Some thoughts about DC House of Horror #1

Can the DC Universe handle this darkness?

The world can be a terrifying place and in many ways it can create some of the worst monsters from the greatest heroes.

A new special has arrived and since this is October, this was the perfect opportunity to create a few out of continuity horror stories focusing on DC characters. Keith Giffen handles the whole plot of all of them and in many ways, this is one of his strongest works in a while.

The first suspenseful story is co-written by Edward Lee and creates a twist of the classic arrival of Superman to Earth. Is quite terrifying although suffers from strange dialogue that it almost makes it sound like some sort of satire. Howard Porter's artwork is quite imposing in many of the scenes.

The following tale is co-written by Mary Sangiovanni about a possession story with a Wonder Woman theme. Is quite intriguing and Bilquis Evely's beatufil artwork sells every scene from the script.

Bryan Smith and Brian Keene help to create a segment about a man hallucinating about Harley Quinn and terror ensues. It plays with classic themes of madness and humour. Kyle Baker's style is really appropriate for the tone.

As you should expect, there's also a Batman story focusing on Bruce's descent to insanity due to his mission. Nick Cutter's dialogue is quite fitting for several of the surprises that appear during the segment and Rags Morales' artwork is quite good for the expressions of the characters.

Brian Keene's returns to write a zombie story and as a fan of the genre, I'm glad to finally have one that is focused on DC characters and this gets the job done. Scott Kolins' artstyle is surprisingly appropriate here.

Ronald Malfi contributes with a little Green Arrow murder tale that delivers an interesting twist towards the end. Dale Eaglesham's pencils get the best from horror and beauty.

Wrath James White provides a segment about one of Batman's villains and it gets better once that we realize who he really is. Ron Garney's artwork is quite decent as well.

Another possession story comes from Weston Ochse, this time about a rebellious Billy Batson and is quite mysterious in a lot of ways, I wouldn't mind reading more about this particular incarnation. Howard Chaykin's pencils get the job done.

Overall, this was a quite entertaining one-shot and is one of the most creative thing that Giffen has delivered in years. I think this kind of format is better for him since his lack of plannification is not so affected by it.