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Locke & Key, Vol. 1
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Have you heard the news. Fox recently passed on making this into a TV show, but it's possibly going to be a movie trilogy.Here's the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...
I love that quote at the beginning! Don't want to spoil for myself so I'll read the rest of your review after I pick this up.
I just got the 1rst volume of this on a trade and I can hardly wait to start it. Joe Hill is one of my favorite writers and I've heard so many good things about this series.
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To best describe Joe Hill’s Locke and Key series in one sentence, I’m going to quote another reviewer because I think a Lyndsey Lore sums it up best, “This book was (I imagine) what it might be like to down a spoonful of sugar that was, unbeknownst to you, laced with Meth.”
Two folks behind the counter in a comic book store badgered me to check it out last month while I was perusing the graphic novels aisle. I pulled it out for literally three seconds, geesh! It’s one of those things you never heard of before, but when you finally do, you don’t stop hearing about it. Three weeks later and having read you guys' positive reaction towards its nomination for our read of the month, I’m finished with Clockworks which is the most recent out of five published volumes. If meth is anything like Locke and Key, tell my folks to skip rehab and just prepare a sarcophagus for me. I’m hooked!
The overall concept of Locke and Key is honestly nothing original. A family is plagued by the murder of the father so they relocate to his heirloom mansion on the other side of the country in Massachusetts. The mansion, called Keyhouse, hides dozens of enchanted keys that can do anything from pulling souls out of bodies to opening skulls in halves. All of this is safe, of course, if you use them responsibly… and if there wasn’t a cross-dressing succubus hypnotizing serial killers to come after your family for the ultimate key of all keys, Omega. And you don’t want her/he/it to get a hold of the Omega key, because it unlocks the door to the demon world. Nothing original, right? It’s just that Hill developed his characters and subplots so well, you start to believe that magical keys and diabolical trannys are the most threatening things in the world right now. I also find the symbolic name play a bit corny. The family’s name is Locke. They reside in Lovecraft, MA in the Keyhouse. Ergo, the Locke family must fill the void created by the death of their father with keys. Locke and Key. Delightful.
By issue #3, I already became attached to the Locke family. Hill does a brilliant job at pulling you into the characters’ lives by revealing their insecurities, deepest fears, and coping mechanisms. There’s not one death in the comic book that didn’t move me. The eldest son Tyler is forced to grow into his own while being tormented by guilt from his father’s death. Kinsey with her headstrong personality and alternative sense of style, struggles to find her identity in a smaller town. Then there’s the adorable six-year-old Bode who finds solace in discovering keys and their uses. There’s one issue in particular that focused on their mother, Nina, who has fallen deep into alcoholism. She comes across a key that can fix broken items if you simply lock the item up in a dresser with the key. Once she saw her broken dishes metaphorically mended, she desperately places the urn of her husband’s ashes into the dresser hoping for the same effect to take place, but to no avail. It’s definitely one of the more endearing issues and holds a spot in my top five favorite L&K issues.
The one negative thing that throws me off is the artwork. I think Gabriel Rodriguez drawings are amazingly detailed and clever. His panels are placed in unique ways I’ve never seen in any other comic book. I just don’t think it embodies the same wickedness as the storyline. The characters look too much like caricatures. I don’t believe every horror story has to have realism-styled illustrations to pass as believable, but the eyes are overly rounded and the palette of colors aren’t selling me. There were times where I got the characters mixed up, because everyone’s eyes are so similar (except for Cho lol). L&K could pass under the horror genre, but there were scenes that should’ve frightened me, but failed to do so because of the art. It’s not distracting. It just leaves a lot to be desired. Great, no, fantastic art, but not for this series.
Comparing all the volumes, my least favorite arc is Keys to the Kingdom, only because of issues #1 and #3. I didn't care for what looked like an ode to Peanuts in the panels of the first issue. As I mentioned earlier, the art looks cartoony as it is so the playful rendition took me out of the intensity that was build compellingly by Crown of Shadows. The third issue felt rushed and only for the sake of Tyler's unfolding realization that, coincidentally, Zack is never around on the weekends when the kids are getting attacked by the witch from the well. I believe there were four or five new keys that appeared in this issue, and Hill should've took more time to introduce each one. The discovery of new keys and the creative ways the kids put them to use are part of the thrill of reading L&K. I would love to see the story behind the panel where we see Kinsey with griffin wings clutching her brothers in midair. Even the panel where Bode is holding back a spellbound Kinsey from stabbing Tyler with a huge kitchen knife was a missed opportunity for incredible suspense. These two stories alone if fleshed out could've taken L&K further into the world of adventure and mysticism. A misstep on Hill's part. The following #4-6 issues are the climax of the story where the Locke kids confront Luke, or so they believe. I love how even offside characters like Rufus evokes emotion from the reader. His first appearance in volume two came off as a mentally inadequate child who lacks awareness of the turmoil that falls around him. He does not appear to be a threat to Luke's plans until we discover his extraordinary gift: the ability to communicate with spirits. Because of this, I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of Rufus in the upcoming volume.
The most interesting arc for me is Head Games followed closely by either Welcome to Lovecraft or Clockworks. I love that Hill introduced a period piece with Clockworks. It’s not often that the explanatory arc, where the creator explains how things came to be and the “logistics” behind the illogical, is as enthralling as the arcs set in forward motion. It adds so much more depth to the plot and all six issues held my attention. Unveiling the origin of the keys gave closure and prepares us for the final chapter. On a scale to five, I would give Locke & Key four stars because the storytelling alone is compelling enough to make it worth reading. Add the methodically developed characters, and L&K becomes hard to put down.
The next volume is in the works, titled Omega. It will be the final volume commencing an end to the great saga of the Locke family. Hill has mentioned plans to do a seventh book with a different set of characters and new keys. In addition, there are talks about a Locke and Key story set in the times of World War II. Read more about it here.