House of Secrets Omnibus

House of Secrets #1-25, Façade

by Steven T. Seagle, Teddy Kristiansen (Illustrations)

In the fully painted psychological thriller and horror story HOUSE OF SECRETS, teenage runaway Rain Harper becomes part of a supernatural justice system when she takes up residence in a haunted mansion. Holding court within the abandoned house, five otherworldly ghostly spirits known as the Juris hypnotically summon people to their location and judge them for the secrets that they keep. Acting as a "witness" that binds the Juris' trials to this plane of existence, Rain is forced to validate their decisions as she simultaneously tries to save the defendants from their sentences.

Collects: House of Secrets (1996) #1-25, Vertigo Winter's Edge (1998) #1, and House of Secrets Facade (2001) #1-2

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Dc Comics

752 pages, Hardcover

First published December 18, 2012

About the author

Steven T. Seagle is an American writer who works in the comic book, television, film, live theater, video game, and animation industries.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I said when I reviewed the 00's House of Mystery, the whole reason I decided to track down the Vertigo House of... books is because I'm pretty excited about the new House of Whispers that's coming out this year, and it's made me realize I never really explored the imprint's previous forays into modern revisions on these old EC horror anthology titles.

House of Mystery was a series I'd heard of (and ultimately wasn't impressed by), but House of Secrets totally slipped by me in the mid '90's when it was originally published. Unlike its two sister titles, this series has nothing to do with either its EC incarnation or the Sandman-led reboot, but is instead basically a creator-owned book with a "licensed" title. Apparently it was quietly ended back in the day because Seagle & Kristiansen couldn't meet their deadlines, but when they approached DC fifteen years later to regain creative control, the company decided to put out this ridiculous omnibus instead of losing out on whatever percentage of profit a self-published collection might have earned the authors.

The most basic premise of HoS is vintage Vertigo through-and-through -- a hitchhiking Gen-X'er named Rain (sure) finds herself squatting in an abandoned mansion in Seattle (yup) which, it turns out, is also host to a collection of ghosts who run an arcane tribunal for people carrying dark secrets (whoooaa). If the ghosts judge that an accused party's secrets have caused harm (in most any capacity) to the world around them, they have the power to send that person to (probably) Hell. And while the ghosts act as arbiters for a dead person's soul as it enters the afterlife, they can also take the lives of living folks found guilty. But the ghosts need a living witness for their trials, and Rain is an unwilling accomplice in their rituals through the series' run.

This is the most complicated mumbo-jumbo-whatsit aspect of the story, and therefore needs to be explained first -- but the main focus of the series is really on Rain and her friends. They play in a band together (Rain's tortured soul makes her a great lyricist -- siiiigh), steal food together (so badass you guys), and talk a lot about sexual abuse and drugs and AIDS and who is or isn't gay because holy shit, this is the most 90's comic that ever fucking lived. Rain's secret life (ah, see what I did there) as a co-conspirator with the undead is only one of her many, many secrets -- by series' end, we learn that she's willing to go to implausibly bizarre lengths (like, way weirder than having ghost friends) to ensure that no one knows anything about her actual backstory.

But despite its gloomy goofiness (goofy gloominess?), and mainly due to Kristiansen's art, there is much of HoS that feels like buried treasure -- it's always nice to see a talented creative team able to work with a sizeable production budget on a project they're clearly in love with. Seagle, however, is a mixed bag. His rendering of Rain is a perfect storm of a hopeless emo narcissist trying to write his dream-woman, who is also a hopeless emo narcissist. Everything Rain says and does is nails on a chalkboard -- wooden, unbelievable, and aggravating, all the more so because all the other characters think she is sooooo coooool.

Seagle also made the creative decision to re-sequence the original issues for this collection -- in its original incarnation, Rain's adventures are intercut with flashbacks and vignettes of other characters from the world of the ghost tribunal. Even when she spends eleven issues on a roadtrip to find herself (blargh), the titular House still looms over the narrative through the inclusion of said flashbacks/vignettes. For this edition, Seagle has moved most of these narrative asides to separate sections of the book, which streamlines Rain's arc but also ensures that huge swaths of the story have nothing to do with the House at all. Further, the reordering means that characters are often left referencing events that a new reader would know nothing about. It might be that this disjointedness was an intentional move to create additional narrative tension (or something), but all in all the series' original sequence (which can be easily reconstructed using the table of contents) seems like it made a hell of a lot more sense.

