The Nice House on the Lake #10 (of 12)
(W) James Tynion IV (A/CA) Alvaro Martinez Bueno
In Shops: Sep 27, 2022
SRP: $3.99
The plan is in motion. The pieces are in place. The trap is sprung. Norah’s in position to wrest control of the Nice House from Walter-unless, of course, something goes wrong. But they’ve thought of everything. What could go wrong?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that James Tynion and Álvaro Martínez Bueno’s The Nice House on The Lake reveals parts of its jigsaw puzzle-like plot one tiny piece at a time. Issue #9 is no different. We’re still getting glimpses of possible answers, but we’re still very much at the mercy of ambiguous tidbits of information. Some big moments do set certain things in motion, but patience is the ideal virtue when it comes to this horror comic. Something wicked is certainly on the horizon, though, and this issue might just be the calm before the storm we’ve been at the heels of.
The latest chapter of Nice House sticks closer to the character of Arturo, who’s knowledgeable in the ways of acupuncture (something that carries more importance than I initially thought). The people at the house are trying to take on big projects to both explore the space they’re allowed to exist in and perhaps uncover more about the outside world. Unfortunately for them, things take an intense turn when certain realities about their physical conditions and of Walter’s role in the group come to the fore.
While character work is still the driving force behind the story, this issue does put plot progression ahead of strict character development (at least more than in previous issues). Tynion’s script lets his characters converge on a singular mission and keep them focused on it, all of which signals the coming of the end. While we’ve reached supposed ‘points of no return’ before, this time it feels like a crucial line is about to be crossed from which there truly is no turning back.
Martínez Bueno continues to impress with character expressions and ominous environmental designs. Every new structure the group builds and shows off looks like an architectural marvel and it helps build the world around them in unprecedented ways. Aspiring artists have a lot to learn from Martínez Bueno in terms of visual worldbuilding from this series.
Jordie Bellaire’s colors make the story even more distinctive, with a fairly varied color palette that makes the Nice House and its surroundings feel like a cruel paradise. Keeping in mind that each character is basically a totem of stress and anxiety, the colors become an affront to their emotional states. It’s as if it were wrong to not surrender to the situation and enjoy the beauty Walter has created for everyone at the Nice House.
We’re closing in on the end, which means the comic’s central mystery is running out of places to hide. Very soon, things will have to come out into the light. Fortunately for us readers, the process has been nothing short of spectacular, even though it’s getting harder and harder to wait for the remaining issues to drop.
Story: James Tynion Art: Álvaro Martínez Bueno Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Read and then take inventory of your Doomsday stash
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
After Lambana: Myth and Magic in Manila (Tuttle Publishing) – It’s a graphic novel focused on Filipino myth, magic, and supernatural suspense!
Bikini Atoll (Clover Press) – A danger in the water story just in time for summer!
The Closet #1 (Image Comics) – Writer James Tynion IV has been killing it lately so just his name on this tale of existential horror has us intrigued.
Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis (DC Comics) – The opening chapter of DC’s next big events was so-so, but we’re still intrigued by this one-shot comic that fives us a world where the Justice League is gone.
Neverender #1 (Behemoth Comics) – At the edge of civilization the dominant sport is a civilized sword duel to the death.
Newthink #1 (AWA Studios) – This anthology examines the rapid proliferation of technology, the cultural and political polarization of the country, and the technocrats that have driven us to such extremes of thought that we need to present the present as something…futuristic.
The Nice House on the Lake #9 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – We’ve been loving this series that has us guessing as to what exactly is going on and where it’s going.
Phalanx (Image Comics) – Image is celebrating 30 years and this one-shot that seems to be having fun with the Image of old feels like it’d be nostalgic fun.
Shadow War: Omega (DC Comics) – The finale to the mini-event that will lead directly into DC’s next big summer event.
Triskele #1 (Scout Comics) – When young Alec Ellis is granted a magical gift on Samhain night, the scales of power on the island of Albion are inadvertently shifted.
The Nice House on the Lake #8 (of 12)
(W) James Tynion IV (A/CA) Alvaro Martinez Bueno
In Shops: Apr 19, 2022
SRP: $3.99
With Walter living among his friends in the house, has the impossible happened? Have their lives actually…improved? Perhaps for some-but how are things going for the one housemate whose place Walter took?
