“Pull yourself off your cross. Someone could probably use the wood.”—Thoughts on Locke & Key

After Mr. Locke is murdered before his family’s eyes, his three kids and widow move to a family estate, where they grapple with literal demons, psychological demons, and echoes of the past.

Okay. Okay. I’m done, I read the series, I took a few minutes—er, maybe a lot longer than a few minutes—to get over the “I just finished a really good series and all I can say is [INCOHERENT SCREAMING]” phase.

And yet! Locke & Key, a graphic novel series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, was the read I’ve been looking for to remind me why I fucking love comics (and big ambitious storytelling sagas in general). This is going to be less a coherent review and more vaguely-coherent screaming, similar to my thoughts on Alan Moore’s Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but without the bullet points because that doesn’t read as nicely.

Great story. Fantastic characters. On at least two separate occasions after turning a page, I had to stop, stare at it for while to process, and flip back and forth maniacally because no way that did NOT just happen. It’s billed as a horror series, but it’s far from cheap scares—character development is in full focus, from the protagonists to one-scene wonders.

( Are cuts for length a thing around here? I’m gonna throw one in anyway. )