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46th out of 1189 books
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1990 voters
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The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite (The Umbrella Academy #1)
by
Gerard Way,
Gabriel Bá
Gerard Way, of My Chemical Romance, makes his comics writing debut in this outrageous superhero epic that Grant Morrison called "An ultraviolet psychedelic sherbet bomb of wit and ideas. The superheroes of the 21st century are here at last..." In an inexplicable, worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who'd previously...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
July 16th 2008
by Dark Horse
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as the back cover states, this is a comic with an arch Victorian sensibility. steampunk superheroes, i love it! in an alternate world, "43 extraordinary children were born..." and seven of them were collected, to form a super-powered super-team. they have powers like time travel and mind control and super-strength and super-agility and the ability to spawn cthulhic tentacles. they are pretty awesome. my favorite is the devious, cold-blooded little killer Number Five, a 10-year old with...more
While reading this I thought, "The is The Royal Tenenbaums meets The Watchmen"; and apparently other reviewers of this graphic novel made the same connection.
So, that observation is, really, just my way of "bumping the thread" for those on my friends list for whom that concoction might be their confection: not meant to be an original OMG!! breakthrough in comic book criticism.
A group of superpowered orphans, raised by a dick of a father-leader, grow...more
So, that observation is, really, just my way of "bumping the thread" for those on my friends list for whom that concoction might be their confection: not meant to be an original OMG!! breakthrough in comic book criticism.
A group of superpowered orphans, raised by a dick of a father-leader, grow...more
It starts with an atomic flying elbow and ends with making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can already tell it is going to be good, right? Forty-three extraordinary children were simultaneously born to women who had no signs of pregnancy. Most of the children were either abandoned or adopted. Reginald Hargreeves, an eccentric rich inventory, took in seven of the children. When asked why, he only replied, “To save the world.”
The seven children were known as the Umbrella Academy,...more
The seven children were known as the Umbrella Academy,...more
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"Our souls are tainted...painted black by the very deeds that make us so wonderfully individual..."
Dark yet hopeful, sinister and yet has a hint of innocence, cruel yet witty, full of love and hate, music, family, neurosis, heros that hate, villains that love, aliens, robots, superheros, war, the eiffel tower, the end of the world, and a full orchestra. This isn't just a comic book, this is an accumilation of a lifetime of talent and pain. If i had not known that Gerard Wa...more
Dark yet hopeful, sinister and yet has a hint of innocence, cruel yet witty, full of love and hate, music, family, neurosis, heros that hate, villains that love, aliens, robots, superheros, war, the eiffel tower, the end of the world, and a full orchestra. This isn't just a comic book, this is an accumilation of a lifetime of talent and pain. If i had not known that Gerard Wa...more
Aubrey Tate
rated it
Recommended to Aubrey by:
ugo.com's 50 must read graphic novels
Shelves:
graphic-novels
It's no wonder this book won the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. I must state that when I first started it I wasn't expecting to like it but when I ended it I was surprised. The characters were very reminiscent of Watchmen characters without being a copy; so I liked that! The art was incredible! For me, with a graphic novel, the art can be a real turning point. The art and the story, as shown in Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, must jive together and that they did. I was very impre...more
Full review on Badelynge
Outside it is raining again. It's out there and I'm in here reading my comics again. This time it's Gerard Way's comic book debut with the remarkable first collection of The Umbrella Academy written when he was still on the road with My Chemical Romance deep in a world Black Parade tour. Well before he rose to fame as part of a successful rock band Gerard began writing and drawing comics. It would be easy to dismiss this book before reading it, thinking that the on...more
Outside it is raining again. It's out there and I'm in here reading my comics again. This time it's Gerard Way's comic book debut with the remarkable first collection of The Umbrella Academy written when he was still on the road with My Chemical Romance deep in a world Black Parade tour. Well before he rose to fame as part of a successful rock band Gerard began writing and drawing comics. It would be easy to dismiss this book before reading it, thinking that the on...more
If you told me a year ago that a member of the hit band My Chemical Romance could pen a comic-book worthy of an Eisner nomination, I would have scoffed at the idea. But I relented when – after many a recommendation within comic literary circles – I picked up this first volume of the Umbrella Academy during my comic shop’s twice-yearly clearance sale. And what a smart purchase this was.
A musical prodigy in his own right, Gerard Way blew me away with his deft story-telling, not to ment...more
A musical prodigy in his own right, Gerard Way blew me away with his deft story-telling, not to ment...more
I'm trying to remember what lead me to read this book in the first place. It was a combination of a sick curiosity wondering what kind of comic book the lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance could possibly come up with and the cute black and white inked kid in knickers with dark circles under his eyes. The art is really nice, the characters are pretty inventive...I really wanted to love this book after looking through it. However there was something missing. Something I still cant put m...more
Take one pinch Salinger, a heaping helping of Wes Anderson. Apply liberal dashes The X-men, Clockwork Orange, The Twilight Zone, and Mike Mignola. Add A semi insane ten year old with more killing power then Lee Marvin in his prime, the single most gratitous example of Living Violin Of Destruction on Chimp violence I have ever seen and The Zombie Corpse of Gustav Eiffel piloting his famous tower in an effort to destroy Paris.
