What do you think?
Rate this book
The Nice House on the Lake
The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1
Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter-well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off. But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter’s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It’s beautiful, it’s opulent, it’s private-so a week of putting up with Walter’s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not? All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn’t a chance to reconnect be…nice? Don’t miss the first collected edition of 2021’s smash-hit horror sensation-so you can be all caught up when The Nice House on the Lake returns with issue #7! Collects The Nice House on the Lake #1-6.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2022
About the author
James Tynion IV
1,564 books1,640 followersPrior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,095 reviews
April 6, 2023
This could be great or this could be ass, and it will all depend on how Tynion sticks that landing.
For a first volume, though? It hooked me.
I went into this without any knowledge other than it was a horror comic and I really think that served me well.
Walter was giving off some serious serial killer vibes all through the first issue so I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen when he gathered all of his friends together at that lake house.
Oh boy, was I ever wrong.
I really didn't see that coming.
And that's the thing. I can't tell you ANYTHING without spoiling everything.
It's a bit wacky and a lot different, but if you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, give this one a shot.
By the way, how do you think the world will end?
Reread in 2023 & it still holds up as a good opening volume.
For a first volume, though? It hooked me.
I went into this without any knowledge other than it was a horror comic and I really think that served me well.
Walter was giving off some serious serial killer vibes all through the first issue so I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen when he gathered all of his friends together at that lake house.
Oh boy, was I ever wrong.
I really didn't see that coming.
And that's the thing. I can't tell you ANYTHING without spoiling everything.
It's a bit wacky and a lot different, but if you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, give this one a shot.
By the way, how do you think the world will end?
Reread in 2023 & it still holds up as a good opening volume.
March 12, 2022
A mutual friend, Walter, invites ten people to stay in a fancy lakeside house in the country for a weekend getaway. A nice house, far enough away from the hectic pace of modern life to make you think you were the last people on Earth - and then it turns out that you are! Because “Walter” is an alien who has saved his nearest and dearest from the end of the world. What next - imprisonment in some hellish mystery box? Oh…
The pieces are there to make The Nice House on the Lake, Volume 1 a fun book but James Tynion IV fails to assemble them into anything more than a narrative that’s unfortunately more often boring than not.
I dislike Tynion’s verbosity the most - his comics are always overwritten without all the extra verbiage adding to the overall story - and that remains the case here. A hefty chunk of this book is tedious flashbacks from when Walter met the person narrating that issue. The dialogue is always bloated, the stories are always dull, and the flashbacks useless - filler basically. We get that Walter met all these people at some point - these flashbacks do nothing more than underline this again.
The cast are all unmemorable who react predictably to the shocking news, and it’s not interesting to read these reactions. Tynion compounds things by including tiresome and unnecessary page-length blocks of text comprising emails, text threads, social media feeds, and transcripts, which also don’t add much to proceedings. Alvaro Martinez Bueno’s art isn’t bad but it’s not particularly remarkable either - it’s just fine. The ending to this first volume is very weak too - things just stop rather than build to a satisfying conclusion or cliffhanger.
But I did enjoy the various aspects of the story like the weird sculptures scattered around the compound, and the questions arising from the reveals: why is there a symbol for each person, why can no-one remember travelling to the house, how is the world ending and why, and, of course, Walter himself. I wonder if the name is derived from Walter Tevis, the author of, among others, The Man Who Fell to Earth? Walter gives off a vibe similar to Newton from that novel.
There’s a lot more to the mystery but I won’t give anything away here - suffice it to say, they deepen it and were about the only parts of the book I found compelling, sprinkled in amidst the bland group’s past and present witterings-on. The book is good once Tynion gets on with it - it’s just a shame that most of the time he doesn’t and seems satisfied simply relaying dreary conversations between the characters who are just sitting around, like a third-rate Bendis impersonator.
It’s because I have no confidence in Tynion as a storyteller that I feel like this book will turn out to be an unsatisfying comics version of Lost. I might check out the conclusion if only to get the answers to some of the numerous questions posed in this mostly setup book, but I still found The Nice House on the Lake, Volume 1 to be a very monotonous, overwritten and slow-moving comic. Unless unexciting back-and-forths is your thing, don’t expect much entertainment from this book.
The pieces are there to make The Nice House on the Lake, Volume 1 a fun book but James Tynion IV fails to assemble them into anything more than a narrative that’s unfortunately more often boring than not.
I dislike Tynion’s verbosity the most - his comics are always overwritten without all the extra verbiage adding to the overall story - and that remains the case here. A hefty chunk of this book is tedious flashbacks from when Walter met the person narrating that issue. The dialogue is always bloated, the stories are always dull, and the flashbacks useless - filler basically. We get that Walter met all these people at some point - these flashbacks do nothing more than underline this again.
