Having exhausted myself with the wasted potential of the Netflix tv series, I went back to the original comic of The Umbrella Academy. There were just that many zany, fun ideas presented - and then squandered - by the show, I had to see if the original comic handles them any better.
For starters, the comic is far more zany than the show ever could be. The opening page contains references to boxing squids, chimpanzee psychiatry, teleporters and immaculately conceived super babies. Moments later, we see superhero child protagonists fist fight the Eiffel Tower. The tv show features only a smattering of these ideas, and has to either dilute them down or makes them a whole lot less fun. It's understandable, considering the size of the budget the show would need to show every last bizarro thing. If anything, the comic has too many ideas, with elements being introduced and dropped almost as soon as they are described. For instance, we learn Prof. Hargreaves has invented a monocle that allows the wearer to analyze superpowers, but this monocle serves literally no story purpose and is forgotten two panels after it is introduced. In a similar vein, Pogo the Chimpanzee butler was abruptly killed off in the tv show without doing anything for the story, and I was expecting the comic to expand his role beyond fridge victim. Instead, the comic kills him off even more quickly.
Another big departure is that the show wasted so much time on watching its mal-adjusted heroes mope around. The comic instead has a frenzied energy where it can't wait to rush to the next bit of violent action. It has the opposite problem from the tv show, in that it is often way too fast for its own good. Sometimes there are some basic cutting and transitional problems with the action depicted, where it isn't clear to the reader what has happened from one panel to the next. I occasionally found myself having to re-read the same few panels to work it out what had just happened. It adds to the idea that this comic was being rushed. One other effect of the hyperactive, frantic story telling is that the tone of the comic is far lighter and breezier than the show, despite the often grim and violent content. The inter-sibling rivalries and angst is all there, but this comic is incapable of dwelling on it for any length of time, rushing on to the next crazy thing. One benefit of this is that it does soften some of the problematic plot elements from the show; the trope of having a woman superhero be too powerful and emotional feels more palatable when the comic isn't taking the concept at all seriously.
Whilst the comic isn't perfect, and sometimes has far too much enthusiasm for its own good, I like the throwback aesthetics, the explosion of colourful ideas, and the silly black humour. It is the perfect antidote to the boring tv show it spawned.
Coffee Brained
Having exhausted myself with the wasted potential of the Netflix tv series, I went back to the original comic of The Umbrella Academy. There were just that many zany, fun ideas presented - and then squandered - by the show, I had to see if the original comic handles them any better.
For starters, the comic is far more zany than the show ever could be. The opening page contains references to boxing squids, chimpanzee psychiatry, teleporters and immaculately conceived super babies. Moments later, we see superhero child protagonists fist fight the Eiffel Tower. The tv show features only a smattering of these ideas, and has to either dilute them down or makes them a whole lot less fun. It's understandable, considering the size of the budget the show would need to show every last bizarro thing. If anything, the comic has too many ideas, with elements being introduced and dropped almost as soon as they are described. For instance, we learn Prof. Hargreaves has invented a monocle that allows the wearer to analyze superpowers, but this monocle serves literally no story purpose and is forgotten two panels after it is introduced. In a similar vein, Pogo the Chimpanzee butler was abruptly killed off in the tv show without doing anything for the story, and I was expecting the comic to expand his role beyond fridge victim. Instead, the comic kills him off even more quickly.
Another big departure is that the show wasted so much time on watching its mal-adjusted heroes mope around. The comic instead has a frenzied energy where it can't wait to rush to the next bit of violent action. It has the opposite problem from the tv show, in that it is often way too fast for its own good. Sometimes there are some basic cutting and transitional problems with the action depicted, where it isn't clear to the reader what has happened from one panel to the next. I occasionally found myself having to re-read the same few panels to work it out what had just happened. It adds to the idea that this comic was being rushed. One other effect of the hyperactive, frantic story telling is that the tone of the comic is far lighter and breezier than the show, despite the often grim and violent content. The inter-sibling rivalries and angst is all there, but this comic is incapable of dwelling on it for any length of time, rushing on to the next crazy thing. One benefit of this is that it does soften some of the problematic plot elements from the show; the trope of having a woman superhero be too powerful and emotional feels more palatable when the comic isn't taking the concept at all seriously.
Whilst the comic isn't perfect, and sometimes has far too much enthusiasm for its own good, I like the throwback aesthetics, the explosion of colourful ideas, and the silly black humour. It is the perfect antidote to the boring tv show it spawned.