Umbrella Academy Dallas #2

Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Ba
Letters: Blambot's Nate Piekos
Colors: Dave Stewart
Publisher: Dark Horse

This is the second issue of the second series of Umbrella Academy, so right away you know what kind of expectations you should have for this comic. After all, the first six-issue limited series, Umbrella Academy: the Apocalypse Suite, took the comic world by storm in 2007 and finished its run by winning the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. When a series has that kind of meteoric debut, there are only two things that can happen with the sequel. It either matches or exceeds its predecessor's success - or it fails miserably. It is already clear which way this series is heading ...

For those who missed the first series, a brief review is in order (along with my strong recommendation that you run out and grab Apocalypse Suite today). The members of the Umbrella Academy are a dysfunctional collection of characters who were brought together as babies by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, an alien inventor and entrepeneur. Hargreeves, otherwise known as the Monacle, raised them and trained them to "save the world" from some future menace - as yet unknown. After Hargreeves death thirty years later, the team reunites to do just that.

Umbrella Academy Dallas picks up where Apocalypse Suite left off, and begins by dealing with some of the repercussions of the last series' climactic battle. As with the first series, much of what is happening is revealed in very small portions, with the underlying mystery of the tale only seeming to deepen with each passing page. In my opinion, that's one of the subtleties that makes this series so entertaining. There are far too many series these days that are so predictable that you feel you've seen it all before - not so with Umbrella Academy. In this current series, for example, Gerard Way has unleashed Number 5 (the thirty-year old who was once stuck in time but is now stuck in his 10-year old body), and introduced a couple of zany assassins to deal with him. The rest of the "siblings" are still dealing with the fallout of the White
Violin's rampage, as well as their own ongoing rivalries and estrangements, while Kraken (and the police) search for Number 5.

Gerard Way's plotlines have a very free-flowing feel. That is not to say that the comics are not well-ordered - they are. Rather, it is that there is an almost liquid feel to it all, as though you are floating on an often violent river whose current is taking you to a destination only the river knows. The author has cited Grant Morrison's work on Doom Patrol as one of his major influences, but in many ways his writing is even more interesting than any of Morrison's recent work. There is a quirkiness in these characters and events that both attracts and repels the reader. One of the more memorable scenes in the current issue involves Number 5 in a motel room with an intelligent monkey dressed as Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday, Mister President." Let's face it: that is just not normal behavior for either of our species. Yet it remains compelling for just that reason. Way has found a voice that hearkens back to the comics of our youth, and made that voice echo into our modern times in a natural synthesis of the simple and the complex. His work manages to be edgy and boundary-pushing without reeking of the pretentiousness that mars many of the most popular mainstream comic writers' works these days.

The artwork by Gabriel Ba is a perfect fit for this comic and these characters. From character design and acting to panel layout, Ba demonstrates a mastery of the medium that would make Will Eisner proud. This is not the almost photorealistic sequential art that many comic artists strive for these days. This is the rock-solid visual storytelling of my youth, turned loose on modern themes. In fact, I have yet to read a panel or series of panels in Ba's work where I needed to look twice to decipher what was being conveyed. No matter his chosen camera angle, Ba manages to make every panel of every page count, and it all adds up to a visual presentation that blends seamlessly with the eclectic writing of Way.

If I had only five stars to give this comic, I would have to steal a sixth. It's just that good, and a must-read for all true fans of the medium.