THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE

Bummer Holiday

RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher Dc/black Label

Writer James Tynion IV

Artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno

The upheaval of the last 18 months is something pop culture will be processing for years to come, and a fascinating example arrives in this new horror series from writer James Tynion IV.

The Nice House On The Lake starts with an invitation that’s hard to resist: a week’s holiday in a private and astonishingly opulent lake house. The 12 individuals who accept are all either longtime friends or recent acquaintances, and it looks to be a perfect offer – until, on the first night, they learn that they’re unable to leave, their host isn’t human, and he’s chosen them to be the only survivors of an apocalyptic event that has already begun…

Described as the first 12-issue season of what’s obviously planned as a lengthy story, this first outing for Tynion IV’S bizarre end-of-the-world thriller is already a moodier, weirder proposition than his ongoing horror comic Something Is Killing The Children. These first three issues use a combination of flashbacks, flash-forwards and text pages, doing a sterling job of establishing its sprawling cast of characters, while also building tension between them and maintaining a constant atmosphere of weird menace.

Helping with this is artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno, whose expert visuals keep the large cast distinct and recognisable while delivering imaginative page layouts and lurid shocks.

It’s hard to predict what the final destination of The Nice House On The Lake might be, but it’s certainly going to be a wild and intriguing journey finding out. Saxon Bullock

Mike Flanagan is developing Tynion’s Something Is Killing The Children as a potential Netflix TV show.