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Well,not having seen Casanova –the comic not the person,who I did once actually meet on a chronal perambulation once- I have to admit that on first seeing the covers of  The Umbrella Academy I thought “these will make great Tim Burton movie posters” but never looked inside. 

When Bristol’s own artist-in-residence,Mr Paul Brown [ooh,we are formal!] said he had been tempted I thought I’d check it out.

To me the art looked superb and hit me some-what like Carlos Pacheco’s had when I first saw it.  However,Ba’s artwork is simply…superb.  Luckily,Chris at Forbidden Planet had ordered enough extra copies so I purchased 1-6 straight away [agh! My poor wallet!].

Now,as people may think I’m just being nice for grovelling reasons,I decided that I’d get someone else to give a review but look at the entire 6 issue run in one go.  Mr Northall is more into Ball-Gag Man Comics so I thought..Paul Brown!

Here is his review so any complaints…

And if you want links to more art and info go to the excellent:

http://fabioandgabriel.blogspot.com/

The  Umbrella Academy 

by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba

6 issue Series from Dark Horse Comics

 I’ll start with a confession which, on this site, is almost sacreligious. I don’t read “superhero” comics. Generally, I dislike the mainstream comic book world for it’s continuing pandering to a limited, arrested development of what is, or rather could be, a truly vibrant and exciting artistic medium. That’s not to say I havent read mainstream comics before.It’s just i’d rather not, simply because I don’t want to spend my life worrying about what’s just happened in the alternate universe of Ball-Gag Man, and it’s effect on issues 500-624 of The Spasmodic.

 Still, despite that arrogant and snobbish statement, I recently found myself in my local Forbidden Planet seriously considering parting with my tediously-earned pennies, for the chance to read, dare I say it, a typical mainstream comic ! What could possibly make me want to consider such an act of deranged irresponsibilty?

The answer is having taken a sneaky look at some issues of  Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba’s The Umbrella Academy, and actually being interested in the contents within.(thankfully, Our erstwhile CBO Fuhrer,Uncle Terry bought them to save me from corrupting my aesthetic standpoint(hah !), but demanded I review them.Well, it was a review, or the nearest river-you know the stories !!!)

I’m pleased to say that my initial interest was totally justified.I’m also pleased to tell you that I have never enjoyed a comic book as much as this in years.Gerard and Gabriel’s story of an adopted family of children with “super” abilities, brought up by a famous entrepreneur(who happens to be an alien) in the hope that they will one day save the world, was a total delight from start to finish.

Not wanting to give too much away to those of you who haven’t read it, the plot centres on the members of The Umbrella Academy reuniting after 15 years, following the death of their adoptive father, and the possibly unspecified threat to the world’s safety becoming a reality.

 Within this simple framework of a plot, Gerard Way uses the episodic nature of the series beautifully, to introduce our main protagonists, set up  various story threads that hint at great potential to develop further adventures, and gives us enough information to flesh out the main characters and their rather dysfunctional relationships and sibling rivalry, with some neat back-story that still allows greater exploration. There are also incidental characters that have the potential to be integral in any possible new stories, a couple of really great villians, and some wonderful action set-pieces (issue one’s opening of the Eiffel Tower Attack, the Terminauts destruction of the carnival, the series showdown finale).There’s also some lovely humourous touches(the newspaper headlines, the character Seance’s nice line in deadpan bleakness).

Allied to Gerard’s excellent story, there’s the really excellent artwork by Gabriel Ba, who looks like he may be the human incarnation of Major Easy ! While there seems to be a number of people making comparisons to Mike Mignola, I would personally suggest that Gabriel Ba is his own man, and his style differs quite dramatically from Mignola. Ba’s artwork is it’s own fully-formed, original entity, and it’s a complete joy. It differs much from the likes of Mignola in that I personally find it far more kinetic and rounded, less static. It’s more cartoon-y, and has a zip to it that really moves the story, and in paticular the action sequences along really well. What really comes across is the fact he’s having so much fun doing this, and that sense is what adds to the enjoyment of the work. He’s also great at the Double-Page Chapter headings splashes(I paticularly loved issue 4’s;compositionally, a brilliant use of dead space)

Credit must also be given to Dave Stewart’s gorgeous colouring job, and illustrator James Jean’s idiosyncratic cover artwork.

 All in all, I can’t rate this highly enough.

It’s really enjoyable, and you’ll want, like I did, to be reading further adventures of the Umbrella

Of course, my other,  even greater concern, is that as I enjoyed this so much, I might be tempted to give The New Adventures of Ball-Gag Man a chance ! Now that would really be a worry !

Paul Brown (hopefully, free from drowning, & Ball- Gag Man Comics !)