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Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets #1
Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets, Vol. 1
What evil resides in.... the House of Secrets? This 544-page black-and-white value-priced trade paperback collects classic tales of mystery from the pages of THE HOUSE OF SECRETS #81-98 and a wealth of art from macabre masters Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Draut, Werner Roth, Dick Giordano, as well as the storytelling talents of Mike Friedrich, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, among many others!
544 pages, Paperback
Published August 12, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 5, 2024
Nice collection of this classic Horror/supernatural comics. Fun read. Recommended
July 29, 2016
A fun collection for those of age to have read the originals, or those wishing to see some really nice artwork by top artists reproduced in black and white, or looking for a innocuous but strange collection of spooky stories for kids. Adults who didn't read any of the DC horror anthologies at the time, or are looking for satisfying horror comics, need not really apply, however.
It's painfully obvious from this volume (3 companion SHOWCASE volumes, Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 1,Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 2,Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Vol. 3 are also available) that DC's decision to launch another anthology title at the time (quickly followed by yet another, THE WITCHING HOUR) was not motivated by a surfeit of good material, but by good sales on MYSTERY. I say painfully obvious because after a solid start, HOUSE OF SECRETS flounders for many, many issues with lackluster, nonsensical stories, old reprints and bizarre, shoehorned material (one issue, #90, seems to be completely comprised of material intended for an aborted sci-fi anthology title). Oh, there's some great art here, by a variety of talents, but anyone looking for "good" horror stories must understand the serious restrictions in place on titles like this after the whole EC/Comics Code debacle. Expectations should be lowered, even more so for the tame, mainstream content and limited space's further restrictions on the stories.
So, why read it? Well, other than the aforementioned artwork, there are occasional bright spots. Issue #92, featuring the original Bernie Wrightson/Len Wein "Swamp Thing" story that launched the later series (and which was masterfully woven back into DC continuity by Alan Moore in a story that redefined DC Horror Host characters in a way that pointed towards later expansion in books like Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN) is a complete winner, the entirety of that issue, in fact, is solid, featuring some fine weird stories. Issue #86 features an atypical excursion into a text story (later popularized in some Marvel horror magazines of the 70's and some MAN-THING annuals). Issue #94 features a story, "A Bottle of Incense, A Whiff of the Past", which seems to have had its end rewritten (or perhaps more accurately, pulled back on) due to what I infer to be suggestions of cannibalism. There are also the expected gems amongst all the dross, strange stories strewn about. Not really horror, but weird enough for a kid.
Finally, if you are any fan of DC's fantasy pantheon, you get to see their Horror Host characters in fine form before their eventual reinterpretation as Jungian Archetypes given substance. So here we have the cowardly Abel (Sebastian Cabot would have made a fine Abel on the big screen), cringing and whining as he looks after the titular abode, suffering the sullen abuse of his brother and the dubious condolences of his imaginary friend, Goldie (a stand-in for the reader?). Cynthia and Morded (but not Mildred, oddly) of THE WITCHING HOUR also drop by to plug their book.
I'd recommend this book to those who remember the original title fondly or want something creepy but innocuous to give to a child that will get them reading comics.
It's painfully obvious from this volume (3 companion SHOWCASE volumes, Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 1,Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 2,Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Vol. 3 are also available) that DC's decision to launch another anthology title at the time (quickly followed by yet another, THE WITCHING HOUR) was not motivated by a surfeit of good material, but by good sales on MYSTERY. I say painfully obvious because after a solid start, HOUSE OF SECRETS flounders for many, many issues with lackluster, nonsensical stories, old reprints and bizarre, shoehorned material (one issue, #90, seems to be completely comprised of material intended for an aborted sci-fi anthology title). Oh, there's some great art here, by a variety of talents, but anyone looking for "good" horror stories must understand the serious restrictions in place on titles like this after the whole EC/Comics Code debacle. Expectations should be lowered, even more so for the tame, mainstream content and limited space's further restrictions on the stories.
So, why read it? Well, other than the aforementioned artwork, there are occasional bright spots. Issue #92, featuring the original Bernie Wrightson/Len Wein "Swamp Thing" story that launched the later series (and which was masterfully woven back into DC continuity by Alan Moore in a story that redefined DC Horror Host characters in a way that pointed towards later expansion in books like Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN) is a complete winner, the entirety of that issue, in fact, is solid, featuring some fine weird stories. Issue #86 features an atypical excursion into a text story (later popularized in some Marvel horror magazines of the 70's and some MAN-THING annuals). Issue #94 features a story, "A Bottle of Incense, A Whiff of the Past", which seems to have had its end rewritten (or perhaps more accurately, pulled back on) due to what I infer to be suggestions of cannibalism. There are also the expected gems amongst all the dross, strange stories strewn about. Not really horror, but weird enough for a kid.
