Gotham Academy and Arkam Manor #1

Hey, Tara Strong here, and you're listening to

the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome to The Pole

Bag. Join us as we dig out our latest comics

and discuss them with a rotating panel of the

JCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this week's

Pole Bag. Welcome to Gotham. Hello and welcome

to the pull bag this is another giant size episode

this time around It's episode 94 and 95 in one

giant podcast. I am your host TFG1 Mike and joining

me is Jeremy Fine. Hello, sir Oh good, sir. How

are you? I don't want to get into it, but the

neighbors are driving me crazy Or I should say

they're driving me batty. At this point I'd almost

rather live at Gotham Academy. So we're doing

something a little different. Something new.

I don't know if I'm always going to do this but

we're going to talk about two number one issues

from DC Comics. These are new series that have

premiered this year. Was it last month, I believe?

October, September? Well, no, it was this month.

It was October, that's right. What are we talking

about? Gotham Academy in this portion of the

podcast, which this side is episode 94, and the

other side will be talking about Arkham Manor

number one. Gotham Academy number one. When you

first heard about this series, what was your

initial impression? Before you even read it.

When I heard about it, I always heard rumors

that there was supposed to be some sort of prep

school for Gotham for the gifted, and I don't

know if it was supposed to be like Xavier's Academy,

but I heard three different rumors. One, it was

supposed to be a little bit like Harry Potter.

Two, there was a rumor that there was going to

be a college for pre -superheroes, kind of like

Young Justice, but you had to get a bachelor's

degree and a master's degree in order to become

a superhero. And the third one, I guess, pretty

much became Gotham Academy. And I was intrigued

because I finally got to see the cover and I

heard different rumors. And, you know, we know

what Bruce Wayne, we know he's the quote unquote

ladies man. And after reading the summary and

picking up the issue, I'm kind of wondering what

the whole deal is with this character that we're

going to discuss about tonight. Yeah, I was...

I thought the same thing as you when I first

saw the Solicits. I thought it was gonna be,

like, Gotham's kids, like... DC has long alluded

to the Bat Family and the Bat Family books where

you have the Waynes, the Canes, the Cobblepots,

the Arkhams, the Gates, you have all these high

-up families in Gotham City and I figured it

was going to be their children or something,

or it was going to be something where it was

the children of... like batman and catwoman or

you know riddler and poison ivy not that that

would ever happen but you know what i mean it's

like one of those things um come to find out

it's basically the united states version of harry

potter for girls or girls and boys it's like

oh god come on give me a break so people i'm

gonna fully admit i'm gonna be the negative one

tonight i did not like gotham academy number

one it felt way too emotine for me You know,

I don't know what it is, but the 21st century

seems to be teens are more and more emo when

they make the Goth - I mean the Goth kids in

South Park I love. The Twilight kids and Twilight.

I hate I don't think they know how to go in between

and the problem is yeah I'm not blaming hot topic.

I'm not blaming the Senate I don't know why kids

are more cynical today than they were when we

grew up I don't understand it, but the only thing

that I do know is not everyone That dresses like

characters in this book are gonna be so you know

you don't want to really be around them other

than the fact that you know okay one of them

has purple hair or one of them dresses like a

goth you know there's goth and there's cool but

you know i was really hoping for more like lydia

deets yeah i was hoping for something that wasn't

aimed at teenagers i was hoping for like a college

dorm kind of situation like more adult themed

kind of thing but this is basically um dc's next

attempt at trying to do a kid -friendly book

and let's face it with the recent harley quinn

annual They're not DC is becoming a solely adult

company at this point scratch and sniff weed

cover. Oh my god Give me a flippin break. Well

in defense and again because I've been reviewing

them. I did get the digital I did not get my

hands Good. I heard there was either very hard

to find there There are a lot of comic book stores

that were not going to be selling that cover

with the weed on it But reading that one The

justification is that Ivy got captured, and Harley

is trying to save her, and since Ivy is a plant

lady, Harley is trying to use the substances

to distract her captors. That's the whole idea.

