I've been into comics a long time, but I'm almost always more about the writing than the art. "Gotham Academy, Volume 1" is the rare exception for me. Yes, I'm digging the writing (well-paced suspense & great character development), and if the writing wasn't there, that would be a deal-breaker for me. That said, Karl Kerschl's artwork is just gorgeous. Each image looks more like a frame from a classic Disney film than comic book art. This two-page spread, a few pages into the first issue, won me over completely. So much going on in these two pages, but it doesn't confuse me at all. The way it's constructed makes it simple to navigate from one image and word balloon to the next. I will definitely be going back to buy volume 2.