Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 5 review: The freaks are loose
By Alex Widen
Slowly but surely, the Umbrella Academy reassembles! Will a jailbreak be the last straw?
Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 5
Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Ba
Colorist: Nick Filardi
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The titular Hotel Oblivion is not really a hotel; it is a prison for super-criminals. Based on a planet in another dimension, Sir Reginald Hargreeves — the alien founder of the Umbrella Academy — built it to warehouse the villains “his children” rounded up. Among them were John Perseus IX, CEO of the Perseus Corporation, and his evil talking car. At some point in the past, the entire Umbrella Academy — including Number 6, “the Horror”, who is long dead — apprehended him and his wild ride at the docks of the city. Like the rest of the team, the Horror had a bizarre power.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
To the Umbrella Academy, this was yet another harrowing superhero battle led by their abusive “father.” Their own rivalries among each other play out, at least in regards to how Kraken reacts to being saved by the Horror. Able to summon monsters beneath his skin, the Horror usually manifested this with multi-purpose tentacles that emerged from his stomach. Still, it was a simpler time when Seance and Rumor were proud members of the teenage team.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
My Monster the Car!
John Perseus IX (or the Ninth) had donned a masked garb and became a super-criminal. Yet according to him, he did it out of an act of rebellion against the Umbrella Academy. He thought the city needed to be run by someone with more even handed control such as himself, and not a squad of teenage freaks as crime fighters. Both he and his car’s artificial intelligence were banished to Hotel Oblivion, alongside dozens of menaces that the Umbrella Academy defeated.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
All that was years ago. Now, his son — named John Perseus the 3rd, so the numbering scheme works backwards — has breached Hotel Oblivion to rescue him. Unfortunately, by this point the elder Perseus has committed suicide due to the overwhelming dread and despair of the asylum. Initially content to simply leave with the villain Obscure, the evil car engine goads John to seek further vengeance. It is much like KITT, the artificial intelligence within the car of Knight Rider, only apparently evil and corrupting. Some men really will do anything for their cars!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
As is typical for Umbrella Academy adventures, the team begins the tale disorganized and then reassembled due to design or circumstance. The Kraken and Spaceboy start to weave closer to the plot as they explore “Afterspace” with Dr. Zoo within their old spaceship, the Minerva. Within the strange dimension — clearly inspired by Jack Kirby’s artwork — the explorers have found a long lost astronaut. He’d been the one who’d inspired Spaceboy to go to space. The difference is Spaceboy found his body transformed by Martian apes, while this astronaut hasn’t aged a day!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Perseus Corporation Is about to Have a Write Off!
Further exploration allows Dr. Zoo to discover a further tear within the fabric of Afterspace, as noted in Hargreeves’ notes. It nearly destroys the ship, but it leads to a strange planet — the very one in which Hotel Oblivion was built on. The Minerva crashes upon the planet at a critical juncture. Apparently convinced by the evil car engine, John Perseus has led a great escape through the “televator” for all the criminals. They begin flooding his corporate headquarters in a rampage.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
This proves to be terrible for the staff of Perseus Corporation, who quickly find themselves being slaughtered by the gaggle of crooks and monsters. That’s one way to cut down on overhead! However, it proves to be a boon for Rumor and Number Five. Having been captured last issue, the pair take the opportunity to escape. While Number Five still wants to perform espionage for his mysterious client, Rumor is still focused on stopping Murder Magician, who’s escaped with a baby.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
It turns out the abduction may have been an act of mercy, not a crime. That baby’s mother has come after it, and can transform into a hideous monster with the aid of a magic 8-Ball. If readers haven’t caught on about the random weirdness of this franchise by now, they never will. The last figure to emerge is the mysterious yet nearly omnipotent Scientific Man. Dressed like a superhero, he was either a prisoner or jailer of the Hotel; perhaps both. He can atomize others with a glare!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
A Work Unlike Any Other!
Only a third of the Umbrella Academy haven’t assembled, as their strange subplots run their course. The Seance, whose drug addled fight against a biker gang saw him literally dumped in the trash, has been rescued by a mysterious benefactor. Vanya — the White Violin — remains on her day trip with Mother, a sentient mannequin. This takes her to Paris, before a rebuilt Eiffel Tower, where she meets a newcomer. No longer crippled, Vanya sees there’s another academy out there!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Gerard Way continues to produce what has made this series unforgettable — it’s bizarre imagination and almost random imagination. The narratives themselves may not entirely make sense, and often leap from one scene or idea to another. There is usually the bare structure of a story, but it is really a vehicle for some character moments amid a backdrop of increasingly strange oddities and creations. To those seeking a respite from the endless onslaught of corporate-driven superhero comics, it can seem like a breath of fresh air — or at least a strange trip.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The angle of an evil car battery may seem strange, but it’s hardly something Gerard Way invented. There have been no end of films or TV series about sentient cars, from the aforementioned Knight Rider to My Mother The Car to comedies like The Love Bug to even horror such as John Carpenter’s Christine. Much of this stems from the very real death of James Dean in 1955 in a drag racing accident, and the supposedly “cursed” car Dean was driving at the time. Americans love their cars.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
There Is Intelligence and Depth behind the Weirdness!
Despite the random imagination and strange moments, there is a weird internal logic to Umbrella Academy. Dallas, for instance, explored both the Kennedy assassination and the horror of random “thrill killers.” Other times certain characters act as metaphor or satire, such as Scientific Man seemingly like a spoof of Superman — perhaps inspired by his early Golden Age incarnation who was a bit more brutal than the post-Cold War version. Yet perhaps the most common theme is how a family can remain united, despite differing paths, strange lives and even an abusive parent.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Gabriel Ba also continues his fabulous take on the art. A mix between Mike Mignola and Jack Kirby, it is all but impossible to imagine Umbrella Academy drawn by anyone else. From the epic nature of the Afterspace scenes to the horror of the monster attacks, to plenty of slapstick comedy, Ba is in complete harmony with Way’s shifting tones and moods of the piece. His line work may seem simple in some panels, but there is a lot of energy in the poses, and thought in the details.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Next. Meet John Perseus the Third in No. 4!. dark
A TV version of Umbrella Academy will debut on Netflix this week. As weird as the trailers make it out to be, it’s actually a watered down and more mainstream adaptation. This may be for the best in some ways, as this comic is very much for a niche market. While every superhero fan should give it a try just for the boundless imagination and stellar artwork, many may be turned off by just how odd it is. Yet for those eager for the franchise in its purest form, it is a welcome break from the endless drumbeat of corporate crossovers and relaunches from other companies.