It Feels Like Making Up for Old Times, With a Old Friend Turned Enemy

The title of this blog sums up some of the feelings I felt while reading this book/comic/graphic novel quite clearly. And yes the Gerard Way who wrote this is indeed the lead singer of My Chemical Romance (yet you would not think that while reading this comic). Now lets go back a couple years ago to when I was in seventh grade. My Chemical Romance (or MCR as I will now call them, as I don`t want to type their name every time I want to say it) just released their single Helena and I absolutely loved it!!! MCR`s music was something I would listen too constantly for the next year or so, whether the songs be from their albums: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge or from I Brought You My Bullets, You Bring Me Your Love, I would absolutely eat their music up. then 2006 happened and they debuted their third album: The Black Parade and I absolutely hated it... Okay hate is a strong word so I absolutely disliked it!!!! And the brunt of my displeasure went straight to Gerard Way on the basis that he was the man who conceptualized the bands new direction publicly and musically. That was when I lost respect for a man who`s music I loved for a brief moment in my life. Now lets fast forward to a couple weeks ago, recently I have started reading comic books/graphic novels. It has been a little over a year since I jumped over the deep edge and started reading a whole lot of super hero comics and the more dark/grim indie comic books. I would try almost anything and the moment I`d like something I would follow these books until they ended or in super hero comic`s case until the writer who is writing the current run on the book leaves. So as I searched for new comics I stumbled upon an award winning comic called the Umbrella Academy. At first I was very very skeptical about it as it is written by that very same Gerard Way whose style completely ruined MCR for me. And that being said comics are all about unique story telling techniques and styles that capture and enthrall people I was afraid to pay for a book that I thought was going to be Black Parade in comic form. Well after a couple months of pondering whether or not to buy the 1st trade paperback and my comic book store going on sale to the point I could get both vol.1 and vol. 2 for the price of one, I finally decided to take a risk on the book and buy it, and let me tell you what I found inside it was something I would have never expected. It is a book whose storytelling and visual style are so unique I was literally smiling from the very 1st page to the very last. The last time I had this much fun with any form of entertainment was when I first watched Kick-Ass over the summer, and that is saying something. The characters in this book are all likable, weird and it is obvious Gerard Way has fun writing the characters. I mean if you have the leader of the team be a really strong guy with a body of a gorilla named Spaceboy, and have another member dressed up in goth attire pale skin and all and name him Seance you know you are going to have fun with the book.The story for volume.1 is simple enough 'have an estranged family save the world" has been done millions of times, but never in my life have I had as much fun with that story as I did while reading Umbrella academy. While vol.2`s story is more complicated with time travel and t.v. addiction, it still managed to give me everything I loved about vol.1 and more.

You give me two characters named Hazel and Cha-Cha jacked up with sugar wearing cute cartoon character masks, and make them complete psychopaths, yeah you are winning me over.


All in all I really can`t put into words how much I loved this book, the characters in it, and the stories being told. Umbrella Academy is in no way a deep story, it will never be the greatest piece of fiction you can buy, but it might just be one of the most fun and funny pieces of fiction you will ever read. The story never takes itself seriously and in some occasions blatantly makes fun of itself. And as for the art? I can`t start with how much I love it and how perfect it is for this kind of story. Now I could go on about how good the art is or how fun the story is or how much imagination both writer and artist must have to deliver something like this , and I probably will go o and on for a very long time. So I will end by saying that: if you are a fan of exaggerated violence, colourful characters, and blatantly slapstick humour then you should buy this book. It is well worth the cost, as you will find yourself coming back for multiple reads all while wishing Gerard Way would quit his day job and become a writer full time.

