THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY | MCR'S GERARD WAY?!

The Umbrella Academy 

by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá
Dave Stewart (Colourist), Nate Piekos (Letterer), Tony Ong (Designer)
Dark Horse Comics | October 17, 2007

   In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born to women who'd previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, "To save the world."
   These seven children form the Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against an erratic and deadly Eiffel Tower, piloted by the fearsome zombie-robot Gustave Eiffel. Nearly a decade later, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, these disgruntled siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again.

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Be happy and healthy, physically and mentally! 

Not a fan of the comic, so I'll be skipping the Netflix show. This comic had a lot going on, and it had a lot of gaps. Why were children born spontaneously? Did the mothers have any impact on their powers? How did Hargreeves know they were going to save the world? What happened to The Horror? What led to their estrangement? I had this feeling of unfulfillment and confusion because the story was in media res after a huge time skip. 

The writers decided to introduce the characters in one page with their powers, AWESOME; I often referenced it because I couldn't remember their names for the life of me. Once the characters were introduced, there was a little flashback to the beginning of everything, then the Umbrella Academy fights an enemy. There was so much happening I wasn't paying attention to that scene. Maybe if I paid more attention to that scene, I would understand certain powers. I do not understand/did not see The Rumor's powers. There's also a lot going on with that art: so many details I didn't bother to look at. The art style is grungey and punchy, which I enjoyed for the most part—some scenes were very colorful, violent and bloody.

After the fight, it immediately pans to the future. What happened? Where is this story going? Why do I not understand anything? Who are these people?

This story is very... ambitious (convoluted.) Number One has a gorilla body. Talking chimps. AI mother. An apocalypse. Music. Zombies. Superpowers. An outcast who's stronger than everyone for some inexplicable reason. A genius inventor. Daddy issues. Romance. Time traveling. It also has a grand doomsday arc, but it was bogged down by the bells and whistles because it was paced poorly. Any plot/plot element you can think of, its got it! 

Number Five and The Seánce are the most intriguing characters/the saving graces of this story. The other characters were dull, and I didn't care for their powers or petty drama. Although the transformation of one character definitely spices up the plot, it doesn't have a steady performance that has an impact: it has an initial shock value. The comic needs to go through editing and learn timing. 

If you want to read a comic that delivers on the art, but not necessarily with the story-telling, this is for you.