House of Mystery Vol 5: Under New Management

House of Mystery Vol 5: Under New Management (2011) Matthew Sturges, Luca Rossi, Jose Marzan Jr

I think what I like best about the House of Mystery are the stories between the story. Like the House at World’s End, it’s full of tales and stories told by the visitors to the house, tales from other times and worlds.

I suppose it makes it an anthology in comic form, which may be why I like it so well.

Aside from the Fig thread, which is… okay, there are a variety of tales told by the patrons. These stories were written by a variety of authors, including Bill Willingham (of Fables) Aside from Fig, about whom I remain ambivalent, I quite like the other characters in the story. Cain & Abel are not strong enough to carry their own series, but placed around the stories of others they fit very well into the series.

If you have not read House of Mystery before, you should be able to pick up here, because the heart of this series is the tales between. But if you want to understand more of Fig’s story, you’ll need to go back to the start of the series. And if you don’t know about Cain & Abel (I mean, besides the obvious biblical story) you haven’t read Sandman, and that is something your should rectify immediately.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Vertigo

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