House of Mystery

[The Wayner]

As if I needed any further prodding, the flashing ad at the top of the CBR page (and the recent AICN review) has finally got me offa my butt to order the Showcase House of Mystery.

I pretty much know what to expect, and am anxious to give it a read, but what do others think about it? Am really interested to hear what favorite, and total bomb, story you think appears in the pages...

[dan bailey]

dunno about calling it a "total bomb," but just a few minutes i finished reading "the roots of evil" from hom 176 (i bought the showcase volume to the store to read during particularly slow intervals, of which this is one) & found it extremely blah. (i remember reading the issue before that as a kid, as well as the 3 after it, but somehow i missed 176 when it came out.) i do have to say, though, that i think i like jack sparling's art better in b&w.

& since i've still got 400-plus pages to read (well over half, i'm sure, from issues that i skipped when they came out), i suppose it'd be premature to identify a favorite story at this juncture. just the same, "the game," the cover story from ish 178, has stuck with me more than half my life. i was quite pleased to dig up my old coverless copy of the comic a year or so ago.

[shaxper]

I don't understand the point. Honestly, the only reason I collect vintage House of Mystery is for the amazing covers. You lose that in the Showcase editions. Admittedly, I haven't read many of the actual issues, but a lot of the stories I did read were just plain awful.

[The Lucky One]

I'll throw in my desire for opinions too... I've considered picking it up, but I'd like to know whether the stories are generally pretty good, or if it's the art that really sells the book. Anybody read it and care to weigh in?

-D

[Agentum]

The point is to publish a cheap solution to people that like to read this stories not collect them.
I don't know why the Showcases leave out the covers but they would have been in B&W anyway.
I will probably buy this later.

[The Wayner]

I don't know why the Showcases leave out the covers but they would have been in B&W anyway.

Which ones leave out the covers? Granted, I haven't received the HoM volume, yet, but all my other Showcases have the covers reprinted...

[howyadoin]

I think my favourite House of Mystery story was "Mouse of History".

[Halloween Jill]

Yep, the covers are included, albeit grayscale versions of the colour for some reason.

Me, mostly I bought it for (some of) the artwork. People like Toth & Wrightson hardly suffer from loss of colour. I will read them, slowly, but I feel the stories are mostly formula stuff and nothing special. I like b&w, though.

[Ryan K]

Which ones leave out the covers? Granted, I haven't received the HoM volume, yet, but all my other Showcases have the covers reprinted...

The Green Arrow volume only had 4 or 5 of the covers reprinted which was dissapointing.

[Lone Ranger]

The Green Arrow volume only had 4 or 5 of the covers reprinted which was dissapointing.

I guess DC figured that including covers from Adventure or WF would only highlight the fact that GA was a back-up character.

I bought a copy of HOM last week, and it is sitting in my desk drawer, begging me to put down my work and crack it open.

[Ryan K]

I guess DC figured that including covers from Adventure or WF would only highlight the fact that GA was a back-up character.

Yeah. Plus with 70 or so comics in there reprinting 70 covers would have meant omitting 70 pages worth of content. Dissapointing, but understandable.

[prince hal]

Yeah, the GA edition only reprinted the B&B and JLA covers; I'm sure it was b/c he was only a backup in the others.

Not to sound ungrateful for these low-priced, high-value Showcase Presents titles, but I wish DC had at least included a text introduction/ appreciation of some kind. I guess that would have been a budget-buster, but that kind of piece makes a difference. And I also wish they'd have done something imaginative with those half-pages rather than just printing the title character's logo over and over. Would it have been so bad to reprint some of the great old DC house ads, or those smaller text pieces they ran occasionally? Again, I'm guessing they went as bare bones on these as they could to keep the price down.

[Lone Ranger]

Not to sound ungrateful for these low-priced, high-value Showcase Presents titles, but I wish DC had at least included a text introduction/ appreciation of some kind. I guess that would have been a budget-buster, but that kind of piece makes a difference.

I could not agree more. That's the biggest flaw to the Essentials and Showcase lines as far as I am concerned. I loooooove a good introduction - we get some background, some context and someone's impressions of the character, writing and art.

How much would someone get paid for writing one of those introductions in the Archives line? I can't imagine that it would be very much.

Maybe DC or Marvel should ask for submissions from fans? I am sure that many people could write a decent two-page introduction and would do it for free.

And I also wish they'd have done something imaginative with those half-pages rather than just printing the title character's logo over and over. Would it have been so bad to reprint some of the great old DC house ads, or those smaller text pieces they ran occasionally? Again, I'm guessing they went as bare bones on these as they could to keep the price down.

Man, are you and I ever one the same wavelength.

How about inserting 'Cap's Hobby Hints' - Henry Boltinoff is never going to get his own TPB, so it would be a nice touch.

Another option would be to reproduce a fan letter - especially from fans who went on to become comic book creators.

The house ads is also a good idea, or perhaps the PSAs.

[Halloween Jill]

I'd like to stand for the 'it's the material that counts' position. Don't care about the ads, nor for reading introductions, usually written by self-proclaimed 'experts' that I tend to find irritating and unnecessary. (I'm so cynical...)

As a no-frills solution, I think they're pretty cool and I'm not inclined to nit-pick. I mean, think of the Essentials: also great, in their way, but sometimes the reproduction is terrible. With the DC books, you know the quality issues are gonna be minor at worst.

Anyone know what else is coming up? Are they going to do Flash? Any vintage Kubert? I also think a big Fourth World book san tones would be nice. The paper on these books is better (smoother, less porous = less rapid degradation) than those toned FW books -- with the exception of the second Mr. Miracle volume, anyway, which was a step up.