Comic Review: House of Mystery #1

[jakebe]

I read this over morning potatoes. Or at least tried to. By the time I was done with Bill Willingham’s story describing the origins of one of the House’s borders, I wasn’t really that hungry anymore.

The first issue is mostly taken up by (re-)introduction; the House of Mystery is actually a Vertigo staple, and this latest incarnation headed by Matthew Sturges is its third go-round. But for those of us completely new to it (and the Dreaming), here’s what you need to know. Cain and Abel (yes, really) are the stewards of two houses in the realm of dreams. Abel stands guard over the House of Secrets, while his murderous brother presides over the House of Mystery. Cain returns from tea with his brother to find his house suddenly missing, which is both mysterious *and* hilarious. I’ll admit to a bit of schadenfreude here; Cain is a giant, smug asshole and it’s good to see bad things happen to him.

Meanwhile, we’re introduced to a few basic concepts. Most of the boarders in the House are there against their will, but sometimes they’re allowed to leave for reasons unknown. Stories are the only currency allowed at the giant bar-style common room, and fictional tales are preferred. And a normal woman who’s been dreaming about the House all of her life is being chased by two mysterious people who want their hands on the plans she’s drawn for it. You see, the House is constantly shifting, and supposedly you can never go into the same room twice. Perhaps if actual blueprints can be had, you can figure out how to leave. That’s my guess, anyway.

This comic suffers from really obvious exposition, but it’s the first issue, so what do you expect? A bunch of fashionably bored people ask each other leading questions, and their snarky friends can provide the obvious answers…all tempered with just enough bite to keep you interested. Maybe.

The story for this issue is how Hungry Sally got to be so hungry, which has got to be one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in a comic for a long time. It starts out innocuously enough, with doll-eyed Sally travelling to a city populated by giant, bipedal flies, and the motif is one that Tim Burton would be proud of. It jumps the rails quickly, though, once Sally gets married to one of them, and goes from surprising to shocking to strangely heartbreaking in the space of three pages. Willingham, who wrote this part, just continues to amaze me. He’s the best thing Vertigo’s got going for it today.

It looks like they’re going to be encapsulating one-shot stories around an ongoing plot, and I’m not sure how well they’ll mesh. But the dual format works for me; if the plot gets boring, the issue can at least be saved by the story, and if the story is weak for an issue or two, you can sink your teeth into the longer one surrounding it. Vertigo has a really strong stable of artists and writers right now, so it’s safe to say that this should shape up to be a neat little series.

Rating: 7/10