I did include a few of those issues in my timeline, but only stories that were written by former writers of the show. Because they added something consequential to the story.
But on the whole, I never considered this series canon to the show. A nice supplement, but the showrunners certainly weren't keeping up with the comic. They probably just made it New Year's Day 2014 because it was published in 2014.
Ciro says in his art book that season 5 kicks off 1-2 years after the end of season 4. I split the difference and called it 1.5 years, but either way, season 4 has to end in 2015, which forces everything else back as well. So season 1 has to be 2012.