The Umbrella Academy is a comic book limited series written by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. The comic book features illustrations by Gabriel Ba', cover art by James Jean, colours by Dave Stewart and letters by Balmbot's Nate Piekos. The six issue limited series is released by Dark Horse Comics, the first issue making its release on September 19, 2007. It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series.

Main Story~~
The members of the Umbrella Academy, a disbanded group of superheroes, reunite after the death of their adopted father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Hargreeves. an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, collected the members of the Umbrella Academy shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world from a unspecific threat. After his death, the members carry on his plan to save the world.

Characters~~
*The Monocle (Sir Reginald Hargreeves)– An alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur and inventor, he adopts the members of The Umbrella Academy at birth.

*The Umbrella Academy:
*00.01 Spaceboy (Luther Hargreeves) – The leader of The Umbrella Academy; his body is that of a gorilla’s and was transplanted after a failed expedition to Mars. His powers are enhanced physical strength and resilience. After his career with The Umbrella Academy he moved to the Moon and lived at the Annihilation Control outpost. On the moon, Luther is attended to by a robotic butler of sorts, named Ben; it is possible that the robot was named in honour of his deceased brother 00.06. Spaceboy is most likely named after the song "Spaceboy" by the Smashing Pumpkins off the album Siamese Dream. The Smashing Pumpkins are one of Gerard Way's favorite bands.
*00.02 The Kraken (Diego Hargreeves) – The reckless and rebellious member of the group, described by The Monocle as “an insolent brat.” He has the ability to hold his breath indefinitely and has demonstrated a strong affinity for knife-throwing. He and Luther have a very clear rivalry and Diego seems unwilling to take orders from Luther.
*00.03 The Rumor (Allison Hargreeves) – Described as narcissistic. She has the ability to prevaricate, whatever she says becomes the truth. After her career with The Umbrella Academy, she married her boyfriend Patrick, who she has since divorced, and had a daughter named Claire.
*00.04 The Sèance (Klaus Hargreeves) – Showcasing a fretful, morbid temperament, his powers are to contact the dead, levitate and telekinesis. He has the words "Hello" and "Goodbye" tattooed on the palms of his hands.
*00.05- (erroneously referred to as The Future) Disappeared at the age of ten and reappears in his childhood form 20 years into the future. 00.05 appears to be capable of traveling through time under his own power, although he was forced to spend decades in the future trying to prove the possibility of backwards time-travel before he was able to achieve it. He was shown to have aged normally in the distant future, but regressed back to his youth in transit. 00.05 claims to have read accounts of the Academy's immediate future and their connection to an apocalypse.
*00.06 The Horror (Ben Hargreeves) – He possesses monsters under his skin from other dimensions. He is deceased, but no information regarding his death is given.
*00.07 The White Violin (Vanya Hargreeves) – The most estranged member of the group, Vanya showcases no particular powers, other than an interest in music. Vanya is known to have written a book detailing her life with the Academy and her decision to leave.

*Inspector Lupo – A police officer (a character similar to Commissioner Gordon of Batman)
*Abhijat – The Monocle’s bodyguard and assistant
*Dr. Pogo – A talking chimp associated with The Monocle.
*Mrs. Hargreeves - Referred to as "Mom" by the members of the Academy. While the Monocle is shown in a portrait in the first issue, with a woman beside him, this is apparently not the children's "Mom," who shows up in the second issue and appears to be an only partially animate plastic mannequin. Little information is given as to her origins, though.



Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá are set to work on a second Umbrella Academy series through Dark Horse comics called The Umbrella Academy: Dallas set to be released in November 2008.


Gerard Way being interviewed at the Comic Con '08