Locke & Key, a comic book series from IDW rumored to be made into a movie by Fringe’s Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, is instead moving to TV, according to New York Magazine’s Vulture Blog. The comics, created by writer Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, are about a family who moves to the small town of Lovecraft and ends up being besieged by supernatural forces, while finding mysterious keys that have different, unique properties.
That’s the short version, and what it doesn’t do justice to is that Hill’s story is one of the most nuanced character studies in comics today – or that Rodriguez’ art is hands down the best comic book art currently on the stands. Not only is the book pushing forward the form of comics with each issue, but it’s the only horror comic book that has ever actually frightened me while reading it.
The TV series will be executive produced by none other than Steven Spielberg, with Dreamworks TV, Kurtzman and Orci writing/producing along with The Sarah Connor Chronicles Josh Friedman, and is expected to follow the Terra Nova model. Meaning, they’re just going to start making it, and wait for a network to pick it up. Chances are, one is going to.
Full disclosure time: I think Locke & Key is the best comic book series of the past decade,
and knowing the people involved are creative, funny, and completely into this
project because they love it – not because they wanted to sell it to a TV
studio, or a movie studio – this couldn’t happen to two nicer guys.
With some of the best TV producers, also of the past decade (with LOST off the air, Fringe is probably my most eagerly awaited return of the fall; and though Sarah Connor Chronicles never quite clicked with me, or the TV audience, it didn’t suffer from lack of ambition or scope, which is a good thing), this is going to be a gangbusters project.
There’s been a lot of “weird stuff in a small town” shows turning up lately, from Happy Town, to Haven, and none of them have quite worked for audiences, I think, for two reasons. The first is that they’re just trying to ape other sources (Twin Peaks, specifically), and the second is that they don’t have a plan. I mean, maybe they do have a plan, but like most post-LOST shows, they’re getting that there should be mysteries, without making it clear where they’re going.
The good news with Locke & Key is that there is a plan, and it’s all laid out in the comic. Not only that, but the mysteries of Key House are laid out at an even pace – and, like the best TV shows, always come out of the characters, not the plot. I don’t know how they’re going to work with Rodriguez’ visual style, which often uses repeated panels to brilliant effect. But here’s hoping they’ll be able to use at least a little bit of his look, which eschews the muddy art that’s dominated horror comics for too long, and instead returns it to bright, pulpy colors.
One last note: a lot of what you read in the coming months will point out/focus on that Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son. And while there are some hallmarks there (small town, horror, etc.), Hill is a true original – and it’s well worth your money to go out and grab the first trade of Locke & Key right now, before it becomes the new hotness on TV next Fall (or whenever the show premieres).
