Gerard Way Books In Order

Publication Order of The Umbrella Academy Books

Publication Order of Tales from the Umbrella Academy Books

Publication Order of Doom Patrol Books

Publication Order of The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys Books

Publication Order of Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye Books

Gerard Way is an American musician, songwriter, singer and comic book author best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of “My Chemical Romance” the rock band. He led the band since its founding in 2001 until it was disbanded in 2013. He is also the co-founder of Young Animal Imprint at DC Comics. His other work is the award-winning “The Umbrella Academy” and “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.” Way was born in 1977 in Summit New Jersey to Donald and Donna Lee Way. He spent his childhood in Belleville, New Jersey and asserts that he was already singing in public by the time he was four years old when he was cast in musical production as Peter Pan. Elena Lee Rush his maternal grandmother was one of his biggest influences creatively as she taught him to perform, paint and sing from a young age. He always loved Bon Jovi the glam metal band and aside from his grandmother they were instrumental in developing his love for music. A childhood fascination with comics had him penning his own by the time he was sixteen. He would go on to the School of Visual Arts in New York where he studied fine art before interning at Cartoon Network. He believed he was made for a life writing comics but after he experienced difficulties with his addiction and mental health he turned to songwriting. Way has asserted that writing was a king of therapy that gave him a release particularly after witnessing the trauma of 9/11. Songwriting soon became an uncontrollable thing as it took off against his wildest expectations.

Way would go on to become a very different man from the black military jacket-wearing rock star that showed himself as the savior of the dammed, the beaten and the broken. He has packed away his hair dye and army fatigues and his comic book series “The Umbrella Academy” has been commissioned and is soon to launch as live action on Netflix. He is also the co-executive producer of the comic series, which was illustrated by Gabriel Ba. Steve Blackman famous for executive producing “Fargo” will be showrunner of the visceral superhero series starring Mary J Blige, Ellen Page, and a talking CGI monkey. The comic series is about an eccentric millionaire that adopts strange children who help him save the world in end of the universe scenarios. Way started writing the “Umbrella Academy” comics in 2007 at a time when his band “My Chemical Romance” was touring places such as the Wembley Arena and hence it has a strong influence from his experiences on the road. As such, they have a little of the autobiographical as they talk of life in a dysfunctional family much like being in a band as he once explained.

Gerard made his first foray into writing aged only sixteen when he wrote “On Raven’s Wings” a short-lived comic strip that had to be canceled after the art team backed out after two issues. He got back into writing in 2007 and wrote the Umbrella Comedy which he also illustrated. He then got Gabriel Ba to revise the original versions of the drawings which can still be seen in “The Apocalypse” the first novel of the series. The Apocalypse was first published by Dark Horse Comics in 2007. Since then it has been followed by Safe & Sound that was published on Myspace. The first issue released in September sold out fast and was reprinted in October. Together with Becky Cloonan and Shaun Simon, Gerard Way developed “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys” which the authors introduced at the 2009 Comic-Con. He has also been involved with cartoons and created “The Breakfast Money” together with illustrator Joe Boyle. The Cartoon Network declined to pick up the script saying that the concept was too similar to that of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” that they were already broadcasting.

“The Apocalypse Suite” is set in a world where an inexplicable world event has resulted in the spontaneous birth of forty extraordinary children by women that had not shown any signs of pregnancy. Reginald Hargreeves an eccentric millionaire adopted seven children and gives a cryptic “To save the world” when asked why he did it. The children become part of a dysfunctional family of superheroes known as the “Umbrella Academy”. At the age of ten, they are thrown into an adventure against a deadly and erratic Eiffel Tower that has at its helm Gustave Eiffel a fearsome zombie robot. Nearly ten years later, the team is disbanded but then Hargreeves dies unexpectedly and his adopted children come together to save their world. It is a sinister yet hopeful novel with a hint of innocence, witty yet cruel and full of robots, war, superheroes, aliens, villains that love, heroes that hate, neurosis, family, music, love and hate the end of the world, the Eiffel tower, and a full orchestra.

“Dallas” the second novel of the series is set just after the apocalypse that had been devised by one of the forty. The apocalypse is also accompanied by the death of one of their own, which has devastated them. The Umbrella Academy is dismantled and each of the members retreats to go deal with their own personal problems. But this is the best moment for the superheroes to reunite and deal with the most momentous event in the history of the world. They set out to eliminate their targets in one of the most unforgettable plots that involve the JFK assassination in what is classic Gerard Way entertainment. The story takes a life of its own with a great universe and great characters. Way writes quirky villains and heroes and subconsciously warns his readers that the narrative may go in all kinds of directions. His heroes explode with emotion and energy and make for a surrealist novel with time travel at the core of the plot of the novel. While they are a dysfunctional family they form powerful precious bonds that make them some of the most effective heroes.

“Hotel Oblivion” the third novel of The Umbrella Academy series by Gerard Way is set just after the event of the second novel “Dallas.” The story is about the ambitious and suspicious creation of the founder of the Umbrella Academy. It takes a closer look at the mysterious Hotel Oblivion and the father of the academy Sir Reginald Hargreeves. The idea behind the establishment of the academy is mind-boggling but it has come back to haunt the fractured team of heroes who have been devastated by recent events. They have not had the time to reconnect for a long while. In fact, one of their own code-named Number Five is a mercenary doing some very bad things. Another named Spaceboy is a battered crime fighter in the tough streets of Tokyo where he has been relatively successful. The only thing that holds them together is their family bond even as new revelations threaten to change their lives.