And Viola.
I'm looking forward to more adventur...more
And Viola.
I'm looking forward to more adventur...more
It's interesting that the editor compares Gerard Way to Mike Mignola, because what I was thinking as I was reading this was: This is exactly what Hellboy SHOULD be but never is.
You get dropped very much into the middle of a complicated story, with only a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them backstory points here and there. It wasn't until my 2nd read through that I a) figured out what was happening, exactly, and b) really liked it quite a lot.
It's not perfect, the ending is a b...more
You get dropped very much into the middle of a complicated story, with only a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them backstory points here and there. It wasn't until my 2nd read through that I a) figured out what was happening, exactly, and b) really liked it quite a lot.
It's not perfect, the ending is a b...more
I didn’t realize until I was finished with it that this series is written by Gerard Way of the band My chemical Romance. Not that it suddenly makes it better or worse, but I might have skipped it if I would have known beforehand.
At a certain moment around the world, children were born that had special powers. They were all born to women that nobody knew were pregnant, and seven of these children were adopted by Sir Hargreeves, an old detached man that called these adopted child...more
At a certain moment around the world, children were born that had special powers. They were all born to women that nobody knew were pregnant, and seven of these children were adopted by Sir Hargreeves, an old detached man that called these adopted child...more
Okay, first of all, I don't care for My Chemical Romance, so you can imagine my reaction when I reached for what appeared to be an interesting looking TPb. My chemical Romance's singer, Gerard Way,was given the opportunity to make a comic book series?! Its just a little too common for celebrities to try and do the whole crossover appeal thing, and ultimately, it's more often than not very disappointing.
However, after begrudgingly flipping through it and seeing how action packed and s...more
However, after begrudgingly flipping through it and seeing how action packed and s...more
In one moment forty-seven children were born by women who'd never known they were pregnant. Seven of these children were adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves...to save the world. These children each have unique and bizarre powers, ranging from the ability to communicate with the dead to traveling in time. Together they form the Umbrella Academy. The team eventually breaks apart, each going their own separate way, only to return together when Sir Hargreeves passes away...and the greater adventure u...more
Demolition Lover
rated it
Where to begin? Umbrella Academy was spectacular. Absolutely magnificent. Gerard Way (the story writer) is supremely talented, whether in his musical works, art, or comic writing. I don't know that much about Gabriel Ba (illustrator), but I'll have to look up more of his stuff, because I love the artwork in the comic. Everything about it was fantastic.
I'm not a comic person (never have been) so it's a miracle that I tried and liked Umbrella Academy. The story line was complicated (in a good...more
I'm not a comic person (never have been) so it's a miracle that I tried and liked Umbrella Academy. The story line was complicated (in a good...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was recommended to me by a friend at work, who said it was Ultimate X-Men meets A Clockwork Orange meets Watchmen. While it wasn't quite on the level of greatness that comparison had me prepared for, this was still pretty damn good.
Written by Gerard Way (you may know him better as the lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance), Umbrella Academy tells the story of seven youth, six of whom have superpowers, adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a rich and uppity New Yorker type wh...more
Written by Gerard Way (you may know him better as the lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance), Umbrella Academy tells the story of seven youth, six of whom have superpowers, adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a rich and uppity New Yorker type wh...more
I picked up this volume on the promise of a showdown between the superpowered students of the titular Academy and a robot zombie Gustave Eiffel as the latter rampages around Paris inside his famous tower; when this scene ended abruptly after about two pages, I got a sinking feeling that I was in for a lot of wasted potential. And that's ultimately what this little story arc is. There's an undercurrent of clever ideas throughout, but those ideas never amount to much more than flimsy setpieces tha...more
Ethan Clark
rated it
Shelves:
adventure,
apocalyptic,
beginnings,
favorites,
paranormal,
science-fiction,
romance,
the-good,
graphic-novel
It all makes so much more sense now! If you've been following these reviews, then you know that I discovered the marvelous adventures of the Umbrella Academy approximately two weeks ago at the Farragut Library. More recently, though, I found a couple of my friends reading the exact same series, only it was the prequel, the one that I had been unable to find! After a couple of days of borrowing and discussion I was able to complete the precursor to Dallas, learning that the lead singer of MCR als...more
I liked this a lot, but I wanted to like it more. Specifically, I wanted the author to do more to develop his characters and story. Elements that seem like cool concepts ("Hey, let's have a battle with a giant space squid!" "Hey, let's have a talking chimp!") are tossed into the mix without any backstory or follow-up. I love that we start with mysteries, but I was hoping that at the end at least some of the mysteries would be revealed. Why these children? Why is Hargreeves a ...more
It really is "Wes Anderson directs a superhero movie" in many ways; and, given my hate/like relationship with Wes's films, that's both a positive and a negative for me.
