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.
Nine years after the last volume ended it's back; but it is simply not that good as it used to be, mainly because there are 5 to 6 competing story arcs(!); that, alongside the untidy art, just leaves it all a bit hard to follow. It was great seeing these characters again though. Weakest volume to date, just about a 6 out of 12
This felt very scattershot and unfocused, like Way had ten years of ideas jotted down and threw every one of them at us. Ba's art suffers in some of the big battle scenes. It's difficult to make out the action in these panels. The entire book seemed like prologue for a future volume, particularly the way this ended in a cliffhanger.
Everyone saying this book feels like Gerard Way throwing 10 years' worth of ideas at the reader in 7 issues is spot-on, but I鈥檓 not gonna lie I really liked this volume! I will admit it does have something to do with me just finishing Season 3 of the show and seeing how different (and better) Hotel Oblivion was handled here in the comics compared to there, but I still think it has merit. This volume is also the longest of the 4 minis so far with 7 issues instead of the usual 6, and also contains one of the rare occasions where the source material handles something better than the show did. I was shocked by that since the show has (usually) proven itself to be superior in how it adapted the characters and story.
The comic鈥檚 Hotel Oblivion is a hotel on some alien planet in an interdimensional plane of existence that hosts all the villains the UA has fought over the years. The 鈥済uests鈥� are fed a cockroach a day (just enough to keep them going) in this horrifying prison acting as a hotel. It鈥檚 almost a living labyrinth, and it鈥檚 being guarded by some omnipotent superhero. These are all genuinely awesome ideas and they worked pretty well in the final execution. They could鈥檝e used some more depth, but everything Way writes could use depth at this point. I鈥檝e learned to accept his swallow, yet beautifully-crazy ideas at face value.
The show鈥檚 Hotel Oblivion, on the other hand, is some weird hotel that can only be accessed through a tunnel in a white buffalo room of a real hotel. Once you are in, it鈥檚 an empty copy of a hotel in the real world called Obsidian that then needs 7 of its 鈥渂ells鈥� to be rung by 7 superpowered beings to power up and activate a machine that can then reset the universe. Oh yeah, it鈥檚 also guarded by samurai who are just a collective of cockroaches that overtake a dead warrior鈥檚 body. So you can probably tell by those descriptions why the show鈥檚 version was such a letdown.
I also had no clue before starting my readthrough of the series that there was a 10-year wait between Hotel Oblivion and Dallas. I knew there was at least some wait between volumes since Way is such an extremely busy guy, but I didn鈥檛 know it was that long and I get why so many who liked the first two volumes were let down by this one. It does feel like, as I mentioned in my AS review, tons of set-up and ideas for more interesting volumes to come thrown at you, and never expanded upon or given the room to breathe.
Way does bring all the seemingly random subplots together again in the end, but he does that same thing he did in the last volume where he has one subplot with two pages dedicated to it that goes nowhere in the end. It鈥檒l probably be answered next volume or later down the line since the same was done for the Perseus Corporation in Dallas, but it鈥檚 still annoying since these books come out at a horrendous pace and this looks to be a subplot that feeds into the franchise's biggest mystery. Major Spoilers ahead so fair warning even though I already marked this review with them.
So in the first of these two pages, which are given to us at random points in the first and last issue, we follow a girl just going about her daily life in Wisconsin. She falls asleep on a bus, wakes up to the driver hitting a deer, and realizes she missed the stop to get to work. In issue 6, she is shown at work and looks enamored with the TV where she sees the UA in battle. It then pans to reveal her name tag which reads the name, Jennifer. Now for those who don't know there have been many references in both the show and the comics now to the "Jennifer Incident" A.K.A. the death of Ben Hargreeves, the horror. Season 3 of the show showed scenes of Sparrow Academy Ben painting pictures of a dead girl named Jennifer, and that was in a timeline where Ben had survived into adulthood with his other siblings. So it seems in both the show's UA timeline and in the comic, Ben sacrificed himself to save a girl named Jennifer, while she died in the Sparrow Academy timeline where Ben is alive in Season 3. I wonder what exactly happened because Way has said it's one of the biggest spoilers for both show and comic.
