"The House #6" Comic Review

Harker has fallen into the bowels of the mysterious house that’s been tormenting him and his fellow soldiers. Instead of finding a basement full of old toys and assorted garbage, he’s plunged into his past, specifically a night that has haunted him through all of his days.

Although I’ve loved every issue of The House, this one included, I have criticized the comic for its light character development. The house itself is the real star of the show and the soldiers are little more than cannon fodder. This is the first issue that attempts to delve into the backstory of one of the characters; however that’s not all that clear. If it wasn’t for the afterward from the creators, I wouldn’t have known what was going on. I just assumed it was more torment coming from the house.

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Even the big reveal of how this event ties into Harker’s past loses some of its steam because it’s not easily apparent as to what’s going on. I don’t want to spoil the specifics, but if there were one or two panels that had a face-to-face shot, it would have spoken volumes.

With the context provided by the afterward, it makes the events of this issue far more terrifying and reframes what this building is capable of. Harker is given a sliver of hope when he finds himself outside in the rain, only to find that nothing is as it seems. He’s not free from the house’s grip. If anything, he’s even more stuck.

Artist Drew Zucker delivers some brilliant art direction in The House. He provides a healthy balance between up-close-and-personal panels and minimalistic ones that convey a specific emotion. There’s one action shot in particular that really stands out that gives the feeling of movement. It’s a tense panel that would be fitting for an action movie storyboard.

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The majority of the issue has Harker wandering about alone. He enters big open areas where he’s the only living soul. This creates a very haunting experience, like those early scenes in 28 Days Later when Cillian Murphy is walking through an abandoned London.

This is the penultimate issue of The House. There are still many unanswered questions and honestly, they don’t all need to be answered. The main one I see is not, “What’s the deal with the house?”, but, “Will these men survive?” Writer Phillip Sevy and artist Drew Zucker have crafted an eerie comic that has built up an incredible amount of tension over its run. I’m ready for them to rip the band-aid off.