The Nice House on The Lake’s eight chapter asks a question we love to bring up at parties: who would you spend the end of the world with? It’s a fun question, a great conversation starter. But take it as a real, serious question for a moment. Who’d be on your list? What would make someone worthy enough to be on that list? James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno explore this in their latest issue, and the answers seem to lie in more questions. Then again, there are signs of things finally getting some light shed on them.
Nice House #8 sees the group playing around with the idea of acceptance, perhaps even complacency. Plans are starting to pop up concerning new areas to either build up or section off to better settle into their new reality. As this happens, the issue’s focus character considers loneliness and what it means to be surrounded by people who already know each other. There’s a lot of inequality to consider in that situation and Tynion and Martínez Bueno do a phenomenal job of isolating some of their characters to explore that even as they’re physically surrounded by the entire group.
Martínez Bueno goes for uncomfortably intimate paneling in his pages, each shot captured as if by a hidden camera that’s peeking in just beyond the point of visibility. As a reader, you get the feel you’re eavesdropping, listening in on private conversations meant only for the ears of those present in the panels. Characters bear their souls in these talks and we get a front row seat to this intensely sheltered experience that’ not meant for the group. It’s one of the comic’s strengths and not a single beat is missed.
Tynion’s script, once again, successfully teases answers to longstanding mysteries without letting his foot off the break entirely. Whatever lies in the shape of things still requires a bit more patience on the reader’s part, but this issue does put into motion certain events that will undoubtedly bring the story past a point of no return.
When it comes to the role Walter is playing, the being of (as of yet) unknown origin or identity that’s behind everything, Tynion and Martínez Bueno opt for an even deeper sense of secrecy about his intentions. That said, this character feels ready to burst from all the things he’s hiding within him. These next few issues should prove utterly terrifying once it all comes spilling out, especially given his seemingly desperate need to be recognized as someone doing good by those around him.
This observation makes me wonder whether Walter is more of a lost god or magical being that can bend reality when it comes down to his purpose. His behavior does not necessarily signal scientific curiosity (which means he doesn’t come off as an alien manipulating with test subjects). Walter is driven by emotion, up to a point, and it signals a more complex kind of reasoning behind the selection process for the people who were allowed to stay at the Nice House. Could this all be a selfish plan by a lonely god that wants to be accompanied or worshipped by a select few he can count as friends? Is he a demon or a supernatural being from the future that wants to change some aspect of the past to counteract his need for attention in his time? We shall see.
It’s incredible to think that Nice House can still add more questions to the central plot this late in the game. And yet, that’s exactly what it does. There’s a hint things will come crashing down hard soon, but it looks like there’s still time to deepen the mysteries Tynion and Martínez Bueno have left unclear thus far. Opening the mystery box, though, will be quite the event when we finally get the chance to.
Story: James Tynion IV Art: Álvaro Martínez Bueno
Color: Jordie Bellaire Letterer: Andworld Design
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10
Recommendation: Buy and go over your list of people to bring to the apocalypse with
Graphic Policy was provided with a FREE review copy by the publisher
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #2 (DC Comics) – The first issue was a hell of a lot of fun with a nice mix of new and old. There was a “classic” feel about it all in a lot of ways and we’re excited to see if it can keep it up.
Captain America #0 (Marvel) – We’ve got two new series featuring the dual Captain Americas and it all kicks off here!
Dark Beach #1 (Behemoth) – Earth has been drifting away from the sun for three hundred years/ The series follows a crime scene photographer who goes down the rabbit hole to solve a murder and what’s really going on.
Land of the Living Gods #3 (AfterShock) – The series has been fantastic giving us an apocalytpic tale set in Africa and delivering something very new and unique to Western comics.
Magic: Hidden Planeswalker #1 (BOOM! Studios) – While the second arc of the main series has been a bit off, this off-shoot should be interesting adding in more machinations.
The Nice House on the Lake #8 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – The series is amazing the second volume has kept us on our toes guessing as to what’s happening and where it’s all going.
Red Scare (Graphix) – Set in 1953, the graphic novel features a clever girl who must outsmart bullies, the FBI, and alien invaders during the height of the communist Red Scare.
The Secret History of the War on Weed (Image Comics) – A “lost chapter” of the true story from the war on drugs. We gave the issue a glowing early review which you can read here.
We Live: Age of the Palladions #2 (AfterShock) – The second volume debuted with two issues that told two stories tied together set in the world. We’re excited to see how the dual narratives are handled as the action is sure to increase!
The Nice House on the Lake #8 (of 12)
(W) James Tynion IV (A/CA) Alvaro Martinez Bueno
In Shops: Apr 19, 2022
SRP: $3.99
With Walter living among his friends in the house, has the impossible happened? Have their lives actually…improved? Perhaps for some-but how are things going for the one housemate whose place Walter took?
It was new comic book day yesterday! What’d you all get? What’d you like? Dislike? Sound off in the comments. Here’s some comic news and reviews you might have missed from around the web.
The Beat – Announcing the Golden Apple Comic & Art Foundation – Nice.
Yahoo – FSU security chief pleads not guilty to theft of nearly 5,000 comic books – Really!?
KTAR – Activism grows nationwide in response to school book bans – Good.
Reviews
AIPT – Batman: Killing Time #1
AIPT – Devil’s Reign: Spider-Man #1
GameSpace – Horizon Zero Dawn: Liberation
AIPT – The Me You Love in the Dark
Collected Editions – The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1
Fans of heavyweight boxing know that 12-round fights carry moments of measured action, of throwing just enough punches to win a round without spending all energy reserves in case it goes all the way. James Tynion and Álvaro Martínez Bueno are in round seven of their terrifyingly cryptic mini-series The Nice House on the Lake and they’re looking for a successful entry that sets up the intensity for the remainder of the story.
Last we saw the people of the Nice House, new discoveries were making their way to the fore with some disconcerting revelations changing the entire dynamic of the group and the place they’ve been stuck riding out the apocalypse at. The person or thing responsible for bringing everyone together, Walter, appeared and gave a vague explanation of what’s really happening, but nothing too definitive that it solves the mystery of the house.
Well, Walter’s back in a strange way and it’s making things even more difficult to piece together this late in the game.
Tynion’s script doesn’t seem interested in taking its foot off the gas just yet with the secrets surrounding the situation. It continues adding layers to the mystery and complicating the relationships between those in the group. Issue #7 is a special one in this regard.
As has been the case with every issue, the story gets to focus on one character out of the bunch at a time to look at how they relate to Walter, how he’s affected them. This entry’s focus character is one of its most fascinating: Norah, a trans character with a desperate need to vent, and rightly so. The way Tynion and Martínez Bueno approach Norah, though, makes for one of the most emotionally charged entries in the series yet. A lot of it is due to how her place in the group is portrayed as on a visual standpoint.
Tynion and Martínez Bueno present Norah as one of the most isolated people in the group, a person who’s not just struggling with the end of the world but her role in it as well. She’s feeling betrayed, especially by Walter, and the way this is presented is in a series of almost full-black spreads featuring a subtle outline of Norah with her inner monologue hanging over her. It creates a very raw sense of anger and indignation pertaining to how some people assume to know her and her struggles based on her self-identity process. It’s another highlight in a series full of memorable moments that take readers outside their comfort zones.
The Nice House on the Lake #7 is further confirmation we’re seeing the makings of a classic horror comic as it develops. What’s surprising is how much of the story is still in the process of revealing itself. Less meticulous creators would’ve probably given most or the entire mystery away by now. Tynion and Martínez Bueno are still in the secret keeping business and it’s making the looming finale feel like a massive event ready to change the very definition of horror.
Story: James Tynion IV Art: Álvaro Martínez Bueno
Color: Jordie Bellaire Letterer: Andworld Design
Story: 10
Art: 10
Recommendation: Reread issue #6 first and then dive into issue #7 headfirst.
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW
The Nice House on the Lake #7
Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Álvaro Martínez Bueno
One of the most critically acclaimed and bestselling horror titles of 2021 returns for its shocking second act-and now is the perfect time to enter the house! The 10 hardy survivors gathered in the house by their mutual friend Walter thought they’d finally cracked the code on his plans…and now everything they thought they knew has literally changed. Can they free themselves from their patterns? Or are they all just determined to build a prison of their very own? Grab the first collected volume and get caught up on the most surprising series in comics!
