Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sunday Splash Page #311

 
"Keep Things Bottled Up," in Locke and Key: Head Games #3, by Joe Hill (writer), Gabriel Rodriguez (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer)

Welcome to Lovecraft ended with Sam Lesser dead, but the creature from the wellhouse on the loose, and posing as a student at Tyler and Kinsey's school. In Head Games, we find out the creature was once a friend of the Locke's father, Luke Carvaggio, or "Dodge."

Even 30 years hasn't been long enough for all memories to fade, so much of this mini-series is Dodge trying to cover his tracks, killing or otherwise incapacitating people who might recognize him and ask inconvenient questions. He's not very smooth at it - his attempt to make the death of a teacher look like suicide is seen through within minutes - but there's no way to easily tie any of it to him.

And the introduction of the Head Key makes thing a lot simpler for him, unfortunately. The key unlocks the top of a person's head, allowing them to take out or put in anything they want. There's even a nice bit of magic where the person using the key is able to look down into their head, so they aren't groping around blindly.

This lets Rodriguez draw some weird scenes, as we get a look inside both Bode and Tyler's heads. Some of the memories are true to life, such as Tyler's of him standing over his father's casket (plus or minus Sam Lesser whispering over his shoulder.) Bode's are much brighter and more fanciful, like some grand amusement park where everything is exaggerated. His conception of the creature in the wellhouse is therefore too off-base for the other Locke kids to recognize Dodge (or "Zack" as he's going by).

Likewise, Tyler's attempt to catch up on his schoolwork backfires because just stuffing a book about Machiavelli into your skull so you have all the information, doesn't mean you can craft a coherent essay. That said, it's interesting how Hill filters these actions, and Kinsey's removal of both her fear and ability to cry, are based on a desire to be able to jumpstart their lives. Tyler's sick of everybody looking at him with pity when he admits he hasn't done his homework, and he wants to play hockey, because it's something normal and people seem to want him around. And Kinsey's tired of crying and being sad and afraid to make friends with anyone, so she makes it so she can't be.

(She also catches the eye of a guy who looks like he thinks Quentin Quire was a fashion icon, but that'll become more relevant later.)

These are predictably bad ideas, but I can't say I wouldn't have jumped at the chance to do the same thing in my teen years. Hell, I'd probably give serious thought to removing my capacity to feel fear right now.

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