Review: The Umbrella Academy Vol. 1- The Apocalypse Suite

Quick Summary

Pros: The story here is compelling all the way through and has a lot of great emotions in it. The characters are all well-written and each one brings something to the table. The entire book is also wonderfully unique, especially in regards to its fantastic visuals.

Cons: An aspect of the book’s conclusion felt out of place.

Overall: This is a unique collection that serves as the start to a tremendous new comic book world. It is packed with great characters, solid emotions, and an atypical style that allows it to stand out as something different. Alongside this is a story that is enjoyable from start to finish and artwork that looks wonderful on nearly every page. Anyone who is a fan of bizarre concepts or unique approaches to storytelling should check this book out.

Story

The instantly captivating story found in The Umbrella Academy Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite is a strong indication that this new series is one to watch out for. Within this book, writer Gerard Way assembles an intriguing cast of characters, introduces a bit of drama, and has them fight for the very survival of the world as a whole. Their actions here are intense and filled with different levels of meaningful emotions. All of this is then further enhanced by an aura of unique and wacky otherness that helps this comic stand out as something different and worth exploring. All in all, this is a solid book that stands out in a very positive way.

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The central narrative in The Apocalypse Suite is instantly captivating. It is constantly flashing back and forth between Umbrella Academy’s past, which features super-powered children simply growing into their lives, and the present, which features the development of a potentially world-ending threat. This interplay of time periods allows the story to blend exposition with action and keep things interesting at every moment. It also guarantees that neither exposition nor action dominates any one portion of the story, which works out in a satisfying balance.

As the narrative moves toward its endgame, things also become increasingly emotional. Readers become more acutely aware of the trauma each member of Umbrella Academy has suffered and are aware of how this trauma has impacted their present situation. This leads to a charming romance between Number One and Number Three and the devastating death of Dr. Pogo.

The only moment in The Apocalypse Suite‘s narrative that didn’t work well was when Number Four used telekinesis to save the world. It felt like a cheap way to conclude this climactic denouement and failed to explain what specifically changed about the present to prevent the apocalypse in the future.

Driving forward this central narrative is the comic’s other major positive, the characters. Each of the members of Umbrella Academy are compelling all on their own. They each have backstories, powers, and current situations that allow them to stand out and define themselves. Each one also has enough redeeming qualities to give readers a way to connect with them. Even Vanya, who ends up turning on the heroes, ends up being a tremendously compelling characters with a background that explains her destructive actions.

This comic also benefits significantly from its purposefully bizarre concepts and execution. The Apocalypse Suite starts out with a fight against a zombie-robot engineer, moves on to battles against robots and cannibals, and concludes with an apocalyptic threat posed by an orchestra of killers. These exploits are led by a group of heroes with an equally diverse range of powers. On top of all this, is a array of cryptic quotes, unusual narration tactics, and random bits of information that helps push the story forward while ensuring things are done in a nontraditional way. This helps create a comic that feels different.

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Art

The artwork in The Apocalypse Suite stands well on its own and serves as the prefect complement to the wacky story being told through this book’s pages. Gabriel Bá’s work here is expressive and creative in a way that is vital to this comic’s execution. This allows the bizarre cast of characters to stand out as individuals and helps fill the backgrounds with details that provide subtle clues about the comic’s narrative. The structure of this book’s pages also works wonders in telling the story, allowing dramatic splash pages or larger panels to reveal information that is often shocking or meaningful in some way. The only problem is that there are a couple of moments where perspective shifts in strange ways and makes characters seem bigger or smaller on different pages. All in all, though, this is a great looking book where the art plays a major role in the overall appeal of the comic.

Continuity

The Umbrella Academy Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite is the first volume in the Umbrella Academy series.

The story here continues in The Umbrella Academy Vol. 2: Dallas (Review).