B谩鈥檚 art, as always, is wonderous and still the most consistent aspect of this book. And it looks tremendous in these oversized library editions. Throughout all these books he has managed to find that perfect balance between surrealism and reality that is able to make his art work so well within this world. There鈥檚 a decent number of scenes in this interdimensional space called Hyperspace and in the Hotel Oblivion itself, and B谩鈥檚 really able to flex his artistic muscles during these pages with some crazy paneling and background work. And even though this library edition is a bit light on extras, the extra focus on B谩鈥檚 behind-the-scenes process for this volume was by far the most interesting portion and made up for the lack of extra stories and sketches by Gerard Way. I鈥檓 assuming he鈥檚 saving a lot of those for Sparrow Academy.
There are also so many awesome-looking villains Way designed for B谩 to bring to life, and the planet and hotel themselves are even more wondrous and creepy than Way probably ever imagined. I do hope Oblivion and all these villains do eventually make more appearances down the line because you could easily milk dozens of flashbacks out of all these foes the Academy has faced. They also have utterly no character or development here, so some of that would be nice. If I had to critique the art, I鈥檇 say some of B谩鈥檚 pages with more characters or lots of action tend to get a bit muddled. It works for me for the most part, but Way is really pushing this dude to his limit.
I think reading these books when I did helped my enjoyment of them all immensely, and even though this book isn鈥檛 perfect by any means, it does deliver a satisfying execution of the concept Hotel Oblivion that was sadly lacking from the show. And even if it was a bit rushed and probably could鈥檝e used another issue or three, the final battle between the UA and all the Oblivion villains was awesome and delivers for me. The entire concept and execution of the Hotel Oblivion was easily the best part about this volume (besides B谩鈥檚 fabulous art) and now I鈥檓 excited to see how Way handles the Sparrow Academy in the comic as they were severely underused and underdeveloped in the show.
I know this may be controversial, but this might be my favorite volume of this run so far. It has its issues no doubt and it鈥檚 real annoying it ended on a cliffhanger (especially since we know Way will take his sweet fucking time with Sparrow Academy), but I had more fun with this than I did with the previous two volumes. Recommended for anyone who digs this franchise. Apparently, Way wants there to be 8-9 volumes (including Tales) by the end of this, and I hope he starts pumping them out sooner rather than later because I am eager to see how all this gets wrapped up in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The artwork is definitely the redeeming quality of this comic, sadly not nearly enough. It was nice to get back in touch with the members of The Umbrella Academy, but to what purpose?? This volume was all over the place! It started with all the characters in different places, doing their own thing (of course explanations are never thought necessary so don't start looking for them here) and only met up for a final, and linked, resolution THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. The volume ends with an unnecessary cliffhanger, as if all the new questions left unanswered weren't enough. I'm so upset with this comic building up expectations it doesn't live up to. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I enjoyed the tv show a lot more. sorry not sorry
ah well, it was nice while it lasted. the first two volumes of The Umbrella Academy had vibrant anarchy and layered characters and dense plotting and chaotic, time-warped narratives galore, all tethered in the first book to the sadness hidden not so deep within the heart of The White Violin and in the second book to the dark, murderous logic at play in the mind of Number 5. those books made the crazy make sense and they had emotional logic too. not so much this third installment, which is mainly vibrant anarchy and time-warped narratives and little else. a very colorful and entertaining mess, but still a pretty big mess. will the next volume clean it all up? doubtful but will have to see regardless.
Honestly? If I get to see half, let alone the full promise of this volume of the Umbrella Academy in the next season of the TV show, I'm gonna crap computronium.
I love the wild, even slapdash, nature of the imagination in use here. A little pathos, a little heart, and whole gobs of fresh meat splattering everywhere.
While it's not nearly as coherent or arc-ish as the previous two volumes, this one IS applying the characters we know to a very epic action sequence, so I'm certainly not complaining.
It just happens to be popcorn rather than genius popcorn.
Nonsense, gibberish and gobbledygook eventually give way to a prison break and mindless slugfest. I read the first two volumes a decade ago, had no recall of what happened last, and was not helped out much by the storytelling here as to who anyone was or why they were doing what they were doing.
