Clean Room 1: Immaculate Conception

Different and well done. The art drew me in. The writing kept me there to the end. Buying them all.

I just find the script very compelling: Gail Simone makes every scene solid in dialogue and plot and Jon Davis-Hunt produces graphic narration which is perfect to me. Besides the mistery, the blood, and all that cool stuff the plot delivers at the end very elegantly. And is awsome.

As one of the few modern Vertigo titles still getting discussed, I wanted to check out Gail Simone's newest series. While I wouldn't say I was captivated by what I read, I see great potential in this title.The story stars Chloe Pierce, a reporter with a lot to deal with. When her fiance kills himself, Chloe turns first to despair, then to revenge. Her fiance had become involved with a group that borders between self-help classes and a scientology-level cult, led by Astrid Mueller. The series features plenty of great art and good horror, both of the psychological kind and...not the psychological kind.Now, for flaws, the series does a lot to keep the reader in suspense as to what is actually going on, to the point where you don't really get to know a lot of the characters, or even be sure what's going on. But I don't expect this to last throught the next volume. Also, Astrid's dialogue doesn't come off quite as charismatic as the other characters seem to think it is. Hopefully, that changes.All in all, I'm optimistic about this series.

Great concept. Great writing. Great characters. Picked it up on a whim. Had a good feeling and I was right. Great book.

The best adult comic book in ages. The artwork is clean, incredibly detailed and absurdly disturbing. The dialog is funny and wrong. The plot is brilliant in small and large, and rewards multiple reads. I cannot recommend this enough, and in a perfect world this would be the next HBO series.

Interesting...

The art is solid. There are some atypical arrangements of panels, and they work very well. Visually this is nicely done.On the plus side of the ledger: Ms. Simone has talked about how female character deaths are often used to help develop/explain male hero/protagonist behavior. She has turned that upside down with this series. It's well done and appreciated.I have no strong feelings for or against nudity, sex, violence, or obscenities in comics or other forms of entertainment. I do have strong feelings about their application. If they are there to enhance the story and they work well, then I am in their favor. If they are there for cheap titillation and shock value, then it's just a lazy attempt to win over an immature audience.The bigger flaw is in the writing. The concept is simple: a journalist fails at suicide after her fiance killed himself. She decides to investigate the cult/self-help guru that he had been studying right before his death. The cult is modeled very much after Scientology, so far as having clean rooms in which to do their work (in Scientology, practitioners hope to "go clear"...the word similarity is certainly intentional). The bits about the celebrities involved with the guru's program is absolutely modeled on Scientology and are the best part of this book. But those are simple to do. Ms. Simone could have made this more interesting and eminently more readable if this were a direct take down of Scientology. Instead, there are demons and spirits and a variety of other creatures that appear of out nowhere in a plot that Ms. Simone hopes we stick around long enough for her to eventually explain. One gets the idea that she is making this up as she goes along, rather than having carefully thought and plotted it out (to be fair, most comic writers are not doing this, hence the high percentage of terrible books on the market).It's all a bit confusing and a lot of work and not a fun ride.

Gail Simone tells a story of modern horror. I won't go into details to avoid spoilers. The story is unique in its inventiveness and doesn't let down. The characters are well developed and intriguing, no cliches in this one. The art is clean yet detailed, I've found myself looking for his other work right away. Give this book a try, it's definitely a Vertigo book.

Gail Simone at the top of her game. Great premise, compelling antagonist that's just right amount of similar to the certain brainwashing cult. The story flows at a fast but not too frantic pace and is full of surprises. Consider me totally sold on the series and unless there will be a serious dip in the quality I'll buy the following tpb's too. So far this seems like a future vertigo classic. Something we've been waiting since Scalped ended.

Gruesome and gripping.

Chloe Pierces Verlobter Philip ist in die Fänge einer geheimnisvollen Organisation geraten, die ein wenig an die Scientology Sekte denken läßt. Als Philip sich bald darauf das Leben nimmt, liegt ein Selbsthilferatgeber der Sektenführerin Astrid Mueller neben seinem Leichnam. Zuerst verliert Chloe ihren Lebenswillen, aber dann nimmt sie den Kampf gegen die vermeintliche Sekte mit den Waffen ihres Berufs auf, denn Chloe ist Reporterin: "F*** Superman, I always wanted to be Lois Lane" (man glaubt es kaum, Amazon läßt das böse F-Wort immer noch nicht zu, nicht einmal als Zitat; na Hauptsache man hat keine moralischen Bedenken, die Bücher zu verkaufen, in denen das böse Wort vorkommt).Die Ereignisse, in die sie nun stolpert, sprengen nicht nur ihren Vorstellungshorizont. Chloes Weg führt sie tief, tief in den Kaninchenbau und es scheint, dass jede noch so verrückte Idee aus den Romanen der Sektenführerin wahr ist.CLEAN ROOM ist eine gelungene Mischung aus SciFi und Horror mit so ziemlich allen Zutaten, die die Genres zu bieten haben. Ein solcher Mix hätte leicht danaben gehen können, aber Gail Simone beweist einmal mehr, das sie in der obersten Liga spielt. Chloe ist eine glaubwürdige und sympathische Hauptfigur und ihre drei hilfsbereiten Nachbarn bringen als einfache Menschen ein bodenständiges Element in diese ansonsten völlig abgedrehte Story. Auf der anderen Seite steht die geheimnisvolle Astrid Mueller mit ihrem Mitarbeiterstab, und man weiß nicht, sind sie die Guten oder die Bösen.Absolut faszinierend auch die Idee des titelgebenden Clean Rooms, dessen Funktionsweise unerforschlich scheint. Ist das alles noch modernste Technik, oder spielt da mehr hinein? Und wer ist der Gegenspieler von Astrid, sind es Aliens oder böse Mächte? Fest steht nur, dass er extrem blutdürstig und gefährlich ist.Fazit: Der Auftaktband mit den ersten sechs Heften zieht in den Bann und läßt nicht los! Spannend, blutig und gruselig, aber dank der tollen Hauptfigur Chloe auch emotional.

Dämonen und Teufel sind ein immer wieder gern zitiertes Thema im Horror-Genre. Der erste Band von clean room entfacht gleich mehrere davon auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen, So dass man am Ende des ersten Sammelbands noch nicht sagen kann, wie sich die Story weiterentwickelt.Sehr gut gezeichnet, mit cleveren Dialogen und interessanten Figuren ausgestattet, bietet der Comic einem noch keine Möglichkeit, den Helden zu identifizieren.Genau dieses Vabance-Spiel geht zwingend aber klar zu Lasten der Charaktertiefe, wodurch sich bei mir bisher das Mitfiebern und -leiden bisher in Grenzen hielt.Band zwei erscheint demnächst, danach wird sich zeigen, wohin der Weg Clean Room führt, einstweilen für einen starken Auftakt 4 von 5!