House of Mystery #188

House of Mystery #188 (On Sale: July 9, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

This issue introduced American comic fans to the amazing pencil and ink artwork of Tony DeZuniga in its first story, "Dark City of Doom" written by Gerry Conway.

Next is a Cain's Gargoyles one-pager written and drawn by Sergio Aragones, a Page 13 one-pager by Joe Orlando and Sergio Aragones and a Cain's Game Room one-pager by John Albano. In a few years John Albano and Tony DeZuniga would team up to create western anti-hero Jonah Hex.

This issue ends with "House of Madness" drawn by Bernie Wrightson.

The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

House of Secrets #86

House of Secrets #86 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

This one has a framing sequence drawn by Bill Draut featuring Abel and of course, Goldie. After a page we are led into "Strain" drawn by George Tuska, the story of man tearing through the night, trying to put some distance between him and the life he has just destroyed. As he is car careens through the night he suddenly hears a strange musical strain, of such beauty that he stops his car to find its source. He is drawn to the house it emanates from and entering he is further drawn down dark corridors till he finally finds the source. His wife, Martha is at a piano playing. Seeing her he knows he has been saved, but the music is so compelling he can't concentrate so finally he he grabs her hands to make her stop.

Only it is no longer his wife, the one her murdered earlier tonight, it is instead an old hag, who says she is there to avenge his wife. She quickly slams the keyboard cover on his fingers and he finds himself back in his car, slamming into a tree. When the police find him the next day they note that his fingers are oddly bruised.

Next is "The Golden Tower of the Sun" by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow. This one is not really a comic story but an illustrated text story. I have a confession to make here. I never read the text stories and still have some sort of block against doing so, so I don't know what this story is about, save what I can make out from the wonderful Gray Morrow illustrations. It appears to be the story of a rock and roll singer and some sort of spiritual or inter-dimensional travel.

Next is our cover-story, "The Ballad of Little Joe" by Gerry Conway and Bill Draut, or as he is credited here, Big Bad Bill. Jonathan Poe lives alone in his large house, just him and his puppets and his memories. His favorite puppet seems to be the pink-haired Little Joe, who is always breaking and whom Jonathan is constantly repairing. Through it all Little Joe's face is always laughing and Jonathan wonders if it is because he has made him that way or if Little Joe actually has something to laugh about.

Not nearly so funny is Jonathan's daughter, Sheila, who sees her father's obsession with his puppets as unhealthy. He tells her that since he has outlived the rest of the family, what is wrong with "My puppets! A shadow tracing of life--and for this you think me addled." The sky suddenly burst into fire and Jonathan sees it as a sign from heaven while all Sheila sees is heat lightening. She says when she returns tomorrow she will have a lawyer and a sheriff and they will deal with Jonathan.

As this is happening inside the house a portal is opening and a member of the Quaros, an alien race existing beneath the Earth's crust and out to conquer the surface steps into the room and grabs Little Joe. Jonathan returns just as the portal closes, and wonders who could have come in and stolen Little Joe. Far beneath the Earth, the Quaros work on Little Joe and using some miracle machine manage to bring him to life. They tell Little Joe that in return for his life he must betray the people of Earth and they send him back on some mission to do just that.

But when he steps through the portal and into Jonathan's workshop he wakes up the sleeping Jonathan and tells him of the Quaros's plans to conquer the Earth. Seeing this the Quaros decide to kill them both and open the portal once again, aiming a huge ray gun through it. As the gun fires Little Joe leaps in front of Jonathan, taking the full power of the blast. Seeing this Jonathan's heart gives out and he dies.

In the silence of the room, the now restored to a puppet Little Joe weeps for his maker. When Sheila returns the next day and finds her dead father she regrets how she had treated him and sees that she has a lot to make up for. She picks up Little Joe and takes him with her.

