Strange Academy #1

[your_name_here]

There’s been a fair share of hype around this book. What were your thoughts?

[Dante Milton]

Let's make this a proper recap/review, shall we?

Spoilers Incoming!

We open with the POV character, Emily Bright, a girl who was born with magic. Her narration boxes are a letter she is writing to Dr. Strange that culminate in her asking for help learning how to use her magical abilities. We see her trying to teach herself a new spell that goes awry and she is rescued by Zelma Stanton from the Strange Academy (I have no idea if she is new or an established character). Zelma pitches the school to Emily's parents and they ultimately agree to send her. They teleport to New Orleans through something called the Neverish and then on to the Strange Academy proper, which seems to have a tardis deal going on. We are quickly introduced to the other students:

Shaylee Moonpeddle, a fairy from Otherworld, talkative and excitable.
Iric and Alvi of Asgard, twin brothers, a little snobish.
Guslaug, a frost giant.
Doyle Dormammu, son of Dormammu.
Zoe Laveau, from New Orleans probably Voodoo related magic, has a SEcreT.
Calvin Morse, a foster kid with a magic coat?
Dessy or Despair, a demon from Limbo, can "see the dark, painful, desperate side of all things at all times", fun at parties.
Toth, crystal or ice looking kid thing from Weirdworld, doesn't seem to talk.
German, a human looking kid with a fiery cat animage thing?

The kids are paired off into roommates, not of their choosing. Some personalities collide. Dr. Voodoo introduces the teaching staff: Zelma, the Ancient One, and the Mindful One and the visiting teachers Hellstrom, Nico Minoru, Scarlet Witch, Magik, and Shaman. Dr. Strange then suddenly appears battling a creature called a Throzil. The students help kill it, and then Dr. Strange is all "welcome to the Strange Academy hope you survive the experience", the end.

The book seems very trope filled, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but none of them are tropes that I particularly enjoy. The voice for Strange felt way off to me. Ramos' art is kinetic and expressive, but I don't care for his style. The colors felt washed out with a lot of blank white space throughout. The book is probably not for me, don't think I'll be continuing with it.

[Lonewolf36]

Let's make this a proper recap/review, shall we?

Spoilers Incoming!

We open with the POV character, Emily Bright, a girl who was born with magic. Her narration boxes are a letter she is writing to Dr. Strange that culminate in her asking for help learning how to use her magical abilities. We see her trying to teach herself a new spell that goes awry and she is rescued by Zelma Stanton from the Strange Academy (I have no idea if she is new or an established character). Zelma pitches the school to Emily's parents and they ultimately agree to send her. They teleport to New Orleans through something called the Neverish and then on to the Strange Academy proper, which seems to have a tardis deal going on. We are quickly introduced to the other students:

Shaylee Moonpeddle, a fairy from Otherworld, talkative and excitable.
Iric and Alvi of Asgard, twin brothers, a little snobish.
Guslaug, a frost giant.
Doyle Dormammu, son of Dormammu.
Zoe Laveau, from New Orleans probably Voodoo related magic, has a SEcreT.
Calvin Morse, a foster kid with a magic coat?
Dessy or Despair, a demon from Limbo, can "see the dark, painful, desperate side of all things at all times", fun at parties.
Toth, crystal or ice looking kid thing from Weirdworld, doesn't seem to talk.
German, a human looking kid with a fiery cat animage thing?

The kids are paired off into roommates, not of their choosing. Some personalities collide. Dr. Voodoo introduces the teaching staff: Zelma, the Ancient One, and the Mindful One and the visiting teachers Hellstrom, Nico Minoru, Scarlet Witch, Magik, and Shaman. Dr. Strange then suddenly appears battling a creature called a Throzil. The students help kill it, and then Dr. Strange is all "welcome to the Strange Academy hope you survive the experience", the end.

