Jump to content

The Umbrella Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TravisAF (talk | contribs) at 02:31, 19 May 2009 (Reverted edits by 99.190.65.55 to last revision by 71.72.214.79 (HG)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Umbrella Academy
Promotional artwork
Publication information
PublisherDark Horse Comics
ScheduleMonthly, every third Wednesday
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateSeptember 19, 2007[1] - Present
No. of issues15 (12 Inculding 3 short stories)
Main character(s)Sir Reginald Hargreeves
Spaceboy
The Murder Magician
The Kraken
The Rumor
Pogo
The Séance
00.05
The Horror
Vanya Hargreeves
Creative team
Created byGerard Way[4]
Written byGerard Way[2]
Artist(s)Gabriel Bá
James Jean (cover illustrations for series 1 only)[3]
Letterer(s)Jason Hvam (Internet preview only)[2]
Nate Piekos
Colorist(s)Dave Stewart[3]
Collected editions
The Apocalypse Suite,DallasISBN 1593079788

The Umbrella Academy is a comic book written by Gerard Way with art by Gabriel Bá, cover art by James Jean, colors by Dave Stewart and letters by Blambot's Nate Piekos. The six-issue limited series[5] is released by Dark Horse Comics, the first issue making its premiere on September 19, 2007.[1] It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series. A second series The Umbrella Academy: Dallas followed in 2008. The series has been optioned for a film adaptation planned for release in 2012.

Main story

The members of the Umbrella Academy, a disbanded group of superheroes, reunite after the death of their adoptive father, "Sir Reginald Hargreeves". Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, collected the members of the Umbrella Academy shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world from an unspecified threat. After his death, the members carry on his plan to save the world.

Influence

Way has stated that the biggest influence on this piece of work is his favorite writer, Grant Morrison of Doom Patrol. He has also stated that Pat McEown of ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worm was a big influence on his work. Way has said that Edvin Biuković is his all-time favorite artist and that "his Grendel Tales are like my bible to draw from".[4]

Characters

  • The Monocle (Sir Reginald Hargreeves) – An alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur and inventor, he adopts the members of The Umbrella Academy at birth.
  • The Umbrella Academy:
    • 00.01 Spaceboy (Luther Hargreeves) – The leader of The Umbrella Academy; his body is that of a gorilla’s and was transplanted after a failed expedition to Mars. His powers are enhanced physical strength and resilience. After his career with The Umbrella Academy he moved to the Moon and lived at the Annihilation Control outpost. On the moon, Luther is attended to by a robotic butler of sorts, named Ben.
    • 00.02 The Kraken (Diego Hargreeves) – The reckless and rebellious member of the group, described by The Monocle as “an insolent brat.” He has the ability to hold his breath indefinitely and has demonstrated a strong affinity for knife-throwing. He and Luther have a very clear rivalry and Diego seems unwilling to take orders from Luther.
    • 00.03 The Rumor (Allison Hargreeves) – Described as narcissistic. She has the ability to prevaricate, whatever she says becomes the truth. After her career with The Umbrella Academy, she married her boyfriend Patrick, who she has since divorced, and had a daughter named Claire.
    • 00.04 The Séance (Klaus Hargreeves) – Showcasing a fretful, morbid temperament, his powers are to contact the dead, levitate and telekinesis. He has the words "Hello" and "Goodbye" tattooed on his palms.
    • 00.05 The Boy (see notes at back of The Apocalypse Suite) - Disappeared at the age of ten and reappears in his childhood form 20 years into the future. 00.05 appears to be capable of traveling through time under his own power, although he was forced to spend decades in the future trying to prove the possibility of backwards time-travel before he was able to achieve it. He was shown to have aged normally in the distant future, but regressed back to his youth in transit. 00.05 claims to have read accounts of the Academy's immediate future and their connection to an apocalypse.
    • 00.06 The Horror (Ben Hargreeves) – He possesses monsters under his skin from other dimensions. He is deceased, but no information regarding his death is given. There is a memorial statue of him located in the front of the Academy. Even though he's been dead since before the start of the series (but after the Murder Magician affair), he's been portrayed as a member of The Umbrella Academy since ever, appearing as his statue counterpart, or as images of him alive.
    • 00.07 The White Violin (Vanya Hargreeves) – The most estranged member of the group, Vanya showcases no particular powers, other than an interest in music. Vanya is known to have written a book detailing her life with the Academy and her decision to leave. According to The Conductor, leader of the Orchestra Verdammten, she's the most powerful of the Umbrella Academy, even leading to The Monocle for surpressing her powers from the beginning.
  • Inspector Lupo – A police officer, detective and sorta friend of The Umbrella Academy. (Has a resemblance to Commissioner James Gordon)
  • Abhijat – The Monocle’s bodyguard and assistant.
  • Dr. Pogo – A talking chimp associated with The Monocle. Spaceboy's Best friend growing up at the Academy.
  • Mrs. Hargreeves (Grace Hargreeves) - Referred to as "Mom" by the members of the Academy. While the Monocle is shown in a portrait in the first issue, with a woman beside him, this is apparently not the children's "Mom," who shows up in the second issue and appears to be an only partially animate plastic mannequin. Little information is given as to her origins.
  • Hazel and Cha-Cha - A pair of extremely violent Nazi assassins working for the Temps Aeternalis. They both wear brightly colored cartoon character masks, maniacal and psychopath behaviour, and have a love of sweets.

