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A Fabulous Killjoys Primer
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is an interesting canon in that it's materials are spread out all over the place. This post is to collect links to the various on-line portions into one place.
The Beginning
Through several interviews the comic creators have hinted that the story we now know as the Killjoys' universe isn't what they started out with. Danger Days started out as a comic idea between Gerard Way and Shaun Simon that eventually was scrapped to be instead turned into a concept album by Way's band My Chemical Romance.
'Art Is A Weapon' and Promotional Videos
Next came the music videos for the album. While these are not the only videos produced for the album, these two specifically act as part of the narrative later given in the comics so they will be the only ones linked. For the purposes of the specific Danger Days story line, the most important portions of the videos are the last half-minute of Na Na Na and the entirety of Sing (the directors cut is shown here but bears little difference to the video that was released to video channels like MTV).
The Album
The album itself, released on November 16, 2010 does not specifically add to the narrative. While there are tracks that seem to indicate a story, particularly the Dr. Death Defying segments, these to not fit into the story told with the videos and comics (Jet Star and Kobra Kid's deaths are far different, the Girl is never mentioned, ect.). Instead, the album seems to function as a soundtrack to the narrative. One of the tracks is explicitly included in both the videos and comics as an in-universe thing. 'Look Alive Sunshine', a Dr. Death Defying segment is both added to the start of the Na Na Na video and is directly referenced within the comics as a recorded message from Dr. D himself.
Most of the music from the album, sans the Dr. Death segments, can be heard below in the listening party video.
Listening Party
The listening party was simply a way to allow fans to hear the album early, presented in character by the actor for Dr. Death Defying. While there are small hints of story within the introductory parts to each song, most of the information presented does not effect the overall narrative and instead only adds to the culture and world build.
Mad Gear and Missile Kid EP
MCR also decided to give fans a taste of the kind of music on the radio in the Killjoy's universe. They recorded an EP as an in-universe band, Mad Gear and Missile Kid. This band is referenced multiple times in the Twitter, Listening Party, and the comic as a Zone favorite and the lyrics to the song 'Black Dragon Fighting Society' are sung by a character within the comic. The title and lyrics to 'FTWWW' show up across multiple Twitter accounts.
The EP can be heard here or can be purchased from music streaming websites.
The Comic
In 2013, years after the Killjoy's story was brought to an abrupt end, Gerard and Shaun decided to return to their original idea and wrap up the Danger Day's tale in a comic book. The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys was a six issue run from Dark Horse that focused on three stories from the Zones, the tale of a now teenage Girl as she rejoined the rebellion against BLI in revenge for the loss of her family, the tale of Korse as he began to question the morality of the company he'd long killed for, and the tale of a companion android named Blue as she searched for freedom and safety for her malfunctioning girlfriend. These stories would become intertwined as the finale for the narrative started in the music videos, specifically calling back on and using the events of Sing as the backstory driving each character forward.
'Dead Satellites', a Free Comic Day short, was also released. This short story would not feature any of the known comic characters but instead would feature a boy from BLI and two runners from the Zones as they both saw the same falling satellite. This story did not add to the narrative of the comics, but did set the tone for life in Battery City and add to the culture of the universe.
Both the six issue run and the short story are available wherever comic books are sold or directly from Dark Horse.
Controversies
There are a few things to be contested when trying to fit together these separate sources into the larger Danger Days story. The characters as they are shown in the Twitter-verse don't seem to directly match the personalities we meet in the comics, the most obvious being that of Cherri Cola. However, it is said within the comic that Cola is now 'clean' and even the Twitter references him as a drug user so the personality shift could be explained by a life after addiction. The fact Cola seems to be caught and Draculized in the twitter story, supported in that he seemed to be the Drac unmasked and killed by Party Poison in the Sing video. However this was obviously retconned in order to let Cherri exist in a mentor role for the comics. How much of the Twitter story was changed (just the Draculization or his entire personality) is really up to the individual fan.
Another major issue for fans is that the comic and overall narrative cannot seem to decide on a timeline. The videos, which are specifically recognized as part of the comic canon, show the events of Sing happening in 2019 and use a ten year old as the actress for the Girl. The official summary and several parts of the comics declare the Girl is 15 within the events of the comic. One issue tells us it's been 12 years since the Killjoys were killed (which would put her at 3 at the time of death), another says it's only been a 'few'. The comics in one issue say she was six at the time of the Killjoy's deaths, another issue gives up a timeline for her birth (we're told her mother was pregnant at the end of a war, and shown the war's dates) up to current events which places her at either 11 or 12 at the time of the Killjoy's deaths but lists that the Killjoys died in 2027. Because of this most fans just pick whatever timeline and ages they like best of characters and go with it. Most keep the idea that 2019 is the start of the Na Na Na and Sing events, but there really isn't a wrong answer for when anything happens in this universe.
