I just finished reading the fourth volume of the comic series Locke & Key, "Keys to the Kingdom", and really, really enjoyed it. So I wanted to see if I could get some discussion of the series going.
For those that haven't heard of it, Locke & Key is a comic book series written by Joe Hill (the pen name of one of Stephen King's sons - his other work is really good, too, similar to his dad's) and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. It tells the story of the Locke family - when father Rendell is tragically murdered, his wife and three children move in with his brother. He lives in a huge, old colonial mansion called Key House in Lovecraft, Massachusetts (yes, a not-entirely subtle allusion, there). In the mansion, the Locke kids Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode discover strange keys that unlock extraordinary abilities, and also an old enemy of the Locke family that will stop at nothing to possess all the keys...
The story is great - lots of interesting characters, and discovering new keys and their powers is really fun. The story can be very suspenseful at times, as well. It keeps you reading, and you'll suffer withdrawal waiting for the next installment (like I am now). And the illustrations are gorgeous - colorful, dynamic, with a great stylized look. If you like comics at all, you really need to check it out.
So, for those that are already fans, here's some stuff for discussion (watch out for spoilers past this point. If you haven't read them yet, go do it now!):
What's your favorite scene in the series? Or your favorite character?
What do you think is the coolest key?
A couple things I really loved in "Keys to the Kingdom":
For those that haven't heard of it, Locke & Key is a comic book series written by Joe Hill (the pen name of one of Stephen King's sons - his other work is really good, too, similar to his dad's) and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. It tells the story of the Locke family - when father Rendell is tragically murdered, his wife and three children move in with his brother. He lives in a huge, old colonial mansion called Key House in Lovecraft, Massachusetts (yes, a not-entirely subtle allusion, there). In the mansion, the Locke kids Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode discover strange keys that unlock extraordinary abilities, and also an old enemy of the Locke family that will stop at nothing to possess all the keys...
The story is great - lots of interesting characters, and discovering new keys and their powers is really fun. The story can be very suspenseful at times, as well. It keeps you reading, and you'll suffer withdrawal waiting for the next installment (like I am now). And the illustrations are gorgeous - colorful, dynamic, with a great stylized look. If you like comics at all, you really need to check it out.
So, for those that are already fans, here's some stuff for discussion (watch out for spoilers past this point. If you haven't read them yet, go do it now!):
What's your favorite scene in the series? Or your favorite character?
What do you think is the coolest key?
A couple things I really loved in "Keys to the Kingdom":
The Calvin & Hobbes homage when Bode turns into a bird with the Beast Key. It shows how great an artist Rodriguez is - he nailed Bill Watterson's style perfectly. And Bode's dialogue turned really Calvin-like, with a way bigger vocabulary than a little kid should have. Loved this part, it totally elevated this comic from "great" to "amazing".
And my favorite key would probably have to be the Harlequin Key, that unlocks the closet stuffed with more keys and crazy magic artifacts, like the set of wings and the super-strength amulet. At first, I thought it was too much, and kind of lazy on Hill's part - after Bode finds it, we're shown a sequence of single pictures of the Locke kids in crazy fights for their lives against key magic, where before they would be fully-fleshed out "set pieces". It just seemed glossed-over. But then it clicked when later, Tyler is looking at a calendar and notices all that stuff happened only on weekends. Then I understood why it was done that way and appreciated it more. And just looking at that picture of the closet stuffed with magic toys makes my imagination race
And my favorite key would probably have to be the Harlequin Key, that unlocks the closet stuffed with more keys and crazy magic artifacts, like the set of wings and the super-strength amulet. At first, I thought it was too much, and kind of lazy on Hill's part - after Bode finds it, we're shown a sequence of single pictures of the Locke kids in crazy fights for their lives against key magic, where before they would be fully-fleshed out "set pieces". It just seemed glossed-over. But then it clicked when later, Tyler is looking at a calendar and notices all that stuff happened only on weekends. Then I understood why it was done that way and appreciated it more. And just looking at that picture of the closet stuffed with magic toys makes my imagination race
