House of Horror 57 - Brimstone

:house_of_horror: Greetings, Horror Hounds! :house_of_horror:

As 2022 trudges forward, we are trying something a little different. We have moved to a bi-weekly format but then, of course, I was busy last weekend and wasn’t able to post. So we are going to change things up for the month of March. This will be a month-long topic with 13 comics to read!
We are returning to The New Age of Heroes with The Curse of Brimstone!

:st_swamp_thing: If you missed a House of Horror event have no fear! Here is a list of every HoH topic! Feel free to jump into the conversation no matter how old the topic is! :00_swamp_thing:

Every House of Horror EVER!

House of Horror 1 - House of Mystery
House of Horror 2
House of Horror 3 - Renegade Robins Crossover!!!
House of Horror 4 - Harley’s Crew Crossover!!!
House of Horror 5 - Halloween Celebration!
House of Horror 6 - Vampires!
House of Horror 7 - Member Picks Vol. 1
House of Horror 8 - Winter Specials - Harley’s Crew Crossover
House of Horror 9 - Happy Holidays!
House of Horror 10 - Happy New Year!
House of Horror 11- Week Before DC Universe Infinite!
House of Horror 12 - Plunging Into The Infinite
House of Horror 13 - A Frightening Valentine
House of Horror 14 - On Marz No One Can Hear You Scream
House of Horror 15 - Justice League Horrors Week 1
House of Horror 16 - Justice League Horrors Week 2
House of Horror 17 - Justice League Horrors Week 3
House of Horror 18 - Justice League Horrors Week 4
House of Romance 19 - Are Romance Comics Foolish ?
House of Horror 20 - Vampires 2
House of Horror 21 - The Green Part 1
House of Horror 22 - The Green Part 2
House of Horror 23 - Superfamily Horrors
House of Horror 24 - Going To Gotham!
House of Horror 25 - Mystik U!
House of Horror 26 - National Comics
House of Horror 27 - Memorial Day and Zombies!!!
House of Horror 28 - The Low, Low Woods
House of Horror 29 - Returning To The Dark Mansion
House of Horror 30 - Constantine
House of Horror 31 - Vertigo Science Fiction
House of Horror 32 - The Spectre
House of Horror 33 - Exploring The Dark Multiverse
House of Horror 34 - Raven
House of Horror 35 - iZombies and vampires
House of Horror 36 - More Spectre!
House of Horror 37 - Shadowpact
House of Horror 38 - Bronze Age Horror Anthologies
House of Horror 39 - Flashpoint & More!
House of Horror 40 - Rotworld Part 1
House of Horror 41 - Celebrating 10 Years of The New 52 : Rotworld Part 2
House of Horror 42 - Celebrating 10 Years of The New 52 : Rotworld Part 3
House of Horror 43 - THE SANDMAN BY NEIL GAIMAN
House of Horror 44 - Celebrating 10 Years of The New 52: Resurrection Man
House of Horror 45 - Celebrating 10 Years of The New 52: Resurrection Man Part 2
House of Horror 46 - The Doomed And The Legend
House of Horror 47 - Hellblazer: Rise and Fall
House of Horror 48 - Daphne Byrne
House of Horror 49 - Scooby Apocalypse
House of Horror 50 - World Without End
House of Horror 51 - Horror Anthologies Grab Bag of Terror!
House of Horror 52 - Victorian Undead
House of Horror 53 - Preacher!
House of Horror 54 - iZombie Part 3
House of Horror 55 - New Horror
House of Horror 56 - Hail to the King!

:00_swamp_thing: If you haven’t joined the House of Horror all you need to do is click the “join button” here ! If you are new and would like to catch up on what we have read you can check out the House of Horror library here ! :00_swamp_thing:

:house_of_horror: Books to Read :house_of_horror:
The Curse of Brimstone 1-12 and The Curse of Brimstone Annual 1

PS: The Annual features Swamp Thing and Constantine!

