The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba is my all-time favorite graphic novel series - in part because it is written by my favorite human being and man of my dreams, part because any artwork by Ba is gorgeous, and part because the plot itself is so bizarre and fun - and season two of the Netflix Original is in production. There are now three different graphic novels: "Apocalypse Suite", "Dallas", and "Hotel Oblivion", with rumor of volume four. "Apocalypse Suite" semi-recently was republished (originally released in 2007) as the first in "Dark Horse Number Ones" for 2017. I highly, highly, highly recommend.

The back cover starts like this: "In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-three extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who'd previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, "To save the world." These seven children form the Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers." In the first installment, titled "Apocalypse Suite" these characters – after having saved the world from the "fearsome zombie-robot" piloting the Eiffel Tower as children - are reunited as adults (for the most part) at their adoptive father's sudden funeral, and find themselves drawn into yet another defense against evil. This time, their foe comes from a musical background with no knowledge of her own villainy.

My uncle gave this comic to me for Christmas knowing that I would fall in love, and lo and behold, I recommend it to any and every one. It is a delicious blend of dark action adventure and artistic gothic illustration that takes on the oddball Umbrella Academy children as a group of heroes comparable to the Mystery Men, Watchmen, and Suicide Squad: angsty, outlying, and atypically gifted.