The Umbrella Academy Volume 2: Dallas

I feel like The Umbrella Academy really came into its own with this series. The Apocalypse Suite was good, but when I was reading it, it felt a little generic and predictable. There were weird aspects to it, but the plot itself was exactly what you might expect from a book about superheroes. This, however, went off in an entirely different direction, which I loved. Time travel is an element that I usually enjoy finding in fiction, and I was also completely enamored with the addition of Hazel and Cha Cha. The trope of pairing something safe and cheery-looking with something terrifying is one of my favorites in horror, and Hazel and Cha Cha did this well. I'm super grateful that we are now in a different time continuum, because that show more should mean that they are still alive and might appear again in future volumes.

I was also happy with the way that this series ended, as it fixed some of the things that bothered me in the last book. Namely, it gave Rumor back her voice, which I was excited about because her power is the most interesting to me and I want to see it in action more. I also want to say that the use of her power in the assassination was really entertaining to me, because I was recently told that there's this conspiracy theory out there that Kennedy wasn't shot and his head just spontaneously exploded, and as soon as I saw that panel of the comic I thought about it. show less

I quickly picked this up after reading the first volume. The book is phenomenal yet again, both art and storyline not failing to disappoint. This one is almost better than the first because we are getting to see a bit more of the dynamic of all the characters as well as more about their own pasts. So excited to read the next volume1

I think I enjoyed this even more than the first volume. I've always been a sucker for JFK stories, and if you told me Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba had found an ingenious time travel twist on that infamous assassination, this is exactly the sort of plot I'd have imagined. Not to say it's predictable - I'm just surprised nobody's ever written this particular story before. Basically, in Umbrella Academy world, JFK survived that fateful journey through Dallas... but as a result, the whole world is about to die in a nuclear explosion. Which it does, at the end of issue #4. Fortunately, the UA are already on the case, heading back in time to prevent this eradication event ever happening... by ensuring a more familiar outcome to November 22nd show more 1963.

Of course, there's much more going on than just that. Along the way we meet some genuinely frightened cartoon-headed hitmen, a villain who takes Mysterio's goldfish bowl helmet to its illogical conclusion (there's a fish swimming round in there), God (an aged cowboy), and a bunch of other memorably freaky characters. It's extremely fast-paced and though there isn't much space for quiet character moments, the creators still manage to give their creations both individuality and depth. The tone is sometimes comic, sometimes frightening, occasionally mind-boggling. Once again I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, and I don't compliment much higher than that.

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I enjoyed this one more than the introductory volume to this series. Much more nuanced, a little less gimmicky, and the characters are becoming far more interesting.

The supporting characters are simply a blast as well.

I mean, sugar-loving hitmen, whacked-out time travel, conspiring against one's self, JFK, nuclear annihilation, and a cute puppy...what more do you want?

Slightly less zany than the first volume, making the laughs somewhat farther between, but in return the plotting is even tighter, and the world by this point is really blossoming. Heartily recommended.

CW: Blood, Torture, Fatphobia

What can I say? I'm absolutely loving this series!

I had mixed feelings about the show, but reading this has made me appreciate the changes they made and doing something different with the characters in a different medium.

I pretty much said everything I have to say in my review of the first volume, and can only really add that this is a lot more of everything and getting extra specially weird and wibbly wobbly timey wimey. It you enjoyed the first comics, I can't see you having a bad time, and if you didn't, would you expect to enjoy this?

It's utter glorious ridiculous chaos and I'm glad there's still more for me to dive into!

Spring 2019;

Reread 2019, entry for Volume #1: Suite/Volume #2: Dallas (& 1st half of Volume #3: Hotel)

I was just post watching Netflix's Umbrella Academy. I still find these books rough around the ears, on the edges, with a good dose of kid needing to be lightly (and even in places not so lightly) thumped on the head. Which doesn't change that I still read it eons ago, and that I'd been excited since the moment the announcement for the show got made, even though I drug my feet for a week or so before watching after it was released.

I still love the utter zany comic-book-ness of the comics that the show doesn't have. More robots, and belts that let you fly, and statues that come to life and are your villains. This team of superheroes show more that are basically a team of superhero rejects in some ways, who we know so little about the childhood and adulthood of, only why they were suddenly brought back together.

The art is still rough, but I still have so much more association with the art than I expected. Even for their being drastically more in the show, I still felt more at home seeing the Umbrella universe through its original vantage point it was created for.

(I'm definitely still far more attached to the trio of brothers being stuck in the past together. I'm painfully glad Allison complicated relationship turned unswerving devotion to Vanya from the books stayed in. I'm glad the whole of Luther & Allison is still there. I'm glad they gave Klaus a bit more life, though I still go back and forth on the calming of Diego for the show. I'm still wondering if they actually nerfed Allison's powers, because that would be sad.

For Hotel Specifically - I still am dying to see what the comics do with the implications of Five & Vanya, too. And with what looks like it is leading toward the reveal of what happened to the other children who were not bought and collected by Reginald Hargreeves, which I'm both excited and hugely wary of having in my hands.) show less