History ComicBook / LockeAndKey

* [[AnimationBump Art Bump]]: In ''Head Games'', we get a two-page spread of what's going on in Bode's mind. Seriously. This depiction (of a young boy's ''thoughts'') is much more highly-detailed than the normal panels of the series.

* ArtEvolution: as the comic goes on the art becomes slightly more refined, with thinner lines and more realistic faces.

* CastOfSnowflakes: The characters wear no masks, no capes, no costumes, and their dresses and hair styles ''both'' change over the story; yet they remain easily recognizable. After the release of ''Welcome to Lovecraft'', artist Gabriel Rodriguez became the first artist the Chilean-North American Cultural Institute honored with their annual ''literary'' prize, the Walt Whitman Award, for his work in the field of graphic novels.
** Averted in two places, though both are early on during ''Welcome to Lovecraft''. The guard killed by Sam is just Duncan's boyfriend Brian with no sideburns and a more muscular build. And the uniformed cop guarding Keyhouse is Tyler with a goatee and a slightly slimmer face.

* CassandraTruth: Kinsey's personified fear tries to warn her about Zack, but of course she's not listening.

* ExactWords: When Dodge asks Tyler [[spoiler:where the Omega Key is, while using the music box to guarantee a truthful answer, all Tyler says is that he "used his head on that one." Turns out that he has locked it inside his head.]]

* FireForgedFriends: Kinsey, Jackie, Jamal and Scot.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: "I can't wait to climb down from here and get large on you, bitch."
** In the first issue of ''Keys to the Kingdom,'' Bode pretends that his [[spoiler:head has been utterly emptied of all contents by the Head Key and he is unable to move, think, or care for himself. The second issue features a woman who actually had that done to her]].

* ImagineSpot: [[spoiler:Tyler does this every now and then, usually imagining himself in outrageously badass costumes. Also, Jordan Gates lying on a school desk in her underwear.]]

* KilledOffForReal: Played straight, subverted, averted, take your pick.

* LighterAndSofter: The one-shots "Open the Moon" and "Small World" are decidedly more whimsical and comedic than the main series.

* NearDeathExperience: Basically, everyone who survives anything in this series gets to claim this.

* RhetoricalRequestBlunder: See the page quote.
* StudentsSecretSociety: Flashbacks reveal that Lovecraft High School was once home to the Keepers of the Keys (AKA The Tamers of the Tempest). Consisting entirely of Rendell Locke's closest friends and fellow students, they devoted themselves to exploiting the [[CoolKey magical Keys]] of the Locke Family to the fullest extent, sometimes for fun, sometimes in order to get an unfair advantage at school. Most notably, they used the magic to put on the best performance of ''Theatre/TheTempest'' in Lovecraft's history. [[spoiler: The group ultimately fell apart after they attempted to make new Keys with Whispering Iron from beyond the [[HellGate Black Door]], accidentally creating the BigBad and getting three of the Keepers killed.]] For good measure, due to the [[WeirdnessCensor Riffel Rule]], the true nature of the Keepers remains secret to adults, ''including the adult Keepers.''

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: Sam's ultimate fate at the end of ''Keys to the Kingdom'' make his story an example.]]
* ShoutOut: For starters, the comic takes place in a town called [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft]].

* IncrediblyLamePun: [[spoiler:"Black-currents" jelly. Dodge instantly figures it out.]]

* CoolLoser: Scot Kavanaugh and Jamal Saturday.
* CoolShades: Scot Kavanaugh.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey: In ''In Pale Battalions Go'', a WWI German soldier comments that the French used gaz to cover their retreat, "in typical French fashion".

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: People [[spoiler: possessed by demons remain possessed]] even after they die, and end up trapped in a limbo beyond the mortal world but unable to enter the afterlife as something about it terrifies them.
* BatmanGambit: Dodge manipulating Sam Lesser and pretty much everyone else. Later at the end of ''Keys to the Kingdom'' [[spoiler: Sam then attempts to out-gambit Dodge and [[KilledOffForReal fails]].]]

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Most of the villainous or jerky characters range from realistically unattractive to straight up {{Gonk}}s like Sam Lesser. The main exception is Dodge, who is both very evil and very pretty but [[spoiler: was originally a perfectly nice guy who ended up possessed by a rather gross and inhuman-looking demon, playing the trope straight after all]].
** Averted by Brian who's not pretty, but is still a nice guy (though a bit provocative).

* KickTheSonOfABitch: As bad as Dodge is, it's hard not to cheer when he [[spoiler: kills Ellie's horrible, ''horrible'' mother.]]

Other publications have included side story one-shots showing life in the Keyhouse through different ages and a collection of issues called ''The Golden Age'', starting in 1912 and chronicling the Lockes' life during World War 1. ''The Golden Age'' series culminated with a miniseries {{CrossOver}} with ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' entitled ''[[ComicBook/LockeAndKeySandmanHellAndGone Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone]]''. The story was published in 2021.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The chapters set in Rendell Locke's childhood show a lot more prejudices -- namely racism, homophobia, ableism and sexism -- than the present, including between friends.

Turns out, he wasn't far off the mark -- for hidden among the Keyhouse and its grounds are dozens of magical keys, each with a fantastic power, from becoming a ghost to summoning shadows to do your bidding. But their father's death was no random killing; a dark, malevolent force was behind it, and it will stop at nothing to claim the most terrible key of all...

