Gerard Way: My Chemical Romance Inspired ‘Umbrella Academy’ Characters
Gerard Way says his fellow former members of My Chemical Romance inspired some of the personalities presented in The Umbrella Academy, the artist's comic book series that premiered in a TV adaptation this month on Netflix.
In fact, the one-time My Chem frontman suggests some flawed aspects found in rock bands are similar to the failings met in everyday family life, and the Umbrella Academy creator compares household dynamics with life on the road.
"Being in a band is like being in a dysfunctional family and all these personalities are really distinct and really big, not just the people in your band, but the people you meet on the road or the crew," Way tells Rolling Stone.
And while bands may gel in like fashion to families, the My Chemical Romance paragon takes things one step further. He says that, not only were some Umbrella Academy characters inspired by parts of himself, but others in the comic's canon drew their fictional dispositions from the MCR band members.
"A band, especially, is a dysfunctional family," he continues, "so there's little bits of me in all the characters, there's bits of some of the guys in some of those characters and the different roles that we would play in the band and how those roles would change sometimes. We were in a big pressure cooker of fame and notoriety and the characters experience that in the comic and the show."
Of course, this gives an extra layer of meaning to Way's Umbrella Academy universe, the TV version, which premiered on Netflix on Feb. 15 after its initial 2007-2013 comic book run. (It was also revived in print this year.)
The Umbrella Academy is available to stream now.
Do You Know All 25 of These Celebrity Metalheads?