Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, Illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez

Title: Locke and Key
Author: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez (Illustrator)
Publication Date: February 2013
Age Range: Adult
Genre(s): Graphic Novel, Horror, Fantasy
Source: Hoopla
Pages: 168
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Synopsis

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…

Review:

This is my second attempt at Joe Hill and I’m still not sure how I feel about his writing. Overall, this story was intriguing. I am curious to see how the story develops and where it goes. I knew going into this that it was going to be gory and yeah, it is. Lots of gore, and associated violence. If that’s not something you’re in to, you might want to pass on this one.

I think the biggest downfall of this graphic novel is that it felt like it had to set up too much for it’s run time and it explained absolutely nothing. I know a lot of graphic novels use subsequent issues to further develop their world, but I wish we got anything in this issue. I feel like I barely know the characters and other than the presumed goal of searching for keys, I don’t really feel like I know anything about this graphic novel.

I do want to continue on and pick up another volume or two, but I don’t feel the urge to rush into it.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this had an interesting premise. I like creepy family secrets and mysterious houses, but I really hope we get more in subsequent volumes. I want to understand the story and the characters more, but I also don’t have the intense pull to keep reading. I think I’m going to give this series a few more volumes before making an official verdict on this series.