"The House of Daemon" is a

British comic A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. British comics are usually comics anthologies which are ...

strip, appearing in titles published by

IPC Magazines TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...

. The story was published in the anthology ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

'' from 11 September 1982 to 12 February 1983, written by

John Wagner John Wagner (born 1949) is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. ...

and Alan Grant, with art by José Ortiz. The story followed couple Elliot and Cassandra Aldrich, who moved into a new home - only to find it is haunted by a demonic being.

Creation

Grant had never written a horror comic before, and was not a fan of the genre. He would reflect that "those kinds of magical concepts are often rather too easy to write. If you've got a problem you can just think of some magic to get yourself out of it."

Publishing history

Wagner and Grant were occasionally asked to adjust their scripts for the serial when they were considered too scary, leading to some rewrites. The story ran between 11 September and 12 February 1983. In 1998, the rights to the strips created for ''Eagle'' – including "House of Daemon" – were purchased from

Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

by the Dan Dare Corporation. David McDonald leased the rights to the serial for Hibernia Books in 2015; a fan of the story, he would note "It stands up really well, the art is fantastic and the storyline's great", and felt it was comparable to stories running in '' 2000 AD'' at the time. Grant was set a copy by Hibernia, and was impressed with how well it read, particularly praising Ortiz's art in noting "I didn't fully recognise it at the time but Ortiz was supremely talented, and his art was wonderful".

Synopsis

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Elliot Aldrich has constructed a dream house for his wife Cassandra. However, the isolated house has been possessed by an evil presence calling itself Daemon . After a short period of

paranormal activity Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

, Daemon was able to trap the couple, along with workmen, police, and paranormal investigators in nightmarish worlds of his own devising, inside each area of the house. Daemon's abilities were limited only by his own demented imagination; the

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

became a large

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

which took several days to cross, in a futuristic recreation of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. Cassandra was revealed to possess

psychic powers This is a list of alleged psychic abilities that have been attributed to real-world people. Many of these abilities pertain to variations of extrasensory perception or the ''sixth sense''. Superhuman abilities from fiction are not included. Psyc ...

that enabled the group to battle Daemon; for example, by navigating through the house despite its appearance. She also located three apparent wizards in a peaceful sanctuary, within the building's lounge. The wizards revealed that they and Daemon were from the 26th century, where humanity had perfected psychic powers. Daemon, an exceptionally powerful child of darkness, was imprisoned within the still-standing house, with the three wizards combining their power to act as his jailers. However, Daemon was able to reach over half a

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

into the past to torture those on the site of his future prison, with the wizards only able to follow him but not stop him. Eventually, the couple located Daemon in the house's attic. The people supposedly killed in the house were revealed to be alive, due to Daemon's reality-manipulation abilities; he intended to torture them indefinitely. Cassandra herself temporarily defeated his physical form with poison, and the people escaped. Elliot and his building firm encircled the house with high brick walls, isolating Daemon within until his jailors would be ready in the 26th Century.

Collected editions

Reception

''The House of Daemon'' was positively received by critics. Joel Harley of '' Starburst'' praised its characterisation and deemed it "one of the best-looking horror comics of all time".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:House Of Daemon, The 1983 comics endings British comic strips Comics about time travel Comics by John Wagner Eagle (1982) comic strips Supernatural comics