I stopped with new monthlies in 2014, largely because I just sort of lost interest, but I was baited by Dynamite's James Bond book (which, unfortunately, has so far been bland through three issues), and decided to check out this new Vertigo book on the basis that it was created and written by Gail Simone. So far, I'm loving it!

The premise is that our protagonist, Chloe, is determined to get to the bottom of why so many people, including her fiance, have committed suicide after becoming disciples of self-help guru Astrid Muller. Astrid uses a Clean Room to engage people, wherein she susses out from them their dark secrets. How it all connects still hasn't been made entirely clear; issue #4 comes out this week.

Given my mental health, I found issue #1 jarring enough that I almost decided that this book wasn't for me, at least not at this time. But I decided to check out issue #2 just to be sure and found it easier for me to get into without flinching. I'm interested in the situation and characters enough already to feel invested in this book. Unless Warren Ellis does something spectacular with the rest of his opening Bond arc, I'm likely to drop that book but Clean Room has hooked me.

Anyone else reading?

Have heard other negative reviews of Ellis' Bond, but imagine he might have something up his sleeve.

Clean Room sounds interesting, and enjoy everything I read of Simone's, but I always wait for $1 sales so it might be awhile until I get to either.

Read the first issue of Ellis' Bond title and it seemed like by-the-numbers Warren Ellis: Competantly written, glacially slow-moving, minimal dialog, cold, and unengaging.

Really, you could swap out James Bond for any stock Warren Ellis character like Desolation Jones or Elijah Snow without missing a beat.

Haven't checked out Clean Room. I pretty much abandoned Vertigo about ten years ago, only reading Hellblazer to the end and Sandman Overture.

Finally read the first trade and loved it. Will buy the rest next Vertigo sale.

I was wondering if this was the comic with the cover that resembled Invincible, and it is. I've considered it a number of times but might have to pull the trigger one of these days.

It’s on Hoopla if you want to check it out for free.