House of Mystery Annual #2 – A Tour of Vertigo Titles

House of Mystery Annual #2 (Vertigo – Sturges / Carey / Varies)

The haunting began last Halloween, but this year, Matt Sturges, Peter Milligan, Mike Carey, Jill Thompson and a hoary host of guest creators deliver even more spine-tingling thrills in the HOUSE OF MYSTERY HALLOWEEN ANNUAL #2! The annual House of Mystery Halloween Party is in full swing when the doorbell rings, which is unusual because a) it’s never happened before and b) there isn’t a doorbell at the House of Mystery! What does Fig find when she opens the door? A warped trio of kids cursed to trick or treat until the end of time who will spin a tale spanning the years involving many Vertigo favorites such as Hellblazer, Lucifer, Madame Xanadu, iZombie and loads of others!

The Pullbox will try to be in the holiday spirit this week and review a few books that will put you in the right mood for Halloween.

This HoM annual easily could have doubled as a “Vertigo Halloween Special”, but it probably wouldn’t have sold as well.  Perhaps the only people who picked this one up was the hardcore House fans, who were then disappointed because so little of the book dealt with Fig or the Cain & Able or the House itself.  The House of Mystery set-up story was far and away the best one in the book

As the Vertigo blurb stated, this is an anthology of tales involving a group of cursed aging trick or treaters (moral of the story: never ever toilet paper the house of an old gypsy witch).  The stories are decent but short and feel very contrived, as if they were written specifically to spotlight some Vertigo character – come on, how else do you explain someone else writing about those lame-ass iZombie characters.

Bottom Line:  A decent read if you are borrowing it from someone else, but with a $5 cover price, bet you can find something better to own.

Grade: C+

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