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Cain and Abel (comics)
Encyclopedia
Cain and Abel are a pair of fictional character
s in the DC Comics
universe
based on the Biblical Cain and Abel
. They are key figures in DC's "Mystery" line of the late 1960s and 1970s, which became the mature-readers imprint, Vertigo, in 1993.
-style horror
comic
anthologies House of Mystery
and House of Secrets, which ran from the 1950s through the early 1980s. During the 1970s, they also co-hosted (along with Eve), the horror/humor anthology Plop!
.
Cain the Able Care-Taker, created by Bob Haney
, Jack Sparling, and Joe Orlando
, first appeared in The House of Mystery #175 (July 1968), modeled on writer Len Wein
, who was new to the field. A photograph of Wein as Cain can be found in Elvira's House of Mystery #4.
Abel, created by Mark Hannerfeld, Bill Draut, and Joe Orlando, first appeared in DC Special
#4 (July–September 1969) and began hosting The House of Secrets with #81 (August–September 1969).
Both comics had been running Dial H for Hero
and Eclipso
, respectively—though the latter had been canceled almost three years.
On the letters page of Weird Mystery Tales
#3, Destiny
stated that Cain, Abel, and Eve were not their biblical counterparts, who he said he found much more pleasant. All three originally hosted Secrets of Haunted House
, though it eventually became Destiny's title. Cain, Eve, and to a lesser extent, Abel, would taunt Destiny for being dull.
House of Mystery was cancelled in 1983. The final issue showed Cain in front of the House, for sale, with his bags packed, and Gregory, his pet gargoyle, behind him. The cover of Vertigo's mostly-reprint
Welcome Back to the House of Mystery showed him returning with Abel and Gregory. The House of Secrets and The Witching Hour were eventually merged with The Unexpected
and cancelled around the same time. He then became a supporting character in Blue Devil
.
" (it was always rendered in quotes) girlfriend
named Goldie, who berated him, too. In the early issues, Abel told the stories directly to her, but he always appeared to be alone. He said she was a ghost.
Cain and Abel live as neighbors in two houses near a graveyard, Cain in the broad House of Mystery and Abel in the tall House of Secrets. According to their appearance in Swamp Thing, the difference is that a mystery may be shared, but a secret must be forgotten if one tries to tell it. The houses are in small-town Kentucky
, and it was later revealed that they simultaneously exist in the Dreaming. It has also been suggested that this is not the case, and that there has been a location change as a result of the Crisis on Infinite Earths
. In House of Secrets #81, when the House of Secrets is moved to the cemetery where the House of Mystery is, as Cain and Abel part company for the evening, Cain apologizes for what happened last time they met.
Cain is a thin, long-limbed man with an angular, drawn face, glasses, a tufty beard, and hair drawn into two points above his ears. Cain is often mean to Abel, but he is jovial and a friendly storyteller to children and did everything he could to help Superman
when the need once arose; however, he has no qualms trapping innocent people inside his television set and he was once employed by a vicious mink furrier. Abel is a nervous, stammering, kind-hearted man. Abel is somewhat similar in appearance to Cain, with a tufty beard and hair that comes to points above his ears, though his hair is black rather than brown. He is shorter and fatter than Cain, with a more open face. It is eventually stated (in Sandman #40) that the only time he doesn't stutter is when he is telling a story, and this was characteristic of his earlier appearances. Cain owns a large green draconic gargoyle
named Gregory, who first appeared (as a baby) in House of Mystery #175, apparently the offspring of enchanted sculptures who come to the house for a French sculptor who murdered the artist who designed them. He grew to maturity over the course of the series and continued to appear in Sandman stories. Gregory ate the Earth-1 counterparts of writer Paul Kupperberg
and editor Jack C. Harris. Cain also used to have a black cat named Oskar, who did not get along with Gregory, who doesn't seem to appear in the Sandman comics, and thus largely forgotten.
Abel moved in with Cain in the House of Mystery
shortly before DC Special
#4, which Cain states (to boys who have captured the three witches' pet Egor in exchange for stories from Cain, Mildred, Mordred, Cynthia, the Mad Mod Witch, and Judge Gallows, with surprise arrivals by Abel at the beginning and The Phantom Stranger at the end) is a temporary situation until the House of Secrets is transported (which occurred in House of Secrets #81, which appeared one month later). An indication of their intended ages occurs when Abel presents a story that Cain used to scare him with as a kid, which is stated to have taken place in 1957. That story, however, originally appeared in Tales of the Unexpected
#17 (September 1957).
In the final issue of The House of Mystery, Karen Berger
, who Cain first met in issue #292—the first issue she edited for DC—arrives as an unexpected guest at Cain's birthday party, takes him through a secret door that leads to the DC offices, and tells him that his series has been cancelled and that he is too old-fashioned. The House is torn down, and Cain, remaining on the foundation, ponders his existence existentially, then reveals himself as his own storyteller, metafiction
ally analyzing his own existence.
In 1985, the characters were revived by writer Alan Moore
, who introduced them into his Swamp Thing
series in issue #33, retelling the Swamp Thing's original origin story from a 1971 issue of House of Secrets. Cain kills Abel for revealing a secret (the difference between a mystery and a secret is that a mystery can be shared and still remain a mystery) and declares to Abby Holland, "I invented murder!" In Blue Devil
#20 (January 1986), Cain is the caretaker of "The House of Weirdness" until Blue Devil moves in, and discovers that Abel is there, too. He states that the California mansion is owned by "a publishing company back East."
During the Crisis, although not mentioned in that series, Elvira
stumbled onto the House of Mystery, which charged her to find Cain, who had disappeared. Cain showed Blue Devil Metropolis
through a window in the garage of the House of Weirdness and not much later, the two can be seen peering at Elvira in the House of Mystery. Cain and Abel reappeared in Swamp Thing #49-50, where they acted as observers and commentators on a fierce battle in Hell.
They were depicted together in Abel's first appearance, and they parted to their respective Houses at the end of the story, the House of Secrets having been recently moved, with Cain promising things not to go the way they happened before. Although Cain would abuse Abel, he was not shown killing him until Swamp Thing vol. 2 #33. More often than not, though, they did not appear together, and Cain directed more of his taunts at the reader, while Abel tried to reassure Goldie or the reader. Indeed, in The House of Mystery #257 (April 1978), an asylum escapee, "Killer" Cowan, kills six people on Christmas Eve
, storming into the House of Mystery wearing a Santa Claus
suit and demands Cain to keep him occupied by entertaining him with stories. Cain protests that he does not want to entertain someone who ruins all that the holiday stands for. Abel is said to be a voyeur in Secrets of Sinister House
#14, and shown to be such in The Sandman #60.
which says that Cain was sent to live in the Land of Nod
. This could be a post-Crisis
retcon
, however, as Destiny
claimed in Weird Mystery Tales
#3 that they were not the same as the Biblical Cain and Abel. The nature of reality in the Dreaming is often multiple and when Cain, Abel, and Eve are telling young Daniel Hall three stories Cain objects to Abel's "Lil' Endless" style retelling of their origin claiming that "... they (the Endless
) didn't even look remotely human, no one did!" Abel later responds to Matthew the Raven's query about whether they are their biblical namesakes or not by stating; "...oh, none of this happened on Earth..." before being interrupted by Cain. Eve also states that she is not Cain's mother to which Cain replies, "You're everyone's mother." This sequence of events would seem to indicate that rather than being the actual literal beings Cain, Abel, and Eve the Dreaming's incarnation of them are closer to their archetypal roles of first murderer, first victim, and first mother. This is supported by several incidents when Cain or Abel have identified themselves as such and claimed that their cycle of murder and resurrection is punishment for their roles in the first murder. This would also allow Joe Kubert
's DC Comics adaptation of the Cain and Abel story from the Bible, in which he ignored their "Mystery" likenesses, to fit neatly into canon.
Gaiman's Cain is an aggressive, overbearing character. He has been described (usually by Matthew
), as sounding "just like Vincent Price
." The earlier stories showed Cain sometimes torturing Abel (for example, in House of Mystery #219, Cain chained Abel to an anchor
and stuffed him in his water cooler
(full, allegedly because Abel put banana peels in it) that helped inspire Gaiman's development of the character.
Cain frequently kills Abel in a kind of macabre form of obsessive-compulsive disorder
, re-enacting the first murder. In the Dreaming, Abel's death is impermanent, and he seems to recover after a few hours. Cain seems unable to control his frequent murders of Abel, and occasionally expresses remorse over them; there is a genuine bond between the two, beneath the surface contempt. Abel remains dedicated to Cain, and frequently dreams of a more harmonious relationship between the two.
In turn, in the graphic novel The Sandman: The Wake
, Cain is so distraught when Abel is murdered permanently by The Kindly Ones, he sinks into a rambling mess when asking the new Dream to restore him. In preparation for the funeral services for the deceased Dream, Cain's anger boils over yet again, but he is calmed by a reprimand and restrains from murdering Abel. He displays a contract, renewed in 1989 (the year The Sandman began) that states that only he is allowed to kill Abel, because Abel can resurrect only when Cain kills him.
In the first appearance of the characters in Sandman, issue #2, Cain gives Abel an egg that soon hatches into another gargoyle, a small golden one. Abel is delighted and names the gargoyle "Irving," but Cain forcefully insists that the names of gargoyles must always begin with a "G." When Abel resists, Cain murders him, and after Abel revives he renames the gargoyle "Goldie
," after a friend of his who "went away."
The main function of Cain and Abel throughout The Sandman is as comic relief. However, the two play significant (though not key) roles at several points in the series; it is they who take Morpheus in until his strength is restored following his 72-year-long imprisonment. In the fourth story arc
, Season of Mists
, Cain is sent to Hell
to give a message to Lucifer
because the Mark of Cain protects him. Those who would harm Cain would have the full wrath of God visited upon them.
Cain and Abel also aid The Corinthian
with the child Daniel during The Kindly Ones
, the penultimate story arc of the series. They also appear with Morpheus in The Books of Magic
(vol. 1) #3.
title. Abel appeared in the missing House of Mystery with Goldie, claiming to be on a secret mission to retrieve the various nightmares that were still in the house when it vanished. Meanwhile, Cain, under the guise of a mysterious coachman, plotted with various groups to retake the House of Mystery, which he saw as his rightful property. Eventually, Cain was able to broker a deal to become the co-manager of the House of Mystery's current incarnation as a bar, and both he and Abel have become regular members of the series' cast.
Cain and Abel also have a one-page cameo in The Batman Adventures
#5 as wardens of Arkham, although this may be a hallucination of Dr. Crane
.
Bold text
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
s in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
based on the Biblical Cain and Abel
Cain and Abel
In the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....
. They are key figures in DC's "Mystery" line of the late 1960s and 1970s, which became the mature-readers imprint, Vertigo, in 1993.
Publication history
Originally they were the respective "hosts" of the ECEC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
-style horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
anthologies House of Mystery
House of Mystery
The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
and House of Secrets, which ran from the 1950s through the early 1980s. During the 1970s, they also co-hosted (along with Eve), the horror/humor anthology Plop!
Plop!
Plop!, "The New Magazine of Weird Humor!", was a comic book anthology published by DC Comics in the mid 1970s. It falls into the horror / humor genre. There were 24 issues in all and the series ran from Sept./Oct. 1973 to Nov./Dec. 1976.-Contents:...
.
Cain the Able Care-Taker, created by Bob Haney
Bob Haney
Robert G. "Bob" Haney was a US comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons.- Early life and career :...
, Jack Sparling, and Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
, first appeared in The House of Mystery #175 (July 1968), modeled on writer Len Wein
Len Wein
Len Wein is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men...
, who was new to the field. A photograph of Wein as Cain can be found in Elvira's House of Mystery #4.
Abel, created by Mark Hannerfeld, Bill Draut, and Joe Orlando, first appeared in DC Special
DC Special
DC Special was a comic book anthology series published by DC Comics originally from 1968 to 1971; it resumed publication from 1975 to 1977...
#4 (July–September 1969) and began hosting The House of Secrets with #81 (August–September 1969).
Both comics had been running Dial H for Hero
Dial H for Hero
Dial H for Hero is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name,...
and Eclipso
Eclipso
Eclipso is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. The character is the incarnation of the Wrath of God and the Angel of Vengeance that turned evil and was replaced by the Spectre...
, respectively—though the latter had been canceled almost three years.
On the letters page of Weird Mystery Tales
Weird Mystery Tales
Weird Mystery Tales was a mystery anthology from DC Comics, which ran from July/Aug. 1972-November 1975. Like its sister books House of Mystery and The Witching Hour, it was known for its "monstrous stories" with shock endings....
#3, Destiny
Destiny (DC Comics)
Destiny is a DC Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in Weird Mystery Tales #1 , and was regular host of that series for the first fourteen issues, after which he hosted Secrets of Haunted House. He is one of the Endless in Neil Gaiman's comic book series,...
stated that Cain, Abel, and Eve were not their biblical counterparts, who he said he found much more pleasant. All three originally hosted Secrets of Haunted House
Secrets of Haunted House
Secrets of Haunted House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1975 to 1982.-Publication history:...
, though it eventually became Destiny's title. Cain, Eve, and to a lesser extent, Abel, would taunt Destiny for being dull.
House of Mystery was cancelled in 1983. The final issue showed Cain in front of the House, for sale, with his bags packed, and Gregory, his pet gargoyle, behind him. The cover of Vertigo's mostly-reprint
Reprint
A reprint is a re-publishing of material that has already been previously published. The word reprint is used in many fields.-Academic publishing:...
Welcome Back to the House of Mystery showed him returning with Abel and Gregory. The House of Secrets and The Witching Hour were eventually merged with The Unexpected
The Unexpected
The Unexpected was a DC Comics horror comic book, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected. It ran 117 issues, #105-222, from 1968 to 1982.-Publication history:...
and cancelled around the same time. He then became a supporting character in Blue Devil
Blue Devil
Blue Devil is a superhero featured in material published by DC Comics. He first appeared in a special insert published in Fury of Firestorm #24 . That story led directly into Blue Devil #1, also cover dated June 1984...
.
House of Mystery/Secrets
Cain frequently told tales of various people who boarded at the House of Mystery. Abel stammeringly took abuse from both Cain and the House of Secrets itself, and had an "imaginaryImagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
" (it was always rendered in quotes) girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
named Goldie, who berated him, too. In the early issues, Abel told the stories directly to her, but he always appeared to be alone. He said she was a ghost.
Cain and Abel live as neighbors in two houses near a graveyard, Cain in the broad House of Mystery and Abel in the tall House of Secrets. According to their appearance in Swamp Thing, the difference is that a mystery may be shared, but a secret must be forgotten if one tries to tell it. The houses are in small-town Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and it was later revealed that they simultaneously exist in the Dreaming. It has also been suggested that this is not the case, and that there has been a location change as a result of the Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
. In House of Secrets #81, when the House of Secrets is moved to the cemetery where the House of Mystery is, as Cain and Abel part company for the evening, Cain apologizes for what happened last time they met.
Cain is a thin, long-limbed man with an angular, drawn face, glasses, a tufty beard, and hair drawn into two points above his ears. Cain is often mean to Abel, but he is jovial and a friendly storyteller to children and did everything he could to help Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
when the need once arose; however, he has no qualms trapping innocent people inside his television set and he was once employed by a vicious mink furrier. Abel is a nervous, stammering, kind-hearted man. Abel is somewhat similar in appearance to Cain, with a tufty beard and hair that comes to points above his ears, though his hair is black rather than brown. He is shorter and fatter than Cain, with a more open face. It is eventually stated (in Sandman #40) that the only time he doesn't stutter is when he is telling a story, and this was characteristic of his earlier appearances. Cain owns a large green draconic gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
named Gregory, who first appeared (as a baby) in House of Mystery #175, apparently the offspring of enchanted sculptures who come to the house for a French sculptor who murdered the artist who designed them. He grew to maturity over the course of the series and continued to appear in Sandman stories. Gregory ate the Earth-1 counterparts of writer Paul Kupperberg
Paul Kupperberg
Paul Kupperberg is a former editor for DC Comics, and a prolific writer of comic books and newspaper strips.-Biography:Kupperberg entered the comics field from comics fandom, as had his brother, writer/artist Alan Kupperberg...
and editor Jack C. Harris. Cain also used to have a black cat named Oskar, who did not get along with Gregory, who doesn't seem to appear in the Sandman comics, and thus largely forgotten.
Abel moved in with Cain in the House of Mystery
House of Mystery
The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
shortly before DC Special
DC Special
DC Special was a comic book anthology series published by DC Comics originally from 1968 to 1971; it resumed publication from 1975 to 1977...
#4, which Cain states (to boys who have captured the three witches' pet Egor in exchange for stories from Cain, Mildred, Mordred, Cynthia, the Mad Mod Witch, and Judge Gallows, with surprise arrivals by Abel at the beginning and The Phantom Stranger at the end) is a temporary situation until the House of Secrets is transported (which occurred in House of Secrets #81, which appeared one month later). An indication of their intended ages occurs when Abel presents a story that Cain used to scare him with as a kid, which is stated to have taken place in 1957. That story, however, originally appeared in Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected (comics)
Tales of the Unexpected was a science fiction comic book published by DC Comics from 1956 to 1968 for 104 issues. It was later renamed The Unexpected although the numbering continued and it ended at issue 222, in 1982...
#17 (September 1957).
In the final issue of The House of Mystery, Karen Berger
Karen Berger
Karen Berger is an American comic book editor. She is best known as the Executive Editor of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.-Biography:...
, who Cain first met in issue #292—the first issue she edited for DC—arrives as an unexpected guest at Cain's birthday party, takes him through a secret door that leads to the DC offices, and tells him that his series has been cancelled and that he is too old-fashioned. The House is torn down, and Cain, remaining on the foundation, ponders his existence existentially, then reveals himself as his own storyteller, metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
ally analyzing his own existence.
In 1985, the characters were revived by writer Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
, who introduced them into his Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
series in issue #33, retelling the Swamp Thing's original origin story from a 1971 issue of House of Secrets. Cain kills Abel for revealing a secret (the difference between a mystery and a secret is that a mystery can be shared and still remain a mystery) and declares to Abby Holland, "I invented murder!" In Blue Devil
Blue Devil
Blue Devil is a superhero featured in material published by DC Comics. He first appeared in a special insert published in Fury of Firestorm #24 . That story led directly into Blue Devil #1, also cover dated June 1984...
#20 (January 1986), Cain is the caretaker of "The House of Weirdness" until Blue Devil moves in, and discovers that Abel is there, too. He states that the California mansion is owned by "a publishing company back East."
During the Crisis, although not mentioned in that series, Elvira
Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra Peterson is an American actress best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation...
stumbled onto the House of Mystery, which charged her to find Cain, who had disappeared. Cain showed Blue Devil Metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
through a window in the garage of the House of Weirdness and not much later, the two can be seen peering at Elvira in the House of Mystery. Cain and Abel reappeared in Swamp Thing #49-50, where they acted as observers and commentators on a fierce battle in Hell.
They were depicted together in Abel's first appearance, and they parted to their respective Houses at the end of the story, the House of Secrets having been recently moved, with Cain promising things not to go the way they happened before. Although Cain would abuse Abel, he was not shown killing him until Swamp Thing vol. 2 #33. More often than not, though, they did not appear together, and Cain directed more of his taunts at the reader, while Abel tried to reassure Goldie or the reader. Indeed, in The House of Mystery #257 (April 1978), an asylum escapee, "Killer" Cowan, kills six people on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, storming into the House of Mystery wearing a Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
suit and demands Cain to keep him occupied by entertaining him with stories. Cain protests that he does not want to entertain someone who ruins all that the holiday stands for. Abel is said to be a voyeur in Secrets of Sinister House
Secrets of Sinister House
Secrets of Sinister House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972–1974, a companion to Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion.-Publication history:...
#14, and shown to be such in The Sandman #60.
Sandman
In Gaiman's Sandman universe, it is implied by dialogue between Lucifer and Cain (who had been sent by Dream as a messenger due to his invulnerability) that the biblical Cain and Abel come to live in the Dreaming at Dream's invitation. To support this Lucifer quotes the verse in the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
which says that Cain was sent to live in the Land of Nod
Land of Nod
The Land of Nod is a place in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "on the east of Eden" , to which Cain chose to flee after murdering his brother Abel...
. This could be a post-Crisis
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
retcon
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
, however, as Destiny
Destiny (DC Comics)
Destiny is a DC Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in Weird Mystery Tales #1 , and was regular host of that series for the first fourteen issues, after which he hosted Secrets of Haunted House. He is one of the Endless in Neil Gaiman's comic book series,...
claimed in Weird Mystery Tales
Weird Mystery Tales
Weird Mystery Tales was a mystery anthology from DC Comics, which ran from July/Aug. 1972-November 1975. Like its sister books House of Mystery and The Witching Hour, it was known for its "monstrous stories" with shock endings....
#3 that they were not the same as the Biblical Cain and Abel. The nature of reality in the Dreaming is often multiple and when Cain, Abel, and Eve are telling young Daniel Hall three stories Cain objects to Abel's "Lil' Endless" style retelling of their origin claiming that "... they (the Endless
Endless (comics)
The Endless are a group of beings who embody powerful forces or aspects of the universe in the DC comic book series The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. They have existed since the dawn of time and are thought to be among the most powerful beings in the universe...
) didn't even look remotely human, no one did!" Abel later responds to Matthew the Raven's query about whether they are their biblical namesakes or not by stating; "...oh, none of this happened on Earth..." before being interrupted by Cain. Eve also states that she is not Cain's mother to which Cain replies, "You're everyone's mother." This sequence of events would seem to indicate that rather than being the actual literal beings Cain, Abel, and Eve the Dreaming's incarnation of them are closer to their archetypal roles of first murderer, first victim, and first mother. This is supported by several incidents when Cain or Abel have identified themselves as such and claimed that their cycle of murder and resurrection is punishment for their roles in the first murder. This would also allow Joe Kubert
Joe Kubert
Joe Kubert is an American comic book artist who went on to found The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman...
's DC Comics adaptation of the Cain and Abel story from the Bible, in which he ignored their "Mystery" likenesses, to fit neatly into canon.
Gaiman's Cain is an aggressive, overbearing character. He has been described (usually by Matthew
Matthew (DC Comics)
Matthew Joseph Cable is a character in DC Comics series Swamp Thing, who died and was later resurrected as Dream's raven in Neil Gaiman's rendition of The Sandman.-Swamp Thing/Doom Patrol:...
), as sounding "just like Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
." The earlier stories showed Cain sometimes torturing Abel (for example, in House of Mystery #219, Cain chained Abel to an anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
and stuffed him in his water cooler
Water cooler
A water cooler or water dispenser is a device that cools and dispenses water. They are generally broken up in two categories: bottleless and bottled water coolers...
(full, allegedly because Abel put banana peels in it) that helped inspire Gaiman's development of the character.
Cain frequently kills Abel in a kind of macabre form of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
, re-enacting the first murder. In the Dreaming, Abel's death is impermanent, and he seems to recover after a few hours. Cain seems unable to control his frequent murders of Abel, and occasionally expresses remorse over them; there is a genuine bond between the two, beneath the surface contempt. Abel remains dedicated to Cain, and frequently dreams of a more harmonious relationship between the two.
In turn, in the graphic novel The Sandman: The Wake
The Sandman: The Wake
The Wake is the tenth and final collection of issues in the comic book series The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Michael Zulli, Jon J...
, Cain is so distraught when Abel is murdered permanently by The Kindly Ones, he sinks into a rambling mess when asking the new Dream to restore him. In preparation for the funeral services for the deceased Dream, Cain's anger boils over yet again, but he is calmed by a reprimand and restrains from murdering Abel. He displays a contract, renewed in 1989 (the year The Sandman began) that states that only he is allowed to kill Abel, because Abel can resurrect only when Cain kills him.
In the first appearance of the characters in Sandman, issue #2, Cain gives Abel an egg that soon hatches into another gargoyle, a small golden one. Abel is delighted and names the gargoyle "Irving," but Cain forcefully insists that the names of gargoyles must always begin with a "G." When Abel resists, Cain murders him, and after Abel revives he renames the gargoyle "Goldie
Goldie (DC Comics)
Goldie is a fictional character in The Sandman comic book series by Neil Gaiman.-Fictional character biography:Goldie is a pet baby gargoyle, given to Abel by his brother Cain in Preludes and Nocturnes. Abel originally intends to name him Irving, but Cain insists that gargoyle names must all begin...
," after a friend of his who "went away."
The main function of Cain and Abel throughout The Sandman is as comic relief. However, the two play significant (though not key) roles at several points in the series; it is they who take Morpheus in until his strength is restored following his 72-year-long imprisonment. In the fourth story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
, Season of Mists
The Sandman: Season of Mists
Season of Mists is the fourth collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman.It was written by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Matt Wagner, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, and P...
, Cain is sent to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
to give a message to Lucifer
Lucifer (DC Comics)
Lucifer is a DC Comics character that starred in an eponymous comic book published under the Vertigo imprint, whose entire run was written by Mike Carey...
because the Mark of Cain protects him. Those who would harm Cain would have the full wrath of God visited upon them.
Cain and Abel also aid The Corinthian
Corinthian (comics)
The Corinthian is a fictional character in Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman. He can first be seen in The Sandman #10 , which is part of the second story arc, The Doll's House. The Corinthian is a nightmare created by Dream, who destroys him in the same collection for going rogue and...
with the child Daniel during The Kindly Ones
The Sandman: The Kindly Ones
The Kindly Ones is the ninth collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Marc Hempel, Richard Case, D'Israeli, Teddy Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, Dean Ormston and Kevin Nowlan, coloured by Danny Vozzo, and lettered by Todd Klein.The...
, the penultimate story arc of the series. They also appear with Morpheus in The Books of Magic
The Books of Magic
The Books of Magic is a four-issue English-language comic book mini-series written by Neil Gaiman, published by DC Comics, and later an ongoing series under the imprint Vertigo. Since its original publication, the mini-series has also been published in a single-volume collection under the Vertigo...
(vol. 1) #3.
Recent History
Recently, both Cain and Abel have appeared in the new House of MysteryHouse of Mystery (Vertigo)
House of Mystery is an occult and horror-themed comic book anthology series based on the classic House of Mystery series that ran from 1951 to 1983...
title. Abel appeared in the missing House of Mystery with Goldie, claiming to be on a secret mission to retrieve the various nightmares that were still in the house when it vanished. Meanwhile, Cain, under the guise of a mysterious coachman, plotted with various groups to retake the House of Mystery, which he saw as his rightful property. Eventually, Cain was able to broker a deal to become the co-manager of the House of Mystery's current incarnation as a bar, and both he and Abel have become regular members of the series' cast.
Cain and Abel also have a one-page cameo in The Batman Adventures
The Batman Adventures
The Batman Adventures was a DC Comics comic book series featuring Batman. It is different from other Batman titles in that it is set in the continuity of Batman: The Animated Series as opposed to the regular DC Universe.-Overview:...
#5 as wardens of Arkham, although this may be a hallucination of Dr. Crane
Scarecrow (comics)
The Scarecrow is a fictional character, a supervillain, that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane...
.
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Cain
- The House of Mystery 175-180 (May 1968-June 1969)
- The Witching HourThe Witching Hour (DC Comics)The Witching Hour was a DC comic book horror anthology that ran from 1969 to 1978. Its tagline was "It's 12 o'clock... The Witching Hour!"...
7 (March 1969) - DC SpecialDC SpecialDC Special was a comic book anthology series published by DC Comics originally from 1968 to 1971; it resumed publication from 1975 to 1977...
4 (July–September 1969) - Our Army at WarOur Army at WarOur Army at War was the title for a comic book published by DC Comics that featured war themed stories and was the first appearance for popular heroes such like Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace. The series started in August 1952 and ended in February 1977....
209 (August 1969) - The House of Secrets 81 (August–September 1969)
- The House of Mystery 181-189 (July 1969-December 1970)
- The Witching Hour 13 (March 1970)
- Super DC Giant S-20 (Oct 1970)
- The Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
93 (December–January 1970/71) (reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-59 (Batman's Strangest Cases) (1978) and The Best of the Brave and the Bold 5 (Holiday 1988)) - The House of Mystery 190-231 (Jan 1971-May 1975)
- DC Special 11 (March–April 1971) (partial reprint)
- The Sinister House of Secret Love 4 (Apr-May 1972)
- Secrets of Sinister HouseSecrets of Sinister HouseSecrets of Sinister House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972–1974, a companion to Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion.-Publication history:...
6 (Aug-Sep 1972) - The Phantom Stranger (vol. 2) 24 (March–April 1973)
- Our Army at War 261 (Oct 1973)
- Limited Collectors' Edition C-23 (House of Mystery) (Winter 1973)
- The Amazing World of DC Comics 6 (May–June 1975)
- Limited Collectors' Edition C-36 (The Most Spectacular Stories Ever Told... From The Bible) (June–July 1975)
- The House of Mystery 232-238 (June 1975-Dec 1976)
- The Amazing World of DC Comics 10 (January 1976)
- Limited Collectors' Edition C-43 (Christmas with the Super-Heroes) (Feb-March 1976)
- The House of Mystery 239-280 (January 1977-May 1980)
- DC Special SeriesDC Special SeriesDC Special Series was an umbrella title for one-shots and special issues published by DC Comics between 1977 and 1981. Each issue featured a different character and was often in a different format than the issue before it. DC Special Series was published in four different formats: Dollar Comics, 48...
12 (Secrets of Haunted House) (Spring 1978) - The Best of DC 5 (May–June 1980)
- DC Special Series 21 (Super-Star Holiday Special) (Spring 1980)
- The House of Mystery 281-312 (June 1980-Jan 1993)
- DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest 19, 24 (Jan, Aug 1982) (reprint)
- DC Comics PresentsDC Comics PresentsDC Comics Presents was a comic book published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 featuring team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters of the DC Universe...
53 (Jan 1983) - The House of Mystery 313-321 (Feb 1983-Oct 1983)
- The Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists 3 (Oct 1983)
- Swamp ThingSwamp ThingSwamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
(vol. 2) 33 (Feb 1985) - Ambush BugAmbush BugAmbush Bug is a fictional character who has appeared in several comic books published by DC Comics.His real name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality around him, so even his true identity might be no more than a delusion on his part...
3 (August 1985) - Blue DevilBlue DevilBlue Devil is a superhero featured in material published by DC Comics. He first appeared in a special insert published in Fury of Firestorm #24 . That story led directly into Blue Devil #1, also cover dated June 1984...
20, 21 (Jan, Feb 1986) - ElviraCassandra PetersonCassandra Peterson is an American actress best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation...
's House of Mystery 1-5 (January–May 1986) - Swamp Thing (vol. 2) 49-50 (June–July 1986)
- Blue Devil 26 (July 1986)
- Elvira's House of Mystery 8 (Aug 1986)
- Blue Devil 29, 30 (Oct, Nov 1986)
- Elvira's House of Mystery 9-11, Special (September 1986-January 1987)
- Secret Origins (vol. 2) 24 (March 1988)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 2, 7, 9 (Feb 1989-Sept 1989)
- The Books of MagicThe Books of MagicThe Books of Magic is a four-issue English-language comic book mini-series written by Neil Gaiman, published by DC Comics, and later an ongoing series under the imprint Vertigo. Since its original publication, the mini-series has also been published in a single-volume collection under the Vertigo...
3 (Feb 1991) - The Sandman (vol. 2) 22, 24, 26 (February- June 1991)
- The Sandman Special 1 (March 1991) (pin-up)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 40 (August 1992)
- The Batman Adventures 5 (Feb 1993)
- Vertigo Jam 1 (August 1993)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71 (Nov 1994-Sept 1995)
- The Vertigo Gallery: Dreams and Nightmares (1995) (pin-up)
- The DreamingThe Dreaming (comics)The Dreaming is a fictional place, a comic book location published by DC Comics. The Dreaming first appeared in the Sandman vol. 2 #1, , and was created by Neil Gaiman and Sam Kieth. The Dreaming is the domain of Dream of the Endless....
1-3, 5, 6 (June 1996-Nov 1996) - The Dreaming 8-10 (Jan-Mar 1997)
- The Dreaming Special 1 (July 1998)
- Welcome Back to the House of Mystery 1 (July 1998)
- The Dreaming 25-31 (June 1998-December 1998)
- Vertigo: Winter's Edge 1 (Jan 1998)
- Resurrection ManResurrection ManThe Resurrection Man is a fictional character, a superhero whose adventures were published by DC Comics from 1997 to 1999 in a serialized comic book of the same name, created by Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett and Jackson Guice...
18 (October 1998) - Vertigo: Winter's Edge 2 (Jan 1999)
- The Dreaming 33-35 (Feb-April 1999)
- The Sandman Presents: Love Street 1, 2 (Jul, Aug 1999)
- The Dreaming 50 (July 2000)
- The Sandman Presents: Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of D.R.E.A.M. (2000)
- The Dreaming 59-60 (April–May 2001)
- DeathDeath (DC Comics)Death is a fictional character from the DC comic book series, The Sandman . The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #8 , and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg....
: At Death's Door (July 2003) - The Un-Men 6 (March 2008)
- Fables 72/Jack of FablesJack of FablesJack of Fables was a spin-off of the comic book Fables, both of which were published by DC Comics as part of that company's Vertigo imprint. It shows the adventures of Jack Horner after his exile from Fabletown. A preview of the series was shown in Fables #50, and the series itself debuted in July...
22/NorthlandersNorthlandersNorthlanders is an American comic book series published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint. The stories are fictional but set in and around historical events during the Viking Age....
5 (June 2008) (House of Mystery preview) - House of Mystery (vol. 2) 1 (July 2008)
- The Sandman: The Dream Hunters 3-4 (March–April 2009)
- The House of Secrets 83, 85, 92, 97, 100, 101, 103, 107, 108, 119, 126, 136
- Secrets of Haunted HouseSecrets of Haunted HouseSecrets of Haunted House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1975 to 1982.-Publication history:...
1-9, 11 (letters column cohost), 17, 19, 44 (April 1975-January 1978, Oct, Dec 1979) - Plop!Plop!Plop!, "The New Magazine of Weird Humor!", was a comic book anthology published by DC Comics in the mid 1970s. It falls into the horror / humor genre. There were 24 issues in all and the series ran from Sept./Oct. 1973 to Nov./Dec. 1976.-Contents:...
1-24 (September 1973-December 1976) - Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 4 (June 1985)
- Wrath of the Spectre 4 (Aug 1988) (reprint from House of Mystery #201)
- Who's Who in the DC Universe 1 (Aug 1990)
Abel
- DC Special 4 (July–September 1969)
- The House of Secrets 81-140 (August 1969-March 1976)
- The Witching Hour 13 (March 1970)
- Secrets of Sinister House 6 (Aug-Sep 1972)
- The House of Mystery 217 (Sep 1973)
- The Amazing World of DC Comics 6 (May–June 1975)
- Limited Collectors' Edition C-36 (The Most Spectacular Stories Ever Told... From The Bible) (June–July 1975)
- The House of Secrets 141-154 (August 1976-January 1979)
- The House of Mystery 251 (March–April 1977)
- The House of Mystery 254 (September–October 1977)
- The House of Mystery 257 (March–April 1978)
- DC Special Series 12 (Secrets of Haunted House) (Spring 1978)
- The House of Mystery 275 (December 1979)
- DC Special Series 21 (Super-Star Holiday Special) (Spring 1980)
- The UnexpectedThe UnexpectedThe Unexpected was a DC Comics horror comic book, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected. It ran 117 issues, #105-222, from 1968 to 1982.-Publication history:...
189-208 (Feb 1979-March 1981) - DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest 19 (Jan 1982) (reprint)
- Swamp Thing (vol. 2) 33 (Feb 1985)
- Blue Devil 20 (Jan 1986)
- Elvira's House of Mystery 4 (April 1986)
- Swamp Thing (vol. 2) 49-50 (June–July 1986)
- Blue Devil 29 (Oct 1986)
- Elvira's House of Mystery 10, 11, Special (Dec 1986-Feb 1987)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 2 (Feb 1989)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 7 (July 1989)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 9-10 (Sept-Oct 1989)
- The Books of Magic 3 (Feb 1991)
- The Sandman Special 1 (March 1991) (pin-up)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 26 (June 1991)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 40 (August 1992)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 42 (October 1992)
- Vertigo Jam 1 (August 1993)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 60 (July 1994)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 64 (November 1994)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 66 (January 1995)
- The Sandman (vol. 2) 70-71 (August–September 1995)
- The Dreaming 1-3 (June-Aug 1996)
- The Dreaming 5 (October 1996)
- The Dreaming 8 (January 1997)
- The Dreaming Special 1 (July 1998)
- Welcome Back to the House of Mystery 1 (July 1988)
- Resurrection Man 18 (October 1998)
- Vertigo: Winter's Edge 2 (Jan 1999)
- The Sandman Presents: Love Street 1-2 (July–August 1999)
- Vertigo: Winter's Edge 3 (Jan 2000)
- The Sandman Presents: Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of D.R.E.A.M. (2000)
- Plop! 1-24 (September 1973-December 1976)
- Secrets of Haunted House 1-9, 17, 19, 43, 46 (April 1975-January 1978, Oct 1979, Dec 1981, March 1982)
- Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 1 (March 1985)
- Who's Who Update '87 5 (December 1987)
- Who's Who in the DC Universe 1 (Aug 1990)