We end with a small two-page strip that made the rounds of the DC horror books for a few months. It is entitled "The Day After Doomsday" and they are all illustrated by Jack Sparling. In this one it is a week later and a solitary man pulls himself out of the rubble of the city. He walks around for a bit, the last man on Earth, when suddenly he is shot at. He ducks behind a building and sees his assailant, a beautiful blond woman. He implores her to put down the gun for the sake of humanity, that it is up to them to rebuild the human race and to get it right this time. He tells her his name is Adam. She replies, "Really? My name is Gertrude!"

The entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

House of Secrets #85

House of Secrets #85 (On Sale: February 3, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

Able is visited by brother Cain in this issue's wrapper story, which features some rather good Bill Draut artwork. The wrapper leads into our first real story, "People Who Live in Glass Houses..." by Len Wein and Don Heck. Some kids sneak into an abandoned house of mirrors only to find a mirror which casts no reflection. The kids hide when they hear someone coming. That someone turns out to be Mordecai Gaunt and he steps into the mirror and disappears.

The boys come out from hiding and are pulled into the mirror by Mordecai where they learn that through the power of a stone, the Rock of Ages, which Mordecai killed a Tibetan wizard to possess, Mordecai was able to enter the world of the mirror and gain immortality. His image in the mirror grows old, while he remains young. One of the boys snatch the stone away from Mordecia and he chases the kids out of the mirror. Once in the real world, the kid throws the stone at the mirror, shattering it and the fixed image of Mordecai it now reflects.

The next story is the classic "Reggie Rabbit, Heathcliffe Hog, Archibald Aardvark, J. Benson Babboon and Bertram, the Dancing Frog" by Len Wein and Ralph Reese. This is only two pages, but we get some great funny animal artwork and some great Wally Wood-inspired science-fiction work.

This is Ralph Reese's first work for DC where he would draw almost a dozen stories, all for the mystery/horror books. Ralph Reese began his career at the age of 16 as Wally Wood's assistant. His first solo comic work was for the short-lived but much loved Web of Horror black and white magazine. He also did a number of strips for National Lampoon, including The One Year Affair. He worked at Neal Adams' Continuity Associates between 1972 and 1977 and did a lot of work inking penciler Larry Hama.

In the 1980s Reese worked on the Blade Runner adaptation and an number of the Bantam Books "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. In the 1990s he pulled a stint on the Flash Gordon newspaper strip and did considerable work for Valiant Comics on Magnus Robot Fighter. Reese's last work for DC was in 2009 on The House of Mystery.

The real gem of this issue though is "Second Choice" by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane and Neal Adams. It combines beautiful artwork with a really great story. Abel reads this story from the biographical section of the library in the House of Secrets. It is the tale of Henry Landsbury, born in 989, the son of a scholar, but who for years has lived in a village under the thumb of a dark sorcerer, a masked monster in possession of the Star Ruby, which gives him ultimate power over the people of the land. We meet young Henry the day he tries to stand up to the sorcerer in the streets, only to feel the harsh sting of an enchanted lash. Henry's mother rushes to his side and warns Henry to be less like his father, who died fourteen years ago when he too was fed up living under the sorcerer's rule and tried to do something about it.

As fate would have it that evening Henry overhears a conversation in the local tavern of a white wizard named Glarn who resides at Stonehenge. Henry decides that night to travel to Stonehenge and plead the case of his village to the wizard Glarn. When he gets there Glarn it appears has been waiting for Henry to arrive and asks Henry for a token from his home village that Glarn may use as a focal point for an incantation. He gives Glarn a talisman given to him by his father before he foolishly ventured to the wizard's castle.

With that Glarn opens a gate between Stonehenge and Henry's village and calls forth the black wizard into battle, saying that now that he has a clue to his true nature he will prevail. And battle they do, though finally, in the end, Glarn prevails, the dark wizard is destroyed and Henry returns to his village to live out the rest of his life in peace.

