NYCC 2018: Gerard Way And Gabriel Bá Discuss Umbrella Academy

After ten years Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá return to Umbrella Academy with their latest arc Hotel Oblivion.
Way explained that everything in Umbrella Academy is playing off of what we already know about the superhero genre. We have a super-team like the X-Men or the Doom Patrol and they throw their villains in a super-jail like the Phantom Zone or Arkham Asylum.

However, unlike in other superhero stories Hotel Oblivion will focus on the moral ramifications of housing people in super-prisons. What happens if the criminals rehabilitate? What happens if the inmates get worse by being trapped in a different dimension?
Way hopes to explore the backstories of hundreds of villains with this new storyline.Way confessed that he used and RPG character generator book called GURPS Supers to come up with many of the villains.

Both creators talked briefly about their thoughts on the upcoming Netflix show. They agreed that it captured the essence of the characters while still being different from the comic. They also teased that a certain member of Umbrella Academy has a character twist in the show that actually helped inform future stories in the comic.

Readers who are on the fence of about Umbrella Academy should take heart. Way was honest about how long it took for the next arc to come out and how he felt that the second volume Dallas had been a bit rushed. He feels that with Hotel Oblivion it’s a return to form. The characters have been established and the plot has been outlined for a total of eight volumes. Overall, it’s a good time to jump on board with Umbrella Academy and this new arc promises to be the strongest story yet.