I had reservations when I checked this out from the library as I recall having negative opinions about the first two, but I read it anyway because it is in the graphic novel category of the 欧宝娱乐 Choice Awards and because I sort of liked the Netflix series I watched earlier this year, but I shall avoid future volumes and maybe just stick to watching the show from here on out.
After a ten year break, brought back from comic book cancellation to ride the marketing wave of the Netflix series, we get a continuation of the prior volumes of The Umbrella Academy. Not much has changed...
Art: fabulous. Dramatic blocking. Vivid colors. Psychedelic scenes reminiscent of Jack Kirby's most mind-bendy work. Bloody as all get out. Points for Gabriel Ba.
Story: a mess. Stilted, random, unengaging. Completely devoid of character development, other than a shave and a haircut for Spaceboy. Meaningless enemy character concepts. Masturbatory. And another dang cliffhanger... ugh I am so not interested in another volume.
I just had to catch up with the graphic novels before the second season of the TV show was on...
I struggle a bit with the "Umbrella Academy" series: there are some things about them that I really love and some things that I hate/don't get.
Let's start with the positive! Gabriel Ba's artwork is amazing: he has a very unique style that pays homage to classic comic books but keeps a healthy whimsical touch that makes every panel interesting. The idea behind the story, that Professor Hargreaves had a special prison for all the villains put away by the Umbrella Academy, and that they somehow all break out at the same time, is fantastic. Sadly, it doesn't really come together until the final third of the volume, so the resolution of it feels rushed. That said, it opens the door to an interesting cliffhanger, which I would be curious to see Gerard Way explore further in a future installment.
Now for the not so great stuff: the pacing is weird, just like with the two previous volumes. I felt like things happened either much too fast or much too slow. If the graphic novel had had a few more pages to let the story breathe, it would have been much more enjoyable. The high-action sequences confused me a bit: while the art is gorgeously colored, those panels are hugely busy and it's hard to pinpoint which part of them I was supposed to focus on. And finally, I'm familiar with the characters from watching the Netflix show, but without that background information, I would have been very confused as to whom all the people are and what their deal is. It's a shame they can't stand on their own feet without another media.
Still, more fun than frowns, so I'm giving it 4 stars. I still like the show better.
The final season of the tv show was nothing short of a crime, but I can't say that this ending (?) was much better either. Overall I'm not a fan of the comic books and I would never recommend them to anyone who liked the first seasons of the show.
The umbrella academy, vol. 3: hotel oblivion by gerard way Hmmm i don't what to say..... over all the series was okay at best. The first comic I wasn't sure if I even liked it the second one was amazing and the third I feel let down. Maybe I would of liked it so much more if gerard had made this a longer series. It just felt like he had big plans for these characters and he tried to shove them all in 3 short graphic novels The third comic was extremely scattered. I honestly couldn't tell you what excstly happened just too much going on all at one time. So I'm just going to say this. The third book was very scattered with a big cliff hanger. So be warned. I still recommend it if you like the series graphic novels or hot mess ending. Raiting: 2 stars 馃専
There is a 10 years gap between vol. 2 and vol. 3? How come...?
Btw, there is no Umbrella Academy without Gabriel B谩!
Rating: 3.7 stars.
This is the latest published book from the Umbrella Academy series, we follow different siblings to different locations (different cities, a realm called the 'afterspace') and see them picking up the pieces of their dysfunctional lives. Then they discovered their late father had exiled a bunch of supervillains into a weird realm called Hotel Oblivion and some of the prisoners are breaking out back to reality now?
I have a feeling that there are too many storylines stuffed into 200 pages so the story as a whole feels very overcrowded and rushed.
So the Sparrow Academy shows up! What will happen next? I can't wait!!!
