Becky Cloonan's Super Cool Gotham Academy Hero Portraits

I don't think it's possible for the staff of ComicsAlliance to get more excited for Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl's Gotham Academy than we already are, but if there's one thing that could do it, it's seeing the characters for the new book in a set of brand-new portraits drawn by Cloonan. This week, that's exactly what we've got, so prepare yourself, because they are fantastic.

In a set of three images, Cloonan has introduced us to the principal characters, Olive Silverlock, Maps Mizoguchi and Kyle Mizoguchi. Check them out below, along with what the creators of the book had to say in our interview from San Diego Comic-Con.

Brenden Fletcher: Olive Silverlock, our main character.

Becky Cloonan: It's her second year at Gotham.

BF: Her first year was fairly sunny, fairly bright. She doesn't come from a really wealthy background so getting to go to this prep school is a wonderful experience for her, was a wonderful experience for her. Her grades are fantastic, loves books, was in the school play, dating the tennis star and then something happened in the summer that changed her world. It's impacted her relationship with the tennis star in a negative way. It's impacted the way she feels about the school and it may have had some disastrous change on her life. That's one of the main arcs of where it's going. What happened to Olive? What is that going to mean for her future and the future of all the students at Gotham Academy?

BC: And her best friend, her name is Mia Mizoguchi, her nickname is Maps because she's obsessed with cartography, is one year younger than her, a freshman. So excited to be here. So happy. She's Olive's ex-boyfriend's little sister. So it's a little awkward.

MD: It's complicated.

BC: It's a little complicated. She comes in and Olive has to show her around and now Olive is thrown back with this old friend of hers and they have to figure out how to be friends again. There's some weird things happening at this school. The north hall is off limits and no one knows why. There may or may not be a ghost that's been sighted around campus. So there are a lot of mysteries to uncover.

Sorry, we didn't talk about Kyle :(

One last thing to mention: While the art above was posted on Cloonan's Tumblr, it was debuted on Buzzfeed, which as we all know is where everyone goes for their comics news and commentary. Really, though, that and the fact that these images contain no corporate logos or fine print suggest a more unconventional, maybe even guerrilla marketing vibe for this series (kind of like the official unofficial Batgirl of Burnside Tumblr). It would certainly be a good thing if DC reached beyond the usual direct market audience to gain interest in a book with as much potential as Gotham Academy.

The series debuts October 1, and can be pre-ordered from finer comic book stores everywhere using the Diamond code AUG140201.