* DarkIsEvil: the story’s supernatural threat is [[spoiker:a teeming mass of black demons that lie trapped beyond something called the Black Door, and the main demon we see wears black while in a human body]]. Played with in regards to the physical shadows created by the Shadow Crown, who usually only show up while controlled by the villain to menace the heroes with their dark appearance played for horror, but who themselves have no independent morality and can equally be used for good when someone else is wearing the Crown.

* DarkIsEvil: the story’s supernatural threat is a teeming mass of black demons that lie trapped beyond something called the Black Door, and the main demon we see wears black while in a human body. Played with in regards to the physical shadows created by the Shadow Crown, who usually only show up while controlled by the villain to menace the heroes with their dark appearance played for horror, but who themselves have no independent morality and can equally be used for good when someone else is wearing the Crown.

* StakingTheLovedOne: Essentially the purpose of [[spoiler:the Alpha Key.]] It saves people by [[spoiler:unlocking the demon parasite attached to their souls]], but at the same time it doesn't save them, because [[spoiler:the demon manifests as whispering iron while still in the person's body, inevitably killing them.]] Tyler is forced to do this to [[spoiler:some of his best friends he made in school]], so they can [[DyingAsYourself die as themselves]].

* PowerFloats: The Echoes of dead people summoned in the Keyhouse's well can float, presumably because they'd have a hard time getting out of the well otherwise. As an escaped Echo [[spoiler: Dodge]] can do this too, but being separated from the well seems to make it progressively more difficult to the point where he doesn't use the power much at all during the series.

** The mirror and scissors Bode gives Dodge.

** Also a literal gun, bought and hidden by Tyler's Mom as a precaution in ''Welcome To Lovecraft''

Turns out, he wasn't far off the mark -- for hidden among the Keyhouse and its grounds are dozens of magical keys, each with a fantastic power, from becoming a ghost to summoning shadows to do your bidding. But their father's death was no random killing; a dark, malevolent force was behind it, and it will stop at nothing to kill the remaining Lockes and claim the most terrible key of all...

The original series, which takes place in the early 2010s (though the first issue appeared in 2008), revolves around the three Locke children: Tyler (eldest brother), Kinsey (his sister, a year younger than him) and Bode, by far the youngest. When the children's father is murdered, they and their deeply traumatized mother move from their home in San Francisco to Lovecraft, Massachusetts, into a mansion known as "The Keyhouse"; their dad's childhood home, who he always swore would protect them if anything happened to him.

Other publications have included side story one-shots showing life in Key House through different ages and a collection of issues called ''The Golden Age'', starting in 1912 and chronicling the Lockes' life during World War 1. ''The Golden Age'' series culminated with a miniseries {{CrossOver}} with ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' entitled ''[[ComicBook/LockeAndKeySandmanHellAndGone Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone]]''. The story was published in 2021.

A television pilot of ''Locke & Key'' was made in 2011 for Creator/{{Fox}}. That network passed on it and no other network picked it up. A trailer can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_KmKC5K8QU here]]. A second and more succesful adaptation, [[https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/17/15984090/hulu-locke-key-tv-series-new-director-andy-muschietti directed by Andy Muschietti]] was picked up by Creator/{{Netflix}} and premiered in 2020 - see ''Series/LockeAndKey2020''.

The original series, which takes place in the early 2010s (though the first issue appeared in 2008), revolves around the three Locke children: Tyler (eldest brother), Kinsey (his sister, a year younger than him) and Bode, by far the youngest. When the children's father is murdered, they and their deeply traumatized mother move from their home in San Francisco to Lovecraft, Massachusetts, in a mansion known as "The Keyhouse"; their dad's childhood home, who he always swore would protect them if anything happened to him.

''Locke & Key'' is a series of comic books written by Creator/JoeHill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, which have gotten collected as graphic novels. Seven volumes of the GNs have appeared so far, including a collection of one-shots.

The original series, which takes place in the early 2010s (though the first issue appeared in 2008), revolves around the three Locke children: Tyler (eldest brother), Kinsey (his sister, a year younger than him) and Bode, by far the youngest.

''Locke & Key'' is a series of comic books written by Creator/JoeHill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, which have gotten collected as graphic novels. Six volumes of the GNs have appeared so far. A seventh volume, starting off a new cycle called “World War Key”, will appear in late 2021. The seventh volume will collect a few of the one-shot comics published so far.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The Lockes of each generation, and then their friends, and then their family's friends.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Sometimes played straight, often averted by Dodge.

** At the end of the series, [[spoiler:Bode]] is dead but still exists as a ghost. A sparrow is willing to give up its body for him to possess, and using the Animal key they transform it into his human form.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdess: The Gender Key works slightly differently in the first issue: when [[spoiler: Well Lady turns back into Dodge's]] male form his hair stays long, while subsequent issues magically swap hair length along with the rest of the body.

* AcademyOfAdventure: Borderline. The Lovecraft Academy, attended by Tyler, Kinsey and Bode, was the [[spoiler:same school at which their father and his group of friends discovered the magic keys. Tthere's nothing unusual about the school, and while things happen there that affect the plot, almost all of the true "adventures" take place at Keyhouse.]]

A miniseries {{CrossOver}} with ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' entitled ''[[ComicBook/LockeAndKeySandmanHellAndGone Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone]]'' began publication in 2021. This, as well as a few other side stories.