The Umbrella Academy – The Day the Earth Stopped Yawning – Brian Manton

Ideally a two page splash to follow U.A. title page conventions, but one page so that I'm sticking to the TB rules :)

Panel 1 is full page bleed.
All other panels are of equal size and inset at bottom of the page.
This is set when the children are around 14.

Soundtrack: J.S. Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582


1.

TITLES:

The Umbrella Academy, featuring a very loud rumbling noise, in:

THE DAY THE EARTH STOPPED YAWNING

Being part one of six in the story: Passacaglia in Pubescence


TEXT:  The Grand Canyon, Arizona.

CAP:  95,040 feet across at its widest point.

CAP:  95,039

CAP:  95,038

CAP:  95,037

CAP:  Oh crap!

Wide aerial view of the Grand Canyon.  What would otherwise be a placid vista is now a tumultuous (un?)natural disaster.  The canyon is closing in.  Rockslides violently cascade downward. Cliff faces crack under godlike pressure. Dust plumes reach into the endless sky.


Note: The following inset panels are set miles apart across the canyon floor.

2.
Spaceboy strains against the canyon wall as it advances towards him. Rubble falls around him.
(Canyon wall panel left)

3.
The Séance dances a Native American rain dance.
The Kraken blasts some falling debris with a shotgun, preventing The Séance from being crushed.

4. 
Sir Reginald Hargreeves (a.k.a. The Monocle) stands relaxed in the middle of the canyon. Vanya stands to the right, slightly behind him, staring at her feet.  Dust clouds waft past in the BKG and lower FG.

5.
The Rumour holds her hands around her mouth, screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to be heard over the calamity.  Boulders pound onto the ground around her.

6.
The Horror braces the canyon wall with massive tentacles.  It cracks and crumbles.
(Canyon wall panel right)

The Umbrella Academy - "The Shower Scene" - by R.A. Wonsowski

Layout:
123
123
123
444

Setting:  a city park at sundown.

Panels 1, 2, and 3 are the left-side, dead-center, and right-side views of the same scene (imagine a camera panning from left to right, in a circle, counter-clockwise, so that panel 1 is 9 o'clock, panel 2 is 6 o'clock, and panel 3 is, well, 3).  Across the top third of these panels is stylized sheet music:

(Of course, leave off the titles, and this would be cool in that Gabriel Bá flourishing calligraphy, but at the very lower right of panel 3 should be a caption box crediting Bernard Herrmann.)

In the center third of the triptych, scenic background, is the appropriate p.o.v. of the WHITE VIOLIN, slashing across her Strad's strings with her bow, every stroke a lash of violence.  Her face should, however, show an eerie calm.

In the lower third, foreground, are any number of PASSERS-BY on the street, their throats ripped open, blood spraying from their jugulars.  A few are clutching at their necks, others are collapsing.  Far right of panel 3, a young child grasps her throat in tearful, screaming panic; she is intact, but she knows with a child's knowledge that she is next.

The only copy in the triptych is the sheet music.


Panel 4 - Close-up:  The rictus-like grin of the WHITE VIOLIN, the tip of her tongue slightly beyond the edge of her teeth, licking the catgut strings of her bow.

CAPTION:  Number 00.07:  Vanya Hargreeves.

CAPTION:  Second Movement...

CAPTION:  To be continued...

The Umbrella Academy - Remembrance Of Things Past - Niel Jacoby

111111
111111
222333
222333

Panel 1: The Rumor stands in front of the wreckage of the statue of The Horror that stood in front of the mansion.

Caption(The Rumor): I USED TO COME HERE TO REMEMBER MY BROTHER.

Panel 2: Flashback to a previous adventure, one that hasn't been seen in the series before, when Horror was still alive.

Caption(Rumor): REMEMBER ALL THE FUN WE HAD TOGETHER.

Panel 3: A title card for THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, in an 80s Saturday morning cartoon style. IT should read:

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
and
THE WHISPERER IN THE DARKNESS

Caption(Rumor): I REMEMBER A LITTLE LESS EACH TIME. DETAILS BLUR, REMARKS GO UNANSWERED, PEOPLE DISAPPEAR.

Caption(Rumor): BUT AS HARD AS I TRY, I CAN'T FORGET THE ONLY ONE I REALLY WANT TO.

Caption(Rumor): THE ONE WHERE WE HAD TO KILL HIM.

Umbrella Academy – Umbrella Academy, Inc. – MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: REGINALD HARGREEVES is in a meeting room with the members of the UMBRELLA ACADEMY.

REGINALD: Children, I have an important announcement for you today.

Panel 2: View of the children of the UMBRELLA ACADEMY with their pre-announcement reactions. Generally, they’re not favorable ones.

REGINALD: I have brought a new partner onboard to assist here at the Umbrella Academy.

