THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE #3 – Review

THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE #3, from Source Point Press on January 9th, 2022, plucks another moment out of time when the robber baron, F.C. Vanderhill, makes plans to run a railway through the Winchester property.

The Details

• Written By: Joshua Werner
• Art By: Damien Torres
• Colors By: Jota Cabral
• Letters By: Justin Birch
• Cover Art By: Joshua Werner (cover A)
• Cover Price: $1.99 (digital)
• Release Date: January 9, 2022

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Was It Good?

Often, you can measure the success or failure of a comic by your instinctive reaction as soon you finish reading it. This reviewer’s reaction immediately after finishing THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE #3 was…

“Well, damn!”

The Winchester Mystery House series is that increasingly rare sub-genre of horror – the quiet ghost story. The subtle chills and nuanced feeling of unease made the first issue a selling point in this market saturated with shock and gore comics. It can be challenging to go the subtle route because so much emphasis is placed on making the reader feel the atmosphere without getting in the reader’s face via a howling monster or splattering organs. It takes finesse to pull off quiet horror, and Werner’s turned in an admirable job of it so far.

However, issue #3 gives readers the subtlety with an equal amount of white knuckle action through the last half of the book. If you want more details, read through to the next section. Generally speaking, the house receives unwanted visitors who mean to harm, and those visitors quickly learn the error of their ways. The latter half is mostly a chase scene, but it’s weird, mind-bending, monstrous, and final.

Torres, Cabral, and Birch are due much credit for how well this issue turned out. When things go wrong for the intruders, Torres bends and twists, the house, the pages, and the individual panels to throw the interlopers into a maddening vortex, and readers are brought right along with them. Cabral uses ghostly colors at just the right spots to punctuate the gloom of the house, and Birch’s lettering gives life to the small, unnatural noises in the shadowy corners.

This issue marks the end of the volume, and it turned out better than we had expected.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

There’s only one plot point in this issue that ties to the previous ones, but it’s an important one, so make sure you’re ready for what awaits inside by first reading our THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE #3 review.

We begin with the work foreman making a late-night inspection of the house. He’s surprised when a door he knows should be in one spot is no longer there. The maid startles them and she informs the foreman that Mrs. Winchester and her niece, Marion Merriman, are out in the orchards.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Winchester and her niece are secretly pulling up surveyor stakes running through the property. A greedy robber baron, F.C. Vanderhill, is attempting to claim eminent domain to get his railway built for his business ventures, but Mrs. Winchester is fighting the attempt.

Later, Vanderhill meets with his board to discuss whatever legal (and maybe some illegal) means he can use to get Winchester to stop fighting the railway. Jane Vanderhill has also taken an interest in the Winchester property as she hopes Mrs. Winchester can use her medium abilities to help her talk to her dead son.

We conclude the issue with a rejected request, the revelation of Robert’s fate after the last issue, and a terrible end for intruders.

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