Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got four new comics plus a giant softcover book:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

”Locke & Key – Volume 2: Head Games” by Joe Hill and Gabriel
Rodriguez

Volume one of “Locke & Key” was a pleasant surprise for me. Never having read the series before I had read good things about it so I picked it up and gave it a look. It was good so here I am back for more in Volume 2.

If you haven’t read Volume 1 then I wouldn’t suggest reading Volume 2. It’s been a couple of months since I read Volume 1 and I was confused at times. They don’t introduce or really establish who the characters are in this volume. The reader is expected to have read Volume 1 and immediately know who everybody is. I didn’t. There were times I had to flip back and try to figure out who was who. There is one sequence where I still don’t know who was in it or when it took place. Characters are rarely even called by name so when they’re referred to I had to flip back to figure out who they were talking about. It didn’t help that the villain of the piece had three names at different times and was male then female and then male again.

Occasional character confusion aside this was a good volume. They create a good sense of dread as the villain infiltrates the lives of the three Locke children (a high school age boy, a slightly younger sister, and a grade school age boy). The “Key” of the title refers to magic keys that are hidden in the Locke’s house that the kids find and that the villain is looking for. This volume is concerned with a key they find that can open up a person’s head and mess around with their memories. They make it spooky.

We’re introduced to new characters who pay the price for recognizing the resurrected ghost who is the villain of the piece, the villain’s not quite so willing accomplice, the Lockes’ uncle who wants to look after the kids but might also run afoul of the villain, and some flashbacks to explain a little more about where the villain/ghost came from. This volume had quite a bit of the villain in it.

The artwork, once again by Gabriel Rodriguez, was, once again, excellent. He can draw well and tell a story. This volume has two of the best double page spreads, both in terms of drawing and storytelling, that I’ve seen in a long time. On occasion I can’t tell his characters apart though. That’s because there can be flashbacks where they change in age and they all have big eyes. That and the writer doesn’t always use their names.

As you can read I did have some problems with this volume but overall it was good. I certainly don’t like to be confused when I read but more often I was into the story and entertained. Give it try if you like horror stories but start with Volume 1.