House of Whispers Vol. 3: Watching the Watchers
Nalo Hopkinson & Dan Watters, writers; Dominike "DOMO" Stanton, Matthew Dow Smith, artists; Zac Atkinson, colors
DC Vertigo, 2020

The Corinthian makes his way to the House of Watchers, as promised in the previous collection. The Endless named Despair created it as twin to the House of Whispers, and placed the soul of fable teller Aesop in charge. After being forgotten for ages the spider god Ananse discovered it and took it to his lair. Aesop had become bored in Despair's absence, so the Corinthian's arrival presents an opportunity for freedom from his pledge. But he was not marked with Despair's sigil, so the house immediately takes his essence apart, distributing it among its many mirrors.

Erzulie has lost her houseboat to her remaining two husbands, and is unable to answer the calls of her faithful as promptly as usual. She begins arriving late, finding harmful answers to their prayers and bits of shattered mirrors. When she attends a divorce mediation helmed by immortal voodoo practitioner Papa Midnite (a staple in Hellblazer stories; John Constantine also makes a brief appearance) she realizes that she must find the House of Watchers.

Her approach is to gather all of the mirror pieces, reassemble The Corinthian, and ask him how to find the House. Midnite and Aesop travel to the Land of the Dead (there's even a name-check on the Haitian rum Rhum Barbancourt, which I appreciated), where they are unexpectedly joined by Erzulie and the House of Whispers houseboat. A new character named Poquita figures prominently in the conclusion as well, and the grand finale includes the improbable resurrection of Agwe. A happy ending to conclude the series. I never did fully connect to it, although this final arc did an especially good job tying itself to the Sandman mythos.

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