The seemingly random yet brutal murder of their father (through a home invasion, no less. “Locke & Key” follows the Locke family, specifically the mother Nina Locke and her three children: Tyler, the eldest son Kinsey, the daughter and Bode, the youngest son. They signify the transition from one place to another, of which there is a great deal of in this story, but they can also signify an escape, either to somewhere or from somewhere else. Doors become portals to other worlds and fantastical possibilities in this series, but more than that, doorways are a means of access, of exploration, of discovery a closed-door representing the denial of those things. They take on a very literal significance when the supernatural elements of Key House come into play, but from that very first page they’re always present in the art, in ways that frame the characters, or frame our view of certain scenes. With a title like “Locke & Key,” it makes sense that doorways would be a narrative through-line in the book. There’s an edge to the world outside, a hidden darkness just hovering in the peripheries of your vision.

The doorway itself is inviting, but there may be a reason why the door is closed. Look closely at that image though, and you’ll see that the butterfly is more like a moth, and the intricate pattern on its back looks a lot like a skull. The welcome mat is out, there are pretty flowers surrounding the front step, and a butterfly floats by this is very literally a welcoming invitation into the book itself, a door just waiting to be knocked on, to be opened, for the adventure to begin. A full-bleed splash page showing us the doorway to an unknown home. Soon, horrors old and new, real and imagined, will come ravening after the Lockes and the secrets their family holds. But again, all at Keyhouse is not what it seems, and not all doors are meant to be opened.

But not youngest son Bode, who quickly finds a new friend living in an empty well and a new toy, a key, that offers hours of spirited entertainment. Older kids Tyler and Kinsey aren’t much better. Their mother, Nina, is too trapped in her grief-and a wine bottle-to notice that all in Keyhouse is not what it seems: too many locked doors, too many unanswered questions. Following their father’s gruesome murder in a violent home invasion, the Locke children return to his childhood home of Keyhouse in secluded Lovecraft, Massachusetts.

Locke & key volume 1