Stephen King’s Son
So the joy of Marvel Zombies 2 is finally over and I need to spend those few pounds that I set aside for comic buying on something else. I normally look a bit bewildered at the array of primary colours and super heroes that face me, I end up picking up a comic only to find its currently on issue 7500 and is set during the extended universe in which every one is some sort of pig and conflicts with the reality that is currently being portrayed in the z timeline series but you must read both version to truly understand what is going on (oh Marvel how I hate you sometimes). Any way I was reading through a back issue of sfx whilst I was on the loo (ahhh small pleasures) and they gave a new publication called Locke and Key a rather favourable review so I though that looks like the job for me. And it was!
Continue past the break for more.
So we are only up to issue two of this rather niffty comic and I am hooked. The story is basically the father of a family consisting of one mother, two sons and a daughter is rather brutally killed. The mother goes I think we need to have a bran spanking new life how convenient that there is an old family home we can move into on the complete opposite side of America to where we are now. So far so stereotypical. But of course the story telling can make it rather special, in issue one the story is told from the perspective of the eldest child who is dealing with issues of guilt that he could have done more. In all honesty the story telling is a little confusing on the first chapter but it helps express the boys own confusion of what has just happened.
This starkly contrasts with issue 2 which is told from the view of the youngest child. His story is told in a far more simple style and is genuinely funny as he discovers the mysteries of the old house. On top of all this going on there are random one shots to mental institute where a women is trying desperately to escape. Joe Hill has definitely learned a few tricks from his fathers earlier work and tells a well paced story you can also tell he has a deep love and understanding of the comic book form and expects the reader to have the same comic book vocabulary as him as he tells the story through silent panels and having characters in the foreground being in a different time period to those in the background. But it all makes sense as you read.