![]() But there is a big part of me that loathes these people to my bones, the ones who promise everything to people who need help, only to deliver disappoint, poverty and grief. Those people, IF they help anyone, it’s merely an accidental side effect.Īnd I want to stress, being smart is no guarantee we won’t fall for these people. I’ve been spending a lot of time talking to professionals to clearly differentiate between what they do, and what the carnival psychic does, or the motivational speaker who has made his bullshit into a cottage industry. And I am in awe of mental health professionals and anyone who actually chooses a career to help others. GS: I have all the love in the world for people looking to improve themselves. Do you have any thoughts as to the gravitation to so-called self-help cures of late? Throughout the years, there have always been folks who have claimed to have the “cure for what ails ya,” but it seems so pervasive in the past few decades. ![]() We didn’t focus on any one particular organization, and in fact, quite a lot of what Astrid does is straight out of the playbook of some of the newer, perfectly legal, large business behemoths.įS: What are your views on the self-help movement? It’s a huge industry that makes publishers’ coffers overflow and it’s difficult for me at times to separate the money-making aspect to the industry from the self-help aspect. The one constant is that new fuel is needed constantly to push those engines, and that fuel is human beings. The difference in mindset between some extreme self-help programs, and a pyramid scam, and a cult, is often just a twist of a very thin razor. So, I’ve grown up around these people, and you see these patterns, people being trained into believing increasingly implausible things. And the REALLY rural areas, for some reason, contain more acknowledged cults and cultish organizations than any other state, per capita. GS: I live in the Oregon boonies, and it’s a very interesting fact that while the cities in Oregon are mostly very liberal progressive, the rural areas tend to skew the opposite way. What is your research process like for writing Clean Room? Are there any particular religious movements or cults that you have drawn from in your plotting? And I am doing my best to make sure they terrify you, as well.įS: There are many allusions to modern cults and cult-type environments, which made the anthropology nerd in me sing. It’s full of the things that actually terrify me. And Chloe Pierce, a broken-down reporter who has lost everything to Astrid, and vows to take her down. What if you couldn’t laugh about it any more?Ĭlean Room is the story of a cult of personality based around a woman named Astrid Mueller, who is the head of the most powerful self-help organization this century. GS: Basically, it’s this: What if you had to suddenly take every crackpot conspiracy theory, no matter how goofy or absurd, seriously? And I mean, HORRIFICALLY seriously? Think about the nonsensical things people believe, the conspiracy stuff, the paranormal infestations, all of it. Gail Simone: My pleasure, thank you for asking! I like your site very much.įS: For folks who might have not picked up the book, what would be your elevator pitch for Clean Room? Simone was kind enough to speak with me recently about the genesis of Clean Room, how the idea of the book was sparked from her own experiences, and why she decided to wade into the waters of Vertigo Comics.įreakSugar: First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us! With DC Comics’ new launch of Vertigo titles last fall, she joined the fray with her compelling series Clean Room, a tale of terror and the dangers of cults of personality. Writer Gail Simone has become synonymous with penning engaging comic book stories that are rife with underlying themes, from her work with Birds of Prey to her time on Batgirl.
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