In 2009, when Dark Horse first announced a new project
from Grammy-nominated frontman turned Eisner-winning comics writer Gerard Way
(The Umbrella Academy), the response from music and comics fans alike was
overwhelming. Now, Dark Horse is thrilled to announce that Gerard Way, Shaun
Simon, and Becky Cloonan’s highly anticipated sci-fi epic will finally see
publication in 2013!
Welcome to Battery City, where the disease is the cure!
In My Chemical Romance’s critically acclaimed album
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. Today, 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 cowriter 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.”
As announced at New York Comic Con, an early look into
this world will be published as part of Free Comic Book Day 2013, with the
first issue hitting stands the following month on June 6!