Reviews
Gotham High by Melissa de la Cruz is a "reimagining of Gotham for a new generation of readers." For older readers it's a what if scenario. What if Bruce Wayne and his future rivals all went to the same high school? It's a similar set up to Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle and Isaac Goodhart (2019) but how the characters are imagined is different, as is the scenario. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...
I received this book as part of a Pop Up bookstagram tour from BookSparks. I am giving it 5 for the illustrations, which I find really captivating. But for the story, I'm still yearning for more of Selina's. So for the story, I think it will be 3.5. All in all, I devoured the whole graphic novel in one sitting and I didn't want it to end. It was easy to guess what might happen next but nevertheless, it was an enjoyable ride for me.
I received a copy of this book from DC Ink in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review. Content Warning: Partying, Premarital Relations, Abduction, Murder, Gambling Gotham High isn't my typical type of story. I have been getting more into graphic novels as of late, but I'm not the biggest superhero fan. What to know another secret? I'm also more of a Marvel fan. Despite my awkward position journeying into this book, I found that I was rather pleased with what I read. If anything, Gotham High made me appreciate some of these memorable characters even more. Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City after being kicked out of his boarding school. Upon returning, Bruce finds that everything has changed, and the city has grown to be much darker. The girl next door to where he grew up, Selena Kyle, was one of Bruce's closest friends. In his absence, Selena and sidekick/romantic pawn Jack Napier have made Gotham High theirs to rule. Unsuspecting Bruce soon realizes that he may have been the focus of an attack when one of his fellow schoolmates is abducted. Bruce sets to uncover the truth behind the abductors and what they want. The artwork in this story is perfect for the storyline, and is my favorite part of this graphic novel. The artwork holds true to a style that reflects a typical comic book but is refined in a way that gives the characters some playfulness. The deep colors of purple, blue, and red match and enhance the tone of a relatively dark story. A diverse cast of characters allows the reader to view these icons in a different light. Peeking into the bedrock of their lives gives a better understanding as to how each character ended up pursuing the paths that we are all familiar with, particularly Selena and Jack. Vulgarity: Minimal. Sexual content: Minimal/Moderate. Violence: Minimal. My Rating: ★★★★ My Blog ¦ Bookstagram ¦ Twitter ¦ Pinterest ¦ Facebook
When I heard this announced I was so excited until I saw who the author was going to be and then I was less excited. I thought I will still give it a go and hope that it would be alright. It was not. I loved the cover and the artwork, but the story just fell flat to me. You never got to know the characters and the story seemed all over the place. It did not flow well and I felt like there were a lot of holes in the story.
* I got this book for review, from the publisher and would give it 3.5 stars for review* I really enjoyed both the storyline and also the bright art style in this graphic novel. I loved that this book focus on younger versions of batman, Batman and Joker. I found it to be fun read and really captured my attention. The story line went in a direction that I did not expect and that was exciting. I really loved the dynamics between the characters. It was super quick read and hope me get more books following these characters.
Bruce Wayne comes back to Gotham City after attending the boarding school. He’s living with his uncle in the Wayne mansion and it brings a lot of attention around the city. He’s a student of the Gotham High and everything seems normal at the beginning. He makes new friends and starts to have a crush on his long-time friend Selina Kyle. Everything changes over one day when one of the students is kidnapped. Bruce felt a need to discover who did it and how to bring Harvey back. It gets very complicated when he finds out that one of his friends can be guilty of the crime. My thoughts: I’m a huge fan of Selina Kyle so when I was asked to review this graphic novel that includes her in it, I couldn’t say no. Honestly, it’s one of the best graphic novels I’ve ever read. It has included mystery, romance, superheroes and powerful women in it, which is everything I need to love the story. It starts with the point of view of Selina where she’s introducing us to the story and how her life looks like. It’s a little bit confusing at the beginning, but it makes you want to read more and more of it. Even if it seems that Bruce is the main character, Selina leads the whole game. She is the one who manipulates the story and what every person there will do next. She has everything planned and controlled. Bruce is smart and sees that’s something is wrong, something is happening, but he doesn’t know that the person who’s responsible for everything that is happening is closer than he thinks. I think Bruce as a teenager was more down-to-earth than Bruce as an adult. He’s trying to fit in, find new friends and lead a normal life. He is humble and carrying toward people he cares about. However, he can’t read people’s minds so he doesn’t know about problems his friends struggle with and this is the thing that leads to an end like this. I like him much more in this graphic novel as in the movies. He looks more human. I don’t know if you know what I mean. I never was a huge fan of batman so it’s a big compliment for him. As much as I like an idea of Selina and Bruce together, I’m very curious about how their relationship will look like in the second book. The ending was surprising, and I think no one was expecting something like this. I hope volume two will be released soon so I don’t need to wait too long to find out. My favorite thing in this graphic novel is to see teenage years of Bruce, Selina but also Poison Ivy. It’s fun to know that even then they were not normal kids. Poison Ivy’s appearance in the book was surprising and I love how they brought her to this story. I love her friendship with Selina, so I was happy to see them together in this book. I didn’t mention it earlier but look at how amazing are illustrations in this book! I admired it all my way through this book. Big congratulations to Thomas Pitilli for the great work he has done. I would like to thank Stephanie Elliot, Sara Ruiz Hannah, MB Communications and Melissa de la Cruz for providing me this copy. I love Melissa de la Cruz’s book so reading this graphic novel brought me so much fun, especially that I am a huge DC comics fan! I hope that you enjoyed my review and you will enjoy reading this book as much as I did!
