Comic Book Review: DC’s Saved by the Belle Reve 1 created by Various
A fairly long-standing tradition of DC Comics is the “Holiday Special”; an anthology issue themed around a particular holiday or season. It started, naturally, with Christmas specials, now more general “winter holiday”-themed, but Halloween specials with horror-type stories were an obvious addition, and more holidays have joined them over the years. This one, though, is something of an anti-holiday special, working the “back to school: theme.
The title deserves a little unpacking. “Saved by the bell” was originally a boxing term for when a beleaguered fighter gets a short reprieve due to the end of the round. But it also worked well for students at the end of classes, and thus became the title of a popular show for teens set in a high school (a bit after my time.) “Belle Reve” here refers to the prison which is the headquarters for the Suicide Squad. The meaning of “beautiful dream” is meant to be ironic. I can’t remember the title of the book, but years ago I read a science fiction book which was set in a failed housing project named Belle Reve, which the inhabitants pronounced as “Belly Rave.”
“Sophomore Year” written by Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher with art by Karl Kerschl is set at Gotham Academy. This is a private school in DC’s most spooky city, where strange things happen. I’m afraid I didn’t read that series, so am unfamiliar with the characters. It’s between terms, and none of the “Detective Club” kids should be on campus. But one of their number was forced to leave at the end of the previous year, and they’re trying to locate her journal. Until they get distracted by what appears to be a zombie. Probably very resonant for fans of the series.
“High School Lows” written by Tim Seeley and art by Scott Kolins is a Suicide Squad story. The criminals and antiheroes controlled by bombs in their necks to perform government missions have been assigned to infiltrate a private school to protect one of its students. They prove surprisingly good at being teachers. Too good. Content note: death of children, black comedy.
“Back to School” written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Max Raynor by contrast features Jon “Superboy” Kent and Damian “Robin” Wayne in an earnest tale about them meeting a new student, Sydney, who’s non-binary. Sydney teaches the Super-Sons, and thus the readers, what “non-binary” means in this context, and they in turn teach him different ways to deal with bullying. This is kind of didactic, very After School Special, and doesn’t really match the feel of the rest of the stories. Content note: bullying.
“Earn It Back” written by Dave Wielgosz and art by Mike Norton is something of a throwback to the Silver Age. Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen learns that his ward Roy “Speedy” Harper is doing poorly in school. To encourage Roy to bring up his grades, Oliver forbids him to be Speedy until further notice. The grades do go up some, but then stall and Roy’s clearly miserable at school. Oliver tries to find a balanced way to deal with the situation. Suffers a bit from retconning some later developments into the past characterization.
“Piece Making” written by Art Baltazar & Franco, with art by Art Baltazar, is an amusing bit of fluff in which the Tiny Titans (even younger versions of the Teen Titans) get lost on a field trip and wind up visiting Belle Reve Prison. (And the Suicide Squad members guest star.) Silly.
“This Is Why” written by Brandon Thomas and art by Craig Cermak, hearkens back a few years to when Lex Luthor was President of the United States of America. It was as bad an idea as you would think, nearly as bad as [political reference here]. But for some reason, Jefferson Pierce, former Olympian decathlete, teacher, and the superhero Black Lightning, was picked to become Secretary of Education. This story delves into the reason for Mr. Pierce to accept the job, and the stories of his students.
“How Angels Are Made” written by Dan Watters and art by Juan Ferreyra, focuses on Azrael, aka Jean-Paul Valley, formerly an assassin for the Order of St. Dumas, a particularly unpleasant splinter group of the Catholic Church. The Azrael programming in his head, which is not quite a separate personality, has brought him to a ruined school. It turns out to have been one Jean-Paul attended as a child, a parochial school run by the Order. He starts remembering what happened here. Content note: child abuse.
“A Night Off” written by Andrew Aydin and art by Nelson Daniel fills out the issue with a story about Dick “Nightwing” Grayson and Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon going to the prom. Too bad it seems the night isn’t going to go smoothly! I don’t think this one fits into any continuity, but is fun and the best story in the issue.
Overall, a decent special issue–most recommended if you are a Gotham Academy fan as the series was cut short and most of the characters are unlikely to appear elsewhere.
