Who's This? The House of Mystery's caretaker.
The facts: Though the horror anthology "House of Mystery" started in 1951, its horror host Cain first appears in #175 (August 1968), after editor Joe Orlando brings the book back to its genre roots (putting an end to such strips as Martian Manhunter and Dial H for Hero). Cain's success would bring about similar changes in House of Secrets, with a host connected to Cain, his little brother Abel. Cain would also be connected to the House of Weirdness in the pages of Blue Devil, and then as one of Dream's nightmare makers in Sandman and The Dreaming, keeping him busy after House of Mystery was cancelled with issue 321 (October 1983), then handed over to Elvira for a short run (in which she was looking for him, so he was still a concern).
How you could have heard of him: Cain's role in Sandman-related stories cements his place in comics history even with a younger crowd. DC is very keen on the House of Mystery being John Constantine's spaceship for some reason, including such appearances in animated stories.
Example story: House of Mystery #252 (May-June 1977) "The Devil Strikes at My Old Kentucky Home!" by Paul Kupperberg, John Calnan, Jack Abel, Don Perlin and Romeo Tanghal
As I'd done with
Who's Abel?, I tracked down the secret origin of the House of Mystery for you, the idea being that Cain tells it to a builder who's come to demolish the House on the city's condemnation order (so if you're looking for it, it's inside some city's limits). Conveniently, "Ralph" takes his lunch break almost upon arriving, so there's time. Another big clue as to the House's location? It's in Kentucky and close to the state line!
Good place for a haunted amusement park? Maybe but it gives Max Allen (cousin to Barry, Roy Thomas would say, probably) the grade-A creeps. His partner tells him to go down to Louisville the next day to find the owner so they can buy it. So it's part of Louisville, which is indeed on the border (of Indiana). Then again, you would cross right into the city, and the House is described as being on main road crossing the state line and is obviously in the countryside. Max has to "drive down" to Louisville. "Main road" kind of precludes Max crossing over from Madison into Milton, for example, or even Maukport into Brandenberg. So it has to be Louisville, and if they started following the river instead of heading into town, they would have hit some woodsy suburbs (Indian Hills). I dropped a random pin along that road on GoogleMaps and got this house:
With all due apology to whoever lives there, I think we're in House of Mystery territory. So okay, we've pinpointed the House with some certainty (Kupperberg isn't that specific in his Atlas to the DC Universe). Max, for his part, learns this is the old Braithwaite Mansion, built before the Civil War and quickly abandoned by its first occupant. It's been boarded up ever since and everyone says it's haunted. But the reputation can only help the plans to turn it into a fun house, right? And since no one's lived there for more than a hundred years, it comes real cheap too. Still, Max has a bad feeling about it. Getting some air while they prepare the house for renovations, he's approached by a mysterious figure.
Cain has come out of Hell itself (or somewhere) to encourage Max not to change a thing. Soon, the contractors are getting attacked by non-animatronic monsters - the haunting has begun. And it keeps going until Max's partner is dead!
The house is put up for sale the next day. It's snapped up by a film studio the next day as a ready-made location, but this time, Cain meets them at the door. It's not clear what spooks them, but they run off with assurances that he can stay as caretaker. Then he tells Ralph a few more stories (it's a Dollar Comic), but when lunch is over, the builder is immediately back to work. That's when Destiny takes a hand.
Literally. Hey, horror hosts have to stick together, right? But the story still doesn't make a dent on Ralph's resolve and he has his guys swing a wrecking ball right at the house. With unusual results:
Is this where DC got the idea of the House flying around like it's Dorothy's in The Wizard of Oz? Either way, the House is safe and Cain would tell stories there for another 6+ years.
Who's Next? A guy who ADDS to his abilities.
Comments