PARTING SHOT
IT’S BEEN NEARLY TWO DECADES SINCE THE SOFT-SPOKEN WAY STARTED THE platinum-selling emo band My Chemical Romance. In that time, he has evolved from a sweaty, intoxicated 20-something to a sober, costumed arena rocker to a semi-reclusive comic book writer. Through it all, he has remained obsessed with end-of-world scenarios, though his meditations these days are more introspective than performative. Way’s award-winning The Umbrella Academy comic (with illustrations by Gabriel Bá), about a dysfunctional family of superheroes, circa 1977, is in its third series, with a fourth in development. And on February 15, Netlix will release an equally acclaimed adaptation, 10 episodes starring Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige and Tom Hopper. Way, who is credited as an executive producer on the show, gave notes on scripts but kept his participation off-camera. “I was overloaded from years of interviews, music videos, being onstage—I kind of got tired of myself,” he tells Newsweek. “I also realized I had a lot to learn. I had a lot of listening to do.”
Illustration by BRITT SPENCER