Strange Academy: The Deadly Field Trip

by Carlos Hernandez

A thrilling saga which sees the students of Strange Academy, Doctor Strange’s school of magic, team up with other heroes across the Marvel Universe!

Strange Academy, the school founded by Doctor Strange to teach the magically-powered youth of the Marvel Univetrse, is kicking the school year off with a field trip to New York City to throw down against Brooklyn Visions Academy in the MULTIVERSAL MATH BOWL! When a mysterious new villain crashes the mathletics, the students of Strange Academy must team up with Spider-Man, Moon Knight, and Miles Morales to put a stop to his plots, kicking off a three-part adventure teaming up with Marvel heroes!

Strange Miles Morales (2023) 1, TBD

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics

Kindle Edition

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Mattthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering how good Strange Academy was, this was just okay. It was good seeing these characters again, though.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never been a fan of math, but math that describes magic is pretty fun. This short little event was fun and full of some great magic fights. I’m always happy to see these kids and I’m excited to see what they get up to next.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Alex Sarll]

One issue here is written by the series' co-creator Skottie Young; that's tucked in at the back, despite clearly happening before at least some of the rest of this, though also not really agreeing with it properly. The rest...is there some curse ensuring that all modern magic school stories will go horribly wrong after a time, whether for reasons internal or external? Strange Academy wasn't perfect, but it had a lot of charm, always firmly rooted in the personalities of its mismatched students and staff. Here, they're drawn differently but all trade in much the same flavour of sub-Whedon zinger. An overstuffed plot might have worked across six issues, but in three – each needing to introduce a guest star too – it's a jumble of ideas, some hackneyed but others potentially interesting, which never have time to develop before another development crashes in, frequently contradicting what the last page said without apparent explanation. Oh, and even by the standards of a character widely associated with the warcry 'Random bullshit go!', the treatment of Moon Knight hinges on him having powers I've never seen mentioned before. An absolute casserole.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Little Magicians: Math Is Magic!

In these three interconnected one-shots, the students of Strange Academy grapple with the power of mathemagic, which is exactly what it sounds like. With assistance from Miles Morales, Moon Knight, and the Amazing Spider-Man, they'll go on a dimension-hopping journey to save one another from being solved out of existence. Writer Carlos Hernandez has a decent grasp on the well-established characters, though he does pare the cast down quite a bit so he can focus on a core few - he didn't forget Zelma Stanton though so I love him for that.

This'll scratch the itch between bigger Strange Academy series, and I'm glad Marvel seem intent on keeping these guys around, even if it's in a smaller capacity.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Strange Academy story is always a good read...

And a multiversal Math Bowl? Heck yes. Enchantimatics could be another fun use of magic in the Marvel universe. Only thing weird about the three issues was Miles Morales MC'ing the event and Moon Knight in his OG superhero gear. Other than that, it was just plain ol' fun.
----
Bonus: Balancing an equation to remove a physical object? Wow.
Bonus Bonus: Doyle is still the best student, IMHO

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

A throwaway story involving...math! Yeah, this was doomed from the start. Carlos Hernandez, whom I'm unfamiliar with, tells the story of the Strange Academy going to Brooklyn (home of Miles Morales) for a math competition that gets hijacked by a math-based magic guy. Yeah. The book isn't good. Feels like a forced 80s annual. The art is decent but the story is the definition of inconsequential. Overall, skip it.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd and somewhat jumbled collection, but each part contributes to the overall plot.
We got to see how the Death of Dr. Strange impacts each of the kids from Strange Academy, as well as the repercussions that his death has.
An interesting book, great artwork and solid storytelling. The "individual" page stories by Skottie Young were fun, and we got to see just how much story could be told in a few panels on a single page, which was neat.
All in all, a good read!

[Scarred Wizard · Rating 3 out of 5]

trying so hard to like this but i don't. please bring back Skottie Young as the writer. this is a feast of boredom! giving it a 3 stars for the magic fight. even the drawings couldn't save this book! why did i bought this book? i just miss my Strange Academy kids.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate spending more time with these characters, this collection seems a bit more haphazard chronologically and doesn’t carry forward the strong narrative arc that makes Young’s work on the series read similar to a manga.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun side quest after the main events of the series. Mathematics and magic combined. Ties up the characters story arcs quite well.

[Ava Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one was a cute read!