"The House of Daemon" is a horror British comic strip, appearing in titles published by IPC Magazines. The story was published in the anthology Eagle from 11 September 1982 to 12 February 1983, written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, with art by José Ortiz. The story followed couple Elliot and Cassandra Aldrich, who moved into a new home – only to find it is haunted by a demonic being.
Creation
Grant had never written a horror comic before, and was not a fan of the genre. He would reflect that "those kinds of magical concepts are often rather too easy to write. If you've got a problem you can just think of some magic to get yourself out of it."
Publishing history
Wagner and Grant were occasionally asked to adjust their scripts for the serial when they were considered too scary, leading to some rewrites.
In 1998, the rights to the strips created for Eagle – including "House of Daemon" – were purchased from Egmont Publishing by the Dan Dare Corporation. David McDonald leased the rights to the serial for Hibernia Books in 2015; a fan of the story, he would note "It stands up really well, the art is fantastic and the storyline's great", and felt it was comparable to stories running in 2000 AD at the time. Grant was sent a copy by Hibernia, and was impressed with how well it read, particularly praising Ortiz's art in noting "I didn't fully recognise it at the time but Ortiz was supremely talented, and his art was wonderful".
Collected editions
{| class="wikitable" width="85%"
|-
!width=22%| Title
!width=14%| ISBN
!width=15%| Publisher
!width=13%| Release date
!width=36%| Contents
|-
|The House of Daemon
|
|Hibernia Books
|2015
|Material from Eagle 11 September 1982 to 12 February 1983
|}
Reception
The House of Daemon was positively received by critics. Joel Harley of Starburst praised its characterisation and deemed it "one of the best-looking horror comics of all time".