#The House of Mystery

[thevoidstaredback]

Okay, so, crisis averted. Both of them, really. Red Robin had not asked or attempted to get any more of Danny's drink and the World Ending Crisis was less World Ending and more World Threatening. Either way, no one is hyped up in lethal amounts of caffeine and the world is in no more pieces than it had been before.

That brings attention to a new problem, though. It's uniquely Danny's problem and Constantine and Zatanna and Deadman won't stop laughing at him. He's also pretty sure that Raven is laughing at him in the privacy of her mind, so that's making him feel worse.

The problem is that every single hero that had been at the meeting a week ago that was not a part of the JLD has been overly concerned about him.

So what if he half died when he was fourteen and therefore will never look over either fourteen or eighteen? So what if he consumes enough caffeine to kill an elephant within a few minutes? What is he gonna do, die? That's not a real threat as long as he only fights as Phantom.

Ignoring the fact that he can, in fact, get hurt to the point of near death as Phantom. It's not like anyone knows that, though! Besides, ghosts run on god rules. They can't die, only fade when forgotten. People aren't likely to forget about most ghosts, though, even if they can't remember their names.

He's not gonna share that, though. Let Batman keep his contingency that won't work because the only contingency that will work for Phantom is the one he made himself. Tried and tested! He's marked it off of his Bingo Card.

Anyway. Heros and their kids/proteges have been trying to track him down for the entire week. He can't risk even leaving the House of Mysteries because the Supers are all probably listening out for him and they can't hear him through magic. It sucks. He just wants to go get a cup of coffee as Danny. The second he leaves, though, the Supers will be on him like bloodhounds. He'd leave as Danny, but the rest of the JLD don't know what he looks like as Danny and he'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Being stuck as Phantom was going to start causing issues to his human half if he doesn't get to leave soon.

Should he risk it? Is coffee that won't kill him really worth risking the Supers finding out his civilian identity? Sure, they wouldn't tell anyone, but he didn't like the idea of someone being able to pick him out of a crowd when all he wanted to do was blend in. It's why he avoided Gotham and Bludhaven, actually, but that's both self explanatory and another story for another time.

"You're still here?" Zatanna sat on the couch beside him. "You're normally gone by now. You can't not be tired of us yet."

He sighed and sunk down into the couch slightly. "Believe me, I'm tired of being stuck here, but I can't leave. I can't leave as a human because you guys don't know what I look like and, no offense, but I'd like to keep it that way. I can't leave as I am now because Superman will be on my ass quicker than I can blink!" He whined this time, "I just want a cup of coffee."

"What about your special brew?" Raven asked, coming into the room.

"I want to drink coffee as a human. That stuff will kill me if I drink it as a human."

"At least you know your limits."

"That sounded like a dig at someone, Z."

"It was."

"Why don't you just go out under a protection spell?" Raven offered, "We could cast one over you and you could leave. Superman can't hear through magic, so he won't be able to tell. Neither will Superboy."

Danny thought for a second. "You're a genius, Raven! Has anyone ever told you that?"

"A few times," she blushed.

"Well, it needs to be said more!"

Zatanna laughed. "Alright, kid, let's get you outside before you drive yourself crazy."

Practically vibrating in place, Danny waited for the protection spell to settle over him. The second it did, he was out the door and wandering the streets of whatever city the House of Mysteries decided to drop him as Danny instead of Phantom.

"Who are you," was not the question or voice he wanted to hear the second he stepped into the open as himself.

"Danny," he squeaked out through his absolute panic. He didn't dare turn around.

The sound of fabric moving minutely clues him in to the second person behind him. What the hell were these two doing out? It's the middle of the day and there's no attacks going on anywhere in Gotham!

"Where did you come from?" Robin asked.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! This was really bad! Why did the House drop him *here* of all places? Does it *want* him to die again? It was very painful the first time, thank you very much! "Illinois?"

"Was that a question or an answer?" Why is Red Robin here now?!

"An-an answer?"

"Ah, you guys are scaring the little guy!" That was Nightwing. They're surrounding him! Why is Nightwing here? This is Gotham, not Bludhaven. "Give him some room to breathe."

They did not, in fact, give him room to breathe. Maybe coming outside was a bad idea. If he gets out of this no more dead than he already was, he was going to move to the middle of nowhere and become a hermit. Smallville is a town in the middle of nowhere, right? He'll retire as Phantom and move to Smallville until the people get suspicious and burn him as a witch-!

Maybe moving to a big city would be a better idea. Or locking himself in the basement of the House of Mysteries. Yeah, yeah that's a good idea.

"-even listening?"

Oh shit. They were still talking to him! Now is not the time to panic! "Gottagobye!" And then he was running.

