The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
No issues specified. Please specify issues, or remove this template. |
| The Umbrella Academy: Dallas | |
|---|---|
 Trade paperback cover. Art by Gabriel Bá. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | November 26, 2008 - April 25, 2009 |
| No. of issues | 6 |
| Main character(s) | Spaceboy The Kraken The Rumor The Séance 00.05 The White Violin Reginald Hargreeves Hazel Cha-Cha Carmichael |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Gerard Way |
| Written by | Gerard Way |
| Artist(s) | Gabriel Bá Tony Ong (back covers) |
| Letterer(s) | Nate Piekos |
| Colorist(s) | Dave Stewart |
| Collected editions | |
| Dallas | ISBN 978-1-59582-345-8 |
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas is the second comic book limited series of The Umbrella Academy. The series ran for six issues from November 2008 to April 2009. Tony Ong provided back cover art for this series only. A trade paperback was released on September 30, 2009.
Plot
Issue #1: "The Jungle"
The first issue was released on November 26, 2008.
It opens with a flashback. The Monocle and the US President discuss a problem only the Academy can solve, with the Monocle prompting to talk later about nukes. We later cut to a mission for The Umbrella Academy, younger but seemingly more aged, roughly 2 years older. The mission involves the Lincoln monument going berserk, and they have to stop it. After some altercations, 00.03 tells a lie (althought it's the truth, historically), that the Lincoln monument was assassinated. In seconds, and seemingly from nowhere, a John Wilkes Booth statue appears from behind, and shots through the head the Lincoln monument. In the present, we see The Umbrella Academy mansion destroyed, with just ruins and smoke as evidence. Vanya has no memory, Seance has become famous, Luther watches TV and gets fat, Allison has lost her voice and hates Vanya, Number Five has developed a gambling problem, and Kraken investigates various crimes across the city. 00.05 is attacked by the Temps Aeternalis. He quickly kills them, but one survives to send out a signal to his base requesting they send "Hazel and Chacha". a horrified 00.05 kills him quickly but the signal goes through prompting him to say, "We're already dead."
Issue #2: "Boy Scouts"
The second issue was released on December 24, 2008.
Hazel and Cha-Cha are at a diner eating pie. They ask for the recipe of the pie, the cook won't tell them. He explains "You'd have to chop off my arms and legs to get that outta me!" The two then proceed to do so. The Kraken sees Lupo and Body in Lupo's office at the police station, and they ask his "Where's The Boy?" Kraken doesn't know. The Kraken returns home and complains Spaceboy is doing nothing to find 5. Alison discovers the Monocle's monocle and No. 5, who believes he is the president. Seance is captured by Hazel and Cha-Cha who can use him to locate 5.
Issue #3: "Television" or "Are You There, God? It's Me, Klaus"
The third issue was released on January 28, 2009.
The chapter starts with the Seance inside of a television left on by the obese Spaceboy, who is asleep on the couch, and the Seance is trying to tell Spaceboy about what happened to him (being captured and how he will kill him). The television then breaks and Spaceboy wakes up. The Seance was communicating with Spaceboy through the television and Hazel and Cha-Cha found out, breaking the television. Cha-Cha then, after some words about the Seance's shoes and powers are exchanged by the three, puts a gun to the Seance's head. The Seance tries to pay his way out of his situation with money or "hooker amputees," but Hazel and Cha-Cha have the nukes may have been the weapons referred to in the first issue's flashback. Then, after discussing how the nukes were found and the plans that Hazel and Cha-Cha had for finding 00.05, Hazel shoots the Seance. 00.05 starts to tell the Rumor about his past life. He "left out" details of his past from the future. He was captured by the Temps Aeternalis, an agency that preserves the time continuum and recruits "anomalies," like 00.05, and puts them to work. He was changed through surgeries and other training, which explains much of the skills and other abilities he acquires during the Umbrella Academy series. 00.05 was considered the best and was specially trained by a Shubukin Goldfish with a genius-level intellect and the instincts of Nathan Bedford Forrest to take care of specific individuals. 00.05 found out that the augmentations bonded his DNA with those of notorious assassins and he was to kill President Kennedy but, he rebelled. Spaceboy flies to where the Seance was held and tortured and finds him, dead. An electric prod handled by Hazel shocks Spaceboy, believing that it killed him. The Seance, on the other hand, is seen in a pure white Heaven with God, depicted as a cowboy. The Cowboy tells him that he is to return to Earth and to "Stop being such a fairy and kill those two sons o' bitches. And stay off the drugs, Klaus." The Rumor and 00.05 are in a Chinese restaurant continuing their previous conversation. Then, 00.05's commanding officer, the Shubukin Goldfish, walks in to talk with 00.05. 00.05 threatens his officer but the officer states that he has his biological mother in the eyes of two agents that can kill her if necessary. His officer demands that he is to finish the job against the President (Kennedy) by preventing 00.05's past self from interfering. Allison is invited but writes "And why should I care what happens to this little jerk?" He reveals that 00.05's biological mother has twins, implying that Allison may be, in fact, 00.05's biological sister.
Issue #4: "A Perfect Life"
The fourth issue was released on February 25, 2009.
It begins in a dream by Spaceboy imagining he has a "perfect life" being married to the Rumor and having chimpanzee children. Then everything explodes and Hagreeves appears and asks if Spaceboy really thought it would all work out. The story proceeds to Hazel and Cha-Cha's Hideaway where Agnes has taken off the shoes (in pays of respect) of Seance (leaving him open to use his powers). Hazel and Cha-Cha enter the room where Seance (presumed Dead by the duo), a useless Spaceyboy, and Agnes are held and reveal to have with them the nuclear explosives which Kennedy had given to Hargreeves Seventeen Years Ago. The duo activate the bomb only to discover that it has a timer. Seconds later, Cha-Cha pulls out a gun and blasts Hazel's brains out before pulling the trigger on himself, it's revealed that Seance (with God's help) has returned from the dead and that he had possessed Cha-Cha and at the same time disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, at the Perseus Building, spoiled son of corporate millionaire (Mr.Perseus) is arguing with the board of his corporation on what to do with millions that has recently come into his possession. To one of the board member's disaray, he proposes that they spend ("his daddy's") money on some Experiments, and that anyone who tries to get in his way will be killed. The story proceeds to the Corrections Department (The Office At The End Of Time) where Number Five's employer (Carmichael) is discussing tactics to the Temps Aeternals (an agency dedicated to the preservation of time) on how they're to finish the job of assassinating John F. Kennedy which the older Number Five had failed to do so. Carmichael reveals a younger Number Five in the front of the room (causing the Temnps to react immediately via pulling their laser guns out) to which Number Five responds not to bother and that the only reasons they aren't dead already is because Number Five has decided to help. Later that night, Seance, Spaceboy, and Kraken meet at back at The Umbrella Academy where Seance appears to be digging in Pogo's grave. It's revealed that Pogo wasn't buried under his memorial, but rather a Temps Aeternals agent who tells them (via Seance) that Number Five is planning to go back to 1963, Dallas, to assassinate JFK, which angers Kraken. Seance, Kraken, and Spaceboy use the dead Temps Aeternalis Agent's time machine to go back in time. Meanwhile back in Hazel and Cha-Cha's Hideaway, Body (Inspector Lupo's Chimpanzee Partner) and a handful of officers are tending to Agnes (who apparently remained at the scene of the crime). Body then hears a beeping sound, Agnes tells him its the nuclear detonator with one second remaining, ending Chapter Four (and with that, the world).
Issue #5: "All the Animals in the Zoo"
The fifth issue was released on March 25, 2009.
It begins at sunset, with soldiers marching through a jungle. One soldier is telling a joke, but stops when he can't remember how it goes. Two other soldiers are bringing up the rear, and one remarks that he's very confused about why they're in the Vietnamese jungle; and the other says it is because they're job is to carry a mummy to Saigon. The first soldier talks about his disdain towards their Sergeant, who he says "stumbled out of the jungle three years back." The Sergeant then appears, and says that their purpose for being here is to drag the mummified body of an ancient king back to Saigon, so that he can be resurrected, and win the war. Suddenly the soldier who was telling the joke runs back, saying he remembers the end of the joke; before he can finish his sentence, however, a bullet shoots out of his forehead, and a firefight ensues. As darkness falls, the firefight turns from a typical Viet Cong ambush to an attack from V.C.V's (Viet Cong Vampires). As blood is spilled on the carcass of the mummy, he suddenly awakens in a terrible fury, growing to the size of a small skyscraper. Before he can step on the soldiers and start rampaging through the jungle, however, a blast of fire erupt throigh the sky, and crashes into the mummy's head, decapitating and killing him. As the unknown attacker lands, one chimpanzee soldier takes aim, but the Sergent tells him to stand down, saying, "no-he's with us." The attacker is then revealed to be a heavily bearded Spaceboy, who then revelas that the Sergeant is actually The Kraken. They have a discussion, where Kraken asks Space if he's done feeling sorry for himself. He then says that because Seance, after transporting them back in time with the stolen Temps Aerelais watch, sends them back three years BEFORE 00.05's and Rumor's arrival in Dallas, he's been in Vietnam because "this is the only place that makes sense." Seance then arrives, and takes both Kraken and Space back to his nightclub in Saigon. He then tells them they're going to get to Dallas in time, and shows them a newly built Televator, its construction being assisted by a young Pogo. Space tries to tell him something, but Pogo stops him, saying that he can't know anything about the future. Seance then hands an elderly lady a baby that he'd been carrying around, and Space asks if it's his baby. Seance says yes, and Space says "but i thought..." Seance says "you thought what?" and smiles. The Televator then zaps them into oblivion. The next scene shows 00.05 and Rumor, along with several other assassins, in the back of a truck. He lays out their battle plan, instructing NO ONE is to hurt his past self, and that they just have to convince him to kill Kennedy. They all then bust out the back of the truck, and as 00.05 marches up the steps he says, "Now-lets go kill us a president."
