Reenroll In ‘Gotham Academy’ With New DC Series ‘First Year’ From Original Creative Team

School is bat in session this October, as DC Comics has announced Gotham Academy: First Year, a new six-issue miniseries reuniting the original creative team of Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, and Becky Cloonan.

“I’m so excited to return to the world of Gotham Academy with Becky and Karl,” said Fletcher via press release provided to Comic Book Club. “It’s a joy to be back with the original team, and to welcome the incredibly talented Marco Ferrari to the fold. His work brings such life to these characters and to the halls of the Academy itself.”

Set at the most prestigious prep school in Gotham City, as Fletcher mentions, Ferrari will take over interior art duties for the series, while Kerschl will provide covers for all six issues. The new story will turn back time to focus on Olive Silverlock’s first year at GA. Olive is a “shy, working-class teen from Gotham’s Narrows” who navigates school life in a world of heroes and villains. From visits to Arkham Asylum to “surprise appearances from billionaire weirdos,” Gotham Academy

“We went back to where it all began,” continued Fletcher. “Gotham Academy: First Year takes us into Olive Silverlock’s pivotal first year—the mysterious summer before it all started—and introduces one of Batman’s most iconic villains to the series for the very first time. We can’t wait for readers old and new to join us this October, exactly 11 years to the day since the original series debuted!”

First Year will start with a “traumatic event” involving Olive’s mother, which brings both Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon into the fold, before delivering her to Gotham Academy. Per PR, “Underlying everything, Olive has a problem—and it’s shaped like Gotham’s most famous vigilante: Batman. But how will she process the weight of her past while navigating school politics, unexpected friendships, and a growing connection to Gotham’s darker mysteries? Who will she share her first kiss with? And why is everyone obsessed with… maps? What’s with these rich kids? Does Gotham Academy have a cartography class??”

Gotham Academy: First Year #1 will hit stores on October 1, 2025, with covers by Kerschl, Dustin Nguyen, and Sweeney Boo. In addition, after the end of the series, it will be collected into a Young Adult graphic novel edition which will hit stores on August 4, 2026. Check out the covers, below.

Comic Book Club Live Info:

Want to watch Comic Book Club live? We stream every Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on YouTube and Twitch. Come hang out, and ask questions of our guests (and us!). And you could potentially win a $25 gift card to Midtown Comics. You can check out a current list of upcoming guests and other live appearances on our Shows page.