Strange Academy #9 - Marvel Comics

STRANGE ACADEMY No. 9, May 2021

Pretty evenly splitting its focus between the disconcertingly dark exploits of Calvin Morse and Doyle Dormammu, with the infinitely more humorous tongue-in-cheek shenanigans of Emily Bright’s ultra-competitive mother, Skottie Young’s narrative for Issue Nine of “Strange Academy” certainly provided its readers with a pair of distinctly contrasting storylines. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine two more different sub-plots as Morse’s enchanted leather jacket throttles his foster father to death right in front of the astonished man’s understandably horrified wife, and Missus Bright entertainingly goes toe-to-toe with Loki during a parents race through the magical grounds of her daughter’s college; “Oh, I’m going to beat you with those dumb horns on your stupid tiara!”

Fortunately, both of these action-packed scenarios are extremely well-written, with Dormammu’s distinctly dark descent into the academy’s treasure room alongside an inquisitive Calvin arguably being ever so slightly the more impactive, courtesy of its longer-lasting influence upon the students’ future. The two boys’ battle against a gang of murderous Mindless Ones is enthrallingly intense, and simply goes to show that not all the staff under Doctor Voodoo’s leadership are particularly pleased with some of the magic-using apprentices under their charge.

In addition, despite Morse somehow managing to momentarily floor the “virtually unstoppable engines of destruction” with a formidable display of sorcerous super-powers, it seems pretty evident that the adolescents’ attackers have not forgiven Doyle’s Dad for erasing their minds and enslaving them down in the Dark Dimension. This resentment has clearly built up within the Dread One’s numerous minions to the point where they are now willing to kill those who they are supposedly ‘sworn to protect’, so simply being temporarily thwarted in that endeavour by one of their targets doesn’t look likely to satisfactorily resolve their ill intentions any time soon.

Much less deadly, though equally as exhausting, is Young’s whacky take on parents taking on the various obstacles found within Jericho Drumm’s mind-boggling obstacle course. Dynamically sketched by artist Humberto Ramos, the extended action-sequence clearly brings out the worst in Missus Bright’s sense of sportsmanship, but that doesn’t stop the American author imbuing it with a genuine sense of fun right up to the point where Emily’s parent purposely trips up Loki just before the finishing line in order for her to become the competition's overall winner.

The regular cover art of "STRANGE ACADEMY" #8 by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado