“The Umbrella Academy is a comic book limited series written by Gerard Way. The comic features illustrations by Gabriel Bá, cover art by James Jean, colours by Dave Stewart and letters by Blambot’s Nate Piekos. The six-issue limited series[5] is released by Dark Horse Comics, the first issue making its premiere on September 19, 2007[1] (see: 2007 in comics). It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series.” (from Wikipedia )
I stumbled onto The Umbrella Academy completely by mistake. While searching for a volume of Fables: The Good Prince in Kinokuniya (review of Fables is in the works!), Umbrella’s stark white and red cover (yes, very reminiscent of Singapore’s colours) caught my eye. Add the sleek lines of The White Violin’s body, and I found myself drawn to the graphic novel.
It was only two weeks later that I received information that Umbrella’s individual covers were done by the incredible James Jean, that I really got into the series. From here on, it was review after review, interview after interview until I decided that I could wait no longer to get my hands on it.
I have a rather lopsided exposure to graphic novels. I was introduced to the world of comic books from a young age - my dad brought back trade-paperbacks of The Death of Superman and Batman (“Knightfall”) and I clambered over Sonic the Hedgehog comics to get to them. More recent reads have included the lauded Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Fables. It’s no surprise that most of my current stash of comics are predominated by Vertigo publications, comics written by Alan Moore, or a combination of both.
So it’s with great pleasure that I add The Umbrella Academy to my collection!
The collected trade-paperback of the first six issues that have been released, The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suit tells the tale of seven extraordinary babies who were part of mass miracle (or some say disaster) when forty-three children were born from women who showed no signs of pregnancy. Only seven were found to have survived and Sir Reginald Hargreaves wealthy entrepreneur, inventor and alien-in-disguise adopted them. Numbering them according to their importance, the Umbrella Academy was formed.
Umbrella almost parodies the archetypal superhero comic so much so that it becomes an almost-not-a-superhero comic, with Gerard Way skillfully picking up the absolutely ludicrous aspects about being a superhero and tweaking them to form a story that goes beyond merely just saving the earth. Umbrella stands out because right at the very base of it all, lies a strong desire to tell the story of the Hargreave family. It’s postmodern in every sense. It appropriates the superhero genre and tosses in bits of satire and excellent witty dialogue that flows naturally from Way’s pen. For me, it brings us back to what superhero comics were all about: fighting against a concept, an idea. For Justice, for peace - rather than fighting villains for the sake of fighting villains.
It’s hard to tell that Way is green behind the years in terms of comic-writing. His characters of Spaceboy (00.01), The Kraken (00.02), The Rumor (00.03), The Seance (00.04), The Boy Who Disappeared (00.05), The Horror (deceased, 00.06) and Vanya (00.07) are familiar to us even before we’ve met them. Cleverly reinvented for the jaded and cynical audience, The Umbrella Academy’s alienation from society resonates with most of us.
If Gerard Way sounds familiar, you might have heard of him as the frontman for Grammy nominated “emo” (though I perosnally think they’ve progressed from that already) band My Chemical Romance. But please don’t doubt Way’s enormous talent. If anything, his creative skills from his musician side have done nothing but helped him orchestrate what I believe, is a masterpiece. His lyricism flows with emphatic lines like
I saw what I saw, Pogo… My brothers and sisters have spent their lives being dissected by the people Hargreeves raised us to protect. If I’m wrong, we’re once again gilty of trying to save the world form a false alarm… But if I’m right…
… Isn’t this worth saving?
- Number Five
and chapter/issue titles like “Finale, Brothers and Sisters, I am an Atomic Bomb”, it’s no surprise that some of Way’s music leaked out onto Umbrella. The pacing of the graphic novel is also reminiscent of his creative music videos and his latest album The Black Parade.
Under the skilled pencil of Gabriel Bá, Umbrella’s art is filled with clean lines and bold, pop-art colors that accost your eyes in a visually arresting way. Each character is distinctive and Bá conveys the emotions of the complicated characters with ease, even though it’s done with merely a few lines. There’s none of that dreary grey or muted tones that seem to permeate every new publication these days, but colorist David Stewart’s solid and daring palette is a refreshing change.
Yet for all its fanfare, it does fall short in some aspects. While Way claims that Umbrella is made up of an ensemble cast, I’ve yet to see enough focus being put on other characters like Seance and Number 5. It’s all in good faith that Way is trying to build an air of mystery around his characters (superheroes are supposed to be vague and have always retconned backstories) and does succeed in keeping his readers itching for more. However, I feel that more emphasis could have been given to the characters - at this point, the story seems to revolve more around an idea rather than the characters themselves.
As a result, The Apocalypse Suite does feel like it’s speeding ahead like a bullet train with a journey that ends all too quickly. Instead of leaving me hungry for more, I was positively starving by the time I got to the end of the last chapter.
It’s definitely exciting, and I’m definitely looking forward to the second installment of the series The Umbrella Academy: Dallas to see more of the team in action. And by that I mean get a deeper look into their psyche. Up til this point, it’s been touch and go and an extremely fast but thrilling rollercoaster ride past the Eiffel Tower and ten years into the future. It’s definitely two thumbs up for Way’s maiden graphic novel publication, and he definitely holds a lot of promise. He’s no Alan Moore, but he’s got the chops to deliver a snappy, enjoyable and readable comic book.
Image from DarkHorse.com
The Umbrella Academy is available at Kinokuniya Singapore, and should be available at all good bookstores and comic bookstores!
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[…] dear God) and my feature piece on the Watchmen graphic novel (do check out my feature piece on the Umbrella Academy), a parcel came for […]
millimeter/milligram a.k.a mmmg | in your basement added these pithy words on Mar 07 09 at 4:19 pm