‘The Nice House By The Sea, Vol.1’ – Tynion IV, Bueno, Bellaire (DC Vertigo)

 

Page Count: 168 Pages


Well… The plan, for last night, was to finish off ‘The Shattered And The Soulless’ in time for today’s post and I was on track to get it done too. But there ended up being too much left to read, and not enough time to read it all in, so I quit while I was ahead. ‘The Shattered And The Soulless’ is proving to be a decent read but it isn’t one that I’m going to stress over finishing. If you’re reading this today, the odds are that I’ll be reading the last hundred and thirty(ish) pages, of ‘Shattered’, at the same time.

 Anyway… Where does this leave me today?

In my flat, books have a nasty habit of being moved from one pile to another (dependant on a whim or nice cover art) and it may be a little while before they catch my eye again. That’s my excuse for having left ‘The Nice House By The Sea’ unread for as long as I did, especially after I enjoyed ‘The Nice House On The Lake’ as much as I did. Last night was the night for finally getting round to it though and…

The Nice House On The Lake was only the beginning…

No-one who was invited to the House knew Max, but she knew each and every one of them: masters of their fields, titans of industry, the best and brightest of humanity. When Max whispered to each of them that they could be saved from disaster and thrive in a paradise built just for them, they all leaped at the chance. After all, being the future of humanity could be… nice, couldn’t it?

Collects ‘The Nice House By The Sea’ #1-6

‘The Nice House By The Sea’ confirms what was hinted at in the last book, and given the title of this book, it’s not exactly a spoiler to go into it here. There is at least one more ‘Nice House’ out there and you’d be forgiven for wondering what more story you can tell here. After all, if the house is nice (it is) and the residents are just as incapable of getting on (and they are…); what more is there to say?

I’ll be honest, ‘The Nice House By The Sea’ treads a lot of familiar ground in the beginning stages and to be fair, if you’re introducing a new cast to an established setting then you’re going to get that. There is some mileage to be had out of these early moments though, getting into a whole new group dynamic and seeing what these people have done with their environs. And then… everything changes because…

What happens when the occupants of these two houses become aware of each other? Especially as they know what is required to ensure their own survival… Well, we don’t get to see the outcome here but what we do see is the lead-up to that inevitable confrontation with discussions, on both sides, that really show us the mindset of each house. One is looking forward to seeing some new faces but the other…? The other house knows that if they are to survive, they must be the only house left standing. You can probably guess which house is which and it’s not looking good for one of them right now. Tynion IV has really set events in motion and the book takes on a whole new feel as a result, even more so once you realise that each house also has a resident that is happy to work against it… The outcome may be starting to feel inevitable (all the more so when you look at the opening pages, of each issue, and think about where they’re set) but Tynion IV has sown enough seeds here that I couldn’t help but think that it isn’t a foregone conclusion just yet. Add in more revelations about the Lakehouse friendship group, and what these may mean, and I found a plot that demanded my full attention and paid it back in full. There is absolutely no doubt that I’ll be back to see how this all pans out in Volume 2. A cast, full of rich characters, faced with all the right questions will do that to me every time.

I haven’t got a lot to add about the artwork which continues to match the standards set in the first two books. Lets just say that Bueno and Bellaire show us, all too well, that the horrors we can inflict on each other can be just as brutal as those that come from beyond the stars.

And that’s your lot until Volume 2 arrives :o) I don’t know when that will be (not for a while, I reckon) but I will wait patiently in the meantime. I really want to know what happens next...

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