Tales from the Umbrella Academy: Hazel and Cha Cha Save Christmas

Tales from the Umbrella Academy

by Gerard Way, Scott Allie, Tommy Lee Edwards (Cover Art)

Hazel and Cha Cha—the bizarre assassins who first appear in Umbrella Dallas and blew audiences away in the Netflix series—track down a rogue time agent and cross paths with a plot to discredit Christmas! The first Umbrella Academy spinoff!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Fiction, Comic Book, Christmas

35 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 20, 2019

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

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an incoherent fucking mess, but it is somewhat saved by the fact it is beyond cool seeing Tommy Lee Edwards draw a UA story. It would've been nice if he got to draw a decent story in this world, but I'll take what I can get. His art works surprisingly well with Way’s & Allie’s nonsensical script, and its consistency bumps this mess up to two stars.

I just feel like a Tales starring literally anyone else would’ve been better than this. I appreciate that there's a Klaus one out there, but I want one about Five already!

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like the art, but the story is barely coherent nonsense. It has that same glib isn't-this-whacky stink that the real Umbrella Academy stories have, but without even half-baked characters.

[Nina (the fussy reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

The comedy of Hazel and Cha Cha is just how ridiculous they are, and how ever more ridiculous they are each time we see them.
I fell in love with these time-travelling assassins back in Vol. 2, who were portrayed as hyperactive, genocide loving, sugar addicts. Little seems to have changed, except now Cha Cha is obsessed with proving to Hazel that ghosts are real.
I mean, it’s just so ridiculous, it’s funny.

They’re sent on a job to track down a rogue time agent and neutralise him without any collateral damage. But this is Hazel and Cha Cha, and there isn’t much they can do in life that doesn’t involve bazookas.
It’s while tracking down the rogue agent that they accidentality end up saving Christmas. (Not a spoiler. It’s literally the title of the comic)

This was a fun one-shot spin-off, although I’d enjoy seeing more from Hazel and Cha Cha. They’re the only thing the Netflix show didn’t do justice to. Netflix made them way too serious and sensible. But what makes these two loveable psychopaths so memorable and terrifying is just how manically unpredictable they are.

The art style was different but enjoyable. My only issue was that the narrative was a little disjointed at times, following Pete’s story. I didn’t know wtf kind of point he was trying to prove going on his rampage, but I figured it out eventually.

Much like Vol. 3, the story was a little unclear and felt somewhat rushed. If it was just a little more concise I would’ve loved it.
But overall I enjoyed it, and as characters, I adore Hazel and Cha Cha and would definitely read more of them, should we get any.

[Maitê · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like the artwork, really different from the original UA style, perhaps even better than what Gabriel Bá does. But the plot is confusing and I really wasn't interested in what they were doing.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esto fue muy divertido

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tommy Lee Ewards' art is great but there’s no way it can save this mess.

[Richard L. Haas III · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m really struggling to the like anything Umbrella Academy at this point. I enjoyed the show to a degree and the first two volumes were pretty fun and unique but between this one-shot and Volume 3... I just don’t know any more. The writing is a bit awkward, the plot is a bit messy. Now I don’t know about his run with Doom Patrol or Killjoys, (I will eventually, so look out for those) but for me it just feels like after Gerard Way had to prove himself as a comic writer during those first two volumes, he must have either gotten cocky or rushed these out so they could jump on the Netflix relevancy train. I guess only time will tell.

[Wesley Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of the original Umbrella Academy series (both Netflix and comics) and Christmas, I knew this comic was one for me. Honestly, I love the banter between Hazel and Cha Cha. They are talking about ghosts throughout the whole comic while working on their mission. The art is excellent. Would recommend.

[Gilraen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Çizimler çok hoştu, onun dışında da okumaya değer bir şey yok

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

"They'll be grateful someone told them to truth..."

[Bella Baghdasaryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Hazel and Cha Cha, but the plot was very confusing, too many things mixed in one.
PS: Drawings are great!

[German · Rating 2 out of 5]

pointless, the art is very good though

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This made next to no sense. The Hazel and Cha-Cha parts, especially about ghosts and soup, was epic, it should have only been that and nothing more. The Santa and kids stuff was purposely hinting at abuse which I found disturbing. And maybe a little more detail about the rogue agent?

[Ksenia Bliznets · Rating 2 out of 5]

Нічогісінько не зрозуміла з цієї історії... Не читала "Академію《Парасоля》", проте дивилася серіал, тому подумала, що мені і цей невеличкий комікс має сподобатися, але не так сталося, як гадалося. Можливо, його оцінять ті, хто знайомий саме з коміксами про Академію.

