Locke And Key: Welcome to Lovecraft [Paperback]

Okay, that may be a *little* sensationalist. I bought a special edition paperback first chapter of Locke and Key after a friend recommended it to me - my usual reads are Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned, The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 and more recently Shade, the Changing Man: The American Scream v. 1. Locke and Key didn't disappoint. The artwork is crisp, good-looking and suited to the storyline. The characters have actual depth, and the storyline is genuinely intriguing, unlike a lot of the dross that seems to be floating around at the moment. If you're a fan of horror fiction in any format, get this.

Put it this way - I liked it so much I bought the hardcover edition, then wishlisted volumes 2, 3 and 4 in hardcover for my next payday.

The story begins.... hmmm, see that's the thing with this comic - I'm three words into this review and I've already lied to you. I'll try again.
So bad things happen to the Locke family and the survivors move out to a creepy house on an island. Some of the issues focus on one of the kids in particular. They're all traumatised or changed in some way. I think I liked Bode the best. He's the youngest kid.
The opening panel of this book shows a door. There's going to be a lot of doors in this book - it's one of the recurring archetypal symbols. So get used to the doors, and the locks, and the keys, and the reflections.
Sometimes you get a comic where either the art or the script is carried by the other. That isn't the case here. Both are great. Joe Hill tells a twisty dark story with well formed characters, good pacing and plenty of mystery and suspense. And Gabriel Rodriguez is just brilliant. I love his use of perspective on this book. Forget limited focal range - there's often stuff going on in the foreground and the background and degrees in-between. I think his brain is hooked up to one of those swoopy camera boom things, trying to get the angle that is best for the shot. Take the opening panels for instance. We can see the two guys at the door are hiding knives and a gun but the panel from Nina Locke's perspective just shows two goofy guys standing half in the doorway. Nina is looking past them at their truck. Full page panel showing Nina's cottage in the background and the truck in the foreground. In the back of the truck is a blood stained tarp covering two bodies. We can see all that - Nina can't. Genius. Ok some of it is directed by Joe Hill (I've seen his original script) but Rodriguez really does a great job of turning his directions into vibrant visuals. You have to read these slow just to make sure you don't miss any of the little details. That butterfly worried me. I still haven't figured out what the hell it signifies.
Tip for reading this book: Don't read it in one sitting. Like a lot of comic book series it wasn't designed to be read all at once. I'm not saying read it one issue a month like it's initial publication but at least make it one issue per day. It's a good rule for any serialised comic book. Take the conclusion to the first issue. It really creeped me out. I was thinking about what had happened to Bode when he went through the doorway all night - I think I even dreamed about it. Live with the characters for a while, puzzle out the mysteries and prolong the suspense.

This is a fantastic first volume of a brilliant story. Buy it while it's ridiculously cheap, buy 'em all. Now.