Finally, if you are any fan of DC's fantasy pantheon, you get to see their Horror Host characters in fine form before their eventual reinterpretation as Jungian Archetypes given substance. So here we have the cowardly Abel (Sebastian Cabot would have made a fine Abel on the big screen), cringing and whining as he looks after the titular abode, suffering the sullen abuse of his brother and the dubious condolences of his imaginary friend, Goldie (a stand-in for the reader?). Cynthia and Morded (but not Mildred, oddly) of THE WITCHING HOUR also drop by to plug their book.
I'd recommend this book to those who remember the original title fondly or want something creepy but innocuous to give to a child that will get them reading comics.
December 21, 2020
This was my bedside companion for a while, reading ~ one comic book's worth of content a night. Great way to fall asleep!
October 17, 2016
been wanting to read light stuff recently so this was fun. some good stories, some weird, some incoherent, but overall pretty fun to read through. nothing like. super clever but I often found myself impressed by the art (doubt it's impressive to anyone who actually knows comics though) scratched the same sort of itch as goosebumps or something.
September 4, 2013
House of Secrets started its publication history in 1956 as a “weird menace” title. You couldn’t really do horror comics as such under the Comics Code, but short tales tinged with the supernatural where evil was punished and good rewarded? Sure. It also had a number of psuedo-superhero types, like Mark Merlin, Prince Ra-Man and Eclipso. The last of these, (“Hero and Villain in one man!” went on to be a player in the DC universe, and has his own Showcase volume. The Silver Age run ended with #80 in 1966.
After a three year hiatus, it came back as *The* House of Secrets. The Comics Code had eased up some, and it was possible to do horror comics in the mainstream again. #81 started by introducing an actual House of Secrets, which seemed to be both intelligent and malevolent, killing its then-owner in the first story of the issue. A new caretaker was hired, the pudgy and rather cowardly Abel, who loved to tell scary stories. (His nastier brother Cain did the same over at the House of Mystery.)
Each issue, Abel would introduce a few short tales of horror, often having a small adventure of his own in between. The quality of the stories varied widely from trite to quite good. A particularly well-received story was “Swamp Thing” in #92. It was so liked that the main character was slightly updated and given his own series, which went on to become famous. Another standout is “The Ballad of Little Joe” in #86, about a puppet that comes to life. What makes that story special is that one of the “villains” is clearly a philosopher at heart, rather than the conqueror his culture wants him to be. ”You can twist form–but can you ever change a man’s love?”
Then there’s “There are Two of Me…and One Must Die!” in #91, which puts a new twist on the stock DC plot of spotting the fake person by a tiny clue. I do have to say that reading a bunch of these stories in a row can make them a bit samey, and they’re mostly quite tame by today’s horror standards.
The art ranges from workmanlike to excellent–the lack of color does not hurt most of the stories, and in some cases enhances the feel. (The four-color process sometimes detracted from the mood of stories.)
I would recommend this volume to DC fans of a certain age, and those looking for horror stories that are spooky, but not too horrific. I’ll leave you with one of the epilogues…
“Silence sounds like green vines creeping…dry boards scream like blind men seeking…for these are the signs…of secrets lurking…”
After a three year hiatus, it came back as *The* House of Secrets. The Comics Code had eased up some, and it was possible to do horror comics in the mainstream again. #81 started by introducing an actual House of Secrets, which seemed to be both intelligent and malevolent, killing its then-owner in the first story of the issue. A new caretaker was hired, the pudgy and rather cowardly Abel, who loved to tell scary stories. (His nastier brother Cain did the same over at the House of Mystery.)
Each issue, Abel would introduce a few short tales of horror, often having a small adventure of his own in between. The quality of the stories varied widely from trite to quite good. A particularly well-received story was “Swamp Thing” in #92. It was so liked that the main character was slightly updated and given his own series, which went on to become famous. Another standout is “The Ballad of Little Joe” in #86, about a puppet that comes to life. What makes that story special is that one of the “villains” is clearly a philosopher at heart, rather than the conqueror his culture wants him to be. ”You can twist form–but can you ever change a man’s love?”
