Locke
& Key 5: Clockworks
Author/Artist: Joe Hill/Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher:
IDW Publishing
American release date: July 24, 2012
Format/Genre/ Length: Graphic Novel/Fantasy/152 pages
Publisher/Industry Age Rating: Not rated/contains mature themes & graphic violence
Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★
Similar authors to check out: HP Lovecraft, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison titles
George Sanyana said, “Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.”
The fifth volume
of Locke & Key begins in 1775 Massachusetts Bay as Tyler and Kinsey
look-alikes Ben and Miranda watch while their parents are hung by the British,
who think to oust them from their home and claim it as their own. Their plans
are thwarted when they realize that the house is owned by another, so for now
the teenagers are allowed to stay. Sneaking out from under their keepers’
watchful eyes, they head to the caves, where a group of patriots awaits, only
to learn that their brother Joshua has fallen victim to something most foul
indeed.
Synopsis:
One of Bode’s little friends unwisely lets Luke/Bode know that he
realizes he isn’t Bode, and suffers the consequences. Bode is determined to
find the omega key, but having little luck. While rooting around in Kinsey’s
room, he accidentally smashes the bottle containing her tears and fears. They
get inside Tyler’s head and mess with him severely. When Bodes confesses to
what happened, Kinsey uses the head key to see what’s going on inside Tyler’s
head (a very scary place) and removes Ugly and Gloomy, but in the process also
reveals valuable information to Bode.
Tyler and Kinsey use a key and the grandfather clock to travel to 1775,
where the events of the past unfold before them, including the flooding of the
cave. After their return, Kinsey asks what he’d like to see next, and Tyler
doesn’t hesitate. He wants to see their father. So it’s off to 1988 they go, to
Lovecraft Academy. After the play, everyone is anxious to hear what Mark Cho’s
movie-agent uncle thought of the production. Disappointment wells when they
learn he never showed up, having skipped out to see The Naked Gun instead. Kim
is especially ticked off and makes some very nasty comments before storming
off. A distraught Rendell agrees to do what he vowed he’d never do—let a demon
through the black door.
Can this possibly end well?
Commentary:
Time is certainly
fluid in this volume of Locke & Key, as we move between the far past, the
past and the present, watching as the forces that shaped what is came to be,
including the forging of the keys. Talk about the sins of the fathers…
We see a
lot of Rendell and his group of friends, including the treacherous Luke, and
the dynamics of the group, which can be turbulent at times. Who likes who, who
loves who, who’s a bitch and who’s just lovesick. There is no doubt that Luke
is evil, even if they don’t realize to what extent. I don’t like Kim at all, either. Not sure
what Rendell sees in her. I love seeing Duncan as a little boy as his
personality traits are being formed.
I love the
ways the characters are drawn, so realistic, so much like people anyone might
known, drawn into strange situations and doing their best to handle them. The
writing and the drawing of this book work in perfect harmony, one with the
other. This one’s definitely a keeper.
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