Tim Seeley's EFFIGY Puts the Cult in "Cult of Celebrity" at Vertigo

He's fought off monsters with a young girl who knows how to hack it. He's explored the corners of Gotham City and the rest of the DCU with bats and spies alike. So what's Tim Seeley's newest venture in comic books? Child stars, cults, and murder mysteries, of course.

In Effigy, Seeley's new project at Vertigo, he takes a look at the cult of celebrity and brings it a more literal meaning. After the first issue introduced former child star Chondra, now a cop in a small town in Ohio, the second hit this week with more on the conspiracy, more on the science fiction elements, and more solid twists.

We talked with the writer about what's to come, what he hopes he's getting across to readers, and why celebrity culture and religion have a lot in common.

Tim, I really want to know first off, just where this came from? It's a very unique take on the "Child Star."

Tim Seeley: Yeah, when I first started pitching to Vertigo, all of my pitches had something to do with celebrity culture and the way that it's taken over. It's always been a thing, but I think it's become so much more elevated in the last ten years. Partially, it's because they way I think Vertigo comics work best is when they have the finger on the pulse, when they're dealing with something out of the headlines, or "of the day." So Effigy really combined my interest in police procedurals, and the rise of religions and cults and stuff, combining that with my recent experiences of meeting people who are former child stars or stars of cult genre TV shows and movies that I've met at conventions.

So it's sort of combining all of those interests into one story.

This story certainly started off in an unconventional way for a Vertigo book, with the saccharine sweet look back at their show; why was it important for you to start that way and establish what their TV show as Star Cops was like?

TS: It's partially exactly what you say; you have this expectation for what a Vertigo book is going to be, then you open it and see this brightly colored science fiction story with a dog headed guy and robots with goofy names. I wanted it to be surprising, but I also like the contrast that it sets up for later. Obviously, the job of Hollywood and the celebrity industry is to sell us on this idea of the wonderful lives these people have, and that we want to be part of that. We all tuned in to watch the Oscars for some unknown reason, just to see what people are wearing.

The reality is that they're all very human and often plagued by the same kinds of things that we all are, except it's kind of magnified by the fame that they have. I just wanted to set up those contrasts immediately, to establish what happened to these people and how Chondra ended up going from this cute little pink dress wearing science officer to a cop in a crappy town doing a crappy job.

The first issue did a lot of setup, establishing that Chondra's mom is a psycho child-star mom, and there is some kind of weird conspiracy and mystery, but you probably only spent a few pages on that – is that something the pace increases in covering a lot?

TS: Yeah, definitely. We really get into the condition of the body, and why it's interesting, why it's weird. We set the characters on the path of trying to figure stuff out.

For me, I'm always less interested in the big mystery than I am in the individual characters. I'm not sure that's the way readers read it, but I try to make sure that you get the big stories while I'm more fascinated by the way the people interact with each other, and what they want, and what they're not getting. I think every issue deals with each; the first four issues is an arc that wraps pretty tightly. So you'll get some action and elements of the conspiracy, but it's still more about Chondra and her life and what she expected out of being a cop versus what she actually got out of it.

How important for Chondra and the other characters are their roles in "Star Cops" in contrast to their lives today?

TS: You'll see it really depend. The characters are very different in what happens to them after the show. So we'll see in issues 3 and 4, Chondra goes back to a Star Cops convention, and we'll see some of the other characters and what happens to them afterwards.

Just like real life, everybody comes out of these things differently. Some people come out of the Mickey Mouse Club and become Ryan Gosling, and some of them disappear, you know? So there's a pretty interesting contrast, I hope. I'm actually really proud of some of the interactions in 3 and 4 with one of the members of her old cast. But I think it also lets you see how the show ties to the big story, and the weird religion that's coming out of these books that were the inspiration for the TV show.

Obviously the town Effigy Mound has the title of the book in it, so there has to be some significance to the town itself – do you see it playing a larger part as a "character" in the story, the way Gotham does in Batman stories, or is it more of just a setting?

TS: I think it's a little bit of both. The first arc, it has something to do with it because it's where Chondra comes from. The title takes a couple of meanings, as you'll see, especially with the body that they find and the idea that an effigy is something we build up as a representation of something we idolize, but also burn down. That's kind of the way we treat celebrities, too.

So the title has a couple of meanings, but the town is also important, and we'll see that play in future issues, too. It speaks to the larger theme though, I think.

What do you hope readers get out of the story and what it's saying about celebrity worship today?

TS: Well first, I hope they just get a good, fun, dark story they can sink their teeth into. I hope it's a little transgressive, the way that a Vertigo tale can make you think and creep you out. I also think it's sort of more to make you think about the differences and similarities between religions and how similar it is to the cult of celebrity. The way we build a religion around a figure like Christ; we also sort of do that around Kim and Kanye. We crucify our idols, and we love it when Kanye says something stupid so we can say what a dick he is!

So all those things; if we can make you think about those similarities and give you perspective on modern American culture.

Tell me a little about the way you're working on this with Marley. Obviously you have an artist background as well; I was really struck by Marley and Ryan's work, it has kind of a Pia Guerra, early "Y: The Last Man" look to it with the clean, stark, natural feel…

TS: Yeah, she, Marley was a Shelly Bond [Vertigo Editor] pick, and I think it was the right pick because she's so good at making things feel pretty and cute when they need to be, but she does horrible stuff so well too! That's an important aspect of any good Vertigo comic.

So she got to pick which Vertigo book she wanted to work on, and I really got lucky that she picked me. I design some stuff for her, then she does whatever she wants and ignores me (laughs). Which is cool! I like that about her.

So it's a good working relationship, and I trust her to make the right choices. Her ability to tell the story gets better every issue, which I'm very proud of.

Excellent. How much of the science fiction and dark fantasy aspect should readers expect versus sticking to more of the hard reality?

TS: Some, definitely. There's an element of occult and high science fiction weirdness to it. There always will be, because I love that stuff and it provides such a nice contrast to someone having to walk around giving parking tickets! It's definitely part of the story; the idea is to keep it mysterious, and make it creepy and weird, sort of unknowable and esoteric, the way religion comes across to people who aren't a part of it. It's kind of inspired by the way people react to Scientology with a space god who lives in a volcano or something versus Christianity and a guy that comes back from the dead and a guy that creates the universe in 7 days. You just don't see the weirdness because you're so used to it.

So hopefully this has some unknowable, crazy rules, but for the people in it, it's how they get through the day.

Alright, what's one big moment that you're really looking forward to people seeing in issue 2 that you can tease?

TS: I'm looking forward to everybody getting to see the early interactions between Chondra and Edie. Edie is sort of in her own world, but also able to see things very clearly. That's pretty cool and one of my favorite parts that I've written.

And while I have you, I have to ask real quick about Grayson, are we going to see a fairly solid wrap on the current storyline before Convergence, or are you guys going to leave us hanging for three months?

TS: Uh, both. (laughs) I think it wraps the current arc, but it also sets up a bunch of stuff for post-Convergence. We're going to roll right back into the series, but we want to sort of set up a "season 2" since we have a little break there to figure out some stuff. So it'll have a wrap to it, but also leaves some interesting questions for us.