Room & Boredom by Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham (House of Mystery: Volume 1)

8/10

This is the first volume of a new series by Vertigo Comics which revolves around the said House of Mystery. You can tell from the start that not everything is going to be explained as the inhabitants of the house don’t fully understand the reason they are in the house, but nevertheless trapped they are.

If you have read Vertigo Comics before, you may realise that the House of Mystery has featured before in the Sandman Series of Neil Gaiman’s and the volume starts with two familiar characters from this story, Cain and Abel, who live in The Dreaming and through this short episode we learn that Cain’s home is the House of Mystery and it has been stolen.

The story then really begins as we are introduced to the main characters of the story, who are the current inhabitants of the House of Mystery, I am sure as the story progresses we will learn more of their individual stories but for this review I will call them; The Bartender, The Pirate, The Poet, The Drama Queen and The New Recruit (whose story of how she enters the house is told in this volume).

The other part of the House of Mystery that we are really shown is the bar (which has also featured in previous Sandman stories), where people from all realities can come and share their stories - which is the way that drinks are paid for - and the trapped five tend the bar. These storytellers are generally able to come and go as they please.

I cannot recommend this series enough as I was instantly enthralled and am eager to continue reading the series. At this time, with many characters' motivations still unknown, the story could go anywhere… And that can never be a bad thing.