May 22nd 1-2-3: The Umbrella Academy: From Idea To Award Winning Series
I am always on the hunt for a good story. I look for them in many mediums and disciplines, including in real life. Lots of stories have been read this past week, but one has stood out to me as a uniquely exciting and character-filled story. This would be the comic series The Umbrella Academy.
I am a massive fan of the band My Chemical Romance, and while I had known for quite some time that their frontman and singer was the writer for this comic, I just recently got around to reading it. And boy have I have been having so much fun with it. After finishing up all of the series so far (man, what an ending to series 3), I went right into reading up on its development.
So what’s the story behind this story?
1: From Ideas to Series ( 4 minute read )
It is sometime in the early 2000’s and Gerard Way is reading Mike Mignola’s, Hellboy.
“This is a horror comic, but it’s not a horror comic at all. And I thought there was nothing like that for superheroes. I started drawing these characters backstage.”
(source: Vulture, Gerard Way and Steve Blackman on The Umbrella Academy’s Journey From Comics to TV)
A simple seedling of an idea dropped in his mind and Way, being the creative he is, decided to move on it. While on tour with My Chemical Romance, he would often sit backstage jotting down ideas and sketching out characters that came to mind.
“…you have so much time to kill on the road. Let’s say you’re playing at 8 o’clock at night. You’re just sitting there all day, so I just started drawing them. I wrote down a list of interests that I had — everything from seances, tarot cards, fortune tellers. Just all this stuff.”
(source: same Vulture article)
As he continued to build out the unique characters and the story, he began to see that a comic was beginning to form. Eventually he decided on tying in real life experiences from being on tour with his band into the comic. He realized that a band is much like a family. They all have their own quirks, dynamics, and yet are connected.
This is when he decided to get all the characters he had and make them a family as well.
This opened up a ton for the story, including more in depth interactions as well as opening up for themes such as trauma and personal growth. The personalities of his characters grew bigger and more distinct, which made for some uniquely exciting moments in the comic.
On November 2nd, 2006, Dark Horse Comics released a two page preview titled, “Mon Dieu!”. This gave readers and soon-to-be fans a teaser into the world and the characters of The Umbrella Academy. Six months later on May 5th, 2007, a short story was published in Dark Horse’s Free Comic Book Day issue. This gave readers a proper introduction to The Umbrella Academy.
By this point readers were excited to read a full issue of the comic. The interest had been properly generated. The pairing of Gerard Way’s writing and Gabriel Bá’s artistic strengths had made for something intriguing and uniquely stylized.
On September 19th, 2007, the first issue of The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite was released, marking the debut of the series.
Readers loved it.
Its story was fast paced and took off instantly. Way followed his instincts and instead of starting with the standard origin story, decided against it and got right into the action. He also thought about the comic visually first and used that as a way to inspire the narrative and characters with led to inspiring and memorable sequences drawn by Gabriel. This coupled with the magnificent spreads by James Jean made for a stunning package.
The themes of trauma and personal growth resonated with readers, as the story played with aspects of morality and raised the question on if horrible means justify even the most well intentioned of ends.
“I wanted to be able to show these characters work on their trauma and try to get past it. I also wanted to raise the question of, ‘What is acceptable in order to achieve the greater good?”
— Gerard Way
Since its release, the comic run has won an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series and completed three series with 6 issues each, spawned a television show, two spin offs, 6 short stories, with a new fourth series slated to be released sometime in 2025.
So what can we learn from this?
Always be creating something, follow your instincts, and don’t be afraid to partner up with someone who shares in your creative visions. Most bodies of work begin with a singular thought, phrase, idea, a spark. Don’t ignore the start, no matter how small, because big things can come from it, or as Gerard Way would put it:
“Telling this story with Gabriel would become, as it is today, such a special part of my life…”
— Gerard Way
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. No matter how small, no matter how seemingly insignificant it may seem to you, follow your interests. You never know what spark will come from it.
II. Have fun playing with an idea. Try different disciplines. If you don’t sketch, try sketching. If you don’t write, try it. Enjoy your life creating.
3: Inspirational Quotes From Gerard Way
I. "I just rolled with it, and it all led to here—art school, comics, music. It was just me being myself and following my instincts.”
II. "Art is the weapon. Your imagination is the ammunition. Stay dirty, stay confused, and stay dangerous.”
III. "I feel like there’s a comic book creator in every musician, and a musician in every comic book creator.”
Thank you so much for reading! Rock on.