House of Secrets #8

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The table includes 8 guide observations and 1 catalog references. These are reference values, not guaranteed sale proceeds.

Graded population

CGC records 12 graded copies for House of Secrets #8 (1958). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.

The Diamond Hand of the Sun God

An unscrupulous archeologist by the name of Skleers steals a statue Mitra whose hands are made of diamond. He is warned that he will be punished by his own hands for stealing the holy relic. The man escapes into the jungle but suddenly finds that he has lost control of his hands. He drops the statue and loses it in a river. He then attempts to drive out of the jungle, but his hands steer his vehicle in the wrong direction. He manages to reach a town called Puuna where he takes refuge. He attempts to check into a hotel but he finds that he has lost his wallet. Skleers then breaks into a curio shop and steals six thousand dollars from the owner. In his haste to escape he accidentally steps in some wet cement and leaves a trail back to his hotel room. The authorities show up at his door and Skleers makes a full confession about stealing the money. The two policemen are astonished, they had simply wanted Skleers to pay for the cement that he messed up. They were unaware of the robbery and the missing money. They place Skleers in handcuffs and lead him away. They stop at the lobby of the hotel where the clerk indicates that he knew there was something unusual about Skleers. He had signed the guest register as “Mitra-the Sun God”. Skleer begins to insist that it wasn't him but rather his hands that gave him away.

| Synopsis2 = A butler named Michael Renner murders his employer by pushing her down a set of stairs. The victim's name was Miss Hale who was very fond of her three cats. At the reading of the will, Renner finds out that he was bequeathed Miss Hales wealth, but it can only be used for the care of her three cats. Mrs. Hales closest friend Mrs. Moore is also in attendance and expresses her sympathy to Renner. Once the cats pass away, the fortune reverts to the Hillcrest Animal Home. Renner is devastated but figures that he can invest the money and make himself a small fortune. He immediately fires the remaining staff and settles into his new domain. Almost immediately he begins to feel creeped out by the cats. He senses them staring at him and it frays at his nerves. At one point he is walking by the main stairway when a giant vase almost falls on him. He looks up and sees a black cat named Ebony who seems to have pushed the vase. He then relaxes by the pool but almost gets burned by a heat lamp that he thought was unplugged. Frenzied by his near brushes with death, he decides to pack up the three cats and abandon them in the desert. When he arrives back at the mansion, he finds the three cats looking down at him from the top of the stairs. Renner breaks down and confesses to the murder. He is surprised to see that Mrs. Moore is also at the police station. She reveals that she helped the police gain his confession. Mrs. Moore reveals that she knew of Renner's hatred for the cats and that it was she that plugged in the sunlamp that almost burned him. Mrs. Moore had also rescued the cats from the desert and brought them back to the Mansion. Renner learns that he had been a suspect from the beginning because of a letter he wrote to his tailor canceling his annual new butlers uniform right before the murder. Renner admits that he wrote the letter but never actually mailed it. Renner admits that he realized the letter would make him a suspect, so he burned it. The letter is indeed charred, but it was somehow saved from the fire. The only clue as to how that happened is three little telltale holes in the corner as if an animal had it in its mouth. The cats had their unexpected revenge after all.

| Synopsis3 =

| Synopsis4 =

| Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Skleers **Supporting Characters:** * Mir Osman **Locations:** * India ** Temple of Mitra ** Puuna, a city **Items:** * Statue of Mitra (Hindu god)|Mitra **Vehicles:** * Jeep

| Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Michael Renner **Supporting Characters:** * Sally Moore **Cats:** * Omar, Chang, & Ebony **Other Characters:** * Ralph **Locations:** * Mrs. Hale's Mansion

| Appearing3 = **Featured Characters:** * Antique dealer **Supporting Characters:** * Bruce Falkirk * Tom Hawkins * Dazor **Other Characters:** * Ellen Worth * Martha Hawkins * Orry **Locations:** * Scotland ** 13th Century **Items:** * Old Diary

| Appearing4 = **Featured Characters:** * Dr. Eric Hendshaw **Supporting Characters:** * Scientists **Locations:** * An undisclosed city ** Hendshaw's lab **Items:** * Electric-shielding formula

| Notes = * This issue is reprinted in its entirety in *Big Boy* #24 by Artima Publishing. * "The Diamond Hands of the Sun God!" is reprinted in The Witching Hour #20. * "The Cats Who Knew Too Much" is reprinted in The Unexpected #127. * "Round Trip to the Past!" is reprinted in The Witching Hour #38. * Other features appearing in this issue of House of Secrets include: ** "Meteor Menace in Space..." by Mort Drucker. Originally appeared in Mystery in Space #8. ** "Professor Eureka" by Henry Boltinoff. ** "Wanted: A Teen-Age Code", a public service announcement by Jack Schiff, with art by Ruben Moreira, and lettering by Ira Schnapp. ** "They Lived in Fear", a text article. | Trivia = * The title for "The Cats Who Knew Too Much" may have been inspired by the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much. | Recommended = * House of Secrets (Volume 1) * House of Secrets (Volume 2) * House of Mystery (Volume 1) * House of Mystery (Volume 2) | Links = * [https://www.nealadams.com/DC/HouseofSecrets/houseofsecrets.html House of Secrets - Neal Adams cover gallery] * [https://www.cosmiccomix.com/comics/HOS_HOM/index.htm House of Secrets at Cosmic Comix and Toys]

Creative credits

Writers: Jack Kirby

Interior art: Will Ely, Bernard Baily, George Papp, Ruben Moreira

Source records & attribution

Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.

COMICBASE: comicbase:543949

GCD: 14177

PANEL PROFITS: 2408544