A Man With An Agenda

I had left off 'Locke & Key' at the end of "Head Games" in 2012 when I reached the end of my library's collection. I really liked the series, but didn't seek out the rest of it. Luckily, my old roommate bought the box set and loaned it to me so I could see the end.

'Crown of Shadows', fittingly enough, goes into some dark territory, especially for Nina, as her drinking grows worse ,and has serious repercussions for her children. Kinsey, stripped of her tears and her...fears, is less than sympathetic. She does manages to make a couple more real friends, in one of the best all-round issues of the series. Jamal and Scot round out the cast of the good guys as Dodge's plans get him closer to gaining the Omega Key.

Tackling the family issues and personal fall-outs between friends straight on makes Locke & Key more than a horror and fantasy comic book. The characters are faced with extreme circumstances and rise to the occasion, or fall, according to their personal strengths and luck. It would have been very easy to avoid these situations and questions, but it would make for a much poorer story. There is a lot more development to come in the three further collections after 'Crown of Shadows', but the emotional core of the whole series is here. Darkness is physically at work against the characters here, but there's still that sense of wonder in the characters as more keys turn up in their defense.

I couldn't read this volume fast enough.

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