I mean, that's the justification. But again,

it goes back to three things. Demographics, denominations,

and distribution. And the problem is with the

demographics, I don't know at this point because

it's really hard and I think you've discussed

this on New 52 versus, you know, 52. Like, who

are the demographics for the New 52? Is it old

school or new school? I like New 52. I like the

writing. I like the artwork. Don't get me wrong.

But if you're trying to do something where you

have little Archies or little Gotham or, you

know, whatever the case may be or Muppet babies

for Gotham, I don't know. Who the demographic

at the end of the day is this really going to

be for? I mean something like Little Gotham or

something like Beware the Batman or something

like what was the other all -ages title that

you know Scooby -Doo team up you know something

like that I can get behind because it's supposed

to be little kids and it's supposed to be fun

this is Just too strange first of all the first

issue does not explain enough It just doesn't

it does not explain and I doesn't explain why

why? Olive silver lock one of the main care one

of the two main characters that she hates seeing

the bad signal She doesn't doesn't explain what

her connection is to to Bruce Wayne other than

the fact that she is a scholarship kid from the

Wayne Foundation The art is is great I Do like

the backgrounds and the colors the the character

designs not so much But, I mean, basically, it's

just... This title is too weird. It's only the

first issue, folks, and this title is too weird

for me. Just to go over the creative team, you

have Becky Clunen and Brendan Fletcher are on

the writing. Art is by Carl Kerschel. Colors

by Geyser with Dave McCaig. Letters by Steve

Wands. Cover by Carl Kerschel. Variant covers

are done by Becky Clunen. The assistant editor

is Matt Humphreys and editor is Mark Doyle. uh...

dc has had a a huge change since they've moved

to their l a offices are going to be moving to

their l a offices full -time uh... and the entire

editorial staff has changed katie cubart is not

no longer there uh... mike martz is no longer

there mike martz actually went went over to marvel

uh... so it's a whole new edit editorial staff

at dc uh... fine It still doesn't change the

fact that you have a Didildo as your co -publisher.

I mean, it really doesn't, because obviously

whatever he and Lee say goes. And then you have

Jesus John's chief operating officer, chief whatever

he's supposed to be. But anyway, so Welcome to

Gotham Academy is the title of this first issue.

We open up with a internal monologue and looking

at the Academy. We then get to the two main characters,

Olive and Maps. First of all, worst name ever.

You know what this is? This is because somebody's

been watching one too many... tween movies like

Jennifer's body where I think Amanda Sheffield

played needy because She's always so needy you

always have to have like this best friend that

you know has a bizarre name now when the 80s

and 90s like when we watch blossom Six, but that

was okay TJ. You know a DJ from full house I

mean that was okay, but the problem is if you're

gonna have a Whatever BFF or or whatever this

person's supposed to be maps you're right out

of all the names they could have come up with

Yeah, and supposedly this is my own inference

after reading the issue supposedly She's called

maps because she likes to draw maps of the campus

and of Gotham City really seriously again, I

I Don't know it seems like everyone in Gotham

has a secret Yeah so the opening page after after

the the the opening monologue and outside of

the school we go inside the school and all of

them maps are are sitting outside the headmaster's

office and it opens with you know her map saying

olive and she says what just just you're gonna

make it worse what are you talking about we're

not in trouble hammerhead loves you guys he's

always at kyle's tennis games right um and it

goes on and on and on and on and we get to a

point where maps realizes why they call him hammerhead

it's because it's headmaster hammer um this dude

looks like he's out of the 19 18th century Actually,

this looks like Rachel ghoul from Batman the

animated series Yeah, except extremely older,

but yeah so the headmaster Comes out and and

talks to them and it it's basically he's making

all of maps is He says, uh, now I'm sure you're

both wondering why I summoned you. As you must,

uh, as you missed orientation, Miss Mizoguchi,

you are likely not aware that all first year

students are assigned a nanny to accompany them

to campus life. Miss Silverlock will be yours.

