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  • Writer's pictureSelena | Beauty's Library

Strange Academy Review

These are fun and quick reads!


First Class ~ Volume One Rating: 3/5

The Marvel Universe's first school for sorcerers throws open its doors! The world has mysteriously changed in such an alarming way that Doctor Strange has finally done what he has avoided for decades - established an academy for the Mystic Arts! Young people from around the world with an aptitude for magic are brought together in New Orleans to study under Stephen Strange, Brother Voodoo, the Ancient One, the Scarlet Witch, Magik, Daimon Hellstrom and all your favorite Marvel mages. But with so many new and deadly magical menaces lurking out there, is the Academy too little too late?! School's in session - and it's going to be spellbinding!


Bright Side ~ Volume Two Rating: 4/5

The Strange Academy has endured loss…now it teeters on the edge of tragedy! There will be some students that even Doctor Strange cannot save…but can he minimize the graves they’ll have to dig on campus? Hearts are broken, uncanny new abilities manifest and a huge secret of the Academy is revealed! The students attempt to return to some sense of normalcy with a couple of good old-fashioned field trips…but one is to outer space, to uncover a magical artifact with Rocket and Groot — and the other is to Asgard! Then, for orphan Calvin Morse, Parents’ Day at Strange Academy isn’t much fun. But while the rest of the parents tour the campus, Calvin and an unlikely friend will discover something truly terrifying! Marvel’s smash-hit series continues into its second semester!

 

These are fun and quick reads! Both of these I finished within an hour of starting. It’s a unique take on a school for supernaturals. All within the Marvel universe! And each of these issues gets more entertaining the more I read.


And each of these issues gets more entertaining the more I read.

However, in all honesty, I was not planning on continuing the series after reading First Class. I had enjoyed it, but I’m not a major superhero fan and wasn’t dying for the sequel. I just wasn’t in love with this series. And I was planning on getting rid of the book.


That is until my little sister saw it sitting on my get rid of pile. She picks it up and asked, “What’s this?” I briefly explained. (To give some background, my sister is 11, and she knows I tend to read some more inappropriate stuff such as smutty, dark, gory, etc. She had actually asked if she could read Lore Olympus after she saw that on my shelf, I told her not until she was older.) So after I explained, she responded “Let me guess, it’s inappropriate…” She was surprised when I said it wasn’t, and offered to let her read it.


So she took it. I didn’t think anything of it. My sister is not a fan of fiction. She’s the complete opposite of me as a reader. Give her a book on facts about black holes, she’ll eat it up and read it cover to cover. Give her a book on magical creatures, she’ll barely give it a glance. How are we related?


But she surprised me, a few days after I gave her First Class, she comes over to me with it and asks me to get her the second book. How could I say no?


Naturally, that meant I had to read the second book too, being the curious cat that I am. And I actually enjoyed it much more than First Class. As I mentioned, the stories just get more and more entertaining as we read each volume.


Though I will say, especially after First Class, I felt like we breezed through a lot of the important and more in-depth details. Even after the 3 volumes within First Class, I felt like I barely knew any of our main characters. Both of these are set up in a way where each volume within the book has its own focus, a little storyline during that chapter, but each of these volumes also play into a bigger storyline.


But I know there’s more to come, as this is only the start of what I expect to be a long series! I would have loved to see these volumes a little longer to really dive into each of our characters. I do hope we get this in future issues.


I would have loved to see these volumes a little longer to really dive into each of our characters.

I think this would be a perfect series for anyone who enjoys superheroes, especially the Marvel universe, and enjoys quick-paced graphic novels.



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