And yet everything else Seagle does is top-notch -- most of the other characters are very well-rendered, and the structuring of a few specific issues are absolutely brilliant. Why the main character is also the worst-written is, if not a secret, at least a .... mystery (oh god I sicken myself)

But in general HoS is an interesting beast. I wish it weren't so expensive and hard to find, as it's the kind of book I'd love to get someone else's opinion on.

Maybe if you get it from the library, check it out and let me know. Or don't, whatever. It's cool either way. Let's get coffee if you got time after your shift.

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Confession time: I've been a fan of the concept of both "House of Mystery" and "House of Secrets" for quite some time, and am kindly disposed towards comics featuring the two metaphysical edifices.

And thus has to be one of the high points of their storied comics life. iIt takes the familiar. idea and twists it just enough to make it fresh and new and compelling. ("The. House of Mystery" series from the mid 2010s also tried this, mistly sucessfully.)

So, while there a few nitpicks I could make, I can't find a compelling reason to downgrade this to 4 stars.

[Heather Fryling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This must be about the most nineties book every written: secrets, madness, a preoccupation with sexual abuse and the need for catharsis, Seattle, coffee, and grunge music. It's also quite well done.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.75/5
A book so brooding and packed to the gills with adolescent angst that it could only have been birthed in the early 1990's. I mean, music features prominently throughout the narrative, and its mostly set in Seattle for goodness sakes. Yes, House of Secrets absolutely and unequivocally wears its influences and heart on its grubby flannelette sleeve. But is it any good. Well, kind of.
I knew nothing of this when I picked it up. It was a rare and long OOP Vertigo omnibus, which was all I needed to know. A quick flick to get to grips with the art before reading gave me pause for thought. This was some properly indie stuff. I mean, if you picked up a superhero book from the big 2 and were met with artwork such as this, I would expect a small nerd infused riot to break out. An acquired taste to be sure, but you get used to it.
Just like the art, the story won't be for everyone either. In fact, should any part of your adolescence fall in any time period outside of 90-94, then chances are this won't resonate, leaving you wondering just what on earth was wrong with people back then. The characters aren't particularly likeable. The dialogue is at times atrociously asinine and earnest all at once. Coming across like you just stumbled upon your teenage siblings creative writing journal. It's painfully cringey at times, yet despite me seemingly doing my darndest to keep you from reading it, there is something strangely appealing to be found in there as well. The back stories for 'The Juris' were, dare I say it, spectacular. Sadly a third of the way in the book goes off the rails and never truly recovers. It seems rather obvious Seagle didn't know where to take the story beyond the opening 10 or so issues. Leaving us with some rather boring and unnecessary wheel spinning, until it comes to a rather unsatisfying conclusion.
Better art and a more focused narrative could have seen this continue in some form for any number of issues. Despite the selective strengths contained within, it would be hard to recommend this to anyone outside of a very niche group. I.E people who grew up on a steady diet of Nirvana and self loathing. 2.75/5


OmniBen.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm probably biased when rating this series. I was more or less the target audience when it came out: I had really liked Seagle on Sandman Mystery Theatre and I was already a fan of Kristiansen and his European indie edge.

So... it's a series absolutely anchored in the era of its release: 2nd half of the 90s, Seattle, grunge, sarcastic main character and teenage angst all over the place. References that are now so out of date you don't know what to do with them.

Nevertheless... this is a series that manages its context and its characters well, with good narrative ideas - see the issue on the Plyck - and largely supported by Kristiansen's tortuous drawing. It's probably a bit too wordy at times and has an anti-climactic ending - at least when it comes to Rain's secret - but I have to admit that I enjoyed diving back into this series 25 years later.

Recommended for those who were into Nirvana, Mudhoney or Soundgarden in 95.

[Donyae Coles · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had read this in the 90s I would have loved it. I would have thought Rain was so cool! But as an adult, Rain has serious emotional and mental health issues. She's also a very unpleasant person who treats the people around her horribly.

I really liked parts of this series. The general House, how heaven and hell were treated, the spirits and some of the art. But mostly, these deals with a lot of themes poorly. Traci's rape was a big one that is written very strongly through the male gaze. Ruby's pass and the racism that ended her is also handled in a poor way. But it was the 90s. No one knew anything back then.

Mostly though, Rain's secret, the whole thing we were on this journey for was. . . crap. All of her lying and covering up was pointless for how weak her secret ended up being. And she treated everyone like trash to protect that secret when . . . it wasn't worth anything. Anything at all.

So, I liked it but this did not age well. It would be interesting to see this story done now.

[Emily Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been eyeing the very thick House of Secrets by Steven T. Seagle in the Cherry Hill Library since I’d moved here. I was afraid that picking it up would be an undertaking, and at 732 pages, it certainly is not a slight work.

My first encounter was a single issue I picked up from one of the 50¢ comic boxes. I wanted to read more, but never saw House of Secrets again until a mention of it in Kelly Link’s Pretty Little Monsters, an excellent book of stories which blew me away. And still, I hesitated to pick up House of Secrets not just because of its heft, but also because of its author: Seagle. Admittedly, I was unable to finish the series American Virgin, the first issue of which was purchased for me and proved to be full of a trite discussion of sexuality, and It’s a Bird, a memoir which examines the connections between Superman and his father. I was not terribly fond of either work, and therefore was not so excited about picking up his giant comic book work.

However, I ended up being dragged into House of Secrets, much like the unwitting victims of the house itself. The plot begins with Rain, a young runaway who is adopted by an even younger runaway, and taken to an abandoned house. Rain soon discovers that they are not alone when in the abandoned house, when she is conscripted into duty as a witness at a trial. The woman is asked for her secrets, which she does not provide. The woman is then put to trial for her ill her sister’s death. She is sent to the basement, and Rain finds herself bewildered and back to bed.

As the story unfolds, Rain finds herself swept into a new life, including friendships, romance, and a band, for which she writes lyrics. In addition to the mystery of the house, there is also the mystery of Rain, who lives and breathes secrets. She hesitates to reveal intimacies even to those closest to her, though she still ends up with close friendships.

Many of the values revealed in the pages are very 1990s, especially the ideas of nothing being straightforward and the counterculture depicted. For me, even the illustrations were a real throwback. Nostalgia for high school (Or, what would be the opposite of nostalgia? Something that implies revulsion?) and the grunge days of yore rang true to my experiences of that time period.

By the end of the book, I did not feel that I had taken the emotional journey that Seagle had perhaps intended, as I did not find Rain so sympathetic. Like the plethora of sarcastic heroines spawned in the 90s (think Wynona Rider in Girl, Interrupted and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless), Rain is beautiful and angry, but unable to give to herself or others. She is emotionally full, but so unable to tap into what would be considered cheesy or emotionally disingenuous. Perhaps the plot and character would have been more meaningful to me twenty years ago, when it was first published.

Certainly worth a read. The best piece of work from Seagle that I have read.

[Cass Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are ups and downs. I think quite a lot of it wanted to be branier than it actually managed, but perhaps it simply went over my head. For all the 90s grunge and well uh... 90s shit in general (someone made a point that this is the most 90s thing they've ever read between the Seattle setting, coffee, grunge, descent into madness, focus on sexual abuse), the thing that this book seems to impress upon me the most from the 90s is the specific brand of counterculture nihlism. And not much is done with that nihlism except explore the protagonist's trauma. And while that trauma is perfectly valid, the way that its built up to makes it seem extremely imposing, and eventually seems to critique how 90s nihlism was harmful to processing a normal trauma. That conclusion could be one I'm imprinting upon this work though, as someone growing up in a generation in which self harm and depression have become memes, almost the opposite of the brand of nihlism here.

I have a difficult time making a definitive statement about this work because beyond its wonderfully disorienting art, it is bloated. Things happen nonlinearly in certain issues, presumably to show off the mental state of the protagonist, but in my opinion the execution failed and overcomplicated the story. There are issues exploring the background of side characters, which were intruiging, but I didn't find that they added to the overall story.

This leads to the context for this series, the Vertigo 90s rennaissance. This series came out of a time that allowed for great experimentation and greater maturity. Perhaps that's why Seagle delved so deep into the grunge, to flex the maturity newly allowed at the time. Perhaps that's why their was an issue dedicated to fourth wall breaks focused on stories of hands. Perhaps that's why Seagle felt the need to serialize the series, to legitimize it as mature as many TV shows have ended up doing. I quite like the serialized story. The original house of secrets was vast, and serializing it was new. I think that this was a loss however, as much as I like the story as is. I think perhaps if this series was a little more economical with Rain and the cast's development, the series could have been half anthology half serialized, more similar to Sandman. It felt like that was the implication of what was happening, but not enough time was given to the anthologies, to the "Secrets".

This book has me thinking more about determining its themes and uses of imagery, so I certainly have to say that its definitely art, its just not the most effective piece of art. I'd reccomend to others, though not over some of the more concrete works from its era.

[Kevin MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This late 90s Vertigo series was so refreshing to read, despite its faults and datedness. Seagle and Kristiansen continuously change format and push boundaries while telling the story of Rain Harper, the friends she makes, and the house of ghosts that haunts her. There are individual issues in this series that still stick with me and I cannot help but applaud Seagle for his risk-taking in some of those stories. House of Secrets has its ups and downs but remains true to itself throughout. It is a tale of tales, where secrets are revealed and truths are buried deep within. At its core, House of Secrets is undeniably human. And I’m glad I stuck with this series to its end, so I too could bear witness the mysteries held within it.

[Craig W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. The art is pretty amateurish, in my opinion. However, despite the confrontational and acerbic lead character Rain, I enjoyed some of the stories following her and the spirits within the house. The creativity in the writing shines through pretty regularly. Too bad that the art lets it down.

[Rem the Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a book for mature readers

Illustrations were varied and impressive throughout the book

Thought the chapter about the plyck was the most interesting aspect about the whole book

Main character was rather annoying and frustrating

Interesting premise overall

[Highland G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a conversation with many tangents, I really enjoyed it. Every little detail just adds to the experience.

[Damián Vives · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Casa de los Secretos fue una colección injustamente menospreciada de la época dorada del sello Vertigo. Es, tal vez, la mejor reformulación de una cabecera clásica con la excepción de The Sandman. Habiendo estado dedicada la cabecera original de House of Secrets a recopilar historias cortas instaladas en el género "terror y suspenso", Seagle ancla su historia en el mismo género y desarrolla una magnífico y potente thriller de terror psicológico y horror paranormal, anclado en el leitmotiv de "Casa embrujada": Rain Harper, una adolescente descarriada, se convierte en parte de un dislocado sistema de Justicia sobrenatural cuando fija su residencia en una casa abandonada. En esta Mansión embrujada tiene lugar un Tribunal conformado por cinco espíritus fantasmales de otro mundo, conocidos como el Jurado, quienes hipnóticamente convocan a personas para su localización y las juzgan por los secretos que guardan. Actuando como un "testigo" que une a los acusados de este Jurado a este plano de existencia, Rain se ve obligada a validar sus decisiones mientras, al mismo tiempo, intenta salvar a los acusados de sus condenas.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rain Harper is a teenaged runaway who has just arrived in Seattle. She needs a place to stay and finds an abandoned mansion that is miraculously unoccupied by other squatters. It's only a matter of time before she finds out why: the house is not a normal house. It's inhabited by a host of other-worldly spirits that form a jury who summon humans to account for their secrets. Rain finds herself in the position of "witness" to the proceedings. Rain, however, has more than a few secrets of her own. So do the friends she picks up along the way. When will the house finally demand to pass judgements on their secrets?
This omnibus collects the entire House of Secrets series, which means that it's a massive tome and quite a bit to take in all at once. Rain is a fascinating, if unreliable, narrator, but the house is really what caught my interest. It has its own terrifying history and tends to show up in various locales at various points in time. Witty and dark, this is a great series.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific comic-book series with its strong structure, its deep characters, and its weird weirdness. Definitely one of Vertigo's Top 3 (following Sandman & Lucifer). I'm thrilled that this has finally been released as a collection -- and this is a very nice collection with its oversized pages, its alternate ordering, and its extra sketches.

[Jasmiina F · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me FOREVER to read this. But that's ok because I really liked The House of Secrets. Not all the time, but most of the time and I thinks that's enough. I enjoyed all the secrets and Rain is an interesting character. Not the most likable all the time but so what? Ben was cool, I'd actually like to read more about him.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graphic novel 5. Incredible vision. The omnibus edition mixes the original issue sequence to wonderful effect. Worth buying. Worth reading again. Worth reading again just to stare at the art. A masterwork.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the first part years ago. Still holds up. Now it's like someone sprung a leak from it and it deflated to nothing. Oh well.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super thick, but a really good read. I would've given it five stars, but it gets a little confusing around the middle. Don't read that part if you're tired. Other than that, fantastic.

[Neon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I love the style of the art, I found the story a bit hard to keep track of.