Good job not panicking, Danny.

Part 1 Part 3

[comic-covers]

(1974)

[ghostriderslade]

Iconic Artists and Incredible Heroes #57.

A celebration of the amazing comic book artists who brought us indelible images that best capture the spirit and essence of the superhero or superheroine.

Issue #57 Special Vane Vampire Volume - Joe Kubert / "I Vampire" and the House of Mystery.

[balu8]

The House of Mystery #196: The Alien Within Me

by Alex Toth

DC

[pandorasboxofhorrors]

[inhousearchive]

House-ad for House of Mystery (1951) #187.

[all-action-all-picture]

1973 ad for The House of Mystery Limited Collectors' Edition. Cover by Nick Cardy.

[thenightling]

In 2017 the animated series Justice League: Action released an eleven minute Halloween episode called Trick or Threat. Paul Dini (who is a big fan of the Sandman) couldn't resist dusting off a character who had never appeared in animation before. The House of Mystery's version of Cain.

This animated series portrayal of Cain brought him back to his horror host roots. Remember, in his days as host of The House of Mystery horror anthology comics he was DC's answer to the Crypt Keeper.

Here he was voiced by Trevor Devall and he was perfect. Very Vincent Prince-esque as Cain should be though he wasn't an actual Vincent Price impersonation. That wouldn't come until Michael Roberts' version of Cain for The Sandman audio drama.

Frustratingly this was a MUCH more accurate portrayal of DC's Cain than the version in the TV show Lucifer.

Plot of the episode: Some trick or treaters find themselves in The House of Mystery.

It turns out these are members of The Justice League under an enchantment to look and think that they are children. Klarion The Witch Boy intends for them to be trapped in The House of Mystery when it has to return to the realm of Nightmares at midnight on Halloween Night.

Paul Dini does a good job of linking the shaky New 52 lore to the classic House of Mystery by having it be Cain who leaves John Constantine the key to The House of Mystery.

Here are all the clips of Cain mashed together.

[celebratetheclassics]

La Maison du mystère (Alexandre Volkoff, 1923)

[antleredandy]

Cain, the caretaker of the House of Mystery.

"The House of Gargoyles," written by Jack Oleck and illustrated by Jack Sparling, originally published in The House of Mystery issue 175 (1968)

[secondgenerationnerd]

Happy solstice! Just some magic fam headcannons for this day:

Zatanna and Zachary spend time in the green rooms (special rooms in the House of Mystery for their plants). They gather herbs and vegetables for their feast that night.

They drop the house in a meadow, so there’s space to connect with nature.

When he’s little, Zachary spends all day outside, running around or playing football (soccer as Mum calls it) with his parents.

They make a little alter and place sweets on it for the fae, as a show of respect.

Once he’s old enough, John and Zatanna teach him how to set intentions for the upcoming season

They invite some allies to join them, but most constant is Jason Blood.

Zachary gears up for weeks leading up to seeing his Uncle Jason 😂 anything he can do to annoy the old man, who’s actually fond of him.

The year after he joins YJL, Zachary invites his team and their families. He explained it like “Magic bonfire”. Not “all day rituals starting at dawn”

It’s one of those times Zachary opens up and lets people see what matters to him the most.

[cowlickers]

Someone edit this to say hee ha multiple times to turn her into a donkey please

[thatsaysthebibble]

From The Bronze Age The House Of Mystery Omnibus Volume 1

[shanklin]

Sentient Mystery Shack, who is really biased towards Stan, so when Ford tells Stan he has to give it back after the summer it’s on sight.

Ford keeps tripping over nothing, nothing is where it's supposed to be and somehow he keeps running into closets when he tries to go outside.

But the worst part, the WORST part is that Ford's lightbulb just won't. Work. No matter what he does it keeps flickering and exploding.

Ford is spiraling. 

There is no reason why it shoudln’t work. All his trial runs work perfectly. He’s already checked the Shacks wiring three times and relearned this dimensions science from the ground up. 

Nothing works.

The Rift? Bill? The impending apocalypse? Eating? Sleep? Who cares about that. 

WHY. WONT. THE. LIGHTBULB. WORK???

It doesn’t help that Stan keeps laughing at him.

“Then you do it!” Ford eventually snaps at Stan.

Stan shrugs and with a little song under his breath screws his own lightbulb in. It works perfectly.

Stanford screams.

[pandorasboxofhorrors]

[skjam]

My background is an early scene from the silent classic "The House of Mystery" (no relation to the DC Comics House of Mystery) where the wedding party is being photographed.

This website is too mobile focused these days. Reblog and tell me what your desktop/laptop background is.