Showcase Presents: House of Secrets Vol. 2 [Paperback]

Various (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Showcase Presents | Publication Date: October 27, 2009

DC's Showcase series collected the 1970s horror series HOUSE OF SECRETS continues with this new, second volume of terror tales! These stories features work by notable comics talents including horror master Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, animator Alex Niño, MAD Magazine artist Sergio Aragonés and many others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401225233
• ISBN-13: 978-1401225230
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.1 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #814,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More of the same wonderful stuff !, January 23, 2010

By 

Red Eyes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showcase Presents: House of Secrets Vol. 2 (Paperback)

It's a significant improvement on the patchy quality of Volume One.

All the Philippine artists are here, and it's amazing they have never really got the credit they deserve -- their work is eerie,dreamlike and deeply imaginative.

All the familiar 'typical DC horror' characters are here in the stories : homophobic construction workers beat up on suede jacketed , pendant and headband wearing hippies into the occult; thug rockabilly gangs clash with weirdo priests in Brooklyn ghettos; avaricious paisley scarved businessmen make their deals with the devil;dour,lonely post war European immigrants sell black magic books to arrogant bohemian artists and beat poets; anarchist biker gangs find themselves locked in battles to the death with jealous ghosts in haunted mansions; and mad professors fall in love with hippy chicks whilst chasing Babylonian devils around pentagrams --

Yes, they are all here in the far out freak world that DC established in the mid 70's, all of which will take you back to the days you pored over these volumes whilst listening to your big brother's scratchy Black Sabbath records on a beat up mono record player during long, rainy afternoons.

Sure, some of the stories are pretty corny and naive; sure some of the stories let you down, and more than a few have hokey plots and rubbish endings, and sure some of it is a rush job -- but none of that really detracts from the real charm and magical quality of these reprints.

For those of us who grew up with these atmospheric,eccentric , 'transformative' texts in the 70's, the DC reissue program is welcome.

Many of us look forward to more of these pulp horror books on the market, especially featuring the work of the unique Filipino artists, who surely deserve their own full colour volume.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "showcase presents" means affordable black & white reprints, December 28, 2010

By 

W Mianecke (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showcase Presents: House of Secrets Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Don't people read product descriptions before they purchase items?

The easy-to-remember code for anyone purchasing a DC trade paperback with SHOWCASE PRESENTS in the title is that this means it is not in color. Not even greytones. If it was in color, it would cost around three times as much. For a lower price you get nearly 500 pages of comics you'd be hard pressed to collect the originals of. AND if you find a particular issue you'd like to see in color, you can then make an informed purchase of an original copy of that issue.

Sure, this format isn't for everyone, but, if the content is several decades old I argue that the b&w format can actually do a service to the penciller/inker team, as the color process back then often obscured the nuances of the sort of work one finds in this HOUSE OF SECRETS collection.

If you're spending your hard-earned cash on a trade, I strongly suggest you read the product description offered by Amazon.com and/or the more detailed product reviews if there are any.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DC classic Horror at its best, May 31, 2010

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Showcase Presents: House of Secrets Vol. 2 (Paperback)

This latest volume in the Showcase Presents series collects issues #99 - 119 of the legendary DC Comics horror anthology series. For many young and up-and-coming artists of the 1960s and 70s, anthology titles like House of Secrets and sister title House of Mystery, is where many of these talents got their start and gained experience. It also was where many old-timers got work who were no longer doing the frontline comic titles. And yet, the quality of the work in these stories often far surpasses many of the main titles published during the era. These artists did not have to stick to the "DC Formula" that many of the artists working on superhero titles did. Thus we get stories with much more artistic flair and creativity.

Most of the covers included in this volume were done by greats such as Berni Wrightson and Wm Michael Kaluta. House of Secrets adheres largely to the old EC Comics outline of stories that featured a bizarre or ironic twist at the end. Great stories like "The Witch Doctor's Cloak", "A Watchtower in the Dark", and "Ghosts Don't Bother Me, But..." highlight the book. The artists include the likes of Rudy Nebres, Alfredo Alcala, Arthur Suydam, Alex Nino, Flor Dery, and Nestor Redondo. Adding a dose of humor to the horror is cartoonist Sergio Aragones with his one-page cartoons throughout the volume. This is awesome, legendary work from one of the best horror anthologies ever.