The Apocalypse Suite

The six part series, Apocalypse Suite, began with the release of the first issue on September 19, 2007. One issue is to be released on the third Wednesday of every month for six months.[1] The series editor is Scott Allie, and the series assistant editors are Rachel Edidin and Sierra Hahn. The series designer is Tony Ong.

Plot

(See main article: The Apocalypse Suite) In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born by 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.


Dallas

A second series called The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, began publication on November 26, 2008.

#1 “The Jungle”

The first issue, "The Jungle" was released on November 26, 2008.

Plot

The next chapter in the adventures of the Umbrella Academy opens with a flashback to seventeen years ago. The Monocle converses with the President on something that only the Academy can solve. Meanwhile the Lincoln Memorial attacks The Umbrella Academy in Washington DC, but is beaten when the Rumor summons a statue of John Wilkes Booth with a lie. The Booth statue kills the Lincoln statue and The Horror believes they will be rewarded with ice cream. Rumor tells him to grow up. We then jump foreword to after the events of the Apocalypse Suite. Vanya has lost all of her memory and is in the hospital and Allison brings her into a TV center where she can see everything she has done. The Seance has become famous and thinks he is special. Also Luther has seemed to stop caring and just lazes around watching T.V. and eating cookies.The Kraken wants to find the people who were witnesses at the coffee shop when 00.05 is attacked by the masked men and breaks a mans arm for not giving him any information. Allison has lost her voice and writes on a sheet of paper what she has to say, and seems to truly hate Vanya for all she has done, especially for killing Pogo. After losing a bet at a dog track Number 5 gets attacked in a parking lot by a legion of the masked men, who he calls the Temps Aeternalis. He quickly kills all of them after refusing to come with them to 'finish the job.' Things go down the drain when a agent who survived the slaughter contacts his superiors and calls for back-up in the form of 'Hazel and Cha-Cha.' In a panic 00.05 kills the man and proclaims in shock, "We're already dead."

#2 "Boy Scout"

The second issue, "Boy Scout" was released on December 24, 2008.

Plot

The second chapter of Dallas starts out with two unknown figures, revealed quickly to be the aforementioned Hazel and Cha-Cha, at the same coffee shop from volume 1 eating pie. The duo ask for the recipe of the pie that they seem to be infatuated with, but the cook won't tell them. He explains "I wouldn't even tell if you cut off my arms and legs," the two then proceed to do so in short order. The Kraken returns to the police station looking at photos of the massacre from the last issue but Lupo and the monkey, Body, runs into him in Lupo's office and they asked,"Where's The Boy?" but The Kraken had no clue so he just crawled out the window. They ask why he is crawling out the window instead out the front door. The Kraken stated,"Because cops give me the creeps.(Check your sources)" The Kraken returns home and gets into a fight with the now obese Spaceboy saying that they can't find No.5 and Spaceboy is just lazing around. Alison discovers the Monocle's monocle and quickly finds No. 5, who is being sung a birthday song by a chimp in drag and apparently believing himself to be the president. Seance ends up by Pogo's grave saying that he misses him and he hears something. He thinks it is Pogo talking to him and hears shocking secrets of No.5 from the monkey's spirit. Hazel and Cha-Cha then appear and smack Seance across the head with a baseball bat and then apologize from a fight they had in the issue beginning. The two proclaim that now with Seance in their hands they can find No.5, The Boy.

