INTERVIEW WITH GERARD WAY

WRITTEN BY NATTALIE TEHRANI

Gerard Way interview in Support of The Umbrella Academy

Interview with Gerard Way in support of The Umbrella Academy

PunkTV.ca: Hey Gerard! How are you?

Good how are you?

PunkTV.ca: Great!

PunkTV.ca: Alrighty, well my name is Nattalie Tehrani from Punktv.CA and I just wanted to thank you for taking the time out to do this. I really appreciate it.

No problem, thanks for having me.

PunkTV.ca: So The Umbrella Academy trade finally came out on June 18^th, how does it feel to hold that in your hands and to see it finalized?

It feels really great, I mean when the last issue came out it felt great, but the trade came feels good for a couple of reasons. One because it was cool to have that number 1 on the spine, because I think it kind of confuse people because they didn’t think I would be doing more Umbrella Academy. The whole point of doing it was to do more. We tried to move it as far away as possible from being this one off idea where it’s like, “Yeah, I did this, and I got bored of it and moved on.” That’s not the case. It’s more like, this is volume 1 of probably 10 volumes.

PunkTV.ca: Do you have ideas for the future Umbrella Academy issues?

Yeah actually, we’re almost done with issue 2 of series 2 right now. We almost finished drawing issue 1 which comes out November, so that’s already coming out. And I already know what series 3 and 4 are and then I’ll have to play around a little but. So I have a lot of great ideas, it’s just a matter of what order they come in.

PunkTV.ca: Oh wow, so you have this thing planned out for months and months.

Yeah, I have at least the next 5 years planned out.

PunkTV.ca: Wow, that’s awesome!

Yeah!

PunkTV.ca: Are you attending comic con this year?

Yeah, Friday night it’s the Eisner, and then Saturday is my panel with Grant around 1:15 and then my signing is at 4:00. And that’s about it, then I’m leaving after that. So I’m going to be at Comic Con for 2 days.

PunkTV.ca: That’s awesome, so I’ll be seeing you there! I’m actually going those same days.

Oh cool!

PunkTV.ca: At the end of issue 1, you listed a bunch of information and numbers and stated that there was no connection between the numbers. Was this a clue to something that will happen in the future, or is this me just over analyzing that statement?

That actually, yeah, that has nothing to do with anything. It’s like, simply just a bunch of information. It wasn’t so the comic book would be quirky or weird to some people, that wasn’t the point. To some extent, the comic book is about misinformation. Especially misinformation with the children growing up. There was not point to it. I put it there so people wouldn’t look for hidden meanings in things. The comic is way more direct than let’s say the music I do. And there isn’t a lot of intended meaning. You can interpret it in different ways, but it’s inspired by different things. Especially series 2, it’s very direct about what it’s saying. And uh, it was pretty much a commentary on hidden meanings, and the fact that there aren’t any.

PunkTV.ca: So pretty much you’re saying there are not hidden mysteries, hidden agendas, and ironies in your work.

Yeah hidden meanings are really just dealing with the characters and with each other. Like Hargreeves for example and giving the children a ton of misinformation. That’s something that’s going to come back, with the kids, over the entire series.

PunkTV.ca: In Issue 5, in the diner, there are watches scattered everywhere. Is there certain significance to that? It had Dali-esque imagery from “Persistence of Time” concept going on.

Right, um well the cool thing about the watches are, is that they were the watches worn by the people that were killed by Number 5. So, that’s actually where those watches come from in issue 5. That is something that we will be directly dealing with in series 2. You’re going to see the follow up of that situation and you’re going to find out a lot about Number 5.

PunkTV.ca: He had a little role in series 1 so I’m excited to see him develop.

He ended up being a really interesting character. The cool thing about this comic is that the characters were set up in a certain ways and they were aloud to develop on their own and he really became more of a mouth piece than any other character. He ended up being, you know, far more interesting than when he started. He was simply in this terror and doom when he started, and he kind of showed up and went “I was gone, and this is what is going to happen.” And he has more skeletons in his closet than anybody else in the book. He ended up being super interesting, and his past became super interesting and his personality became super interesting. That’s really going to come out. Right away in issue 1 of the new series, you really get a glimpse of what he’s all like. In issue 2 again, and by the time the series is done, you get a pretty good idea of what the character is about.

PunkTV.ca: And would you say you connect more with one character than another? Do you see more of yourself in Number 5, than say, Séance or Rumor.

Um, I’d say, I connect a lot with Rumor and Number 5 a bit. The cool thing about that, in series 2 is that they’re together quite a bit. So, uh, yeah it’s weird. There’s sides of Séance that are now coming out, that I can connect with. Um, so obviously all of them, it changes from time to time. Rumor is the easiest one to write. She’s the easiest character to write for me.

PunkTV.ca: So, there are bits and pieces of you in all the characters.

Yeah, yeah, it’s kind of a situation like that. At times it can be, you know, for any writer, or comic book with an ensemble cast they’re generally talking through all of them. Certain times, some more than others.