The cast are all unmemorable who react predictably to the shocking news, and it’s not interesting to read these reactions. Tynion compounds things by including tiresome and unnecessary page-length blocks of text comprising emails, text threads, social media feeds, and transcripts, which also don’t add much to proceedings. Alvaro Martinez Bueno’s art isn’t bad but it’s not particularly remarkable either - it’s just fine. The ending to this first volume is very weak too - things just stop rather than build to a satisfying conclusion or cliffhanger.
But I did enjoy the various aspects of the story like the weird sculptures scattered around the compound, and the questions arising from the reveals: why is there a symbol for each person, why can no-one remember travelling to the house, how is the world ending and why, and, of course, Walter himself. I wonder if the name is derived from Walter Tevis, the author of, among others, The Man Who Fell to Earth? Walter gives off a vibe similar to Newton from that novel.
There’s a lot more to the mystery but I won’t give anything away here - suffice it to say, they deepen it and were about the only parts of the book I found compelling, sprinkled in amidst the bland group’s past and present witterings-on. The book is good once Tynion gets on with it - it’s just a shame that most of the time he doesn’t and seems satisfied simply relaying dreary conversations between the characters who are just sitting around, like a third-rate Bendis impersonator.
It’s because I have no confidence in Tynion as a storyteller that I feel like this book will turn out to be an unsatisfying comics version of Lost. I might check out the conclusion if only to get the answers to some of the numerous questions posed in this mostly setup book, but I still found The Nice House on the Lake, Volume 1 to be a very monotonous, overwritten and slow-moving comic. Unless unexciting back-and-forths is your thing, don’t expect much entertainment from this book.
August 13, 2022
The Nice House on the Lake, written by James Tynion IV (!) and Álvaro Martínez Bueno, with Jordie Bellaire on colors, is part of the Tynion wave sweeping the current phase of comics. Tynion, one of the two or three “it” people in comics now, was just awarded 2022 Eisner Awards for Best Writer, Best continuing Series (Something is Killing the Children), and Best New Series, this one. He’s this year’s Jeff Lemire, I guess.
But I’m stalling., because most of y’all love this guy, and I have only become somewhat of a fan of The Department of Truth, and I have not yet warmed to his stuff. I have sampled The Backstagers, The Woods, some of his Batman stuff, and (gulp) Someone is Killing the Children (yes, even that) and have stopped reading. I’ll be brief: Too many words crowding the page--get lean if you want to be mean, JT--I do not care one bit for any of these characters, I am not a fan of the artwork of Bueno--hard to distinguish characters--all the text messages and emails ansd such throughout do not add much except visually, and I am just not freaked out as I should be.
So it’s dystopian, end-of=-the-world, but a guy (demon) Walter had invited all his shallow friends--saving them for some reason not clear to me--and putting them in a billionaire house in northern Wisconsin (where, let me just say there are no mountains such as the ones in the cover, nor any houses like it--or is it supposed to be like a Frank Lloyd Wright house?) . They can’t get out of some kind of shield around it. Each issue features a different boring hipster character. (One couple, seeing on tv that the world has ended, decides to relax and watch tv--a nice movie, she says--and just chill; I know, this is satire). My guess is that these shallow people will have to learn to live and work together in this locked room sci-fi story and make some kind of effort to save the world, a message to Our Youth Today? Sure enough:
“We can’t die, he won’t let us. So we have to figure out how to live.”
The most obvious reference throughout is to the baffling storylines and confused world-building and let’s work-across-differences point of the tv series Lost, though many of those characters were much more interesting. Still, since y’all are so impressed, I’ll read another one. And maybe if I read yr reviews I’ll get why this is so amazing?
But I’m stalling., because most of y’all love this guy, and I have only become somewhat of a fan of The Department of Truth, and I have not yet warmed to his stuff. I have sampled The Backstagers, The Woods, some of his Batman stuff, and (gulp) Someone is Killing the Children (yes, even that) and have stopped reading. I’ll be brief: Too many words crowding the page--get lean if you want to be mean, JT--I do not care one bit for any of these characters, I am not a fan of the artwork of Bueno--hard to distinguish characters--all the text messages and emails ansd such throughout do not add much except visually, and I am just not freaked out as I should be.
So it’s dystopian, end-of=-the-world, but a guy (demon) Walter had invited all his shallow friends--saving them for some reason not clear to me--and putting them in a billionaire house in northern Wisconsin (where, let me just say there are no mountains such as the ones in the cover, nor any houses like it--or is it supposed to be like a Frank Lloyd Wright house?) . They can’t get out of some kind of shield around it. Each issue features a different boring hipster character. (One couple, seeing on tv that the world has ended, decides to relax and watch tv--a nice movie, she says--and just chill; I know, this is satire). My guess is that these shallow people will have to learn to live and work together in this locked room sci-fi story and make some kind of effort to save the world, a message to Our Youth Today? Sure enough:
“We can’t die, he won’t let us. So we have to figure out how to live.”
