Numbers Aren’t Your Friend — Reviewing ‘Strange Academy: Amazing Spider-Man’ #1

Magic is under fire from many people’s least favorite school subject and it might take two Spider-Men to save everything. Yeah, that sounds about right for the Marvel Universe really.

Students of Doctor Strange’s namesake school reach the end of their team-up adventures as Strange Academy: Amazing Spider-Man concludes the three-issue series. This ending is crafted by Carlos Hernandez, Vasco Georgiev, Edgar Delgado, and Clayton Cowles.

A quick glance at the previous two reviews (Miles Morales and Moon Knight), will let you know where I stand with this event. While I would love for you to go read those reviews and then come back to this one, I guess I’ll cut to the chase. I’ve not overly been a fan outside of the art side of the whole endeavor.

So, let’s start with that art.

Georgiev is someone that I have been following, and in love with their artwork, since coming across a series of Marvel/DC mashup covers on Twitter a few years ago. A dynamic, slick, very action-oriented type of style. Rife with emotional energy, giving life to everything on the page from the characters to the setting spaces. The minis and one-shots have been great, but they need to get Georgiev on a regular series quickly.

There are so many ways this artwork would fit a variety of characters or genres, either at Marvel or beyond. It screams superhero without being anchored to that genre. Checks all the right boxes for superhero stories while just as applicable for checking boxes of other types, is what I’m saying.

Delgado and Cowles have been the bridge connecting the previous 24-issue run of the Strange Academy series to these one-shots. It gives a bit of consistency in the creation process which is a solid thing. Especially after having the same four creators bringing us these adventures together for those 24 prior issues.

As I noted, there is a slickness to Gergiev’s artwork and the colors match this. Delgado allows the various vibrant, dark-tinged, colors to flow with the artwork. Keeping the unique signatures of his coloring style while adopting the energy of whatever artwork he happens to be coloring.

Great lettering has a very distinct presence. Hitting the notes that are needed to make sure everything flows, fits the page, helps us hear character’s voices, and so much more. Cowles is a great letterer and can play all those notes while bringing an extra something to the party every time. A specific energy that is just fun yet serious at the same time. Giving more power to the words/voices, making sure everything we read gives us that full sense of the world.

Now the overall story plot/beats themselves are up to the plate. After a couple of strikeouts, might be time for a bloop single down the line. Sorry, I’m still in baseball brain.

Let’s be clear here, the stories are not, like, bad or anything per se. My issues stem from how out of place it feels for these students (who are mostly sidelined in their own team-up) and how just overbearing afterschool special like it all feels. Math as a threat is an interesting concept but it’s a bit overused, the guest characters feel a bit hollow, and the fun energy is missing.

I applaud what Hernandez is trying here. It’s hard to follow up on what Skottie Young built over a handful of years within a mostly contained series. Especially when taking on a bunch of very distinct different guest stars to boot. I think honestly the story could have worked better if the focus was narrowed and the characters felt closer to what we saw in their own series.

Doyle being a Trojan horse here, in a sense, and pushing back to help defeat the villain was a solid touch. It tapped into the heroic elements that Doyle had displayed all this time, along with his tenacity and leadership qualities. This clearly takes place after the main series, though it seems to also be at a point where no one knew Dr. Strange was back. Those tricky sliding timescales.

Truth be told this feels like it could have mostly been condensed down into one extra-sized one-shot rather than stretched across three. There definitely was some fat in need of trimming here or there. Moon Knight was depowered and never mentioned again, even to be repowered. Miles was mostly a tag along, and Peter got to be the big spidey hero (of course).

Strange Academy: Amazing Spider-Man #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.