The Umbrella Academy

The Umbrella Academy is a series of comics by American musician, songwriter, singer, and comic book author Gerard Way. He was born in 1977 in Summit New Jersey to Donald Way and Donna Lee Way that were of Scottish and Italian ancestry. He was brought up in the city of Belleville in New Jersey. His parents realized he had artistic talent when he was cast as Peter Pan in a musical production as a fourth-grader. Gerard credits his maternal grandmother Elena Rush as his greatest influence as she taught him how to paint sing and perform from a very young age. He also credits Bon Jovi the glam metal band for getting him interested in music while he was in elementary school.