#3 "Television" or "Are You There, God? It's Me, Klaus"

The third issue, "Television" or "Are You There, God? It's Me, Klaus" was released on January 28, 2009.

Plot

The chapter starts with the Seance inside of a television left on by the obese Spaceboy, who is asleep on the couch, and the Seance is trying to tell Spaceboy about what happened to him (being captured and how he will kill him). The television then breaks and Spaceboy wakes up. The Seance was communicating with Spaceboy through the television and Hazel and Cha-Cha found out, breaking the television. Cha-Cha then, after some words about the Seance's shoes and powers are exchanged by the three, puts a gun to the Seance's head. The Seance tries to pay his way out of his situation with money or "hooker amputees," but Hazel and Cha-Cha have the nukes may have been the weapons referred to in the first issue's flashback. Then, after discussing how the nukes were found and the plans that Hazel and Cha-Cha had for finding 00.05, Hazel shoots the Seance. 00.05 starts to tell the Rumor about his past life. He "left out" details of his past from the future. He was captured by the Temps Aeternalis, an agency that preserves the time continuum and recruits "anomolies," like 00.05, and puts them to work. He was changed through surgeries and other training, which explains much of the skills and other abilities he acquires during the Umbrella Academy series. 00.05 was considered the best and was specially trained by a Shubukin Goldfish with a genius-level intellect and the instincts of Nathan Bedford Forrest to take care of specific individuals. 00.05 found out that the augmentations bonded his DNA with those of notorious assassins and he was to kill President Kennedy but, he rebelled. Spaceboy flies to where the Seance was held and tortured and finds him, dead. An electric prod handled by Hazel shocks Spaceboy, believing that it killed him. The Seance, on the other hand, is seen in a pure white Heaven with God, depicted as a cowboy. The Cowboy tells him that he is to return to Earth and to "Stop being such a fairy and kill those two sons o' bitches. And stay off the drugs, Klaus." The Rumor and 00.05 are in a Chinese restaurant continuing their previous conversation. Then, 00.05's commanding officer, the Shubukin Goldfish, walks in to talk with 00.05. 00.05 threatens his officer but the officer states that he has his biological mother in the eyes of two agents that can kill her if necessary. His officer demands that he is to finish the job against the President (Kennedy) by preventing 00.05's past self from interfering. Allison is invited but writes "And why should I care what happens to this little jerk?" He reveals that 00.05's biological mother has twins, implying that Allison is, in fact, 00.05's biological sister.

#4 "A Perfect Life"

The fourth issue, "A Perfect Life" was released on February 25, 2009.

#5 "All the Animals in the Zoo"

The fifth issue, "All the Animals in the Zoo" was released on March 25, 2009

Short Stories

A first short preview story of the series was released on November 2, 2006 on the Dark Horse Comics website.[2] The first printed story was “…But the Past Ain’t Through With You.” which appeared in the 2007 Dark Horse Comics Free Comic Book Day issue.[3] Another story, “Safe & Sound”, was published in July of 2007 in Dark Horse Presents online on MySpace.[6]

Internet Preview

An Internet preview was released on November 2 2006 on the Dark Horse website. The story was lettered by Jason Hvam.[2]

Plot

The story is only two pages long and contains two main characters, The Séance, appearing as an adult, and The Boy, #00.05. A time-travel machine causes the The Séance to briefly experience life as a French military commander.

“…But the Past Ain’t Through With You.”

Cover of the 2007 Dark Horse Comics Free Comic Book Day issue, featuring the first printed story of The Umbrella Academy, “…But the Past Ain’t Through With You.”

