Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 6 review: Perseus leads a riot
By Alex Widen
The Hotel Oblivion has emptied out! Is this Perseus’ revenge against the Umbrella Academy?
Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion No. 6
Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Ba
Colorist: Nick Filardi
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As the penultimate issue of this mini-series — or “arc” as editor Scott Allie calls it — this is the issue in which spit has to hit the fan. And with the other-dimensional jail known as the “Hotel Oblivion” emptied of its occupants, the result is chaos on the streets. Corporate tycoon John Perseus IX led the expedition to the “hotel” in order to learn the fate of his father, who’d been apprehended by the Umbrella Academy. Yet when he found his father dead, at his own hand, his revenge fantasies have become bolder. And in traditional fashion for this franchise, gaudy.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Donning a suit of armor and using the sentient engine of his father’s old car, John Perseus takes his last name literally for his costumed alter ego. Amid his decision, dozens of deranged and increasingly bizarre super-criminals and monsters are flooding the streets. Some of them are continuing their crime waves where they left off, while others are just mindlessly rampaging. The only exception is Murder Magician, who tries to save a baby from his giant ogre of a mother.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
What Is Their Battle Cry? “Umbrellas, Open Up!?”
Fortunately, the Umbrella Academy are reassembling to counter this crisis, albeit in their usual haphazard way. Spaceboy and Kraken had been exploring another realm with a Japanese superhero team, and wound up in the same dimension that Hotel Oblivion had been. Intended as a prison for super criminals by Professor Hargreeves (the alien who founded the Umbrella Academy), it instead allowed them all to fester. Two decades of resentment has been cut loose!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The Rumor and Number Five, meanwhile, had been performing espionage on the Perseus Corporation for a paying client, and stumbled onto the plan that way. Having once been kidnapped by the Murder Magician, Rumor has gone off on her own after him. Yet once she sees him actually defending an infant against a monster, she puts aside her own feelings of revenge to try to help them both out. Yet will an ability to make lies into reality be able to stop a hulking beast?
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The Seance, who had spent ages drugged out and manipulated by a biker gang, has nearly overdosed. He found himself saved by a mysterious cloaked stranger, who may or may not be a deceased member of the team. Glimpsed in flashback in the last issue, the Horror is back. The monster that lives in his belly — and is the source of his power — is gone. But then again, so is the Horror. He’s only yet another ghost that the Seance can communicate with, after all.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Is a Martian Gorilla Stronger Than a Man of Steel?
In fact, the only member of the Umbrella Academy who hasn’t found herself anywhere near the riot in the city is Vanya, formerly known as the White Violin. Formerly considered powerless, she actually had among the most potent powers in the Academy, until she went mad at the end of Apocalypse Suite. Now she’s been led away by another masked stranger to a mysterious facility in Norway, who claims that it is her “home.” Could this be a part of Vanya’s secret past?
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Spaceboy, Kraken, and Number Five found out that the Seance is in the hospital, and interrupt their mission in progress to try to stage an intervention. Yet Inspector Lupo shares the Seance’s annoyance — now is no time for an after-school special about drugs! Madmen and women are tearing the city apart! And while every panel is cluttered with one oddball after the next, a few are rising to the fore. One of them is the Scientific Man, who may be an homage, or satire of Superman.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The Scientific Man sees himself as some sort of defender, since he is fighting Perseus and was a feared figure back on Hotel Oblivion. Yet he has no regard for collateral damage, nor anyone he considers beneath him. Number Five and the Kraken to their best to back up the cops, while Spaceboy does his best to match his Martian gorilla strength (seriously) against the Scientific Man. Unfortunately for Number Five, the latest casualty of war turns out to be his cool flying sports car!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
A Terminally Wild Time?
Another villain, Terminal, gains more power by absorbing animals into his belly. By absorbing an entire zoo, he’s getting large enough to envelop the whole city! And while Perseus makes a play at being a superhero by chasing off some bank robbers, deep down his father’s car battery may be right. John’s own heart is black, and seeped in revenge. Having unleashed this chaos upon the city, John Perseus has no real interest in trying to atone. He just wants to get back at the Umbrella Academy!
Image by Dark Horse Comics
The back cover to this issue by Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba and Nick Filardi is a hilarious mock “tabletop role playing game” character sheet. The character’s name is Nighthag, a chain-smoking shapeshifting, soda guzzling model turned witch. She can be spotted in several panels throughout the issue, and it perfectly sets the tone for the sort of randomly imaginative insanity that this issue provides. From an anti-drug scene to a gang attack by the Peppermint Scarf crew, it may be an acquired taste for some but a wild ride for others.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
This comic may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it may be a few people’s shot of something better. While the plot involves yet another reunion of the team around one of Hargreeves’ secrets gone wrong, in truth the plot barely matters. What matters is the character interaction as well as the bizarre imagination of the entire piece. Every issue seems to have more boundless energy and creative spirit than fifty mainstream superhero comic book crossovers in a row. Moments of poignancy are interwoven with elements of horror, and an overall tapestry of weirdness.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
It’s a Riot of the Imagination with Every Panel!
The Rumor probably gets what is the closest to a deep moment in this issue. Having once used her powers to “make” a man love her, she’s now been cut off from her child. This longing has helped her put aside her own feelings of anger or resentment at Murder Magician in exchange for helping him protect another baby. Will she be able to get through to its monstrous mother? And will she even entertain the notion of Murder Magician trying to reform? Or is it all a trick, or trap?
Image by Dark Horse Comics
As always, no other artist could possibly capture this level of structured insanity quite like co-creator Gabriel Ba. It is all but impossible to imagine any other artist working on Umbrella Academy, and if that means a slower pace of release, so be it. It is always worth the wait. This issue is delivering by offering so many brilliant designs for villains as can fit on panel amid such chaos. From Perseus’ costume to the fast-paced energy of the battles, this is another triumph for Ba.
Image by Dark Horse Comics
Next. Hotel Oblivion Breaks Loose in No. 5!. dark
After a lengthy break, Umbrella Academy seems to be all over the place. Their Netflix show has been approved for a second season, while this series will conclude just as spring starts to shift into summer. The fact that editor Scott Allie seemed to imply in the letter columns that this mini-series is “this arc” implies that the extended breaks between installments could be a thing of the past. Dark Horse Comics has lost many of its licenses and creator-owned titles lately, with this and Hellboy being exceptions. Hopefully such speculation proves true, because as this issue proves, the comic book industry has more wild imagination every time this series ships an issue.