By Dustin Cabeal
It’s rare that I’ll review an indie title that I didn’t particularly enjoy twice, but here we are discussing the second issue of The House, which released this week. The story, in case you missed the review for the first issue, The House is about a timeless house of horrors that’s found its way to World War II and duped a platoon of American soldiers inside to take refuge from the blizzard outside.
After their first night in the house, the troop wakes up to find one of them dead. The man was killed right next to them while they slept which is terrifying. The psychopath from the first issue instantly blames the German POW, but it’s been clear that he’s just looking to kill the man. The medic weighs in on it all and calms the troop. They decide they need to leave the house and wouldn’t you know it… they can’t.
There are a lot of stories out there like The House. So many that something like “not being able to leave the house” really loses its zest. Perhaps the biggest problem with the writing on this comic is that it’s still playing it safe. It’s still blazing the familiar path and offering nothing new to the “hell house” genre. Dead voices over the broken walkie-talkie, check. Break a window and exit only to find yourself back where you started, check. One guy that blames the one person that warned them of the house, check. The tropes are obvious and predictable, but worse, even if this was your first foray into this genre, it’s unlikely that you would be entertained.
There is a panel in which all five men’s faces are shown, and there’s not much different between them, with the exception of haircuts and hats. Otherwise, they all pretty much look the same with slightly different lines on the faces. One character’s right eye was constantly lower on his face which became a distraction while reading. Otherwise, the artwork is consistent throughout the issue, but not very dynamic, but that is more than likely the fault of the writing.
There’s sadly, nothing new about this story. The twists have all been done before; the narrative is following a more than familiar path leaving a desire for something fresh. Even if this was someone’s first comic, it’s not doing the tropes well enough or polished enough to be entertaining. Ultimately, for a horror/thriller story, it’s pretty dull.
Score: 2/5
The House #2
By: Drew Zucker & Phillip Seuy
With: Jen Hickman and Frank Cvetkovic
Self-Published