The most obvious reference throughout is to the baffling storylines and confused world-building and let’s work-across-differences point of the tv series Lost, though many of those characters were much more interesting. Still, since y’all are so impressed, I’ll read another one. And maybe if I read yr reviews I’ll get why this is so amazing?
March 14, 2022
I’m not a big horror guy—mostly because I’m a giant scaredy cat—but Tynion keeps cranking out these terrifying books that I can’t stop reading. If he keeps doing that, here’s an investing tip: buy stock in night light companies, because I will be ordering eleventy-billion of them.
March 8, 2022
I’ll save my full review for when the series completely wraps, but this first half is easily the best non-superhero Black Label book to come out. I don’t even want to give anything away since this really does work best just going in blind, so just know each issue follows one of the twelve different characters, as Tynion puts out what will probably end up being one of his better books. I can’t wait to see how he wraps this one, because SOMETHING big happened, and I do want to see what exactly went down.
April 1, 2023
‘How do you think the world will end?’
Those who knew Walter, those who were in his circle, those he loved, all heard him ask this question. When the closest of Walter’s friends from his various friend’s circles through his life all come together for a weekend getaway in a gorgeous lakefront mansion, this question never even crossed their minds…Until it happens. The Nice House on the Lake from writer and artist duo James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera (of Something is Killing the Children fame) is a tense horror survival graphic novel across two volumes (this first one collects issues 1-6) as a household of people must face the end of the world and their own slipping sanity in a house that may be either a haven or twisted prison. The artwork is stunning and gritty, though the frames are very text-heavy and the plot plods forward through the gloomy tone, though there are plenty of big reveals and endlessly growing tension to keep it gripping enough (having just come off their other series this felt a bit flat in comparison). With elements of sci-fi and horror, and a simulated-multimedia approach with transcripts, chat logs, emails and notebooks to aid the story, this is a big visual thrillride that could use a bit of a push but is enjoyable in all the density of backstory and though the number of characters (shoutout for queer and trans rep) can get a bit cumbersome they are all juggled pretty successfully. Who, and maybe more importantly what is Walter, how are they trapped in the house and is there a way out, what is happening outside the world and what are these strange puzzles are all questions that drive this story through its chilling twists and turns.
Something I enjoy about James Tynion IV is he aims to be very unsettling and hits you were it hurts, such as knowing everyone you’ve ever known or loved died in an absolutely horrific and gruesome apocalypse (Anderson Cooper gets singled out as someone who literally melts on live tv). In both series of his I’ve read now the art does not shirk away from depicting the most horrible things you can image. Like this:
Coming out in 2021, it was interesting to see the pandemic briefly alluded to, though reading it in 2023 it was difficult to not compare the opening of the book to the film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery as both have an extremely similar, mysterious set-up (and oddly both have someone working on a Democratic Party campaign). There are A LOT of characters, but this guide came in handy:
This was interesting to read directly after plowing through three volumes of Something is Killing… in a weekend. The two are quite different in tone, while both being horror, and this one is less fun and boisterous but more atmospheric and tense. While the art is fantastic in both, I prefer his art style in Something and this one can sometimes be hard to tell characters apart but also things being fairly obscured is part of the intent. Walter is very similar to the boy in the first arc of Something, and not just that both are drawn fairly similar with their big glasses you never see through but both have an element where in high school they were encouraged to ask their best friend to be their boyfriend, were rejected, and still maintain a friendship that is making them awkward. Comparatively though, this one felt a big of a slog, starting strong and ending strong, but sort of languishing in the middle (though Dave being goofy is pretty charming). Each issue being told in what appears to be a present set decently into the future where they all seem like battle hardened dystopia vets leads me to think this is only going to get epic.
There are a lot of questions to unravel still, like if their code names and symbols mean anything, what is the house exactly and if the world can be saved, and I suspect it is too early to really “rate” the series but I am having a lot of fun. If he can stick the landing I bet I will love this and overlook my few critiques, I just hope it doesn’t fall apart. It’s pretty high stakes and I am hooked though not as much as his other series. Can’t wait to see where they take us in volume 2.
3.5/5
Those who knew Walter, those who were in his circle, those he loved, all heard him ask this question. When the closest of Walter’s friends from his various friend’s circles through his life all come together for a weekend getaway in a gorgeous lakefront mansion, this question never even crossed their minds…Until it happens. The Nice House on the Lake from writer and artist duo James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera (of Something is Killing the Children fame) is a tense horror survival graphic novel across two volumes (this first one collects issues 1-6) as a household of people must face the end of the world and their own slipping sanity in a house that may be either a haven or twisted prison. The artwork is stunning and gritty, though the frames are very text-heavy and the plot plods forward through the gloomy tone, though there are plenty of big reveals and endlessly growing tension to keep it gripping enough (having just come off their other series this felt a bit flat in comparison). With elements of sci-fi and horror, and a simulated-multimedia approach with transcripts, chat logs, emails and notebooks to aid the story, this is a big visual thrillride that could use a bit of a push but is enjoyable in all the density of backstory and though the number of characters (shoutout for queer and trans rep) can get a bit cumbersome they are all juggled pretty successfully. Who, and maybe more importantly what is Walter, how are they trapped in the house and is there a way out, what is happening outside the world and what are these strange puzzles are all questions that drive this story through its chilling twists and turns.
Something I enjoy about James Tynion IV is he aims to be very unsettling and hits you were it hurts, such as knowing everyone you’ve ever known or loved died in an absolutely horrific and gruesome apocalypse (Anderson Cooper gets singled out as someone who literally melts on live tv). In both series of his I’ve read now the art does not shirk away from depicting the most horrible things you can image. Like this:
Coming out in 2021, it was interesting to see the pandemic briefly alluded to, though reading it in 2023 it was difficult to not compare the opening of the book to the film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery as both have an extremely similar, mysterious set-up (and oddly both have someone working on a Democratic Party campaign). There are A LOT of characters, but this guide came in handy:
This was interesting to read directly after plowing through three volumes of Something is Killing… in a weekend. The two are quite different in tone, while both being horror, and this one is less fun and boisterous but more atmospheric and tense. While the art is fantastic in both, I prefer his art style in Something and this one can sometimes be hard to tell characters apart but also things being fairly obscured is part of the intent. Walter is very similar to the boy in the first arc of Something, and not just that both are drawn fairly similar with their big glasses you never see through but both have an element where in high school they were encouraged to ask their best friend to be their boyfriend, were rejected, and still maintain a friendship that is making them awkward. Comparatively though, this one felt a big of a slog, starting strong and ending strong, but sort of languishing in the middle (though Dave being goofy is pretty charming). Each issue being told in what appears to be a present set decently into the future where they all seem like battle hardened dystopia vets leads me to think this is only going to get epic.
There are a lot of questions to unravel still, like if their code names and symbols mean anything, what is the house exactly and if the world can be saved, and I suspect it is too early to really “rate” the series but I am having a lot of fun. If he can stick the landing I bet I will love this and overlook my few critiques, I just hope it doesn’t fall apart. It’s pretty high stakes and I am hooked though not as much as his other series. Can’t wait to see where they take us in volume 2.
3.5/5
March 5, 2023
This was GREAT! 4.5 stars. I originally had it rated at 4 stars, but then we had our liveshow discussion for the realm of comics book club and everything literally changed. There are so many directions that Tynion can take with this story and he is mindful and careful with the manner in which he crafts his characters. For me, this story is a mix of sci-fi and horror and the ultimate exploration of human behavior. While there were some issues in relation to the layout, I stayed engaged in the story as whole attempting to figure out what role Walter played in this supposed creation of the end of the world. The artwork by Bueno wasn't my favorite. I realized that as reader I'm more into the distinct clear lines in artistry instead of what readers will see in this particular story. Overall, this continues to prove why I'm such a huge fan of James and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the next and final installment in this story. If you're interested in more of my thoughts, check out our live show discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/live/5vrd9_5M...
November 1, 2023
Le dessin, l’histoire, l’univers, la narration, l’inventivité, l’originalité, j’ai TOUT aimé dans cette BD.
Je pense courir m’offrir le second tome dès aujourd’hui. Second tome qui clôturera le premier cycle de cette saga.
Je ne vous parlerai pas de l’histoire en détail pour vous laisser la surprise. Je vous dirais seulement qu’il s’agit d’un huit clos dans une demeure de rêve, et je vous poserai cette unique question :
Et vous, vous l’imaginez comment la fin du monde ?
Je pense courir m’offrir le second tome dès aujourd’hui. Second tome qui clôturera le premier cycle de cette saga.
Je ne vous parlerai pas de l’histoire en détail pour vous laisser la surprise. Je vous dirais seulement qu’il s’agit d’un huit clos dans une demeure de rêve, et je vous poserai cette unique question :
Et vous, vous l’imaginez comment la fin du monde ?
March 24, 2022
Good start, then slowed down a bit too much. I find this one hard to grade, as so much depends on the ending we'll eventually get.
May 14, 2022
I like the closed circle trope and escape room dramas, but this book squanders its initial concept by breezing past all the emotional stuff you'd expect from an end of the world scenario and stranding us in a remote house with ten boring people doing a whole lot of nothing for more than 80 percent of its pages.
A guide to the characters hidden on the very last page of the book helped me tell them apart for the most part despite the artist's tendency to draw generic, blotchy figures. It also helped as a reference to keep the occupations and related symbols straight until I realized those bits didn't matter when no one had any personality to speak of and telling them apart was more a convenience for the writer than me.
