Gotham Academy is my favorite first issue from DC Comics in recent memory. It is a completely different type of comic book from anything else I'm reading, and we were given a finely tuned and polished story. This issue was an absolute pleasure to read. Every element of the story, from those stated outright to those that were just hinted and teased at, seemed to be given to us on purpose and with intent, with each hint or clue leading to more questions. Is the North Wing haunted? Why is Olive terrified of Batman? What's the connection between Olive and Bruce Wayne? No story time was wasted. Lots of questions are provided to keep me coming back for answers. This is a series that I won't be missing.

Dan Jurgens has a very long tenure as both a writer and an artist on Superman and that experience helps make this issue so enjoyable. He has a tight grip on what makes Superman so important to everyone in the DC Universe and how he is able to inspire hope to people and even be an inspiration to fellow super-heroes. Lee Weeks provided very dynamic art throughout the whole issue. From big fight scenes and large action all the way to the simple dialogue scenes I felt a depth and weight to Weeks' art. This issue felt important to me. More details about the big war between the heroes, villains and the forces of Apokolips are given during this issue. A war that has been teased at a lot and has been the major backdrop for much of the Future End's overall story. A war that I hope we get to see in comics soon.

This large scale story is peppered with lots of huge action pieces involving world-wide threats and high stakes for the Avengers and X-Men. Axis sets up a far-reaching story and looks like the start of an interesting event, but how self contained will the story of Axis be? Will it be understandable within the main Axis title or will the reader need to also jump aboard some of the other Axis related titles and mini-series in order to soak in all that's going on? That unknown element mixed with the lower than expected art quality from Adam Kubert and slight event fatigue has made me decide to not come back for #2 and instead “trade wait” on this storyline.