The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #1

Umbrella Academy: Single Issues #1

by Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá (Artist)

Hellboy joins with Roger the Homunculus to investigate the ruins of the Nazi space program and prevent the coming of the Conqueror Worm. Special guest appearance by Lobster Johnson.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction

23 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2015

About the author

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and comic book writer who served as frontman, lead vocalist, and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance from the time of its formation in 2001 until its breakup in 2013. He is the author of the Eisner Award-winning comic book series The Umbrella Academy (now a Netflix original series) and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. In January 2014, he announced via Twitter that he and artist Gabriel Ba will begin work on Umbrella Academy Volumes 3 & 4 in late 2014/early 2015. His debut solo album Hesitant Alien was released on September 30, 2014. Way lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Lindsey (bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence) and their daughter, Bandit.

Reviews

[Glire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totalmente alejado de la serie de Netflix. Lo que no es necesariamente malo de no ser porque nos encontramos con una trama (aún más) bizarra y forzada. Lo único que se me ocurre decir a su favor es el hecho de que se trata del primer tomo y podría mejorar en los siguientes.

[MK ( MaKayla) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some quick notes :

* Warning*
I'm gonna be a little vulgar
-1 point for the originality of their birth-
- Weirdly graphic naked baby drawings ... *sighs*
( It's gross )
-'Scuse me could you please leave ( Tyler Joseph ©)... their space ship is the eifle tower kids .
But who am I to talk I can't even spell eifle properly xD
-2 points for the dad wearing a monocle ....*crickets * idk I just think monocles are awesome . If I was a villain I would defintley invest in a monocle .
-Which leads me to another point ...the monocle just makes me suspicious in general of the dad ....and other reasons .
-Ok why the hecking heck does one of the brothers * Number one* have a head that is legit half the size of his hands ...just no .
-The art style is just ....I'm speechless ... *sarcasm*
- The adoptive father refers to his children by the when he found them  ...like one is the first kid he found  *crickets * ...remember my thing about the monocle ...yeah I'm just gonna leave that here. xD
- Page 20 ...a woman wearing a thong....* looks at Gerard Way and starts ranting *
- The talking monkey... XD

I think i was pretty darn generous in giving points for wearing a monocle ...cause the monocle was the best part honestly .

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how it showed Reginald here!:))

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Qué pedos? ¿Por qué es tan pequeñito? ¡Que alguien me explique! Me estaba gustando mucho :(

[Zen · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

This is one of my absolute favorite comics. This one was very short. It starts the story that the show follows with number one coming home.

[Beau Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching season 1 on Netflix, I got curious.

I'm not much of a comic book reader, but I was intrigued by the characters and wanted to see how they panned out and developed in the comic books. I like them. Each character is developed enough to stand on their own, but also leaves enough room open to implant myself in, and relate. I find myself connecting a little bit to each character. It is really a driving force that engages me in this story.

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

A mi me da igual la serie de Netflix simplemente ni soy fanática de las series ni se me dan, pero me llamó la atención la historia así que le daré una oportunidad aunque tampoco me gustó el primer número.

[Ash Mustard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic was short but I like it

[karlé · Rating 3 out of 5]

been wanting to read this series for so long and this is a great intro the Umbrella Academy universe

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The following is a review for the six parts that make up the first volume, as it is difficult to review each individual part alone.


I’ve heard a lot about The Umbrella Academy, so I decided it was finally time to dive into the first volume – Apocalypse Suite – and give it a try. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not the biggest fan of graphic novels, in fact I’m super picky, but I was curious enough to dive in.

Apocalypse Suite was an interesting introduction to The Umbrella Academy world, and I happily devoured this in no time. Although it was an easy read that had me curious about how things would play out, it did not wow me quite as much as I had hoped it would. There were quite a few things that were never quite as clear as I had hoped, and this stopped me from being fully invested.

All in all, interesting but not quite for me.

[Paulina ෂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

[2.5]
No me encantó, lo cual considero justo tomando en cuenta que mi primer acercamiento a la historia fueron ambas temporadas presentadas por Netflix y por lo tanto mi perspectiva es distinta a la original.
Sin embargo, hubieron cosas que simplemente ... ¿? Para empezar: el arte. El estilo del artista simplemente no es lo mío y no capturó mi atención en lo más mínimo. La paleta de colores y proporciones, que si bien son caricaturezcas, no me terminan de entrar al ojo.
Además que al ser números tan pequeños (considerando que es el inicial) no hay por dónde ahondar en la historia y si no fuera porque sé qué cosas suceden a la trama, lo dejaría de leer en este tomo.

