Strange Academy #2 - Marvel Comics

STRANGE ACADEMY No. 2, December 2020

Considering that Issue Two of “Strange Academy” simply follows nine of the educational facility’s brand new learners through their first day of lessons, Skottie Young’s narrative for this twenty-page periodical must still have pleased the vast majority of its readers with its plethora of super-powered special appearances and whimsical lecture-based shenanigans. Indeed, for a comic that doesn’t actually involve any specific villain or particular threat, the Inkwell Award-winner’s storyline provides an incredibly enthralling experience, especially when it becomes clear that all is not as hunky dory behind the college’s closed doors as Zelma Stanton would have its pupils believe; “Emily asked about the cost of the magic… You know how I feel about that. And how I feel about lying to the students. She won’t be the only one to ask.”

As a whole however, such an underlying sense of danger and dread is largely confined to the intimidating presence of the school’s various teachers, such as the Ancient One or Brother Voodoo, and the worrying fate of any learner foolish enough to purposely provoke their wrath. This ‘pushing of classroom boundaries’ arguably provides the book’s biggest highlight when the annoyingly arrogant Iric finally decides to show up for Inferno 101 with Illyana Rasputina, and in front of everyone else goads her into making an example of him when he immediately challenges her authority. Magik’s response to instantly dispatch both the Agardian and his room-mate Doyle Dormammu to Hell is a genuine laugh out loud moment, and later affords an entertaining cut-scene during lunch when the pair are brilliantly pencilled by Humberto Ramos battling against a large fiery, demonic dinosaur.

Far less action-packed, though equally as absorbing, is Young’s exploration of the burgeoning relationships developing amongst the Strange Academy’s colourful scholars. Guslaug and Toth both appear to do particularly well out of these numerous ‘under the spotlight’ moments, with the young Frost Giant seeming to quickly develop a rapport with Emily Bright, Shaylee and Germán Aguilar. Whilst the half-Crystal Warrior from the swamps of Weirdworld demonstrates his somewhat sulky temper later in the comic when his efforts during Professor Man-Thing’s Magical Plants and the care thereof go slightly awry, much to the consternation of Miss Moonpeddle.

The regular cover art of "STRANGE ACADEMY" #2 by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado