Locke and Key

 Hello Charlie! Today I have a super recommendation to make; Locke and Key. Locke & Key is an American horror and mystery comic book series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez. It is vastly known and for good reasons. In it we follow the Locke's family, who's father been recently murdered bringing them to his childhood house in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. But as soon as they get there weird things start happening (as always). Weird secrets from his father, an odd welcoming and magic! Bode, the younger brother, discovers that there are keys that whisper and call for him to be discovered. Each key has a special attribute and power, but obviously someone wants them all to take advantage of said powers.  

The story is really unique and interesting, the characters dynamics are fun to read and very intriguing. It also has a punk vibe to it, both in the dialogues, the events and the drawings. As the story evolves the crazier the comic gets and it
honestly is a gem to read. You can find it at Alcazar library, it comes in three big volumes so it is a big long to read and sometimes really complicate, there is time travelling and constant flashbacking, I got lost quite often with who was who and who did what but it's worth it! 

However, if comics are not your cup of tea you can always try to watch the Netflix show, although I must warn about it being a mediocre adaption. It's very toned down on the punk and violent aspects. There are also new keys which I thought were unnecessary and a creative decision they could have skipped. It still is fun to watch, even if it's evident from season II that they were in just for the money. They quickly got rid of some characters and events that are actually important in the comic just to create new ones that brought nothing else than cringe to the show. The end is also very "white", in the sense that is the traditional "everyone's happy and rich" type of thing.  

But a nice thing they've done is put a cameo of the writers, which I think is always a fun way to thanks them back for their hard work. 

Now, time for some fun facts about it!

Joe Hill is actually the son of Stephen King but choose to write under another name, called a "pen name", to assure his works were appreciated by their own and not by his father's reputation. Gabriel Rodríguez is the son of no one famous though. 

As usual, the project took some time before adaptions came. Dimensions Film brought the rights 2 years after the first issue came out but lost it to DreamWorks before filming anything. Then 20th Century Fox and Spielberg himself filmed a pilot in 2011 that they aired at the San Diego ComicCon before they stopped steeping in deeper. You can watch it on youtube though (https://youtu.be/b-Mock-tvvI?si=8HXdGPnUIlGR40DH). 

To conclude, if you still are not convinced to read it just hold in mind that all the merit it has, it is pure and fair! In the world of comics, to succeed without being from DC or having a traditional heroes and villains trope it's so hard that very few do it. The Walking Dead or The Crow are other good examples, so Locke and Key deserves its respect!

If anyone has any recommendations to make, I'm all ears, and if you have read/watched the series, what did you thought about it? I'm keen to know!

Bye, good holidays :)