Gerard Way (Author), Gabriel Ba (Illustrator), Dark Horse Comics (Pub.)

> Review by Carolyn Marcille

The Umbrella Academy moves FAST. The reader is immediately dropped into a battle between the young students of The Umbrella Academy (who are the result of inexplicable and possibly alien-induced pregnancies in the previous decade)…and the Eiffel Tower. While such a fight seems laughable, it quite usefully sets the stage for a whiz-bang story where the weird is to be expected. Readers looking for a thorough backstory will have to keep reading; Way teases at events that kill one Umbrella member, turn their adoptive father’s wife into a mannequin robot, and leave the team broken up and not on speaking terms. My only problem is that each character has multiple monikers, and some closely enough that they are tough to distinguish between. The artwork is youthful; it seems a bit like something a talented high schooler would secretly produce in a notebook during math class. I mean for this comparison to be complimentary; the drawings display the exuberant passion of someone who believes in what they’re doing. The Umbrella Academy is an effective combination of blood and guts with an emotional heart. And while Way has presented us with some deeply screwed up, not always lovable characters, they are interesting enough to keep the reader coming back.