#iric

Strange Academy: Finals #6 (2023)

Strange Academy Presents: Death of Doctor Strange #1 preview.

Despite the continuity error with Zelma, I’m pretty excited to read this one. This also confirms my theory that Stephen’s spells are all cancelled the moment he dies. Marvel, it’s time to hire me.

Strange Academy Presents the Death of Doctor Strange #1 by Skottie Young (writer), Mike Del Mundo (artist and colorist), Niko Henrichon (artist), Peach Momoko (artist), Humberto Ramos (artist), Alessandro Cappuccio (artist), C.F. Villa (artist), Gustavo Duarte (artist), David Baldeon (artist), Luciano Vecchio (artist), Natacha Bustos (artist), Marco D’Alfonso (colorist), Edgar Delgado (colorist), and VC’s Clayton Cowles (letterer) 

Strange: “You are the worst. You know that, right?”

Enchantress: “Indeed I do.”

Oh boy, this issue is one of the things I adore when comics do. I had thought that we’d only be getting a story about Iric, Alvi, and the Enchantress - but instead, we also get mini looks at the lives of the other Strange Academy students once they go home. Each student has a different artist/colorist team working on their mini stories, allowing us to have a huge sampling not only of these quiet moments but also just amazing artists that we may not have seen otherwise. 

The main plot of this book is that the Enchantress, back in the day, had made a deal to give her firstborn son to a wizard in exchange for an amulet. Strange turned the wizard to stone but when he died, that spell was undone, and Iric is kidnapped to be used as a magical battery à-la Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. To save Iric, Alvi and the Enchantress venture into Weirdworld. My gods, the art is incredible. Weirdworld is an ever shifting world like the imagination of a child and the artwork reflects this, taking on this surreal, imaginative, and childish tone at points - the map that the mapmakers make for them is a prime example of this, something so believably made by a six year old that I had to wonder if Del Mundo actually had a child assist on the artwork for a moment. Even the lettering becomes something appropriate for this whimsical place, with variations in the coloring and style of the letters. You can really tell a lot of thought and care went into this. 

The only thing I didn’t like during the Iric/Alvi/Enchantress plot was how quickly Iric and Alvi forgive the Enchantress for more or less abandoning them and selling Iric to a wizard as infants. I get that we’re going for a heartwarming story about reconnecting as a family, and while the Enchantress does save Alvi’s life during the fight and they manage to save Iric, it doesn’t feel earned to me. Rather than having the twins call her an amazing mother, I would have preferred for them to have a quiet moment with her where she vowed to do better and they agreed to give her a chance - that would’ve resonated more deeply with me. 

The other mini plots are advertised as revealing the secrets of the students of Strange Academy, but we don’t really see any secrets revealed. We see some bleak realities, but also just little quiet moments of joy. There’s something for pretty much every major character which is nice, but I also wish we would’ve had one moment just showing the staff (namely Voodoo, Magik, Wanda, etc etc)  and how they were dealing with this, but I suppose they’re all off trying to keep the world in shape. 

Overall, if you love Strange Academy, you’ll want to pick this up. 

From Strange Academy #005

Art by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado