Review: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #1

Just like the House of Gold and Bones miniseries, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #1 by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon with artist Becky Cloonan takes inspiration from the album of the same name. This one happens to be the last My Chemical Romance album released, and since the band has since broken up, it will probably be the last album we see from them, which is a real shame. That said, my scepticism about this series went way up when I realized that this was a tie-in to an album released over two years ago. Why wouldn’t it come out around the same time as the album’s release like HoGaB did unless there was something off about it? The answer: because it’s exactly the mess you would expect from a project like this, and one that has me feeling less than optimistic about this new ongoing.

First of all, if you haven’t already seen it, you should watch this music video. Seriously, it does a far better job setting the scene than this comic will, and it establishes the dynamics that drive so many of the actions of this issue. As a MCR fan, this didn’t particularly bug me, and I can’t really call it necessary to understand the comic, but it gives a lot of background you won’t get otherwise, so I highly recommend it.

This comic tells the story of a girl who rode with the original Killjoys (the members of MCR of course) before they were killed in the chaos of that music video I linked to before. Supposedly, she’s part of some prophecy that’s supposed to save the world or something, but when some other Killjoys find her, they don’t seem to care for her at all, so who knows. Anyway, these Killjoys decide to steal a mask from her because…I don’t know why, so that she can prove to them once and for all…I don’t know what.

My problem with this comic is already clear, so for once, I’m going to get the bad out of the way first and ensure we end on a happy note. The characters in this book are really poorly defined. One Killjoy is, at least at the moment, the same as the others, and they mostly serve as exposition or as a device to move the plot forward. There’s a discussion about the afterlife, but it doesn’t make any larger point than “it’s harder to deal with death when there’s no assurance of an afterlife”. When the greatest amount of characterization is given to the ‘porno droid’, you haven’t handled characterization well.

Even our protagonist seems only able to react to what’s going on around her instead of taking initiative and acting for herself. It can become frustrating rather quickly as a reader, because a whole bunch of stuff seems to be happening really quickly, but there’s no sense of rhyme or reason previously established to let us know why it’s happening. Perhaps it’s coming later, but this is a first issue; seems like now would be a good time to get an introduction out of the way.

The other thing I really didn’t care for was the stylistic choices at the beginning and the end. The opening, while admittedly effective on some level, is incredibly cliché, and the ending was more like a music video or an unfinished storyboard than an actual ending to a comic. I get that this is a comic based on a music album, so it’s good to mix things up and do something a little non-traditional, but the ending really felt like four wasted pages for a visual effect that didn’t amount to a strong enough emotional reaction to justify it. Some might care for it, but count me in the camp that hopes it’s never used again. Comics are not music videos, after all.

Now let’s get to the good: the sense of atmosphere is wonderful. My complete apathy towards the characters contained within is surpassed by my love for the world in which these characters live. The bad guys, ‘draculoids’, are really ingeniously designed, and I love the way they deal with criminals; it’s an original idea that creates some really interesting potential stories, which I personally hope they explore soon. And even though I found the beginning to be a bit cliché and overly expository, it does do an excellent job of setting the stage for the world in which they live.

I also want to give Becky Cloonan, the artist on this issue, a ton of credit for a well-done comic. The art here is really great, and it perfectly matches the atmosphere set forth in the story. I especially love the design of the draculoids, though given they appeared in the music video earlier, I do have to wonder how many of the ideas are original. Still, to do a lot with the character designs given is worth a lot of credit, and I loved everything about the art in this issue.

For $3.99, I can only give this a conditional recommendation. There is a lot of good in terms of the art and world design, but the characterization and overall story are really, really lacking. It’ll take another issue before I can tell for sure if this is all style with no substance, but in the mean time, I recommend you take that four dollars and save it for later.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. Thanks to this issue, he will now be humming that song for the next month. So there’s that. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.