Crown of Shadows? Whispering Iron? Lovecraft, MA? A look into the amazing world of IDW’s Locke & Key.
Set in the fictional town of Lovecraft, MA, IDW’s Locke & Key is an amazingly heartfelt yet terrifying story crafted by the superior horror writer Joe Hill. Along with beautiful artwork by Gabriel Rodriguez, the story centers on three children dealing with some horrific life circumstances, both of the normal and paranormal nature.
Throughout the 39 issues, plus some extra one-shots, readers are treated to the history of the Keyhouse, and of the family that has owned it for hundreds of years; the Locke family. It’s an incredibly emotionally driven story, which is often absent in other stories told in the genre. Even if you’re not traditionally an avid comic book reader, these now collected stories are a must read for horror and fantasy fans alike.
With a Hulu series in the works, I thought a brief dive into the source material would be a good way to get up to speed.
The series ran for six arcs, and I’ll dive into them below. What follows is more or less an overview of each, but if you haven’t read them yet, let it serve as a primer.
Welcome To Lovecraft/Head Games
In the first arc, Welcome to Lovecraft, the story begins with a horrific murder. Rendell Locke, husband to Nina and father to Tyler, Kinsey and Bode is killed by two teenagers looking for something from him. The fractured family moves to their family estate known as the Keyhouse in Massachusetts. Trying to move on, the kids enroll in the local schools, and Rendell’s brother Duncan moves in to help the family deal with the tragedy.
Bode, seemingly attuned to the weirdness going on at Keyhouse, begins to find strange keys around. Keys that when used do more than just open doors. The first of these is the Ghost key. With this key, stepping through any door enables the user to leave their body as a ghost. Bode uses this to explore at first, but soon meets a mysterious entity living in the homes wellhouse. While interacting with Bode, the female entity is also communicating with Sam Lesser, who is one of the teens responsible for Rendell’s murder. She helps him break out of prison, and he makes his way towards the Locke family to help find two other magical keys. By the end of the story, Sam is seemingly killed, but not before the wellhouse ghost Dodge gets what she needed and is set loose.
The next arc, Head Games, finds the Locke children trying to cope with a murder in their new hometown. There is also a new student befriending the family. Zack Wells. Zack is not who/what he appears to be. In this arc, the story touches on events in the towns past, primarily about Rendell’s time here in high school and the “disappearance” of several of his friends in the Drowning Cave below the Keyhouse. Zack, who has closely befriended Tyler, is also obsessed with finding keys on the property. What is revealed is that there is a major connection to the disappearance twenty years prior and with the keys found in the house.
Crown of Shadows/Keys to the Kingdom
Crown of Shadows explores more of the mystery around Keyhouse, and introduces some incredible new keys. Kinsey starts exploring the caves beneath her home, and uncovers more secrets from it’s past. The entity is hell bent on finding the mysterious Omega Key, whose purpose is still unknown. He increases his attacks of the Locke family on multiple fronts. An amazing showdown between Tyler and Dodge on the cliffs of Keyhouse is a highlight of this arc.
In Keys to the Kingdom, more characters from the Locke family’s past are revealed, and pose a threat to Dodge. Tyler begins to connect the dots between his friend Zack and the entity terrorizing them the past several months. The truth comes out about who Zack really is, and the “family” he has been staying with. There are also some great side stories in here, from the mind of a brave boy named Rufus Whedon. Rufus is one of the standout characters in this story, you’ll just have to read to know why.
Clockworks/Alpha & Omega
Clockworks steps backwards and starts to further explain the history of the household and the terror surrounding it. It’s learned that in the Drowning Cave beneath the estate is where the nightmare truly began. During the Revolutionary War, militia hiding in the cave discovered a doorway to another dimension. One of pure evil. Possessing all who pass through, Benjamin Locke discovers a way to seal the door. Unable to enter our world without taking a human host, demons who pass through the door transform into “Whispering Iron”. With this material, keys with special abilities are able to be made. The iron is used to seal the door, keeping the evil at bay.
It then jumps forward to 1988, to explore what really happened to Rendell Locke, descendent of Benjamin, and his friends during high school. Rendell and friends have used the keys throughout high school, but facing graduation, do not want to give up the magic that it has brought into their lives. Devising a plan that involves opening the sealed door with the Omega Key, they aim to recover more iron from beyond the veil. Things go awry, and a Child of Leng possesses one of the group. Faced with no other option, they kill their friend, but the choices they have made will haunt them and Rendell’s children 20 years later.
Back in the present, Dodge holds the Omega Key, and plans to open the door on prom night with obviously evil intentions. Alpha & Omega will tie it all up here. It all comes down to this night, when the Locke children and their friends face the ultimate evil. Some will pay a very steep price. As the story closes, the themes of family, destiny and friendship all come together. It’s an amazing conclusion, a real high point for the series to go out on. I won’t spoil it with any details, but it is an extremely satisfying conclusion.
Heaven and Earth
A collected edition of some various side stories called Heaven and Earth was just released in August of 2017. It contains a few side stories that were released in between the main series. The stand out here is Open the Moon. It’s a look at another Locke from the past, and a crafting of a new key. The Moon Key is my new favorite. Good luck not balling your eyes out at the end.
With a live-action show debuting next year, it would not surprise me if their were more tales in the works at IDW. I’d love to see Joe Hill continue the story. C’mon Joe, I know you got it in you!
All of these arcs are available in some beautiful collected editions, you can find them over at Amazon.
A company called Skeleton Crew Studio has also made some great replica keys from the series. Most are still available!
And on a side note, if you get the chance, any of Hill’s work is worth checking out. N0S4A2 and Horns are exceptional.
Mike Harris hails from the suburbs of Chicago and has been a fan for most of his life. Working as an industrial radiographer and raising a family with his wife take up most of his time, but there’s always room for Star Wars books and podcasts! Just looking to give back to Star Wars and the fan community, it’s been a source of fun and learning for him for so long.