Thought Train to Pusan

The concluding volume of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s comic series Locke & Key is full of carnage, and I didn’t expect anything different. There is resolution, and yet so many more mysteries left to be explored in this world and with all the magical keys and the history of key house. The only truly bad thing about this book was that it had to end, after everything came to a head and we were left to see where the resulting pieces would end up.   “Alpha & Omega” takes us to the night of prom for the Locke children, as they plan to have an after-party rave in the caverns by their the Lovecraft house. But Bode, still possessed by the spirit of Luke/”Dodge,” has other ideas for how the night shall end, as he appears to hold all the cards in his little game: with almost all of the magical keys in his possession, and no one aware that he is not in fact Bode anymore, Luke is free to play a game that results in his ultimate quest for a world of select loyal followers and...

The penultimate collected volume of Joe Hill’s Locke & Key series (illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez) provides some history regarding the Lovecraft residence, the history of the magical keys, and how the patriarch of the Locke family became implicated in the history of the house and what is occurring now, back when he was just a teenager. Unlike the previous volumes of this dark and inventive series, past events are the focus of “Clockworks,” and we get some answers as to what the house and keys are all about, and even where they came from. Yet many things remain up in the air, which I am excited to unravel in the concluding book, “Omega”. “Clockworks” begins with a tale of a young blacksmith named Ben Locke in the Revolutionary War. Most of his family has been killed for harboring fugitives in the caves below Lovecraft, where a door to a demonic world has been found. Ben Locke works to create a lock and key in order to keep this door shut for forever, but also uses some of ...

Just as the whole series of Locke & Key started out gruesome and somewhat upsetting, so does Keys to the Kingdom hit the same stride. Developments are made regarding the identity of the dark woman, and teenage hormones run wild as relationships are formed, splintered, patched, and ultimately scarred beyond ever returning to the way they were. And poor little Bode is left taking more hits than he should, as he is essentially left at the mercy of the actions of his siblings and the consequences of their decisions with the Keyhouse keys. We begin with some seemingly normal issues for a family to have, with young Bode having difficulty making friends: the drawing style from his point of view is even more along the lines of a Calvin & Hobbes-esque story than the typical Locke & Key artwork. But things soon start getting tangled and dark, as the Locke children are attacked multiple times, in multiple forms all created by the Dark Lady. New keys keep getting found in the ...

I am very much enjoying the Locke & Key graphic novel series, and am so glad that my sister is letting me read them (even before she has a chance to)! The plot keeps moving along at a not-too-rapid pace, yet every volume is filled with new mysteries, developments, and dangers that this poor family has to face. I find it all to be so riveting, but then, this genre is really right up my alley. If you haven’t read any of the previous instalments of the series, you might be a loss as to my explanation coming up, but here’s what the 3 rd volume holds:   More pages turned in Locke & Key means more keys found at the Key house Estate, yet none of them seem to be the one to the “black door” that Zach/Lucas/Dodge is looking for (whatever his real name is). He is relentless in his search, looking to the ghost of Sam Lesser for help, and treading on the Locke children as they get in his way; he does this all while simultaneously maintaining a friendship with the children, who...

This series keeps drawing me in with so many questions and little mysteries about all of the different characters, and if someone hadn’t already borrowed my sister’s copy, I would have kept on with the 3 rd volume in this series immediately after finishing Head Games . There is something really refreshing about the familial mystery to be found in Locke & Key , with cleanly detailed artwork that just adds to the overall appeal. This second volume, Head Games , picks up with the Locke family, and the eerie new friend of Tyler’s, Zach, who was previously in the form of the woman in their old well house. Zach is recognized at the high school by one of the old professors, who identifies him as an old student that had disappeared over twenty years earlier. Zach sees this information as threatening his plans, and decides to “deal with” anyone who seems to recognize him even in the slightest. He does this all while posing as the nephew of the high school gym teacher, who appears to...

A recommendation from my sister who hasn’t even read this series yet, but she was told by my cousin that it is really good. And I have to say, the first volume of Locke & Key is a solid and intriguing start to this somewhat spooky and supernatural comic book series. Collecting the first 6 issues, volume 1 is entitled Welcome to Lovecraft and is written by Joe Hill, with engaging artwork by Gabriel Rodriguez: the artwork has a clean style that isn’t too flashy, and so doesn’t distract from the progression of the writing. Welcome to Lovecraft begins with the murder of a man in the presence of his three children, by two teenagers, one of whom knew Mr. Locke (the murdered man) as a school counselor, and also had had words with Mr. Locke’s eldest son, Tyler. After this grizzly event, the Locke children move with their mother to their family estate in Keyhouse. Each child tries to cope with the death of their father in a different way, though something is clearly a little strang...