The first printed story of the series, the title is a line from the B-side track "Kill All Your Friends" by Way's band, My Chemical Romance ("And you can sleep in a coffin, but the past ain't through with you"). "…But the Past Ain’t Through with You.", appeared in the 2007 Dark Horse Comics Free Comic Book Day issue. The comic book was released on May 5, 2007, Free Comic Book Day. The comic book also features the début of Pantheon City written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Clément Sauvé and Zero Killer written by Arvid Nelson and illustrated by Matt Camp.[3]

Plot

The story begins with Spaceboy, The Rumor, and The Séance finding The Rumor’s body in an alley. The scene changes to the studio of the Lucifer Clark Show, a late night talk show, with the Murder Magician, accompanied by his assistant, The Assistant. The Murder Magician matter-of-factly admits to killing The Rumor in front of Lucifer Clark and a live studio audience, both of which seem to not take him seriously. The Murder Magician goes on to reveal his Murderbot, which he claims he will use to murder people. The scene changes to Inspector Lupo complaining about the situation in the studio with two police officers, while they await the appearance of the Umbrella Academy. All five members appear, just having teleported from Tokyo after fighting a sea serpent. Inspector Lupo explains the situation: the Murder Magician has hypnotized Lucifer Clark and the audience, activated the Murderbot, and demanded ten million dollars and a date with a soap opera actress named Gina Barbeux. The scene changes to the inside of the studio, which is now being destroyed by the Murderbot. The Murder Magician and The Assistant are dancing on stage and Lucifer Clark is in a Dagger Head Box. As the Murder Magician is about to saw Lucifer Clark in half, the Murderbot crashes to the ground. The Umbrella Academy appears and Spaceboy orders the Murder Magician to surrender. The Kraken attacks the Murder Magician as The Assistant flees. Spaceboy grabs hold of the Murderbots arm, orders The Horror to grab the other arm, and The Séance to loosen the bolts of the robot. The Horror and Spaceboy each pull a hand, severing the robot’s arms, effectively destroying it. The Rumor seeing The Assistant on the lighting rig lies and tells her that the rig was assembled in a “rush job”. The rig collapses, seemingly killing The Assistant. The Monocle (Sir Reginald Hargreeves) appears in the studio to everyone’s surprise and asks how The Rumor’s body could have been found if she is still alive. Spaceboy explains that The Rumor lied about going to the library after she was found out of the house after midnight. She was actually sneaking out to see her boyfriend. Spaceboy explains that her lie had manifested into another Rumor, which was killed by the Murder Magician. The Monocle commends Spaceboy on his work and states his amazement that he led the Murder Magician to a copy instead of the actual Rumor. The Kraken, enraged, asks The Monocle why he would have told the Murder Magician where to find The Rumor. The Monocle responds by saying, “to teach her a lesson”. The story concludes with The Monocle exiting the studio as he says, “class dismissed”. An editorial note at the end of the story informs the reader that the next installment of the Umbrella Academy some characters “may or may not be living and/or dead”.

“Safe & Sound”

“Safe & Sound” is an eight-page story published in the first issue of the second volume of Dark Horse Presents in July 2007. The second volume of Dark Horse Presents (an anthology comic book, which was the first comic ever published by Dark Horse) appears monthly exclusively online on the social networking website MySpace for free. The comic book also features stories for the series Sugarshock! written by Joss Whedon and illustrated by Fábio Moon (Gabriel Bá’s twin brother) and Samurai: Heaven and Earth written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Luke Ross.[6]

