The shadows in Joe Hill's and Gabriel Rodriguez's third part of the Locke & Key saga are large and in charge. They resemble boogey men and demons from our worst nightmares: one looks like an evil ice queen, another like a Roman centurion gone completely villainous, and yet others resembles large, giant wolves in drag. As the wicked Dodge continues to deceive the Locke children, all the while still searching for the Key to the Black Door, he comes across the Shadow Key, which allows him access to the Crown of Shadows. This ornament possesses the ability to grant its owner the power to wake and command the shadows of the underworld to their liking. Needless to say, Dodge leaves no stone unturned.
In Crown of Shadows, the story we've grown to love and be amazed by keeps delivering more surprises, all the while continuing to challenge our imagination and our sense of awe. Dodge tries to negotiate with Sam Lesser in the dead zone, which is accessible by the Ghost Key, but their disagreement only leads to Sam suffering more harm. Meanwhile, the Locke children branch out a bit. Kinsey, led by Scot Kavanaugh, ventures into the cave under the Keyhouse to discover her father's name etched in stone, along with some other names, from the year 1988 (there's also a corpse of a woman lying way below the water's surface, but her origin remains a mystery up to this point). The Locke girl also experiences a first ever French kiss, with Scot's close dreadlocked friend, Jamal. Tyler, meanwhile, watches his mother sink deeper into a new level of alcoholism, and Bode, along with his older brother, discovers the Giant Key. At the end, the eldest Locke child may have, after all, found the ultimate of all keys, albeit by sheer accident.
Hill continues to amaze us with his inventive ideas, further expanding the mythology of Keyhouse and its connection to the Keys. But the star in this third installment is clearly Rodriguez. His artwork carries this issue to levels that only few comic book artists could ever dream of, and in the fifth chapter, Light of Day, we finally see the magnitude and sheer visual power of Rodriguez's interpretation of Hill's words. There are several splash pages here, in which Tyler fights the evil shadows, illuminated by the bright blue moonlight of Eastern Massachusetts, that are master artworks in and of themselves. Each could easily be blown up to a full size painting, hung on a wall, and marvelously stand toe to toe with some of the best contemporary art.
It is a rare thing indeed for any comic book series to challenge its readers emotionally and spiritually, but that's exactly what Locke & Key continues to do. I can't think of any other American serial that's had a grip as strong as this on me. It's like a dream infused with elements of nightmare, but unlike most horrors I experience while asleep, this is one unconscious fantasy I never want to wake up from.
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