The story of Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft starts with a seemingly random act of violence–two deranged kids show up at a family’s home and kill the father. This initial act is told haltingly between the incident, the funeral and the arrival to the family’s new home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts.
It seems heavy handed, but of course creepy things are going to ensue in Lovecraft, MA, where the family unsettles and encounters the mysteries of the house. The youngest, Bodie, discovers by accident that he can walk out a door and die, float free as a spirit, return to his body and un-die. He also befriends a ghost at the bottom of the outhouse well. Meanwhile, the middle sibling, Kinsey takes to school and finds a spot on the girls track team. Ty, the oldest, broods quietly. The latter two siblings refuse to believe Bodie and unknowingly cross paths with harbingers of future plot points.
The story unfolds, following the surviving deranged killer across country as he seeks a powerful key for a spirit that seems to be guiding him. This book sets up the premise of the house with keys that open doors to places or states of being. The art is well done by Gabriel Rodriguez, and the story is solid, penned by Joe Hill (aka son of Steven King). It’s violent, bloody and people say ‘fuck’ a lot.
After one collection, it’s hard to say how well developed the characters are, for example, we see more of the killer and what makes him crack than we do of the mother. Bodie seems to be the kid no one listens to, Kinsey’s the self aware girl that feels out of place and Ty is the misunderstood jock who ultimately does right. Again, it’s a solid story with enough of a premise that could go a long way, so it will be interesting to see if the characters develop being their archetypes.