THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE
I felt strongly that The Department of Truth was James Tynion IV’s strongest comics work of 2021, but reading the collected edition in full, and with the series second half kicking off in 2022, there’s little denying that I’m completely hooked with The Nice House on the Lake that isn’t really true for any other comic right now. I can miss a week’s pull of just about any series (knowing I’ll catch up later), but Tynion, Alvaro Martinez, and Jordie Bellaire’s alien-mystery (and Judas H. Priest, what an undersell that descriptor is!) is a week-of-release must-read. I have to know what happens next and where the story’s going to land, much the same way I felt about Lost, True Detective, or Batman/Elmer Fudd. I’m simultaneously torn between the desire for this series to sprint to its conclusion, and for it to run for an indeterminate long run. Tynion deservedly won the 2021 Eisner for best comics writer, but honestly with a book this air-tight, it’ll be astonishing if that isn’t only the be