Blah. I might pick up the next volume if it is a conclusion, but not if it isn't.
A guide to the characters hidden on the very last page of the book helped me tell them apart for the most part despite the artist's tendency to draw generic, blotchy figures. It also helped as a reference to keep the occupations and related symbols straight until I realized those bits didn't matter when no one had any personality to speak of and telling them apart was more a convenience for the writer than me.
Blah. I might pick up the next volume if it is a conclusion, but not if it isn't.
April 4, 2023
I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to graphic novels, so I have little to base my opinions on but I have to say this was one of the most original and exciting things I have ever read.
Apparently, this has won awards and I can see why. Both the story and artwork are simply stunning.
I've given this only four stars for the time being due to my being relatively new to graphic novels but this publication certainly deserves all the stars.
I'll be honest here, this review is a mess and I'm almost lost for words after reading this creepy, apocalyptic story.
Apparently, this has won awards and I can see why. Both the story and artwork are simply stunning.
I've given this only four stars for the time being due to my being relatively new to graphic novels but this publication certainly deserves all the stars.
I'll be honest here, this review is a mess and I'm almost lost for words after reading this creepy, apocalyptic story.
May 7, 2023
she wears a mask in the Other Place and then she wears it here, in our world, as she enters the nice house on the lake. and then she takes it off, her temperature checked, she's in the clear. but is this our world? and does the mask ever truly come off? all the other guests in this nice house on the lake have their individual labels, their own individual masks, the Comedian & the Consultant & the Doctor and all the rest so titled, so masked. but only an alien could see these individuals as just their titles and masks. an alien collector of human types, human friends upon whom it has bestowed titles and safety, a refuge from a world on fire. this alien loves its little humans, its circle of friends and types, gathered together in its nice house on the lake.
this is a pandemic drama, born of that era, this era. an era of communication breakdown and bodies sick and changing, transforming, and minds seeing through a glass darkly. an era of isolation from each other, isolated by space or by time or by the masks and titles put on, as protection. protection from chance, from death, from each other.
4.5 stars. the art is incredible. the story and the mysteries, equally so. it can only go downhill from here...
this is a pandemic drama, born of that era, this era. an era of communication breakdown and bodies sick and changing, transforming, and minds seeing through a glass darkly. an era of isolation from each other, isolated by space or by time or by the masks and titles put on, as protection. protection from chance, from death, from each other.
4.5 stars. the art is incredible. the story and the mysteries, equally so. it can only go downhill from here...
August 3, 2023
I was skeptical about the raving reviews surrounding this series, but I was wrong. It's rare for me to actually stop reading after a couple of pages per issue, either to ponder over the details of the art, the plot developments, and the mystery of it all, or just to make sure that I still have my sanity intact, while having a blast nonetheless. I salute you, James Tynion IV. I've read literal thousands of comic books over the years and I consider you one of the big names from now on, instead of a talented newcomer back from when I first checked out the New 52 comics with your name on them. It's been quite a journey.
June 9, 2023
4.5ish stars.
Eisner winner for Best New Series and Best Writer. Loved it. The art is great, although it's not always consistent. A cool new take on the apocalypse with interesting characters and ideas, with just enough revealed at the end of the volume to be satisfying but still intriguing. It's very impressive how Tynion IV juggles such a large cast and makes each of the characters distinctive and valuable. My biggest issue is that, in the lettering, so many of the words are bolded. It's distracting, and I can figure out which words need to be emphasized on my own.
Eisner winner for Best New Series and Best Writer. Loved it. The art is great, although it's not always consistent. A cool new take on the apocalypse with interesting characters and ideas, with just enough revealed at the end of the volume to be satisfying but still intriguing. It's very impressive how Tynion IV juggles such a large cast and makes each of the characters distinctive and valuable. My biggest issue is that, in the lettering, so many of the words are bolded. It's distracting, and I can figure out which words need to be emphasized on my own.
February 20, 2022
Keeping it short and sweet for now, I'll revisit this once the second volume is out and the whole thing's complete, but Nice House is a twisted look at the minds of 12 individuals, one of whom isn't even human. It's diverse, it's creepy, and it's absolutely riveting, plus the art's phenomenal. James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno struck gold with their Detective Comics and Justice League Dark collaborations, and they continue that hot streak here.
I just hope the second half is as good, and that it all builds to a satisfying conclusion.
I just hope the second half is as good, and that it all builds to a satisfying conclusion.
November 28, 2023
The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 is like the movie Glass Onion, except instead of a murder mystery you get a sci-fi horror and the apocalypse.
I love the concept and the cast of characters. The artwork is brilliant. I can't wait to read vol. 2!
James Tynion IV is now one of my favourite comic book writers. I have yet to read something from him that I haven't loved.
I love the concept and the cast of characters. The artwork is brilliant. I can't wait to read vol. 2!
