One of the comics from the last few years that still stands out vividly to me, is The Umbrella Academy. For the uninitiated, it’s the story of a group of super-powered children, born on the same day and subsequently adopted and raised by a scientist as secretive as he is wealthy.
The kids are subjected to the rigors of life and grow up and unavoidably, apart. They are, however, reunited under the auspices of a bigger cause. Like The Breakfast Club if Anthony Michael Hall’s head was attached to the body of a Martian gorilla.
The Umbrella Academy is a remarkable journey through tried and true comic tropes, made impossibly new again by writer Gerard Way. If that promise wasn’t enough to melt your brain like a suicide Slushee on a Death Valley dashboard, the series was rounded out with stunning art by Gabriel Bá with colors by Dave Stewart, who is also no slouch.
Like many a drug dealer in a movie, dear internet-going comic reader, the first taste is free. Issues #0 and #1 of The Umbrella Academy are free to try. So really, when you think about it, Dark Horse is twice as accommodating as drug dealers in movies. I’d tell you more, but I need to go talk to our marketing department about putting that on a bumper sticker.
If you made it that far, I thank you.
Now get reading.
John Schork, Assistant Editor, Dark Horse Comics