Read my full review on my blog Sometimes Leelynn Reads OMG when de la Cruz had Bruce Wayne as a CHINESE BOY and Selina GARCIA KYLE AS A LATINA GIRL I KNEW I WAS GONNA LOVE THIS BOOK OKURRRRRR.
*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL COPY FOR THE PURPOSES OF A BLOG TOUR. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION* I can't even begin to tell y'all how much I love Batman. He was one of my favorite dark-heroes growing up, and I never could get enough from watching the movies. Beginning this novel, I was entirely thrilled to see that Batman is not another middle-aged white man. In Gotham High, Batman is an Asian-American teen who's just been kicked out of his prestigious private school and sent back home for the duration of his high school years. And don't even get me started on the art! For the love of God, Thomas Pitilli did an absolutely phenomenal job illustrating this book. I really loved how he fit the darker tones into it, keeping it perfect for the DC universe. Melissa de la Cruz did a great job with the story-line. The only problem I had with it was that it got really predictable in parts. One of those parts I was really sad to have been able to predict was the entire ending. *cue dramatic sob of frustration* Altogether though, I really did enjoy this book. I WOULD NOT recommend it for anyone under 15, though. There were some more mature themes in this book, and while they weren't strongly focused on, they were still very much there. For that, I rate this book 3.75 stars. I really do hope they continue this storyline, as I would love to see what happens after this.
I was actually a bit apprehensive about this read this at first because of the whole high school dynamic and because of the obvious love triangle BUT I am pleased to let you all know that I actually read this in one sitting and it was really fun to read. Of course if I had noticed that my girl Selina Kyle was the Voice of this graphic novel I would have picked it up a lot sooner. I’m so over the top obsessed with the art style of this graphic novel I can’t get over it! The colors, the details, the shading!! It just all makes my artist heart very happy. I won’t lie there are some scenes that I would definitely frame if I could. The twists on each character were also very interestingly done. I like that there were different ethnicities in this and that some characters were flipped around, this has probably been one of my favorite of the DC YA comics so far. I of course blame Selina Kyle she is probably one of my favorite DC characters – aside from Ivy of course 😉 I think over all this one deserves 4 stars – and I’m not just being biased cause I love Selina..okay maybe just a little bit – Gotham high is out now! make sure to get your copies! what else is there to do in this Quarentined life except quarenread!
3.75/5 stars I received a free copy of Gotham High from DC in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own!! This was such a fun, unique read for me. Overall, I think the plot and the characters could’ve been developed more, but super entertaining! Gotham High is a twist on the classic stories of the DC Universe, our soon-to-be superheroes and villains only teens at Gotham High School. It follows Bruce Wayne, who starts attending school at Gotham High after being kicked out of his prep school. He is pegged as the “rich kid,” but he manages to make some friends: his neighbor and old friend Selina Kyle, and her friend Jack Napier. Soon, though, they become entangled in a series of kidnappings at school, and as Bruce plays at being the hero, is he the one being played? I loved everything about this as an origin story. Because I’m not very knowledgeable on the DC world (I’ve always been more of a Marvel gal 😉), it was fun for me to speculate: “He must become the Joker, doesn’t he?!” or “This must be why they become the villain!” It was so exciting for me to see these classic characters as teens growing into their future roles. That’s why the highlight of this novel is its characters; I loved learning about the characters’ backgrounds and their intentions, even as new evidence unfolded and masks disappeared. Which leads me to my overall critique: the novel was lacking development. As much as I loved the characters, they had a lot more potential than what they were given. A sad backstory doesn’t equal emotion and motives; there needed to be more development on that front. The plot was also a little choppy and very fast-paced, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was all there and done. It was very entertainment-driven, with no time to sit and ponder anything. Which is why I enjoyed it as an entertaining, quick read. I recommend this if you love a good origin story, or maybe if you are just looking for a new graphic novel (with great art, I might add!) to devour in one sitting. If you enjoyed this review, you can follow me here on Goodreads, on my bookstagram @ashton_reads, or on twitter @ashton_reads for more bookish content :)) Love you guys!!
