Reviews

Gerard Way was such an excellent choice to write for Doom Patrol. Umbrella Academy shares a lot of similarities with DP in terms of theme so his voice very naturally fits in with these characters. The story feels similar to the ones I read from the Grant Morrison run, but with less of an emphasis on horror and philosophy. This very much feels like a more "mainstream" Doom Patrol, which I think will help make the team more accessible (even if this volume does rely on a lot of prior knowledge of the characters).

600bars's review

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2.0

I read this bc I love Gerard Way and have never read any of his comic work. I am sad to say this but I had no fucking clue what was going on and therefore wasn’t having a great time. I think that you’re supposed to already be familiar with the characters but I have no idea what the Doom Patrol is. I do read a fair amount of comics/ graphic novels but I’m not a “comics person” as in I’m not very into superhero stuff. Although this seems a bit like anti-superhero similar to Watchmen, and I loved Watchmen, but I think with Watchmen I was familiar enough with the general conventions of superhero tropes to understand what it was against while here I just don't know what’s happening. There are a million plot elements happening. I typically am fine with not knowing completely what’s happening and simply letting it wash over me and plowing through. In these situations after I’m about halfway through I will start over again with the knowledge I have gained thus far. I did that but it didn’t really help. I am sure that if I continued this series I would be able to go back and make sense of this volume, but it didn’t hook me enough to where I even wanted to continue. There is an entity named Danny that is a street, an ambulance, a brick, a cabana. There’s some sort of soylent green-esque scheme about making burgers out of people. There are a lot of meta-comic stuff where some of the characters are actually comic characters created by the mind of Danny within this world. There’s time travel. There’s a mad scientist type guy. There are alien creatures. There is a cult trying to reach a singularity and become Jane. Who is Jane? I don’t know. There’s friendly EMTs with personal problems. The ambulance, which is also the entity Danny, has a nyan-cat esque trip through space. It comes off as frenetic and random because I can’t tell how these disparate elements are related to each other. I am sure they do connect eventually but I’m not going to stick around to find out.

The art, color, and lettering are visually appealing. I still want to check out the Umbrella Academy. I still love Gerard Way

nbramanti's review

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

bleachcan's review

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

mrdavechild's review

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4.0

A fun manic escape that’s hard to follow but that’s the fun of it. The confusion kept me from loving though. Think I might dive into the original Grant Morrison series before I return to these new ones.

sleepyboi2988's review

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2.0

Overall, I appreciate what Gerard Way was attempting to do here. There's a ton of references to GM's run of Doom Patrol, and mercifully I read this right on the heels of that run, so I did pick up on a lot of them, I feel.

That said, the art and the story, it just lacks the heart of GM's run. I'm glad I read them, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't mind-blowing or as deeply philosophical as GM's. Felt more like an homage rather than something meant to stand on its own two feet.

itcamefromthepage's review

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5.0

This was an amazing and bizarre chapter in my comic reading experience. It inspired me and went to some of the strangest places in the universe.

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