‘The Nice House On The Lake, Vol.1 & Vol.2’ – Tynion IV, Bueno, Bellaire (DC Black Label)
Those few days between Christmas and New Year, days when the shops seem to open up especially so you can take back presents that you bought your daughter in error. There are sales as well but it’s mostly taking stuff back, at least as far as I’m concerned ;o) That’s what I ended up doing the other day, exchanging a ‘Christmas Manga Present’ for Volume 1 of ‘The Nice House On The Lake’. Now, here’s a book that I hadn’t planned on reading at all. I’d sorted something else out for my daughter so here was a chance to get something for me; I’d never even heard of this title until I saw it on the shelf but the cover looked cool and the blurb intriguing, that was all I needed.
The title of the post gives it away really, I finished Volume 1 and, yesterday, went straight out for a copy of Volume 2. That should tell you everything really but that would make for a very short post so… Lets see if I can give you a little more than that.
Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter―well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off.
But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter’s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It’s beautiful, it’s opulent, it’s private―so a week of putting up with Walter’s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not?
All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn’t a chance to reconnect be…nice? And then they find out what’s happening in the world beyond the lake and the real reason that Walter invited them to stay…
This is a really difficult post to write as while this series has been going a while (and I’m assuming that again, I’m last to the party), I really don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t picked it up yet. And if you’re after a slice of post-apocalyptic horror that really makes you think (about all sorts of things), you really should be reading ‘The Nice House’ if you aren’t already.
What I can say is that the apocalypse (told through tweets, news feeds and emails) is absolutely terrifying and Tynion does an amazing job of not only showing us the scale of events but also making it really clear how this affects the cast. There is a hell of a lot to get my head round here and I’m still trying to remember who is who; there’s no doubt though that events are catastrophic, Tynion does not hold back.
But that’s only the half of it, at least as far as Volume 1 goes. People have barely got their heads around what is happening and then Walter’s secret is revealed and the whole point of the series begins to become clear. I love reading about the apocalypse but it’s always what comes after that interests me in terms of a story. How do people react in the face of disaster and what does this mean for the problems they are going to encounter afterwards? Tynion asks these questions, of his cast, right away and there is a definite hint of Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ here. At what point does a place of safety become a prison? Some of the cast look to make the most of it but but others feel claustrophobic straight away and this creates a whole load of interesting dynamics that play out across the rest of the book. I’m probably the wrong generation to really appreciate the anxieties at play in the group (and damn did I feel old writing that…) but I am always there for hard questions that require quick solutions and Volume 1 really makes you experience these with the cast. And the moments where we get to meet each character individually, in what looks like the future… Wow. There’s a real bleak air hanging over things here and it adds a sombre note to what the people in the house are trying to do.
Tynion also has a lot to say about friendship here and to be honest, I’m still trying to puzzle it out. There’s definitely something here about friendships that should be allowed to fade and the consequences of this not being allowed to happen. And that says a lot about Walter himself, someone who had to pick ten people but never realised what it would mean to get to know them all in light of what was coming. And without going into too much detail, he clearly didn’t plan ahead and he had no idea of the group dynamic outside of the occasional night out… It’s fascinating to watch all this play out.
Volume 2 is more of the same but a lot becomes clearer (despite a deliberately vague, and slightly confusing, opening) and pushes towards a conclusion, at least for this arc, that underlines a lot of what Norah told Walter would happen within the group. I really hope that this isn’t the last we see of these characters by the way, especially in light of what is being hinted at over the course of Volume 1. I was still having trouble keeping track of everyone (apart from Walter, he’s really easy to distinguish from the others…) but I really enjoyed spending time with them, to the point where I spotted an impending death and got really concerned...
What’s interesting in Volume 2 is the almost ‘behind the scenes’ look, Tynion gives us, as to the creation of the ‘Nice House’ and what it was built to do for its residents, especially the contrast to the dead world (or is it, I have no idea at this point) outside its boundaries. Again, I don’t want to say too much but this is more than just a concept being played out to see where it goes, the story-telling here is just sublime; terrifying in what it makes you face but just superbly structured and very easy to get sucked into.
I’ve just realised that I’ve been banging on about the plot but said nothing about the artwork. It’s the bit where I always struggle (knowing nothing about art, just what art I like) but lets give it a go. I found some of the panel work hard to follow but that’s on me not being a huge reader of comic books. I do have a lot of time for Bueno’s art, and Bellaire’s colours though, especially when you turn a page and suddenly get a whole load of skin-melting apocalypse right in your face. It’s a great contrast to the seemingly quiet environs of the lake.
