Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 4 review: Meet John Perseus
By Alex Widen
The world’s strangest superhero team experiences more oddness! Yet is John Perseus the villain of the piece in Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 4?
Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 4
Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Ba
Colorist: Nick Filardi
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As the title on the first page notes, this is part four of a seven part series. Therefore, readers are midway through this third go around of Umbrella Academy, and that usually is time for the plot threads to start to converge. While the series is known more for bizarre nonsequiturs and strange character moments than a cohesive plot, each arc does offer a progressive storyline. Despite the title about Hotel Oblivion, it is the Perseus Corporation which has risen to the fore.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The company isn’t named after a famous Greek hero, but a man. John Perseus the Third, to be specific. And while he hobnobs with the shallow city elite at an art gallery, he hears of the breach of Perseus Corporation. It’s two men and a baby; one shy of a Ted Danson film! The costumed villains Obscura and Murder Magician have used one of Professor Hargreeves’ “tele-vators” to escape their imprisonment. It’s an event even stranger than the portrait John is viewing!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Things Go from Strange to Worse!
Obscura and Murder Magician barely managed to flee from a cadre of Latino cartel members who had been using the tele-vator to dispose of bodies. Now the pair are engaged in a fire fight with Perseus Corporation’s strangely overdressed security guards. Despite being mortally wounded, Obscura manages to create an escape route before collapsing. Proving there’s no honor in thieves, Murder Magician abandons his friend to flee. But then again, he’s saved a baby; so is he all bad?
Image by Dark Horse Comics
However, these two random super villains were not the only intruders within Perseus Corp! Number Five had been hired by a mysterious benefactor (affiliated with a crazy Texan who rides giant chickens) to perform corporate espionage. Since this mission involves stealth and not murder, he asked his fellow Umbrella Academy teammate Rumor to tag along. Unfortunately, the appearance of the Magician has stoked Rumor’s curiosity, leading to exposure for both of them!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
With two members of the Umbrella Academy captured, where does this leave the rest of the team? Divided on separate quests, as usual. The Seance remains enthralled to drugs — apparently heroin in particular — despite having arranged for the betrayal and slaughter of the biker gang who’d been holding him prisoner. Yet is an addict ever truly free? All this has done is allowed the Seance to get as high as he wants without having to go through the motions of working for it.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Talk about Some Bad Trips!
The potent psychic had been using the drugs to aid him in connecting to the spirits of the dead. And in a drug-addled haze, he seemingly manifests the spirit of Professor Hargreeves himself. The alien patriarch of the Umbrella Academy treated the children as weapons virtually from birth, never showing them any affection as he tossed them from one mission to the next. Also known as “the Monocle,” Hargreeves literally called the children by a number assigned to their usefulness.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Unfortunately for the Seance, the leader of the biker gang (dubbed “the Mothers of Agony”) proves incredibly hard to kill. Not even taking a bullet to the head has stopped him! Considering the betrayal that he survived, he proves incredibly merciful. Rather than kill the Seance, he instead dumps the tripped out psychic in the trash. Yet is being considered unworthy of death by a biker gang leader a fate worse than death to a former superhero? Could this be his “rock bottom?”
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Just as the Seance is facing literally manifestations of his faults, so too are Spaceboy and the Kraken. The pair are exploring the strange realm of Afterspace with Dr. Zoo and his squad of Japanese superheroes. Yet while the pair venture out to explore a spacecraft, they’re overwhelmed by the strange rules of physics within Afterspace! It seems that anyone who ventures into that space is merged with one another, and can only separate if they can find common ground!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
What Are the Motives of John Perseus the Third?
This proves a problem for the pair, who have been rivals within the Umbrella Academy ever since childhood. It certainly doesn’t help that as Hargreeves’ “number one,” Spaceboy was as close to being appreciated by their “father” than any of them got. They are different in every way, from powers to life experiences — even in what flavor of ice cream they like! Fortunately, the unlikely pair prove to have one thing in common — the experience of unrequited love.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Vanya, the White Violin, is still having a day out with her “Mother.” Little more than an mannequin given life by Hargreeves to fill an obligatory role, Mother has taken her job seriously. Despite Vanya being paralyzed, Mother wants her to relish life and have faith in her vast powers. She had been hidden and sheltered from the rest of the Umbrella Academy not because of her lack of ability, but because her powers were the most destructive. She also meets a mysterious stranger!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Yet the Umbrella Academy aren’t the only ones with father issues. John Perseus has some unresolved business with Hotel Oblivion. It turns out his own father was imprisoned there, and Obscura is now his only hope at a reunion. Threatening the villain with torture, John Perseus gets what he wants; a ticket to the hotel. Unfortunately, he arrives far too late to rescue his father. However, he encounters another mysterious being, in what seems to be a mechanical mask.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The Messages May Be Blunt, yet Uniquely Delivered!
As usual, the issue by Gerard Way is full of his trademark weird imagination. Yet this issue uses his strange imagination to lay bare some of the insecurities of the characters. One way or another, most of the cast have been badly affected by their terrible father. While they should find solace with each other, most times they split apart. The members who seem the most together — Five and Rumor — have made messes of their lives in other ways.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Seance’s unresolved father issues have led to his addiction. No matter how much he takes, they never numb the pain. Spaceboy and Kraken have become rivals entirely due to being pitted against each other by their father. Yet as Afterspace revealed, even the two of them have something in common, and therefore a positive bond with each other. Even John Perseus has daddy issues, as he’s suddenly venturing into a hellish hotel in order to save his super villain of a father.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Some of the Best Artwork in Comics Can Be Found Here!
Gabriel Ba continues on his yeoman effort on art. One part Jack Kirby with two parts Mike Mignola, the artwork on any issue of Umbrella Academy looks like nothing else in comics — a totally unique work. From the spectacle of Afterspace to the griminess of the biker den or Hotel Oblivion, the universe that Ba and Way have created is its own creative beast. The line work may seem simple, but Ba is a master at conveying emotion, mood, and even action. From cover to cover, every page is a treat.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The Seance Organizes a Betrayal in No. 3!. dark. Next
As is often said in reviews for this series, it is an acquired taste. It’s all but the embodiment of a “cult comic,” and proudly so. From its exploration of weird themes to a variety of metaphors and satires, it could be the modern-day equivalent of Steve Gerber’s Howard the Duck in its prime. For some, the strange imagination may seem random, and the story confusing. Yet for those who want something different from monthly superhero comics, and care more about an experience than a narrative, Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion delivers for the franchise once again.