W W W. I D W P U B L I S H I N G . C O M
Locke & Key:
What it Is, What it Isn't, What it Will Be, What You Need to Know, and What I Can't Tell You
What it Is: Locke & Key is about an unlikely house full of impossible keys. One key opens a door to death—walk through and you turn into a ghost. Another key can unlock your head, so that learning a new skill is as easy as dropping a book in. And so on. Three children have moved into this house—Keyhouse— and have become its defenders. Another person, a demonic young man named Dodge, is determined to find the most powerful key of all, and to use it to unlock the Black Door. Yeah, you know that wouldn't be good.
What it Isn’t:
Locke & Key is about children, but for the most part, it isn’t for children. The issue you hold in your hands, while it has some scary bits, is perfectly acceptable for all-ages—go on, read away, have fun. However, the series as a whole is very much for mature readers. The rule is: if you have to ask your parents if it’s okay for you to read it, then it probably isn’t.
What it Will Be:
Locke & Key began as a comic book in 2007, and is telling a single complete story. That story is now almost over, and will eventually be collected in six books, beginning with LOCKE & KEY: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT and ending with LOCKE & KEY: Ω. This particular issue features some material from the third book, LOCKE & KEY: CROWN OF SHADOWS. The comics have served as the inspiration for a forthcoming FOX TV show. As we bring our story to a close, the television version of the story will be just beginning; and it will be both very different from and very similar to the comic itself.
What You Need To Know: Tyler Locke, 18, is the oldest of the Locke kids, and has been left in charge of his siblings for the night, while their mother attends to business elsewhere. Once upon a time, Kinsey Locke, 16, used the Head Key to remove her own fear from her head. Nothing scares her now; strangely, this has not improved her life. Bode Locke, 7, didn’t have all that much fear in his head to begin with. Or all that much sense. Dodge. Professional homicidal maniac. Wants the key to the Black Door. Probably shouldn’t have it. Sent a lunatic named Sam Lesser to murder the patriarch of the Locke clan, Rendell Locke. Oh, and here’s the most important character in the story: Keyhouse, home to the world’s most astonishing keys.
What I Can’t Tell You:
After three years of writing Locke & Key, and with one year left to go, I still can’t tell you if, in the end, this is going to be a happy story or a sad one. I don’t know myself. I’m kind of starting to think that like most big stories, it’s a little bit of both. If you like this Free Comic Book Day Issue, and you’re okay with a (usually) R-Rated story about unhappy teenagers tangling with a mess of magic keys, I hope you’ll come on back for more. Maybe we can find out how it ends together.
Written by: Joe Hill • Art by: Gabriel Rodriguez Colors by: Jay Fotos • Letters by: Robbie Robbins • Edited by: Chris Ryall Ted Adams, CEO & Publisher Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of Sales
Locke & Key created by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
www.I DWPU B LI S H I NG.com
LOCKE & KEY: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION. MAY 2011. FIRST PRINTING. Locke & Key script © 2011 Joe Hill; art © 2011 Idea and Design Works, LLC. © 2011 Idea and Design Works, LLC. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA 92109. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.
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LOCKE & KEY, VOL. 1: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT Joe Hill (w) • Gabriel Rodriguez (a)
Acclaimed suspense novelist and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill creates an all-new story of dark fantasy and wonder. Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, a New England mansion with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them...
LOCKE & KEY, VOL. 2: HEAD GAMES Joe Hill (w) • Gabriel Rodriguez (a)
New York Times bestselling writer Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, the creators behind the acclaimed Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft , return with an all-new series that adds to the L&K mythos.
se look for the . s l e v graphic noo n sale now! HC: ISBN: 978-1-60010-483-1 • $24.99 • JUL090890 TPB: ISBN: 978-1-60010-761-0 • $19.99 AUG100347
NOT FINAL ART
HC: ISBN: 978-1-60010-237-0 • $24.99 • JUL084052 TPB: ISBN: 978-1-60010-384-1 • $19.99 • JUN090991
LOCKE & KEY, VOL. 3: CROWN OF SHADOWS (HC)
LOCKE & KEY, VOL. 4: KEYS TO THE KINGDOM (HC)
In the third storyline of the Eisner-nominated series, Dodge continues his relentless quest to find the key to the black door, and raises an army of shadows to wipe out anyone who might get in his way. Surrounded and outnumbered, the Locke children find themselves fighting a desperate battle, all alone.
Hearts are shattered, minds are broken, the dead return, and all the powers of Keyhouse are unleashed in a new set of stories set on the haunted isle of Lovecraft. Four tales explore the edges of wonder—and the comic book form itself—while the concluding two-part story sets in motion the third and final act of the Locke & Key saga.
ISBN: 978-1-60010-695-8 • $24.99 • MAY100382
ISBN: 978-1-60010-886-0 • $24.99 • ON SALE JUNE 2011
Joe Hill (w) • Gabriel Rodriguez (a)
Joe Hill (w) • Gabriel Rodriguez (a)