The place where I write about the things that make my braincogs churn and/or generate a flash of my pearly whites.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Locke and Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft.
LOCKE AND KEY Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft.
Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.
<em>An absolute masterpiece of gorgeously layered characters, stories and events. A family is devastated by a freak event that shapes and dictates their futures in ways that even the darkest imagination couldn't conjure. Until Joe Hill, that is. Rarely is a story so gripping from the outset and rarely is fiction so relatable, so shocking and so real.
“Oh, god that sounds thoroughly delicious”. And then somehow…Locke and Key disappeared from my interest utterly by accident. It’s less than unusual for me to have anything fewer than 5 reads on the go at any given period, so it’s likely I just got lost in something else. Shamefully, it’s taken all of this time – the best part of 4 whole English years for me to pull my finger out, and into the pages of this delight.
Firstly, I must draw reader’s attention to the paperback cover of this particular volume which features the ‘key’ centrally in spot UV. Fans of graphic design and general aesthetic beauty will appreciate this immediately, as once you’ve seen it, you will too.
As soon as I turned to page the first the undeniable lushness of the art inside set my drool jets off. Do not pass GO. Do not collect £200. Just sit there in awe for a little while. The last time I felt utterly disarmed by facking bad ass art was, I think Glenn Fabry’s Arseface in Garth Ennis’ PREACHER. Well done and thank you, Gabriel Rodriguez. Thank you.
What you really want from stories in comics is something to care about; an emotional investment to carry and pique your interest. You also need a twist, the ol’ faithful trick of ‘keeping you guessing’. Then we need someone to die. Usually someone who’s been painted (or drawn) as a morally just and warm human being…so we miss ‘em when they’re gone. Welcome to Lovecraft covered alla those bases in the first twenty-five pages. By page 35 or so, we’re given details on the already shocking, straight outta left field ball we just got thrown…before we even knew which field we were ON.
One of the first characters we encounter makes me feel like I’ve been utterly knocked off my comfy chair and onto a rug made of 2 inch nails. Naked. Every character from there and before is so accurately representative of human emotion, that in itself would be sufficient in singing the praises of this amazing work, but that’s only one of its myriad brilliant layers. Jo Hill's masterful manner brings out the best and worst in society and every single one of us.
Ticking all the boxes in the first 60 pages for an undisputed work of art, does not in any way soften the punches that it packs throughout its entirety. The gift that keeps on giving? The series that absolutely never fails to give you exactly what you never even knew you needed…and this is only volume one.
Reminiscent of those episodes of Goosebumps that scared you the most. A little like Eerie Indiana if it was on at 10pm.The things that scared you as a kid that are the source of morbid fear as adults. Interdimentional play like the multiverses and timelines on Fringe with a generous helping of nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Locke and Key Welcome to Lovecraft grabbed me with both fists as soon as I walked through the door and is still leaving me with bruises as I walk through the next. So affecting, it’s infectious.
Labels:
0z,
comics,
Joe Hill,
Locke and Key,
Rodriguez
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