House of Mystery

[endo]

I was rummaging around in the closet the other day, and I found a stash of older magazines that I had forgotten all about.
I love when that happens!!

Anyway, in with all the magazines was a comic that I had gotten new in 1998, and it was a revival of sorts of the old DC House of Mystery comics.
It's called Welcome Back to the House of Mystery, and features Cain the Caretaker as the host and story teller, just like in the originals.

It features 10 stories from the original comics as well. They're re-colored, but other than that, exactly as they appeared in the original.
I think this was the only issue like this that was ever made, which is too bad.

It was a lot of fun reading the stories I remembered reading as a kid back in 88, and even more fun reading them again the other day.

Here's a scan of the cover...

[gorepolice]

Cool discovery. Always nice when you find something like this that you weren't even looking for.

[NDX]

Neil Gaiman... I must read that someday.

[endo]

It was awesome. I didn't quite like the adding of the Aragones segments. Nothing against him, but his work just didn't seem to fit in a horror comic.
All in all though, the stories hold up. Some are dated obviously as they came out in the early 70's, but overall, very good.

[NDX]

Aragones has always been a comedy artist. I mean, he IS Mad Magazine. Groo the Wanderer? That name caught me off as well.

They did a new House of Mystery series for a few years not too long ago. Again, it was cancelled for its and the House of Secrets inclusion in the Nu52 as part of the Justice League Dark. They're seriously houses that are like living entities that float between mystic plains.

[endo]

I read some of the new HOM and didn't care for it. I like my horror comics cut and dry. I'm reading them to get away from thinking too much, lol.
Guess that's why I loved them even as a kid, even then I could understand what was going on.

[NDX]

Yeah, everything is in arcs these days. It's a rarity to actually find 1 and done comics when 30 years ago a story that went 3 or more issues was very hard to pull off. They were very uncommon. Started becoming more so in the 80s and 90s, and no that's common fair.

[endo]

I don't mind a continuing story or serial, The Walking Dead is awesome. It was when there were parallel universes and this character died in this world but was still alive in this one...that's when it just became too much work for me to keep up with, which is why I never got into the super hero stuff, I guess.

Anyway, one story in this collective issue that I remembered reading when I was a kid, isn't even really a horror story.
But, it touched me as a kid reading it in the 70's and it touched me just as much when I read it again. I'm not good at descriptions so I'll just post it. Plus, I'm bored, lol.

[gorepolice]

A great story, and a sad ending too. I can see why that one would stick with you.

[endo]

I just get so much of it, the being a kid thing and everything seeming magical. I daydreamed a lot as a kid, lol, and a view master would keep me occupied for hours.
I remember thinking I could just climb right into those 3-D pictures and just be there, then dreaming about it later that night.

So, stories like this just hit that chord with me. There were others along this line that I'm sure I'd remember if I came across them.

[gorepolice]

Oh man, I miss my Viewmaster. That was one of the coolest toys ever. I miss when things were that simple.

[NDX]

Damn, I had 2 of those. Viewmasters were the best. From comics to cartoons to landscapes.

[endo]

My cousin also had one of these...



You pop in these movies that look like long 8 track tapes, and then hand crank it and watch through this view hole. It was freaking awesome as a kid. No sound, but it didn't matter.
The only movie he had was Lonesome Ghosts, but that would keep me entertained for a long time.

[gorepolice]

Damn spoiled kids these days with their iPhones and Ipads.

[endo]

Yeah, lol. Back in the day, this thing was hi tech, lol.