Locke & Key V1

 

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Locke & Key is written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, and published by IDW Publishing. I read the Master Editions which was published in 2017 and includes Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft issues 1-6 and Locke & Key: Head Games issues 1-6.  Hill has also written novels including Heart-Shaped Box (winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel), Horns—which was made into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe—and NOS4A2 and The Fireman.  Rodriguez is an artist and illustrator working with IDW Publishing. He has worked on The Great and Secret Show, Beowulf, and Land of the Dead to name a few.

Locke & Key won the Eisner Award for Best Writer.

IDW Publishing was founded in 1999. It now includes IDW Games, IDW Entertainment, Top Shelf Productions and the Sand Diego Comic Art Gallery. It is considered one of the top four comic book publishers in the US with over 80 titles on the New York Best Sellers list and has a diverse collection of titles ranging from My Little Pony to Locke & Key and 30 Days of Night.

Locke & Key is a dark fantasy comic that follows three kids after their father’s murder as they deal with their grief, try to fit into a new school, and explore the old family house that has ancient evils and strange magical keys. Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke have to solve the mystery of the keys and stop the woman in the well from collecting all of them; but sometimes using a little magic is too hard to resist.

Trigger warnings for murder, rape, abusive relationships, and substance abuse. This is a serious, mature-audience type story that isn’t afraid to show the killing blow though it’s never overly grotesque.

 This book is amazing. It didn’t take me long to get wrapped up in the story and holding my breath as the events began to unfold. The pace is steady but you can feel the slow burn as the kids start to learn about the house and the woman in the well. There are some literary references that I enjoyed but if you haven’t read anything by H. P. Lovecraft or Shakespeare’s Tempest, you can still enjoy this series. There are also some good commentary on human nature especially in relation to grief and death. Locke & Key is a series that I don’t want to spoil too much but here’s a minor spoiler warning for volume one just in case.

Spoiler Alert!

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, though many do not come into play right away.

Rendell Locke is the father who is murdered at the beginning of the series. He was a guidance counselor but one of his students—Sam Lesser-- followed him and his family to a summer lodge and murdered him. Nina Locke is the mother. She endured a rape and is now partly crippled from the event. After her husband’s cremation, she starts drinking heavily to deal with her grief.

The kids include Tyler—the oldest—who partly blames himself for his father’s death, Kinsey, who is afraid of others staring at her because of her trauma, and Bode, the youngest who isn’t completely aware of what’s going on. Bode is particularly adventurous and he is the one who discovers the keys and the woman in the well.

The woman goes by several names. She’d referred to as Echo as well as Woman in the Well. Eventually, she reveals her name as Legion—a reference to a demon from the Bible—before escaping into the world. From there, she uses one of the magic keys that she’s collected and turns herself into a young man named Zack Wells. Zack is actually the figure of one of Rendell’s high school friends, Luke ‘Dodge’ Caravaggio, who went missing when he and Rendell were still in high school.

Rendell’s other high school friends are also mentioned. They included Mark Cho, Ellie Whedon, Kim Topher, and Erin Voss. All but Ellie are missing.

We also meed Ellie’s son, Rufus. He is mentally handicapped—this fact saves him from being manipulated by Zack—but also aware and observant to the world around him. He picks up on the strange appearances and disappearances of Zack but doesn’t mention them to anyone because he’s aware others will think he’s making things up.

Finally, we also have Duncan Locke, Rendell’s younger brother and the Uncle to the Locke kids. The old family house—called Key House—technically belongs to him, though he gives it to the grieving family without hesitation.

There are also a few high school kids mentioned but none of them take on any significant role just yet so I will wait to name them later on.

Volume one seems to focus mostly on Bode and how he deals with his father’s death. He has nightmares, he keeps remembering pieces of his father’s knock knock jokes, and he is eager to explore and discover more and more about the magical house his father grew up in. He’s the first to discover the door that turns you into a ghost and this helps him feel more at ease with the idea of death. He also meets and accidentally frees Echo, allowing her to begin her search for the Omega key and take on the form of Zack, thus starting a series of murders and abuses that flood the town. In all honesty, Bode is the perfect way to introduce the magic of this world to the readers. He has no fear of the strange and unknown and thus, neither do we.

Tyler and Kinsey do start to take over the story towards the end of the volume as we experience their perspectives of the house, the magic, dealing with their grief, and suddenly taking on the role of protectors and warriors to stop Echo from harming their family and getting more of the keys.

The art work is amazing. Colors are vibrant, images are smooth and crisp, and characters are amazingly expressive. I also like how Roderiguez plays with color. From Bode’s perspective everything has a more saturated look. Colors are brighter and more contrasting, meanwhile Kinsey, Tyler, and the other adults have a more dulled color perspective. There’s one moment when Zack mentions kids tend to have minds full of color while adults tend to have mostly black, white, and grey. This then comes into play when we see into Bode’s mind as well as Ellie Whedon’s mind. Bode has bright colors that make it almost cartoon-y. Ellie, however, has black and white images for her memories until that memory reaches Echo, who is a striking splotch of color against the rest of the images.

Story wise, everything is steady. There’s a slow climb at first but it is filled with tension and paced very well. Slower moments take the time to develop the character’s mind and personality before pushing them into a situation where they have to deal with themselves, their family, their past, or the threat of death and destruction from Echo.

I will say, I wasn’t always sure as to the story’s goal. Echo makes it clear she’s after the Omega Key. But other than it being mentioned, we have no idea what it is or what it does or even where it is. At first, I wasn’t sure if the story was more about the kids and their grief or if the keys had a greater purpose within the story. I’m sure there’s plenty of symbolism throughout, regarding the keys and the mind and soul, but I found myself enjoying the story far too much to pay too close attention to them. I’m sure on a second or third reading, I could pick out a few more specific ones.

Overall, I loved this book. I like the story, the characters, the pacing, the art. I did have a few questions that I’m sure will get answered in the second or third volume, like why doesn’t Rufus have a keyhole on the back of his neck when everyone else does? Dodge suggests it’s because of the mental handicap, but I’m not sure if there’s something more to it.

My favorite part overall is when Echo is talking to Bode the first time she reveals to him what she really is. He doesn’t understand why the keys are so important to her and she replies “Kids always think they’re coming into a story at the beginning, when usually they’re coming in at the end.” It’s a great moment and it gives the readers a nod towards what is to come. If we’re going to understand the story, we have to wait until Hill and Roderiguez gives us a chance to look at the past.

I really liked this book. Again, this is a mature read and it has a number of trigger warnings in it. The story and characters are solid, the art is great, and the mystery seems to have a ton of branching paths for us to take. I recommend this to any mature teens who likes dark fantasy. I plan on reading the next two volumes and I’ll try to get my reviews of them up as soon as possible.

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