Zatanna and the House of Secrets (Family Comic Friday)

Sorry to not do a Family Comic Friday last week. I had a bout with a nasty chest virus. Thankfully, it wasn't COVID. But due to waiting on COVID results and other tests, I had to quarantine. So I couldn't head to my library for some new all-ages stuff. But my hiatus is over and it's time to dive back into my weekly look at comic book and graphic novel reads for families to enjoy!

Zatanna and the House of Secrets is a recent offering that I've been waiting a very long time to get my hands on. I have always been a fan of DC's horror anthologies; cutting my teeth on them at a very young age. Thus, I was really excited to see how young adult novelist Matthew Cody (Cat Ninja) tackled the House of Secrets and it's long rich history. 

Zatanna lives in the House of Secrets with her father, Zatara. Zatara is a magician stuck to hosting magic shows at retirement communities. Secretly, Zatara is the caretaker of the House of Secrets. But Zatanna is blissfully unaware of this; as well as dad's real magic abilities. This is until one night, when Zatanna's father appears with a black eye and strict to not let his stage assistant, Pocus the rabbit out of her sight. 

Living in a bizarre run-down looking house with an off-beat dad, Zatanna is desperate to fit in with her school friends. With Pocus in her backpack, the girl sneaks out of the House of Secrets to a Halloween party thrown by the coolest kids at school. Things seem fine until a strange looking boy with blue skin attempts to steal Pocus and makes off with the key charm fastened around the bunny's collar.

A little unraveled from the incident, Zatanna hurries home. But now, her house is transformed into a menagerie of magical oddities. And a mysterious woman who holds Pocus' key charm and now claims to be the new owner of the House of Secrets. 

I really enjoyed this book. It told a very imaginative story set within the DC Universe. It had lots of nostalgic Easter eggs. But it also managed to seem fresh and brand new too! 

I do feel like the editors or just the book designer ruined a couple of surprises. I had an inkling of the addition of one classic DC magical character thanks to the cover. But a couple of the establishing pages seemed to ruin the overall surprise. Why do companies feel the need to ruin everything in a commercial of teaser?

I really like the artwork of illustrator Yoshi Yoshitani (I Am Not Starfire). It's got a traditional Japanese quality mixed with hints of Las Vegas and fairytale. It was a very nice fit for this enchanted graphic novel. 

Zatanna and the House of Secrets is recommended for ages 8-12 and I think that's appropriate. There's nothing scary. A couple of ultra-thrilling scenes. And a few laughs peppered in. 

I'm hoping there's more to Zatanna's story. There's more than one House and there were more than one horror anthology. So maybe a Zatanna and the House of Mystery is coming up. I would really like that and I think young readers would too!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Elvira's Haunted Holidays #1

In the 1980s, DC Comics attempted to revitalize The House of Secrets. Instead of host Cain, DC opted with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. As the horror hostess with the Valley Girl accent was the dominant personality of the decade in schlock horror, it made sense to tie her in with the reboot. For some reason, it just never worked. But before DC evicted Elvira from the premises, they managed to eek out this 1987 holiday special.

Elvira stars in the main story which is a parody of A Christmas Carol. As with the Dickens classic, 3 spirits visit Elvira in hopes of bringing back her holiday spirit. Then a small time crook gets the idea to play Grinch on Christmas Eve. But before he can make off with the family's goods, the con runs into a blind girl who can actually see things quite well. Lastly, on a not too far off Christmas Eve, extraterrestrials make first contact with Earth. Only it appears that thanks to a nuclear war, it appears this first contact was too late!

This was a very good one-shot in the vein of The House of Mystery's signature twist endings. But I thought that the Elvira story could have been better. Instead of giving back her Christmas spirit, writer Joey Cavalieri (Spider-Man 2099) should have made it where it was the Halloween Spirit that Elvira needed to regain.

Now I know that this is a Christmas special. But I think if you made it where the scenes from the past were of Victorian England and kept the future scene where Scrooge sees his grave (only now with Elvira as a substitute), then a Halloween themed story would have worked! And it would be more fitting with the character of Elvira.

A festive way to say good-bye to the House of Secrets!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #60- PLOP!

