Writer: Skottie Young / Penciller: Humberto Ramos / Colour Artist: Edgar Delgardo / Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles / Collects: Strange Academy #1-#6 / TPB / Marvel / Age Range: 13 Up
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4th October 2021 (Released: 17th February 2021)
The Pitch: The Marvel Universe's first school for sorcerers throws open its doors! The world has mysteriously changed in such an alarming way that Doctor Strange has finally done what he has avoided for decades and established an academy for the mystic arts! Young people from around the world with an aptitude for magic are brought together in New Orleans to study under Stephen Strange, Brother Voodoo, the Ancient One, the Scarlet Witch, Magik, Daimon Hellstrom and all your favourite Marvel mages. From mindful Mindless Ones to pan-dimensional games of tag, the Strange Academy is definitely living up to its name. But the students' first field trip lights a fuse that is going to blow up in a big way! School's in session - and it's going to be spellbinding!
Launched back in 2020, Strange Academy passed me by originally, partly due to pandemic meandering on my part (and to be fair, unavailability of comics) and partly due to unwillingness to grab the 'next big marvel title'. More fool me. Dealing with the fallout from The Last Days of Magic event, Dr. Strange has opened up the first school of magic in New Orleans. Pulling in pupils from all across Marvel's magic universe was sure to result in a combustible mix... and you certainly get that here. Before we even open our spell books though, we should deal with the elephant in the room: Hogwarts. Sure, Strange Academy features an opening where a young kid discovers she may have magical power. Sure, that kid is recruited into a magical school to learn how to control their powers. And sure, later in the story, we discover one of the kids attending the school may just be 'The One'. But these things are part and parcel of the magical coming of age stories and even of tales that don't centre on magical children. One only needs to take a look at the first Matrix and Harry Potter movies to see it. And of course, fiction itself becomes a melting pot of mytho-typical ideas. One can draw a straight line between Books of Magic and The Boy Who Lived. I think the difference here is largely one of intention, in that there is now so much awareness of Harry Potter, the creators of Strange Academy are creating their work knowingly, whereas Rowling may have only been dimly aware of Tim Hunter. None of this is to imply thievery on anyone's part, but more to state that good works of art and entertainment inform each other, becoming part of a special language. Kind of like magic spells, really. Each generation alters the ingredients to create something new.
THE CHARACTERS IN STRANGE ACADEMY ARE IMMEDIATELY MEMORABLE NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR LOOK BUT BECAUSE OF THEIR HEART AND COMPASSION
Our particular brew contains all these recognisable elements and puts them through the modern Marvel blender, making flip remarks and creating cool, memorable moments. You feel the hand of Feige's MCU on the tiller and may often find yourself wondering, as the kids play a dimension-hopping game they call 'door-tag', why this hasn't already been announced as the next big MCU series or movie. Perhaps after Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness in 2022, it will be. Who knows, except Uatu Feige? The characters in Strange Academy are immediately interesting and intriguing. From Emily Bright, the magical human child, to Shaylee Moonpeddle and Doyle Dormammu, to the Brorson twins and Zoe Laveau... each of them is a memorable figure, not just because of their distinctive look and physicality, but because of their heart, compassion – or lack thereof - and humour. There are the standard conflicts at play: some kids get bullied, some kids want to be alone, and some are bullies. But in each, you get a clear idea of their egos, the fragility of their hearts and their feelings about being in this dangerous, magical, exciting new world. It's not long before their fun and games turn dangerous and bring a new enemy to the fore... as well as revealing secrets about the potential both good and evil inherent in the kids.
The book speaks to the infinite potential in the young and how ultimately nurture versus nature is the deciding factor in the behaviour of children. That’s not to say the book becomes a serious-minded treatise on the subject. Like all good Marvel fare, it gets its metaphors and points across in a fun, entertaining way, with the first three issues being amongst the very best of modern Marvel's more kid-friendly fare. Young writes with a real window into Young Adults’ lives and insecurities, through the marvel lens, giving us good, solid believable chatter amongst the kids and a genuine sense of menace between the adults, who may be hiding some very dark dealings from their students. Ramos' art is as dynamic as ever with a wonderful sense of Young's comic timing and fun angles. He knows when to turn on the danger, too. Delgardo's colours are atmospheric and rich, giving us a smoky world of painterly lights, tones and textures. He highlights Ramos' lines beautifully, just as Ramos communicates Young's script in the most evocative way possible. Cowles letters are note-perfect songs of kid'’ sputtering excitement and dry-wit. This book is great for young teens, being just kid-friendly enough to be relatively innocuous and yet dark and thrilling enough to make them feel like they're not buying a 'kids book'. Who says Marvel can't get kids’ comics, right?
Buy Marvel comics here and support The Comic Crush. Want more Doctor Strange? Check out Crushing Comics Episode 5 for The Death of Doctor Strange! Strange Academy Volume 1: First Class is available from your local comic shop. Strange Academy Volume 2: Bright Side will be available from 20th October 2021.