[Mimi & Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunque el comic se me ha hecho muy corto se que hay más cómics con diferentes historias, lo que mas me ha gustado a parte de los personajes son las ilustraciones porque son una maravilla y me quedo más en una página mirando cada detalle dibujado que otra cosa y que al final del cómic expliquen las ideas y como hicieron a cada uno de los personajes y porque los ha creado así, la verdad es que os lo recomiendo a quien le guste esta seríe

[Sara Ximena · Rating 4 out of 5]

No hay mucho material para comentar este capítulo, pero además de un par de detalles extra que tenemos respecto a la serie, me parece que la historia adaptada está mejor ejecutada

[Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Andrewiwich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primera entrega de varios capítulos del cómic que muestran a héroes poco convencionales. Muy buen guión y dibujo.

[HerCrazyBookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 1, Issue 1 Cover Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) - I really enjoy the first issues cover art. It, in my opinion, shows exactly what it needs to and it draws the reader in. My favorite part is probably the split where one side shows the characters as children and the other side shows them as adults. Then there is all the smaller details like Hargreeves, the Eiffel tower, tentacles, etc.

Review:

Just like most comic books I have read in the past the first issue doesn’t reveal a whole much. We get a brief background of a supernatural event that caused forty-three children to be born, seven of which the story is centered around. Now, I honestly did watch the Netflix series first and loved it so much that when I heard there was a comic series I knew I had to read them. Obviously, I knew that the characters were going to be a bit different and they don’t really look the same as they do on the show but, I’m sad that there is no diversity and everyone is white. After some googling on the subject I found out the author, Gerard Way, stated that he thought the diversity in the show was a “massive improvement” since these kids are adopted from all over the world and on this one I have to agree. I also read that he wished there was more diversity in the comics but didn’t get a quote.

The comics other then that seemed to be fairly similar until we learned that Mr. Hargreeves/Mr. Monocle is an alien???!!!! In the show, I think they hinted at it but it wasn’t super obvious and in the comics it was just thrown in randomly. Hopefully we learn more. By the end of issue one all the kids are grown up, Hargeeves is dead, and Five tells 00.01/Spaceboy that he has important news to share.



Questions:

►Not sure this will ever be answered but were the seven children adopted by Hargreeves the only survivors of the forty-three and if so, what happened to the others?

►Do people know Hargreeves/Mr. Monocle is an alien?

►What are the circumstances of Ben’s death?

►What age was 00.01 sent to space at? From the little tidbits it looks like when he was really little but I hope they give us an age later on.

►Spaceboy has a robot named Ben while he is in space, is it named after his brother?

►What ages did the kids get names outside of their numbers?

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[𖤐MxBookWitch➳ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story, time & location's are all over the place-But it somehow works! The artwork's good-Aside from the tiny heads of some characters, which I found distracting! XD
I love the playfully sarcastic tone of the writing & the really imaginative plot! ;)

[Hillary Marek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that explains a lot

I wish they had started the Netflix series like this instead. It tells you right from the start that the dad is an alien and what Ben's power is. I'm still not sure that it was fully explained in the live action version.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of six

I first watched Umbrella Academy on Netflix, so I had some idea of what was going on, but the comic is quite different. Interesting story but sometimes difficult to follow.

[Nicay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because Netflix released the new series for this, I need to read the graphic novel first! I must say, I still can't figure out what this will all about. But, I'm excited to know more about the story!

[flaams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning of The Umbrella Academy
I would definitely enjoy a prequel with all their adventures

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

1/6 The Umbrella Academy

Just as fast as it's intriguing, I can't wait to learn more about the powers and stories of each extraordinary child.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review

I usually don’t read comics but a few people told me that the tv show was cool and I figure I read the first one to give it a shot.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

