Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 3

Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery #3

by Jack Oleck, Steve Skeates, Sheldon Mayer

Over 500 pages of dark tales of mystery are collected in this value-priced volume!

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

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics

520 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2009

Reviews

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories in what I assume to be Showcase's third and last compilation of stories from Casa Cain, aka The House of Mystery, are familiar to me (especially the book cover, which came from one of the comic books I've had since the mid-seventies). What is familiar inspires nostalgia. And I'm a fool for nostalgia.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a youngster in the 70's I first got into various comic book titles from Harvey Comics (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Rich Rich, Little Dot, etc), Gold Key (Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Twilight Zone, Donald Duck, etc), and the Archie series, before graduating to the DC horror titles like Weird Mystery Tales*, The Witching Hour, and Tales from Dark Mansion. But House of Mystery, featuring horror host Cain (whose brother Abel hosted HOM's sister title House of Secrets) was my total favorite. Rereading these stories in this B&W reprint edition after all these years was a real nostalgia trip. In fact, this third volume begins with issue #212 of HOM, which was the very first one my brother and I got at the can't-remember-its-name pharmacy in Detroit back in 1973. It's interesting to me how well I remembered some of these tales. Nostalgia aside, I have to say that the vast majority of them are strictly from mothballs, featuring predictable twist endings, over-the-top, black and white characterizations - the bad guys never have a single redeeming quality and the good guys are generally saintly or pitiable doormats just waiting to be victimized - with painfully obvious, hacky dialogue (I lost count of how many times scripter Jack Oleck used the phrase "You fool! Don't you see, even NOW?"). It helped to be a kid to enjoy them and take them seriously during their initial print runs. The art, however, is a whole different animal - featured here are several masters of the mainstream comic book form such as Mike Kaluta, Gerry Talaoc, Alfredo Alcala, Jess Jodloman, Nester Redondo, comic relief panels from Sergio Aragones, the justly revered Bernie Wrightson, and my personal all-time fave, the great stylist Alex Nino (an early influence). Final verdict: forget most of the stories, drink in the great art and revel in the nostalgia if you were there for the first go-round. I wish the material could've all been presented in color, as it was originally in those days of yore, but that obviously would've upped the price tag considerably. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

*The 12th issue of Weird Mystery Tales (dated June-July 1974) features a fan letter from lil' Robbie Kirby of Detroit, MI - first time I ever saw my name in print.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

At last! This series of phone books reached the issue that was the reason that I ever got into Horror comic books in the first place: House of Mystery #222. My oldest sister had that comic book, and let me read it as a small child, and it scared the living crap out of me. It was coverless by the time I got to it, and I spent years looking for it in back issue bins, from 1983 until 1989, when I snagged a copy in Near Mint condition for $1.00. The first story in it, Vengeance Is Mine is decent, but it was the second story, The Night of the Teddy Bear, with it's insanely creepy artwork by Alfredo Alcala that made my skin crawl as a 7 or 8 year old. The idea of a guy wearing a teddy bear mask killing people really struck a chord in me. Of course I realize how ridiculous the premise is an adult. The story takes place in London in 1872, riffing on Jack The Ripper while simultaneously pre-dating both that killer and the teddy bear stuffed animal itself! They didn't come about, or at least weren't called that, until the early 1900s! Technicalities aside, the story has a spectacularly chilling sequence on Page 9 (or 250 in this 518 page phone book) that is still effective to this day.

Of course there is more goodness in this book aside from that issue. The aforementioned Alfredo Alcala is one of those 'lost' greats, who seemingly vanished into the mists of time. The stories are good, solid, old school Horror by Doug Moench, Jack Oleck, Michael Fleisher (especially Issue 221's Pingo and the aforementioned Teddy Bear), Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, and Len Wein. This series has so much eye cnady, courtsey of artists extraordinare Berni Wrightson (who handles mostly covers and splash pages, but also occassionally contributes art to a story), John Calnan, Adolfo Buylla, Ruben Yandoc, Sonny Trinidad, Bernard Baily, Nestor Redondo, Eufronio Reyes Cruz, Ralph Reese, Bill Draut, Neal Adams, Frank Giacoia, Jess M. Jodloman, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson. Most of these cats never achieved any sort of fame, but are still top flight artists whose work deserves to be mentioned here.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with previous House of Mystery and House of Secrets volumes, what you have here is a hosted anthology of (mostly) horror stories, or as scary as the Comics Code of the 1970s would allow. As the series went from the standard 22 pages to 100, of course, more content was needed and was often reprinted (I noted a couple I had seen in the Showcase Presents: House of Secrets Vol. 1), as well as short tales with such DC mainstays as the Spectre and Phantom Stranger. If you dig some light horror comics that are basically kid-friendly (well, maybe not), then this should work out well for you.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reprints House of Mystery #212-226. Cain continues to show readers new mysteries from his house. The House of Mystery and House of Secret series in the '70s are full of fun stories. In this volume, House of Mystery even begins to repeat on itself by including stories already told by Cain in earlier issues. The stories still are fun (but predictable) and if you don't like a story you can move on to the next one.

[Nfpendleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork of Alex Nino and Jess Jodloman are real standouts in a volume packed with great artists. I love me some horror comics.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horror comics from the early 70s. Some great art, but the stories are often rather trite.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

These comics are worse--and better-- than I remembered. Either way, a fun claw dip into the past.