Review: Study Hall of Justice

Study Hall of Justice by Derek Fridolfs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I initially found out about this book through a social media friend, who posted a picture of their copy and spoke of their own glee at the book. At a brief glance, I could see that the artist for the front cover was Dustin Nguyen and my interest was piqued. Nguyen is one of my favourite comic book artists, and generally speaking, anything he's been involved with has always been something I've enjoyed. Little wonder then, that I took myself off to Amazon to order a copy.

Secret Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice is a book aimed at much younger readers than me, but you know what? That does not stop it from being a highly enjoyable read all the same. Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Diana Prince teaming up at a school that is unusually lack on the misbehaviour of the majority of it's students. Actually, scratch that. All it's students, barring our tiny Trinity. It's down to the three heroes to find out what's going on and bring justice to an unjust place.

Derek Fridolfs has to be commended. He not only seems to understand each respective member of the Trinity, but he writes them well, especially at a younger age when their personalities as we known them would not be fully in place. As such, we do get some understand 'new' quirks: Bruce is a bit of a dork, Clark is ridiculously naive about the world, and Diana has a few... anger problems. Not going to lie, actually, Diana's temper is fantastic and I love that she's been allowed to have a temper, considering the paragon of virtue that the female role usually has to be in books for younger readers. As mentioned in other reviews, this isn't a traditional prose story. It's made up of comic panels, journal entries, texts and instant messages between the tiny Trinity, as well as various leaflets and flyers and other goodies that help add to the over-all feel of this being Bruce trying to cobble together a case file.

Honestly, there's not much else I can say without dipping too far into the spoiler territory. You will see your favourite villains, you will end up being charmed by the interactions of the tiny Trinity, and you will finish the book and immediately want another. I sincerely hope that Secret Hero Society is a new series of books from DC, because I know that I'll happily buy another if Fridolfs and Nguyen are at the helm again.

(Add Gail Simone and I'll buy more than one copy of each book.)

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