Panel 3: Back to REGINALD, who is oblivious to how the children are reacting.

REGINALD (1): He is a researcher I believe I can hold in the highest regard, and with his background in biology, I believe he will be able to help us gain a greater understanding of your powers.

REGINALD (2): If I may introduce…

Panel 4: View of a doorway, where ALBERT WESKER is standing. The lighting and panel angle should make him look particularly malevolent.

REGINALD: (Off-Panel) Mr. ALBERT WESKER.

WESKER: Hmm…Hell-o, child-ren.

Panel 5: LUTHER HARGREEVES leans aside and whispers to one of the children next to him.

LUTHER: I think he might be evil.

(END PAGE)

Umbrella Academy -Destination Destiny -Dan Hill

My understanding of Umbrella Academy comes from a single read of the first trade a few years back. Apologies in advance if this has been covered in the subsequent series.

PAGE TWENTY TWO

Panel 1

Tight on a teenage SPACEBOY as he sits buckled up in a flight seat. He’s at an akward angle to us, his back (and the back of the seat) are on the bottom of the panel, orientation-wise. He’s wearing a 60’s era space suit, his head sticking out of the top of it. He’s not wearing a helmet.

Note: the two captions here are in different colours to separate them.

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos//cache/history-human-space-suits-alan-shepard-mercury-freedom-7_35267_600x450.jpg

JOURNALIST (CAPTION): “What was the appeal of space? For you personally, I mean.”

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “Paris. It started in Paris.”

Panel 2

We stick with the same viewpoint here. Spaceboy is now turned towards us slightly.

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “I saw that...ship just blast off into the unknown.”

Panel 3

The same viewpoint, a look of awe now etched on Spaceboy’s face, as he turns towards us fully.

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “For all my strength, for all my power that damn ship was in a realm that seemed beyond my grasp.”

Panel 4

The rest of the page is taken up by this huge panel. We’re looking out of a viewing port from Spaceboy’s POV. We can see the curvature and surface of Mars in its beautiful, rust-coloured glory spread out before us. Above it the infinite void glistens like diamonds on black velvet.

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “Beyond my imagination, even.”

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “I had to go there.”

Panel 5

Inset panel on the bottom right of Panel 4. A close up on Spaceboy from the neck up as he smiles.

SPACEBOY (CAPTION): “Whatever the cost.”

The Umbrella Academy - Man's Best Fiend - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Number Five is tied to a chair in a dark room, blindfolded.  His body is bloodied and bruised, but his spirit remains defiant.

NUMBER FIVE: Is that the best you've got?

2 - A table filled with torture devices (and makeshift torture devices).  Knives, saws, pokers, prodders, and pretty much anything you can imagine would be lying there.  They are far from clean, with many showing noticeable wear and rust.

NUMBER FIVE (off-panel): This is a joke.

3 - Number Five continues to yell towards his aggressor.  A shadowed figure (said aggressor), cloaked in shadow, walks up behind Number Five.

NUMBER FIVE: Do you have any idea of what I can do to you?!

4 - Close-up of Number Five's face - specifically the blindfold.  Be close enough that the next panel the repeats this angle will only get one eye.  The aggressor has his hand around the blindfold and is in the process of taking it off.  The aggressor's hand is monstrously huge, clawed, and covered in hair.

AGGRESSOR: Believe me.

5 - Reveal panel.  Our mystery aggressor is none other than Number Five's pet dog, Mr. Pennycrumb!  Only Mr. Pennycrumb is now a huge, mutated beast of monstrous (humanoid) proportions.  His body is covered in terribly scars and burns.  Some body parts have been replaced in favour of cybernetic limbs.  He has a crazy look in his eyes and bares his fangs menacingly, spittle dripping from them.  As well, he still wears the blue collar that Number Five bought him in Dallas.  He looms over Number Five, holding the blindfold in his hand.

MR. PENNYCRUMB: I know all too well.

6 - Close-up of Number Five's now uncovered eye.  It is wide with horror.

NUMBER FIVE (quietly): ...Mr. Pennycrumb.  But you were...

7 - Mr. Pennycrumb snarls maliciously.  He reaches behind him towards the table full of torture tools.

MR. PENNYCRUMB: Never mind the past.  This is about the here and now.

8 - Mr. Pennycrumb's monstrous hand reaches over the bloody table from panel 2.  It hovers above, casting a huge shadow over the implements.  Mr. Pennycrumb's word balloon grows jagged and larger as it goes from left to right to illustrate his increasing rage.

MR. PENNYCRUMB (tail-less): And let me tell you...