But, Abel finds the ending of the tale unsatisfying, that Henry was more a spectator than a participant in the single most adventurous happening in his life. Abel wonders what would have happened if Henry had not heard of Glarn and had instead yielded to his "second choice," and followed his father's path, sword in hand.

As Henry nears the wizard's castle he is set upon by a flying beast and though shear will alone slays the creature. He is then transported by a dissolution spell to the black wizard's castle, where the wizard taunts him and opens up a pit of hell in front of him. Standing tall with sword in hand, Henry begs the wizard to fight him, but the wizard's spell does away with Henry's sword, leaving him without weapon. Still Henry marches forward saying he will take him on barehanded for killing his father. The wizard laughs at Henry and pulls off his hood just as Henry lands a massive blow to his face, knocking the wizard off balance and back into the hell pit, his face that of Henry's own father.

And now Henry realizes that his father must have defeated the wizard all those years ago. And then he sees the Star Ruby, "The supreme power--the supreme glory...A tempting, near over-powering prize--To be supreme, to own the world...must have been too temping for a man such as my father, a glory seeker... a man like my father... a man like me!"

This story was reprinted in Deadman #2 and Deadman #3. The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

House of Secrets #83

House of Secrets #83 (On Sale: September 30, 1969) has a cover by the legendary Gray Morrow. This is Gray's first work for DC comics and another great addition to the DC stable of artists courtesy of editor Dick Giordano. It will be a year before we see any more Gray Morrow work at DC and at that time we will explore the history of this amazing artist.

This issue has a wonderful framing sequence drawn by Bill Draut where Abel spends the entire issue trying to get into the House of Secrets and being thwarted at every move. It has some nice physical comedy and does a nice interplay with the stories in the issue. For example, Abel tells his imaginary friend, Goldie, that the first story was told to him by a wandering wolfman.

And the first story is "The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of" by Marv Wolfman and Alex Toth. Jim Ivey awakens to find himself in a strange land where a beautiful woman is being attacked by a hideous monster. Jim fights and defeats the monster and meets the woman, Princess Lyla, who takes Jim to see her father, King Shalla. On the way as Jim and Lyla kiss the world fades away and Jim finds himself in a hospital bed, awakening from a dream. Jim has some fatal, incurable disease and knows he is dying.

That night, as sleep takes him once again, Jim finds himself back on the strange world with Lyla, where he meets and is accepted by King Shalla. Weeks go by and every time Jim sleeps he returns to his beloved Lyla and thoughts of death disappear. But one night assassins attempt to kill King Shalla and Jim fights them off, but the assassin's blade finds Jim and he is mortally wounded. On his deathbed Jim tells Lyla, "It's going to be all right Lyla--I see, now...I'll never have to leave you again, dear--Kiss me, darling--this is--forever!' Back in the "real" world the doctors note that Jim dies with a strange smile on his lips. Reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #24.

Next is "Bigger Than a Breadbox" drawn by Mike Roy and Mike Peppe. While searching through the attic used by her departed inventor and husband, Abner, widow Elmira finds a strange box, which she puts to use as a mailbox. The next morning she finds an anonymous letter in the box, which she assumes is from the postman, Mr. Smith, whom she finds sort of cute. The letter speaks of being lonely and looking for someone to correspond with. Playing along with postman Smith's game, Elmira writes an anonymous letter back.

The weeks and many letters pass and Elmira finds herself looking forward to each new letter and the "game" she is playing with Mr. Smith. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't even put the letter in the box and yet one is there almost daily. Finally a letter comes asking Elmira if she would like to meet in person. As she is putting her response into the box postman Smith comes by and she tell him that her answer to his letter is "yes." He says he has no idea what she is talking about and that he has delivered no mail to her box in a very long time.

Crushed that he would spurn her so, she retreats to the house and begins sobbing, when she is interrupted by a knock at the door. There, holding out a bouquet of flowers to her is a scaly orange creature. Though Elmira called the box a worthless piece of tin, her departed husband Abner called it an interdimensional teleporter.

This was one of only seven stories that Mike Roy drew for DC and the next to last one. It was also the first work he had done for them since he drew all of the stories and the cover for Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners #3 in 1956. Roy studied at the High School of Industrial Art, as well as the Pratt Institute. He began his comics career in the 1940s, assisting Bill Everett, the creator of the original 'Sub-mariner' at Atlas Comics. He worked through the Funnies Inc. shop, and contributed to comic books by Holyoke Publications ('Hammerhead Hawley'), Archie Comics (funny titles) and Hillman Periodical (crime, war and western).

He also appeared in Lev Gleason titles like Crime Does Not Pay, Crime and Punishment, Daredevil and Desperado. During the first half of the 1950s, Roy produced a large amount of artwork for the romance titles of Better Publications. He later also contributed to many Dell/Western titles.

Roy also worked on newspaper strips. Between 1948 and 1951, he did the 'The Saint' daily and Sunday strip for the New York Herald Tribune. In the 1950s, he made the newspaper strips 'Ken Weston' and 'Nero Wolfe', and assisted on 'Flash Gordon'. In the 1960s followed the acclaimed Native American Sunday strip 'Akwas', and the 'Hoss Laffs' daily and the 'Indian Lore and Crafts' Sunday page. Mike Roy was active until the 1990s, working mainly on educational comics for Custom Comic Services. His final work was Screaming Eagle, a hardcover graphic novel for Discovery Comics. Mike Roy also co-founded a museum for Native American and Eskimo Art. He died in 1996.

Lastly we have "The House of Endless Years" by Gerry Conway and Bill Draut. This little gem is about two girls and their dog searching in the woods for, Neal, the brother to one of them. It is thee that they come upon a house. One believes a witch lives there, the other believes she is just an old hag, but the both know that this is where Neal may be and so they head toward it. In the basement the old woman tells Neal that he was a fool to come there, when a flock of bats tell her that the girls are coming. She tells the bats to keep them away, but Neal cries out for his sister. The two girls hear Neal's cry and enter the house.

There they are confronted by the woman who pleads with them to leave before the evil of the house takes them over as it did her many years ago. The dog thinks the woman is attacking the girls and jumps to defend them, causing the old woman to fall down the stairs. When the girls reach her, she has turned to dust. Suddenly they notice that the dog is now old and withered and then they see Neal. Neal, now an old man warning them to leave before it is too late. Neal, who collapses at their feet and turns to dust. The two young girls, now ancient woman look down at Neal, who they know is not old, but young, just like them. This has been reprinted in House of Mystery #224, DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #24, Welcome Back to the House of Mystery #1, and Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 3 TPB. It and the entire contents of this issue have been reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

House of Secrets #81

House of Secrets #81 (On Sale: June 3, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams as it rejoins the DC ranks after being AWOL for the past three years.

We begin with "Don't Move It!" by Mike Friedrich, Jerry Grandenetti and George Roussos which is the origin story for the House of Secrets. That is followed by "House of Secrets" drawn by Bill Draut and containing the first appearance of Abel in the House of Secrets (remember he premiered in last month's DC Special #4).

Next is a text story, "Burn This House!" by persons unknown. That is followed by "Aaron Philips' Photo Finish!" by Gerry Conway and Jack Sparling. The issue ends with an Epilogue to the "House of Secrets" drawn by Bill Draut. The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

This was Gerry Conway's first story for DC. Between now and 1990 Gerry would write 630 tales for DC. He began selling such anthological stories here and for Marvel's Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows through the end of 1970. He published his first continuing-character story in The Phantom Stranger #10.

Conway broke into Marvel Comics through Marvel editor Roy Thomas as he explained in Back Issue #26:

"I'd been writing for DC Comics for two or three years . . . but to paraphrase the joke about the actor's ambitions to be a director, what I really wanted to do was write superheroes — specifically Marvel heroes. Through friends I'd become acquainted with Roy Thomas, who was Stan Lee's right-hand man at the time, and Roy offered me a shot at the Marvel 'writing test'. Stan wasn't impressed, but Roy liked what I did, and began throwing some short assignments my way, including scripting over his plot on an early Ka-Zar [story]...”

