When comics author James Tynion IV’s comic miniseries The Nice House on the Lake first hit stores, it was 2021 and the coronavirus pandemic was in full force. Isolation and alienation were felt by many, as was the fear of a world burning just outside their door.
That was one reason the comic became one of the biggest titles for DC of the past several years, outselling even much of its superhero fare. The story focused on 10 people connected by a slightly odd friend named Walter, who invited them to a house in the woods — and who turned out to be phantasmagoric alien.
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Now, Tynion is returning to that world with a sequel titled The Nice House by the Sea. Once again, he is teaming with artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno. And while he hopes to scare many readers with this miniseries, he is focused on an audience of one.
“My job is to scare my therapist with this book,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The new comic is described as a “second cycle” that, just like the first story, will also be 12 issues with a break in the middle. It once again brings together 10 people, although this time they are all true strangers and, in a twist, they are at the house by choice. This group — comprising the Doctor, the Writer, the Historian, the Actor, the Artist, the Priest, the Scientist, the Singer, the Politician and the Mathematician — are ready to be the last humans. Or so they believe.
And once again, there is an alien bringing the group together, this time a woman named Max, all under the roof of a luxurious villa along the Mediterranean Sea.
Nice House by the Lake was very personal for Tynion, letting him revisit his adult friendships and come to grips that maybe he was a sort of real-life Walter, minus the head that transmogrified, of course.
This new book explores a question many people may have about themselves. “It’s that tension of trying to live a good life and a comfortable life, and the knowledge that around us people are suffering,” Tynion says. “It’s the ways you want to ignore the world outside you just to protect yourself and how much that makes you complicit in what’s happening.”
And since for Tynion horror is so personal, what has Tynion been complicit in?
“I’m been complicit in trying to push my friends to be versions of themselves at the wrong moment and it’s gotten me into trouble with them,” he offers. “This is a story that allows me to explore the ugliest moments of myself.”
He then adds, “When you’re writing horror, you can’t be afraid to poke directly the things you don’t like about yourself.”
Tynion’s horror tales have always felt personal, teeming with small, intimate moments between flawed people, even as death and destruction swirl around the corner. DC executive editor Chris Conroy says that has been Tynion’s not-so-secret weapon.
“James is totally unafraid of writing from his own point of view, and he trusts the audience to understand and value the experience of seeing the world the way he sees it,” Conroy notes. “That’s always been one of those paradoxes of storytelling — the more personal you get, the more universal you get. James’ horror stories are so personal, so deeply informed by his own fears, and that makes them so intimate and involving.”
One of the highlights of the first Nice House cycle was the multi-panel double-page spreads drawn by Bueno. Not only did he capture the distinct look of the characters, but he also went all in on what can only be described as “house porn,” with detailed renderings of the first story’s midcentury abode and environs.
That hallmark returns with the second cycle, which allows Bueno to let loose with the story’s coastal setting. Initially, Tynion was eyeing a Caribbean setting, but once Bueno began sharing images from real estate site Zillow, it conjured a new visual language for the writer. He remains thankful that Bueno jumped back into the Nice House world, despite it being so labor intensive and having a dearth of big-panel action.
“There are not a lot of artists who would jump at doing a comic that is a complicated setting and that it’s a bunch of acting,” notes Tynion. “The days I get his new art are my favorite days. It reminds me of why I got into comics books.”
Many eyes will be on the new sequel, not just because of Tynion’s name but because the first was so well received by the art and literature worlds. On top of the Eisner, the comic was named best series at Angouleme, becoming the first DC comic to win anything at the European comic festival since the seminal 1980s miniseries Watchmen.
“We don’t feel pressure to top a lightning-in-a-bottle moment like that, that would be greedy,” says Conroy. “I’ve never felt like [James’] compass was spinning creatively in response to any kind of outside pressure. He and Álvaro both know what’s powerful about this story, and they know where it’s going, and they’re in a total flow state. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just my job and DC’s job to help keep that machine humming; there’s no pressure beyond telling the most compelling, gutting story we possibly can. If this book scares the crap out of someone, or makes them cry, that’s the award to me.”
DC’s mature readers Black Label will be putting out the miniseries, with the first issue hitting July 24. Tynion is the only comics writer to have a creator-owned book put out by DC, something that the company has mostly steered away from since shutting down its Vertigo imprint in 2020.
Conroy says the company has never abandoned its desire for creator-owned material. “The door has never been shut on that model,” says the editor. “It’s about the right project with the right people at the right time.”
Tynion believes his success could open doors for others to have creator-owned opportunities. “The more readers back a series like Nice House, the more it allows DC to go all in on creator-owned.”
Check out the title page and the first four pages, minus the dialogue captions, below.
