My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way Embroiled in Comic Controversy

Maverick comic book publisher Hart Fisher is lashing out at his former protege, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, claiming that the singer has been plundering Fisher's words and ideologies for MCR's music.

Fisher published Way's On Raven's Wings comic on his Boneyard Press when Way (who was known to his mentor as "Garry") was a teen. Thirteen years later, Way began publishing a new title called The Umbrella Academy with the more-credible Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse advertised Umbrella as Way's first foray into comics, which led Fisher toaccuse Way of fraud and "ripping off my old message and many of my actual written bits. I'm in the process now of going through the lyrics and matching up where he has straight up ripped me off from my old Boneyard editorials."

Fisher later said, "I lost touch with Garry after the Nineties." Way countered in a statement that said, "I sent [Hart] an email years ago, before we finished Revenge, thanking him for believing in me, and never got a response. I'm not ashamed of what I did for him, and wanted to see him in person and thank him. I've never had the chance." Dark Horse's Scott Allie adds, "Hart published Gerard's first comics when Gerard was fifteen. I don't think we've ever said Umbrella Academy is the first comic Gerard did."

Here's footage of Fisher on a 1993 episode of Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show (a pudgy, teenage Way in a flannel shirt is visible in the second row of the audience at the six-second mark):

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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