Plop!- the short-lived companion piece to the House Of Secrets, the House Of Mystery, and The Witching Hour. It's true, as brother Cain and Abel and the Old Witch shared duties as the host to many of the stories contained within. It's moniker billed the comic as the “Magazine of Weird Humor” and boy does this collection not disappoint.

  This Blue Ribbon Digest was a much sought after gem that I stumbled across at a pop-up book sale. These digests, while completely filled with reprints, are holy grails to collectors such as myself who have found memories of these treasuries and actively seek them out and buy them with gusto. However, age has caught up with me as the tiny print was hard to read and I had to take frequent breaks least I end up with a headache. But that doesn't mean that I didn't have a ball reading this.

 Plop! featured the creative talents of Basil Wolverton, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, and Sergio Aragones. It was like an old EC Comic was combined with Mad Magazine and had a baby… a very weird baby. Along with some silly fables, a Lord of the Rings parody, and a reprint of the award-winning story ‘ The Poster Plague’- a short tale from House Of Mystery that started it all. Why there's even a few Murphy Anderson penciled shorts that skewer some of you favorite heroes of the DC Universe.

I enjoyed this so much that if I ever come across further issues of PLOP! in my scourings of bargain bins, they will become a part of my collection! Without a doubt!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: Eclipso

   After being scratched by a mystical black diamond, scientist Bruce Gordon finds himself a man cursed. Every time there is an Eclipse of the moon, Gordon changes into the evil Eclipso. Capable of knowing Gordon's every move, this villain will do everything he can to prevent the allies of the beleaguered scientist from stopping his reigns of terror which can only be ceased by a blinding flash of light.

   Eclipso is what we call a gimmick character as he and his alter-ego are powered and hindered by certain factors that must occur in order for the villain to appear or be stopped. Usually, a gimmick character is pretty lame as those established hindrances are used as literary devices to push the plot along. Often these devices are done to death and it gets annoying quick. For example, the Marvel character of Sleepwalker could only fight crime on earth when his alter ego went to sleep. So, you could expect when the hero was close to catching the bad guy, his host would, unfortunately, wake up.

   That's exactly what happens here with Eclipso as first! Each and Every time an eclipse would occur, Bruce would run off and start his Jekyll and Hyde transformation in Eclipso. I had to admit, I wondered just how many eclipses occur on a yearly basis! I'm almost 40 and I can really only remember about a dozen ever occurring in my lifetime.

   This must have been an issue that plagued DC and thankfully, the writers and editorial staff decided to keep this series fresh. Eventually, Bruce and his counterpart could exist separate from each other from time to time. Then it was established that Eclipso could be summoned by artificial means. Add to the mix a good Eclipso, a giant version, a negative villain not affected by bright light, and the occasional begrudging team-up with his nemesis, this actually made for a great read.

   This collection of stories is amongst one of the smaller treasuries from the Showcase Presents line. As I got to the end of this book, I actually got a little sad that this archive was coming to an end. Also, this book doesn't bear a volume number  and it was released almost 8 years ago so further collections aren't likely. (I've even tried to find info on a complete listing of Eclipso tales and other than the 20 or so stories in this collection, I can't find anything else with the character until 1992's Eclipso: The Darkness Within miniseries. I refuse to believe that there wasn't a single appearance of Eclipso for almost 30 years.)

A great offering of tales from DC's House of Secrets very hard to find Pre-1970s period. It was fun, entertaining, and it restored my faith in the oft-criticized gimmick genre.

  Worth Consuming

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: House of Secrets, Vol. 1

NOT WORTH CONSUMING

First of all- I am going to collect the entire series run, if at all possible. Not all of these stories are bad. In fact, when it comes to the art, the twist endings, and a majority of plotlines, THOS is top-notch.

 However, Abel, the host of The House of Secrets is problematic. I think he is a great character (making him a scaredy cat is brilliant), and I like that his brother Abel (The House of Mystery) and the Witches (The Witching Hour) make cameos and interact with Abel. However, there isn’t consistent writing of his dialogue and whoever writes for him makes his narratives way to gothic and hard to understand. I want to read horror comics, not Emily Bronte.

 Also, I hate that the series shifts from little skits about Abel and goes straight to a 30 word intro in the top left hand corner and then the story. It’s really lacking compared to THOM.

 I hope this series picks up- and what’s more, I hope The Witching Hour gets reprinted in this format. I really like that series.