Issue #6: "The World is Big Enough Without You"
The sixth issue was released on April 25, 2009.
The story opens in 1963 at The Umbrella Academy where a young Number Five and a living Hargreeves present to a couple of investors an exact replica (diagram) of The Solar System (which Number Five states is his alternative to boring their esteemed guests with an arrogant display of his time displacement capabilities or a diagrammed thesis on slips in the chronosphere) to which Hargreeves realizes that an important detail is missing in Number Five's diagram, the planet Earth is missing. The story proceeds to Dallas where a young looking Number Five along with a group of Temps Aeternal Soldiers are attempting to convince a much older looking Number Five to assassinate the president to which the older looking Number Five responds, "Kiss my ass, kid!" Many of temps are murdered in the blood bath, until one of them finally manages to wound Number Five which has gone against his orders as his younger looking self maybe killed in the process. The temps inform Number Five that there has been a change of plans at which point, Spaceboy, Kraken, and Seance arrive to the rescue. Spaceboy asks the younger Number Five where Rumor is, to which Number Five responds that she's "Nowhere you can reach her." To which Spaceboy picks him up by his head and threatens to pop it off if he doesn't talk. Spaceboy then orders the older Number Five to do what he came here to do which is to assassinate all the other shooters who were to be involved in the Kennedy assassination, he then leaves via time machine on one of the dead Temps. Number Five then reveals that killing him won't save the president, that of every murder he's committed, Kennedy is something special. "He's an idea. And what you can't take down with bullets...you have to take down with words." It's then revealed that Rumor has taken Mrs. Kennedy's place in the President's parade car and speaks, "Mr.President...I heard a rumor that the back of your head is about to explode." The story proceeds to a hospital where a "shocked" Mrs.Kennedy is being questioned and asking questions of her own. A disguised Rumor exits the hospital and enters a time machine (disguised as an ambulance) where the rest of her siblings are already waiting. Spaceboy believes that in exchange for her voice back, Rumor would assassinate the president. Rumor then reveals that had she not do what the Temps had told her to, they would have shot and murdered one of the Academy's Biological Mothers, she also reveals that he and Number Five are in fact twins. She also tells Space that she only did it because she loves him. The Ambulance takes them back to their present time where to their surprise, everything remains the same. Spaceboy leaves the team yet again, presumebly searching for himself. Carmichael reveals himself to be nearby serving children Ice Cream. Rumor demands an explanation as to why everything remains the same to which Carmichael replies that everything they did were CORRECTIONS, that the point of everything was to maintain the status quo. He also reveals that they truly saved the world this time as due to the assassination of Kennedy, they prevented him from giving Hargreeves the missiles and nukes which Hazel and Cha-Cha had stolen and used earlier in the series. Number Five then destroys the fishbowl head which Carmichael is kept in and as payback for placing every killer and murderer inside him, he eats Carmichael. The Academy parts ways yet again. Seance visits a bar and using a jukebox, plays a song which matches the Chapter's title (The World Is Big Enough Without You). Rumor returns home to comfort her sister Vanya (implying that she has forgiven her for her actions in "The Apocalypse Suite"). Kraken looks at old picture of him and his unit from when he and his brothers were in Vietnam. The whereabouts of Spaceboy are unknown. Number Five eats ice cream on sidewalk with his dog. He reaches into his pocket and takes out the small Earth piece which was missing from his diagram in the beginning of the Chapter. The series ends in 1963 where Rumor notifies Hargreeves that President Kennedy has been killed to which Hargreeves asks Rumor, "Since when do we own a television?".
Collected editions
The trade paperback features the "Dallas" series as well as the short story "Anywhere But Here" and nine pages of sketches and artwork (192 pages). A hardback limited-edition version with 232 pages has a publication date of October 21, 2009.