A modern comics classic returns with a brand new one shot. Read on for our spoiler free review of “Locke & Key: Small World” #1.
Written by Joe Hill
Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos
Three years after wrapping up their award-winning, best-selling Locke & Key saga, the team that built Keyhouse returns to Lovecraft, Massachusetts with a new tale of terror and suspense! An impossible birthday gift for two little girls unexpectedly throws open a door to a monster on eight legs!
• You never thought it’d happen but… the Eisner-winning series returns to unlock a special tale from Keyhouse’s sordid past!
• All-new 24-page story by series creators Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, and Jay Fotos!
• Variant cover by “Behind You” creator Brian Coldrick, Mouse Guard’s David Petersen, Wraith’s Charles Paul Wilson III, and an incentive Small World Key photo cover from Skelton Crew Studios, too.!
Even after ending a couple of years ago, “Locke & Key” has continued to show up as an “evergreen” title. It’s a series that people point to as a great way to get into comic books and to this day, IDW is still putting out new collected versions of the much loved series. While the story of Tyler, Kinsey and Bode has been told, “Locke & Key” was built as something much bigger and because of this, there is still a lot to explore. “Locke & Key: Small World” is a nice, little tale set in this world that will appeal to any fan of the series.
“Locke & Key: Small World” focuses on a different generation of the Locke family. Set in what appears to be the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, Chamberlin Morse Walton Locke giving his daughter Mary a dollhouse. With the use of the Small World key, the dollhouse and the real house basically become in the same. She can see where everyone is and watch their activities and his hope is that she will learn the duties of a wife and mother. This is a different time so that’s all she’s sadly expected to become. Mary’s four year old little sister Jean becomes a bit jealous of Mary’s gift and she accidentally unleashes a horror upon the house.
When I first starting buying my own comic books, “Locke & Key” was one of the series that made up my first ever pull list. The announcement that the series was returning was music to my ears and after putting this down, I’m glad my excitement wasn’t misplaced. “Locke & Key: Small World” does something I wish the main series had done more, it explored a different key in a standalone adventure. “Locke & Key” had a lot it needed to do with the main narrative and it wasn’t structured like your typical monthly series so there wasn’t really time to do something like this which makes a one shot like this have value for long time fans.
Joe Hill’s writing is just as strong as it usually is. The plot moves at a nice pace with enough character development to make us care. It is a really simple, straight forward story but that’s exactly why it works. Through the dollhouse and a family dinner, we get just enough of a feel for the dynamics in this family and how they relate to the power of this home. They are very different from the Locke generation we get to know in the core series and that’s a good thing. Instead of retreading old ground, this does something else. It feels like an episode of Are You Afraid of The Dark in that the scares are there, a lesson is learned but it doesn’t get too dark.
Gabriel Rodriguez is the heart and soul of “Locke & Key” and his art here is, for the most part, really, really good. What’s fun about this one shot is that he gets to play with a different time period. The Locke home feels in its right place given that we’re in the past. The big bookcases, long hallways, dark secret passages all come into play here and Rodriguez gives them all the personality he gave them before. The house is just as much a character as the actual people and this house has secrets. I really love the playfulness in these characters. Despite the father’s very time specific viewpoints, this family loves each other. Rodriguez includes a lot of visual cues that prove this. There are a lot of smiling faces, attentive parents and actual contact between these characters. This is a family and Rodriguez lets us see that fully before the magic of the Small World key gets unleashed.
Continued belowThe scarier bits of this issue are executed so well. Rodriguez gets really into terror from the point of the view of the characters. What’s actually happening might not be so terrifying but because the characters are scared, we are too. His character work is bold and the way things move feels right and the kids come off almost heroic before they get a little in over their heads. The styling of each character is very good but at one point I was a little confused between Fiona (the mom) and Mary (the daughter). They look a little too similar. Jay Fotos colors are also really great to have again. “Locke & Key” has always had such a unique look to it because of what Fotos does on colors. He plays with shadows in a really cool way that don’t force him to use a darker palette on the whole. The characters are colored in a brighter sense with the home and backgrounds being a bit darker, hinting at the dark things that happen in this place.
“Locke & Key: Small World” #1 will be a joy to long time fans but this is not at all something for a potential new reader to pick up. Very little is explained by way of the Locke family or the keys themselves. You have to know quite a bit before getting into this but if you do, then this is a great addition to the mythology of “Locke & Key”.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – A solid standalone tale that longtime fans will really enjoy.
