Written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft is the first in a planned, lengthy series by Joe Hill (who is actually Joe King, Stephen King’s boy.) It’s about a family which is visited by tragedy and moves to a town fittingly called Lovecraft. Turns out, though, that fate is far from finished with them, as they begin to explore their new house and find that it is full of secrets – all of them powerful, and none particularly nice.

As far as characters go, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen in a horror book before – the desperate mother, the staunch eldest son, the troubled daughter the youngest kid (who may as well have the Shining given the way he behaves,) and the killer. However, in this book the characters are given room to spread and grow, and are entirely believable, which can’t be said for a great deal of books in the genre. They truly act like real people who have been through a particularly traumatic event, and the killer is a particularly nuanced creation. That being said, the stupidity and disbelief of many characters when confronted with the clearly supernatural is a King-esque trope that I would be happy to see the back of. Still, it’s dealt with to a small extent in the plot, and is more or less gone by the end of the book, which is a relief.

I don’t want to say much more for fear of spoiling the plot, but suffice it to say that this is a cracker of a story, and it certainly left me wanting more. The huge scope of the work promises that character development and plot won’t be neglected when the story is finally done, as happens far too often in otherwise promising comics. However, this would be one of the first times I’ve been unsure about the suitability of the graphic novel medium for a work. It’s not that Locke and Key doesn’t work as a comic – it does, very, well – it’s just that it clearly would have worked just as well as a non-graphic, and (as someone with more than a passing familiarity with Joe’s pop’s work) perhaps better. Furthering this impression is Gabriel Rodriguez’s art. Well drawn and pretty it is, but the rather cartoony style, while excellent for rendering expression, seems a little off in a horror book such as this. Then again, perhaps it’s better for it. You don’t expect to see a pretty, cartoony girl with a hole blown through her head (unless you are a connoisseur of a certain brand of anime) but when you do, it certainly drives the point home that things are very wrong in Lovecraft. By the end, I was hooked, and feeling surprised to be so, as I’d certainly had my doubts when beginning the book. But, having finished, I can see how Locke and Key earned its Eisner award nomination, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. Do check it out.