Creation

The Nice House on the Lake was first seen in The Nice House On The Lake #1 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Origin

The Earth is being destroyed by a group of beings of indeterminate origin (when asked, one member said Earthlings have no name for what they are). These beings have not concluded their studies on humanity, so many of them have been assigned to creating doomsday safe houses as “balanced human ecosystems.” These ecosystems are to be made up of 10 types of humans:

• An Artist
• A Writer
• An Actor
• A Historian
• A Musician
• A Mathematician
• A Doctor
• A Scientist
• A Politician
• A Person of Faith

History

The Residents

One of the beings, Walter, who had an especially strong love of humanity decided to manipulate his favorite people into fulfilling these roles so that the safe house he creates could be full of his loved ones:

• The Artist: Ryan Cane, a struggling artist and a last-minute replacement. She is the youngest and knows the least people in the house
• The Writer: Norah Jackobs, a writer from Walter’s high school clique, who knew Walter before her gender transition.
• The Actor: David Daye, a comedian from Walter’s college clique
• The Historian: Sam Nguyen, a reporter from Walter’s high school clique
• The Musician: Rick MacEwan, a pianist from Walter’s post-college clique in New York
• The Mathematician: Molly Reynolds, an accountant from Walter’s high school clique
• The Doctor: Naya Radia, a doctor from Walter’s post-college clique, who is romantically involved with Rick MacEwan
• The Scientist: Veronica Cartwright, an astronomer from Walter’s high school clique
• The Politician: Sarah Radnitz, a political consultant for the DNC from Walter’s college clique
• The Person of Faith: Arturo Perez, new age acupuncturist who is romantically involved with Sam Nguyen

The Beginning

The original candidate for The Artist was Reginald Madison, a painter and architect who was part of Walter’s high school clique. He helped Walter design the house and the immediate surrounding area. When Reg grew suspicious that Walter was manipulating his memories, he tried to design subtle reminders into the design for when the time came to reside inside. When Walter found out, he had Reg imprisoned elsewhere on the Lake House grounds and replaced him with Ryan.

Norah also had a hand in designing the Lake House controls. She created the user interface that allows Walter to control the speed in which the residents heal or age, what they get to remember, and manifest all the items they request while staying there. Norah had the most explained to her about Walter and his people’s plans. She cooperated in order to save their friends’ lives, but she was still mindwiped before entering the house.

Walter was forced to do much trial and error to find the best course of action that would get his friends to stop investigating ways to escape. He underestimated how much the people they lost would mean to them. This was especially hard on Ryan, who had very few connections in the house, and Molly, whose husband was not part of Walter’s data sample. Walter had briefly returned Norah’s memories so that they could conspire to turn the house against Walter, trick them into believing they had killed him, so they could finally settle into life at the house believing Walter wasn’t controlling them.