The Nice House on the Left

   A collection of people, sometimes friends, sometimes strangers, forced together under some circumstance or another has been a major theme in entertainment for ages. Commonly understood as “ten little murder victims” (Tropes, 2024), this setup has been examined forwards and backward, it’s been inverted, subverted, converted, and pretty much any other –verted one can think of.  

  This theme has been used in literature (fig. 1), film (figs. 2, 3, 4), and even board games (fig. 4).  

 

       

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

 

     

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

 

  The most famous version of this trope is, of course, Agatha Christie’s seminal novel And Then There Were None, a story of ten people brought together via invitation who are then methodically picked off one by one, until (as the title states) none of the invitees are left breathing. Both Murder by Death, and Identity follow the theme very closely, albeit one with its tongue planted firmly in cheek, the other a psychological horror film. Glass Onion follows the concept of people being picked off but spins it in a different way that still keeps the audience on their toes. Cluedo, or Clue (as it’s known in the States) is based off Christie’s work and has become a phenomenon all its own. However, we’re here to discuss comics, not Agatha Christie’s enduring influence on pop culture.  

 

 

The Nice House on the Lake Issue #1 

 

 

  The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martinez Bueno, and Jordie Bellaire works to subvert the tropes with some extraterrestrial influence. The series (originally a monthly title) concerns itself with a mysterious character, Walter, who invites twelve of his friends to a beautifully appointed mansion by a lake. None of the characters remember how they got to the house, and when they arrive, they discover that Walter has assigned them all different symbols that are supposed to help the guests enjoy their weekend. 

  Upon arrival at the house, a reunion of sorts occurs. Walter has called together twelve of his friends from both high school and college, many people who hadn’t seen each other in years in some cases. Quickly, things begin to go off the rails. One of the guests manages to get enough of a signal to discover that the world is actively being destroyed. When she brings this information to the rest of the group, the horrific truth comes out. 

  Walter is not the schlubby, weirdly attentive quiet millionaire that everyone thought he was. He is an advanced scout from an alien race that has been tasked with collecting outstanding specimens of humans to keep as research subjects. The humans, on the other hand, don’t take too kindly to this revelation, and begin to try and figure out how to break Walter’s hold on the house.  

  The series was well received when it first debuted and has won four Eisner awards (Tynion won two for Best Writer, Bellaire won one for Best Coloring, and the series won for Best New Series) (Perry, 2022) (McMillan, 2023) and the story is complex, engaging, and at turns, deeply disturbing. 

 

 

Walter is exposed, and responds by psychically detonating Nora’s right arm  

   

   The artwork is engaging, and the story starts out with a fast enough clip to engage the reader. The concept that propels the story is fresh enough to be interesting, and Tynion IV knows how to spin a story. Bueno’s artwork brings to life the beauty and quiet solitude of the location, while subtly weaving in the encroaching horror and despair that comes to define members of the guest list. 

 However, the story begins to bog down as the series continues – characters get muddied at times, and the big reveal feels telegraphed and expected. The series ends on the hint of continuation, which will come to fruition soon with the follow-up series The Nice House by the Sea, which follows a different set of characters. Time will tell if this second series will rise above the source material or end up another could have been. 

 One thing I did find interesting was that one of the central characters to the story, Norah, is trans, which plays into the story. There is more representation of LGBTQIA+ stories in the past few years, and the more voices we have out there, the more we can understand different experiences. 

 All told, I don’t know that this was aimed at my demographic. These characters are in their 30s, being forced to interact on behalf of nostalgia. I’m a guy in his late 40s starting to make the transition from parent to empty nester. It’s a decent story, but it’s one I’ve seen iterations of before, and this doesn’t necessarily bring anything groundbreaking to the table. 

  

 

 

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Christie, A. (2011). And then there were none. Harper Collins. 

Cooney, M. C. (2003, April 25). Identity [Theatrical Release]. Columbia Pictures, Konrad Pictures. 

Johnson, R. J. (2022, December 23). Glass Onion [Theatrical Release]. T-Street Productions. 

McMillan, G. (2023, July 22). And the winners of the 2023 Eisner Awards are. . . Popverse. https://www.thepopverse.com/eisner-awards-comic-award-will-industry-2023-nominees-winners-graphic-novel-ogn-novels-comics-book-books 

Pratt, A. E. (1949). Cluedo [Board game]. 

Perry, S. (2022, July 23). 2022 Eisner Award winners include multiple wins for James Tynion IV, Barry Windsor-Smith. Comics. https://comicbook.com/comics/news/2022-eisner-award-winners-include-multiple-wins-for-james-tynion-iv-barry-windsor-smith/ 

Simon, N. S. (1976, January 1). Murder By Death [Theatrical Release]. Columbia Pictures. 

Tropes, C. T. T. (2024, June 30). Ten little murder victims. TV Tropes. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TenLittleMurderVictims 

Tynion, J., IV. (2023). The Nice House on the Lake: the Deluxe Edition.