Don’t go outside without an umbrella– a review of Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1

Umbrella Academy Dallas #1 begins the day after.  Well, it may not be the day but it is soon after the events of Apocalypse Suite, the reunion of the childhood team and adopted family after years apart when their surrogate father died and one of them went crazy.  As reunions go, it probably wasn’t the best.  For this new miniseries, it’s shortly after those events and maybe the rest of the Umbrella Academy has gone a bit crazy.  Spaceboy sits in the bunker below the devastated mansion watching reality television and eating cookies.  Seance, the last minute hero of the first mini, has let his success go a bit too much to his head, looking to build his own celebrity while his fifteen minutes of fame lasts.  The Rumor, robbed of her voice and her power, looks to hurt her sister, The White Violin, in at least as painful of a way as she was hurt.  The Kraken, the tough guy of the group, goes looking for a mystery and for heads to bust while Number Five goes to the horse track.  In the first miniseries, Gerard Way wrote a story about a family forced into a reunion, as the death of their father made all of them confront a past where they were forced to be childhood superheroes, a fate which may be worse and more dangerous than being a childhood television or movie star.  The team had to face up to their past and the fact that maybe they really are a family that should be together.

The second miniseries begins with the team ignoring what they’ve possibly learned and trying to avoid each other as well.  After a humorous flashback that features the Lincoln Memorial being assassinated by a giant statue of John Wilkes Boothe, Way’s story settles into showing what each of the characters are doing to avoid being with each other.  It’s almost a standard “day after” storyline, catching up with each character during the downtime.  It’s what Matt Fraction was trying to do in the recent Uncanny X-Men #504 but somehow Way pulls the story together a bit better.  Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen these characters in this situation before like we have countless times with the X-Men.  These are new characters and new reactions to the events that they’ve gone through.  This #1 issue doesn’t break any new grounds but it does work planting the characters into situations that we’re at least somewhat familiar with.  Of course, I wouldn’t want a whole miniseries of this but one issue isn’t a bad thing.

Luckily even if the story feels a bit too familiar, Way has Gabriel Ba to illustrate it.  Ba is quickly becoming one of the more lively artists around, able to convey emotion through his line and body language.  Ba’s off-kilter artwork is a perfect partner to Way’s quirky story, giving the book both an animated and dark feeling.  The opening sequence featuring a rampaging Lincoln Memorial is a blend of Mike Mignola’s deep shadows merged with Bruce Timm’s animated motion to his line.  Ba’s artwork is also strong enough to give Way the leeway to take the Rumor’s voice away, making her communication more visual and facial.  Her eyes have to say what she’s thinking as she visits her sister or the grave of a family friend.  Ba is versatile enough to pull of the action sequences as well, such as the opening scene or the conclusion with Number Five doing his version of a berserker rage on some nameless henchmen.  The five year old looking character loses his control as he’s attacked and Ba creates a an energetic and frenetic scene of bloodshed and mayhem.

After the fun of discovery of the Umbrella Academies’ world in the first story, Dallas #1 goes for something more familiar and therefore loses a bit of the charm it had.  With the first miniseries, Way channeled his inner Morrison.  Here, he’s reaching for his inner Claremont.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1
“The Jungle”
Written by: Gerard Way
Drawn by: Gabriel Ba
Colored by: Dave Stewart
Lettered by: Nate Piekos

Similar Posts:

• @ Pop Syndicate– The Umbrella Academy: Dallas tpb
• This is a review to the fourth issue of The Umbrella Academy
• Space Boy meets Mr. Incredible
• Weekly Shopping List 3/25/09
• Wes Anderson meets The X-Men– a review of The Umbrella Academy #1

Tags: Gabriel Ba, Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy