Comic Book Review: Strange Academy: The Deadly Field Trip by various creators
Up until fairly recently, the general way of learning magic in the Marvel Universe was being the apprentice of a more experienced mage, and if you didn’t have a mentor or had been kicked out of the relationship, self-study. Doctor Stephen Strange, sometime Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, decided that it might be a good idea to have a school for young magical people instead, You know, like the one in the Earthsea books.
So he gathered a number of other mages and magical people to give lessons, and founded Strange Academy in New Orleans. There have been a few bumps in the road, and not every student is going to make it to graduation, but overall it seems like a good idea.
This volume collects four “specials” that take place during a time when Dr. Strange is temporarily dead.
Three of these, written by Carlos Hernandez (“Sal and Gabi Break the Universe”), have a connected story. School librarian Zelma Stanton recruits five of the students to compete in a Multiversal Math Bowl to be held at Brooklyn Visions Academy. Germán Aguilar, a Mexican Nahual who can create animal energy projections; Doyle Dormammu, son of the Dread Dormammu (sometime ruler of the Dark Dimension); Shaylee Moonpeddle, a fairy/human crossbreed; Toth, a Crystal Warrior/Man-Thing crossbreed from Weirdworld (no idea how that worked); and Gus (short for “Guslaug”, a Frost Giant from Jotunheim.
They team up with Miles Morales (the second Spider-Man), Moon Knight and original flavor Spider-Man against the menace of Equation, a Fae who has developed a new kind of magic math called Enchantmatics, and who wants to use it to eliminate all other kinds of magic from existence.
The fourth is written by Skottie Young, and focuses on the Asgardian twins, Alvi and Iric Bronson, children of the Amora the Enchantress (Norse goddess known for beauty and villainous love magic). It turns out that she sold her firstborn child to an evil sorcerer, Pulsari, for some favor or another, which seemed like a good idea at the time since she was childless at the time and planned to be childfree. Then she got careless and the twins got born.
So Amora had to beg for help from Dr. Strange, who petrified Pulsari, a spell that would last for the rest of Strange’s life. Only Dr. Strange is dead now, and Pulsari has claimed what is owed him, Iric. Alvi goes to Weirdworld to save his brother, aided by the Enchantress. Alvi understandably does not trust his deadbeat mother, but she’s on a relatively good character arc so is sincerely trying to help.
The rest of that special is filled out with one or two-page looks at what some of the other students are up to during the same time period. (This does not necessarily match what’s going on in the other specials.)
Good: A bunch of fun imagery depicting the various magical powers and interesting setting. The stories are overall optimistic, despite a certain amount of dange. Some of the characters are quite interesting.
Less Good: The stories presume you’ve read the main Strange Academy series, so I had to turn to spoilers to understand some of the character dynamics and background of what they’re reacting to.
Content note: Thor shows up naked, naughty bits obscured with steam and with a bit of body function humor. Children in peril, (temporary) death. Young adult readers should be okay, younger readers might need some guidance.
An okay volume of side stories. Recommended to math nerds, people who liked the main series, and fans of the guest star characters.