Control

Power. It is one of the most sought after things in this world. Power in strength, in relationships, in wealth, and power in mostly any facet of life. Now while it actually is possible to have power in some, most, and in rare cases all of those things, I wont be talking about that kind of power. I`ll be talking about a power that well we only get to see in pages of comic books and/or some fiction novels, and that`s the power of control, or mind control. I know, I know it is a pretty kiddy thing to be talking about, but I`m not going to be talking about how awesome it would be to have the ability to control people, rather how something like that could potentially have you lose (pardon the pun) control of yourself. Okay to start I do realize how potentially awesome it would be to be able to control people. The realization that everything you could want is potentially just a thought away. And in most cases (certainly mine) people would probably start of by getting the material things that they would want. I mean the thought would come to mind that if you are given this ability then it would be a waste not to use it. And again if you ask most people what they would do with this power I`m sure they would say: I`m going to get a car, or a nice apartment, or a huge mansion, or any other material want, then they might say I would use this power to make the world a better place, stop wars, fix the economy, fix the environment, etc. So lets say you do all that, here is one question: would you let people know it was you who changed the world? Now hear me out if you do let people know about what you have done then they would realize what you are capable of doing, and all of a sudden everyone starts questioning what else have you done? How did you get your Ferrari, or your apartment in Times Square, or anything else you have gotten. Then you would most likely make people forget about what you can do, so what would be the point of letting people know in the first place? So lets say okay you are done getting every thing you have ever wanted, the cars, the house, the fame, so now I ask what`s next? Now you take a look at your relationships, relationships with the people who are important in your life, your family and your friends. Now we have all been at that point when one of these people will hurt you and you have no idea why they did. So now you have the ability to make them explain themselves or better yet have them do something to make it up to you, so here is another question: would you be satisfied with their explanation or their actions, knowing that they tried making it up to you is because of your power? And if you do decide to use your power in that way whats to stop you from fabricating relationships? Making people like you, love you, obsessed with you, out of want, spite, or just because you can. I mean you could do absolutely anything, so here is a thought and a scary one at that, what if you lost control? All of a sudden you have no control of your powers. Whether through stress, or any other possible reason you have no say in what your powers are doing. To the point that just a though, without the intention of even wanting your powers to act upon that thought and you have used your powers. For example you are angry at a friend or a family member and in that argument you just say, or think the words I wish you were dead, then they go ahead and kill themselves. I mean it was never an intention of yours but still it is because of your power that it happened. Which leads me to my final question: Why would people want power at all? And not only the kind of power I have been talking about but any form of it? We all have heard the saying "power corrupts", that is a guaranty, you give power to anybody in the world and at least 99.9% of us would abuse it no matter how small or big our abuse was it is still abusing power. So there it is I have said my piece, I am certain I have made at least some points. So now be honest with yourselves, if you were given the power of control, do you really think it won`t corrupt you?

People, Stories and the Ones Worth Keeping

Have you ever sat down and bothered to take a look around you? I`m sure you have, so let me change that question: have you ever sat down and bother to actually notice the way people act around you? See the looks on their faces? The differences in the tone of there voices when they talk about something of interest compared to something they are not so interested in? I try to take notice of these things. I find that you`ll learn way more about a person through just watching how they act, or the manner in which they speak. In no way am I trying to be rude or anything in saying this but I find it that we (people) are just like any story you would see in the theaters or read in books, with some much harder to fully understand then others. In some cases people are easy reads, like take for example people who just do things for the sake of being cool, tell me that is not like some corny action flick you haven`t seen a million times over. Then in other cases people are much harder to read, in most cases these people are either out of touch with society and/or are very guarded, yet they have that mystique about them which make you believe that there is something interesting about these people . Now haven`t we all seen the movies or read the stories of the person no one really knew getting big and famous after years? I guess what I`m trying to get at here is that in our own way we are playing out are own story in life. A story which may not be great or outstanding but a story that until we finally leave this earth will always have the potential to be great, even if only taken in bits and pieces. And just like the only people who can truly appreciate a story are those people who care about all the plots even the are dull and boring ones, just like in life the only people worth keeping are the people who will be there even for the dull and boring moments. Now watch the people around you? Do they listen to you? Do they seen the least bit interested in what you do or what you have to say? Now ask your self , will they actually be there for me when I need them? Do they care enough about the way your life story is going? If not then well it`s your life and you decide what to do.