When bassist Mikey and lead singer Gerard Way were growing up in New Jersey, they spent a lot of time hanging out together, because they were not allowed to leave the house often — and for good reason. The surrounding area was so bad that their mother just preferred that they played indoors for the most part. In an episode of the "SModcast," the Way brothers described to Kevin Smith how frightening it could be and said that one of their coworkers was brutally bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat.

Regardless of the danger, Gerard frequently went to the local comic store, because he was comfortable there while he felt like an outcast at his high school. According to the biography "My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life," the singer said, "I found solace in the comic book store. That saved my life."

Since he was at the store so often, Gerard accepted an offer to work at the place, but that turned out to be a terrible mistake. He told NME, "I was working at the comic store, just watching animé, and we got held up. They put me on the ground and put a .357 Magnum to the back of my head, execution style. I lost a lot of innocence after that. The comic book store closed two weeks later" (via This Band Will Save Your Life).

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