PunkTV.ca: Right. I’m going to change the subject real quick, Art has so many different meanings to everyone around the world, and it is such a universal subject. Some may say it is an escape route, some just do it as a hobby. What does art mean to you and how has it helped you? Would you say that art helped you escape some of the most difficult times of your life? Where there times when you just lived in your own head to escape reality and almost live in your comics or thoughts?

Yeah, art to me is the most important thing. Even more important than music because art is what led me to music. Um, and whenever I operate in the band, art is a big factor. Art is the first thing that comes to me, the music comes later. Imagery comes first, then the vision. Then the songs and titles, it just starts to fit into that. And so, yeah, it something that I’ve always….not so much a fall back, but a way to communicate it’s my way to express something. So, yeah, that’s what art has been to me. I use art to express a lot. The comic is a great medium for that.

PunkTV.ca: Yeah, and also, I think art brings people together.

One of the cool things I noticed too when I did the Umbrella Academy signing, the majority of people I met that day, were telling me it was the first comic they read. They specifically read Manga, and I found that really crazy. I’m so out of touch with what’s going on with comics, I didn’t realize most teenagers were reading Manga. They weren’t reading Superman or anything like that. It was a cool way of bringing readers of Manga together and readers of comics together. The Umbrella Academy kind of filled this gap. The series is very loosely inspired by this Manga called Akira. It’s the only Manga that’s really ever inspired me. I’m not a big Manga fan, but Akira I really love. Atomo is actually the best out of all of them.

PunkTV.ca: Right, I was actually looking at that at Barnes and Nobles and I was debating on whether I should pick it up. But now it’s a definite.

Yeah, it’s really long, you know. I think there are about 6 or 7 volumes of Akira. But I mean, it’s the best one. It’s the best modern Manga, and I think it changed a lot of things. It’s definitely worth it.

PunkTV.ca: Yeah, right now I’m working on Sandman and the Walking Dead and the Walking Dead just draws you in, I don’t know if you’ve read it…

Yeah I did! I actually got up to trade number 5, and then I had to switch to single issues, but that’s when I stopped reading because it’s hard for me to get single issues.

PunkTV.ca: Yeah, it’s difficult having to go back every week.

Yeah, so I basically have to wait for the trades. So I fell out of that for a little bit, but I definitely enjoyed the series. Neil Gaimen and Sandman is obviously amazing. It’s a great book.

PunkTV.ca: Definitely. The things that they write, I just can’t believe how much of an imagination you have to have to write something like that.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the cool thing about Neil Gaimen, he’s the first guy to me who wrote a comic like a book. Like he’s the most literary comic book author I have ever read. He’s obviously inspired by a lot of Shakespeare, very traditional story telling. There were no comics like that, up until he started writing. And uh, that’s what’s great about him.

PunkTV.ca: Definitely makes you think. That’s for sure.

PunkTV.ca: When you’re writing, do you do self editing on some elements that people would consider to be a taboo and how much of public perception do you take into consideration while you’re writing the Umbrella Academy?

Um, I don’t know, that’s a good question. I’m trying to think. Um, that’s actually on of the things that I don’t really tamper with the comic at all. And actually, I’m actually glad that you brought that up because series 2 deals with a number of them. It’s a darker series, there’s a lot of ugliness and a lot of violence. And there some things that we do, there’s some political commentary as well as social commentary that we do. And the ideas with the subject might be considered slightly tasteless. Maybe, I’m not sure. There are going to be some people that probably won’t get it anyway. But, um, there is a very taboo subject, that is a big part of series 2 where as there wasn’t that much taboo in series 1. And how much do I consider when I write the comic? Let’s say, I consider it in a sense when I write a really good scene, and I’m very excited for them to read it. Or something really crazy, I get excited for them to read it. But I don’t change the way I write based off of the fact that comic has an audience. I think that’s what they wanted because if I start anticipating what they want, then they will anticipate it when they read it and it’ll come…then it would be boring, you know.

PunkTV.ca: Then it wouldn’t be yours anymore. It’s your take on life, and it’s your story and you shouldn’t change that for anybody.

Yeah, and you put something out there in the universe and it kind of stops being yours to a certain extent. So you kind of have to do the best job you can, keeping it yours. That sometimes means you have to do something the readers might not appreciate or not expect. Um, but uh, it’s ultimately what you want it to be. The point of the Umbrella Academy is that it changes every period and I basically want it to be about time. So each series has a completely different look or feeling, and that’s based off of what I wanted to say at the time. It doesn’t have a definite style. Like in this series there are a lot more real life moments happening. And that’s where Gabrielle really shines as an artist.

PunkTV.ca: He really portrays that well and gets the idea across.

He gets that. Yeah, the thing about Gabrielle is that he’s one of the main elements that make it post-modern. Where he makes it not a superhero book and it kind of had a lot to do with that. The fact that he can simply draw characters having peanut butter and jelly or a glass of milk. And that’s his jam. That’s really what he’s fantastic at.