And Maps is really, really excited about this,

uh, because Olive is a silver, is a, uh, second

year student, I should say. Um, And we then go

to them walking across campus and in the rain

and they're complaining about this. We then have

a page about their campus life and Olive is doing

a monologue of how much her life sucks. this,

that, and the other thing and everything. I'm

just waiting for sparkly vampires to pop out

of the corner, really. That's all I'm waiting

on right now. Is it me, but when they're walking

through the campus, because you have the student

on the lower right -hand side, is that supposed

to be a bloodline of Professor Milo from the

animated series? Because it kind of looks like

him. It might just be in a, like, it might have

been Kerschel just, you know, making, you know,

a reference. I don't think it's inferred or anything

like that. I think it's just an homage to Dr.

Milo. I was hoping because here was the other

thing I was really hoping for is that it would

almost be like Tiny Toon Adventures where, you

know, something. But here's the other problem.

The Academy to me either looks like Americanized

version of Hogwarts or it looks like... any other

architecture that you can see in the early Batman

movies. And the problem is that there's no appeal

to it because we're seeing, I guess, the exterior

again, but then we're seeing these little trapezoids

and ocozoids of students inside the campus, but

we're not really getting an idea of the campus

to sell me to continue reading. That's a big

problem right there. So they keep walking, keep

walking, and, you know, map says this rain better

cut the crap. And Olive gets knocked down by

some other older student, I assume, a senior.

Pameline Fritch. Yeah. Worst name ever. The names

in this, other than Olive Silverlock, the names

in this book just, in Hammerhead, the names in

this book just kind of suck. so you know you've

got your standard you know senior students picking

on the sophomore this book is making me go to

sleep honestly and then we get to We get to class

here and it's um Professor McPherson history

of Gotham City 201 module 1 architecture and

the Arkham's Module 2 rebuilding and the Wayne's

module 3 the Civil War and thus cobble pots What

the hell does that reference? I thought Civil

War was a Marvel thing Well, I think it had something

to do that there was some sort of Civil War with

the Cobblepot family and the Wayne family. There

are always these references because, again, it's

75 years of comic continuity. So every now and

then, if you go, I guess, with the video games

or you go with the comics or the cartoons, they

seem to be grasping at straws and taking every

ounce of mythology that they read from previous

Batman incantation, putting it in here and trying

to say, OK, because There is mythology with the

Cobbapod family. And of course, we know there's

mythology with the Wayne family. So why don't

we just try to change it around a little bit

about what they were like pre, you know, in the

19th century, pre 20th century, because let's

be honest, the Wayne family helped build Gotham,

if I'm not too mistaken. Cobble pots. Also, we

will we kind of know their story. So I think

that's what they were trying to do. But again,

the problem is, is that they didn't really they

needed to make this into a graphic novel and

prop it a little bit more where and by propping

it, I mean making a fictional script or a fictional

album like in Arkham City on the history of the

Cobble pot family. That would have worked a little

more and eradicated confusion. Yeah. So the teacher,

Ms. McPherson, is going on about the lesson.

We get to a shot of Olive who basically already

knows all this stuff and doesn't really care

about it and she's drifting, you know, daydreaming

out the window and someone hits her in the back

of the head with a throwing star paper. And it

turns out to be Colton Rivera. She her internal

monologue says trouble. This is my life We get

to the best part of the book lunch, which is

Belgian waffles Belgian waffles scrambled eggs

bacon omelet bar home fried potatoes and fruit

Stay basically This is the best school lunch

you're ever gonna have people like like this

This is the school lunch for the rich kids, and

it's just so crazy So we have your standard cafeteria

scene and olive doesn't really want Want to see

maps or her brother Kyle and uh maps is kind

of disappointed and she wants it wants it to

be like how it used to be and everything else

and it just oh god this book here's the problem

i don't even think girls are gonna like this

but it pretty much deals with olive just wants

to be by herself like nobody understands me and

maps is like the new kid who just wants to be

like not popular you're right and cold the problem

is is that they're picking names Out of a hat

and it goes back to what I said before with all

these tween books if you think this is bad You

should see all the other tween books that I've

come across and Barnes and Noble where they're

just picking names It's it's like with Hunger

Games and Twilight and and and all these other

knockoffs It's like we'll just pick up a name

like Abrus puffin nutty And and we'll make that

into this name and we'll give them cotton candy

hair The problem is is that this is supposed

to be where the the Academy I'm assuming it has

a pass, but I go back to, if you have the Arkham

family and the Cobblepots and the Gates and the

Quarterval, they have better pass than with this

book. And the thing is, is that Dana and I were

discussing Arkham, House on Serious Earth, last

week. And we noticed that there was maybe...

a certain villain who has a certain bloodline

to Arkham. That would have been interesting.

