Comic: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite - Gerard Way [MCR] & Gabriel Bá
The Umbrella Academy was brought to my attention by the fact that its writer happens to be the lead singer for My Chemical Romance. No need to sigh despondently and hide your face in your hands on hearing this; I am not the only one whose first array into the world of comics is brought about by the same reason. Go to your local Hot Topic and button-hole the first fourteen-year-old with facial piercings you see there. They will tell you the same: Gerard Way wrote it, so it’s worth a look. Read any comics before, Emo Stereotype? No, never. Only Dennis the Menace when I was eight.
To celebrate Free Comic Book Day a preview of The Umbrella Academy called The Murder Magician was issued. It looked promising. Even I could tell this was well-executed, funny and sinister stuff. The plot was dense and the characters were uneven, but The Murder Magician did what it was supposed to do: it whetted the reader’s appetite for the real thing.
Now that the real thing has arrived in the shape of Apocalypse Suite, the question arises: does it live up to the hype that The Murder Magician generated? It is difficult to say. This is the first part after all. Characters have to be introduced in such a way that their personalities are explained but not too much about them is told; the story has to make sense but not to the point where the reader can see where this is going and is bored and annoyed when he is proved right. As for the introduction of the characters: Way decided that the adopted children of a space alien called Sir Reginald Hargreeves – a.k.a, The Monocle, ‘inventor of The Televator, The Levitator, The Mobile Umbrella Communicator and Clever Crisp Cereal’ – should have numbers instead of names. Thanks for making it so easy to distinguish between them, Mr Way…. Of course these children all have their own superpowers that help them to save the world. And they all lived happily ever after. The End!
Not quite. The Umbrella Academy does not fall into the trap of what I am told is the comic book cliché of good versus evil. We don’t even know whether these children are good yet; we are just told what it is they do. Sir Reginald claims to have adopted these children to save the world, but from what? From whom? Is he lying? Could he have adopted them for his own personal gain instead? The lines are already blurred and this is only book one in the series. Way has a knack for asking questions without taking the trouble of answering them yet. He leaves the readers in suspense and – once more – whets their appetite.
Gabriel Bá’s art work complements Way’s writing seamlessly. For example, all we are allowed to see at this time is the Edwardian disguise Sir Reginald has adopted, not his real space alien features. I was surprised to find Apocalypse Suite funny. It seems to poke fun at itself and therefore the genre. Way and Bá are both knowledgeable about comics and know how to avoid the clichés. Just for the hell of it and for the laughs, they cannot help gleefully pointing them out while they are busy sidestepping them.
Verdict: In short: I was pleasantly surprised by the book. Way and Bá may not have made a convert to the comic book cause, but I am certainly looking forward to part two in the series. If only to see what Sir Reginald looks like behind his mask. I’ll keep you updated on my progress as each new issue appears. 7/10
No one could ever accuse Gerard Way of being a clone. His style, talent and presence on stage are distinctive, theatrical and inspiring – three words I would also use to describe the story he has written, to accompany the artistry of Gabriel Bá and James Jean, for the first installment of comic ‘The Umbrella Academy’.
The story is intriguingly elaborate with a definite dark side. You can really see the saga unfolding before you and are left wanting more. The comic starts with what seems to be a peek into the personal notes of the father figure, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, aka The Monocle. Gerard gives a really in-depth and realistic set of examinational notes, if you will, from The Monocle’s point of view, of a group of children with extraordinary gifts. It’s a great introduction and makes you feel like an insider to the story. It goes on to show how those children came to be, and how their guardian moulded them into The Umbrella Academy. They spend their childhoods fighting evil and honing their powers.
Now, years later, the separated members of the Umbrella Academy are reunited after the death of their only ‘parent’ and are faced with a new threat – one they will only be able to overcome if they can sort out their differences and restore the group.
Verdict:This is the first part of a six part series, and personally I cannot wait for the next issue. I really think that everybody who worked on it has major talent – from the drawing of the actual comic (Gabriel Bá) and cover (James Jean), to the story itself and its depth of imagination. 9/10