Gerard Way at the end of My Chemical Romance: "It was no more fun" | The music

UBy retiring from the adoring stadiums and mbades, some rock stars are investing their energy in trout farms, others are making cheese and hanging out with curators, and others, like Gerard Way, s & # 39, seize comics. Thirteen years ago, Way was one of the most recognizable figures of rock, half-god of the Reading festival, with a shock of blonde hair and a tabloid indignation trail that followed him wherever he went. The group he directed, My Chemical Romance, was accused of turning children to the dark side with their lyricism obsessed with pain and death. The Black Parade, released in 2006, was a concept album about the afterlife – with a disconcerting appearance of Liza Minnelli – and sold over 4 million copies. He was renamed goth for the 21st century and his name was emo. The Daily Mail described this place as "sinister cult," and Sarah Sands – today's editor-in-chief of Radio 4's Today program – called it "a celebration of self-harm," even though she relied more on Queen and Cheap Trick than she had done with Aleister Crowley and Charles Manson.

Way in 2019 is a very different man from the one who donned a black military jacket and presented himself as "the savior of the broken, beaten and damned". At age 41, he ordered the army and hair dye ("It's been awhile since I had not even seen my natural hair color and I wanted to see what was going on") and is on the point of launching the live version of Netflix from Umbrella Academy, the series of comics he co-created with illustrator Gabriel Bá, on which he acts as co-executive producer. The showrunner of the visceral superhero series is Steve Blackman of Fargo; it stars Ellen Page, Mary J Blige and a CGI monkey who speaks quite well, and tells the story of an eccentric millionaire, strange children he adopts and, of course, the end of the world. Way started writing the books in 2007, while My Chemical Romance was walking around the Wembley Arena, partially inspiring her on the road. "It's a bit autobiographical, being a dysfunctional family," he says. "It's a lot like being in a group."

When I call Way, in a surefire and agreeable way, it is located in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, in the flower house owned by surrealist artists Mark Ryden and Marion Peck. Friends of Way, they left him, to his wife and nine-year-old daughter, a custom-made mural and a family of squirrels tamed to feed every day. Taking care of the local wildlife and drinking six cups of coffee a day is about as rock as roll, but he could not be happier. "I like to be super-creative all the time and, unfortunately, when we're part of a very large group, we do a lot of boring things, like being on the road and missing out on family. It's largely business, "he says. "Now I have to stay at home with them, do my comics and sit in my office, I do not have to leave the house, nor those people." His office is the old Peck shop spotted with paint.

The joyful embrace of Way in this hermit existence is quite logical considering that he has always been an accidental rock star. His childhood fascinated by comics led him to write and publish his own at the age of 16. He then studied Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York and was interned at the Cartoon Network. The comics were supposed to be his life, but after attending September 11 and having mental health and addiction problems, he started writing songs. "It was a liberation for me, a bit like art therapy," he says. "And then it took off and became this uncontrollable thing."

My Chemical Romance became one of the biggest groups of the 2000s, but their victory time was relatively short. The end was in view during the sessions of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys of 2010, an album totally destroyed before being completely rewritten. "When things start well and go very well," says Way, "that's when a lot of people start having an opinion and that's when we're fighting." And after The success of The Black Parade, it turned out that "everyone had a damn opinion about what MCR should be. It was therefore difficult to determine which direction to take next. You are caught in this trap of "Is it ever going to be good enough?" "

Way announced the split of the band in 2013, for the benefit of eyeliner emos from around the world. "It was not fun to do more things. I think breaking the band has separated us from this machine. "

At the time, one of the reasons given by Way to justify the split was that the world had changed, that the fact that Barack Obama was in power meant that we had no more need. Given the current political climate in the United States and that of 2018 that Way recently called "a year of dark magic," I say to Way, surely more than that now? "That's what I thought when the world started to get screwed up again," he says. "It definitely came into my head, but I had changed so much as a person. I did not know how I would be there anymore, I did not know how the band would fit in anymore. But you are right, the world definitely needs something positive. "

I'm obviously not the only one to wonder about the possibility of a return for a group that has counted so much. "We regularly have offers to meet regularly – it's a constant thing," he says. "It's flattering, it's really nice with people …" But no luck? "I miss playing with the guys, but I do not think so …"

However, if it's the music you're looking for, Way is definitely preparing something. Last year, three new songs followed his solo album, Hesitant Alien, in 2014, but it's unlikely that anything as official as a second full-length album will be official. "I'm just going out songs and see what happens. That's where I am, "he says. The bullshit of the record industry that has contributed so much to the end of My Chemical Romance is to blame for its reluctance to work in such a traditional format. "When I did the solo, I was always caught in this machine. It took a lot longer than expected. we should have saved it in a month and have it published. Despite his protests that MCR will never reform, what he says next could give students a nugget of hope. "I think if we did another MCR, we would not be in this machine anymore," he says. "It would literally be like," Here's a new piece of music, we're releasing it and that's all, it's not subject to debate. "

Alongside some solo songs, Way's next big project is his first novel, which he has been thinking about since his early days at art school. When it comes to ideas, it overflows. "Do you know what they say about your first album, that you have all your life to write?" I think your first book is like that too, "he says.

Although he is more likely to be found hidden in his office than in one-on-one festivals, it seems we have not heard the latest from Gerard Way.

The Umbrella Academy will be available on Netflix from Friday 15 February