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"A Dynamite Party" is the first story in Haunted Mansion #5. It was written and illustrated by Devon Devereaux.

Synopsis[]

Steven is sleeping in his armchair by the fire when there come a knock at the door. His wife, Edith, shouts at him from off-panel to answer it, where he finds only a slip of paper with an invitation to a party. Despite his wife's nagging that he can't leave the house - he isn't wearing pants and is sporting striped boxers - Steven counters that he's "going stag" and tromps off into the night with the invitation and a candle.

The invitation leads Steven to the Gracey Mansion. On his way, his glasses are flicked of his head by the unseen Hatbox Ghost and break, making him mostly blind. He presses on anyway, hearing Grim Grinning Ghosts play and commenting on the "good music tonight." He passes the coffin ghost, is nosily followed by the Hitchhiking Ghosts, and even wanders through the ballroom and its ghostly revelers without realizing he is surrounded by ethereal party guests; mostly he complains about Edith's inability to make cheese casserole and how hungry he is.

Steven ends up following a floating candelabra down a hall and into a doorway he believes is a pantry, smelling pickled pigs feet. The door - marked with a sign reading "Explosives - closes behind him, and while searching the room he puts his candle down inadvertently lighting the wick to a dynamite barrel. The final panel shows Steven standing on the barrel, ready to get the party started - and accidentally sealing his fate as the future subject of one of the stretching portraits.

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