Gerard Way - A Rock Star and His Cartoonist Alter Ego

• Q: Did you make comic books as a kid?
• G: I was reading them and drawing them, and I was writing short stories a lot. “Umbrella Academy” was made because I missed comic books. I went to school at S.V.A. [the School of Visual Arts in New York]. I got a degree in cartooning and illustration. That’s where I thought I would end up, and the band just kind of happened. I love it. It’s definitely a dream job. It’s definitely a lot of people’s first dream. So I couldn’t ignore that. But many years later I still felt like a lot of my identity was lost. By the time I got to “Danger Days,” I couldn’t make another album without bringing that part of myself to the band. A lot of it was about reclaiming my identity.