Random Musings of an Uninspired Muse.

Book: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
Written by: Gerard Way
Illustrated by: Gabriel Ba
Published in: 2008 by Dark Horse
Time to read: One MARTA trip from North Ave. to Sandy Springs (in other words, about 25 minutes)


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I first heard about The Umbrella Academy when Blair Butler recommended it on Attack of the Show on G4. Now, as far as comic book gurus go I hold her in the highest regard, for obvious reasons. She knows her stuff. Even so, I couldn't help but be slightly dubious when she mentioned that it had been written by a certain Gerard Way, who happens to be the frontman for My Chemical Romance. Im familiar with MCR's music, and I would even go as far as to say I like a couple of their songs, but I, like Butler, was under the impression that this was just some Hollywood musician fulfilling a lifelong hobby dream of publishing a comic book. Once again, Im completely thrilled to say I was wrong.

This book took me all of about 30 minutes to read. Im not quite sure how many pages there are (no page numbers), and Im not about to sit here and count them all, but as an estimate I'd say its a regular-sized comic book; not to thick, not too thin. Thing is, the story is so engaging that you just cant put the thing down until you've finished it.

The story follows a 'family' of seven children who've been adopted by a space-alien millionare and raised as an elite fighting group. The first chapter deals with them as children, and except for the occasional flashback, the rest of the book deals with them as adults. However, these arent your run-of-the-mill superhero children ten years in the future. They have some serious issues, including a weird White Stripes-esque sister/wife love thing going on with a couple of the characters, but I guess its all copacetic.

One of the characters that stand out to me the most, besides Vanya of course, is Number Five, the one brother who time-travels and reappears in present day, still in the body of his younger self. This kid represents what so many other comic book writers, and writers in general have tried to capture and ultimately failed in doing so. To put it simply, he's pretty much the coolest 60-year-old kid ever. He reminds me of a mix between Artemis Fowl and, oh, V from V for Vendetta maybe? And that my friends, is a recipe for awesome.

As I said before, I was pleasantly suprised with the writing and dialogue in this book. Way's style of writing to me is somewhat reflective of his music, in that you've got those darker undertones. However, I wouldnt go as far as to say that the writing and the music are the same. The Umbrella Academy is dark without being too dark- I dont think it's unaccesible to the general comic book reader at all. Thats not to say that MCR fangirls/ the general emo population wont swoon over it, or that your standard Batman/Superman/JLA comic book reader (I.E., me) wont find the subject matter slightly off-center, but in the end we get a nice, cohesive piece of work. And dont get me started on the artwork, either. Gabriel Ba is brilliant, to put it simply. The artwork is pointed, and reflects the subject matter in a way that puts the point across without diluting the dialogue, which is the most important thing to me. Every panel is a work of art.

All in all, The Umbrella Academy is a great read, and has great re-read value. If you're looking for something different whenever it comes to the comic book superhero status-quo, this is definately a book to pick up.