The Umbrella Academy creator Gerard Way may have the remedy for superhero fatigue in surreal new comic Paranoid Gardens

Art from Paranoid Garden #1
(Image credit: Dark Horse Comics)

The Umbrella Academy creator and, y'know, international rock megastar Gerard Way is returning to comics with Paranoid Gardens - a surreal new fantasy at Dark Horse. The series, which is being pitched as "Derek meets Doctor Who" (with the former being a reference to the Ricky Gervais sitcom Derek), is another collaboration with co-writer Shaun Simon, with whom Way penned Tales from The Umbrella Academy: You Look Like Death and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem. It will be drawn by Chris Weston.

So what do we know about Paranoid Gardens? Well, it's six-issues long and follows Loo, a nurse at "the most bizarre care center around," a self-aware home which appears to be populated by aliens, ghosts, superheroes and more. "Loo believes that despite a recent failure at her job she's been given some sort of higher calling in this mysterious place, and decides to rise to the challenge. Along the way, she must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma to meet this challenge and discover what secrets the gardens hold."

Here's a look at Chris Weston's die-cut cover for the first issue, as well as Motohiro Hayakawa's variant.

Art from Paranoid Gardens #1

(Image credit: Dark Horse Comics)

"I'm excited to be back with my incredibly handsome and talented brother-from-another-basement Shaun Simon penning a story that’s really special to us, and honored the masterful Chris Weston joined us to create a visually powerful and emotionally tangible physical object that is this comic," said Way in a statement about the new book. "I'm now more complete getting to share something we've wanted to for a very long time, and working with this fantastic group of individuals in the process."

Chris Weston added: "Most people dream of rubbing shoulders with someone who is cool, talented, mega-successful and who enjoys a wild rock'n'roll lifestyle. Luckily for Gerard Way the dream came true when he got to work with me on Paranoid Gardens. It must have been quite daunting for him at first, but once he could see past my notoriety and discover I'm just an ordinary joe who shares his love for the 60's TV show 'The Prisoner' we were able to form a joyous union."

Art from Paranoid Gardens #1

(Image credit: Dark Horse Comics)

He also promised "a wild and psychedelic tale that combines Kafkaesque nightmares with sweet Silver Age reveries," before describing the book as, "the perfect remedy for all those stricken with super-hero fatigue and needing a fix of something a bit more mind-bending and unpredictable."

Sounds promising - and that reference to The Prisoner feels like a very strong hint at the tone. We'll find out for sure when Paranoid Gardens #1 is published by Dark Horse Comics on July 17.


Here's where you can keep track of everything we know about The Umbrella Academy season 4.

Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.

Read more
The Umbrella Academy.
The Umbrella Academy is returning to comics with a new storyline featuring the Sparrows from season 3 of the TV show
A sinister clown.
Rick Remender and Paul Azaceta's new horror comic The Seasons feels like Tintin meets Wes Anderson in Hell
Yeb and the other characters from Bowling With Corpses.
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola introduces a new folk horror shared world in Bowling With Corpses that will "Take inspiration from old stories and make them our own"
Hooky looks up on one of the variant covers for Dark Pyramid #1.
New horror comic Dark Pyramid looks like a Lovecraftian thriller featuring "the oddest monsters and weirdest creatures"
A girl and a skeleton on the cover of Ice Cream Man #43.
Preview Grant Morrison and Matt Fraction's one-page horror stories from Ice Cream Man #43
Henry Blackheart, the hero of Lost Fantasy.
Final Fantasy meets horror monsters in new Image title Lost Fantasy
Latest in Comics
King Kong wrestling a giant squid monster
The Monsterverse expands with Return to Skull Island, a comic tying into Netflix's King Kong-centric animated series
Close up on Emma Frost's face as she sits on a throne on the cover of Emma Frost: White Queen #1
"Bow down to the White Queen" as Emma Frost gets her own X-Men solo comic that flashes back to her time as a villain
The Biker Mice From Mars.
Oni Press's new Biker Mice From Mars comic will take a "hard-hitting approach to the stories" and "definitely won't pull any punches"
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #12
Gwen Stacy and Loki team-up for a cosmic adventure in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #12
An alien attacks.
Xenomorphs have taken the island as Alien: Paradiso nears its endgame
Cover art from Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1.
13 years after his New 52 series ended, cult DC hero Resurrection Man is back in Quantum Karma
Latest in News
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
The Witcher 4 devs explain how Ciri's fighting style will differ from Geralt's: "He's nimble, but he feels like a block...she's liquid"
InZOI screenshot from creation studio demo which depicts a shockingly realistic character model rendered in Unreal Engine 5
The director behind The Sims competitor InZOI spent 20 years making MMOs, but he ditched the massive RPGs after playing life sims with his son
Demon Slayer season 4 episode 2
True to the anime, Stardew Valley's hottest mod adds two romanceable Demon Slayer dudes who are both "rude and standoffish" at first
A group of Men wearing armour during the TV show, Vikings.
Vikings creator is heading back to his Norse roots with this new historical drama on Amazon
Balatro screenshot showing an assortment of joker cards
Balatro creator intentionally avoided roguelikes but did eventually play and "steal from" Slay the Spire anyway: "Holy s***. Now that is a game"
Batman and Catwoman talking
Robert Pattinson is hoping to team up with his The Batman co-star Zoe Kravitz on another project soon