But we don't get any of that because it just

goes back to, you know, Olive having these bullies.

Maps is trying to talk to her. Olive doesn't

want to be there. Maps doesn't want to be there.

They try to explore the Academy by themselves

and try to solve a mystery because they're trying

to, you know, move away from the plot. They figure

if they stop, you know... All of the sides of

Shup's being so whiny and bitchy, readers are

gonna get back to her. They figure if Maps is

gonna be gung -ho and everything, you know, opposites

attract, and we've seen that one too many times,

and that's not working too well. They go to the...

top of the, I guess, forbidden tower of Arkham.

Of course, Maps falls off of the tower. She's

holding onto the gargoyle. And, you know, Olive

goes after her and they're both, you know, she

takes a rope, throws it down to Maps on the bell

tower. And, of course, all these bats awaken

and are flying around. well because the bell

rings she says when they're going up there don't

touch the rope because it'll ring the bell and

everybody will know we're here when maps is standing

up there and she's looking around and she leans

on part of the building that collapses uh that's

how she falls off and you know all of uh You

know, Maps thinks Olive has left her, but she

has actually gone to get the rope that rings

the bells, and she jumps out and, you know, bong,

and she basically repels down the building to

get Maps. And, you know, all the bells are ringing,

the bats come out, and then we get to Bruce Wayne,

who says he hasn't... He didn't attend that many...

that long at Gotham Academy, but he was there

and he's happy to still help out. And then that's

when Maps and Olive kind of drop in on him. And

I really think just having Bruce Wayne as a speaker

at this place, it's so forced. Yeah, because

they have to put Bruce Wayne in because they

figure if they don't have Bruce in this comic,

nobody's going to care. Yeah. And I still don't

care that he's there. I mean, it's fine that

he's there. I like the writing for Bruce in this,

but I still don't care that he's there because

the crux of the book is about Olive and Maps

and their adventures and whatever else. There's

one shot, there's one image of this entire book

that's absolutely amazing. It's when Olive thinks

she sees Batman. the teacher is flashing a light

in her eye after she's after they fell or whatever

else and turns out to just be Bruce and They

have a back -and -forth and whatever else and

she goes back to her dorm room with her with

her roommate here Lucy who we saw earlier for

half a minute And Lucy got really scared. She

opens up the window and she's like, oh, that's

just a bad signal Same as every other night and

we then flash to a crack in the wall Where it

ends on you know, they start laughing and laughing

about you know Lucy says I don't know down the

side of a building, you know You know Etc you

know referencing all those little little little

tryst earlier with with maps And you know we

see this crack in the wall for three panels And

then we see like an eyeball kind of thing inside

the wall, and it ends on a to be continued Just

think it's good Or something like that yeah,

something like that. Yeah, you know if this was

handed out a free comic book day I would have

said maybe. If this were during the Harry Potter

years, I would say maybe. But I don't know what

to say. I've walked into a couple comic book

stores and nobody really seems to either know

about this comic, care about this comic, or have

been discussing this comic. Apparently it's been

getting a lot of... positive reviews, I don't

see where. And again, maybe it's me, but just

when it starts to get good, it's to be continued.

I just don't care about this character. I've

seen this character one too many times, maps

the same thing, and the design of Bruce, I mean,

again, we get the... Bruce's is Batman and and

the way that they keep trying to make it where

it's not Batman is getting like really old really

quick I understand what they're trying to do

this one I think the worst thing to say Oh, is

it Bruce Wayne and bat, you know or Bruce Wayne

the Batman the same? No, this one was just like

everything was forced in this Yeah, I will not

be continuing on with the series I don't care

how quote -unquote good that cliffhanger was

with the eyeball on the wall. It just It's just

not for me, people. It really isn't. You know,

based on our GCR and universal rating scale,

my personal rating based on that scale would

probably be two stars out of five. There were

a couple of images that I like, like seeing the

bat signal. There were, you know, the the whole

image with Hit with Olive, you know, repelling

down the building to save her. That was kind

of cool. the whole image with, you know, her

thinking that was Batman in his shadows and it

just didn't explain enough for a first issue

for me. It really explained nothing about the

characters other than all of his doesn't want

to be there. She's constantly picked on by the

older students and she supposedly has so many

relationship problems with Maps' own brother.

