COMIC BOOK REVIEW: THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - APOCALYPSE SUITE
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 11:10AM | Leila De Lara
The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
Written by: Gerard Way
Art by: Gabriel Bá
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Genre: Superhero
"It starts with an an atomic flying elbow, and ends with a peanut butter sandwich...."
Upon hearing this I began an adventure of my own. To the bookstore. It was there I proceeded to do what I usually do, suss out the artwork and scan the synopsis on the back. Suddenly, in a fit of despair, I let out a howl of disbelief and threw the offending item to the floor.
Ok, you got me, I have too much respect for books than that, but I did squint menacingly at the cover. For there, in black and white, were the words “Written and conceived by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance”.
Now I wasn't necessarily acting the music critic here. My obvious annoyance stemmed from the seemingly incessant stream of celebrities “slumming it” in the comic industry these past years. Few can claim a tie stronger than “ I totally played that growly dude in X-Men, y'know the one...” (Then again you do have Nicolas Cage - I mean the man named his son Kal-El!) Yet this does NOT make you qualified to have your own instantaneously published mini-series. You can feel the bitterness oozing from my words can't you?
However. It is here my ranting ends. As on the first page of this instalment of The Umbrella Academy, you see a pro-wrestler taking on a giant alien squid. His take-down is so amazingly awesome, that it can only be compared to the fact that at the very same moment, forty-three women spontaneously give birth. This is a bit of a shock to them, because they weren't expecting to begin with, so seven of these children are adopted by a monocled scientist who claims he needs them to....”save the world”.
Huh?
So there you are, scratching your head, but it's ok...you soon learn that these children have superpowers, and you watch in awe as they take on a rampaging laser shooting Eiffel Tower. They defeat it, and the infamous zombie robot who's controlling it. You get a little back-story with this, and its not as silly as it sounds, as throughout the melancholy you really get a sense of bleakness and undesirable necessity. Its rather like the X-Men set-up, if of course Xavier was a nasty piece of work who told his protege's they were useless, while pointing his gnarly finger at them.
The majority of the comic is set much later when they have all disbanded due to the dysfunctional nature of their family. Reunited again by death, you gain a greater insight as to the range of their abilities, and of course, what has happened to them these past years. The one they called “number one” is now Spaceboy - half man, half gorilla due to an unfortunate accident, he now resides on the moon. Number five is a time travelling assassin (who's still ten), and of course there's Vanya, who can kinda play the violin and that's it. Apparently. I won't go into what happens, or talk more of the rest of the team, as I feel you should really take the time out to learn of some of the quite inventive superpowers Gerard Way has thought up. The plot remains to be quite silly in its premise, but the tones, and some of the discoveries along the way can be quite dark and thoughtful.
It is not just the writing that impresses however. The fabulous cover artist of Fables, James Jean, provides the cover art here also, and along with the Mignola-esque illustrations of Gabriel Bá, it is a delight to read. Even the colourist, Dave Stewart, brings a wealth of depth to the piece.
One of the criticisms that has been made of Way's style, is that it is too reminiscent of Grant Morrison. Personally, I'd take this as a compliment, as it would be ranked among some of Morrison's best work (and I like his stuff!). Morrison even managed to dispel my preconceptions of the “Emopunk' (yes it is now an official genre) singer in the forward of the book. He regales us with tales of Gerard actually studying art and working in the industry before his current musically inclined fame. Scott Allie, editor of Dark Horse, even paints a picture of the slogging writer, holed up during tours, clad in Spiderman T-shirts, abiding to the strictest deadlines, and even doing his own conceptual artwork (included in the back of the graphic). Damn you Gerard! I really didn't want to like you.
However I feel this comic needs a more fitting, and pumped soundtrack than even he could provide....
I recommend you read this, but stick some Pantera on when you do.
SHARP OBJEX Rating: 3 out of 4
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