9 - Shot of Number Five, echoing the first panel.  Only this time, he looks quite terrified - that spirt isn't doing so well.  Mr. Pennycrumb stands before him, but he is off-panel.  Instead, Number Five is engulfed by the enormous shadow that Mr. Pennycrumb casts over him.  Things look bad.  Mr. Pennycrumb's word balloon is large and full-on jagged, as his rage is being unleashed.

MR. PENNYCRUMB: Things are going to get rough!

The Umbrella Academy - The Middle Ground - Ben Rosenthal

1.  A close up of The Séance (Klaus Hargreeves).  He sits in an alley in the rain.  Water pours down on him, but he is too lost in his thoughts to care. 

CAPTION (Klaus)

I was never The Monocal’s favourite.

Nor his least worthy.

2.  Same framing as Panel one, but Klaus is now looking to the rain.  He is lost in memories and looks much older than we last saw him.

CAPTION (Klaus)

And that’s the worst part.  Being number four of seven means I never excelled or was despised.  I simply existed.  Stuck In the middle where nobody took notice.

3.  Klaus is beginning to stand now, but we are still tight on his chest up.

CAPTION (Klaus)

I thought death would bring something different.  Either Heaven or Hell awaited, and both rejected me.

4.  A full body shot of Klaus standing in the alley.  A sword had gone clean through his stomach.  It is soaked with blood, as are Klaus’ clothes.  He seems unaffected.

CAPTION (Klaus)

And now here I am, stuck in the middle again.

5.  Klaus has pulled out the sword.

KLAUS

Hrn.

6.  A close up of Klaus again, similar framing to Panel 1.

CAPTION (Klaus)

Until the end.

The Umbrella Academy – I Heard A Rumor – Shaun Richens.

PAGE ONE – 6 PANELS.

1.1 Wide.  THE RUMOR walks down the steps of the Hargreeves mansion. Her shadow falls long across the lawn as the light from the house seeps out into the blank starkness of the cold evening.

NO COPY.

1.2 The feet of The Rumor as she walks across the grass away from us towards the base plinth of a large stone statue that stands alone and tall in the centre of the empty garden. (The Statue is out of frame.)

NO COPY.

1.3 Close up on The Rumor. Her face half in shadow, her eyes closed tight.

THE RUMOR: I heard a rumor…

1.4 Wide. The Rumor on her knees at the base of the memorial statue of her adopted brother BEN HARGREEVES (THE HORROR) the stature shows him in mask and cape, his hero look. Large tentacles sprout from the torso of the stone statue.

We are looking up at the statue as The Rumor looks down at the ground unable to look at her dear brother.

THE RUMOR (Small) : …That you didn’t die

1.5 Tight on The Rumor, we see half her face and one of her shoulders. Her eye is wide open, a tear filling in the corner. Her mouth has dropped and is as dry as the sun. A man’s hand rests on her shoulder.  

THE RUMOR: Ben?

1.6 Pull out. The Rumor is still on her knees. The Kraken (Diego Hargreeves) stands behind her his hand on her shoulder.

The Rumor quietly weeps into her hands.

KRAKEN: Even you can’t fix this one kid. 

Why The Umbrella Academy?

Why The Umbrella Academy for my pick this week? Well because I used to be a snobby geek and this comic helped me stop that. 

The only reason I read the first trade for this book was so I could say it was terrible and have evidence to back it up. I was a snobby nerd in my youth and figured the only reason Gerard Way was getting to write a comic was because he was in a popular band, (a band I didn’t care for.)

I read a copy of the book and when I was finished I thought, “Wow this is a great book”, wait what, no I must have been mistaken surely it couldn’t be great. So I read it again…

Damn, it was even better the second time around.  The story was the X-Men by way of Hellboy with a big helping of pulp. The story was everything I had ever wanted from a comic, it was action, adventure with strange superheroes, it felt fresh and oh so cool, like someone had written a comic just for me, It just so happened that someone was Gerard Way.

Oh man and the art! This was the first time I was introduced to Gabriel Bá. His style was unlike any of the house style stuff at the big two. He drew with flair and passion like a Saturday morning cartoon on shrooms. Within ten pages the dude had shown me a wrestler battling a space squid, kids fighting a monument brought to life and a zombie robot. He instantly entered my top five favorite comic artists ever (and remains there to this day.)

I had learnt my lesson, a hard one for a snot nosed teenage comic fan to learn, but an important one, The Umbrella Academy taught me to never pre judge something. Everything creative should be judged on its own merits.

So I didn’t like My Chemical Romance (Gerard Way’s band) so what. I don’t like the way my mum cooks her bacon I still bloody love her.

Tail between my legs and humbled by this incident I swallowed my nerdish pride and added the second mini series to my pull list, never to pre judge again.

And so this week I ask all my fellow tenured writers of Thought-balloons and all of you who want to play along at home to write some awesome comics so maybe we can teach a lesson or two…

Mr. Way I am sorry good sir.