The Beginning
Through several interviews the comic creators have hinted that the story we now know as the Killjoys' universe isn't what they started out with. Danger Days started out as a comic idea between Gerard Way and Shaun Simon that eventually was scrapped to be instead turned into a concept album by Way's band My Chemical Romance.
'Art Is A Weapon' and Promotional Videos
Next came the music videos for the album. While these are not the only videos produced for the album, these two specifically act as part of the narrative later given in the comics so they will be the only ones linked. For the purposes of the specific Danger Days story line, the most important portions of the videos are the last half-minute of Na Na Na and the entirety of Sing (the directors cut is shown here but bears little difference to the video that was released to video channels like MTV).
The Album
The album itself, released on November 16, 2010 does not specifically add to the narrative. While there are tracks that seem to indicate a story, particularly the Dr. Death Defying segments, these to not fit into the story told with the videos and comics (Jet Star and Kobra Kid's deaths are far different, the Girl is never mentioned, ect.). Instead, the album seems to function as a soundtrack to the narrative. One of the tracks is explicitly included in both the videos and comics as an in-universe thing. 'Look Alive Sunshine', a Dr. Death Defying segment is both added to the start of the Na Na Na video and is directly referenced within the comics as a recorded message from Dr. D himself.
Most of the music from the album, sans the Dr. Death segments, can be heard below in the listening party video.
Listening Party
The listening party was simply a way to allow fans to hear the album early, presented in character by the actor for Dr. Death Defying. While there are small hints of story within the introductory parts to each song, most of the information presented does not effect the overall narrative and instead only adds to the culture and world build.
Mad Gear and Missile Kid EP
MCR also decided to give fans a taste of the kind of music on the radio in the Killjoy's universe. They recorded an EP as an in-universe band, Mad Gear and Missile Kid. This band is referenced multiple times in the Twitter, Listening Party, and the comic as a Zone favorite and the lyrics to the song 'Black Dragon Fighting Society' are sung by a character within the comic. The title and lyrics to 'FTWWW' show up across multiple Twitter accounts.
The EP can be heard here or can be purchased from music streaming websites.
The Comic
In 2013, years after the Killjoy's story was brought to an abrupt end, Gerard and Shaun decided to return to their original idea and wrap up the Danger Day's tale in a comic book. The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys was a six issue run from Dark Horse that focused on three stories from the Zones, the tale of a now teenage Girl as she rejoined the rebellion against BLI in revenge for the loss of her family, the tale of Korse as he began to question the morality of the company he'd long killed for, and the tale of a companion android named Blue as she searched for freedom and safety for her malfunctioning girlfriend. These stories would become intertwined as the finale for the narrative started in the music videos, specifically calling back on and using the events of Sing as the backstory driving each character forward.
'Dead Satellites', a Free Comic Day short, was also released. This short story would not feature any of the known comic characters but instead would feature a boy from BLI and two runners from the Zones as they both saw the same falling satellite. This story did not add to the narrative of the comics, but did set the tone for life in Battery City and add to the culture of the universe.
Both the six issue run and the short story are available wherever comic books are sold or directly from Dark Horse.
Controversies
There are a few things to be contested when trying to fit together these separate sources into the larger Danger Days story. The characters as they are shown in the Twitter-verse don't seem to directly match the personalities we meet in the comics, the most obvious being that of Cherri Cola. However, it is said within the comic that Cola is now 'clean' and even the Twitter references him as a drug user so the personality shift could be explained by a life after addiction. The fact Cola seems to be caught and Draculized in the twitter story, supported in that he seemed to be the Drac unmasked and killed by Party Poison in the Sing video. However this was obviously retconned in order to let Cherri exist in a mentor role for the comics. How much of the Twitter story was changed (just the Draculization or his entire personality) is really up to the individual fan.
Another major issue for fans is that the comic and overall narrative cannot seem to decide on a timeline. The videos, which are specifically recognized as part of the comic canon, show the events of Sing happening in 2019 and use a ten year old as the actress for the Girl. The official summary and several parts of the comics declare the Girl is 15 within the events of the comic. One issue tells us it's been 12 years since the Killjoys were killed (which would put her at 3 at the time of death), another says it's only been a 'few'. The comics in one issue say she was six at the time of the Killjoy's deaths, another issue gives up a timeline for her birth (we're told her mother was pregnant at the end of a war, and shown the war's dates) up to current events which places her at either 11 or 12 at the time of the Killjoy's deaths but lists that the Killjoys died in 2027. Because of this most fans just pick whatever timeline and ages they like best of characters and go with it. Most keep the idea that 2019 is the start of the Na Na Na and Sing events, but there really isn't a wrong answer for when anything happens in this universe.