Bruce Wayne is excited to start at his new school, Ducard Academy, but on his first day, he's puzzled. He expected to find great facilities and excellent faculty, but instead he discovers rowdy, clown-faced classmates; weird instructors promoting mad science and world domination; and . . . ninjas? With the help of his surprisingly strong new friends, Clark and Diana, Bruce digs into Ducard's secret files to uncover the identity of their shadowy principal, whom no one has ever seen. But just like the grown-up Justice League, Bruce, Clark, and Diana don't always get along. Fridolfs and Nguyen's comic-book panels are interspersed with journal entries, flyers, surveillance photos, and other ephemera, which together offer neat visual clues so readers can easily follow along with Bruce's investigations, and Nguyen's watercolor figures are a nice change from typical comic-book-style art. Though some jokes require an understanding of Batman's extensive roster of supervillains, most are perfectly suited to the middle-grade audience. Though Bruce deems this case closed, there are, happily, more mysteries on the horizon.

Gr 3-5 Aspiring young detective Bruce Wayne has been recruited for Ducard Academy and soon realizes that something fishy is going on. His fellow classmates are a bunch of clowns and bullies who have no desire to better their formal education; they are more interested in petty crimes and world domination. Luckily, Bruce finds two classmates who similarly are not fitting in at the Academy. Clark is a strange boy from a farm in Smallville. Diana Prince comes from a small exotic island on the other side of the world. If the three of them can work together, they might be able to figure out who is really running Ducard Academy and why the curriculum is so bizarre. They just have to watch out for the school's vigilant central computer system/librarian and the ninjas who always seem to be in the shadows. This graphic novel hybrid will likely find an engaged audience with young Marvel superhero fans who, perhaps, are not quite ready for more involved comics. Die-hard fans, however, will have trouble reconciling this alternate history with the traditional backstories of the famous grown-up superheroes they have come to know. Reluctant readers will appreciate the spare text, graphic novel panels, and varied ephemera including chat scripts, school evaluation reports, maps, and emails. Though jam-packed with visual and text elements, the story is easy to follow. VERDICT A supplemental purchase for collections in need of high-interest hybrid format titles. Carol Hirsche, Barnett Elementary, Payson, UT