Plot

The story begins with The Kraken on top of a moving car occupied by criminals. The credits on the page say “Safe & Sound / featuring The Kraken / Formerly of the Umbrella Academy”. The cars occupants, a driver, a man in the passenger seat with a Tommy Gun, a Gypsy fortuneteller in the back seat, and a little girl in the back seat are all aware that The Kraken in on top of the vehicle. After The Kraken stabs the top of the car, the fortuneteller, who is holding a green crystal ball, orders the man in the front to shoot The Kraken, who manages to escape injury. When the girl in the back says that she wants to go home, the fortuneteller tells her she can as soon as her father pays the ransom. The Kraken punches the man with the gun through the window, prompting the fortuneteller to order the driver to slam the brakes. The Kraken and the man with the gun are ejected from the car, the latter going through the windshield. The Kraken flies through a window of an unoccupied clothing store. The other occupants in the car exit the vehicle and the fortuneteller produces a cartomancy card that portrays death. The driver than indiscriminately shoots at the clothing store with the Tommy Gun. The Kraken emerges on top of the car (behind the fortuneteller) and demands the release of the girl. She pulls out another cartomancy card with devil. The driver shoots at The Kraken, who jumps towards him and punches him. The knocked-out man falls to the ground. The fortuneteller, still defiant, tells The Kraken not to produce his blade, or else she will drop the green crystal ball, which she claims holds the life of the girl she is holding hostage. She claims that if it drops the girl will die. The Kraken throws his knife at the fortuneteller’s shoulder and she drops the crystal ball, which shatters on the ground. The fortuneteller is in shock to see that the girl is still alive and is surprised by a punch delivered by The Kraken. The next scene shows the fortuneteller being arrested who is hysterically saying that the girl should have died. Inspector Lupo (a character similar to Commissioner Gordon of Batman) thanks The Kraken for saving the mayor’s daughter. The Kraken reaches into the back seat of the fortuneteller’s car and produces a crystal ball, identical the one that was destroyed. He hands in to the Inspector and tells him that it is, “Something important. Take care of it.”

“Anywhere But Here”

Darkhorse released the eight-page short story on their MySpace.

Plot

(The story takes place 13 years ago, during the group's teenage years) The Monocle is giving a long and boring speech to Diego and Vanya (The Kraken and The White Violin) who are in a punk rock band called Prime 8's, in which Vanya plays the guitar, The Kraken plays the bass guitar and an ape called "Body" plays the drums. Finally The Monocle gives Vanya a plane ticket set to go to Paris, where she is supposed to study music and improve her talents in the violin. Then in Diego's room, he convinces Vanya to go and play at a gig that night, and then with the money they would earn, they could run away from the Umbrella Academy to be in the band. Diego says "You don't belong here (The Academy) so neither do I, I'm not cut for this Hero business". They agree to meet at the gig that night. In the city a bar is filled with people screaming to hear the Prime 8's but Diego hasn't shown up yet and the owner of the bar demands to see the band playing at that moment, so Body decides to finish the band and say goodbye to Vanya. Vanya, very disappointed, is walking down the street and suddenly hears a television from a Shop where TV-News are shown about a Gang arrested by The Umbrella Academy and they did it with the help of The Kraken. "This is where you belong" says Vanya. So Vanya gets in a Taxi, the Driver asks "Are you going somewhere important?" Vanya answers "Yeah, anywhere but here."

Collected editions

The series has been collected as a trade paperback:

The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite (by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá, includes all six issues from The Apocalypse Suite, extracts from sketchbooks featuring early versions of characters, the short internet preview and the story from Free Comic Book Day 2007, limited edition hardcover, ISBN 1595821635, softcover, ISBN 1593079788)

Film

Dark Horse have a first look deal with Universal Pictures,[7] who have optioned The Umbrella Academy.[8]

There is a listing for the film at Internet Movie Database, with a tentative release date of 2012. [9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #1". Dark Horse Comics. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  2. ^ a b c d "Gerard Way gives the world a sneak peek at the upcoming Umbrella Academy series! 11/2/06". Dark Horse Comics. 2006-11-02. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  3. ^ a b c d "Free Comic Book Day 2007". Dark Horse Comics. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  4. ^ a b "Gerard Way Interview: Umbrella Academy 8/14/06". Dark Horse Comics. 2006-08-14. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  5. ^ Pastorek, Whitney (2007). "Exclusive Peek: Gerard Way's 'Umbrella Academy'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "SDCC '07: DARK HORSE PRESENTS RETURNS ON MYSPACE". Newsarama. Retrieved 2007-09-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Dark Horse/Universal Sign First Look Deal, Newsarama, March 18, 2008
  8. ^ UMBRELLA ACADEMY Feature Film Update!, IESB, October 19, 2008
  9. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1312171/

References

Interviews

Reviews

Short stories

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=The_Umbrella_Academy&oldid=290857598"