Strange Academy #3 - Marvel Comics

STRANGE ACADEMY No. 3, November 2020

Rather cleverly conveying this comic’s considerable cast onto the actual streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Skottie Young’s script for Issue Three of “Strange Academy” arguably manages to do a very good job of showing how easily tempted “the best and brightest young sorcerers” could be to use their incredible powers without restraint when faced with the more ill-mannered elements of society. In fact, Emily Bright’s encounter with the incredibly rude Miss Hazel and the fortune teller’s liberalness concerning the young girl’s “personal space” readily demonstrates just how much self-restraint all the students need to acquire in order to simply pass through a Voodo Museum without a magic-related incident.

Of course, having unsuccessfully managed to physically force the Kansas-born pupil into having her future read, the highly disagreeable precognitive quickly establishes herself to be no mere elderly mortal by giving Doyle Dormammu the fright of his young life with just the merest of touches. But even then, the fast-bonding schoolmates don’t resort to conjuring up all manner of curses or spells themselves, and simply allow Zoe Laveau to admonish the evil cackling witch with a few well-placed words in Louisiana Creole; “Gade mwen fanm! Mwen kunnen ou ka we kisa mwen ye. Pran men ou nan zanml ‘anvan mwen mache ou nan krwaze semen reyel la!”

Just as much a test upon the apprentices’ resolve also comes when Alvi Brorson, Germán Aguilar and Calvin Morse are set upon by a group of cowardly ruffians, who foolishly feel that strength in numbers and poorly-fitting costume masks makes then invincible. Precisely how the three undergraduates happened to fall prey to the self-righteous bullies down a dark alleyway isn’t made clear. However, the fact that they are repeatedly assaulted by the arrogant thugs and still don’t unleash their powers upon the increasingly irritating weaklings shows just how much each character clearly values their place at Strange Academy, even when they “absolutely can and will destroy them…”

Visually helping along this twenty-page periodical’s rather tense narrative is Humberto Ramos’ artwork, which really captures the mood and internal conflict on the students’ faces whenever they are faced with adversity. In addition, the Mexican illustrator’s pencilling of the world as seen through Emily’s third all-seeing eye is stunningly superb, with all manner of beautifully-imagined xenoplasmic parasites feasting upon the essences of the world’s blissfully ignorant inhabitants.

The regular cover art of "STRANGE ACADEMY" #3 by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado