It’s been more than a year since I last read the first Locke & Key mini-series. While the first mini was a prologue, this mini starts the story proper, already giving us a lot of back-story into the character of Dodge.
My memory is very short, so I must admit I forgot about many of the details of the first story. So when I started to read this story I was a little confused. I only knew that Zack Wells was evil and he was pretending to be the Locke’s friend.
Right in the first issue we know that he’s the ghost of a teenager who disappeared many years ago. His past is tied to the Lockes, especially Duncan, though we still don’t the details of that past yet.
The main attraction to this story is the way the new key works. We’ve seen keys that open doors and change the people who go through them, so I thought we’d see more of that. Instead, Hill and Rodriguez completely surprise us with this new key. It’s a concept so cool that I wonder if it’s been done before. Probably not with a key. I want to discuss that here, so if you haven’t read this story, please try it.
SPOILERS WARNING!!
The visual of Bode’s head opened like that was very cool and disturbing, as was seeing his siblings reaction. It’s at the same time abstract and material, so even though it’s just weird, I didn’t find myself bothered by the details, like where is the top of the head? How do they look into their own head? How can you put a book inside it? How do you know what to take out? It’s just a cool concept and visual, including taking out Kinsey’s fear, or taking out a memory.
The end of the mini is very satisfying, because it tells us how dodge came to be with Ellie, how he mentally controlled her (though it’s more subtle than that), and that he is the lady from the well. Were we supposed to know already, or was that a revelation? It was to me, so I enjoyed it.
But the overall story is far from over, there will be at least 5 more minis, so I can’t wait to read more. Kudos to Hill and Rodriguez for creating one the most visually disturbing comics I’ve ever read.