A final page that provides the hook after a struggle of a journey.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nalo Hopkinson
Art: Dominike “Domo” Stanton”
Colors: John Rauch
Letterer: Deron Bennett
What They Say:
Welcome to the House of Dahomey, the houseboat of Erzulie Fréda, where the souls of Voodoo followers go when they sleep to beseech the flirtatious and tragic goddess to grant them their hearts’ desires and counsel them on their futures and fortunes. When you arrive, you’ll find a party is in full swing, filled with all kinds of fabulous and fierce folk, while fish fry and music blasts.
From her bayou, Erzulie scries upon the mortal realm and sees four human girls open a mysterious and magical journal filled with whispers and rumors that, if they spread, could cause a pandemic unlike any the Earth has seen, with the power to release Sopona, the loa lord of infectious disease and cousin to Erzulie, who is currently banned from the human plane.
But even the fearsome Erzulie cannot be of assistance when her dream river turns tumultuous, tossing her house from her realm and into another…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having been a big fan of the Vertigo line of books since its introduction, though having fallen out of them for quite a few years, reconnecting to this world through the new Sandman Universe imprint has me excited even when it feels like there are missteps. House of Secrets was a favorite piece of the DC universe of mine with how it was utilized by so many writers and seeing it become an integral part of the Sandman side with this series definitely hits a sweet spot for me. But as I’ve found after a couple of reads of this first issue over a few days, it’s going to take some time to really connect with it – time I’m willing to give it because we have such strong creative here and I really like this world and want to see it explored.
Coming from Nalo Hopkinson, a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor, we’re going to be getting stories and perspective that is definitely often overlooked in comics in general and in the Vertigo world as well, which admittedly isn’t quite as British as it was in its early days. Here, she introduces us to Erzulie Freda, the head of the houseboat that is the House of DAhomey where she handles all the strangeness that comes from the world of Voodoo. With the arrival of Uncle Monday from the bayou itself, we get to see a world that feels very much of New Orleans in a lot of ways with the backgrounds, costume design, and the speech patterns that comes from it. It’s not a dive into it that eases you in but rather puts you square into things as we see how she handles everything from fortunes to futures and tensions in between.
It runs in parallel to a separate story in Ne Orleans where we see Latoya and her girlfriend Maggi watching Latoya’s sisters while their father is out on a date. It’s a great little dynamic to watch between the siblings as well as the playfulness in the couple here before it takes a darker turn that has a loa taking control of LAtoya briefly for its own purposes. Latoya will be our entry into this world, I think, as she’s able to see the Loa to some degree once it’s out and begins manifesting whereas the others cant. When the loa is drawn toward Erzulie, it causes the chaos within the House there and that shifts us to just outside of the House of Secrets as the two residences are now very close together. It’s a comical moment to be sure and I’m curious to see how it’ll land but it doesn’t offer us too much just yet in this area, though Cain and Abel make a lovely couple of panels worth of an appearance.
In Summary:
The first issue was a struggle for me in terms of the narrative as it’s more interested in showing off the world it exists in than anything else. It’s why I gravitated to the story of the family in New Orleans that gets drawn into events in the last couple of pages before setting up the new residence. There are interesting things with what we get with Erzulie and all those that come to see her but it felt like it was just a lot of small moments piled on top of each other without any actual story to tie it together in a strong way. They’re fun small moments but setting up a story it doesn’t really do. Nalo Hopkinson has a lot of interesting ideas in here to work with and I’m excited to see these character develop. What really works for me is the fantastic artwork from Dominike “Domo” Stanton where it’s just so rich and filled with life and detail that it’s worth it just for that alone. The potential is here and I’m hoping it comes together sooner rather than later.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Vertigo Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99