The Nice House on the Lake was a big hit for DC Comics, writer James Tynion IV, and artist
Álvaro Martínez Bueno. And now it’s coming back, but to a new body of water: The Nice House by the Sea launches this July.
Despite the new title, setting, and a new cast, DC is referring to this book as “a second 12-issue comic book season,” cribbing a term from TV — and perhaps TV’s current predilection for spinning limited series into multiple, anthology-style seasons. Versus the first book, which found a group of friends trapped in a house at the end of the world with an otherworldly being who tricked them into being there ostensibly to save them, this next book finds a group of strangers in a house by the sea, by their own choice.
“The people in this house do not like each other,” shared Tynion via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “They don’t want to spend time with each other. There have been some weak bonds that have formed over time, but none of them are particularly affectionate toward each other. This is a house of strangers and tension much more than a house of friendship, and we’re going to see the way that guilt, boredom, and loneliness has twisted each of them.”
The cast is brought there by a character named Max, who knows each of the people involved, though they don’t know each other. Max offers to save them from the end of the world, and they all accept because they think they’re the best of the best. They include: “the Doctor, the Writer, the Historian, the Actor, the Artist, the Priest, the Scientist, the Singer, the Politician, and the Mathematician.”
“Unlike our lake house, everyone in The Nice House By The Sea accepted the deaths of all their friends, family, and loved ones,” continued Tynion. “They accepted the eradication of the human race and their selection as the last humans that will ever exist. It’s a truth some of them think they can live with, but the way they are living with it is by never, ever looking at it.”
The Nice House on the Lake won Best New Series at the 2022 Eisner Awards and was also honored as Best New Series at the arguably even more prestigious (sorry, Eisners, we love you) Angoulême International Comics Festival. The new volume brings back together the creative team, including Tynion, Bueno, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and lettering by Andworld Design.
“I’m working with one of the best creative teams in comics right now,” added Martínez Bueno. “We’re doubling the stakes we placed three years ago and we’re pushing The Nice House on the Lake in new directions while holding together the core of what makes the project so exciting. The challenge of creating the new cast, the new locations, and reimagining the entire iconography of the series for The Nice House by the Sea has been the most exciting of my career so far.”
The Nice House By The Sea First Look
The new book launches on Wednesday, July 24 — yes, that’s right, DC is back to coming out on Wednesdays — in comic book shops under DC’s Black Label imprint. It will have a main cover by Álvaro Martínez Bueno, variant covers by Nick Robles and Hayden Sherman, and a 1:25 variant cover by Dani.
You can get a first look at the first issue of the “second season” below (click for a larger version)
