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IDW's Locke & Key is one of the most successful indie comics to be published in the last 20 years. This intriguing, creepy tale follows the Locke family, who moved into their labyrinthine, gothic family home in Massachusetts after a tragic act of violence killed the family's father. The Locke children, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode, arrived at the mysterious, Victorian-era Key House where they live with their mother and uncle, and almost immediately began discovering mysteries surrounding the property and their family history. The secrets of Key House helped distract the children from their recent trauma but also plunged them into further danger. That danger truly started taking shape in Issue #2 of the series.
As the son of noted writers Tabitha and Stephen King, Locke & Key's author Joe Hill has mystery and horror in his blood. This was Hill’s first foray into comic book writing and was an incredible success. Locke & Key was also the first notable title for Chilean artist Gabriel Rodriguez, who was nominated for an Eisner award for his work on the series. Rodriguez’s bold and clear illustrations perfectly set the scene for the gothic feel of the series, complementing the intricacies of the story beautifully. To this day, Locke & Key remains one of the best examples of indie comic horror and suspense in print. The series was published for over a decade, spawning seven collections of comics, and a successful Netflix TV adaptation.
Welcome to Lovecraft
The initial volume of Locke & Key was subtitled "Welcome to Lovecraft," the name of the Massachusetts town where the Locke family’s Key House was located. It was also an obvious nod to H.P. Lovecraft, one of the most famous horror authors of all time. When the story began, however, the Locke family was located in California. In the first issue, the family was subjected to a horrific home invasion that resulted in the brutal murder of Rendell Locke, the family’s father. Adding to that trauma, teenage Tyler was forced to defend himself against one of the attackers. He was nearly shot and had to beat his attacker unconscious with a brick. The family’s mother also was forced to turn to violence to defend her family, using a hatchet to kill the other invader. The family moved to Massachusetts for a fresh start, but accompanied by their fresh and severe trauma.
Although the first issue of Locke & Key was terrifying, illustrating the universal fear of violence breaching the safety of the family’s home, Issue #2 is where the series truly begins to take shape. In Issue #2 (by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jay Fotos & Robbie Robbins), readers start to get a glimpse of the supernatural elements of the story, which form the basis for most of the horror and suspense elements to come. Here the youngest child, Bode, finds a key that unlocks a foreboding door. When he passes through the door, his body drops to the floor, and he's able to fly around the property as a spirit, investigating mysteries and observing the other residents. This is how he finds the strange woman trapped at the bottom of the well. Like him, she seemed to be a ghost, and while Bode thought she was beautiful, her reflection told a different story. Worse, as Bode would find out much later, she was also somehow behind the attack on the family.
Children In Horror Stories
Joe Hill heightened the suspense in Locke & Key by focusing on the child characters. Humans have an inherent instinct to protect children, so by placing young characters in danger, readers are instinctively more concerned for the kids than they would be for the adults in the story. In addition, the innocence of the children exists in direct contrast to the depravity of the villains. This emphasizes Bode's complete innocence and the Woman in the Well's malignance. When Bode meets this stranger in Issue #2, readers can feel the wrongness of the situation in a way that an innocent kid simply doesn’t see, increasing the readers' tension.
Horror stories also ramp up their tension by isolating characters. In Locke & Key, only the children are able to see and remember the supernatural properties of Key House and its magical keys. This creates a barrier between the children and the surrounding adults, giving them no one to turn to for help. This is foreshadowed by Bode’s isolation in Issue #2. Bode is the Locke family's youngest child, and he discovers the first of many magical keys hidden around Key House. Although his siblings eventually learn about the keys and their amazing properties, in this issue, no one believes him when he tries to tell them about the Ghost Key. Bode attempts to tell his teacher, his mother, and his two siblings, but the only person who believes him is the suspicious woman in the well, which also helps to cement her influence over the innocent child.
The Importance Of Horror Villains
Every good horror story needs a dangerous and terrifying villain. By Issue #2 of Locke & Key, readers have been introduced to two such characters, who are both chilling in different ways. In the first issue, the Locke children’s father was murdered by a teenager named Sam Lesser, his student and a former classmate of the oldest Locke child, Tyler. Although Tyler was able to incapacitate Lesser, the murderous teen survived and ended up in prison. The comic continued following Lesser in prison, and it became clear that his role in the Locke family’s lives was far from over. Lesser’s willingness to commit violence and his mental instability, combined with his history of violence against the family and his inexplicable desire for revenge, invokes a primal fear in the reader who fears that sort of violence in their own life.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Woman in the Well. At this point in the story, the reader doesn’t know very much about this mysterious character, but by the end of Issue #2, it’s clear that she is not a good person. The woman only reveals herself to the young, innocent Bode, and she uses his naivete to gain his trust and isolate him from the rest of his family. She's also surrounded by a supernatural mystery that she won't explain. She states that she is unable to leave the well, and yet she appears to be alive and healthy. Tyler notes that there are no footprints in the Well House other than Bode’s, so she must have been in the well for a long time. The creepiest details about the woman emerge at the end of the issue. Bode brings her a mirror and a pair of scissors. When she holds the mirror up, readers can see that her reflection reveals a grotesque, rotting corpse. It's also clear that she is trying to help Sam Lesser escape from prison so he can pursue the Lockes, presumably to commit further violence against the family.
Locke & Key is a gripping, suspenseful story of supernatural horror. This creative and intriguing story launched a successful comics career for its writer Joe Hill, and reached a wide audience, first through its successful comic issues and compilations, and then through its adaptation as a TV show. The horror and suspense of the story started from the very first issue, with moments of extreme, shocking violence that triggered universal fears in its readers. That horror evolved more subtly over time, though, as the family found apparent safety in a new home, but readers discovered an entirely new set of supernatural threats facing the wounded mother and children.
By combining innocent and sympathetic protagonists with extreme danger and chilling villains, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez created a classic of horror comics that still holds up to this day. By inserting moments of joy and wonder into the story through its magical components, and by making sure that both its heroes and villains are frighteningly smart, Locke & Key is balanced in ways that let readers of all stripes enjoy its story, even if they are not typically fans of intense horror. For any readers looking for an interesting and chilling read this spooky season, Locke & Key is an excellent choice to get them into the Halloween mood.