Then there’s “There are Two of Me…and One Must Die!” in #91, which puts a new twist on the stock DC plot of spotting the fake person by a tiny clue. I do have to say that reading a bunch of these stories in a row can make them a bit samey, and they’re mostly quite tame by today’s horror standards.
The art ranges from workmanlike to excellent–the lack of color does not hurt most of the stories, and in some cases enhances the feel. (The four-color process sometimes detracted from the mood of stories.)
I would recommend this volume to DC fans of a certain age, and those looking for horror stories that are spooky, but not too horrific. I’ll leave you with one of the epilogues…
“Silence sounds like green vines creeping…dry boards scream like blind men seeking…for these are the signs…of secrets lurking…”
October 26, 2019
3.5 Stars
I've said it over and over in my reviews, but I'm a big fan of horror anthology comics. I'm also a fan of the Showcase Presents/Essential Marvel format, which are huge tpbs in black and white reprinting a lot of material in each volume. However, overall this was not a high point of the horror anthology genre. Several of the stories either have cliche endings, endings that make no sense, plain silly endings, or in some cases it feels like they have no ending whatsoever and the story just stops. However, the art is more good than bad, and there are a few high spots such as the first Swamp Thing story by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson.
Overall this isn't a great collection by any means, but if you like horror comics it's worth a read. I will say if you aren't a big horror comics fan but like to read some from time to time anyway, there are better collections out there.
I've said it over and over in my reviews, but I'm a big fan of horror anthology comics. I'm also a fan of the Showcase Presents/Essential Marvel format, which are huge tpbs in black and white reprinting a lot of material in each volume. However, overall this was not a high point of the horror anthology genre. Several of the stories either have cliche endings, endings that make no sense, plain silly endings, or in some cases it feels like they have no ending whatsoever and the story just stops. However, the art is more good than bad, and there are a few high spots such as the first Swamp Thing story by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson.
Overall this isn't a great collection by any means, but if you like horror comics it's worth a read. I will say if you aren't a big horror comics fan but like to read some from time to time anyway, there are better collections out there.
September 29, 2022
Imagine my delightful surprise when I first saw these Showcase Presents editions--hefty, compilations of my favorite comic books, efficiently book-bound according to title and chronological order. These were comic books I grew up with, and while they weren't exactly appropriate reading material for an impressionable eight-year-old, a good chunk of my early vocabulary was gleaned from them. This first volume starts out with the earliest editions of The House of Secrets (Casa Abel), which I wasn't familiar with. The plots are predictable, and the art designs too, seem off. But as the book progresses, so do the narratives and the artwork. I give this three stars because of my gratitude to DC, for making it so convenient for me to relive one of my childhood's favorite past-times.
December 25, 2016
Often pedestrian short horror stories in the sister anthology comic to House of Mystery. Even this first volume had lots of reprints from earlier silver age era. Of course, best known for the introduction of Swamp Thing in issue #92, there are other treats, such as the Bride of Death and Divide and Murder. Plenty of the greatest creators of the Bronze era, like writers Wolfman, Conway and Wein as well as artists Neal Adams, Alex Toth, Gray Morrow, Bernie Wrightson, Wally Wood, Jim Aparo, etc.
February 1, 2016
I've never been the biggest fan of "horror" comics, but given how much I enjoyed the "Weird Western" novel
Vermilion
and given that the caretaker of The House of Secrets, Abel, is a regular in one of my all time favorite comic books, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, I thought it might be high time to give The House of Secrets a shot.
To say that The House of Secrets is a horror comic isn't really the truth. There are horror and gothic elements here, but for the most part this series has more in common with The Twilight Zone than Tales From the Crypt. Most of the stories have some odd twist in the end that reveals their kinship to Rod Serling's series, and are written by comic book writers who were the up-and-comers that would get DC through the late 70s and early 80s, like Marv Wolfman and Len Wein. Their best days are ahead of them here, but this collection does feature the first appearance of Swamp Thing as can be seen by the cover of the collection. But even Swamp Thing wouldn't take off until it ended up in the deft hands of Alan Moore, and this Swamp Thing story doesn't even feature the Swamp Thing that all of us are familiar with (even though, in a move of pure genius, Moore would graft the Alex Olsen Swamp Thing into a retcon when he took over the Swamp Thing title in 1982.) Other than that remarkable first appearance, the rest of The House of Secrets is run of the mill stories, produced during a time when the comic book companies thought they could attract you with more pages (as the series went on, it became a 48, then 52 page anthology.) It's all fine and good, but I don't know if it is worth the effort.
