Jack Napier, Selina’s friend and sometimes hook up.
Bruce runs into Harvey Dent – right before Harvey gets kidnapped. The attack happened at school. In fact, Harvey had been trying on Bruce’s long leather coat, making Bruce wonder if he was the actual target. That would make more sense, considering his family’s money, than Harvey. The security footage has been erased, and Bruce was drugged. He can’t remember anything that happened.
While Bruce tries to figure out what happened to Harvey, Selina continues to string both Bruce and Jack along for fun. A distraction from the weight of her life outside of school. When Harvey is returned, but Selina is kidnapped from Bruce’s house during a party, Bruce won’t stop until he finds her and the people responsible.
Review
There are some fascinating twists to the well-known Batman/Bruce Wayne stories here. Alfred is Bruce’s uncle rather than the family butler. He lives in Hong Kong with his husband, but comes to Gotham when Bruce gets kicked out of school. The details of Bruce’s parents’ deaths have been changed up as well. Then there’s the fact that all of these future foes go to high school together.
The usual all-white cast is shaken up as well. Jack Napier (future Joker) is white as is Ivy. Bruce is Asian as his mom was from Hong Kong. Selina presents as Lantix. And Barbara Gordon is Black, and her mom is the principal of the school. I loved this diversity. In fact, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) is my favorite DC character – I would love to see a story set around this African American version of the character. Maybe there will be future stories from Gotham High. For the story in this particular book, I didn’t love the characters like I did with some of the other DC graphic novels recently. I was most intrigued by Ivy, frankly, and she doesn’t get a lot of page time.
The mystery of what is going on is puzzled out over the course of the book. The reader has more information than the characters in the story, so the final wrap up isn’t a big surprise to the reader.
There’s plenty left at the end with the relationships between the characters for additional stories in the future. Fans of Bruce Wayne story lines as well as fans of the new DC Entertainment graphic novels for teens (Shadow of the Batgirl, Oracle Code, Raven, Mera: Tidebreaker, etc.) should check this one out.
DC Entertainment has graciously shared some pictures of the interior art of the book so readers can see what they will get to enjoy.
