DC House of Horror One-Shot (Dec 2017)

DC House of Horror One-Shot December 2017

Credits: VARIOUS

Credits Page

Okay, so, I don’t know if it’s because I’m not a huge DC reader or if it’s because I don’t know all about all these characters but, these stories seemed so random and so out of place that I just had a hard time even getting through the issue.  Truth be told, this was my third (and final) attempt at reading it.  I decided if I couldn’t get through it this last time I was going to just give up on it.
 
The stories are about familiar characters.  I’m not that far out of touch with DC.  But I don’t understand what happened here.  I know what it SEEMS happened here.  It SEEMS that the writers tried to take everything (or anything) good about these characters and act as if they all had turned completely evil.  I mean, it just doesn’t make sense.
 
In one story, Bruce Wayne figures out he’s the Joker.  “How does that happen???”, you ask…read it and find out.  We do get the usual flirty banter from Harley Quinn but, it’s a different Harley Quinn.  The stories just don’t seem to make sense.  They are confusing, lack a cohesive flow and it’s hard to decipher the code.  
 
Now, since I’m not a DC reader usually, this could very well be how they tell their stories.  I, on the other hand, like to at least know what point of view I’m reading.  They think just because they change the font or text color that it’s completely obvious, well, it’s not.  And half of the stories, when I finished them, I was left wondering what the hell the story was even really about.
 
I didn’t even care for a lot of the sketch type artwork.  I thought it made the comic look half-assed.  In fact, I felt like the stories were half-assed too.  But, know that I am not against that style of artwork.  It just has to be done in an effective way…and this was not…for me.
 
The other curious thing about this comic is that it is totally horror based and yet it was released in December 2017.  December??? Unless we are looking at something like Silent Night, Deadly Night made into a comic book or some other series that is horror focused like Grimm Tales of Terror, WHY would you release horror in December???  That makes me feel like they saw a bunch of horror stuff on the shelves in September and October and decided “oh crap, maybe we should get in on this” and whipped something together really quick.  
 
I can’t say I enjoyed this comic and other than the Harley Quinn story I just thought it was a flop all the way around.
 
RATINGS
Overall 2/5
Story 2/5
Artwork 2/5

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