HOUSE OF SECRETS #87 SEPT 1970

 A couple of kids peer through a window into a delapidated room. A dog slurps water from its bowl. A man removes his face to reveal that he is a robot. And a demonic looking man grins at us and claims, "There's no escape from The House of Secrets".

It's another great Neil Adams cover, following the simple premise that a great cover should pose sufficient questions that the reader feels compelled to buy the comic to find the answers.

The framing story in this issue gets its own title, "AND IN THE DARKNESS... LIGHT!", featuring Cain's brother Abel and his imaginary friend Goldie. As mentioned in my entry to HOUSE OF MYSTERY #186, I didn't realise when originally reading SWAMP THING, HELLBLAZER, SANDMAN et al in the 80's/90's that these characters (their first appearance in SWAMP THING seen below) were part of DC lore. I knew that Moore, Gaiman and others were reviving characters and sending them off in whole new directions, I just didn't realise to what extent!

There's a lovely touch on the opening page of AND IN THE DARKNESS... LIGHT!, there's a complete list of the issue's creators, followed by the statement, 'In association with the National Warlock's League...' I also like the way that the captions are written on a gravestone and a piece of rolled up parchment paper, adding an element of macabre humour. The framing story is penned by Gerry Conway and illustrated with Gothic flare by Bill Draut. 

DEATH HAS MARBLE LIPS! is written by Robert Kanigher with gloriously subversive art by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano. It's a sort of spin on the Pygmalion legend about a man falling in love with a statue he has sculpted, its potential moral intentions continuously undermined by the sensuality of the artwork. True to the original Greek myth the marble figure is transformed into a real woman, and (spoiler warning!) IT DOESN'T END WELL... 

Curiously, the sculptor, Peter Mallory is already in a relationship with the beautiful and statuesque Ava Allison, and the story takes place a month before their intended wedding. Ava intrudes on Peter's solitary, nocturnal activities finding him filled with guilt-fueled rage. 

It is suggested by Ava that his behaviour is being caused by locking himself in his "gloomy house too long" and insists he move from "these cursed moors to my sunny house". She is concerned that he is allowing himself to "waste away to a shadow". Failing to distract him with a loving embrace and the promise of fine food, she eventually heads home calling upon heaven to help Peter escape "the gloom of that eerie house".

The house does indeed seem cursed in some way. Ava comments on the "strange storms" that lash the moors in which it is situated. But to Peter the sounds of the storm suggest something more-- he feels he is being "summoned" and that someone is there, "Watching! Listening!"

And so he sculpts a statue of a woman, who he calls Eve. Michelangelo famously said, "The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material" and this very much seems to be Peter's thoughts as he "frees" Eve from the block of marble. 

Dreaming that Eve comes alive he declares his undying love to her and is seen locked in a passionate embrace with her as he had previously been with Ava.

Clearly Ava and Eve are being presented as two opposing facets of the same woman, the duality already suggested in the similarity of their names. Ava is always drawn in constricting clothes, her hair hidden formally beneath a bonnet. She talks of security and in terms of reason or rationality and offers Peter food and love. 

In contrast, Eve is drawn in a low-cut dress split almost to the waist, her hair is long and loose. She brings the excitement and danger of a clandestine relationship and offers Peter sex. At the moment when she comes to life the artist imbues the sequence with an indisputable erotic charge-- the first frame focuses on her wide eyes, her mouth hidden by a gag-like shadow. The second frame shifts the gagging shadow to her eyes like a mask and her mouth is free. Her lips part and her head tilts back in a moment oozing with the suggestion of sexual availability.

And although the script has to keep the story 'family-friendly', Dillin and Giordano ensure through their images that older readers can guess what's really meant to be happening.

Looking again at the two pictures of the embrace the contrast between the two women is even more pointed. In the panel immediately before the first embrace, Ava leads Peter to the doorway, but then they pause there for the kiss. Peter is confined by the doorframe, symbolising the life he is destined to have with her-- perpetually stuck within a frame, held there by her. This is even reinforced by the fact that both panels are drawn from the same angle, reinforcing the stasis of what a life with Ava offers. Also in both panels the draped block of marble looms ominously over the couple, silently but unmistakably exerting its influence over Peter. 

In contrast to this, the panel immediately before his embrace with Eve shows Peter being led outside the house towards the 'eerie moors' lit by the moon, symbol of feminine power. 

The artist then cuts to a completely new angle taking in the house and the couple as they 'press their hungry lips together' on the wild, wind-swept moor, haloed by the huge feminine moon.

All of which leads to Peter committing himself wholly to the statue of Eve. He locks the door against Ava and consults "ancient works of black magic and incantations" before offering his soul to Satan to bring the marble woman to life. Writer Robert Kanigher has no qualms about borrowing elements from the Faust story as well as the Greek Pygmalion myth, introducing young minds potentially to their first whiff of these legends. As stated at the start, any attempt to present this as a cautionary tale (i.e. woefully misogynistic) about the perils of chasing beautiful, mysterious, unavailable women tends to be compromised by the exciting, seductive artwork.

The second story in this collection is coincidentally about an unavailable man. Simply titled THE MAN, this romance shortie from Marv Wolfman, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito is told by a young woman named Candy Baker and tends to ramble on till the 'shock' conclusion. It lacks the depth and flair of the previous story and it's quite likely you'll see the twist coming very early on.

The final story, THE COMING OF GHAGLAN has great atmospheric art by Michael Kaluta, but Raymond Marais' scripting is ultimately less satisfying. I did like the 2nd person narration, the captions addressing the story's protagonist directly, but the narrative about an Egyptian archaeologist crossing dimensions to a strange spirit world suffers from a weak conclusion.

Pick of the ads this issue is the one for 'America's only MONSTER FAN CLUB', membership of which will get you, amongst other things, a 'Giant Life Size MOON MONSTER' apparently over 6 feet tall! And for only one buck! Sounds like a bargain...

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