I love it when I pick up a book at random and just get blown away by what’s inside. That’s exactly what I got with ‘The Nice House On The Lake’, all sorts of horror wrapped up in one series. I know there’s a ‘Nice House By The Sea’ (because I literally just ordered it) but I’m really hoping for more from this lakeside setting. We’ll see, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this series in general.
The title of the post gives it away really, I finished Volume 1 and, yesterday, went straight out for a copy of Volume 2. That should tell you everything really but that would make for a very short post so… Lets see if I can give you a little more than that.
Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter―well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off.
But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter’s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It’s beautiful, it’s opulent, it’s private―so a week of putting up with Walter’s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not?
All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn’t a chance to reconnect be…nice? And then they find out what’s happening in the world beyond the lake and the real reason that Walter invited them to stay…
This is a really difficult post to write as while this series has been going a while (and I’m assuming that again, I’m last to the party), I really don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t picked it up yet. And if you’re after a slice of post-apocalyptic horror that really makes you think (about all sorts of things), you really should be reading ‘The Nice House’ if you aren’t already.
What I can say is that the apocalypse (told through tweets, news feeds and emails) is absolutely terrifying and Tynion does an amazing job of not only showing us the scale of events but also making it really clear how this affects the cast. There is a hell of a lot to get my head round here and I’m still trying to remember who is who; there’s no doubt though that events are catastrophic, Tynion does not hold back.
But that’s only the half of it, at least as far as Volume 1 goes. People have barely got their heads around what is happening and then Walter’s secret is revealed and the whole point of the series begins to become clear. I love reading about the apocalypse but it’s always what comes after that interests me in terms of a story. How do people react in the face of disaster and what does this mean for the problems they are going to encounter afterwards? Tynion asks these questions, of his cast, right away and there is a definite hint of Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ here. At what point does a place of safety become a prison? Some of the cast look to make the most of it but but others feel claustrophobic straight away and this creates a whole load of interesting dynamics that play out across the rest of the book. I’m probably the wrong generation to really appreciate the anxieties at play in the group (and damn did I feel old writing that…) but I am always there for hard questions that require quick solutions and Volume 1 really makes you experience these with the cast. And the moments where we get to meet each character individually, in what looks like the future… Wow. There’s a real bleak air hanging over things here and it adds a sombre note to what the people in the house are trying to do.
Tynion also has a lot to say about friendship here and to be honest, I’m still trying to puzzle it out. There’s definitely something here about friendships that should be allowed to fade and the consequences of this not being allowed to happen. And that says a lot about Walter himself, someone who had to pick ten people but never realised what it would mean to get to know them all in light of what was coming. And without going into too much detail, he clearly didn’t plan ahead and he had no idea of the group dynamic outside of the occasional night out… It’s fascinating to watch all this play out.
Volume 2 is more of the same but a lot becomes clearer (despite a deliberately vague, and slightly confusing, opening) and pushes towards a conclusion, at least for this arc, that underlines a lot of what Norah told Walter would happen within the group. I really hope that this isn’t the last we see of these characters by the way, especially in light of what is being hinted at over the course of Volume 1. I was still having trouble keeping track of everyone (apart from Walter, he’s really easy to distinguish from the others…) but I really enjoyed spending time with them, to the point where I spotted an impending death and got really concerned...
What’s interesting in Volume 2 is the almost ‘behind the scenes’ look, Tynion gives us, as to the creation of the ‘Nice House’ and what it was built to do for its residents, especially the contrast to the dead world (or is it, I have no idea at this point) outside its boundaries. Again, I don’t want to say too much but this is more than just a concept being played out to see where it goes, the story-telling here is just sublime; terrifying in what it makes you face but just superbly structured and very easy to get sucked into.
I’ve just realised that I’ve been banging on about the plot but said nothing about the artwork. It’s the bit where I always struggle (knowing nothing about art, just what art I like) but lets give it a go. I found some of the panel work hard to follow but that’s on me not being a huge reader of comic books. I do have a lot of time for Bueno’s art, and Bellaire’s colours though, especially when you turn a page and suddenly get a whole load of skin-melting apocalypse right in your face. It’s a great contrast to the seemingly quiet environs of the lake.
I love it when I pick up a book at random and just get blown away by what’s inside. That’s exactly what I got with ‘The Nice House On The Lake’, all sorts of horror wrapped up in one series. I know there’s a ‘Nice House By The Sea’ (because I literally just ordered it) but I’m really hoping for more from this lakeside setting. We’ll see, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this series in general.
Those covers are just plain creepy!
ReplyDeleteThat's only half of it, you should see what's inside... :o)
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