Gerard Way's The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys Launches in June

Dark Horse Comics will preview Gerard Way, Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan's sci-fi epic The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys as a Free Comic Book Day title in May before the first issue finally releases in June. The concept, which played a role in the conception of the album by the same name by Way's band My Chemical Romance, was announced at New York Comic Con this year but little has been heard since. On My Chemical Romance's record Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, the Killjoys fought against the tyrannical megacorporation Better Living Industries. It cost them their lives, save for one—the mysterious Girl. In the comics adaptation, the followers of the original Killjoys languish in the desert while BLI systematically strips citizens of their individuality. As the fight for freedom fades, it's left to the Girl to take up the mantle and bring down the fearsome BLI or else join the mindless ranks of Bat City. "The original idea for the comic informed the record," said Gerard Way. "The record helped refine the idea, and then Becky had done a drawing of the Girl for the single 'The Only Hope for Me Is You' and I saw it and thought, this is the comic. It's basically the last video, it's the last part of the Killjoys story, while at the same time being totally its own thing." "I think we have created a broad range of characters here," said co-writer Shaun Simon. "A lonely teenage girl hiding from her past in the desert. A couple of android call girls wanting nothing more than to be together. An aging assassin with a secret that could destroy his life . . . Even though these characters are living in a bizarre sci-fi world, their struggles are the same we face in our own." "The world of the Killjoys is full of visual opposites—from sprawling deserts to urban junkyards—and a cast of characters to match," said artist Becky Cloonan. "It's been a challenge to encompass all of this in my art, but woven into the world building is a human spark that lights this story on fire and gives me so much to draw from."