It just... It's too tween. It's not even tween.

It's too teen for me. I would rather read Little

Gotham than read this. I you don't even want

to know what I would bring up to read besides

this, but on a on a professional level, I'm dropping

it down to one and a half because as soon as

I the only thing that caught me, I will give

credit where creditors do. I like the cover where

they're repelling down on the bats and the bat

signal. OK, that would be great on a shirt or

on a desktop screen, maybe. And but. The names,

as I said, it's like they have to pick these

bizarre names that are not. It doesn't, you know,

it doesn't have a ring to it. And even the Academy,

there's nothing interesting about it. It's like

any other Gothic Academy that I could see. So

at the end of the day, I'm not that impressed

with it. Bruce Wayne showing up is for us. It

almost feels like, you know, a pilot where we

have to put him in. So. On a professional level,

one and a half because I don't think, you know,

I don't see anybody really. I don't want to subscribe

to this series. And on a personal level, I would

give it a point five because it's just something

if I never read or find out again, I'll die a

happy person. Mm hmm. Yeah, we're going to take

a quick break and then we're going to head to

Arkham Manor. Wait, what? We'll be back after

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Alright folks, it is time to enter Arkham Manor.

Now what was your first impression when you heard

about this one? You know... That house, you know,

what was it the the housing foreclosure? The

the market wasn't doing too well a couple years

ago This this to me would have been great social

commentary. But on the other hand, I'm kind of

like You know Marvel has something called the

what -if series of the 80s and I believe that

DC has something called else worlds and I thought

that this was going to be something like the

new 52 is bringing back else worlds which would

have been perfect. I saw the cover... Well, first

of all, I read on comicbook .com and some other

sources, like, what if Bruce Wayne lost all his

money? I think it would go something like this.

I then saw the cover where Wayne Manor became

Arkham Manor, and I'm also going back to... Well,

actually, you know what? I'll save those references

for later. In the meantime, because I'm getting

way too ahead of myself, in the meantime, the

cover itself, in theory, this is not... an idiotic

idea. I get where they're going with this, and

I don't think there is supposed to be social

commentary. The only thing I'm going to apologize

for is that I should have read Batman and Turtle

number 30 a couple days earlier, because I think

that's where this is supposed to come off of.

Yeah, I did go and read Batman Eternal Number

30. Basically, the events in that are Arkham

Collapses and everything else. So this picks

up after that where they need to put the inmates

somewhere and they're putting them in like this

stadium for a while, the sports stadium, and

obviously they're going to escape out of that.

I mean, you know, there's just, you know... The

cover, I absolutely love the cover. My initial

thoughts was I heard about this after I'd heard

about Gotham Academy. For me, folks, it's, you

know, you put two options in front of me and

I choose one. I don't choose both. So someone

put, you know, Gotham Academy in front of me.

I gave it a shot. I don't care for it. You put

Ark of Manor in front of me. It's kind of like

Robert Frost, you know, two roads in the Yellowwood

Diverge. I'm definitely on board with Ark of

Manor. This is amazing. This did not disappoint.

And of course, we have to go to the writer. Yes,

absolutely. Mr. Dogen, because this is somebody

that, of course, has written several Deadpool

comics. So we know the sarcasm and we know how

he's going to mix, you know, the the sarcasm

and the commentary. And I think he does it. well

and this is how a cover should be because I just

I just love the fact how the name Wayne has just

been scratched out and Arkham is written on chalk

and I just love the Mad Hatter how he has that

devil I mean you don't even have a joker you

have Mad Hatter with that grin you have I guess

it looks like poison ivy you've got I guess that

is Mr. Freeze I mean with the dumb Mr. Freeze

scarecrow that's scarecrow I thought that was

a rag doll In the back, I thought it was Scarecrow.

