Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
by Gabriel Rodriguez, Joe Hill
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gabriel Rodriguez, Joe HillEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-07
ISBN: 1600102379
Number of pages: 152
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Book Reviews of Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Book Review: Welcome to Lovecraft - stay out of the wellhouse
Summary: 5 Stars
Part of the shock value is that Gabriel Rodriguez's distinctive art has such an innocence and cleanness to it that, when the horror elements are introduced, the impact is all the more stunning. And then there's writer Joe Hill who is in the midst of stepping into his celebrated father's shoes and learning just how comfortable the fit. I suppose it's easy and convenient enough for any old horror writer to insert zombies and vampires and splatter in bucketfuls of gore and then go see what sticks. But Joe Hill, much like his dad, has sussed out that true terror emerges from ordinary things, that the effect is all the more telling if the suspense is built up in layers. Joe Hill puts his characters (and, by proxy, you) into situations which seem improbable but could actually happen in real (and I don't mean the supernatural stuff), and knowing this, it compromises your comfort level. He injects a slasher theme early on, brought about by taut flashbacks interweaving with the present arc.
The Locke family has just moved into the town of Lovecraft, Massachusetts and into a sprawling mansion mysteriously called Keyhouse, and quite rapidly Joe Hill immerses you into these characters' lives. Disturbing details gradually unfold of a bloody home invasion many months ago, which so traumatized the Lockes and cost them a murdered father. Now they're looking for a fresh start.
The well-realized core characters are the three children, all trying to cope with their loss and their new surroundings. Tyler Locke is surly and guilt-ridden and the oldest. He believes himself responsible for his father's death, and he's pretty much withdrawn into himself. Kinsey, the middle sibling, is also dealing with her pain. She just wants to fit into her new town and is very conscious of all the people giving her curious looks. Bode is the youngest at six years and a very curious child, and the story tends to focus on him the most. Bode is the first to get a clue of the strangeness of their new home. The thing is, in seeking peace and quiet and a chance to heal and regain equilibrium, the Lockes should never have relocated to the Keyhouse. The Keyhouse messes you up.
I read somewhere that Hill plans to write several story arcs about LOCKE & KEY and all in limited series format, and I hope he gets the chance to finish all of those. But to sound off on the one overarcing plot device: Keyhouse is magical and very sinister and dangerous. We eventually figure out that the Locke household is a repository of many keys with odd properties. In the first issue we glimpse a key with a tiny skull engraved on it, and a particular door which when opened with this key renders the wielder temporarily dead - and that person's ghost free to wander around. And since Bode is the one who stumbles onto this one key and door, and since he uses this bit of enchantment to flit about insubstantially to look in on his family, we don't really feel threatened. But there is one place the kids aren't allowed into, and that's the wellhouse. Bode, of course, has to check it out and soon begins to hear a voice wafting out of the well. And, of course, the thing that owns the voice wants out. That's almost always never a good thing.
Meanwhile, behind juvie bars, teenage psychopath Sam Lesser peers into the toilet bowl and converses with... something. And not too long from now, Sam Lesser - who had murdered the father of the Locke children months ago - will escape his prison cell and begin to make his cross-country trek to Lovecraft.
Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box is a terrific demonstration of how an author's storytelling can make you feel unsettled. He achieves the same effect in this comic book format. I seriously had no idea where this story was going, only that I was wallowing in the weirdness and that creeping suspense. Joe Hill throws in different beats, but nothing is forced. It smells, initially, like a serial killer splatterfest, but then takes on a supernatural angle and a dark fantasy angle. And thru it all, it remains character-driven. And just when you think the dust has settled, Joe Hill introduces one last bit of creepy which feeds directly into the next story arc.
I highly recommend this mini-series to anyone who likes to be startled and for those jaded readers who believe that comic books have nothing new to offer. This handsome hardcover also comes with an attached red ribbon bookmark, an intro by writer Robert Crais, and a ten-paged art gallery by Gabriel Rodriguez. Note that LOCKE & KEY: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT is suggested for a more mature audience as there are moments of graphic gruesomeness and one scene of a disturbing sexual nature. And once you tear thru this one, there's Locke & Key: Head Games, the next arc which picks up shortly after the events in WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT. I've already read up to four issues of that one, and it is JoeHillifically awesome.
Summary of Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them.... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all...! Acclaimed suspense novelist and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box) creates an all-new story of dark fantasy and wonder, with astounding artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez.Horror Books
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