Locke & Key is an American comic book series written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez and published by IDW Publishing.
Plot summary
This plot is presented in non-chronological order. During the American Revolution, a group of Rebels, hiding beneath the future Keyhouse, discover a portal to another dimension, the plains of Leng filled with demons who can mesmerize anyone that sees them and possess through touch. However, when the demons attempt to enter the real world, they collapse into lumps of "whispering iron", which young smith Benjamin Locke forges into a variety of magical keys, including the Omega Key, which seals the entrance to the dimension. The magic of the Keyhouse gradually evolves over the years, including a spell which causes occupants to forget about the keys and the magic of the house when they pass their 18th birthday. In 1988, a group of teenagers, having used the keys extensively in their high school years to their great delight, decide to open the black door with the Omega Key, hoping to trick a demon into entering the real world in order to provide more metal with which to make more keys. However, Rendell Locke's younger brother follows the group and is mesmerized by the door. Attempting to walk through it, he is stopped by Dodge, who accidentally puts his hand through the door, becoming possessed. After plotting and attempting to kill his friends and enslave the others at the behest of the Child of Leng possessing him, Dodge is killed by Rendell.
Many years later, Dodge's spirit reenters the physical world through the well at Keyhouse, due to actions taken by Dodge prior to his death. Trapped in the well, Dodge's spirit reaches out to a young abused prodigy, Sam Lesser, and convinces him to attack the Lockes and kill Rendell, looking for the Omega Key, as well as the Anywhere Key, which is capable of freeing Dodge from the well. After the gruesome murder of their father, the Locke kids, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode move with their mother Nina across the country to Keyhouse and begin discovering its secrets. Sam escapes prison and follows the Lockes to Massachusetts. He attacks the family again at Keyhouse, at which time Dodge tricks Bode into bringing him the Anywhere Key. Dodge escapes from the well, kills Sam and returns to Lovecraft in the same body as he had thirty years before.
Dodge re-enters high school under the guise of a new student, intimidating his way into the home of one of Kinsey's teachers and Dodge's former friends. Over the next year, Dodge secretly tries to recover the various keys - in particular the Omega Key - from the children, collecting many though hindered by Tyler and Kinsey. Dodge is eventually discovered but manages to switch bodies and possess Bode before they can kill him. Now free to explore the house as Bode, Dodge finally finds the Omega Key and plans his takeover after-prom party in the caves. Releasing several demons, many of the students are killed. Dodge is ultimately undone by Tyler and Dodge's spirit is forced back into the well, though Bode's empty body is cremated before Bode's soul has a chance to return to it. In the epilogue, Tyler returns to the well to finally free Dodge's spirit from the demon, having used a sliver of whispering iron inherited from his father to forge an "Alpha Key" capable of undoing possession. Tyler is able to speak with his father one last time, and restore Bode's physical form.
Publication history
The narrative of Locke & Key is structured in three acts. Each act consists of two storylines of six monthly issues. Act One's first story arc, Welcome to Lovecraft, was a six-issue limited series published by IDW Publishing. The first issue of Welcome to Lovecraft was released on February 20, 2008 and sold out in a single day, requiring a second printing to be done immediately.[1] The second arc of Act One, entitled Head Games, commenced with the release of the first issue on January 22, 2009.[2] The actual Head Games story was printed in four issues, with a standalone prologue ("Intermission" or "The Joe Ridgeway Story") and a standalone conclusion ("Army Of One").[3]
Act Two of the Locke & Key story consists of two limited, six-issue miniseries; the first storyline of Act Two, Crown of Shadows, began in late 2009.[4] The second storyline, Keys to the Kingdom, began in August 2010.
The first storyline of Act Three was announced as Time & Tide,[5] but was retitled Clockworks.[6] The second, and concluding, storyline is entitled Alpha & Omega.
The first five story arcs were to have been released in a monthly format with the sixth published as an original graphic novel. The plan changed and the concluding story arc appeared in monthly installments.[7][8][9]
Keys
In the universe of Locke & Key, there are many keys created from whispering iron that have different magical properties. Some of them are extensively featured in the series, while others are featured very briefly. Some of the keys that play important roles in the plot arc are:
Omega Key: Opens the lock on the demonic door. The first key created.
Echo Key: Allows entry to the Keyhouse well house, and with the Echo Key in hand, allows a person to return a spirit from the dead to the world of the living. Leaving through the well house door, however, banishes the spirit back to wherever it came from.
Anywhere Key: Opens a door to anywhere the bearer can visualize in their mind.
Ghost Key: When used in the right door in Keyhouse, it separates the soul of whomever travels through the door from their body. Their body crumples dead, while their ghost is free to roam the Keyhouse grounds. Ghost souls can inhabit any other bodies nearby, and clash with other ghosts.
Head Key: Inserted into the base of someone's head, it allows one to peer inside the mind of a person, where memories and mental concepts (even "sanity" itself) are represented as tiny beings. The memories can be removed, and even swapped between people. Books inserted into a head with the Head Key transfer their contents to the bearer of the key, though in such a situation the knowledge of the text is accurate but superficial.
Shadow Key: Allows its wearer to control shadow creatures, and even the shadows of other people, which are themselves capable of interacting with the material world (often violently). Embedded in a crown, it is a tremendous source of power for whomever is wearing it, though the shadows can themselves be rendered immaterial by bright light.
Giant Key: This physically large key, once inserted into a keyhole-shaped window in Keyhouse, transforms the bearer into a massive giant.
Mending Key: Opens a magical cabinet in Keyhouse into which a broken object can be placed (the cabinet can resize itself to the size of the object). Once the object is locked inside the cabinet, it is repaired. While it can heal even severely wounded people, it cannot apparently resurrect the dead.
Skin Key: A key with a gazing mirror on its handle, it can change the race of whomever is using it.
Music Box Key: Inserted into a magical music box, it will cause the music box to play a song that compels whomever is listening to it to obey its lyrics. Whoever turns the key can supply the command to be carried out by the listener. Commands are carried out so long as the music is playing and the listener can hear it.
Jester Key: Opens a magical cabinet in Keyhouse that contains a number of other artifacts and keys.
Angel Key: Inserted into a harness with large feathered wings, it grants a person the power of winged flight.
Hercules Key: Embedded in a necklace, it grants the bearer considerable additional strength and bulk.
Animal Key: Used on the right door in Keyhouse, it allows anyone who travels through the door to transform into an animal. (It is unclear whether they have choice in the matter; it appears that they are assigned the animal by the key, according to some sort of spiritual affinity.) Returning back through the door transforms them back into a human, and works even for human ghosts that have possessed animal bodies.
Timeshift Key: Operates a grandfather clock that allows a user to observe (but not interact with) past events. However the clock is limited to a specific time period. The earliest date one can visit is January 13, 1775 & the latest date is December 31, 1999.
Alpha Key: Removes demons from possessed people; inserts into their chests. Because it turns the demons instantly into whispering iron while it is still inside the host, it is fatal.
Philosophoscope Key: Gives access to a device that provides viewing access to various people and places.
Plot summary
This plot is presented in non-chronological order. During the American Revolution, a group of Rebels, hiding beneath the future Keyhouse, discover a portal to another dimension, the plains of Leng filled with demons who can mesmerize anyone that sees them and possess through touch. However, when the demons attempt to enter the real world, they collapse into lumps of "whispering iron", which young smith Benjamin Locke forges into a variety of magical keys, including the Omega Key, which seals the entrance to the dimension. The magic of the Keyhouse gradually evolves over the years, including a spell which causes occupants to forget about the keys and the magic of the house when they pass their 18th birthday. In 1988, a group of teenagers, having used the keys extensively in their high school years to their great delight, decide to open the black door with the Omega Key, hoping to trick a demon into entering the real world in order to provide more metal with which to make more keys. However, Rendell Locke's younger brother follows the group and is mesmerized by the door. Attempting to walk through it, he is stopped by Dodge, who accidentally puts his hand through the door, becoming possessed. After plotting and attempting to kill his friends and enslave the others at the behest of the Child of Leng possessing him, Dodge is killed by Rendell.
Many years later, Dodge's spirit reenters the physical world through the well at Keyhouse, due to actions taken by Dodge prior to his death. Trapped in the well, Dodge's spirit reaches out to a young abused prodigy, Sam Lesser, and convinces him to attack the Lockes and kill Rendell, looking for the Omega Key, as well as the Anywhere Key, which is capable of freeing Dodge from the well. After the gruesome murder of their father, the Locke kids, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode move with their mother Nina across the country to Keyhouse and begin discovering its secrets. Sam escapes prison and follows the Lockes to Massachusetts. He attacks the family again at Keyhouse, at which time Dodge tricks Bode into bringing him the Anywhere Key. Dodge escapes from the well, kills Sam and returns to Lovecraft in the same body as he had thirty years before.
Dodge re-enters high school under the guise of a new student, intimidating his way into the home of one of Kinsey's teachers and Dodge's former friends. Over the next year, Dodge secretly tries to recover the various keys - in particular the Omega Key - from the children, collecting many though hindered by Tyler and Kinsey. Dodge is eventually discovered but manages to switch bodies and possess Bode before they can kill him. Now free to explore the house as Bode, Dodge finally finds the Omega Key and plans his takeover after-prom party in the caves. Releasing several demons, many of the students are killed. Dodge is ultimately undone by Tyler and Dodge's spirit is forced back into the well, though Bode's empty body is cremated before Bode's soul has a chance to return to it. In the epilogue, Tyler returns to the well to finally free Dodge's spirit from the demon, having used a sliver of whispering iron inherited from his father to forge an "Alpha Key" capable of undoing possession. Tyler is able to speak with his father one last time, and restore Bode's physical form.
Publication history
The narrative of Locke & Key is structured in three acts. Each act consists of two storylines of six monthly issues. Act One's first story arc, Welcome to Lovecraft, was a six-issue limited series published by IDW Publishing. The first issue of Welcome to Lovecraft was released on February 20, 2008 and sold out in a single day, requiring a second printing to be done immediately.[1] The second arc of Act One, entitled Head Games, commenced with the release of the first issue on January 22, 2009.[2] The actual Head Games story was printed in four issues, with a standalone prologue ("Intermission" or "The Joe Ridgeway Story") and a standalone conclusion ("Army Of One").[3]
Act Two of the Locke & Key story consists of two limited, six-issue miniseries; the first storyline of Act Two, Crown of Shadows, began in late 2009.[4] The second storyline, Keys to the Kingdom, began in August 2010.
The first storyline of Act Three was announced as Time & Tide,[5] but was retitled Clockworks.[6] The second, and concluding, storyline is entitled Alpha & Omega.
The first five story arcs were to have been released in a monthly format with the sixth published as an original graphic novel. The plan changed and the concluding story arc appeared in monthly installments.[7][8][9]
Keys
In the universe of Locke & Key, there are many keys created from whispering iron that have different magical properties. Some of them are extensively featured in the series, while others are featured very briefly. Some of the keys that play important roles in the plot arc are:
Omega Key: Opens the lock on the demonic door. The first key created.
Echo Key: Allows entry to the Keyhouse well house, and with the Echo Key in hand, allows a person to return a spirit from the dead to the world of the living. Leaving through the well house door, however, banishes the spirit back to wherever it came from.
Anywhere Key: Opens a door to anywhere the bearer can visualize in their mind.
Ghost Key: When used in the right door in Keyhouse, it separates the soul of whomever travels through the door from their body. Their body crumples dead, while their ghost is free to roam the Keyhouse grounds. Ghost souls can inhabit any other bodies nearby, and clash with other ghosts.
Head Key: Inserted into the base of someone's head, it allows one to peer inside the mind of a person, where memories and mental concepts (even "sanity" itself) are represented as tiny beings. The memories can be removed, and even swapped between people. Books inserted into a head with the Head Key transfer their contents to the bearer of the key, though in such a situation the knowledge of the text is accurate but superficial.
Shadow Key: Allows its wearer to control shadow creatures, and even the shadows of other people, which are themselves capable of interacting with the material world (often violently). Embedded in a crown, it is a tremendous source of power for whomever is wearing it, though the shadows can themselves be rendered immaterial by bright light.
Giant Key: This physically large key, once inserted into a keyhole-shaped window in Keyhouse, transforms the bearer into a massive giant.
Mending Key: Opens a magical cabinet in Keyhouse into which a broken object can be placed (the cabinet can resize itself to the size of the object). Once the object is locked inside the cabinet, it is repaired. While it can heal even severely wounded people, it cannot apparently resurrect the dead.
Skin Key: A key with a gazing mirror on its handle, it can change the race of whomever is using it.
Music Box Key: Inserted into a magical music box, it will cause the music box to play a song that compels whomever is listening to it to obey its lyrics. Whoever turns the key can supply the command to be carried out by the listener. Commands are carried out so long as the music is playing and the listener can hear it.
Jester Key: Opens a magical cabinet in Keyhouse that contains a number of other artifacts and keys.
Angel Key: Inserted into a harness with large feathered wings, it grants a person the power of winged flight.
Hercules Key: Embedded in a necklace, it grants the bearer considerable additional strength and bulk.
Animal Key: Used on the right door in Keyhouse, it allows anyone who travels through the door to transform into an animal. (It is unclear whether they have choice in the matter; it appears that they are assigned the animal by the key, according to some sort of spiritual affinity.) Returning back through the door transforms them back into a human, and works even for human ghosts that have possessed animal bodies.
Timeshift Key: Operates a grandfather clock that allows a user to observe (but not interact with) past events. However the clock is limited to a specific time period. The earliest date one can visit is January 13, 1775 & the latest date is December 31, 1999.
Alpha Key: Removes demons from possessed people; inserts into their chests. Because it turns the demons instantly into whispering iron while it is still inside the host, it is fatal.
Philosophoscope Key: Gives access to a device that provides viewing access to various people and places.
Signed limited editions
On November 11, 2007, Subterranean Press announced a pre-order for a hand-numbered, signed, limited edition of the six-issue run of Welcome To Lovecraft. This edition consisted of 250 numbered copies and 26 lettered copies, both of which sold out within 24 hours of being announced.[44][45] This edition was a hardcover release in a specially designed and illustrated slipcase, and featured exclusive dust jacket art by Vincent Chong and reprinted all 250 pages of Joe Hill's script in addition to the actual comic work.[46]
This was followed by the publication of Head Games, which was also limited to 250 hand-numbered and signed copies as well as 26 lettered copies.[47] The third volume, Crown of Shadows, is available for preorder, and like the previous editions is signed and numbered with the same limitations and also comes with an illustrated slipcase.[48] Cloth-bound trade editions limited to 1000 copies (unsigned, unnumbered, and without the slipcase) were also released. Trade editions for the first two volumes are sold out.
Awards and nominations
At the 2009 Eisner Awards, Locke & Key was nominated for "Best Limited Series" and Joe Hill was nominated for "Best Writer".[citation needed]
It won the 2009 British Fantasy Award for Best Comic or Graphic Novel.[citation needed]
It won the 2011 Eisner Award for Best Writer (Joe Hill), and was nominated for Best Single Issue, Best Continuing Series, and Best Penciller.
It won the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Comic or Graphic Novel.[49]
Adaptations
Film
A film trilogy was officially announced at the 2014 Comic Con. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Bobby Cohen and Ted Adams would produce the film with Universal Pictures and Kurtzman and Orci's production company K/O Paper Products.[50]
In October 2015, Joe Hill confirmed that the films are no longer happening. However, he stated that TV series is still possible.[51] In May 2016, Joe Hill announced he would write a TV pilot, serve as executive producer and pitch the show to various networks and streaming companies.[52]
Television
Fox pilot (2010–2011)
Dimension Films acquired the film and television rights for Welcome to Lovecraft from IDW Publishing with the intent of developing the property as a feature with John Davis producing.[53] In February 2010, it was announced that Dimension had lost the adaptation rights to Dreamworks[54] with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci signed on to develop and produce the project.[55] In August 2010 Steven Spielberg also joined as a producer, and the production became a TV series rather than a movie adaptation, with Josh Friedman writing episodes for the show and acting as show-runner.[56]
The TV series adaptation then landed at 20th Century Fox Television. The network greenlit a pilot, produced by Dreamworks TV and K/O Paper Products through the latter's deal with 20th Century Fox TV.[57]
Miranda Otto played Nina Locke, Sarah Bolger was Kinsey Locke[58][59] and Nick Stahl co-starred as Duncan Locke.[60] Skylar Gaertner played 6-year old Bode, and Harrison Thomas played a teenager possessed by an evil spirit.[61] Actor and singer Jesse McCartney appeared as Ty Locke, the series' male lead[62] and Ksenia Solo was cast as Dodge.[63]
Mark Romanek directed the pilot episode,[64] which was filmed at the mansion in Hartwood Acres and in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, in February 2011. The pilot was also shot throughout Pittsburgh that same month.[65] In May 2011, Fox announced that the project would not be picked up to the series.[66] The studio attempted to sell the project to other networks but eventually ceased efforts due to rising costs. The pilot was screened at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International, where it was well received.[67]
Hulu pilot (2017–2018)
On April 20, 2017, Hulu ordered a pilot based on the comic with Carlton Cuse, Scott Derrickson, and Lindsey Springer as producers.[68] In July 2017, Derrickson was replaced by Andy Muschietti as the pilot's director.[69] In August 2017, Frances O'Connor was cast as Nina in the show.[70] In a March 2018 interview, Samantha Mathis revealed that Hulu had passed on the show, and it was now being shopped around to other networks.[71]
Netflix series (2020)
On May 30, 2018, after Hulu had passed on Locke & Key, it was announced that Netflix was nearing a series order for a re-developed version of the show with Cuse and Hill involved once again, and Muschietti as executive producer. The show found a new director for the pilot and an entirely new cast with the exception of Jackson Robert Scott as Bode Locke, who was cast in the Hulu pilot as well.[72]
Audio drama
All six books of Locke & Key were adapted as a 13-hour audio drama released on 5 October 2015. Produced by the AudioComics Company for Audible Studios and directed by William Dufris, the work features the voices of Tatiana Maslany, Haley Joel Osment, Kate Mulgrew, with appearances by Hill, Rodríguez, and Stephen King in addition to almost 50 voice-over actors[73] and an original score by Peter Van Riet. The work received critical praise, and in 2016 was nominated for four Audie Awards from the Audiobook Publisher's Association of America, including "Best Original Work" and "Excellence in Production."
Card game
In 2012, Cryptozoic Entertainment released a card game based on the series
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