Ah, whatever, I don't know. Either way, doesn't

matter. But the point is, you're right, Arkham

Go Boom, or at least it's been engulfed in this

green earthquake thing, and we see people running

like ants. But yeah, you're right, it's like,

where are they gonna put the... Where are they

going to put Arkham's Rogues? Now, of course

in Arkham City we know what happens, but this

is not Arkham City. And I love the fact that

even with the construction crew coming, I just

love this imagery and it works so well where

the guy just comes with a hammer and you have

that on the crest, the Wayne name, and he's just

like knocking it off with a hammer and just making

it look like an A. I do love the I do love the

Mayor Hattie going through the list and he's

like I'm not giving up the observatory the old

Lawridge farm is condemned none of these places

is right wait this last name might work and The

I guess the clerk or somebody else whoever is

he says I left that on there just to make you

laugh We'd have to use the power of eminent domain,

but I think we have a winner. We'll move the

loonies to Wayne Manor But yeah, so he you know

the construction worker crosses out He basically

hits off the top two parts of the W to make an

A. So it is Arkham Manor. And I love Batman's

internal monologue here, where he's talking about

his father and how his father wanted the mentally

ill to be helped. And really, that's what this

book is all about. I read an interview, I believe

it was Conflict Resources. Had an interview with

mr. Duggan about what the book is gonna be about

and it's gonna be exploring mental illness and

it just it really it really appeals to me, especially

since Bruce is The centerpiece in this like I

have not read Batman 35. I'm not reading Scott

Snyder's Batman right now I'm barely reading

Batman eternal. It's just I just don't cuz the

whole thing right now is Batman number 35 takes

place after Batman Eternal ends. Well, Batman

Eternal isn't ending until March of next year.

So why would you put a story in a book that's

supposed to happen after the events of the entire

series of Batman Eternal? That makes no sense

to me whatsoever. But Arkham Manor, I'm completely

on board with this. I love Bruce's monologue.

I love how he prepared for two options after

the judge made his decision either to hand it

over or to, you know, make the house no more.

I love seeing the Batcave and the fact that he

sealed up the stair, the staircase and all that.

The art in this is amazing. It just is. The artwork

to me seems to be homage to the 70s and 80s of

DC. And I love how I mean, once again, we just

talked about Academy, we're talking about now.

Bruce in Academy looked like something out of

anime. And I'm not taking anything away from

all anime. I'm just saying certain anime. That's

what Bruce came off as. This one here, I love

that we see Bruce without his cowl. I mean, he's

in his, you know, but he's just sitting there

brooding and going through his options. And I

just love the design of him contemplating what

he wants to do. And he puts on the cowl. It's

a great design of Batman in this world. And you're

right. They have talked about the ways of what

they want to do with the mental ill. And they

talked about this before they were gunned down.

I think that's also continuity that they were

talking about with the TV series Gotham. So it

kind of all plays out because that was always

a big what if in a way. What would have happened

if Thomas and Martha would have lived? And we

know that in the Nolan verse, because I mean,

You know, 75 years is like so many universes

in DC. But in the Nolan verse, we know that Bruce

faked his death and he turned Wayne Manor into

an orphanage for the kids. We know in the TV

series Gotham what Thomas and Wayne Martha wanted

to do for Arkham. And we know in this universe

right now what Batman is doing to make the right

decision. And I think in his mind, at least in

the first few panels, his justification is that

he will still now know where they are. He feels

that they're not going to escape from Arkham

that easily because, you know, I don't know the

geography of Wayne Manor from Gotham City to

Arkham because I don't really have a map in front

of me and I don't know if a map has ever been

created. Here, it just makes a little bit more

sense because if he captures anybody, it's his

house. And I think it's another excuse for him

because we've discussed this. If it were up to

Bruce Wayne, he would be Batman 24 -7. I feel

that the only problem is now is that he's got

Alfred and He's got Gordon and he's got bullock

and he's got Barbara and he's got his bat family

So it's gonna open a lot of doors and ask a lot

of questions But then again, he's lost most of

his money or he's lost all his money I don't

know because I don't know what happened Batman

internal how he lost his fortune or whatever

that case may be Yeah, I don't think it's gotten

to that point yet I honestly don't know. Like

I said, I did read Eternal Number 30, and basically

it just shows the collapse of Arkham Asylum.

