Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: 22 Gimmicks, marvel, strange academy

Marvel to Cancel Strange Academy in April, Relaunch in Summer

Published Thu, 20 Jan 2022 16:18:09 -0600

Strange Academy has been canceled but will relaunch with a new number one issue this Summer, a press release from Marvel.com revealed Thursday. Canceling a comic when the creative team leaves and then relaunching it with a new number one issue is, as we all know, one of Joe Quesada's 22 Cheap Sales-Boosting Gimmicks That Always Work, a series of tricks used by Marvel editors and executives to increase comic sales by any means other than focusing on the actual contents of the comics.

Once upon a time, comic books would simply continue with a new creative team and the same numbering when one team left, which is how series made their way into the triple digits. Sometime in the last two decades, the Marvel braintrust decided that getting people to keep buying comics with high numbers is hard and requires a longterm commitment to good storytelling, whereas convincing everyone to pick up a new number one issue on the premise that number one issues are somehow more valuable than any other number is super easy. So now it's a miracle if a Marvel series lasts more than 20 issues, and since Strange Academy was nearing that milestone, well… let's just go to the press release.

In 2020, Marvel Comics welcomed fans new and old to STRANGE ACADEMY, an enchanting series by writer Skottie Young and artist Humberto Ramos. Set at Doctor Strange's school for the mystic arts, the series saw some of Marvel's most powerful sorcerers unite to teach the next generation of magic users. Over the course of 18 spellbinding issues, fans have fallen in love with bright new stars like Emily Bright, Doyle Dormammu, and Zoe Laveau, and saw just how bright the future of magic in the Marvel Universe is! The hit sensation will end its first chapter in April's STRANGE ACADEMY #18 but there's plenty of more STRANGE ACADEMY adventures still ahead…

Pick up the stunning finale of STRANGE ACADEMY on April 27 and keep your spellbooks handy for the second semester of STRANGE ACADEMY starting this summer!

Here's the thing. Recent issues of Strange Academy are currently raking in the cash on eBay, and those issues have double digits. Can you imagine how lucrative they would be if they were number ones?!

Here's what writer Skottie Young had to say about it all:

This book is so close to my heart. We created so many brand new characters and brought each one to life in such a unique way. Working alongside my brother Humberto over these last 18 issues has been such a special thing to me. I'm just glad we have more Strange Academy stories to tell and can't wait to get them in your hands!

There's also a quote in the press release from Marvel Editor Nick Lowe, but the official policy of the Bleeding Cool website is that editors are useless and nobody cares what they have to say. At least, that's what we can only assume since they won't hire one to proofread the articles around here and fix all the typos. Marvel basically feels the same way about artists, which is why Humberto Ramos did not have a quote in the press release.

Strange Academy #18 hits stores in April. News on the upcoming relaunching will surely be revealed in the coming months, and it will surely rock the Marvel Universe to its very foundations.