Snark Squad Pod #061 – The Umbrella Academy

Previously: We watched the second seasons of Riverdale and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and talked about second seasons more broadly.
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Marines: I pushed The Umbrella Academy pretty hard core because I thought the trailer looked great and anything adapted from a comic is golden in my book. Plus, season one of Misfits is one of my favorite seasons of TV, so I have a soft spot for Robert Sheehan. I’m front loading this with all of the reasons I should’ve liked this because spoiler alert I didn’t.

We asked Snark Regular Ceri Riley to join us this episode. She always brings great insight to anything comics related and also we love her. Ceri works on Cash Course, is an editorial assistant for Monstress, and she co-hosts the SciShow Tangents Podcast. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

While I was complaining about this show on Twitter, my friend and BookNet Fest co-founder Sam, like, lightly demanded to be on the episode. It was great. Sam talks about books and media on Thoughts on Tomes and does all of her light demanding over on Twitter.

This was a lot of fun and Sam was a great sport and listen, I tried to make that a short recap:

Here is the Tweet mentioned in the episode:

He is toxic masculinity in a poorly fitted trench coat.

— Lana Wood Johnson (@muliebris) March 1, 2019

The articles I skimmed about Gerard Way and Luther were mostly all based on this Instagram post:

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to try and do series of posts where I discuss each of the main characters of The Umbrella Academy, since so many of you are watching it now. It seems fitting to go through them in numerical order so I’ll start with Number 1 AKA Luther Hargreeves AKA Spaceboy (these characters have so many names, and it’s great fun to try and watch everyone, including the press, keep them straight). I feel like there is a real sadness to Luther that the show captures wonderfully. To me he represents isolation and innocence. There are bits of other people and me in him, sometimes finding myself in a leadership role, sometimes unsuited for the role, and always making tough and sometimes unpopular decisions. Trying to do what’s best not for a single individual but for the whole. I failed at this many times, and it’s not an easy gig. One of the things the show tackled more than the comic was body horror, and I think they did a great job with that. Also a feeling that I have had and I know some of us have had where we aren’t comfortable in your own skin, or you are unhappy with your body or how it will be judged, or finding yourself covering up (I spent years doing this). But I’ve learned to let go of that over the years, and got more comfortable in my body. I think, with people in Luther’s role, the wish is that you can make everyone happy, but unfortunately the way you feel you can achieve that is if everyone does what you say, and that doesn’t always work out. I think a good leader knows when to listen, and how to inspire, not manipulate. @tom.hopperhops did an amazing job with Luther, and like the others, added a lot to the character. I think my favorite scene with Luther is the surreal out of body dance he shares with Allison (the amazing @emmyraver) Choreographed by the incredible @emmaportner! #numberone #lutherhargreeves #spaceboy #umbrellaacademy #darkhorsecomics #ucp #netflix

A post shared by Gerard Way (@gerardway) on Feb 26, 2019 at 12:19pm PST

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As always, thank you to Stefan Chin for our delightful theme music.

For those of you watching and reading along, here is our planned upcoming media in the order they’ll be released: MCU Phase 3 (Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and Captain Marvel), and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin (ASoIaF novellas), American Gods season 1, and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (which you can discuss with us in our Discord!).