Once in a blue moon some story comes to your attention that makes you think of something else and you think that said story is gonna be less than spectacular, but it manages to win you over anyway. That describes me reading the first 6 issues of this series and now I'm writing this blog to tell you why its so awesome.

            Gladstone: School for World Conquerors details the lives of a group of kids who go to this special school to learn the vocation of their parents. Which in this case this is a school for supervillians, teaching you how to build a better death ray and how to express the right kind of monologue.

            With this school, I'm surprised we are still alive.

             The comic focus on sort of a meta take on this material and taking itself too seriously, making this world of villains seem very comical and sympathetic characters. The worlds biggest villain was first introduced making muffins in an apron. The main character's father was first introduce trying to find a special kind of rose for his wife. But it is able to amp up the tension with the big reveal about this world.

          The school setting is used in a minimalist sort of way with it being the setting of the book but never be used to the point of overshadowing everything. The world outside of the school is allowed to grow and like any good school story, both are allowed to affect each others lives.

          A great part of this book was getting introduce to these group of kids and allowing them to be kids for a little while at least. Allowing them to deal with regular kids stuff like trying to pass horrible subjects, dealing with bullies and having crushes. The book also lets them grow up by letting them deal with learning the world that they know of wasn't the world they know of and that sets up the main arc.

            The only real complaint was that its a story type you have probably seen before and its not gonna invent the wheel but it would be a fun ride and the potential to be so much more.

Its a 9 out of 10.