After realizing that new umbrella academy comics are coming out, and finally getting a chance to be disappointed by season 4 of the tv show…I decided I needed to “cleanse” my system by re-reading the comics. Now at least I have a chance to go through and make some notes for myself to look back on in the future. The beautiful thing about umbrella academy, other than its amazing art, is how chaotic it is. It will go from giving you the most non sense information, like the start of this series taking place of the same day as a famous wrestler knocked out a space squid, to giving the most important plot details in such short bursts that you aren’t even sure if what you read is correct. And it’s glorious! Immediately upon opening the issue to a man delivering an atomic flying elbow, we find out about 43 children born to women with no sign of pregnancy. We then find out about Sir Reginald Haegreeves aka the monocle, a world renowned and wealthy scientist who invented the televator and clever crips cereal…who also happens to be an alien and someone who went out in search of these children…ultimately finding and adopting seven of them. He announced to the world that he took them in to save the world…and then disappeared for 10 years. Only popping back up later with the group of masked children, equipped with their flight belts, when the Eiffel Tower went insane and started killing people. Only 5 of the kids were actually deployed on the mission, as seven stayed with the monocle as she is apparently “not specia,” and should just focus on her violin. Five disappeared to the future or someplace Reginald can’t be bothered to deal with. I love how subtly they introduce their powers as well, from number three using mind control to disperse the crowd, 6 using the monster coming from his chest to hold on, all while number four attempted to contact a dead engineer to help them out. Everything finally came to a head when 1 used his strength to punch the tower over, only for them to fly in and find zombie robot Gustave Eiffel, which 2 promptly used a knife on and killed. This sent the controls spiraling and the tower, really a space ship, sent into space. As the kids renounced, and got a key to the city and ice cream, number 1 expressed to the monocle how much he wanted to go to space. And as we jump 20 years into the future…that dream appeared to come true, with number 1 becoming the famous spaceboy. Unfortunately this did come at a cost, during a failed mission he was critically injured…forcing Reginald to perform an experimental surgery…giving him the body of an ape. He has spent a lot of time on the moon looking for threats, but one call finally brought him back home. We find out what that call was about through another source and another phone call to none other than Vanya aka number 7, who has now wrote a book about her life…and according to the voice on the other end of the phone, full of nasty things about her family. But the voice is odd, and while giving her the news about her father’s death…also called to offer her the spot for first chaie for violin. They claim they are offering it to her out of revenge. As number 1 lands his craft and arrives at the umbrella academy, he is welcomed in by Reginald’s longtime bodyguard, Abhijat, where he immediately goes up to talk to Dr Pogo and confirm that Hargreeves is dead. If you notice, Pogo is an ape…Reginald was also well known for his work in the cerebral advancement of chimpanzees. But more importantly a very young number 5 is standing next to him, and has concerns of something worse on the way. But that’s a matter that can wait once the others arrive.

“This is the end of the first part of the umbrella academy adventure: Apocalypse suite. There are five more chapters to this series, with twenty-two pages per chapter, totaling one hundred and thirty-two pages. There are seven members of the umbrella academy, and seventy-two names on the Eiffel Tower. There is no connection between these numbers.”

[secretly jo march · Rating 2 out of 5]

La verdad, me gustó más la serie. La vi primero y a lo mejor eso cambia mi opinión del cómic.
Me ofrece que los personajes no están desarrollado mucho. Mientras que en la serie se explica muy bien la personalidad e historia de cada uno, aquí no.

Especialmente sobre Vanya. Aquí parece que es malvada, pues en las primeras páginas ya elige destruir el mundo. En la serie se ve su pasado, cómo le engaña el novio, le defraudan sus hermanos... Debo decir que Elliot Page hizo un gran trabajo.

No me gustó que el fin del mundo fuera causado por los villanos. Me parece que los cómics se centran mucho en los villanos, que creo que no tienen ni pies ni cabeza, en vez de los viajes en el tiempo y los personajes, que es lo que me gusta.

[Jayde White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touch on what is yet to come

I have been watching the Netflix series of the umbrella academy and while it was dark and slow, I have grown to absolutely love the confusing twists and turns. However, the first chapter of the apocalypse suite was what I expected it would be, due to watching the Netflix series as stated above. Nonetheless, I really like the representation of the characters and how they are drawn, I suppose after watching the series on tv, I expected them to look similar but there are a lot of differences with added similarities, and that’s okay, gives it character.
So far, I would recommend to anyone who is interested in the comic book series.

[Lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Después de ver la serie The Umbrella Academy tenía que ver las diferencias y similitudes con su historia original.

Creo que es recomendable empezar con la serie de televisión, para encariñarte con los personajes y la historia en general, y posteriormente si quieres profundizar leer los comics.

Los comics tienen elementos interesantes en especial desde la perspectiva del papá o en relación a los poderes de cada persona pero definitivamente la serie retoma la historia y le da una mayor profundidad e impacto emocional y visual que me encantó.

Seguiré con la lectura de los comics para ver qué pasa con la historia.

[Ronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the graphic style of this comic. I'm happy that I saw the tv show first and then I went to the comic. It would have been a big spoiler to show that Reginald is an alien from the very first beginning, and it has been much better that the tv show had waited for us to get to know Reginald a little and then surprised us with this fact.
Maybe because I had seen the series first and now I started reading the comics, it made me feel a little confused. I mean, if someone hasn't seen the series, I don't think they will understand the story and the plot. As one of the big fans of the umbrella academy, I really enjoyed reading it.

[Debra Chiaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Wow!

This comic version really sucks especially since I've watched the series on Netflix and found it bizarre but very well done. This comic is very confusing and hard to follow. It's all over the place and I'm not sure I will continue with it except I am curious what else it might offer.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched and enjoyed the tv series. My fiancé had the graphic novels so I thought I would give them a go. The gist of the story is in this but the tv show expands on it. It’s like comparing bare bones to fleshed out body. I noticed a few minor changes to characters in the tv show, which I preferred.
I wasn’t a fan of the artwork. The style just didn’t appeal to me.