For fans of The Nice House by the Lake, The Nice House by the Sea has been compelling, albeit hard to penetrate. That is until The Nice House by the Sea #4 totally brought this excellent series’ horror, melodrama, and evil core. Maybe it is thanks to the DC Vertigo rebrand, but this fourth issue is stellar!
Customary of the series, this issue opens in the future with doomsday all around them. A common thread has been the human’s love for Walter, the alien that brought them to the one place humans can survive after killing off everyone on Earth. The flashback reveals Walter’s complicated feelings for Oliver, one of the new characters who lives by the sea with the best of the best humans. Oliver is the linchpin of the series, or at least this issue, as we soon learn.
Things are starting to open up in this series now that the folks by the sea know people came outside their residences. They once thought they were the only humans left, but now it’s time to consider what it means if other habitats exist. The common belief seems to be that only one habitat of humans will survive, and survival of the fittest is on the menu.
On the one hand, we have the sea people who need more information, and Oliver is the only one who knows things. On the other hand, the lake people are considering the fact that murdering their alien Walter will get them back to the sea alien Max. Does it mean instant death for them or something else? These are questions the characters try to answer as they figure out their next moves.
If one thing is clear, the “best of the best” sea people are a lot more immoral than the average folks by the lake. This adds to the overall horror vibe, revealing their capability of some awful things.
It’s always about a boy.
Credit: DC Comics
In a turn of events you may not see coming, the sea people’s ability to augment their bodies comes into focus, and it’s horrific. Álvaro Martínez Bueno leans into the body horror in this scene, and he’ll make you cringe in the best way. The horror has been light aside from the mood in this sequel series, but it comes at you strong in the final moments.
Bueno and Jordie Bellaire continue to capture the imagination with light and darkness. Close-ups of characters talking are caked in shadow as if to convey a dark underbelly, or when light shines through, a relevant feel is conveyed. The use of camera footage is also a nice touch, creating an eerie vibe. The book is horror, and the visuals prove it.
A common complaint with this series is how complicated it has gotten with so many new characters to keep track of old ones. That’s abated a bit here when a character literally says, “We have to lay out the whole soap opera, don’t we?” to which I audibly replied, “Thank you!” In a clever hand-drawn infographic, we get a full rundown of how the aliens of the sea and the lake are related. It helps piece together a larger drama unfolding while connecting the two habitats.
Something else that works well in this issue is how it’s becoming clear this ensemble is all in service of Walter, the alien from the lake habitat. A larger picture, and a romantic one at that, is coming into focus. We always knew Walter’s emotions were why the lake people got into this mess in the first place, but now it’s clear how Walter’s actions affect the sea characters. There is some compelling stuff at work here.
The Nice House by the Sea peels back layers to a compelling onion of horror, romance, and the complicated nature of being the last humans alive. The series flirts with levels of horror from unsettling eerie to body horror at a moment’s notice, keeping you on the edge of your seat.
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