‘The Nice House on the Lake #1’ (review)

Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Alvaro Martinez
Published by DC Comics

“How do you think the world will end?”

I’d have a hard time ignoring a conversation starter like that.

So does Ryan, in the opening of Nice House on the Lake #1.

At a small bar in Brooklyn, a stranger at the end of a bar invites her to share her thoughts on the various ways the world might end. A laundry list of apocalyptic options, if you will.

The pair form an unusual but enjoyable friendship.

Walter and Ryan share long text chains and late nights watching apocalyptic movies as “research.”

Then it just stopped. Radio silence for two years.

Out of the blue, Ryan gets an email from Walter dated February 8, 2021, inviting her and several others to a lake house in upstate Wisconsin in June.

She’s surprised to find that rather than a modest cabin, she’s arrived at a posh house full of floor-to-ceiling windows, exquisite views, and more amenities than you can count.

To her surprise, she knows several of the invitees and has heard of several of the others. They’re all loosely connected to each other and have a chance to catch up or air old grievances, depending on the people involved.

It seems like it’s going to be a really lovely time until, of course, it doesn’t anymore.

I definitely did not see that plot twist coming.

The first installment of Nice House on the Lake gave me classic House on Haunted Hill feelings up to a point. Any time a story puts characters together in a remote house with limited ways to reach the outside world, I am immediately there.

But this story is one all its own. There are no prizes for staying the night, no guns as party favors, and no creepy cellars. The lake house seems like a genuinely nice place to have a respite.

Most interestingly, these characters are already familiar to one another. Everyone is close to at least one other invitee, and often more than one. When all the connections are traced, everyone is intertwined in some way. There are no strangers here, except Walter, who hides more than he reveals.

Issue #1 of Nice House on the Lake is ambitious. It sets up an extensive cast of characters and an intricate plot in one shot. And it does it well. Characters are given relatively equal introductions and brief explanations of their connections to one another.

I anticipate this being a knock-out ensemble comic.