''House of Mystery'' is an American occult and horror-themed

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

, based on the series ''The

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets''. It is also the name of the titular setting of the series. First serie ...

'' that ran from 1951 to 1983. The writers,

Bill Willingham William Willingham (born 1956) is an American writer and artist of comics, known for his work on the series ''Elementals (Comico Comics), Elementals'' and ''Fables (comics), Fables''. Career William Willingham was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. ...

and

Lilah Sturges Lilah Sturges (; born Matthew Sturges, October 1970) is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels. She is best known for co-writing with Bill Willingham the Eisner-award-nominated ''Jack of Fables'', and other comics published by Vertigo Com ...

(credited as "Matthew Sturges"), debuted the series in July 2008 under the

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Plot

Cain (of

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

and

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepher ...

) attempts to return to the House of Mystery, his home in the Dreaming, and finds that it has disappeared. Seven years later, in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, a former architecture student named Bethany "Fig" Keele flees her burning house, saving only a handful of sketches she once made of a house from her dreams. Keele is pursued by a "Pair of the Conception", agents of an entity known as the "Omneity"; they are two people, a male and a female, always holding hands. If they let go of one another, they will disappear. The pair chases her through a door and unwittingly into the House of Mystery, where she meets the inhabitants of the house bar and discovers the terms of what is, apparently, her imprisonment. Everyone must pay for their drinks with stories and no one can leave without being picked up by the house's mysterious coachman. None of the House's occupants are sure why some people might get to leave and others not, so each person's stay is, at least ostensibly, eternal until the coachman inexplicably turns up to take them away. This does not stop some of the inhabitants from trying to get out, nor does it stop Cain from attempting to get back in.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into eight trade paperbacks: * ''Room and Boredom'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #1–5, 128 pages, January 2009, ) * ''Love Stories for Dead People'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #6–10, 128 pages, June 2009, ) * ''The Space Between'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #11–15, 128 pages, January 2010, ) * ''The Beauty of Decay'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #16–20 and ''Halloween Special 2009'', 160 pages, released July 2010, ) * ''Under New Management'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #21–25, 128 pages, released January 2011, ) * ''Safe as Houses'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #26–30, 144 pages, released May 2011, ) * ''Conception'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #31–35 and ''Halloween Special 2010'', 160 pages, released December 2011, ) * ''Desolation'' (collects ''House of Mystery'' (vol. 2) #36–42, 160 pages, released August 2012, )''Desolation'' details
at DC

References

External links

* * {{Vertigo Comics Ongoing Series 2008 comics debuts Comics anthologies Fantasy comics