Whatever Gets You Through the Night

by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Becky Cloonan (Illustrator)

Once upon a time there was a little girl much beloved by a team of heroes called the Killjoys. They swore to protect her. And then a bloody battle broke out between the evil empire of Battery City and these rebels of the Desert. The Killjoys died. The girl lived.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction

28 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and comic book writer who served as frontman, lead vocalist, and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance from the time of its formation in 2001 until its breakup in 2013. He is the author of the Eisner Award-winning comic book series The Umbrella Academy (now a Netflix original series) and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. In January 2014, he announced via Twitter that he and artist Gabriel Ba will begin work on Umbrella Academy Volumes 3 & 4 in late 2014/early 2015. His debut solo album Hesitant Alien was released on September 30, 2014. Way lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Lindsey (bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence) and their daughter, Bandit.

Reviews

[Cliff Bumgardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look alive, sunshine. Gerard Way might be putting down the mic for a while, but lucky for us all he's picked the pen back up and returned to the funnies. The rocking frontman comes back to comics with his first series since the unbelievable Umbrella Academy and doesn't disappoint.

Taking place twelve years after the events of My Chemical Romance's concept album Danger Days, Killjoys introduces you to a wasteland world ruled over by the mega corporation Better Living Industries. The story follows the Girl, the only rebel to survive the original Killjoys' final battle, in her continuing fight against BLI.

The writing is everything you'd expect from Gerard Way: sharp, fast, lyrical, and odd--a style much beloved by fans of The Umbrella Academy . He's helped out this time around by Shaun Simon, and together they've penned a blast of a story that will hook you within the first few pages.

Becky Cloonan's art is gorgeous, adding a touch of whimsy to the bleak landscape that is the book's world.

Issue #1 is the total package and has left me wanting more. Whether you're an MCR fan or not or have ever picked up a Gerard Way comic before, you need to check this book out. Highly recommended.

[safia ☼ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was pure pain.







The art and storyline was fantastic. Reminds me of why Gerard Way is amazing; he's so beautifully poetic. And his writing is just. I can't.

But reading this after the breakup was painful.

[Evelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Killjoy comic is more than I could have hoped for.

I understood it as the comic starting a while after the SING video ends. I don’t know exactly how long but maybe even up to a year afterwards? A couple of months? The true Killjoys are dead, the Killjoys we got to know through the band and they are looked up on as heros by some rebel communities in the outskirts of Battery City that the dracloids are trying to destroy and finish the job we have seen them fighting for all along. Reading this makes me understand why they never did another Killjoy video and why they killed themselves off. Which makes me see parallels to the fans roles as Killjoys (Killjoys never die) We are here to continue spread our colors and finish where the Killjoys ended). Which makes me feel like I have a part of the comic as a MCR fan (I have a feeling that some of are in a desperate need to belong somewhere again when My Chem is no longer there. I sure do). I always felt bad drawing parallels with My Chem and The Umbrella Academy but this time it’s different. It’s our world that we are a part of.

So. The Missile Kid (Not sure that is what she is called in the comics, Gerard referrers to her as The Girl in interviews) is seen as “the girl who were with this killjoys when they died”. Which Gerard sees as a parallel to kids who had parents who did something that later kid is partly “blamed for”. The Girl doesn’t know exactly what happened and doesn’t really understand her part of all this but she has to deal with it.

There are some absolutely amazing written parts in this first issue. We finally get to see how the Draculoids see the world, and how they become who they are. Which was absolutely horrifying to read. There are so many political and literature parallels to draw to this that I will probably come back to later cause I don’t have all the sources I need. I want to see what similarities I can draw to books like 1984 and Brave New World. The world where art, music and colours are forbidden. But also, who are the enemy?

I am having so many thoughts in my head for the moment about this and this post is probably a bit messy but it’s a summary of things I will discuss in the future.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me tell you something: This was amazing. I'm really looking forward to the second issue!

It was incredibly well written and the art had its beautiful moments. Just look:








Plus, I love John Lennon, so the title was perfect for me <3

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Say a prayer for California 🕷

[Kalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75⭐️

[Alysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow, comics count as books? this is awesome

[bels · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Danger Days album just makes senses more to me.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[Yoanna Markova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не съм най-голямата фенка на комиксите, не чета много и не знам как се оценява един комикс. Тук ще дам 4 звезди, защото... всъщност нека да обясня накратко за какво иде реч иначе е доста объркано. Според мен това е комикс за феновете на My Chemical Romance. Пък може да се прочете и читателите на комиски, не знам наистина дали ще се разбере нещо. Света в "The true lives of the fabulous killjoys" е измислен от Джерард Уей (вокалиста на групата) специално за последния им албум от 2010г. Ако някой иска по-подробно обяснение нека се порови в гугъл - там си пише всичко. А тази поредица комикси проследява събитията след музикалните клипове на песните "Na Na Na" и "SING". Така че първо трябва да се изгледат клиповете, а след това комикса.
Както казах по-рано не знам как се оценява комикс, но този отговори на въпросите ми за събитията след клиповете на песните. Артовете доста ми харесаха също, имаше и хумор. Света е интересен - събитията се развиват през 2019 година. Като цяло ми хареса, но го прочетох защото съм фен на групата. Не ме влекат много комиксите, нищо лично. Но ако все пак искате да прочетете комиска най-добре се поровете в интернет за изградения свят вътре, защото предисторията е доста голям роман да я изпиша тук и изгледайте клиповете към "Na Na Na" и "SING".

[Papen]

look i'm not "reverting to my emo phase" i'm just checking out a lot of books related to/about musicians and forcing myself to listen to the *appropriate soundtrack* (when possible) when reading those books! It would be pracically illegal not to do so *shrugs* so what if i'm listening to the whole killjoys album? whatever, whatever, just lemme be emo in peice! in the eternal words of tyler dunn "it was never a phase, mom"
WAIT NO IT'S LITERALL ONLY 28 PAGES IMMA CRY I NEED MORE I WAS SO EXCITED TO READ THEIR WHOLE STORY
it's ok i'll just vibe to it when reading doom patrol/umbrella academy. pray i never run out of comic books, because i think i might just cry (as though i don't already do that).

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic series was awesome and I never knew I would enjoy a sci-fi futuristic kind of series. After watching MCR's music video "Na Na Na" and finding out it was based on comics that Gerard Way wrote, I wanted to see what kind of stories he wrote. It's kind of sad because I wanted more beginning comics on the Killjoys and how it all started but it ended nicely. I've been a huge fan of Gerard Way for a long time and I can't wait to get into reading "The Umbrella Academy".

[Nigel kimber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

Not sure I understand all what is going on at the moment with this story. The threads I am sure will untangle and become clearer with the other issues. I liked the story & loved the artwork. The story was compelling. I want to learn more about the characters, especially the girl with the black cat.

[Kiera Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

These series are absolutely amazing. The plot is fascinating, and the art is magnificent! Gerard Way is extremely talented and did a good job making these. Overall, I love these comics and would love to read them repeatedly!

[Tanya van der Rohe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Killer art. The storyline is a bit confusing at times, though.

[Helene Falkinburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!

It was so great!! It was a work of poetry in Blade Runner/Mad Max technicolor with a bit of x

[bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty cool ngl

[willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

[Rakan · Rating 2 out of 5]

مافيه شي يحمس تكمله رسم generic شخصيات تبدو one dimensional جزء من الكتابة مفقود.
This comic is so generic and mundane that even your everyday comic would be more entertaining
على الاقل هذا الجزء

[Konstancja L · Rating 5 out of 5]

O, to jest ta seria którą chciałam, gdy sięgnęła po National Anthem. to jest ten lore, którego potrzebowałam

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea...

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to review just one issue of a series, but I thought this was fantastic. It helps if you are familiar with My Chemical Romance's album Danger Days and especially with their two music videos for "Na Na Na" and "Sing." It's amazing how in depth the world is in such a short amount of space. Gerard Way does not fail. I will probably not review each issue, just maybe the final one to give the overall review. I can't wait for the next one.

[Mosi Mosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what to think yet actually. My friend just lend the first 4 volumes, and I just finished reading the first one (this one)
I like the concept of the story (wich I already knew a bit about, since Im a MCR fan and I really liked this last album), but I dunno why the art doesn't convince me that much yet. This looked like a intro to me, so I don't feel ready to take conclusions yet.
Still, I thinks it's promising and I feel like reading the next one.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic reeled like a movie with it's almost cinematic qualities. The fluidness of the entire peice was almost flawless, not to mention the stunning artwork and intricate detail in each and every pannel. I really dont have any negitivity to bestow upon this peice. The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys exceeded that of my expectations and went wel beyond what I had hoped for and I would eagerly recommend to any fellow killjoy out there!

[Laura Elliott]

Written by Gerard Way (frontman for My Chemical Romance), it's set in the universe of their last cd, including two of their music videos. It's beautiful art with a decent, though occasionally hard to follow story line. The narrative DJs speak in lyrical riddles and rhymes that sound nice but don't give a whole lot of background.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing! I cannot truly express how much I loved this. Being a Killjoy myself, I already had a huge connection to it, and I was not disappointed. Not at all.
I think anyone who is still mourning the Original killjoys, really needs to read this.
It just feels really great, to see another piece of the story that we were all so obsessed with, come together.

[Christal Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I've heard of the Danger Days(album) sequel "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys", I hunted for a copy of issue #1 in bookstores and bought it. I like how Gerard way connected the 4th MCR album to the story. So far, so good, especially with the sudden appearance of a certain character who is a total opposite of Party Poison.

[Sharlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

:) I remember reading this first edition of the killjoys comic and having a halfway feeling between anguish and a desire to know more, more, more. Interesting story though.. Can't believe he actually penned it all out. THANK YOU

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first graphic novel and I have to say it was pretty interesting I think the plot is good and it was just fun to read. I didn't quite understood it until I saw the music video for the song na na na na by MCR. But when I watched it I understood more.

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved it. I can't wait to see how the story progresses in future issues.