Comic Info
Comic Name: The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Bá
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2009
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #2
Reprints The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1-6 (November 2008-May 2009). The Umbrella Academy and the world is still reeling from the actions of the White Violin, but now Number 5 is becoming a problem. With the Temps Aeternalis targeting him for a botched job in Dallas in 1963, the Umbrella Academy finds themselves on a time trip that could result in the assassination of JFK…or the destruction of the world!
Written by Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy Volume 2: Dallas is a Dark Horse Comics collection. Following The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite, the series features art by Gabriel Bá. Also included in the collection is a short story from MySpace Dark Horse Presents #12 which was an online version of the the popular Dark Horse Presents series.
The Umbrella Academy is pretty clever. The story wraps and twists as you read it and ends up tied up in a (relatively) neat bow. While I like a good time travel story, The Umbrella Academy: Dallas is sometimes frustrating due to the style of writing.
The series isn’t bad, but there is a lot of inane humor that leaves the series with a strange tone. There is goofy stuff (like ice cream), and it is mixed with serious stuff like the assassination of Kennedy. While this is kind of the point of the series, the humor is so sideways that it almost plays like Family Guy instead of a smart comedy. What keeps it from being random humor is that Way has distinct path and plan…and he executes it. Often humor like this has no purpose, but I’m just not a fan of how it ties together. I’d almost prefer a similar story with a serious tone.
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #4
Gabriel Bá has art that fits the series. I like some of the choices made in the illustrations, but I’m not a big fan of the character designs in general. I like the flashback scenes with the “kid Umbrella Academy” and felt that was a better aspect of the last book. The intentionally generic look of the characters is realistic, but not always inspiring (but the panel with the Rumor as Jackie Kennedy was on point and shocking).
The Umbrella Academy feels like it is kind of niche writing, but I don’t know that I fall into the niche. I would like to love-love the series, and I just like it. I can recognize that it is smarter than many series and that it is better written than a lot of the standard slog of titles flowing month to month, but I don’t have the fun I hope to have with it. I have a hard time identify with any of the characters in the series (except perhaps the Rumor) and that makes a team book hard to swallow sometimes. The Umbrella Academy 2: Dallas is followed by The Umbrella Academy 3: Hotel Oblivion.
Related Links:
The Umbrella Academy 1: Apocalypse Suite
The Umbrella Academy—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
