Customer Reviews

Showcase Presents: House of Secrets, Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fairly good buy, but it's flawed. I found it to be one of the weakest in the DC horror reissue series, but even so, the real fans amongst us will be mostly satisfied with it.

I will balance the 'highs' and the 'lows' of the book here :

True, there is definitely some filler here, some dross amongst the 'gems' -- Some of the stories here seem to date back to the early to mid 60's,and don't at all fit with the early 70's 'flavour' of the whole series.

True, the art is not consistently up to the standard of "House of Mysteries'" best moments. But rest assured, there are still some truly great artists here too, with very heavy woodcut /Roy Lichtenstein ( Whaaaamm! ) style art which you shouldn't miss. And, importantly, some of the stories do indeed, feature, Nino, Alcala and the other Fillipino artists who were at the top of their game in the early to mid 70's.

Final conclusion -- Volume Two in the series is better, but Volume One is still a pretty good reissue to keep the real fans amongst us satisfied.....until DC reissue the next in the series to feed our pulp comic book habit !

So -- Remember reading these comics, on a rainy afternoon alone, in Dad's study ( that smelt of pipe smoke), or huddled in your bed ,under freshly starched sheets, totally drawn into the sense of mystery in the art and stories ? The rain and thunder rumbles and trickles outside,as you feel the slight chill of the afternoon drawing to a close, the evening hues slowly darkening the skies.....

These reprints re create some of that magic.

The prior review misses the point: these are horror tales from a distant era. Of course they are basic! That is part of the charm of this volume, so go into it with your eyes open. This series is totally on the same level as HOUSE OF MYSTERY.

The Abel framing sequences are very odd and endearing: we also get a few cameos from the sexy young witch from THE WITCHING HOUR, so perhaps we'll see a Showcase for that title in the near future.

I bought the volume for #92 the story on the cover. I am a huge fan of Len Wein & Berni Wrightson. Able (of Cain & Able) has been sent to the cemetery by Cain to find his courage to catch a SNIPE!!! (Wrightson drew Cain & Able, never a more sinister Cain & a pathetic Able) The story starts on pg 283. it starts "I cannot remember the morning any more--but I know the evening well! I belong to it now-- and it cares for me in return." It is about one of the predecessors of the Swamp thing (Alex Olsen), his lovely golden haired wife Linda, and his covetous best friend Damien. With all love triangles something always goes bad. Well Damien and Linda are now married since Alex is dead. Linda figures out who killed Alex. It ends badly, as Linda is frightened of the Swamp thing, who just saved her life. the last line of the story is heartbreaking. "The tortured shattered look in her once-sparkling eyes is more than I can endure-- I turn my face away from her-- and start to go home... Only the swamp is kind to me now-- it is only the swamp that cares-- If tears could come-- they would!" The whole volume is filled with some of the best of the best writers & illustrators. I now have to get the "House of Mystery" Cain's house and his stories. Able isn't complete with out Cain. And watch out for "Goldie".

17 issues with 541 pages.

I bought and read Showcase House of Mystery vol. 2 earlier this year. House of Mystery vol. 2 was an overall interesting read, and I would very much like to check out vol. 1 once I can get a copy of it.

My enjoyment of House of Mystery also made me interested in checking out House of Secrets. I've always loved anthology comic books like Tales from the Crypt or Weird Science, so I reasonably figured I would enjoy House of Secrets.

I also know the cover for House of Secrets might entice others to check out this volume, but I would seriously recommend against it. Yes, it's the original Swamp Thing story, but if you buy Alan Moore's classic run on the ongoing series, you'll see the original story IN FULL COLOR!

You will also get a much better series of stories than House of Secrets has. That is, of course, the main selling point for this volume so I guess I should stop getting sidetracked and get to the meat.

First off, there's the host stories featuring Abel. I was introduced to Cain and Abel in Sandman, much like most people my age and younger, I would reckon. In HoM vol. 2 Cain only introduces some of the stories, usually delivering Cryptkeeper-like puns about morbid topics. Not terrible, but that's all he does.

Abel, over at his house, has more interesting sequences; dealing with the house almost like it's a living creature trying to torment him. His constant one-sided dialogue with the unseen "Goldie" is also a nice touch, making Abel a real character and not just a figure to introduce the main stories.

That's the only advantage House of Secrets has over House of Mystery. Though I wonder if Abel was relegated to the background more and more as the series progressed. Unfortunate if true.

But the stories themselves, the selling point for each issue (and now for this collected volume), don't have the charm of Abel's stories or the visceral punch of older series such as the justly-famous Tales from the Crypt and its EC kin.

I mention in the title of this review that this collection exemplifies the Comic Code's legacy. I say this because it is so obvious about it. It's not that the horrific elements like corpses are cut out or hidden, but because of the Code's influence on the stories.

The artwork in the series is fantastic, just like House of Mystery. Let me get that clear. It's not embellished physical specimens like most superhero works. It's realistic (with some exceptions) and that gives the tone of the book a darker tint. This effect can also be seen in House of Mystery. This is why I'm giving the book two stars instead of one.

No, the failing is in the tales, which I consider more important than the art. One of the rules of the Comics Code was that you could not depict criminals prospering. The heroes always have to stop them, and if they don't get arrested at the end of the story they've still been thwarted in their schemes or they've lost something dear to them. In Spider-Man, Kingpin's wife drawing away from him because of his criminal enterprise was a masterful way of following this rule while making the villain a three-dimensional character.

But House of Secrets is an anthology series, as mentioned; all the stories are a few pages long and wrapped up at the end. So the criminals (most often murderers) have to be found out and punished clearly and decisively by the end.

Which isn't a terrible crutch. Better stories usually have the criminal fall victim to some ironic twist; one story in House of Secrets that pulls it off involves a superstitious town. The problem is the majority of stories don't pull it off as neatly.

Too many of the stories involve a twist ending that doesn't make sense, or require circumstances that are not believable, or that the villains are just plain stupid.

A wicked orphanage-runner can walk into a painting, so to avoid the police she tries to go into the painting again. Only this time one of the orphans replaced the painting of a meadow with a painting of Hell. But to believe this we have to accept that the witch couldn't tell the difference between the two paintings. She isn't blind, this isn't an acceptable twist.

Or a perfectly serviceable story about an elderly man whose only friends are the dolls he creates. Fine. Except then the story veers off to one of his dolls being brought to life by aliens that are preparing to conquer the world, and the doll sacrifices his life to save Earth. Whiskey tango foxtrot.

Or all the stories where the twist is obvious to anyone that's watched the Twilight Zone or read Tales from the Crypt. A stranger comes into town, looking for his past and doesn't display emotions. Oh look, he's a robot. Yawn.

There are a couple good stories here, even if they are formulaic. There's only one story I would say I really enjoyed. It's a two page story about cartoon characters that quit their job and leave Earth in a spaceship, saying the planet wasn't worth conquering anyway. I don't know why, but I found it both funny and freaky.

Overall, the stories either end how you expect them to, or they involve something too stupid for an intelligent person to expect.

I would suggest that you get the House of Mystery Showcases first. This is mediocre at best.