Review: Gotham Academy #8

Previously in Gotham Academy #7

Requiem was eerily appropriate for me to read this week. I’ve been grieving for a friend who died back in October, and not really doing so well coping. Then, a close friend of 23 years passed away a few days before I read this. There’s a lot of anger in grief. And awkwardness as those around you struggle to figure out the proper way to act, the right things to say.

Olive’s mother has died. As she stands alone, in the rain, at the funeral, Kyle’s father suggests he go to her. Maps wants to as well, but her father thinks it best if her brother goes alone. Before Kyle can get to Olive, Tristan approaches her and the two walk off together. The first few pages of the issue are somber. Little is said, but the artwork beautifully captures Kyle’s misery. He wants to be there for Olive, but he also feels jealous that Tristan is instead. And then there’s the guilt of worrying about something like that while Olive is hurting.

When Kyle spots Tristan visiting Doctor Langstrom’s office, he can’t help but snoop. In doing so, he witnesses Tristan transformation: wings, fangs, claws, red eyes, the whole bit. He rushes to tell Olive, which is the last thing she wants to deal with it, and he’s hurt when he finds out Olive already knew. Maps - who couldn’t stay away from Olive either - overhears this fight from her secret hiding place in the wall tunnels. Because it’s a were-bat on campus (as she puts it), Maps can’t contain her excitement and Kyle finds her, learning about the secret tunnels in the process.

They use the tunnels to follow Olive to her appointment with the school’s counselor, and when they hear Olive say the only person she can talk to is Tristan, Kyle agrees to let Maps help him investigate the new boy. Investigating looks a whole lot like straight up confronting Tristan about what he is, and Tristan transforms and flies out the window. The siblings chase him and find him wounded in the graveyard - where everyone at school eventually ends up at night. They get him to Langstrom’s office and while he tends to Tristan, Kyle goes in search of Olive.

He finds her alone on the pier and she finally comes clean about setting fires like her mother was able to. Tristan understood because he’s different too, and he also saved her life. They make up and kiss, but Olive insists it was a mistake. Seriously, girl, this is the last thing you need right now. When Kyle leaves her alone, she finds a letter floating in the water. It’s from her mother and she warns Olive to trust no one.

Overall Thoughts: 

• No details on how Olive’s mother died and a floating letter is creepy as hell. Interested in seeing how this works out.
• I think I spotted Bruce Wayne at the funeral and we know there’s a connection between him and Olive’s family.
• Maps is still the best. Her fangirl moments at the most inappropriate times are something I’d typically find annoying, but here it’s adorable.
• This issue has a pretty cool Teen Titans variant cover, which you can see here.