Originally published May 14, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1017
Several years back, I wrote a four-issue run on Web of Spider-Man about a group called the “Cult of Love.” A grief-stricken Betty Leeds was easy pickings for the mind-manipulating group, and the story focused on Spider-Man’s attempts to get her out of the Cult’s clutches.
(The story also featured a subplot about Mary Jane contemplating posing nude for Playboy—a storyline which was the victim of last minute editorial cold feet. It was art-and-dialogue-changed to MJ’s trying to decide whether she should model skimpy lingerie—rendering the subsequent angst totally nonsensical. So if you ever happen to reread the story, all you have to do is substitute “naked” for “in skimpy underwear” and mentally undress MJ during the photo sequences, which shouldn’t be too much of a chore. But I digress.)
At the climax of the story, a crazed cult member wound up torching the whole establishment. Most of the cultists managed to get out, although the leader did not, when the roof collapsed on him.
The storyline was written up in the Skeptical Inquirer, a publication that debunks professional scam psychics and other “paranormal” activities. They said nice things about it because it helped to explain, in detail, some of the tricks that cult leaders use to convince their followers that they are genuine miracle workers.
It was a nice little four-parter (Mary Jane story butchering aside), but I hadn’t given it much thought until recently when I was at home watching CNN, which was covering the FBI tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidians, the followers of self-proclaimed messiah David Koresh. And I watched in amazement as, suddenly, fire started to break out in several different places in the compound.
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