Mikey Way is dead, and nobody knows why.
Three months after the night that ended his life, his brother Gerard learns of a chance to save him: Mikey isn’t gone forever, but instead trapped in the universe of the dead called the Mortuus.
With the help of Frank, a teenager in town who has the ability to travel between worlds, Gerard sets out to find the missing book of curses that just might be able to let him resurrect Mikey. Before long, the relic’s current keeper and Gerard’s best friend get dragged into their search full of fallen angels, witchcraft, vampire punk bands, magic arcade games, a televisopathic turtle, a forest full of fiends, and a mysteriously powerful flashlight…
If you know about Deathwish, you probably already know what the guys in MCR are like! But what did we do with their characters for the story? Who else is important?
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Gerard
Gerard works in the basement of Inkwell Hospital as a medical coder. Except he just spent three months locked away in his apartment, trying (and failing) to cope with Mikey’s death, cutting off pretty much everyone who cares about him in the process. Despite all that, he’s a pleasant guy, if a bit awkward. He has a passion for fantasy goth action movies, psychedelic math rock band Doc Starter and the Bullegs, raising cacti, and exploring the supernatural.
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Frank
Frank is bicompatible, which anyone who’s talked to him for five minutes would know because he never shuts up about it. He’s also stuck in Inkwell Hospital being treated for the various medical emergencies caused by his magical abilities, though he sneaks out regularly through portals between worlds. He enjoys causing problems in the universe of the dead, making friends with ghosts, and sometimes making deals with them too.
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Mikey
Mikey almost made it to eighteen, but some otherworldly interference got in the way. Now he’s stuck in a turtleneck for the rest of his existence. He’s actually pretty chill about being dead, due to certain circumstances, and as much as he misses being with Gerard, he doesn’t like his brother risking his life to save him. He’s a huge Never Nineteen fan—maybe that’s what’s helped him become so accepting of dying young.
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Ray
Ray runs the local record exchange, Earphoria Records. He knows all the genres of music. He and Gerard tried to start a band once when they were teenagers, but it didn’t work out—now he kind of misses his best friend, especially given that Gerard stopped talking to everyone after Mikey died. He has a lot to keep him busy though, and he takes pride in his ability to manage the best record exchange in New Jersey—possibly even the whole tri-state area.
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Lindsey
Lindsey is the unsuspecting mortal who happened to find the missing book of curses. Intrigued by its mysterious contents and wack ass triangular shape, she’s made it her job to translate whatever parts she can, a process that led her to discover a deadly beacon of black energy that’s been opened in the world of the living. She’s a big fan of linguistics, the occult, having conversations with animals, and pretending to know what she’s doing.
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The Fallen Angels
Cast down from their previous positions as vilici (angels), these guys now serve sicarii (demons) by keeping human newlydeads and all other aspects of the Mortuus in check. They’re in charge of Sector 37, which is centered around Inkwell, and are utterly incompetent. They’ve managed to misplace their book of curses, which leaves them close to powerless, and are doing a pretty poor job of tracking down the supposed host of their prime suspect for catastrophic interdimensional crimes: Gerard. Their names are Dorcas, Christop, Steve, and Fannie, accompanied by their intern Ross and led by their boss Gary.
You’ve heard of the Mortuus. What do we call the world of the living? And where in that universe does our story take place?
THE MULTIVERSE
The ‘multiverse’ refers to the collection of known universes, all of which overlap within the space-time continuum. But it’s easier to think of them as split into planes, grouped together based on the absolute states of their spiritual and physical matter. The Mortuus pairs with the Vitae, or living world, where we mortals dwell. Sicarii and Vilici are beings that occupy the universes in the plane “above” ours, negotiating what happens to our souls. Worlds sharing the same plane are made distinct by the type of energy that fuels them, a division that keeps the living apart from the dead. For mortals to travel between these worlds independent of the natural flow from life to death is possible, but requires magic. Check out our diagram of how it all works below.
Inkwell, NJ
The beloved home of our protagonists—and coincidentally the center-point of Fallen Angel Sector 37, where Gary and co. operate. It’s a fairly small and quiet town with a semi-legendary music venue called the Ballroom that makes it an unlikely touring staple for many small- to mid-sized East Coast bands. And while it’s no New Brunswick, the basement scene is doing pretty well, too. But enough about music. Use the map below to see some of its relevant locations in both the Vitae and the Mortuus.
