Locke & Key, Vol 1 (udgave 2008)

Magical keys and doors are not a new motif, but Hill and Rodriguez's take is still very well done. The focus is often on the doors (as the main passageways to magic), but I rather enjoyed the twist that the keys are the important parts this time around. We've only introduced to a few of the themed keys so far, so the series has a lot of potential for growth.

Where the authors stick with convention is with their characters. Three children (siblings) are the protagonists and become the centre focus after their father is murdered. This first storyline focuses on Bode (the youngest) more than the other two, since it is he who encounters the creepy woman in the well and who finds the first few keys. Being a child he is almost completely taken in by the well woman, so he becomes her method to getting the keys she needs to escape from the well. She may have gotten what she wants for now, but Bode seems to have wised up to her ulterior motives. ( )

An old roommate of mine loaned the first three collections of this to me; I'm only revisiting them now through Comixology. This is truly great stuff - it's really creepy, but grounded...but at the same time hinting at even greater horrors to come. I'm usually not much of a horror comics guy, but I really enjoyed this - I think I attribute that to both Joe Hill being great (of course) and Gabriel Rodriguez nailing the look - it's not hyper-realistic but it feels "right" for the series. ( )

Really violent and dark, so not my normal cup of tea. I didn't think I'd like it halfway through, but then the mystery and ghostly elements sucked me in. I liked the quick flashbacks, revealing small pieces of each character's backstory. They were small enough to not distract from the current timeline, but gave just enough information to be useful. The artwork was not my taste, but worked well with the dark elements; just a bit gory and harsh for my enjoyment. I need a break but will definitely read the next volume to get some more answers. ( )

http://teensniper.tumblr.com/post/62013719357/150-books-in-2013-67 ( )

Feels like the start of something good - Hill sets up his world of curious keys with magical properties with a grisly murder, a serial killer on the hunt and a mysterious woman inside a well. Definitely looking forward to reading the next two volumes. Thanks to Jim Zubkavich for recommending this book to me. ( )