I will keep it simple - I don't get the popularity of this comics. Way's writing is weak, chaotic, it's a jumble of incoherent inspirations and fractions and I had a hard time to enjoy it as a whole. And as a bonus, B谩's art is somehow lacking everything I liked about it in Daytripper. So I may like few ideas here but despise it as a whole and be disappointed but not annoyed with art. But on top of that, I personally hate this kind of endings - not really closing the arc but giving a major cliffhanger. This is maybe a good ending between the issues. But not between arcs. I would honestly like to give one star, but sincerely - it's not that bad. It's just not good. At least not for me.
Overall I really enjoyed this series but this was my least favorite of the trilogy. While entertaining it lacked substance and had little to know further character development.
I think 'disjointed' is the word for this one. The real heart of the Umbrella Academy has always been the relationship between the family, and this volume eskews all of that in favour of keeping them all separate until the last minute, and even then doesn't have them interact much.
I'll admit, the way Way manages to thread all of the separate plot lines into one big battle at the end is pretty clever, but I wanted more. More of the characters being themselves, more about Hotel Oblivion itself, and just...more, I guess?
It's still fun. But it feels wrote, rather than innovative like it did the first two times around. The ending definitely opens up a lot of possibilities, but we really shouldn't have had to have an entire storyline to get us there.
Very disappointed with this one. The first two Umbrella Academy鈥檚 were amazing, but this volume tries to cover to many subplots at once. Way threw a lot of crap against the the wall and surprise it didn鈥檛 work.
I have the completionist bug so I had to finish the series with just one more book to go. Hmm, not much has changed here. I really couldn't tell you what happened. Lots of superpowered people escape from jail start to wreak havoc on the world so the Umbrella Academy saves the day.
three stars because the end was :o otherwise i would've said two
i just spent a lot of time confused and certain things felt pretty scatterbrained, there was too much happening at once and certain plot points seemed to be dropped randomly or appear unexplained
Definitely not as good compared to the first two volumes. I think the art was harder to follow at times and the story wasn鈥檛 as interesting. Really disappointed tbh.
This book feels like an excuse for Way to let his freak flag fly and create a bunch of supervillains - just a bunch of one-note weirdos (this one has an eye for a head, these two have cat heads, etc) without any backstory or any depth.
So it's more of the same, really. The ending might make the next arc more interesting, as it brings the story back to the family, which seems to be the only element in UA that has any layers.
I still like Gabriel Ba's artwork, but this volume also shows his limits - with a large amount of characters, sometimes his art becomes a bit too crude, and action scenes become hard to follow.
(re-read po shlednut铆 prvn铆 艡ady Netflix seri谩lu a p艡ed druhou 艡adou) A t艡et铆 d铆l je m铆sto, kde se v拧echno za膷铆n谩 l谩mat k hor拧铆mu. Jak p艡铆b臎h, tak kresba. Way tu naserv铆ruje tak poctiv媒 eintopf, 啪e by do toho nedok谩zali zam铆chat v铆c ani pejsek s ko膷i膷kou. A bohu啪el nen铆 jedn铆m z t臎ch lid铆, kte艡铆 by milion rozjet媒ch linek dok谩zali udr啪et v zaj铆mav茅 symbi贸ze. Po艡谩d se mu ned谩 up艡铆t, 啪e n谩pady m谩 dobr茅, ale dokud nedok谩啪e pochopit, 啪e m茅n臎 je ob膷as v铆ce, tak tuhle s茅rii nezachr谩n铆 ani sv臎cen谩 voda. Kresl铆 po艡谩d Gabriel B谩, jenom啪e m铆sto Davea Stewarta se vybarvov谩n铆 uj铆m谩 Nick Filardi a je to docela poznat, bohu啪el.
鈥淔ear... Such a prison. Such a poison.鈥� I'm at a loss for words! I blew through these pages; not able to get enough of the Hargreeves and their adventures (for lack of better word). I especially enjoy that whilst fighting crime and saving the universe (again) we also get to see the private lives of our heroes. We get to know their hopes, dreams and Achilles鈥� heels.
My only complaint is the cliff-hanger ending.... HOW CAN THEY DO THIS TO ME???
Umbrella Academy comics leave me 50% unaware of the plot at all times but still 100% loving the journey. The art style is beautiful, the characters are beyond interesting, and the parts of the plot that make sense to me are all worth the ride.