PunkTV.ca: Yeah, he takes something so simple and brings it out.

He really…he’s so not lazy about drawing the real world, and buildings and a lot of artists dread doing that stuff but that’s what he loves to draw. He loves to look out his window in San Paulo and a lot of the architecture in Umbrella Academy I’m sure comes from San Paulo, Brazil.

PunkTV.ca: Just pretty much gets inspired by the life around him.

Yeah, he’s not afraid to draw that stuff. He actually enjoys drawing it.

PunkTV.ca: As an artist, in order to be creative, you have to be in a sense a deep thinker. So how far do you let your imagination wonder? Do you hold back from thinking about certain things just because it is pure insanity, or becomes worrisome, even to you? Or do you let your mind wonder to any aspect of life and death and everything in between?

Right. I think censoring or holding anything back is really dangerous for a creator. Even if you end up not using it. Basically, if you’re a creative person, which I think everybody is a creative person, they just have to reach in and pull it out, and figure out how to harvest it. The idea is, is that you’re going to come up with a lot of ideas. Not all of them are going to be good, but you have to write them all down, and try them all out and see them all through. And then in the end, your gut will kind of tell you which one to go with and which idea to pursue. Let say you come up with something completely different than what you do, you know, then um, you do it until it feels right. If it doesn’t feel right then you stop. Holding anything back would be foolish. Like self censoring, that’s kind of why you have an editor. So they can say this a little too much for this series.

PunkTV.ca: Right. So at least you put it out there and you did what you need to do.

Yeah!

PunkTV.ca: I think as an artist, and as a writer, you have to be a sponge and soak up all the information you can and possible store it for future reference. Are there different philosophies or seen a work of art, even watched a movie or read a book that has influenced your work drastically? I know you have mentioned a lot of Jeunet films like Delicatessen and Amelie, as well as German Expressionistic films like the Cabinet of Dr. Calagari. What movies have you seen recently that inspires you like those or read something that inspired you?

Um, I’m not, I mean I’ve been watching a lot of music documentaries, but nothing really about using for The Umbrella Academy. But I was watching a Bob Dylan documentary. I was watching that last night. One with Kate Blanchette. Those are very inspiring. I think music right now has been more inspiring. I’ve been listening to a lot Bob Dylan, and I think he obviously came to me through Scott [Allie]. Scott favored Bob Dylan, you know, um. Series 2 is a little bit more punk rock in a weird way. But actually, it’s still something that made a lot of sense. To me, the significance it’s made, is that they’re kind of punk rock. They decided to go like, electric when everyone else went with Folk music. That is really what’s fascinating to me. I’ve been listening to a lot of 80s punk bands while working on the series.

PunkTV.ca: Right, and you have that one story out right now, that seems very music inspired. Is it because you were watching these documentaries?

Um, that story actually, I think it helped that I was invested in that era at the time. That story is definitely set in the days of the Ramones era. Definitely when your looking at it your looking at it, you can tell it’s not new punk rock but around the genesis of punk rock. You can tell that that’s the era where that story started. But that story was the least planned. But I always wanted to tell that story of them being in that band and it actually ended up being really relevant to series 2. It was just the right time to do it.

PunkTV.ca: Definite cliff-hanger.

Yeah!

PunkTV.ca: I always find it interesting to ask this question, it’s; what in life do you fear the most? Would you say that fear holds you back as an artist or even as a musician?

No, I’m not really afraid of…especially when it involves being an artist and a creation, and if you’re afraid of anything, it’s definitely going to alter that. You just really got to do it. There some things and theories that are probably going to be extremely offensive to some people, but you know, um, if they get the theories, and they get the sense of humor, it will work for them and if they don’t, they probably won’t be reading it anyway. Yeah, that’s really foolish to be afraid…I mean, to be afraid of what? What everybody is going to say? That’s unimportant to what you create, you know.

PunkTV.ca: That’s true. You do what you got to do.

Yeah, you just do it.

PunkTV.ca: And if you could ask yourself one question, what would it be?

Ohhhh, I’ve got this question before! I probably wouldn’t ask myself a question. Yeah.

PunkTV.ca We have two questions that PunkTV.ca asks all of our interviewees:

First, which of the following have you experienced, have you seen the face of god, Seen a ghost or had an alien encounter?

Neither. None, yeah.

PunkTV.ca: We’re on the same page, man.

PunkTV.ca: Last, what would surprise kids most to learn about you?

It’s probably that I’m an open book. I’ve actually been asked that question before too and you know, it’s really that I’m open and honest about everything that I want to be open and honest about, and if I’m not talking about it, then I don’t want you to know it.

PunkTV.ca: You have to have a private life, you can’t put everything out there, you know.

Yeah.

PunkTV.ca: Well, listen Gerard, I really appreciate it again and I will see you at comic con in 2 weeks!

No Problem! See you there!

PunkTV.ca: Bye Bye!