My Chemical Romance Frontman Gerard Way Previews New Comic
Recognize that music? It's My Chemical Romance, soundtracking a preview video for MCR frontman Gerard Way's second foray into comic book writing, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The singer's first comic, The Umbrella Academy, debuted in 2007 and won a prestigious Eisner Award. While Way's debut was a completely separate venture from his now-defunct rock band, Killjoys is a tie-in of sorts — its title did serve as the subtitle of MCR's final album, 2010's Danger Days.
Way and co. wrote the album as a follow-up to 2006's platinum-selling smash The Black Parade. And like Parade, Danger Days was exceptionally narrative, making a comic spinoff a logical next step. "I think just from now on, I'm going to make what I make — if it just happens to overlap, it just does — and I think I'll just put less emphasis on what it's doing and just do it," Way tells MTV Geek. Way says he took pains not to "exploit the band," striking an agreement with Dark Horse Comics for the words "My Chemical Romance" to only appear a couple times in early promotional materials. The frontman hopes his newest creation will live on its own merits.
Drawn by Brazil's Gabriel Bá, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is riddled with Way's self-proclaimed "dark" worldview. And apparently it gets pretty violent. "It's funny, because we're dealing with laser guns, but it feels so much more violent and final when somebody gets shot in this book, instead of getting shot in a movie with a handgun or something," Way says, likening the violence in Killjoys to Martin Scorsese films. "Even if it's not over-the-top violence, for me it's about what's under the surface of these violent acts that makes them more violent. Which is why I dig Scorsese films: it's not just about someone getting shot, it's what under it."
My Chemical Romance fans may recall not only the comic book flair of Danger Days but also the awesome appearance of legendary comic writer Grant Morrison in the videos for "SING" and "Na Na Na." (He's the bald dude.)
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