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Jul 10, 2009 Web Exclusive By Kyle Lemmon

Vertigo/DC's House of Mystery is the new ongoing series that reinvents the classic "Suggested For Matured Readers" franchise. This second volume, subtitled Love Stories For Dead People, collects issues #6-10. The romance-themed sequel to Room & Boredom has the same premise: a group of five strangers are trapped within a supernatural tavern where strange patrons pass the time regaling each other in outlandish yarns. The stories told across the bar stools this time pale in comparison to the five previous installments. The overarching plot, revolving around the secrets buried underneath a clandestine basement, fares much better. Head writer, Matthew Sturges, is learning at a fast pace as the series shifts from a 22-page format to 15 or 16 per issue. As a result, Love Stories' pacing has all the swiftness of a one-night stand, without too much of the remorse. Issue #6 starts the new story arc well with a Sturges-penned prologue, "The Cave of the Guilded Virgins." The strong female protagonist (House of Mystery is full of them) is Pirate Queen Ann Preston.

Preston fits in well with Mystery's modern female leads, Fig and Cress. The Mystery writer's largely realistic potrayals of women in a male-dominated medium is still admirable. The inaugural issue also is the first short story that doesn't provide a quick narrative told by one of the House guests and drawn by a guest artist. The artwork overall doesn't have the same breadth of the first volume, with the exclusion of David Peterson's "The War." Peterson's poem-like narration on Mouse Guard translates well to the pastoral, bedtime story. The creepy basement segments are also staged well. Overall, revelations about original Mystery denizen Cain ("Beneath the Skin") and Harry's origins ("Reveal Yourself") add much-needed depth to these characters, even if the artwork falls flat. A raging third act/party threatens to implode Sturges' well-intentioned plot, but this second volume provides enough titillations and libations. (www.vertigocomics.com)

Author rating: 6/10