Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s award-winning comic books, The Umbrella Academy, now have a life on the screen as a Netflix series with release set for February 15th.
The Netflix team unveiled the first two episodes in the famous Hollywood Cineramadome to fans and critics last night.
Without spoiling anything, The Umbrella Academy follows the journey of siblings that aren’t technically siblings but were born at the same time around the world. These seven children, believed to be extraordinary, were raised to fight crime and were “fathered” by a billionaire in a lavish mansion or complex filled with curiosities. In the first episode, the seven children and their short backstories are revealed as they all grieve the death of their father.
Surviving members of the family include Elliot Page who plays Vanya, the last of the seven who is a violinist and the only sibling without any superpowers. The character Klaus is a drug addict who has powers to speak to the dead, Alison is a movie star that tells “rumors” that will manifest themselves and come true, Luther is an oversized astronaut, and Diego, is a knife-throwing rebel who gets himself into trouble. There is also Number Five, the time and space traveler who has been missing for almost 17 years and comes back to the family to act as the protagonist for the rest of the series.
If you have read the comic version of The Umbrella Academy before diving into the series, you will quickly notice some differences, like we did.
Showrunner Steve Blackman took a couple of liberties to change the show from the comic book however the differences seem to be tasteful and within Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s vision. Some creative liberties aside, the characters from the comics are beautifully brought to life.
Each hour-long episode of season 1 seems to be packed with a couple of classic action scenes. If you are not at all interested in seeing this type of crime-fighting action, then this series might not be for you.
The Umbrella Academy has an eerie similarity to the style of Netflix rendition A Series of Unfortunate Events. The first episode does a lot of the leg work of introducing stories and characters but it is a very interesting story if you have some patience past that. There are 10 episodes that will all release this Friday. Check out the trailer below and keep an eye on Netflix for a great post-Valentine’s Day binge!
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