Locke & Key

Locke & Key is an American fantasy-horror comic book series published by IDW Publishing, written by Joe Hill and Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. The story follows the Locke family, who move to Lovecraft, Massachusetts after their patriarch is brutally murdered. Moving into their family's home, the Keyhouse, they soon find that the keys they possess open doors to new, horrifying possibilities.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) A well done and unique art style that blends realism with cartoonish designs, which works surprisingly well with the series.
 * 2) The influence of H. P. Lovecraft is on full display, with highly faithful adherence to his writing style and mythos that become more apparent as the series goes on, as if the name of the town wasn't enough of a giveaway.
 * 3) All the characters feel very much like real people, as they are all dealing with grief and moving to a new town in their own ways, some better than others. Even characters who aren't around much are well developed and realistic. While they're not all likeable (though there's plenty who are), they do feel like real people.
 * 4) *Ty Locke is the oldest of the family, taking his father's death quite hard and becoming near suicidal because he feels responsible for it after telling the future killer, sarcastically, to kill him after having a fight with him.
 * 5) * Kinsey Locke is the middle child and only daughter, she's highly antisocial and tries to avoid making a scene wherever she goes, which betrays her punk-like style.
 * 6) *Bode Locke is the youngest of them all and his curiosity leads to him being the first to discover the house's secrets, though many dismiss him as being an overly imaginative child.
 * 7) *Nina Locke is a somewhat overprotective mother after witnessing the death of her husband and endangerment of her children and tries to give them a normal life despite the influence of the Keyhouse. She also sometimes has trouble paying attention to her children due to her grief and the stress of their current situation.
 * 8) * Duncan Locke is the children's uncle who's inexperienced with children and somewhat reclusive, but still tries to help them at any given point and seems to have fallen into disbelief over the powers of the Keyhouse as he grew up.
 * 9) Nice atmosphere that blends everyday drama with horror quite well, with the anticipation of what horrible things could happen permeating throughout, even in quieter moments. It also takes a more emotional tone at times to make the horror hit even harder.
 * 10) Violence isn't very frequent, and when it does happen, it's bloody, brutal, and realistic rather than just gory, a nice contrast to most popular horror stories.
 * 11) Every new story arc introduces a new key that unlocks new and highly creative otherworldy realms, like one that allows whoever passes through it to die temporarily and move around as a ghost, though it can become permanent if your body is locked on the other side of that door. There's also plenty of Keys with powers, like the Head key that can let you unlock someone's mind and read their thoughts.
 * 12) Tons of lore that becomes more relevant as time goes on, with an entire history written into the creation of the Keyhouse detailing back to the beginning of the American Civil War.
 * 13) The villains are very disturbing individuals who are often directly responsible in one way or another for the tragedies that befall the characters, both in and out of the Locke family (considering how small the town of Lovecraft is).
 * 14) *Sam Lesser is a disturbed bullied student and murderer of Rendell Locke who was brutally beaten by Tyler and seeks out the Anywhere Key and Omega Key in order to attain freedom.
 * 15) *Lucas Caravaggio is a being from the eighties that Rendell Locke and many others knew personally. He tries to gain all the keys and their powers while pretending to be friends to the Locke children and exploiting or even killing others that know his identity.