It says nothing about Bruce losing his fortune,

so... I'm not sure. I do love this kind of two

-page spread where on the left it's a flashback

where Gordon and Alfred are and he says Bruce

and it then goes to where Batman is because he

says he goes and says the only difference now

is I you know going to Arkham I need to go through

the front door instead of obviously going through

the cave and you know the administrators like

you can't be here and blah blah blah and Harvey's

like let him through. He goes to see, because

apparently two murders have happened. One in

Arkham and one somewhere else as well. Bruce's

monologue talks about how the house saved him

and whatever else. We kind of end on this whole

mystery of who these guys are. It shows up that

one of them doesn't, you know, is a John Doe,

doesn't have a name. I thought this was going

to be a Joker thing. I really did. You know,

the problem with putting Joker in, and as I said,

if you put Joker in, we've seen how he's going

to take a cream pie and destroy the story. I

think this has to be a serious one not that Joker

wouldn't be serious but wise man once said Batman

can't fight the Joker every week and I think

the best stories is when Joker is not Involved

because this way you could look at other rogues

see how well they do then you bring you know

You bring the best player in when the points

are going down and the crowd is ready to pick

themselves up and leave. This book is smarter

because you're getting people to get off the

bleachers and into the game. Right, but what

I'm saying is like this whole thing at the end

with the John Doe and giving this John Doe a

name and they go and look at the Jack Shaw. Like

that whole thing, when they go to a race, they

go to Jack S and then they go to J .A. I thought

that was some sort of Joker reference. I know

it's not, but that's what I thought it was when

I first read this. I thought so too, but then

I thought to myself, you know what? I kept saying

maybe, yes, maybe, oh, but I don't know. I'm

sure he's going to have some sort of a foot in

this, but, you know, it just keeps you guessing,

which is a smart thing. Yep, and You know so

this guy this John Doe this prisoner goes into

it goes into way Arkham Manor and the the guy

there is You know he goes and says see where

is it? Oh, what are they feeding a homeless these

days? nothing Touche, I'm Eric Border. You are

without a home in Gotham, but you have one now.

If you treat the staff and your fellow patients

with respect, it will be returned to you. This

place is a this is a place of healing, Mr. I'm

Jack, Jack Shaw. And it just goes welcome to

Arkham Manor. And it has a to be continued. This

was much better executed than Gotham Academy.

I think so. My other question is because next

to Jack is a shadow of Batman. So I guess my

other question was is this supposed to be Bruce

undercover? I don't think so. I really really

don't think so. Because I'm kind of wondering

like why they would have the shadow of Batman

next to him and I know that Bruce has been known

to go undercover before. I thought of that. As

for the John Doe in There's a graphic novel called

Arkham Living Hell, and there's a character known

Jane Doe, and what Jane does is that she's a

chameleon, and she's able to change voices and

appearances. She's not a clay face, but she's

just able to, you know, find other ways to change

her appearance, and what she does is that she

gets to know somebody, so when she's ready to

put on their, you know, costume or, you know,

carve their face and make it hers, she takes

over that person's life for a while. I thought

maybe... That was, you know, the John Doe for

this universe. But then when I see the Batman

shadow, I'm not too sure. So it's smart that

they're not really bringing in the heavy guns

of Arkham's elite. And I really, I think my best,

the best image that I can see right now is that.

split between between young Bruce and Batman

and when you young Bruce is going up to Gordon

and You know Gordon says Bruce, and then you

know you have it like that Magenta I guess and

then next to it you have the the blues and you

know Borg is telling Batman let him through I

think that's the best image right there This

is a smarter story, and I'm not just saying because

Academy may or may not be for girls the point

is this one the designs make sense, the story

has a great build -up, it has a great first act,

second act, I want to know what the whole Jack

Shaw mystery is about, and I like the idea that

Arkham matter, because once again, in Arkham

City, or Arkham Asylum, we of course saw the

back cave underneath Arkham Asylum. So... you

this works in okay what would you read it uh...

for me it's a five it's a great opening to the

series the art is interesting there a couple

are points where i think that man just looks

too dirty and i think that's just the artifact

it's not batman himself but uh... there is a

page where he just looked a little too off, but

overall this is refreshing. This is fun. It was

fun hearing Bruce's internal monologue as far

as the history of the house and his dad and his

mom and everything else. I'm really excited to

see what kind of mental illnesses and what patients

that they do encounter here in Arkham Manor.

