Whistle – A New Gotham City Hero

by Jeff Mason

Set in the DC Comics universe, Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero is an easy-to-read 6-chapter story of a teenager’s well-intentioned efforts to help her family make ends meet. The story follows 16-year-old Willow Zimmerman, a non-super-powered, Jewish teenager with a penchant for local activism and a love of stray dogs. Willow is growing up in Down River, an historically Jewish neighbourhood that has seen better days and whose residents are currently troubled by a murderous gangster and the mystery of buildings suddenly being “greened” by lush vegetation. Along the way we meet Willow’s Down River High School friends, new student and potential love interest Garfield, a stray Great Dane (Lebowitz), and Willow’s mother Naomi, who is living with brain cancer.

Due to her cancer, Naomi is not able to work and her chemotherapy is no longer effective. Forced into debt, unable to afford better treatment options, and not returning to the job she loves as a professor of Jewish studies next semester, Naomi tells Willow she has decided to stop treatment, “Stupid job didn’t have tenure or health insurance anyway,” she laments. To help pay the bills, Willow takes on an overnight job at the local animal shelter. Returning home late one night, Willow discovers a puzzle box left by her mother’s estranged college friend, E. Nigma. What follows is a youth-oriented exploration of the difficult choices uninsured families face when confronted with an uncertain and unstable future with some unexpected superpowers thrown in for good measure.

Readers familiar with Batman’s rogues’ gallery will know what to expect when Willow meets “Pammie” Isley giving away free plants at a rally to save Down River from gentrification or when E. Nigma comes back into the picture. New readers will quickly learn that not everyone in Gotham is as they seem, despite what they would like Willow to believe. Preitano’s retro-feeling art takes advantage of the medium, using wardrobe changes to show Willow’s growth, and adds nods to Gotham’s criminal underbelly in the corners and background of panels (Oswald Cobblepot riding the subway was my favourite). Metzler’s use of assorted browns captures the rundown, but homey feel of Down River, in contrast to the bright, but not gimmicky or “super-heroey” colours of the characters.

Medical issues are mentioned but not discussed in detail – but do drive Willow’s decisions in the story. Preitano’s art makes it clear to the reader that Naomi is unwell and Lockhart’s story clearly communicates the impact Naomi’s cancer and lack of health insurance have on the family and its future. Although the setting is fictional, Willow and Naomi’s lives are clearly inspired by stories of the estimated 11% of American adults aged 19-64 who did have health insurance in 2023 and 2024 (down from 17% for those under age 65, since the Affordable Care Act was implemented).

Whistle is part of DC’s Graphic Novels for Young Adults line. The publisher recommends the book for audiences 13 years of age and older or in grades 10 through 12. The content is also likely appropriate for a pre-teen audience with language that is not complicated and content that is not challenging or controversial (although the ending is morally ambiguous).

Jeff Mason is a health sciences librarian supporting health innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization initiatives. He currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.