Interview with Gerard Way's The Umbrella Academy artist Gabriel Bá
By now, most fans of My Chemical Romance know that vocalist Gerard Way is now devoting much of his time to his first love...comic books. His series, entitled The Umbrella Academy, released a free preview as a part of Free Comic Book Day in May, and immediately became a huge hit. The excitement continues on September 19th, when Dark Horse Comics releases The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite #1 (of 6). Since everyone wants to know more about the series, and we here at Anarchy are big comic book fans, I enlisted series artist Gabriel Bá to give us the full scoop. Gabriel is an awesome artist who is doing an amazing job with bringing Gerard's concepts to life, so check this book out when it hits your local comic shop!
Anarchy: You and your brother Fabio Moon are both comics artists. Tell us a little about what led you both down that path.
Gabriel: Fábio and I have always loved to draw, since we were just little kids. As we got older, reading and telling stories started to grow on us as well and by the time we were 14, we knew for sure that we wanted work with comic books for the rest of our lives.
Anarchy: Gerard Way is an artist as well. How did you become involved with The Umbrella Academy, and do you feel that your style compliments Gerard's vision of the series?
Gabriel: I think Gerard and Scott (Alley, editor at Dark Horse) realized that even being an artist, Gerard would not be able to keep the workflow of a monthly comicbook series, so that was the initial reason they went looking for another artist. Scott knows my work for some time now and he presented it to Gerard and he bought it. When they first asked me if I was interested, they've sent me the outline of the story and some character designs Gerard had done and I really liked the drawings included. I think my style has some cartoony and expressionist characteristics, as well a very strong use of blacks that would really fit well into the idea of the project.
Anarchy: How much involvement did you have in the design of the characters and the general look of the series? What touches did you add to put your personal stamp on the book?
Gabriel: Gerard had done a lot of thinking on this project, and still does for every new chapter. I try to keep faithful to all his designs, but there are things that I see differently, little details, body constructions, and I add that to the final images. Whenever we have to come up with new characters, buildings or ships, I'm doing lots of studies until we reach a result that satisfies both of us in what we believe is best for the look of the book. One thing is certain, that everything I put my hands on gets more stylized.
Anarchy: Were you a fan of My Chemical Romance or have you since familiarized yourself with the band and their fans?
Gabriel: I was not aware of the band and the music. I've listened to some songs and watched some videos. I'm getting some feedback from the fans about the comic, but specially about my work relation with Gerard and if the comic or the band will come to Brazil.
Anarchy: Did you expect the Free Comic Book Day preview to become such a hot back issue item, and what has been the reaction from music fans who picked the issue up because of Gerard's involvement?
Gabriel: I think it had obvious reasons to be a success with Gerard's involvement, but it is too early to really tell what people think about the book. Lots of people like the art, but on the other hand they look very disappointed that Gerard is not the artist. And as much fun that story is, it's nothing compared with the real story on the series, which I'm enjoying very much so far. I think there's a big buzz about this book, the music fans seem to don't really know how it works in comics and what's going on. Things are only going to get into place when the series really start in September.
Anarchy: The characters are a little more off-beat than your typical superhero title. Do you have a favorite character in the series and why?
Gabriel: Not being the typical super-hero title was one of the things that got me in the first place. But I like Spaceboy a lot, for being the leader, very confident, but almost naive in some ways. And he's been very cool to draw, being so big with the martian gorilla body. Vanya is a great character as well, just because she's the most ordinary of them all, which is exactly my cup of tea.
Anarchy: The new miniseries storyline is called The Apocalypse Suite. What can you tell us about the storyline?
Gabriel: Well, this is the only aspect of the book that relates to music. The main villain of the book is orchestrating the end of the world, thus the title, and the dysfunctional Umbrella Academy has to get it together and try to stop him. I think it's a very classical kind of story, lots of archetypes, but has been very nicely put together by Gerard and Scott. Most characters are great, not the shallow super-heroes we see nowadays.
Anarchy: This is only a 6 issue miniseries. can we expect more from The Umbrella Academy, and will you continue as the artist in future miniseries?
Gabriel: Gerard has plenty of ideas to follow the first series, so I think we have all the reasons to believe it will continue. And I believe I'm part of the package now.
Anarchy: In America, comics are a staple of the entertainment industry, yet still viewed as a lesser form of literature by many. How is it viewed in Brazil and what do you think it will take to change peoples perceptions here?
Gabriel: The production load of pulp-pop comics is extremely larger then the deeper serious kind of material, so it is naturally hard for people to realize it is not just about entertainment and fun. But I see more and more authors working in Graphic Novels, talking about the most varied subjects. Those books may not sell that well, but they're the ones that will show people eventually what comics are capable of.
Anarchy: Would you care to plug any other work that is coming up from your brother or yourself?
Gabriel: Fábio is working with Joss Whedon in Sugarshock for the newly relaunched Dark Horse Presents on MySpace, as well as doing CASANOVA with Matt Fraction, published by Image. And we are writing new stories to release new books like De:TALES, but we have nothing certain yet, nor dates or titles. Making comics takes longer than people would believe. It's a long road until the book gets to the publics eyes, but we never stop creating, that's for sure.
Thanks so much to Gabriel for introducing us to one of the most anticipated comics in years! To keep up with everything Gabriel and Fabio are doing, visit them at their blogspot , and of course, to know the latest on The Umbrella Academy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Emily The Strange and more of the best comics on the market, visit our friends at DarkHorse.com