Look alive, Sunshine! It’s time for another Book Club episode. Gen and Jette discuss The True Live of the Fabulous Killjoys: California by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and Becky Cloonan. It’s a great conversation about storytelling, graphic novels, and dystopian aesthetics.
Show notes:
Killjoys may have begun as an idea for a comic book series, but it first came to life on My Chemical Romance’s album Danger Days. The graphic novel picks up where that story leaves off.
Watch the music videos for “Na Na Na” and “SING” for more Killjoys content and to see the where the aesthetic of the comic was born.
The sequel to Killjoys: California is available in a collected edition called The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem.
We came up with about five different essays we could write based on this book and had a great discussion about the use of colour.
Gerard Way was cofounder of the DC imprint Young Animal, but both Killjoys and Umbrella Academy were published by Dark Horse Comics.
For more graphic novel goodness, listen to Episode 21 where we discuss Shade, the Changing Girl by Cecil Castellucci.
Our next book club book is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. We’ll be discussing this one in our first episode of 2022!
Other Media Mentioned
Neverboy by Shaun Simon
Collapser by Shaun Simon and Mikey Way
The Umbrella Academy
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem
You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon
Mad Max: Fury Road
Blade Runner 2049
Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff