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DC Finest: Horror: The Devil's Doorway
560 pages, Paperback
Published September 9, 2025
7 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Various
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 20, 2025
I enjoy these late 60’s/early 70’s “horror” comics. They’re actually closer to a written version of “The Twilight Zone”—ironic, twist endings. Nothing very scary but very entertaining!
December 24, 2025
This book collects a number of DC's horror anthology titles; namely House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, and The Unexpected; right at the turn from the Silver Age to the Bronze Age (1969-1970). The adoption of the Comics Code Authority in 1954 basically killed horror comics and led to the "safer" focus on family-friendly superhero comics. By the end of the 60s, artists and readers alike were getting tired of the Code's restrictions, and there was an appetite for a return to the classic horror anthologies of the Golden Age.
These four titles all basically follow the same formula, with 'horror hosts' (Cain for House of Mysteries, his brother Abel in House of Secrets, the three witches in The Witching Hour, and the Mad Mod Witch in Unexpected) introducing short stories and providing some narrative identity to the book through their framing devices. Readers are probably familiar with Cain and Abel from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and it's cool to see them here developing their mean-spirited chemistry. Despite this nostalgic callback to pre-Code horror titles, however, the presence of the Code still looms over the stories. I wouldn't describe any as particularly scary (most following a formula of ironic comeuppances aping the Twilight Zone), and those that lean more towards horror will often have the horror host pop in at the end to tell the reader that the bad guys got arrested and good triumphed over evil, all in line with Code mandates. (This reminded me of the weird tonal shift at the end of Psycho.)
What's good here is not so much the stories, but the art. This is a real who's who of artists (Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Al Williamson, etc.) who are free in this anthology format to really experiment stylistically. There's some pages here that are absolutely tremendous, popping with psychedelic colors and innovative layout designs. It's just a shame the cheesy stories don't live up to the artwork.
Altogether, this is probably mostly interesting to people interested in comics history, as it is a snapshot of a transition between two "periods" in comics history (not unlike Batman: Red Skies). Again, I wish the DC: Finest collections included some contextualizing essays or introductions, especially for these lesser-known works that have a lot of behind-the-scenes interest.
These four titles all basically follow the same formula, with 'horror hosts' (Cain for House of Mysteries, his brother Abel in House of Secrets, the three witches in The Witching Hour, and the Mad Mod Witch in Unexpected) introducing short stories and providing some narrative identity to the book through their framing devices. Readers are probably familiar with Cain and Abel from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and it's cool to see them here developing their mean-spirited chemistry. Despite this nostalgic callback to pre-Code horror titles, however, the presence of the Code still looms over the stories. I wouldn't describe any as particularly scary (most following a formula of ironic comeuppances aping the Twilight Zone), and those that lean more towards horror will often have the horror host pop in at the end to tell the reader that the bad guys got arrested and good triumphed over evil, all in line with Code mandates. (This reminded me of the weird tonal shift at the end of Psycho.)
What's good here is not so much the stories, but the art. This is a real who's who of artists (Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Al Williamson, etc.) who are free in this anthology format to really experiment stylistically. There's some pages here that are absolutely tremendous, popping with psychedelic colors and innovative layout designs. It's just a shame the cheesy stories don't live up to the artwork.
Altogether, this is probably mostly interesting to people interested in comics history, as it is a snapshot of a transition between two "periods" in comics history (not unlike Batman: Red Skies). Again, I wish the DC: Finest collections included some contextualizing essays or introductions, especially for these lesser-known works that have a lot of behind-the-scenes interest.
September 16, 2025
A medio camino entre la excelencia de los cómics EC y la franca mediocridad en la que se movían la mayoría de las veces los magazines de la Warren, esta colección de historias destaca por dos cosas: el carisma de los anfitriones y la altísima calidad de muchos de los dibujantes que las ilustran.
En cuanto a la primera de estas cuestiones, resulta todo un acierto el hecho de que Caín, Abel y las brujas no se limiten a presentar los relatos, sino que participen activamente en ellos, ya sea como personajes o como protagonistas de las historias-marco en las que se insertan. Yo, personalmente, siento debilidad por el engañosamente afable y cobardica Abel, pero todos ellos son ciertamente interesantes.
Y los ilustradores... Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, ¡¡Alex Toth!!... y también otros grandes, como Dick Dillin o Pat Boyette, que solo deslucen si los comparamos con los enormes historietistas anteriormente citados. En cuanto a las historias, suelen tener el giro irónico final característico de los cómics EC, lo que es un plus, pero no están a la altura de las gloriosas ilustraciones que las plasman en imágenes. Aun así, la mayoría se dejan leer con agrado.
En definitiva, otro gran título que añadir a esta imprescindible línea de clásicos que es DC Finest. Muy, muy recomendable.
En cuanto a la primera de estas cuestiones, resulta todo un acierto el hecho de que Caín, Abel y las brujas no se limiten a presentar los relatos, sino que participen activamente en ellos, ya sea como personajes o como protagonistas de las historias-marco en las que se insertan. Yo, personalmente, siento debilidad por el engañosamente afable y cobardica Abel, pero todos ellos son ciertamente interesantes.
Y los ilustradores... Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, ¡¡Alex Toth!!... y también otros grandes, como Dick Dillin o Pat Boyette, que solo deslucen si los comparamos con los enormes historietistas anteriormente citados. En cuanto a las historias, suelen tener el giro irónico final característico de los cómics EC, lo que es un plus, pero no están a la altura de las gloriosas ilustraciones que las plasman en imágenes. Aun así, la mayoría se dejan leer con agrado.
En definitiva, otro gran título que añadir a esta imprescindible línea de clásicos que es DC Finest. Muy, muy recomendable.
October 21, 2025
I wouldn't say this collection is that horrifying, most are fairly tame scooby dooish type of spooky short stories spread over different titles from 1969-70, featuring the house of mystery, house of secrets, tales of the unexpected and the witching hour. They are entertaining enough, but not particularly frightful. Writers include a whose who of the comics era of the time. Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein to name a few.
I think the biggest draw of the collection is the art. Some phenomenal artistry is to be found here by the likes of Alex Toth and Neal Adams, the covers and interiors are so moody, atmospheric, and just so good.
Overall the stories I'd give 3 stars overall on average, they are entertaining engaging, some better than others, (one of my favourites is the moby dick type spin of a story by Robert Kanigher) but not really as spooky as I'd like, (and I don't like em too horrifying, but these are clearly written with kids in mind) and they do get better towards the end.
The art is a easy 5stars, so 4 stars is a fair assessment. Recommended.
I think the biggest draw of the collection is the art. Some phenomenal artistry is to be found here by the likes of Alex Toth and Neal Adams, the covers and interiors are so moody, atmospheric, and just so good.
Overall the stories I'd give 3 stars overall on average, they are entertaining engaging, some better than others, (one of my favourites is the moby dick type spin of a story by Robert Kanigher) but not really as spooky as I'd like, (and I don't like em too horrifying, but these are clearly written with kids in mind) and they do get better towards the end.
The art is a easy 5stars, so 4 stars is a fair assessment. Recommended.
November 1, 2025
I remeber seeing covers for this comics either on the shelf or in house ads at the time and they definitely looked creepy or scary. I found most of these stories boring. I'm not even sure as a kid I would've found them scary. The covers look great, though.
December 7, 2025
The stories and vignettes sometimes leave something to be desired, but this period of the art in DC's horror comics was truly amazing.
January 12, 2026
The stories felt cheesy due to the restrictions by the Comics Code Authority but the art was a standout and the Twilight Zone vibes were there to make this worth reading. Covers 1969-1970.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews