Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, #4 -- Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Who?
Who, who?
But... what's the punchline?
This issue opens with Bode—who, judging by his dream, might be A) developing some pre-cog abilities or B) tapping into the woo-woo of Keyhouse—but quickly switches gears to follow Sam Lesser on his trek to Lovecraft.
Artwork? Continues to be top-notch. Example? Flashback Sam vs. present-day Sam: they both look haunted, but flashback Sam looks younger, more unsure of himself, and like he's got some serious problems, but is making an effort to move up and past them, whereas present day Sam has clearly thrown sanity to the winds. It's in his face and his eyes, yes, but it's also visible in details as simple as his hair being combed in the flashback and not in the present day.
There's also a panel that shows just how much Tyler looked like his father: their facial features, angry expressions, even their haircuts. If their personalities were as similar as their looks, it's no wonder that they butted heads so often.
It's really, really cinematic. While I'm sad that the pilot didn't get picked up, I also felt that the trailer didn't really jive with my vision (so far) of the story. Maybe someone else'll pick it up at some point and give it a go. Because it would make a great show.
Storyline? After getting Sam's backstory, it's impossible to not have some amount of sympathy for him—he's a sad, damaged kid being used as a pawn by a force much more powerful than he is—though I'm in no way rooting for him to succeed in freeing Dodge (the lady in the well). The flashback to the moment she first communicates with him is wonderfully creepy, and straight out of a horror movie like Shutter.
Speaking of, I love this book because each issue really does build on what came before: the flashbacks, for instance, aren't simply used to remind old readers of the history and catch up new readers. They do that, but they also explore the backstory in greater detail, allow us different perspectives of the same moments, and create a deeper emotional tie with the story and the characters.
The use of language in triggering the flashbacks is fabulous, and Hill's choice in what to flashback to is also lovely: Sam's "I was really close to my mom. My dad, too. But they both passed away. A couple months ago" line is printed on a few panels that show just how awful his home life was... and readers who've been in on the series since the first issue will also already know that Sam's parents didn't just "pass away": he killed them.
A couple more instances of great use of flashbacks: we see that Sam's disgusting rapist friend Al had had his eye on Mrs. Locke before the day of the murder. And we finally see the conversation with Sam Lesser that's been haunting Tyler. And... wow. It's very, very understandable why Tyler's so wracked with guilt.
Speaking of Tyler, there's a scene focusing on him that highlights another thing I'm loving about this book: the subtleties. In the scene, he's in the shed, clearly on the edge—he's staring at a shotgun, thinking, "enough enough enough", when Bode comes in asking about the joke, both jogging him out of his almost-trance and reminding him of what another violent death would do to the family. Bode's Death Door isn't mentioned (or even alluded to), but his behavior made it seem very likely that he'd been spying on Tyler—that on some level, Bode realized how dark a place Tyler's grief was taking him, and tried to help.
Keep going? I never, ever want it to end.
Previously: