Secrets of Sinister House

[Acton Bell]

Hi,

New poster, lurker of a few days. If this has been discussed before, forgive me. I haven't had time to read all the threads.

I recently purchased Showcase Presents: Secrets of Sinister House. This is a collection of comic books, DC published back in the 70s. It quickly turned to a horror comic, but the first five issues are definitely gothic novels in picture form. The black and white art in most cases is quite nice and the reproductions of the covers are lovely.

Guess I'm just curious as to whether anyone else has seen this book or the original comics.

[AliceChell]

Welcome, Acton Bell!
I've never heard of such a thing, but those comic gothics sound intriguing.
I have to ask. Are you a fan of Anne Bronte? (I assume that your username comes from Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell). The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey are two older favorites of mine.

[Acton Bell]

Yep.

I feel Anne is criminally neglected in comparison to Charlotte and Emily in literature courses, so I do my best to honor her by getting her psuedonym out there. It's been a while since I've taken a college course, so maybe it's changed, but Anne was basically the "sister who shall not be named" in my English lit. classes. She wrote good stories. She should get attention! There are writers tackling the same subject matter today and not doing nearly as well as she did! Rant over.

If you ever get a chance do flip through The Secrets of Sinister House. The writers seemed to be trying for a Bronte-by-way-of-Dark Shadows-feel and mostly succeeded.

[AliceChell]

I agree with you. The way that Anne Bronte deals with the subjects of marital infidelity and alcoholism in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is quite admirable, fascinating really. I own a very old copy of the book that I highly value.
Nothing gothic about the story, but the descriptions of Wildfell Hall itself make it seem an ideal place for a gothic romance to take place!

[Penfeather]

I remember seeing Secrets of Sinister House on a blog several years ago, along with several other Gothic Romance comics. One of them was called Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (ha!). Not sure what target audience they were going after, but perhaps the publishers were simply cashing in on the general Gothics craze of the '70s.

The storylines were somewhat simplistic and predictable, but the artwork in these comic books was often quite good, especially that of Nestor Redondo, a very refined draughtsman who had a knack for capturing sinister moods and atmosphere in his panels (see attached examples).

These comics are a fun novelty for the Gothic collector. A pity there weren't more of them produced.

Re: Acton Bell, what a coincidence! I was just reading about Anne Brontë. I've always thought her stocks ought to be higher, instead of being the one sister everyone forgets.

           

[Acton Bell]

Penfeather, thanks for posting pages from the original comics! Gotta say, though, that as nice as they are - they look MUCH better in black and white. The black and white just really suits the genre and allows the artists' strengths to show through.

*Sigh* My poor Anne. On the plus side, people here remember her!