Locke and Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft

Locke and Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill
Illustrated By: Gabriel Rodriguez
Format: Trade Paperback Comic
Published: 2008
Publisher: IDW Publishing

This is one of those comics that I’ve been hearing about for ages but never quite got around to buying. I’m definitely glad I did, though, and I’ll be picking up the rest of the available trades. Joe Hill (who happens to be Stephen King’s son) won an Eisner this year for the series, so that’s a good start.

It’s a gruesome supernatural horror book, which is not at all Cthulhu-ey, it should be noted, despite the title. It’s hard to describe the plot of this without giving away the twists and surprises. Basically, tragedy befalls the Locke family, and they decide to start again by moving to their father’s childhood mansion. The mansion, however, is not the safe haven for which they had hoped. Dun dun duuuuuun.

Vague enough?

The dialogue flows and actually feels like real conversation (Robert Kirkman take note), and the story is expertly paced. Hill mixes flashbacks with the current time to tell the story, which certainly isn’t a new trick, but he does it perfectly. The art is fantastic as well. My only complaint is that the characters all look young. The mom and the uncle look to be about the same age as the teenagers, which was occasionally a bit confusing, but other than that it looked great.

I feel like it’s been a while since I read or watched something in the horror genre that didn’t have zombies in it, so this was a refreshing read. There are three trades out now (four hardcovers, which are actually the same price as the trades on Amazon), so I thankfully won’t have to wait to continue reading.