James Tynion IV is now one of my favourite comic book writers. I have yet to read something from him that I haven't loved.
June 9, 2023
Young urban professionals do a lot of navel-gazing in a post-apocalyptic world. They are just as insufferable after the apocalypse as before the apocalypse. Because I couldn’t care much about the characters, the story wasn’t that interesting to me.
January 14, 2024
Je ne suis pas particulièrement sensible au trait de dessin des illustrateurs de comics mais celui-ci est détonnant. Certaines planches sont des œuvres d'art de justesse.
En gros c'est la fin du monde, et tu enfermes une bande de 11 trentenaires dans une villa de rêve. Je n'en dis pas plus et vous laisse découvrir l'histoire: malaisante, dérangeante et terrifiante.
4 étoiles car l'auteur est trop avare en révélations, beaucoup de questions subsistent et que certaines planches restent trop classiques dans le genre du comics.
En gros c'est la fin du monde, et tu enfermes une bande de 11 trentenaires dans une villa de rêve. Je n'en dis pas plus et vous laisse découvrir l'histoire: malaisante, dérangeante et terrifiante.
4 étoiles car l'auteur est trop avare en révélations, beaucoup de questions subsistent et que certaines planches restent trop classiques dans le genre du comics.
June 13, 2023
The apocalypse has a face.
May 11, 2023
Wow. I can't remember the last comic that captured my attention so completely with the first volume. Something by Jonathan Hickman, probably. The Nice House on the Lake could qualify as Hickmanesque. Characters are identified by archetypes (The Artist, The Reporter, etc.) as they journey to a nice house on a lake in rural Wisconsin at the behest of a close (or not so close) friend, Walter.
It is quickly revealed that "Walter" is not who he says he is. I'll leave any further reveals to other reviewers, but suffice it to say that things go downhill just as fast as they get weird. I don't think I've encountered a comic with such clear Lost parallels as The Nice House on the Lake - and I mean that as a compliment. This is first-season Lost when anything was possible and each intriguing reveal had the internet sleuths salivating.
Another parallel: Tynion's own The Woods series, which now feels like a dry run for whatever is going on in The Nice House on the Lake. I can't believe the same guy who wrote the "ambitious but only pretty good" The Woods series wrote this. Such an upgrade.
Maybe the biggest compliment I can give The Nice House on the Lake is that it's the type of read where you find yourself skipping back pages to see if you missed a hidden message. And then when you finish this first volume, you find yourself thumbing through the first few pages, thinking maybe you'll just start over again. Book of the year candidate, easily.
It is quickly revealed that "Walter" is not who he says he is. I'll leave any further reveals to other reviewers, but suffice it to say that things go downhill just as fast as they get weird. I don't think I've encountered a comic with such clear Lost parallels as The Nice House on the Lake - and I mean that as a compliment. This is first-season Lost when anything was possible and each intriguing reveal had the internet sleuths salivating.
Another parallel: Tynion's own The Woods series, which now feels like a dry run for whatever is going on in The Nice House on the Lake. I can't believe the same guy who wrote the "ambitious but only pretty good" The Woods series wrote this. Such an upgrade.
Maybe the biggest compliment I can give The Nice House on the Lake is that it's the type of read where you find yourself skipping back pages to see if you missed a hidden message. And then when you finish this first volume, you find yourself thumbing through the first few pages, thinking maybe you'll just start over again. Book of the year candidate, easily.
July 15, 2022
I'm not totally sure how I feel about this. I mean, I enjoyed it, but it ends so smack-dab in the middle of things really picking up that I felt a little jarred by the ending of this first volume. I definitely want to continue the series and I'm incredibly intrigued by the premise, and I need to know more about Walter and what is actually happening outside of the lake house/property.
All of the characters are a little hard to keep apart from one another, which is the main reason I'm only giving this 4 stars: I think a cast of characters this large doesn't work well in a graphic novel unless the art style lends well to telling everyone apart, and that isn't the case here. (They're also mostly obnoxious and fairly unlikable people, which is something I weirdly enjoy in stories, but if you don't, YMMV on the overall storytelling.)
✨ Representation: multiple queer and/or BIPOC characters, one trans character
✨ Content warnings for:
———
twitter | booktok | bookstagram | blog
All of the characters are a little hard to keep apart from one another, which is the main reason I'm only giving this 4 stars: I think a cast of characters this large doesn't work well in a graphic novel unless the art style lends well to telling everyone apart, and that isn't the case here. (They're also mostly obnoxious and fairly unlikable people, which is something I weirdly enjoy in stories, but if you don't, YMMV on the overall storytelling.)
