THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY The Bronze Age Omnibus Volume 1

New 2018 introduction by Michael Uslan. As one of the most celebrated anthology titles of the Bronze Age of comics, The House of Mystery cemented its iconic status in the 1970s under the transformative leadership of editor Joe Orlando, whose impeccable instincts yielded a cornucopia of delights in every intriguing issue. It was a training ground for up-and-coming new creators like Neal Adams, doing fabulous covers and stories, and lots of work by Michael Wm. Kaluta and Berni Wrightson. It was also a place for veteran artists to have some fun doing offbeat stories with no superhero in sight. Uslan's introduction starts back at the beginning of the title in the 1950s, as DC's very own "horror" title. It even dabbled with superheroes for a while, with the fun "Dial H for Hero" feature. But beginning with these issues, HOM turned over a new leaf and went back to its roots as well as into new and fascinating realms of story-telling. He explains how under Orlando's guidance, this became one of DC's hottest-selling titles, and as you can see below, an all-star cast of creators were eager to do work for the title. Today these issues are very highly collectible, featuring superlative work by the artists named above as well as writer Marv Wolfman, Wally Wood, John Giunta, Sergio Aragonés (several), George Roussos, Gray Morrow, Russ Heath, Sam Glanzman, Jack Sparling, Jim Mooney, Lee Elias, Mike Sekowsky, Rich Buckler, Mort Meskin, and many more! Even the Filipino invasion is touched on, with several fine stories each by Nestor Redondo and Tony Dezuniga. Jack Kirby does several stories as part of his return to DC after leaving Marvel. Al Williamson even puts in an appearance that has Flash Gordon touches in it! And Orlando himself draws quite a few stories, he of EC fame and showing the influence of being Wally Wood's studio-mate in the early to mid-1950s. From Michael Uslan's introduction: "For the cover of his pivotal first issue, however, Orlando himself pencilled over a layout provided by Carmine Infantino, which was finished by veteran inker George Roussos. This starkly different art style combined with a dramatically updated title treatment alerted everyone who read comics that something new had arrived. The cover to House of Mystery #174 beckoned all of us to open it and take a look." Uslan also points out that a special treat is one of the Jack Kirby stories here, reprinted from a 1959 issue as an early filler. It features "The Negative Man," who is the prototype for the character of the same name that would show up in the first appearance of The Doom Patrol, in My Greatest Adventure #80, 1963.