How Netflix Deserves Kudos for Successfully Adapting the 2000s' Most Unfilmable Comic Book
A world difficult to film
The Umbrella Academy combines superhero storytelling with surreal details that would challenge a live-action adaptation. Its comic world includes an astronaut with an ape-like body, a rocket disguised as the Eiffel Tower, and a super-intelligent goldfish.
The story also mixes cartoonish oddities with mature themes. The article describes its atmosphere as dreamlike and unsettling, making it difficult to see how the comic’s quirks could move to television without being diluted.
Choosing what to change
Showrunner Steve Blackman and Netflix had to make the material more grounded without stripping away its identity. The adaptation removed some comic elements, including an Abraham Lincoln boss battle and Martian monkeys.
Other details carried over with little change: Carmichael the Goldfish and Ben’s tentacles remained largely intact, as did Pogo. The series adjusted other features, giving Luther gorilla-like traits rather than a literal primate torso.
Keeping the comic’s spirit
The adaptation also changed Number Five’s return from time travel: he was younger, but not 10 years old as in the comics. In the second season, the Kennedy assassination became part of the plot, but Allison was not in the car when it happened.
The series began in 2019 and ran for four seasons, earning widespread acclaim from critics and fans. Its approach—preserving some unusual elements, reworking others, and cutting the rest—helped the show remain recognizably connected to Way and Bá’s world.
Key points
- Netflix’s live-action series premiered in 2019 and ran for four seasons.
- The adaptation kept some surreal details, reworked others, and removed select comic elements.
- The series earned widespread acclaim from critics and fans.