House of Mystery #35

Over Now concludes with explosions, ghosts and a tragically shortened romantic reunion.
 

The Good

Wow. The back-up feature here is a real stand-out. It's been a while since I've been even remotely disturbed by a comic and this short, which puts the blame on the reader for all sorts of recent catastrophes, is just the kind of metafictional macabre I've missed. This is not to undersell the main feature, which has such fun wit and whimsy, but just.... wow...

The Bad

Yes, it's a little silly to jump into the last part of an arc and ask why it isn't as accessible as the first part probably was but, nevertheless, I still think this really would've benefited from a recap page. It seems like such an easy response to the old axiom about every comic being somebody's first, and I feel like my enjoyment would've been that much greater had a recap been there.

The Verdict - 4/5

Getting such a great back-up short really makes me wish Vertigo would revive Flinch, the monthly horror anthology they ran a couple years ago. I'd really love to see a more regular outlet for this kind of challenging, concise comic that really gets under your skin. I also appreciate House of Mystery as a whole for being a book that has all this literary cred and intelligent wit without any for the pretentiousness or too-somber tone that often goes with it.