Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling comics series that was the inspiration for The Umbrella Academy on Netflix!
In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-three 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.
• This volume collects the first six-issue series, as well as out-of-print short stories and an expanded sketchbook section featuring work by Gabriel Bá, James Jean, and Gerard Way.
• “Flawless…stylish, imaginative.”—Newsarama
Review
After recently finishing a rewatch of the show (you can read my series review here), I was once again inspired to crack into the box set…this time, I will read them all. Starting with a review of TUA 0: The Murder Magician.
Below is a strange blend (I’m sure) of my original thoughts and my reread review…
Finally popped open my box set of Vol 1-3. After finishing the show, I knew it was time to get to the source material finally.
If anything, this comic is more off the rails than the show! Which does make sense, but the show was pretty out there to begin with. A group of babies is all born at the same time, mostly to women who were not noticeably pregnant beforehand. For some reason, Reginald Hargreaves sets out to adopt as many of them as he can, eventually succeeding with 7. As he raises them, it’s apparent that he doesn’t do so out of the kindness of his heart, as each child is only bestowed with a number as a name. And eventually, he launched them as their own children-led superhero group. It’s apparent that they have their own rogues gallery, as well as some serious successes (and losses, aka Ben), but this is focusing on the adult versions of them.
00.05 has been stuck in the future, desperately trying to solve how to return. When he finally does, something wrong happens, and he is stuck inside his body from boyhood. His return is nothing if not timely, as they have just days to stop the end of the world.
While much of this is like season 1 of the show, it differs in some subtle ways, and in some major ways when it comes to 00.07. There are some absolutely explosive and brutal panels in this, with blood and gore that surprised even me, and it was really cool to see them in full color (reading through TWD had the volumes’ covers in color, but the panels in black and white). The main thing that stood out to me was how much more of the characters you get in the show. Their beats and banter are clearly taken from the source material, but its format doesn’t allow for them to open up as much, and that’s where the show really shone for me. But that is the necessary difference when you are reading short form, so I cannot wait to get into vol2 so that I can get into more of who they are. It’s such a fun read.
Reread edit: Still agree with my comments and rating on a second read. This time I watched the show from start to finish and then got right into this, as opposed to watching the seasons as they aired, and it was interesting to see the budding of personalities here. Gerard Way even said himself (I believe in the back of Dallas) that in the first volume, even they weren’t sure what to do/what the Umbrellas would become, and I think I get that vibe. It stands tall in its uniqueness and generally weird vibe, but the characters are shy personality-wise. Obviously, making Vanya pretty much a person-sized violin was a wild choice. I can see how the show was directed by this setup, though, for sure.
I think the choice to age up Five a bit was a good one. Not only do I love Aiden Gallagher as Five in the cast, but I think to get his personality and delivery across you do need someone with a bit more age and depth. Luckily, he was up for it.
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