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The selections for this week are random, but have one thing in common, namely to entertain in a different set of genre ranging from the weird to the horror and the tragedy and hardships of life. “The Umbrella Academy” is a limited comic book series published by Dark Horse, which ran for six issues and even won an award for best miniseries.
The fact that the man behind the world of “The Umbrella Academy” is Gerard Way, the frontman of “My Chemical Romance”, peaked my attention towards the series, apart from the stylish cover art and the capturing title. Such a transition from medium to medium is not an everyday occurrence on its own, so it is always refreshing to see what a rocker would do given the opportunity. To aid him in the task is Gabriel Ba, one of the most notable Brazilian artists to be published outside his country. The result is a weird steampunk world transported straight from Smashing Pumpkins’ video “Tonight, Tonight”.
The Umbrella Academy is basically the superhero training facility by alien entrepreneur Sir Reginald Hargreeves, meant to save the world from a still unidentified threat. The seven children admitted to the training are spontaneously born children to women with no signs of pregnancy and have developed in time superhuman abilities in different spectrums. Only the Vanya is left without any powers and thus with no respect from her siblings. In time the group has disbanded due to sibling rivalry and dysfunctional relationships only to reunite once their father Sir Reginald has died and new enemies have emerged. The limelight is occupied by the Orchestra Verdammten, musicians with criminal pasts, and Vanya, who under the conductor’s ministrations unlocks her hidden potential and rises as the White Violin. With her ability to combust things by playing her violin she is feared to bring down the apocalypse.
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Another aspect concerning the experience from reading this series is the art. Although the cover artist is James Jean, whose work is eerie beautiful, Gabriel Ba manages to capture the feel of the story. When it comes to comic books, the visual stimulation of how you perceive a story plays a great deal on a subconscious level. I am not the one to know how one artist’s style is different from the other, but all I can say for Gabriel’s line work is that it resembles an old movie tape. You keep waiting for the boxes to role and the character to turn to life. At least this is how I perceived it. In a way he resembles Mike Mignola for the way he keeps the imperfections in the characters and details and lets his work be more sketchy like unlike the clean and smoothed and greatly detailed practice in comic books like Michael Turner, quite the opposite and yet very satisfying.
4 comments:
Great review! Very informative! Happy Comic Week -C
Why thank you Carole, honey! Thanks for stopping by!
I'm not a comic lover, but this one aroused my interest.
A lot of information from your side.
Good job.
Thank you very much Michael, I enjoyed the series therefore. You are welcome.
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