To say that The House of Secrets is a horror comic isn't really the truth. There are horror and gothic elements here, but for the most part this series has more in common with The Twilight Zone than Tales From the Crypt. Most of the stories have some odd twist in the end that reveals their kinship to Rod Serling's series, and are written by comic book writers who were the up-and-comers that would get DC through the late 70s and early 80s, like Marv Wolfman and Len Wein. Their best days are ahead of them here, but this collection does feature the first appearance of Swamp Thing as can be seen by the cover of the collection. But even Swamp Thing wouldn't take off until it ended up in the deft hands of Alan Moore, and this Swamp Thing story doesn't even feature the Swamp Thing that all of us are familiar with (even though, in a move of pure genius, Moore would graft the Alex Olsen Swamp Thing into a retcon when he took over the Swamp Thing title in 1982.) Other than that remarkable first appearance, the rest of The House of Secrets is run of the mill stories, produced during a time when the comic book companies thought they could attract you with more pages (as the series went on, it became a 48, then 52 page anthology.) It's all fine and good, but I don't know if it is worth the effort.
January 5, 2012
Really had fun reading these cheap, cheesy Golden Age horror comics. Each one of them is only 3-5 pages so you could read a whole lot real fast. I found the overall, goofy fun style of the stories really triggered my creative mind and had me thinking of my own short stories. I'm not sure why this rather than good fiction worked as muse for me, but it did. I also loved the lackadaisical way in which characters reacted to fantastic things going on. With little room to develop or process the stories, they were almost always wrapped up with dues ex machina. People in the stories just took for granted ridiculous things that were happening. For instance, in the final story, the town inventor saves people on the roof of a fiery building with a matter gun to build them a bridge. He then becomes a town hero, who the town defends when aliens attack minutes later trying to abduct him minutes later. It turns out he was an alien in disguise all along and his kind were chasing him for stealing their matter gun. I loved the drawing of an agape townsperson as he says, "oh my gosh, aliens from outer space." Stuff like that in here...cracks me up.
February 9, 2011
Reprints House of Secrets #81-98. Abel takes over the House of Secrets and introduces tales. The House of Secrets was a bit more connected than the House of Mystery (Cain's tales). Abel's stories often were more connected but as the series moved on it became more serialized with Abel as just the host. The book also introduces the original Swamp Thing that went through some changes before becoming the Swamp Thing series.
October 4, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. The House of Secrets is truly scary. I have finally got a chance to read the 1st Swamp Thing story written by Len Wein. If I were DC, I would bring that this series under the Vertigo imprint. There is no need to have blood and gore which dominates Horror today. All you need is a good imagination and being a good storyteller.
I would love to read Volume 2 when it becomes available.
I would love to read Volume 2 when it becomes available.
May 19, 2009
Excellent collection of horror comics, although I'll readily admit most of my affinity for it is pure nostalgia. Still, lots of great art and decent writing, and even a few good surprises. Maybe not a good introduction to this sort of thing-- that would be Showcase Presents House of Mystery Volume 1-- but for established fans it's great to have all this stuff in one place.
August 18, 2024
This was the sister series to House of Mystery, and has lots of Silver Age greats contributing to this series: Gerry Conway, Neal Adams, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, Len Wein, Don Heck, and Gil Kane. This series is most famous for 1971's issue 92, which featured the first appearance of the Swamp Thing. I am really a sucker for old Horror comic anthologies.
March 15, 2014
So I did like this but I want to acknowledge the fact that it is kind of awful. The artwork is very nice but the stories are all over the place. This is definitely a read b/c you like cheesy old school horror comics kind of thing.
November 10, 2009
Great art, a few classic stories, but many more cheesier tales.
April 15, 2010
Superb art in most of this (Toth especially), but the stories are usually like unfinished EC tales.
February 1, 2012
Some great art in these horror stories from the early 70s. The writing generally doesn't hold up as well, but is entertaining enough.
August 14, 2013
Great collection of old fashioned scary stories. the Len Wein stories are the best. This set includes the original appearance of the Swamp Thing.
August 28, 2013
I actually read volume 2 but these are short stories and some really short;I expected them to longer but i enjoyed it in all.
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