The creepy covers of this comic book series suggest something dark, macabre and scary — perfect for spooky season. However, what we have is a Lost style mystery box where a group of 12 individuals are invited by their mutual friend, Walter, to a luxuriously nice house by the lake. It doesn’t take long before things take a turn for the weird, don’t quite add up, and everyone finds out that their fun, relaxing getaway is something much more bizarre than they could have imagined. The similarities to the TV series Lost are so strong that I expected the iconic line from that show, “Where are we?”, at the end of every chapter. Popular comic book writer James Tynion IV has packed-in a lot of fun story ideas and plot ideas to make for a cool, suspenseful sci-fi story. Unfortunately, I think the story also got too jumbled and I would have preferred more straightforward storytelling to let us enjoy all of head-scratching clues, the eerie mysteries, and the inventively-designed environments. 

Similar to Lost, each chapter focuses on a particular character, who provides the opening prologue that seems to be from outside the main storyline. As well, we flash back to earlier scenes of interaction between each character and Walter. Unfortunately, there are a few too many characters, and individual stories were undercooked. Despite some well-written, dramatic scenes, there was usually not enough time given to allow us to fully understand the significance. Also, though Walter himself featured in every person’s flashback, it still felt like his character was poorly written. For the reader, it was perhaps supposed to be part of the enigma of Walter, who he actually is, and what his motives are for bringing everyone to the house. Sadly, when Walter’s secrets were gradually revealed, I found myself liking him less and less (and maybe that’s also intentional).

Though the art was good, and expressive, and the environments looked great. The visual style was also a bit too muddy and sketchy, and it was hard to really feel immersed. It always felt a bit uncomfortable to look at. There were some “effects” heavy scenes that were especially challenging, and they were somewhat disturbing (and again, I suppose that might be the point, but it didn’t feel fun to look at). The visuals also made it difficult to keep track of the characters. Granted, there is a wide variety of looks, and characters didn’t really resemble each other very much, because the same character kind of looked different with different expressions or angles, characters did start to blur a bit (or at least, my mind was a bit tired of trying to keep them straight). Hair colour and style, which could have been used to maintain a consistency for a character’s appearance between scenes from different moments, instead it varied. Blue hair could have been used as a clue that it’s the same character in the past, rather than force the reader to realize that the blue haired character had black hair in the flashback scene.

Non-linear storytelling was also challenging. There is a lot of jumping between different time periods, and even a fourth-wall-breaking opening scene at the start of each chapter. There’s also a big twist midway through the series that’s not easy to follow. Nevertheless, because of the chapter/issues follow a consistent format (which feels a lot like a TV episode), it was not as difficult to follow as I am suggesting. However, the net result is that readers probably need to concentrate harder in order to stay on track and not lose interest in the story. I had to read the series twice to pick up all the threads (but maybe that’s just me).

There are quite a few interesting sci-fi ideas thrown around in this series, but they were underused. Often the ramifications of some special technology or an alteration of reality was used more as a trigger or reason for the characters to argue and hash out interpersonal issues. Some cool new aspect to reality at the house would be introduced, then it would be quickly overlooked or no longer mentioned. I didn’t really enjoy the interpersonal dynamics or aspects to the story, so the tradeoff was not worth it for me. I kept wanting to learn more about the mysterious sculpture in the courtyard, or the effect that being at the house was having on their physical wellbeing, but instead the focus went back on to the characters and their conversations about each other. I wasn’t mad, just disappointed. Silver lining, I think that in they end, the story did also explore (albeit obliquely under the guise of sci-fi) some interesting philosophical conundrums, and some bigger-picture questions such as: Who is in control of human existence? Who should be? And what that means regarding human nature.

Though most of my comments have leaned negatively, I did find this series pretty intriguing — especially all the mysteries and twists. Even though I don’t think it ultimately succeeded with me, the series was quite ambitious. Its scope being somewhat contained, but in many ways it was far-reaching as well. I loved the series Lost (as I’ve already mentioned too often), so I was pre-disposed to love this series since it followed that blueprint in so many ways. However, the complexity of execution resulted in the story kind of stumbling upon itself and being more confounding than enjoyable. Maybe if The Nice House on the Lake is made into a TV series, it will have found its perfect medium.

3 stars

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