THE DEEP ONES: "Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft" by Joe Hill

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Discussion begins December 26th

First published in 2008. Pictured is the 2009 collected edition cover.



ONLINE VERSIONS

No legal online versions available.

PRINT VERSIONS

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, February–July 2008, IDW Comics
Welcome to Lovecraft

MISCELLANY

http://joehillfiction.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hill_%28writer%29
http://www.idwpublishing.com/lockekey/
http://tinyurl.com/cde2bql

I'm excited for this. I'll be using this week's read to kick off a re-read of the entire series.

>2 paradoxosalpha:

I'm kind of excited about this one, too. If it works out, perhaps we can do some other comics (or even more L&K) in the future. The series itself wraps up in 5 more issues!

Yes, the whole series is scheduled to finish in mid-2013.

Reading this again after having read a few of the successor volumes brought into great relief how intricately plotted the story was from its inception. There are all sorts of half-references and foreshadowings in Welcome to Lovecraft.

I love Rodriguez's art. The comparison that has occurred to me in the past is with Rick Geary.

I think the similarity has to do with the use of line and perspective. Rodriguez's characters are certainly more naturalistic, and even more distinctive than Geary's.

What, is everybody on vacation or something? Remember, weird is 24x7: don't be caught napping.

This is another case where I thank the WT group for leading me out of my usual reading orbit. I knew Joe Hill only for Heart-Shaped Box and I had never seen anything by Rodriguez.

>5 paradoxosalpha:, yes on the intricate plotting. This is what I like best: plenty to look for in the future volumes.

I was struck by the color choices by Jay Fotos. The muted pastels suggest that all the characters are in a state of abaissement du niveau mental. Who is fully conscious in this story? Sam is aware of what he is doing and that is how he takes everybody else by surprise, but he does not see that he, too is being manipulated by the 'echo'.

The dull color of all the blood which is spattered makes it appear that everybody in Lovecraft suffers from hypoxemia.

Having come to know these characters so well over the past several years, it's a pleasure to go back and re-read the first 6 parts. Hill has his father's masterful touch of making his characters seem very real. The violence is over-the-top and yet remains a necessary part of the storytelling process. And once we get to the house.... I especially enjoy Bode's initial explorations of the first door. His child's eye view allows for complete acceptance and no fear!

>5 paradoxosalpha:

I can see the Geary influence, especially in the way the panels are structured. Good call.

This is a great graphic novel! Thank you for introducing it to me. I especially like the character development of the family that moved to 'Keyhouse'. The writing style is very reminescent of Clive Barker, where a family are coping with a traumatic event from their past. The artwork is stylized for a comic book format, but the compositions and angle of perspective are very dynamic, and pull you further into the story. Are we going to continue with this series or was this a one off? Regardless, I would like to pick up later volumes and see where the creators take me with this.

I found it surprising that we got backstory on Sam Lesser to make him almost a little sympathetic.

I think that Locke & Key relates to HPL's "The Silver Key" because of the importance of time as an organizing principle of the story, along with its rejection as an absolute boundary of experience. The little hints about Duncan's generation in Lovecraft (especially the photo from the school play) touch off what will become an elaborate circulation of narrative between past and present: the idea of unlocking memories and personal histories becomes more and more intense in later volumes of the series.

ETA: Here's my characterization of "The Silver Key" comparing it to Machen's "A Fragment of Life": a disenchanted protagonist connecting with a mythic stratum of reality through nostalgia and family history. In Locke & Key, the protagonists are not merely disenchanted, but traumatized. Otherwise, it fits the model.

>9 paradoxosalpha: You know, after reading Locke & Key, I cracked open my 'Best of' and re-read the Silver Key. I definetly see the inspiration. Not just disenchantment and trauma but also the multi-faceted potential to 'Keyhouse'. The 'Silver Key' unlocked the Dreamlands for Randolph Carter, and here in 'Locke & Key' have a plethora of keys opening different doors to different realms, and the 'Echo' now has the anywhere key. Very nice.

>9 paradoxosalpha:,10

A fine comparison with "The Silver Key". It's a rather subtle influence, but I agree that it is there. There are some more overtly Lovecraftian... references... later in the series (besides the obvious one of the title for the beginning storyline). Read on, lammassu! L&K is great horror, period, and there are some sequences that will truly surprise you.

I finally got my hands on a copy so I'll throw my two cents in.

Given that it's really the opening of a much larger drama, one with a lot of loose threads at the end, I don't have many observations to add.

I wouldn't have thought about Lovecraft's "The Silver Key" without it being mentioned, but, yes, thematic similarities are there.

I wonder if and how the reference to "The Tempest" will play out with Rendell Locke and "Zack"'s character (who, it seems, would be Caliban if parallels are made between the novel and play).

I was somewhat amused by the dropped in names of literary figures: William Gaines (as in Mad Magazine) and Kelly Link.

And is it my imagination that killer Sam Lesser looks like a young Steven King? And is the last name "Lesser" an antonym off "King"?