The Umbrella Academy: Difference between revisions

A comic book series written by Gerard Way of [[My Chemical Romance]] and drawn by Gabriel Bá from [[Dark Horse Comics]], irregularly published since 2007.

One day, 43 extraordinary children were [[Bizarre Baby Boom|all spontaneously born on the same day]]. Of these children, seven are adopted by the inventor (and space alien) Reginald Hargreeves and groomed into superheroes. However, Hargreeves does not prove to be a good father figure and his inability to give emotional warmth to the children, along his unwavering ambition to push them to their limits, inevitably scars them all as adults. In many ways ''The Umbrella Academy'' is both a [[Deconstruction]] and [[Affectionate Parody]] of Gold and Silver Age comics, joyfully embracing absurd and wonderful classics like talking monkeys and space squids while exploring the real psychological effects of being groomed from birth to be a hero in the care of a wealthy man of intrigue.

** His power makes him a parody of [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]] and his popular criticism of having a rather pointless power.

* [[Early -Bird Cameo]]: Well, you couldn't known who is that character by the moment, but you would remember seeing {{spoiler|The White Violin, aka Vanya}} near Hargreeves's rushed up funeral in the second issue cover... [[Covers Always Lie|but it doesn't really happen in the comic.]] The funeral happens, but {{spoiler|she's}} not present.

* [[Everything's Better Withwith Monkeys]]: One of Hargreeves' inventions was a way to give chimpanzees sentience. They show up everywhere as detectives, soliders, hobos and even one hooker. One of these intellegient chimps is Hargreeves' assistant, Pogo.

* [[Fetish Fuel]]: {{spoiler|Vanya, when she becomes the White Violin}}. It helps that she's [[Full -Frontal Assault|completely nude]].

* [[High -Class Glass]]: Sir Reginald Hargreeves aka The Monocle. He actually gets pissed off if the children refer to him as anything else.

* [[Ridiculously -Human Robots]]: Subverted Mrs. Hargreeves has a human face but a transparent body and obviously artificial limbs. However it appears she also has a full system of working organs, [[Squick|which can be seen through her transparent body]].

* [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]: Technically happens twice throughout the series.

* [[Trapped in Thethe Past]]: {{spoiler|Seance, Spaceboy, and Kraken}} in ''Dallas''.

* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: The Kraken's power is apparently the ability to hold his breath forever. It probably makes him the world's best swimmer and a top athlete, but it doesn't quite compare to, say, re-shaping reality at will. He compensates with excellent knife-fighting skills, to the point where he takes down a pack of Vietnamese vampires with a pair of knives. [[Word of God|Gerard Way]] actually said in a lecture at SVA that he made him "fucking useless" on purpose, but at the same time also said that, in a world where no one else had super powers, something as simple as that is a big deal.

* [[Who Shot JFK?]]: The main focus of the second story line, ''Dallas''. Turns out it was {{spoiler|the Rumor, being blackmailed by the Temps Aeternalis}}.