House of Mystery Vol. 1: Room and Boredom

An intriguing premise with a lot of questions to answer for. I was really pulled in by this strange house where all these people seem to be trapped and the main characters attempts to get out of it. I also liked the fact that they paid their bar tab with stories - although the success of the stories varied. I really got a Sandman's World's End vibe from this, but with not quite as successful storytelling. I found the stories people told less interesting than the main story unfortunately. So many questions as well. What is the house, why are they trapped there, who are the Conception, where do they all go when they leave the bar. For a first volume I found it had too many questions and not enough answers, but was intriguing enough that I will definitely continue with the series and see where it is all headed.

Well this was better than I expected!

An “anthology” series with one hell of a wraparound. A college student finds herself trapped in her very own dream house, her House of Mystery. Inside she finds a small bundle of others also trapped, along with many guests visiting the house's bar. Through these guests we are told stories from different worlds, times, and perspectives. In any other series this would probably be the main focus with the House itself taking a backseat. Not here though, the serialized story usually takes up the majority of each issue.

To speak on those, as any anthology goes it's a mixed bag. I found the stories to mostly be short and sweet with none overstaying their welcome. The art was consistent from issue to issue with each anthology segment having it's own artist. Issue #4 had both mediocre art and a story with less substance than any other cheapie pulp trash I've read (and I tend to like said pulp trash).

The main attraction in my opinion is the serialized story though. With an interesting cast of characters I hope to see developed over House of Mysteryies 42 issue run. The character I found myself most intrigued by was the House itself. I'm such a sucker for eldritch locations of endless halls and strange plagued landscapes. Such poignant images are here of giant skeletons dotting vast fields, century old corpses and ancient artifacts just poking out from underneath the grounds.

The eponymous House of Mystery is the same one owned by Cain in the DC universe but he is not present in this volume except for the opening (although I expect his arrival soon). I rather liked the way this series has planted itself in the world of The Sandman while also leaving it so quickly. I'll leave this review with the hook in the very beginning of Issue #1, after killing Abel and enjoying some tea, Cain leaves his brothers home to find is own plot empty. Someone has stolen the House of Mystery.