Who is Gerard Way
| Meme | |
|---|---|
| Synonyms: | Who is Gerard Way |
| Date Started: | February 2019 |
| Related: | |
| See Also: | |
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Who is Gerard Way is a memetic phrase in bandom that gained prominence after the release of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix. Many people who watched the new show were not familiar with Gerard Way's past as the lead singer of My Chemical Romance and only knew him from his secondary career in writing comics such as Doom Patrol. This disconnect led to many people "discovering" his music for the first time and bandom fans joking about people not recognizing an icon of the early 2000s pop punk scene.
History
In September of 2007, before the breakup of My Chemical Romance, Dark Horse Comics released The Umbrella Academy. Gerard Way wrote the comic, illustrated by Brazilian comic artist Gabriel Bá. A television adaptation was announced in July 2015 and premiered on Netflix on 15 February 2019, but prior to this adaptation The Umbrella Academy was a relatively unknown comic with a small fandom mostly made up of people who read it because of their prior interest in Gerard as the lead singer of MyChem.
On 17 February 2019, an article titled Who is Gerard Way, who wrote The Umbrella Academy comic books?[archive] was posted on Metro UK. Other publicity for the show that featured Gerard was released in the same period[1][2] but it was the curious lack of acknowledgement that most people are familiar with Gerard as the lead singer of MyChem that drew people to the Metro UK article.
The article immediately spread, primarily on Twitter, along with a similar article from The Sun.[3] Users mocked the lack of awareness of Gerard Way's past as a major figure in bandom and 2000s fandom history at large.[4]
Gerard Way did not become the savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned just to be known as "dude who wrote Umbrella Academy".[5]
The “who is Gerard Way” response to Umbrella Academy’s popularity..... Ebony darkness dementia raven way is somewhere seething rn.[6]
"who is gerard way" has the same energy as "boruto's dad"[7]
This was accompanied by a resurgence of both old[8] and new[9] Gerard content. AltPress also wrote up a an article about the outrage.[10]
Other Examples
MCR reunited because Gerard saw all those articles like "umbrella academy creator once had a band" "who IS Gerard Way? Obscure trivia you don't know: he used to sing!" and got mad[11]
Yesterday, I witnessed 2 people saying “who is Gerard Way” with my own bare eyes. Press F to pay respect[12]
"kate mulgrew from oitnb" has the same energy as "who is gerard way"[13]
can we please bring back all the "gerard way? what do you mean who is gerard way" memes because they were so funny when tua released[14]
Watching The Umbrella Academy fandom happen right now is WILD, because half of you are out here terrorizing me, a small emo bi, by slapping My Chem lyrics on everything and half of you are like, who's Gerard Way?[15]
References
- ^ Gerard Way on ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ My Chemical Romance … and Liza Minnelli. Posted 15 Feb 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Gerard Way Discusses The Umbrella Academy And Writing New Music. Posted 25 Jan 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Who is Gerard Way, did he write The Umbrella Academy comics and what is he best known for? Posted 18 Feb 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ 22 Feb 2019 "PEOPLE REALLY BE OUT HERE ONLY KNOWING GERARD WAY FROM NETFLIX AND NOT FROM MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE!!!!!!! I’m not okay."
- ^ @KillerFly Feb 19 on Twitter
- ^ @cankle_porn Feb 19 on Twitter
- ^ @alyssaucy Feb 20 on Twitter
- ^ @Mika95B Feb 19 "Gerard way came up with the idea for the umbrella academy comic 15 years ago when it was named the umbrella bregade. 15 years later his comic has a huge hit Netflix adaption. This is so inspiring."
- ^ that one guy who wrote the umbrella academy art by @alyssaucy - 20 Feb 2019
- ^ Publication explains who Gerard Way is, MCR fans basically explode. Posted 19 Feb 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Tweet from @oppositeofdogs. Posted 1 Nov 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Tweet from @ShoeThing. Posted 7 April 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Tweet from @rosyghost. Posted 22 Mar 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Tweet from @_LadyLiv_. Posted 2 Nov 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.
- ^ Tumblr Post by charmingpplincardigans. Posted 21 Feb 2019. Accessed 14 June 2020.