[giomustdie┆saw mcr :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[nabeeela]

the art was SO PRETTY!!! it just sucks that the story made absolutely no sense :(

[Jo Egan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s kinda hard to follow but it’s got pretty art and some pretty funny interactions

[five · Rating 3 out of 5]

the fuck did i just read hello 😭😭😭 story line was like the biggest pile of trash i’ve ever seen i think but hazel and cha cha being hazel and cha cha saved it

[Irune · Rating 3 out of 5]

Que cosa más... rara.
Muy guay, pero EXTRAÑA.😂

[deniz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çizimler çok güzeldi, Noel Baba’yı yerim.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, ish. The artwork is gorgeous -- to the extent it actually made me wish we could see the main Umbrella Academy characters in this more realistic, yet rich and colour-saturated style -- but the plot itself is just super chaotic and hard-to-follow. Hazel and Cha-Cha's banter and squabbling over the existence of ghosts is fun, as is the Temps Aeternalis' bureaucracy about all the mayhem their agents wreak on assignments and throughout the timeline, and the agency's attempts to rein them in. But in the end I barely understood what went on here, or why -- which is fitting for the characters' manic energy, I guess, but it's also not what I'm here for.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy the spin-off after loving the show but I found this hard to follow.

[Solcha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestamente, pensé que tendría más coherencia el cómic. Sin embargo, no lo fue y no cumplió con mis expectativas. Estuve leyendo otras reseñas -en inglés incluso- y les pasaba lo mismo que a mi: no se entiende nada (muy resumidamente dicho). Este es el primer cómic que leo de Gerard y tengo los otros pendientes. Espero entenderlos y que estén buenos.

Por otro lado, los personajes no están bien construidos y parecen muy superficiales. Por momentos me confundía entra Cha Cha y Hazel y tenía que volver a leer el texto. Luego, hubo otros dos personajes que pensaba que eran la misma persona, pero no. El momento exacto en el que me di cuenta fue cuando los vi juntos en una página. La historia me pareció muy rara y mal traducida (o de por sí mal escrita por el autor en inglés).

[Sunshine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazel and Cha Cha are horrible..........and kind of adorable. The dynamic of their relationship to each other is definitely unique; they're best friends, but they're absolutely sadistic to everyone else. They're some of my favorite characters.

That said, they needed a better story. The scenes with them together were the only interesting aspects of this comic. The plot just did not cut it. It wasn't compelling, and it made it seem that, besides the art, there was a real lack of effort to even make this a coherent story.

[Antonio D.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much what it sounds like - a spin-off comic with Hazel and Cha Cha, the two agents introduced in Volume 2 of the series. It's not a super interesting premise and seems more like fanfare than anything, which is fine I guess, but I just didn't see a whole point in the story. They tried to tie in this whole "meaning of Christmas" conspiracy thing that just felt underbaked, and the art style was changed to feel sort of like a fever dream. Didn't like the change personally, and there wasn't enough narrative intrigue in this to make it something I'd consider reading again.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointing. I tend to think that with the short space, it needed a tighter focus. The chaos of Hazel and Cha Cha works well as absurd leavening, but here there is simultaneously too much going on and not enough at stake.

One interesting thing: I see many of the negative reviews on this were people who did not like Hotel Oblivion, but I thought that was great. So, my issues with this are not that.

[Rachel Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's never a dull moment with my favorite batshit insane Temps Aeternalis members and this time Hazel & Cha Cha are back to save Christmas from a rogue time travelling agent, all while trying to tiptoe around a new policy on collateral corrections. A quick enough read, I liked getting more of these two and their eccentric rambling, even if it didn't quite mesh with what was going on in the timeline they found themselves in.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't get me. And as crazy as Hazel and Cha Cha are as characters, it seems they couldn't really carry a whole story on their own. The final resolution was a little trite but sensible enough, I suppose. But yeah, this was more confusing than satisfying.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the first Umbrella Academy comic that I absolutely loved. Although seeing as it was a Christmas one maybe I should have waited to read it until then but I was just too excited I had to read it. This a fun Christmas story that is really about whether or not Santa is real?? I enjoyed this one a lot and loved seeing the banter between Hazel and Cha Cha. Will read again.

[Christopher Funk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. What to say? This has a clear point it's trying to make, but has a hard time getting there. The overlapping stories intertwine well, and the pacing is great for a one shot. A lot of questions left at the end. I might have to join a group online to figure out the point of all of the "noise". Decent twist near the middle.