The book seems very trope filled, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but none of them are tropes that I particularly enjoy. The voice for Strange felt way off to me. Ramos' art is kinetic and expressive, but I don't care for his style. The colors felt washed out with a lot of blank white space throughout. The book is probably not for me, don't think I'll be continuing with it.

Zoe is probably related to Marie Laveau.

[Blue22]

It was, indeed, very tropey but I still really enjoyed it, nonetheless. Nothing really unique about it but I had so much fun reading this that I didn't really care. The premise is solid. The characters are fun. I definitely wanna see more.

[LordUltimus]

Question: I know Dr. Strange was never really a secret identity guy, but how widely known is he generally in the Marvel Universe?

[The BaRoN]

Enjoyed this

Some interesting new characters and has a Generation X vibe to it.

[4sake Baned]

https://www.marvel.com/amp/articles/...trange-academy

[Sutekh]

I'm vaguely intrigued by this 'Doyle Dormammu.'

We know from various stories that the flames of regency around Dormammu's head are only there when he's ruler of the Dark Dimension (and that both Umar and Clea have had them when they were ruler, and that he's been shown with a full head of black hair and normal human face, from *before* he claimed the title), so it's interesting that this character has the appearance of a head covered in flames, when his relatives all look like normal humans. Is it a glamer, him hiding his true face, for whatever reason (I'd laugh if it was acne!)? Or is he lying about who he claims to be (and, if so, Dr. Strange would be pretty quick to spot that inconsistency, since he's seen Dormammu without the flames, and Umar and Clea with them, and knows how that whole thing works).

Hopefully there'll be some exploration of how magic is working in the marvel universe, these days. More spells and invocations, and how they tap power from extra-dimensional entities like Cytorrak or the Faltines, and less 'kids with super-powers, who call themselves magicians, but then do whatever.'

Doyle, for instance, would make sense to be a natural at casting Flames of the Faltines, since he kind of *IS* a Faltine (the name of the race of which Dormammu is one), but if he's not casting that spell, but just 'has fire powers, for some reason' like some sort of mutant Human Torch, that's less interesting to me.

[Outburstz]

Ok so maybe I need a bit of explanation on how magic exactly works in marvel.

So based on what was said some humans can be born with high magic powers but all humans can in theory learn magic. The kid Calvin only got in because he found the magic coat other wise he would just be a normal dude is that correct?

[Pav]

I'm here for Toth and Toth alone.

-Pav, who can hope for a Weirdworld arc ft. Mike del Mundo...

[Digifiend]

Let's make this a proper recap/review, shall we?

Spoilers Incoming!

We open with the POV character, Emily Bright, a girl who was born with magic. Her narration boxes are a letter she is writing to Dr. Strange that culminate in her asking for help learning how to use her magical abilities. We see her trying to teach herself a new spell that goes awry and she is rescued by Zelma Stanton from the Strange Academy (I have no idea if she is new or an established character).

She was introduced in 2015's Doctor Strange #1.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Zelma...on_(Earth-616)

[ZuLuLu]

I enjoyed it enough and the kids are likable, looking forward to the next issue.

[Crimz]

I'm interested. I just hope that it differentiates itself from other books like it and that it doesn't fall into the trap of being too superhero-y. Really focus on magic, invocations, the cost of magic etc.
When they were fighting to help Strange, they all just did energy blasts in different colors like any superhero book, this should be different. The only interesting thing I saw in the fight scene was the ani-mage kid.
This book really needs to differentiate magic from superpowers to keep my interest. Plus their lessons should be the focus, not only there for background, and they should feel like actual lessons. That's a particular trap that this type of book falls into. They don't feel like schools, but just a different setting for the same basic stories.

[Digifiend]

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I read twice and thought it was a fun but basic YA book. Right now the weak link is probably Germaine as he just tends to fade into the background. One time i confused him for Calvin.

I wished Fallon Grey was a part of the book along with Amulet the new hero in Ms. MARVEL.