Ok, cons first: Retro-futuristic stories involving killer robots, gorillas, and post-modern takes on superhero continuities are, strangely enough, kind of cliche. It's working in the shadow of Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Mike Mignola, who have all done it better. It often feels very much like someone...more
Ok, cons first: Retro-futuristic stories involving killer robots, gorillas, and post-modern takes on superhero continuities are, strangely enough, kind of cliche. It's working in the shadow of Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Mike Mignola, who have all done it better. It often feels very much like someone...more
If you:
A) hate comic books
B) love comic book
C) feel indifferent about comic books
D) have never picked up a comic book in your life
READ THIS TRADE PAPERBACK.
This is one of the greatest comic books ever written, drawn, inked, etc. I hate to oversell it, but it's totally true. A group of kids, adopted by a scientist, time-traveling, killing for the good of mankind and having all of the dysfunctional problems kids have. In this...more
A) hate comic books
B) love comic book
C) feel indifferent about comic books
D) have never picked up a comic book in your life
READ THIS TRADE PAPERBACK.
This is one of the greatest comic books ever written, drawn, inked, etc. I hate to oversell it, but it's totally true. A group of kids, adopted by a scientist, time-traveling, killing for the good of mankind and having all of the dysfunctional problems kids have. In this...more
This book surprised me. I picked it up because the idea sounded intriguing and random: superheroes spontaneously given birth to all at the same time and adopted by a millionaire? I enjoyed the fact that this is clearly a "darker" series with all of the superheroes, eventually named the Umbrella Academy, carry their own emotional baggage, gained in the 20 years after they disbanded after saving the world. After uniting for their "father's" funeral, a new threat to the world...more
My Chemical Romance was my guilty pleasure circa 2003. So it makes sense that Gerard Way, front man of My Chemical Romance, would write my guilty pleasure of 2009. Like the music of My Chemical Romance, this book's full of hooks, e.g., vampires, zombies, cyborgs, contrived romance. Any fanboy worth his V-card gets wet to at least one of these things.
Despite parlor tricks, a tight arc is built on great aesthetic choices. The art is crisp and gorey. The simple design reminded me of t...more
Despite parlor tricks, a tight arc is built on great aesthetic choices. The art is crisp and gorey. The simple design reminded me of t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Posted on my book blog.
Background: Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Gabriel Bá and his twin brother Fábio Moon in the opening of their exhibition at Mundo Fantasma, our local comic book shop. I had never heard of The Umbrella Academy series (which goes to show how out of comic book news I have been), but the cover caught my attention, and having Gabriel Bá signing it was a plus.
Review: It's not usual for me to read the first chapter of a book, raise my head fro...more
Background: Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting Gabriel Bá and his twin brother Fábio Moon in the opening of their exhibition at Mundo Fantasma, our local comic book shop. I had never heard of The Umbrella Academy series (which goes to show how out of comic book news I have been), but the cover caught my attention, and having Gabriel Bá signing it was a plus.
Review: It's not usual for me to read the first chapter of a book, raise my head fro...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I first heard about The Umbrella Academy when I was 12 from my cousin, but i hadn't had the chance to read it until now, 2 years afterward.
Let me just say; wow. This is one of the most unique, lyrical, and downright awesomest books I've ever read(and I do mean books- not just comic books). From the bizarre powers("I heard a rumor...") to the long issue/chapter titles('We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals')to the wonderful art by Gabriel Ba, this series is, simply p...more
Let me just say; wow. This is one of the most unique, lyrical, and downright awesomest books I've ever read(and I do mean books- not just comic books). From the bizarre powers("I heard a rumor...") to the long issue/chapter titles('We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals')to the wonderful art by Gabriel Ba, this series is, simply p...more
The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way
I may have to reserve judgment on this series until I have read a few, but my first reaction is - eh, it's okay. There is a great need for background information to help readers understand the characters and the plot. I didn't feel a draw to any of the characters, except maybe Pogo. I am not giving up on the series just yet but this first one didn't overly impress me. However, these books are written by the famous rock-s...more
I may have to reserve judgment on this series until I have read a few, but my first reaction is - eh, it's okay. There is a great need for background information to help readers understand the characters and the plot. I didn't feel a draw to any of the characters, except maybe Pogo. I am not giving up on the series just yet but this first one didn't overly impress me. However, these books are written by the famous rock-s...more
I remember when the first Dark Horse adds started to show up -- there was this cool, Mignola-esque drawing of a gorilla with a man's head, and I thought "Keen, I should look it up." Then I found out that "The Umbrella Academy" was created and written by Gerard Way of "My Chemical Romance," and I scratched it of my "to read" list. I generally follow that most reliable of rules of thumb: artists tinkering in other art forms should be steered clear of at al...more
It seemed to me that Way had a lot going on in his head with the characters and plot of "The Umbrella Academy," but his ideas did not translate well to the page, or at all. The reader is left to infer a great deal about the characters and what happened to them between the opening pages of the novel when they are 10 years-old and the rest of the novel 20 years later. Because of this, I was not interested in the characters and,worse, was confused about their motivation throughout the w...more
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Gerard Arthur Way is an American musician who has served as frontman, lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001. He currently lives in West New York, New Jersey.
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“We're ganna we like to actually um, kidnap them in a van, and tie them up, and leave them somewhere dangerous...that's the SUPRISE!”
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