This could have been really good and honestly scary but I felt like it was trying too hard and trying to have all the tropes in one book

The Dollhouse Family was exactly what I wanted Hill House Comics to be - dark, haunting, mysterious, cohesive - you get the picture. Dollhouse delivered with demons, a mystery, and nods to Alice in Wonderland, while still maintaining its own identity. In Alice, we have a character who takes no guff and delivers as a solid protagonist. I genuinely liked this story and would recommend it for Sandman fans. There are parts of this story that made me think of the Gaiman classic a few times.

"The Dollhouse Family" is an outstanding addition to the Hill House Comics line, and M.R. Carey has once again proven himself to be a master of the horror genre. This graphic novel is a thrilling and chilling ride from start to finish, filled with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story follows Alice, a young girl who discovers an antique dollhouse that seems to have a life of its own. As Alice delves deeper into the secrets of the dollhouse, she uncovers a dark and twisted history that threatens to consume her and her family. The pacing of the story is impeccable, with just the right amount of suspense and terror to keep the reader hooked.

The artwork by Peter Gross is exceptional, with each panel filled with intricate details and vivid colors that bring the story to life. The characters are well-developed, and you can't help but become invested in their fates as the story progresses.

Overall, "The Dollhouse Family" is a must-read for fans of horror and graphic novels. It's a dark and unsettling tale that will leave you breathless and wanting more. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good scare and a well-crafted story. 5/5 stars.

A solid and unsettling read, story and illustrations. Hill House Comics is putting out quality reads every time and I'm down for everything.

The artwork is so beautiful. Gave me Tim Burton kinda vibes. Though not much to read I still found this to be pleasantly spooky and fulfilling, the plot and characters were great!

Just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. From the description, it should have been my style, but it was not.

While I enjoyed the story overall, something about the plot felt a little messy and uneven. I had to do some flipping back and forth to follow what was going on in places.

Positively creepy. A dollhouse passed from generation to generation. The art style fit very well with the theme and genre. A great addition to the Hill House comics.

Another great addition in the Hill House series. Great for fans of horror that lingers and haunts you long after finishing. Excellent art that really adds to the atmosphere.

Link to review: http://bewarethescarylibrarian.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-arrival-dollhouse-family.html
If many horror stories are to be believed, childhood things should not only be put away when one gets older, but maybe even burned to ash, followed by a salting of the earth it was burned on. The closet in your bedroom? There's a monster in it. Your favorite toy? There's something evil looking at you from that toy's glass eyes. Childhood is often looked at through the rose-colored lens of nostalgia, so horror just loves coming in and flipping that love of childhood and its memories on its head. If your home currently has a dollhouse in it and you read M. R. Carey's The Dollhouse Family from Hill House Comics, you'll probably consider selling it on Ebay. Or burning it.

The Dollhouse Family is a generation-spanning tale featuring a antique dollhouse, an ageless family that lives inside it, and a girl whose life is fundamentally altered by it. Young Alice receives the dollhouse as a six-year-old and it becomes an oasis from her turbulent home life. By speaking some magic words, she is able to enter the dollhouse and spend time with her loving surrogate family. But such magical things often has very large price tags, and what lives beyond the Black Door will eventually try to collect. An adult Alice soon finds that what lives in the Dollhouse seeks entry into our world.

Less like an actual dollhouse and more like a grandfather clock, this story has a lot of moving parts, from Alice's ancestor, to the family that occupies the Dollhouse, to Alice's struggles as a single mother. These plot points all vie for attention, but adult Alice's struggles as a mother from a broken home resonate the most as she finds herself doing the best for her daughter, even as she must come to terms with what the Dollhouse actually is. M. R. Carey, much in the same way he wrote about zombies in The Girl With All The Gifts, doesn't go for the low-hanging fruit of haunted dollhouse. This tale involves demon hunting, domestic terrorism, as well as whether it's preferable to live in a safe fantasy versus a painful reality. Add the art from Peter Gross and Vince Locke that introduces an Adult Coraline vibe, and you have a very twisting and twisted fairy tale for adults. The ending may be too out there for some, but the journey of Alice's family shows strong bonds and abiding love that no demonic children's toy can kill.

The Dollhouse Family has the same otherworldly energy that made Locke & Key so delightful, so it's lovely to see all of that terror poured into this collected edition (of Dollhouse Family #1-6). There's definitely an EC horror feel to these, and the artwork mesmerizes and chills. A must for fans of horror comics.

This was a really good follow up, albeit unrelated story--think American Horror Story, different every season--but it lacked a little something compared to the first. I found it a little confusing in parts, but I admit that by the second half I was hooked. The plot started off really strong, but then the pacing suffered a little due to puzzling flashbacks and world building. I think I would've preferred it to start with the past. It still could've gone back and forth, but I think starting with the flashback would've helped to keep a more steady momentum. As far as the art itself goes, it was absolutely amazing. Gorgeously drawn and colored, it was simply flawless. I highly recommend this to my fellow horror lovers, and I eagerly await the next installment from Hill House Comics.

I'm a sucker for graphic novels. I enjoyed the story line (Poor Alice!) as well as the illustrations!
This GN will make second guess buying any used items! (Paranoid!!!!!)

ARC from Netgalley.

"One by one, go down, be weighed. Be weightless, come up, only one."

This creepy (slightly nonsensical) phrase are the magic words that take our main character Alice into the dollhouse she has inherited, complete with living dolls who want to be her friend. As part of DC's Black Label AND Hill House comics, the premise alone is enough to show you that you are in for a horror roller coaster of a book.
"The Black Room", a demon infestation, a generational family curse, a trapped succubus, and the manipulation of the desires of the human heart all play a role in this story. M.R. Carey, author of the hit book (that was also made into a movie) "The Girl With All the Gifts", brings his unique and chaotic vision to a truly terrifying vision of a classic horror trope, the possessed dollhouse. I'll not spoil this much more, as the title needs to be experienced to gain the full effect of the horror, but warn you with this only: there were times this story shocked me. AND being the connoisseur of comics that I am, that made it only a much more compelling read.
My second "Hill House" title, and I can see we definitely have a hit brand on our hands.

Strong recommend.

Joe Hill has started a whole pop-up at DC called Hill House Comics, with some pretty interesting original series in the line-up.

The Dollhouse Family is a generational horror story about a creepy dollhouse that wants to keep the children who play with it. It begins with Alice, a young girl who discovers the family in the dollhouse is alive and wants her to join them, which sounds like a nice escape from hearing mommy and daddy fight. When Alice makes a horrific decision, the Dollhouse's pull becomes even stronger, but it's beginning to feel like it might not be such a benevolent little plaything after all. I really enjoyed this story, but then again I love scary doll stories.

This story does remind me quite a bit of Locke and Key's Small World, but it could also be just because they are both about dollhouses and Joe Hill had a hand in both. It also had some strong Coraline vibes for me, so I think fans of either of those stories would enjoy this limited series.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

This is very much like Locke and Key, both the supernatural horror feel and the characters. I have to say that I would not recommend this book for one reason, and others will argue with me and that is fine. The use of the word "retard" as a slur is unnecessary and pretty disgusting in a book that is so recently published. A child in this book uses the term as a slur toward another child. This happened frequently in Locke and Key and it is easier to cringe and keep going because at least those are a little older. Which also means this is dating the author - I'm pretty certain children don't casually call each other "retard" anymore but I know there was a point in time (80-90s?) when this was common.

After months of putting this aside, I finally decided to read this. The premise was very gripping, and the execution was adequate. It's not the best graphic novel I've ever read, but it does have the type of plot that would keep you reading till the end.

The real draw here is the near-perfect tone of the piece and the rad story line. I appreciate that it went places I didn't expect. This good solid tale is accompanied by some really good artwork incorporating good colors and it all captures a dark and dread mood in the air

Ups:
-Fantastic plot
-Likable Characters
They all had their own problems, and each one resulted positively in terms of enjoyment. I enjoyed the graphic novel more because of that because it added a feeling of psychological thriller to it.

Did not get the opportunity to review this comic, as I did not receive the notification for arc request acceptance. Heard good things tho!

A quite strange but ultimately intriguing graphic novel entry in the Hill House comics series, sure to enchant readers of horror and graphic novels alike.

The story here is a good one, but something went a little off in the execution. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but something was lacking. It's still a good story, but it could have been better. Parts drag, other parts feel rushed, the characters feel a bit flat. Having said that, there's a good lot of creepiness to this tale, and the art is good (especially the issue covers!).

#TheDollhouseFamilyHillHouseComics #NetGalley