Gotham High

I initially bought this item because I wanted to see if it was as bad as people were saying… IT WAS WORSE.Starting with the art work, the style is bizarre, it seems to give the characters minimal expressions and facial features but at the same time over-saturates the panels with background detail. The panel placement is also strange with multiple overlapping images making it hard to follow what is going on sometimes.Story-wise, I don’t know what I was expecting, something perhaps along the lines of “Smallville” with teen versions of the popular DC characters investigating mysterious goings on, what I got was a half-baked script for an episode of “90210”.Make no mistake, this is NOT a Batman story. There is barely any connection to the Batman mythos outside of the characters names and the fact that Bruce Wayne became a multi-millionaire when his parents died. I’m not too bothered about the race/gender changes because there is already a decent precedent for that in the “Elseworlds” novels.What bothers me is the changing of the characters personalities and motivations, in general none of the main characters are particularly likeable. Bruce Wayne, rather than the driven, obsessive perfectionist he is normally portrayed as, is just a typical “loner with emotional problems” of the kind that are everywhere in media at the moment, Jack Napier, far from the terrifying, homicidal Joker is a creepy, jealous, stalker-type and Selena comes across as horribly selfish, arrogant and manipulative.The plot is extremely thin, and almost entirely focused on teen drama rather than the detective work that Batman stories are so well known for and the only action throughout the entire book are a few panels of Bruce and Jack throwing a couple of punches at each other. The final twist at the end is barely a surprise and only serves to make one of the characters even less likeable, I won’t spoil it by stating which one.Even taken on it’s own merit this is a dreadful story, as part of the Batman franchise it’s an insult to long-standing fans and newcomers alike. Which brings me to my main gripe, if they were going to deviate from the mythology so much, why not simply create an entirely new universe with original characters… WHY EVEN MAKE THIS PART OF THE BATMAN FRANCHISE?The only conclusion I can reach is that DC wanted to create an entirely new “teen drama” property but they were not confident enough to have this stand on its own merit so they stamped a bat on it and hoped that would bring in established fans.It’s a shame that, at a time when the comic book industry is struggling, DC decided to use up precious resources and shelf space creating this when there are far more deserving projects out there.In summation, don’t bother with this book, you won’t be missing anything.

High school where villains are made. I keep changing my mind of this I did like this book. It is not Batman but an acceptable and enjoyable Elseworld. I would have given this this 3.5 stars but I think it deserved the a round up.The are work is good, I liked the modernisation and ethnic mixing of the characters. I like the bit of Batman lore in the book. I don't mind that Bruce is more swagger than stealth as this is set in high school.The parts I did not like about the book is the mystery element was pretty obvious I was hoping I was wrong to add a twist to it. Bruce I'd not subtle about his investigation and the all the adults seem to be enabling him. The GCPD is a useful as ever.An enjoyable book. Much of the un-Batman like behaviour can be put down to Bruce's age and being in high school, but there are enough Batman bit I the making. Not a bad stand alone story, (this how I know I liked it) though I would not mind a sequel.

I’d say the general vibes is sort of riverdale but with baby batman characters. I do like the art a lot, its very colourful and pretty. This version of the characters is also sorta interesting or at least I found it entertaining but to be honest I sort of detached them in my head from who they’re based on.

I loved this book it’s an interesting story although the ending was very unexpected but loved it either way

I got to the end and it was predictable. I was totally disappointed. Mysteries are fun because there are plot twists. This plot twist you could see coming a mile away. The solutions are silly. The characters are shallow. They introduce some interesting changes in character to add some flavor to the story and it doesn't impact it at all. "Gotham" made a much better job with teenage Bruce and Selina than this.Painful to read.