#CBR11 Review #05-06: The Umbrella Academy, volumes 1-2 (Apocalypse Suite & Dallas) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá


I initially read the first 2 volumes of The Umbrella Academy series about 9 or 10 years ago, at which time there was a cover and title for the 3rd coming volume, Hotel Oblivion, but this was not released as issues until this past year. So, in anticipation of finally reading this next instalment, as well as the Netflix series to be released later this month, I figured it was time for a re-read as I remembered very few details. And it was just as wacky and fun as the first time around!  

The first volume, Apocalypse Suite, shows us the origin of the Umbrella Academy: one night, 42 children were miraculously born at the same time from women not showing any signs of pregnancy. 7 of these children were found by a wealthy inventor once he learned that many of these children were shown to have extraordinary powers. With these children he forms a little team of heroes to save the world from various threats. However, over the years they fall apart, only to be brought back together by the eventual death of their step-father. Yet, upon returning to their childhood home, a new threat emerges, while the 7th child who was never deemed special enough for the group yet was skilled at the violin, is lured into playing for a new symphony with more sinister ideas in mind for her than meets the eye.

The second volume, Dallas, picks up later after the events of Apocalypse Suite, with many members of the Umbrella Academy dealing poorly with what happened the last time we saw them. This story focuses largely on number 5, the young boy who can time-travel, as he learns new knowledge about who he is, what he has done, and what needs to be done within different timelines of his life in order to prevent the world from being destroyed. This, however, goes against some of the views of the others, and it appears he may have gone insane from some of his time-travel journeys that left him stranded for some time. Everything ties back, however, to the assassination of JFK in 1963, and I ask myself what the fascination with this figure Gerard Way has is all about (I know of a few different songs which reference him or the Kennedy family in the My Chemical Romance repertoire).

Each volume also features a few little stand-alone short-stories at the end, which I enjoy in terms of filling out the mythos of the Umbrella Academy, and also because for the most part they are quite fun and develop more of a sense of the groups’ relationships over the years.

For the most part, I enjoy these graphic novels, and the art by Gabriel Bá in particular is something I enjoy, as it never feels too ridiculous in style but also has some real character. The stories are engaging though at times (especially during fight sequences) I have trouble telling what’s going on, and especially in the second volume there is a bit of vagueness surrounding what exactly is happening that the reader needs to fill in, that I thought maybe just needed a piece of information or two more in order to fill out and feel fully coherent. I also found in the second volume that this is where things start to go in a little more of an edgy direction, which isn’t necessarily bad as it is clearly a violent universe being created here, but the serial killer characters of Cha Cha and Hazel who are introduced are a little irritating to me in how they are clearly there to turn up the heat but still be quirky; it could have worked but falls a little too much into eye-roll territory for me in terms of gratuitousness.

So clearly, I found the first volume of The Umbrella Academy series so far to be the stronger of the two. I am definitely going to check out the show later this month, and also read the 3rd volume hopefully soon, as it feels like I’ve been waiting for so long for this story to continue. It is definitely a bit of a weird series at times, but doesn’t usually stray too-far into ridiculousness to not feel like these could be real people, albeit in some pretty fantastical circumstances.

[Be sure to visit the Cannonball Read main site!]

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