House of Mystery Vol. 01: Room and Boredom [Paperback]

This volume collects the first five issues of the House of Mystery series from Vertigo. Many years ago, DC published House of Mystery as an anthology of self-contained horror stories. There was no continuity from issue to issue and no recurring characters other than the narrator's appearances in a brief framing sequence. This relaunch of the series by author Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham (of Fables fame) is a very different animal. The House of Mystery itself now takes center stage along with a recurring cast of occupants and ongoing storylines and subplots.

The house sits at something of a cosmic crossroads that allow visitors from many different worlds. Most can come and go as they please, but a handful are trapped indefinitely. This small group runs a restaurant and bar in the house and the only payment accepted is a story to alleviate their boredom. When a new permanent occupant arrives, the status quo appears to be shaken up a bit and a number of subplots and minor mysteries slowly bubble to the surface.

This first volume does a solid job of introducing the cast of characters and establishing the House of Mystery as a, well, mysterious place. It's clear that Willingham and Sturges intend to move the story forward at a measured pace and take their time before revealing too much. While I don't find the pace to be a problem, I would caution readers who like things to move forward briskly that this may not be your cup of tea.

The core members of the cast are made up of the four permanent residents of the house, only one of which happens to be a man. Except for the new addition, Fig, the other three are pretty interchangeable so far. Snarky and bored, but not overly mean spirited. I'm willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt that they'll be fleshed out more fully as time goes by. Fig is the focus of more attention and we learn enough about her that I did care what happened to her even if she isn't exactly one of my all time favorites just yet.

Overall, House of Mystery has gotten off to a good, but not great, start. The story and characters are both being revealed at a relatively slow pace. There's enough good here to make me come back for more, but I'll probably need to see a bit more substance within the next volume or two for me to read this series over the long haul. I recommend giving it a try, especially if you're a fan of Fable, and am cautiously optimistic that we'll be rewarded as the series continues to unfold.

This new Vertigo title has a rather complicated background. The original "House of Mystery" was a long-running anthology title from the 1950s to the 1980s, which ran through several different formats, the most famous of which featured Cain (the first murderer) as the Crypt Keeper-esque storyteller. Cain and his House were later appropriated, along with a host of other elements from old DC Comics, for Neil Gaiman's classic "The Sandman" series. "The Sandman" is the gold standard for what became Vertigo, a mix of ongoing character arcs and the author's experimentation with the meaning of dreams and story; among it's various stories is the "Worlds' End" arc (volume 8), which featured travellers in an interdimensional waystation telling each other stories. The new "House of Mystery" draws on this and that to create a mix of stories and ongoing arc similar to "The Sandman", though not nearly so involved in the anthology aspect as previous versions.

For the writing team, we have Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham, the creative team for "Jack of Fables", a spinoff of Willingham's original "Fables" property, the current masterpiece of the Vertigo line of books. "Fables" is often compared to "The Sandman" in its integration of different fictions into a single meta-narrative, so it seems rather fitting for them to take charge.

As I said, the new "House of Mystery" is far more concerned with ongoing story than the old, which is a good thing, the market for pure anthology being what it is. This does leave the book with a feel of bifurcation, though. The main character of the series is Bethany "Fig" Keele, a former adventurer and teen detective who finds herself pursued by two mysterious strangers, and ends up in the titular House of Mystery (detached from the Dreaming and its owner, Cain, by some means). The other four permanent inhabitants who can't leave are Harry (the bartender), Cressida (the waitress), Ann (a pirate/bouncer), and a Poet who, unless I missed it, doesn't have a name yet. While they cannot leave, others from across dimensions are capable of coming and going, and they supply the stories that make up the anthology portion of the comic (the food and drink is paid for by telling stories). The mystery of the House and the strangers (as well as the fate of Rina, the former fifth occupant) is the central narrative issue the series is concerned with.

All this creates a fairly compelling story, and Fig is a strong lead character. The other four are a bit more variable in how much definition they get (one is, as I said, nameless at the end of #5), but are drawn in an entertaining-enough fashion. All this emphasis on the mystery of the House does leave the story part feeling a bit disconnected; unlike in "The Sandman", where Gaiman was greatly interested in the interaction between story and reality, as well as simply exercising his considerable creative function, it isn't really clear to me what purpose, if any, most of these stories serve to the greater narrative. This leaves them largely dependent on how interesting any given one is; some indeed are neat (#1's tale by Sally recalls the grotesque horror stories that were found in the old "House" at parts, and #4's cynical new version of a fairy tale is positively Gaiman-esque), others perfunctory.

A bevy of talented artists are employed here, with Luca Rossi handling the main stories set in the House. Each character has a distinctive, well-rendered look, and the House itself, as much as character in the narrative as the inhabitants, has an atmosphere of befitting mystery.

Overall, this is a good start.

At the center of Sturges and Willingham's new Vertigo title is a bar. In many ways, one could argue that this tavern at the crossroads of dimensions is the true star of the series -- the trademark character that keeps us reading. This bar within the House of Mystery is home to five enigmatic but well crafted protagonists who have no idea why they are trapped there, but it also serves as host to a vast myriad of regulars who we slowly come to know as the series progresses and who bring the highest level of entertainment to this series, from the H.G. Welles era spaceman to the hollowed out girl, the interdimensional lawyer, the Sid Vicious inspired punk singer, and the odd gentleman who is obsessed with ham. I'm of the belief that it was Norm and Cliff, not Sam and Diane, who made "Cheers" a great setting, and Sturges and Willingham seem to understand this well.

Of course, the added twist is that this bar resides at the crossroads of dimensions, and so a more than generous portion of weird seeps onto the pages. Each issue is structured to take place as part of a larger arc featuring the protagonists attempting to leave and/or understand the house that imprisons them, but each issue also features a tangential story told by one of the bar regulars as barter for food and drink. It's often these side stories that resonate the best in this series. Some are weird and deranged, others silly and playful. Nearly all are highly unique and unforgettable.

The larger arcs hold together by towing the reader along with revelations that always lead to more questions, much like "Lost" or "The X-Files." I often find myself hungrily flipping back pages to revisit old passages that seemed trivial at the time but hold great significance in retrospect. It is a testament to the careful plotting of this series how seamlessly later events in future volumes match with all the early clues subtly laid out in this one.

House of Mystery is neither a horror anthology nor one linear story. It's a slowly unfolding landscape centered upon an interdimensional bar and its inhabitants, and periodically interrupted by wickedly brilliant asides. As with any slowly unfolding mystery, you'll never truly know if the journey was worthwhile until you reach its conclusion, but I'm glued to the setting and its characters, the writers have demonstrated nothing but the most meticulous plotting and clue dropping thus far, and I have nothing but high hopes for future installments.

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