Don’t forget to tell us what you think about The Curse of Brimstone!

I also wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts on a monthly schedule going forward, when it works for what we are reading.

6 Likes

This was an interesting story, although I would have liked it better without the connection to the Dark Multiverse. I really don’t like The Batman Who Laughs. I liked that Brimstone used his curse to fight against the Salesman. I wasn’t happy about the ending, but I guess horror stories aren’t meant for happy endings.

4 Likes

I agree with you @scoop001. This was interesting enough. There was a moment when everything fit within with the greater DC horror universe and I was excited for that. There was a lot of potential for this series and some of my favorite horror moments were in the Annual. The ending wasn’t bad… if the story actually continued.

One thing I noticed was that the main focus was on Anne and not Brimstone, which was interesting. Even in the big battles, we would see scenes of Anne cheering or repeating herself because she seemed to do that often.

Overall, this was a perfectly fine story. I did see influences of other comics and horror movies throughout. I do wish that this continued because the ending left on somewhat a cliffhanger.

4 Likes

I thought this was a pretty fun story, but the characters and some of the plot fell a little flat. The characters of Brimstone and the salesman were very interesting to me, I just wish the writing had hit better. I often felt confused about the characters’ motivations and I think the whole world could have been fleshed out a little more.

Agreed with @D4RK5TARZ, some of my favorite moments were in the annual. The Constantine story had the strongest writing, and I almost felt like the character and storyline of Brimstone could’ve just fit as a Hellblazer story arc or something. I didn’t really care for the tie-in with the dark multiverse because I haven’t read much of that series.

I would like to see this character picked up again because I did like the vibes of the story. I just need some stronger writing.

Also loved the Detritus monster, such a cool look. One of my favorite panels was this fight scene between Brimstone and Detritus.


RE: a monthly schedule, I’m fine doing that when the comic calls for it. I do think we could benefit from a structure like the DC Book Club, where we are assigned a certain number of issues or pages per week. Helps me remember to actually read it.

5 Likes

April will see the bi-weekly schedule return! However, I like the idea of a scheduled reading time and discussion time. Maybe, just maybe even have some starter questions to get people interested? There are two reasons why I try to avoid those for HoH. First, I read the books when everyone else is reading them. I want to be a part of the conversation and I will forget things that I might want to discuss. Second, I am horrible about using those in the clubs that have those questions. I just leave my thoughts.

I will give a bit of a hint for April, the first selection is 8 books and the next is 12. I am hoping that won’t be too much to read! Even after doing this for over a year, I am horrible at judging that stuff because I read a lot… like I am over 300 books this month and still reading at least a few books per day.

Right? Like Brimstone’s motivations were everywhere! Did he want to stop The Salesman, did he want to save Anne? Even though that should have been a combined goal, it never really was. It always seemed to be one way or the other and if it worked out, that was a bonus.

I really want to see more of Anne as Brimstone! She is a better character, IMHO, and she would have a better evolution as a character that is bearing the Brimstone curse.

Agreed, which is kind of sad, really. This story has a lot of potentials but it always seem to fall short.

4 Likes

I’m totally down with not having starter questions haha. I always have a hard time trying to think about the questions while I’m reading, I’d rather just read and see what other people have to say.

5 Likes

I managed to cross the finish line before the end of the month though you wouldn’t know it. I really enjoyed Brimstone it was a fun story of brother and sister teaming up to fight the evil inside and out. The monsters/agents were inventive and tragic. The agents remind me of some of the apostles of the Berserk manga. The Salesman character was fun in all his many forms nudging Joe and Annie along Jack was sick and twisted opportunist. The cameos made sense and actually added something to the story. Many cameos Batman don’t make sense but Constantine, Swamp Thing and Dr Fate were great addition to the story. I still can’t believe Constantine hit on Joe. I liked that all these magic based characters were barking up the wrong tree with Brimstone

4 Likes