Today, DC Comics’ THE HOUSE OF SECRETS anthology is remembered most for birthing Swamp Thing, but it deserves better than that mere footnote. Perhaps the collection SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF SECRETS: VOLUME 1 can help change that.
One thing it can’t change is me forever getting it confused with THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY. Both titles ran concurrently, referenced each other and dealt out multiple tales of terror in each issue. SECRETS shows itself to be more suspense- and supernatural-oriented than its big brother, but really, their contents could be interchangeable, involving the same creative forces and generally being a great deal of fun.
This SHOWCASE volume reprints 18 consecutive issues, starting with 1969’s #81, when the series relaunched after a three-year absence. Thus, it begins with the titular house being moved and causing havoc. Abel — brother of MYSTERY host Cain — moves in and immediately shows his scaredy-cat self. Mind you, this is all in the wraparound, and continues throughout. In doing a little more with Abel than Cain ever saw, SECRETS almost makes mini-stories starring its host.
Not that it needs it, as there are plenty of crackling good tales to be told, including that ever-memorable Swamp Thing eight-pager from 1971’s #92. A man finds an unusual way to get rid of his nagging wife in “The One and Only, Fully Guaranteed, Super-Permanent, 100%?,” which reminded me a little of Richard Matheson’s “Button, Button.” There’s a quite creepy number in “The Ballad of Little Joe,” because it deals with freakin’ puppets. (So does “Creature …,” kind of, and has an even more chilling end.)
The entire issue of #90 is devoted to stories with a science-fiction bent. And interspersed throughout most of the issues here are one-panel gags called “Abel’s Fables” by Sergio Aragonés, similar to the types of jokes he scrawled in the margins of MAD. Other talent includes such familiar names as Jim Aparo, Neal Adams, Alex Toth and Wally Wood.
Anyone who enjoyed the SHOWCASE treatments of MYSTERY will do the same with SECRETS. It’s an immensely satisfying collection of ’70s mainstream horror comics, when the main ingredient wasn’t blood, but pure fun. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATGIRL: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM-UPS: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM-UPS: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE ELONGATED MAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS ENEMY ACE: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN ARROW: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HAUNTED TANK: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAWKMAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAMORPHO: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SGT. ROCK: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHAZAM!: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT: VOLUME 1
