Writer - Gerard Way
Artist - Gabriel Ba
Publisher - Dark Horse Comics
Price - $2.99
Release Date: September 19th
The Umbrella Academy is a comic series that has a lot of hype in front of it. The series, which starts in September, may be the biggest crossover comic event of the year. Gerard Way, the lead singer of the rock band My Chemical Romance is known for a storytelling style that uses theatrics to build a mood and to tell tales of rejection and pain that are simultaneously touching and heartwarming. Way and artist Gabriel Ba, are delivering a comic where the team of characters and the creative team are making the effort to bring a comic similar in heart and mind to Grant Morrison’s influential Doom Patrol series. Needless to say this love letter to greatness looks like it will be great in the exact same manner
The two short stories published so far Safe and Sound and But The Past Ain’t Through With You give an exciting teaser to the first miniseries where Way and Ba deliver two complete short stories of truly fractured souls. Past introduces the cast of characters in a manner that is ghoulish yet amusing. The cast is assembled when the body of the Rumor is found in two pieces in an alley. It turns out that the team, consisting of tough guy the Kraken, science man Spaceboy and the creepy death medium The Séance, are at the scene where the Rumor was murdered by The Murder Magician.
While looking over the scene another person looks on. It’s the Rumor and she is alive and well. Her power of making lies into truth saved her life. So where is the Murder Magician? He is bragging about the Rumor’s death on a talk show where he, his Assistant, and his Murderbot decide to slaughter the talk show crowd. The resolution of the case and the revelation by the Umbrella Academy’s leader, the Monocle, at the end is both amazing and innovative. If nothing else, it displays how dysfunctional this team really is. The second story Safe and Sound is a Kraken solo tale where he chases a gypsy kidnapper to save a child, essentially a high-speed pursuit with a twist.
Based on these two short stories it Way’s talent for the theatrical is plain. There is an amazing sense of choreography in the storytelling, with Ba giving a truly surreal look to the off kilter Superhero comic. The characters themselves are not eccentric so much as damaged souls in a world that is just as fractured as they are. Way’s scripts are tight and informative, entertaining and strange in the best way possible. Ba with colorist Dave Stewart brings art that mirrors the ideas Way describes in a manner that would make the team hard to replace.
The one thing that has been said about Umbrella Academy in its promotion and interviews by Way is that the series is inspired by Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol work. It needs to be stressed, I think, that Way displays his love for Morrison’s work while also offering his own vision. Umbrella Academy will be sold to fans based on the popularity of Mr. Way’s celebrity from My Chemical Romance. That is unavoidable, but after the first full issue is on sale more people will realize that it is Way’s use of ideas, dialogue and storytelling that will make this series a worthy addition to comics.
- Francis Davis a career drunk with a love of comics and movies, lives in and works for the City of Chicago. Confidentiality agreements prevent him from saying exactly what he does, but it is important.