'Nice House by the Sea' to debut in July

Word Balloons #1218: Black Label horror series features post-apocalyptic bubble

As summer nears, DC Comics is inviting readers to another “Nice House.” 

Coming out in July is “The Nice House by the Sea,” the sequel to the horror series “The Nice House on the Lake.”

James Tynion IV is the writer, and Álvaro Martínez Bueno is the artist. The DC Black Label horror series is intended for mature readers. 

Here’s how DC describes the series: 

No one who was invited to the House by the Sea knew Max—but she knew each and every one of them. Masters of their fields, titans of industry and knowledge, they all represented the best and brightest of humanity. The cast of DC’s The Nice House by the Sea, a second 12-issue comic book season launching on Wednesday July 24 by acclaimed The Nice House on the Lake creators James Tynion IV, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire and AndWorld Design, includes the Doctor, the Writer, the Historian, the Actor, the Artist, the Priest, the Scientist, the Singer, the Politician, and the Mathematician. This time, they’re all strangers. And they’re at the House by the Sea by choice.

The inhabitants of the House by the Sea know they’ve been chosen to be the future of humanity after an apocalyptic event. 

“The people in this house do not like each other,” Tynion said in the news release. “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.”

If you’ve yet to read “The Nice House on the Lake,” it’s available in a deluxe collected edition or two paperback collections. It was one of my picks for the best comics of 2022.

In “The Nice House on the Lake,” a group of friends has been invited to a lake vacation as the world ends. The mysterious Walter, the player that holds the group together, has a dark secret that he can’t share – but which the visitors are desperate to uncover. The Nice House on the Lake is written by James Tynion IV, illustrated by Álvaro Martínez Bueno, colored by Jordie Bellaire, and lettered by AndWorld Design.

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewLprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.