Title: Locke & Key, Vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Series Title: Locke & Key
Author: Joe Hill
Illustrator: Gabriel Rodriguez
Date Added: September 28, 2016
Date Started: July 3, 2017
Date Finished: July 15, 2017
Reading Duration: 12 days
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural/Paranormal, Graphic Novel
Recommended By: Cupcakes and Machetes
Pages: 168
Publication Date: September 29, 2008
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Media: Paperback
Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them. Home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…
This book had some big shoes to fill since the last graphic novel series I finished was Saga (and I’m still impatiently waiting for Volume 8 to come out in January). Once I became used to the different art style though, I realized the excellent creepiness of the story. The beginning is a bit confusing with how it jumps back and forth between the then and now, a very important distinction since the demarcation is a horrendously tragic event. There’s some obfuscation on who the central character of the story is going to be, and though there’s a little bit of point of view switching, the protagonist is most decidedly Bode (whose name I’m not sure how to pronounce. As is? Boh-dee?) instead of his older brother who captures more of the focus at the beginning, but is much more of a minor character with Kinsey, the sister, filling a more important role in both the present and the past.
In showing just a few portals of the Keyhouse and their fantastic effect, the creators open up a myriad doors of possibility that can be explored in later volumes, and once more a fiction/fantasy proves that if a kid tells you something, fucking believe them. Bode attempts to show Kinsey the “ghost door,” and she just thinks he’s messing around. It’s a well worn cliche that teenagers are jaded, but it would be a nice turnaround to have someone older who’d potentially have more influence and power believe a younger character.
The villainous threat is extremely creepy and made even more so when you realize one of them is merely mundane (though still not completely) Nor has anything been completely vanquished by the end, though the arc of this first volume does have a satisfactory conclusion, the overarching theme of the Lovecraftian manse is just beginning.
4 stars.
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
Ahhhhh! Wait til you see! It’s so damn good.
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Oh I’m sure! I wish Barnes and Noble carried more variety of non-DC/Marvel comics. Besides Saga it’s so difficult to find anything in store!
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I just order everything online from InStockTrades myself
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I’ll have to look into that! Some graphic novels aren’t too expensive, but sometimes you’ll find ones that are over $10 a volume. I could buy them on Amazon on BN’s website, but if that one has better prices, it might become my new spot.
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Love this series. Everything builds fantastically in the long run. No spoilers here though!
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I’m definitely buying the next one soon! I’ve been relying on the library for my graphic novel fix, which is great, but if I already own the first one of a series, I’m going to keep up the pattern 🙂
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Yay, I’ve been so excited to read your review for this. 🙂
I’m so glad you liked the first installment, and it definitely only gets better and better the further you get into the series.
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I’m excited to read the next one. Graphic novels are an easy way to pad a reading list/challenge, too :p
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Haha They really are! 😛
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I’m glad you enjoyed it! I still need to read volume 2. 🙂
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Me too! I should just order it from Amazon or BN, whichever one has the lowest price. I should have some coupons coming to me from BN at some point since I just signed up again for their yearly membership.
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My husband had bought me a yearly membership a little over a year ago and I used the crap out of it. But now we live much further away from any bookstore let alone BN, so I’ll probably end up doing a lot of amazon shopping now.
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It’s like the only major chain bookstore left, so if you don’t live near one, you’re pretty much SOL when it comes to having a brick and mortar option unless you’re lucky enough to have an independent one near you. I don’t think any more chain bookstores even exist now. Borders is gone, and I can’t recall if there was anything else besides BN. I try to go to my local one at least once a month, not that my tiny expenditure is going to keep it open haha, but a lady who loves to read has to try!
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There are a couple independent book stores in Ann Arbor but I live even further from them now. I think you’re right, I think BN is the only chain left. I’m trying to be good and not buy any books before Christmas, but I do have to buy my book club choice for this month. (It’s probably been a year since I’ve had to do that, seems like everything else that wins the library has.)
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Seems interesting! So. Many. Things. To Read. 😦 I can’t wait for Saga Vol 8 either.
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TOO many things to read D: I’m almost at 530 on my TBR list, and I promised myself I’d keep it under 500.
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