Gerard Way

"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 children form a dysfunctional family with bizarre superpowers. Nearly a decade after their first mission, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, the siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again"--

The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite (Deluxe Edition)

         It is quite possible that this is the first graphic novel I have ever read, unless you count the old Archie comics.  I used to believe I avoided graphic novels because I didn’t enjoy the storylines, and it turns out I was correct.  While I understand that comics can come in a variety of story genres, it seems like most are superhero-ish.  I’m not a big fan of superhero-ish material, whether it’s books, comics, movies, tv shows, etc.  They’re just not my jam.  I will do my best to base my view of this particular piece of art on the story itself and not on the fact that it's superhero-ish. 

            I read this book because one of my reading challenges includes a prompt that calls for a book with a musical instrument on the cover.  The same reading challenge includes a few read it-watch it prompts, which means this book could be a twofer for me.  My husband decided to try to watch the streaming series, so I decided I would join him and read the comic.  Unfortunately, I had to read it on my phone, which is a tiny screen, so I doubt I received the full experience one is meant to have when devouring a graphic novel.  I have a separate kindle, but it's black and white only, which would definitely have been a worst-case-scenario situation. 

            I was immediately drawn in by the cover.  I found the artwork to be clever, and it does help to draw the reader into the story.  However, the story itself left a lot to be desired.  Have you ever come home from work or school or wherever you go and found your spouse or your family sitting and watching a movie?  You decided to join, because the only other option is to go off by yourself like a weirdo, but since you’ve joined in the middle of the story, it’s difficult to understand what’s going on and thus you’re just not able to get into the story like you’d prefer to.  That was how this book felt. 

            The reader is given a painfully brief introduction to the basics of the story, then the reader is dropped off into what felt like an in-progress piece of storyline.  The dynamics between the characters was in place and moving along, but as the reader, we weren’t given the opportunity to watch those dynamics develop, so we were left feeling a wee bit lost.  There’s a reason storytellers follow a certain basic outline for telling those stories: because it leaves the reader with few questions and it’s extremely satisfying.  This story was not satisfying.  This story started out as a baffling vignette and ended as simply baffling. 

            The artwork was fun, but seeing the one character I actually liked get disemboweled was jarring and disappointing.  I have no desire to continue with the subsequent volumes of this series because I wasn’t able to find any piece of this story to grasp on to and care about.  I hope that my disappointment with the story itself is evident and isn’t a reflection on the fact that it’s a graphic novel. 

Kristen Claiborn

         It is quite possible that this is the first graphic novel I have ever read, unless you count the old Archie comics.  I used to believe I avoided graphic novels because I didn’t enjoy the storylines, and it turns out I was correct.  While I understand that comics can come in a variety of story genres, it seems like most are superhero-ish.  I’m not a big fan of superhero-ish material, whether it’s books, comics, movies, tv shows, etc.  They’re just not my jam.  I will do my best to base my view of this particular piece of art on the story itself and not on the fact that it's superhero-ish. 

            I read this book because one of my reading challenges includes a prompt that calls for a book with a musical instrument on the cover.  The same reading challenge includes a few read it-watch it prompts, which means this book could be a twofer for me.  My husband decided to try to watch the streaming series, so I decided I would join him and read the comic.  Unfortunately, I had to read it on my phone, which is a tiny screen, so I doubt I received the full experience one is meant to have when devouring a graphic novel.  I have a separate kindle, but it's black and white only, which would definitely have been a worst-case-scenario situation. 

            I was immediately drawn in by the cover.  I found the artwork to be clever, and it does help to draw the reader into the story.  However, the story itself left a lot to be desired.  Have you ever come home from work or school or wherever you go and found your spouse or your family sitting and watching a movie?  You decided to join, because the only other option is to go off by yourself like a weirdo, but since you’ve joined in the middle of the story, it’s difficult to understand what’s going on and thus you’re just not able to get into the story like you’d prefer to.  That was how this book felt. 

            The reader is given a painfully brief introduction to the basics of the story, then the reader is dropped off into what felt like an in-progress piece of storyline.  The dynamics between the characters was in place and moving along, but as the reader, we weren’t given the opportunity to watch those dynamics develop, so we were left feeling a wee bit lost.  There’s a reason storytellers follow a certain basic outline for telling those stories: because it leaves the reader with few questions and it’s extremely satisfying.  This story was not satisfying.  This story started out as a baffling vignette and ended as simply baffling. 

            The artwork was fun, but seeing the one character I actually liked get disemboweled was jarring and disappointing.  I have no desire to continue with the subsequent volumes of this series because I wasn’t able to find any piece of this story to grasp on to and care about.  I hope that my disappointment with the story itself is evident and isn’t a reflection on the fact that it’s a graphic novel. 

The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite (Deluxe Edition)

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