✨ Representation: multiple queer and/or BIPOC characters, one trans character
✨ Content warnings for:
———
twitter | booktok | bookstagram | blog
April 10, 2022
Serious contender for graphic novel of the year. It said something to that affect on the blurb on title page and I'd have to actually agree in this case. I found plenty of originality in the story the dialogue is excellent, and the art is superb in execution as well as feel. I don't feel this is an all out horror book it gives me Kieron Gillen Wicked and the divine/Black Crouch Wayward Pines vibes.
November 27, 2023
Add NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE to the handfuls of titles that demonstrate and serve as testament to the story-telling possibilities (both advantages and limitations) of comic books and graphic novels. This is a well-constructed book, and a premium read deserving of high praise. Alvaro Martinez Bueno’s stylish art has the look of 1960’s architectural design magazines and is the perfect compliment to Tynion’s story.
That it has accumulated over 800 reviews (but not 100% positive) on the Goodreads website is a remarkable achievement for a graphic novel. This book has received a lot of well-deserved attention. I read the first three issues in the single monthly releases as originally published, which was more than enough to convince me that this was worth reading at one time, just like a good novel which I would never read 30 days between chapters. I did read the debut issue several times, and on each repeat reading I noticed something fresh or gained renewed appreciation for certain scenes.
There are a multitude of ways that James Tynion IV could have introduced the premise of the story. The way he decided on is masterful, as it creates curiosity and pulls readers into the story from the get-go. The opening page features Ryan, one of the main characters (and narrator), in a battered state and is a perfect foreshadowing that indicates dire straits ahead, despite the flashback/preface to simpler times. Ironic indeed, as her involvement in the whole affair began as a flirtatious question from Walter: “How do you think the world will end?”
Much later, Ryan gets an invitation to join Walter and others at an upstate Wisconsin lake house for a getaway weekend. Ten of the invited show up, each with a connection to Walter, who has given each guest a nickname that corresponds to their professions. Soon after arrival, dinner, and relaxation the news of firestorms devastating the world reaches them.
In a stunning cliffhanger of an ending to Issue #1 and a big reveal by Walter the world ends, except for the ten at the lake who must be wondering what makes them special? It’s a brilliant set-up with intriguing characters, whose traits and peculiarities are uncovered in brief flashbacks in later issues as the story proceeds.
The various covers to the series, included in the trade paperback collection, have been evocative and very symbolic. Many focus on the horrific aspects of the storyline, almost as nightmare glimpses drawn from the characters’ worst fears. Almost every issue opens with a different narrator, who tells in flashback how they met Walter as well as some of their individual discoveries or happenings at the lake house. Each of the house guests has been given a descriptive label (the Pianist, for example) by Walter and a symbol to identify them.
Interspersed throughout the story are text pages that serve as concise summaries of incidents occurring at the lake house. For example, there’s a deadly mishap and a disappearance at the end of Issue #1. To relate what happens immediately after as the house guests scramble to sort it out and give first aid to the injured Nora (the Writer) would have required several pages to detail and illustrate. Instead, Tynion shares a page of text, a house log/transcript of the conversations. It’s a neat touch, and an economy of scale that’s all the more dreadful in that it reveals that everything is being recorded/documented. To what purpose?
Some of the Goodreads criticisms refer to the shallowness of the characters. I initially thought the same, but each chapter sheds a little more light on them. While some characters continue to revel in the holiday atmosphere (movies, boating, dinners) of the lake house (rather than the prison aspect) - -others can’t stay still or stop thinking about their confinement (experimental lab rats?). In every chapter, Tynion focuses closely on his characters, opening their heads so we readers can look inside and jot down notes. One issue focuses on Sam (the Reporter) as he explores the perimeter of the estate, discovers the boundaries, strange sculptures, and a big construct that just may be Walter’s spaceship.
As time passes, less guests accept the situation for what it is and more begin to reject it and fret. The threads of unity are starting to unravel. Walter has an itinerary for the group but rarely shows himself, except for one-on-one conversations or to simply observe the interactions from a distance. The mystery and creepiness of the title are maintained. I don’t want to spoil any of the reveals but things take a turn into science-fiction territory before the first volume concludes at a satisfactory ending point that is far from conclusive. I look forward to reading Volume Two.
January 1, 2023
So far have yet to read anything by James Tynion that I didn't love and this is no exception.
September 7, 2023
Me the whole time while I was reading this: 🤨🤨🤨…😱😱😱…🤯🤯🤯…
September 2, 2022
Fantastic set-up for a weird end-of-the-world story. A group of people each with their own different skills or expertises are brought to, well, a nice house on a lake. The only thing they really have in common is a friendship (however dated) with the home's owner Walter.
All the characters blended together for me. They all have that late 20s hipster vibe. Also I don't buy that they'd all be good friends with Walter. Some more development of the cast is really needed. It'd be like making an ensemble cast movie but none of the actors stand out. You kind of need some star power to make it work.
The mystery does get addressed in a satisfying way so far.
I read up to issue 9.
