TreasuryCast #19 – The House of Mystery

TREASURYCAST #19: LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION #C-23: THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY

Boo! Just in time for Halloween, Rob welcomes fellow Network All-Star Ryan Daly and they dare to enter...The House of Mystery, featuring seven spooky tales by Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, Gil Kane, Steve Skeates, Sergio Aragones, Neal Adams, and more!

Check out images from this comic by clicking here!

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12 responses to “TreasuryCast #19 – The House of Mystery

  1. Interesting episode. I never knew there was a House of Mystery treasury, or indeed, any horror treasury editions. Based on your description and the art samples, this one looks like a fantastic book – I particularly like the stuff by Aragones you posted, but then again, I love pretty anything Aragones does.

    By the way, those reprint books from the early ’80s you guys talked about are called the Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists, and they were in fact published by DC, but in cooperation with a company called Sea Gate Distributors – the logos of both companies appear on the covers. And there were only three issues as far as I know. The first two featuring the old Shining Knight stories drawn by Frank Frazetta (about which I wrote a brief review a few years ago) and the third showcasing Berni Wrightson.

  2. Great review.
    I found those Shining Knight books in the buck box a couple years back. Thrilling!!

    As for these stories, I wonder if John Carpenter read The Devils Doorway. That ending is very representative of the end of Prince of Darkness!

  3. Great show fellas. PJ keeps trying to show up on other people’s shows, doesn’t he?

    The Toth story reminded me a bit of two stories from the Amicus film, From Beyond the Grave which I just watched this weekend. One about a possessed mirror, and another about a doorway to a hellish room.

    Wouldn’t it be great if someone adapted some of these House of Mystery stories into a TV series or movie?

    Speaking of which, where did that clip at the end come from? I’m drawing a blank there.

    Oh, and of course the legend of my childhood weinie-ness continues. Sigh.

    Chris

  4. I’m thrilled to bits you’ve covered this issue, having recently managed to find a copy. I enjoyed every story.

    The gargoyles story was fun, though too long. I’m a fan of Jack Sparling’s work, having come across it as a kid on Green Lantern. Inking himself, the scratchy effect floats my boat.

    Secret of the Egyptian Cat was fascinating – shouldn’t Cain know more about what’s going on in his house? Does he let anyone in there? Anyroadup, that opening spread is amazing.

    I’m surprised by how little you lads enjoyed the Adams/Orlando artwork, because the effect is gorgeous to my eyes. Yes, I like the sharpness and dynamism of Giordano on Adams, but for a ghost story, a feathered finish is frankly fantastic. No pun intended, but the splash panel with the old lady’s fluffy hair transforming into the foam of the ocean… wow. Great story, too, pithy.

    That Kane tale is a hoot, just bonkers. I like that these great creators could laugh at themselves.

    The Devil’s Doorway is my favourite, mainly due to the Toth art – a full-page splash panel was a rare thing and Toth made the title page earn its keep. Then page two, with the angled panels framed by the figure of Philip Warren (a nod to Warren Comics?), page three with the white silhouetted Cathy emerging from the narrative box, and so on and so on… just lovely work.

    The Poster Plague is a pleasure for Arigones, though the story was at least a third too long.

    Nightmare gave us more Adams goodness, with my favourite pages being 8 and 9, as Judy flees through the forest. Poor kid! Pan is like a tiny Cain, it’s quite disturbing that he’s meant to be a kid satyr, but has an older guy’s face.

    Rather than all the Cain’s Game Room – weak sauce, so far as the gags go – I’d rather have had another short story. Loved the dies and diagrams and suchlike, though,

    I’ve wittered on about the artists, but kudos to all the writers, for reminding us that short comics fiction is an art.

    Anyway, thanks to you both for a fantastic Hallowe’en episode.

  5. Really enjoyed this episode! Don’t really have anything to add since my exposure to these stories (and treasuries in general) is so limited, but your chat really got me anxious to read the horror digests now!

    Always look forward to these shows!

  6. Hi Guys! I guess i’m going to have to give you the straight dope about “His Name is Kane!” Let me back up.
    A friend of mine–a Comics Pro, who broke into the biz in the 70s–this creator spent time with Kane as he was coming up from fandom, and later worked on several projects with ‘ol Sugar Lips, My friend, like all of you remarked to Kane about how cool ‘His name is Kane!’ was, and how neat of Gil to be able to laugh at himself. Kane blanched at this. Allow me to back up again. Gil Kane kept a mistress. and having a mistress is understandably expensive. It is an open secret in the biz that Kane was the notorious ‘art thief’ who made off with original pages and sold them for extra dough. also, of note: in 1968 Gil Kane put out a B/W self published one-shot “His Name is Savage!” a great comic that bombed. Bombed because of the practical monopoly the big two publishers had over newsstand distribution. Most copies of ‘Savage’ never hit the stands. This sabotage was done to keep Kane ‘in his place’ and to discourage artists from breaking out of the mainstream comics game. at any rate, Kane revealed that “His Name is Kane!” was not self-deprecating on his part, rather, it was penance for both ‘Savage’ and his being the art thief. Kane was essentially told by DC ‘do this or you won’t work for us ever again.’

          1. I’m a huge fan of his work as well, Martin. The thing about Kane (and everybody) is none of us are perfect, and we all have our demons. I’m under the impression that Gil eventually conquered his.

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