Umbrella Academy playing cards

Published November 29, 2023 Updated November 29, 2023

Umbrella Academy playing cards created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, USA, 2019.

2019 USA Dark Horse Gabriel Bá Gerard Way Comic Books Superheroes

The Umbrella Academy is an American superhero television series adapted from the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. It revolves around a dysfunctional family of adopted sibling superheroes who reunite to solve the mystery of their father's death and the threat of an imminent apocalypse. Three series have appeared to date, with a fourth scheduled in 2024.

This pack, also created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá celebrates the third series of the comic book entitled The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion. 13 members of the dysfunctional family and other characters that span the series are repeated on each of the four suits. A further 2 characters appear on the 2 jokers, making 15 characters in all. See the box

Umbrella Academy playing cards created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, USA, 2019 Umbrella Academy playing cards created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, USA, 2019

Above: Umbrella Academy playing cards created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, USA, 2019. Cards printed in China.

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By Peter Burnett

Member since July 27, 2022

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.

Russian Playing Cards

Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.

Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.

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