Well it's been about a month since I said I'd be back 'next week' with a post about House of Mystery, so I figured the time was about right to deliver.
Taking it's name and basic premise from a long running DC Comics horror anthology title from the 50's thru 80's, House of Mystery was launched by DC imprint Vertigo in 2008. The first collection, Room and Boredom, collects issues 1-5 of this new series, written by Bill Willingham and Mathew Sturges with art by Luca Rossi.
Cain; he of 'and Abel' fame; has long been established as the owner of the House of Mystery, acting as 'host' or narrator during the titles anthology years. This series opens with him returning from one of his regular visits to his Brother's House of Secrets, for a spot of tea and homicide, to find that the House of Mystery has disappeared. It's a fairly radical departure, beautifully handled in just two pages, that allows the writers to take the series, well, pretty much anywhere they want to.
We rejoin the house an indeterminate time later to find it operating as an inn; a resting place for weary travelers from many realms and realities. Most can come and go as their needs dictate, taking refuge and succor before moving on. Others however, cannot, and it is these souls, trapped in the house for reasons beyond their knowledge or control, who will be our 'heroes' and 'heroines' as he series progresses.
Why are they trapped? Who are the mysterious figures who arrive, without warning, to take them away one at a time, seemingly chosen at random, to an unknown fate? And what effect will the latest addition to their number, young Fig Keele, have on all their lives, not to mention the future of the house itself?
The mysteries are heaped on us in this opening book, and they serve to whet the readers appetite admirably for what may lay ahead. It's abundantly clear that all of the characters; The Bartender, The Poet, The Pirate and The Drama Queen, as the book jacket would have them named; have secrets, agendas, and divided loyalties of their own, and some might be far more interested in them, than the shared goal of escaping the house. Only time will tell which of them Fig can trust. Or indeed, whether they can trust Fig.
As engaging as the ongoing mysteries are, Sturges and Willingham have not forgotten the titles anthology roots, either. The 'sole coin of the realm' is the telling of a story, and each issue takes a brief pause as one of the bar patrons regales us with a short tale from their lives. From the process server who relates his assignment to deliver papers to a deep sea monster, to the mobster who can weasel out of any situation, and the wonderful little slice of life that is 'Jordan's Tale', the stories are as varied as they are twisted. I would venture, however, that the one most likely to stay with you beyond the closing of the book is the gruesome and heartbreaking tale of Hungry Sally and her less than blissful marriage.
Even if the identity of one 'mystery' character is all too obvious, that doesn't detract from what is, over all, a masterclass in hooking a reader, guaranteeing that they'll be back for more. And what more can you ask for from a Book One?
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