You Look Like Death: Tales of the Umbrella Academy #1 – “Seance/Klaus is Coming to Town.”

The first issue of this prequel series offers a simple yet interesting premise. Young Seance, already the Klause we know and love, has become a delinquent. So, what choice does his cold and callous father have but to kick him out of the house and discontinue his allowance? And what better place for a young, drug-loving superhero that can communicate with the dead but Tinseltown itself?

This was a fairly standard first issue. Entertaining enough to hold the interest of someone already interested in the world of the Umbrella Academy, with familiar characters and a bit of world expanding to set up the series, but I feel the series so far doesn’t offer much for anyone outside the fandom. The story presented has a lot of potential but this premier issue offered very little payoff for readers giving the series a test drive.

Culbard’s art did well to capture the tone and emotion of Bá’s art in the main series but is much less stylized. While I feel Klaus would have benefited from a more abstract art style for a solo series, the art is still great and fitting for the Umbrella Academy series as a whole and the colors are a seamless mix of drabs and neons that fit Klaus’ persona flawlessly.

Overall this issue didn’t offer much that wasn’t laid out in the description but that doesn’t stop it from being a fun setup to what could be a very entertaining series. With Seance trying to make it on his own in La-La Land, anything is possible.