Graphic Novel Review

Buncombe Graphic Novel Review: Locke and Key- Keys to the Kingdom

This issue opens with a mixture of true events and imagination.  We see a darker side to Zack (Dodge) but also get a new key. This one allows anyone to open a small door and once they crawl through it, they become an animal.  Bode finds this and while talking with birds we see Zack go through the door, become a wolf and attempt to attack Kinsey and Tyler. However, Bode and his new bird friends swarm in to help and keep them from being overtaken by the animal Zack.  After that, an old friend of the Locke children’s father shows up and Kinsey finds the Mirror Key to transform and go see the woman. Meanwhile, Zack is on a mission to kill the woman, in the hopes of silencing anyone that might know his past and identity.

We also see a battle of various keys between Zack and the Locke children with the graphic novel coming to a close with Zack taking over Bode’s body, and seemingly dying.  Zack becomes more violent in this issue as he grows more desperate to find the Omega Key and stop anyone from revealing his identity.

The plot moves forward faster here, with Zack becoming more violent and taking out characters we’ve been following from early in the series.  This is another issue where we see come great creativity in keys within Keyhouse and learn more about the Locke children. Zack is getting closer to them in his pursuit of specific keys and the story grows more violent as he becomes savage in order to keep his past buried and the Locke children in the dark.

Again, this is a darker series, a horror graphic novel, but it’s creative in it’s magic (the keys) and the characters are interesting.  I think this is a good issue but it does move a little slow at points. However, it’s important because the story is leading us on but also has to take us to the past to understand what is happening, who Zack really is, and what he’s up to.