A New King of Horror

By Chip Schrader
Book Review Editor

MAINE —

Maine born Joe Hill’s stab at the exploding Graphic Novel genre follows up his chilling debut novel Heart Shaped Box. Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft follows a family’s return to a small town that is haunted by its own past. It has all of the elements of Gothic tale: a Giant house, a tragic family story, unfinished business, portals to other worlds, and of course, demons.
Following the violent death of their father, the Locke kids (Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode) move from San Francisco into a creepy old coastal New England mansion that every town seems to have. Tyler lives with the great guilt of having befriended the kid who would eventually murder his father.
Meanwhile, the youngest child, Bode, finds a doorway in the house that functions as a portal to the other side that knocks his soul out of his body. During these out of body experiences, Bode finds comfort in experiencing what it’s like to be a ghost as he watches his siblings from the other side and notices his own body looks like “a sock with no foot in it.” One day while playing outside, Bode meets a voice at the bottom of a well he calls “Echo” who is looking for a way out. As we can assume, Bode is in for a world of trouble.
Tyler and Kinsey are wrapped up in their own issues with grieving their father’s death, teen angst, peer pressure, and a new community and school to really pay much attention to what is going on with Bode. Adding to this, the kid who killed their father takes a bloody cross-country trek to eventually find himself in Lovecraft, Massachusetts where he can finish his job.
As the story proceeds, the many threads and characters intertwine into a stunning climax where the pages cannot be turned quickly enough. Hill creates intricate ties within a deceptively complex story. The characters and the story line are far more complex than the typical tale of terror, but with Hill’s masterful pacing and writing, it reads smoothly and logically.
Coupled with Hill’s sharp prose are the amazing full color illustrations of Gabriel Rodriguez. He doesn’t need to rely on blood and gore to render strange and terrifying imagery, although there are some pretty gruesome scenes. The characters are drawn with lifelike expression and detail, and the landscapes and architectures keep with the tone of the writing. The colors are vivid and they pop off of the page, and his use of angles gives the reader a more cinematic experience. Once the story is memorized after several readings, the illustrations are worth revisiting again and again.
This graphic novel hit the shelves last October, and has spawned a monthly series of comic books early this year. Graphic novels and comic books are immediately dismissed as kid’s stuff, but be warned, this book is not for children. It is a dark, brooding occult masterpiece that echoes the works of Alastair Crowley and H.P. Lovecraft, as the fictitious town is in reference to. The series will become a monthly habit for me to drop by the comic book shop to pick up the latest issue.
As far as the author, Joe Hill was born Joseph Hillstrom King, and grew up in Bangor. Anyone keeping track of the mythos of Maine authors knows that Stephen King resides in Bangor part of the year and happens to be the father of Joe Hill. According to Wikipedia, Hill chose to use this pseudonym so that he could earn readership upon his own merits, rather than as “the son of Stephen King.” Heart Shaped Box and Locke and Key are the work of rare talent. Joe Hill has easily earned his right to be at the helm of contemporary horror. Locke and Key is a must read.
Photo caption: Maine Author Joe Hill’s new graphic novel Locke and Key. (Courtesy photo)