The Nice House By The Sea vol 1 s/c back

My FAVOURITE monthly comicbook by FAR.

Bueno and Bellaire provide so much of the subtle storytelling, like that reflected light on the panoramic landscape early on in NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE, implying the presence of both a pane of glass and someone spying behind it on the newly arrived below. Then there’s the psychological observation, the interwoven details and depth of the individuals’ friendships, exhumed gradually as we flash back through their lives before they became the extended guests of their beloved Walter; entrapped or saved from the worldwide holocaust, depending on your point of view

Every time a new issue of NICE HOUSE BY THE SEA arrives I reread whole chunks of THE LAKE excitedly, for the series dovetail into each other precisely, revealing far more you thought could possibly be part of this sweeping tragedy. And it is a tragedy. Ask Norah. Ask Oliver. Ask Walter, now.

Previously: aaarrggh, I can’t for fear of spoilers. I’ve already said too much. But I haven’t said enough.

Ever since they were teenagers Walter had been asking his friends to speculate on how the world would end. But Walter already knew. And, behind his deflective glasses, he was making plans.

In recent years Oliver has been asking strangers not how the world would end – for he too knew – but what they would do if they knew it was their last day on earth.

“WHO THE F*** IS OLIVER, STEPHEN?!?”

I think you’d better ask Walter. Or his friends, most of whom still reside in The Nice House On The Lake. Funny how Oliver never made the cut; for two years now they’ve assumed he was dead.

Instead, Oliver has been living in The Nice House By The Sea, with nine other individuals saved from the apocalypse on account of their exceptional contribution to humanity, as the rules originally stipulated. They don’t know there’s another house yet. Nor are they friends.

And that’s going to make all the difference in the world.

For two more reviews – on the art and craft of Bueno & Bellaire – please see NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE vols 1 ansd 2.