Yeah, I give this a five out of five. And again,

you know, this also reminds me a little bit of

the DC Comics of the 80s where Dr. Strange caused

Bruce Wayne to go insane through psychedelic

drugs and robotics and caused the Wayne fortune

to dissipate and Dr. Hugo strange dressed up

as Batman for a while it also kind of reminded

me what the Dark Knight Rises should have been

But this one I could not wait to subscribe this

series this I mean and again It doesn't matter

what demographic you are. I mean male or female

age range I would say this would be good for

you know, maybe 16 and up but the bottom line

is this just has a more satisfactory Feel to

it. So definitely a must -own Yeah all the way

around it really does So we We give Arkham Manor

a five I gave Gotham Academy a two you gave it

a one and a half I believe Yeah, we will be continuing

on with Arkham Manor. I may bring JT from Saskatoon

in with us on future issues of Arkham Manor.

I don't know yet. But Gotham Academy, I'm done.

Yeah, we're done with that one. I just it's too

teen for me. It's like it goes back to in 19

December of 1999, I was living in Biloxi, Mississippi.

And there was books a million about, I don't

know, less than five minutes away from where

my girlfriend and I were living at the time.

And I went in and I'm like, OK, and I hadn't

read a lot of books like recently. I was 19 at

the time and like I wasn't really reading that

much because I was basically moving all over

the eastern seaboard between 97 and 99. And it

just it was a whole nightmare. So I asked one

of the one of the the bookstore clerks, I said

to her, I said, you know, I'm looking for something

new to read. What would you recommend? And she

says, oh, well, I have two recommendations. You

can either read this book series by called the

Plum series, which is about a female bounty,

a former lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter,

Stephanie Plum, or there's Harry Potter and wizardry.

Well, can you guess where I went, folks? The

former lingerie buyer now turned bounty hunter

is the choice that I made and I've been reading

Jim in one of his books ever since I have not

seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I have not

read any of the Harry Potter books. I'm sure

they're good. They're not for me. It's just not

something that I mean, if you took Harry Potter

out of Hogwarts and set it in a space battle

with death stars and X wings and a wings and

all that stuff. Sure. Fine. I'd love it. But

Unless it's Masters of the Universe, the whole,

you know, mysticism and magic kind of thing is

just not my thing at all. So with Gotham Academy,

it's, like I said, it's basically an American

version of Harry Potter with Batman sprinkled

in there horribly. With Arkham Manor, it's so

much more engaging and so... interest more interesting

it's actually since Batman Beyond 2 .0 slash

Batman Beyond universe is ending Arkham Manor

is my replacement book since that series is ending

so absolutely loved Arkham Manor cannot recommend

it enough Gotham Academy I wouldn't recommend

that for my own dog to chew on yeah and Harry

Potter, the problem is that the first four books

and movies were good. After that, it got too

emo, and I wouldn't compare Academy so much to

Harry Potter, more to Twilight, because at least

with Harry Potter, the characters and everything

were a little bit more interesting. I'm not saying

one is better than the other, but yeah, Academy,

if girls really want to read, or young girls,

well, maybe Harley Quinn is not the best one.

But when you get older, yeah, I would just say

with Harley Quinn of Suicide Squad. But Manor,

this is one, as you can tell, neither of us can

shut up about, so I cannot wait for issue two.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, where can the people

find you online? Where can't they find me nowadays?

Facebook .com, Hunnic Outcast, of course on GeekCast

Radio Network and the syndicated shows, Stitcher,

Spreaker, Tumblr, you name it, I'm on there.

You just can't get rid of me that easily. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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