All the characters blended together for me. They all have that late 20s hipster vibe. Also I don't buy that they'd all be good friends with Walter. Some more development of the cast is really needed. It'd be like making an ensemble cast movie but none of the actors stand out. You kind of need some star power to make it work.
The mystery does get addressed in a satisfying way so far.
I read up to issue 9.
September 20, 2024
Simplesmente do nada, 10 pessoas, que possuem um amigo em comum, são convidadas para passar um período de “férias” em uma casa, extremamente chique ao lado de um lago, quando inesperadamente o mundo acaba e os únicos sobreviventes são essas 10 pessoas que estão na casa do lago. Essa foi a informação que eu obtive quando fiquei sabendo sobre esse gibi, porém, mesmo com esse mistério de como o mundo acabou e por que apenas essas 10 pessoas ficaram vivas, eu ainda não tive vontade de ler. Alguns meses depois, com promoções deixando os encadernados com preços mais convidativos, decidi dar uma chance e comprar os volumes de A Bela Casa do Lago. Conclusão: que baita gibi que o Sr. James James Tynion IV escreveu.
De começo, você pode ficar um pouco confuso com o tanto de personagens apresentados de uma vez, mas logo você começa os identificar pelas suas personalidades e funções individuais, inclusive pelos próprios codinomes que eles recebem de acordo com suas vocações. A partir daí, a história te cativa de forma que você não quer parar de ler, pois o mistério por trás de tudo só vai aumentando, e parece que mais dilemas surgem ao invés de soluções.
Conforme a história avança, vamos descobrindo o que aconteceu com o mundo, e que Walter tem uma ligação com essa devastação, bem como os motivos dele ter selecionado esses 10 amigos para sobreviverem.
Um ponto que me chamou a atenção foi a maneira como James Tynion IV elabora o roteiro, pois além de ter 10 personagens, o mesmo se utiliza de narrativa que conta o passado (como Walter conheceu o amigo em questão), o presente ali na casa, e o futuro (não sabemos ainda o que aconteceu). Entretanto, por incrível que pareça, essa narrativa funciona muito bem e nao fica confuso, complementando o que está acontecendo no presente, explicando um pouco da personalidade dos personagens e como eles conheceram o Walter.
Outras questões que me trouxeram reflexões foram a maneira como algumas coisas são contadas, por exemplo, como eles conseguem comida e "os poderes" do Walter. Eles não são tão explicados, mas é mostrado o suficiente de ambos para dar uma justificativa que faça a história ter sentido. Porém não sei se isso foi uma escolha narrativa do James Tynion IV ou se foi uma falha no roteiro.
Contudo, é um quadrinho muito bom que me surpreendeu bastante. Eu não conseguia parar de ler até terminar esse primeiro volume e já estou ansioso para continuar a leitura na próxima edição. Para quem gosta de terror/suspense, esse gibi é uma forte recomendação.
De começo, você pode ficar um pouco confuso com o tanto de personagens apresentados de uma vez, mas logo você começa os identificar pelas suas personalidades e funções individuais, inclusive pelos próprios codinomes que eles recebem de acordo com suas vocações. A partir daí, a história te cativa de forma que você não quer parar de ler, pois o mistério por trás de tudo só vai aumentando, e parece que mais dilemas surgem ao invés de soluções.
Conforme a história avança, vamos descobrindo o que aconteceu com o mundo, e que Walter tem uma ligação com essa devastação, bem como os motivos dele ter selecionado esses 10 amigos para sobreviverem.
Um ponto que me chamou a atenção foi a maneira como James Tynion IV elabora o roteiro, pois além de ter 10 personagens, o mesmo se utiliza de narrativa que conta o passado (como Walter conheceu o amigo em questão), o presente ali na casa, e o futuro (não sabemos ainda o que aconteceu). Entretanto, por incrível que pareça, essa narrativa funciona muito bem e nao fica confuso, complementando o que está acontecendo no presente, explicando um pouco da personalidade dos personagens e como eles conheceram o Walter.
Outras questões que me trouxeram reflexões foram a maneira como algumas coisas são contadas, por exemplo, como eles conseguem comida e "os poderes" do Walter. Eles não são tão explicados, mas é mostrado o suficiente de ambos para dar uma justificativa que faça a história ter sentido. Porém não sei se isso foi uma escolha narrativa do James Tynion IV ou se foi uma falha no roteiro.
Contudo, é um quadrinho muito bom que me surpreendeu bastante. Eu não conseguia parar de ler até terminar esse primeiro volume e já estou ansioso para continuar a leitura na próxima edição. Para quem gosta de terror/suspense, esse gibi é uma forte recomendação.
January 15, 2023
art was cool, and it was an interesting take on an apocalyptic story that kept me reading, but not enough to make me want to continue the series. also wasn't a fan of how many freakin characters there were lol but a few moments did make me laugh out loud
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,095 reviews