Following his first continuing-character story for Marvel, with his script for Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales #3, Conway's began writing superhero stories with Daredevil #72. He quickly went on to assignments on Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and both "The Inhumans" and "The Black Widow" features in Amazing Adventures. Conway would eventually script virtually every major Marvel title, as well as co-create (with writers Roy & Dann Thomas and artist Mike Ploog) "Werewolf by Night", in Marvel Spotlight #2; and write the premiere issue of Marvel's The Tomb of Dracula, introducing the longstanding literary vampire into the Marvel universe. He scripted the first Man-Thing story, in 1971, sharing co-creation credit with Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.

At 19, Conway began scripting The Amazing Spider-Man, one of Marvel's flagship titles. His run, from issues #111–149, included the landmark death of Gwen Stacy story in #121. Eight issues later, Conway and Ross Andru introduced the Punisher as a conflicted antagonist for Spider-Man. The character went on to become a popular star of numerous comic books and has been adapted into three movies. Conway additionally scripted Marvel's other flagship, Fantastic Four, from #133–152.

Gerry Conway succeeded Marv Wolfman as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in mid-1976, but held the job only briefly, relinquishing the post before the year was out and succeeded in turn by Archie Goodwin.

Conway returned to DC Comics in mid-1975, beginning with three books cover-dated Nov. 1975: Hercules Unbound #1, Kong the Untamed #3, and Swamp Thing #19. Shortly afterward, he was chosen by Marvel and DC editors to script the historic inter-company crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, a 96-page, tabloid-sized, $2 one-shot, at a time when comic books sold for 25 cents.

He continued writing for DC, on titles including Superman, Detective Comics (starring Batman), Metal Men, Justice League of America, 1st Issue Special #11 starring Codename: Assassin, and that of the licensed character Tarzan, yet briefly returned to Marvel as editor in mid-1976. For a time, a confluence of publishing schedules resulted in Conway stories appearing in both Marvel and DC comics in the same month.

After leaving Marvel's editorship, he again wrote exclusively for DC, writing both major and lesser titles — from those featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League of America, and the Legion of Super-Heroes to such books as Weird Western Tales, Atari Force and Sun Devils — through mid-1986. His co-creation Firestorm, "the Nuclear Man", debuted in the eponymous Firestorm #1, which lasted five issues before being canceled during a 1978 DC retrenchment. The character then starred in a backup feature in The Flash before again receiving his own series, The Fury of Firestorm (later Firestorm the Nuclear Man), from June 1982 – August 1990; Conway wrote most of the first half of the run, plus four of its five annuals.

Conway returned to Marvel in the 1980s and served as the regular writer of both The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man from 1988 until 1990. He relinquished writing duties on both titles when he became the script-editor of TV's Father Dowling Mysteries.

Conway's last recorded comics credit is Topps Comics' "Kirbyverse" one-shot NightGlider #1 , scripting from a Roy Thomas plot.

In addition to comics, Conway published two science-fiction novels: The Midnight Dancers and Mindship. He also wrote the February 14 - December 3, 1983 dailies of the syndicated newspaper comic strip Star Trek.

Conway as well moved into screenwriting in the 1980s, starting with the animated feature Fire and Ice in 1983, co-written with Roy Thomas, based on characters created by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta. Conway and Thomas wrote the story basis for Stanley Mann's screenplay for the film Conan the Destroyer.

Conway went on to write, and eventually produce, for such TV series as Diagnosis Murder, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Father Dowling Mysteries, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Baywatch Nights, Pacific Blue, Silk Stalkings, Perry Mason telefilms, Law & Order, The Huntress, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.

Edited by Joe Orlando.