Hmm.

Right after I say something nice about Rodriguez, this issue happens.

Actually, it’s not Rodriguez’s fault. Hill gives him something impossible to draw as static images (a transformation) and it just flops.

As for the rest of the issue, Hill does a pretty good job wrapping up some of the story and laying the groundwork for future series. There’s one problem where he contradicts himself. In dialogue, the villain explains the story as the finish, mocking Bode’s youthful idea the story is just starting.

Obviously, the story is just starting, which makes the villain just seem a little dumb and pointless and Hill’s dialogue superficial and thoughtless.

Hill brings back the narration, this time from Ty, the oldest brother, and it’s a mistake. Bode’s the series’s best “good” character, maybe because he’s the only one Hill’s spent any time developing.

Still, those complaints aside, it’s a decent enough finish.

I think this issue is Hill’s first without any narration. It opens with the psycho—Sam—then flip-flops between him and Bode. Bode’s got his friend in the well, who reveals she’s not a friend this issue.

Hill and Rodriguez get gratuitously violent when Sam attacks the daughter (still don’t remember her name), to the point it’s way too rough for the comic. Locke & Key has been disturbing, but even with all the violence, it’s never been too much.

Here, they take it too far. So far, in fact, it’s unbelievable later when the dialogue suggests the daughter survived the assault.

It’s also Hill’s first all-action issue and he does pretty well. The colorist screws up the time of day for a bit.

And I might finally be willing to say I’m liking Rodriguez’s art. He really makes this issue work.

Maybe the best issue overall (so far).

Hill really goes all out this issue; it’s a wholly unlikable issue and probably the series’s best in terms of writing. Hill’s not concerned with writing likable characters or even really developing the big mystery behind Locke & Key. Instead, he focuses mostly on the psychotic murderer who’s out to get the family again—there’s some fill-in, revealing the kid’s motivation was uncanny and supernatural, not just a psychopathic kid (his sidekick, who barely has a place, probably was just a nutter).

And when Hill does go to the family, he’s just doing little stuff. The youngest one, Bode, is annoying people with a joke (to remind the reader of everything going on with him). But what’s more interesting is how Hill momentarily gets into the older son… who seems almost as disturbed as the murderer.

The issue makes the reader feel creeped out and sick, which means Hill succeeds.

And now Hill dedicated a whole issue to the girl. Again, I like his approach, but it’s just not believable. He’s got the little brother, Bode, I think, showing the sister his out of body experience and the sister thinks he’s playing. Maybe if they were regular kids, but not after the trauma they’d been through. Maybe the lack of post-traumatic stress is where Hill goes off the rails. His characters only work if you see them a little, like during a comic book. He forgets the other characters see them all the time.

Still, it’s a compelling read (maybe because Hill ups the foreboding ante again). I’m probably the only one, but the conclusion to the issue–Hill has a nice, trite finish to make it upbeat–is rather homoerotic.

And Rodriguez? His art still isn’t growing on me. He has a good sense of composition, but his details are loose.

Hill tells most of the issue from the perspective of a ten year-old. Maybe ten. He might even be younger.

Hill’s not particularly good at writing the character, because his vocabulary is way too mature. Still, it’s a likable character (maybe it would work if he were thirteen… or if Hill had established him as a smarty-pants in the first issue).

There’s more stuff with the mom and the uncle this issue (the second half feels like there are no adults around at all, which sort of fits—Rodriguez draws the uncle about the same age as the oldest kid). The mom’s a problem; Hill can’t seem to make her real.

Still, his plotting is excellent. Even though it’s a fast read, he does manage to introduce a new character and a connection to the first issue.

Hopefully, the rest of the cast gets page time pretty soon.

Hill sells some of Locke & Key in the first few pages, when it becomes clear something awful is going to happen and he isn’t going to shy away from it. Then the awful thing does happen and Hill and Rodriguez handle to very well. Once the event has occurred though, Hill has to set up the rest of the book and there’s where he runs into problems.

He correctly assumes he can introduce characters in dialogue and later bring them in to be recognized in action. Only they aren’t the right characters for the scene. It’s forced and he wastes a couple pages on it.

Then there’s the hurried pacing. At one point, we get three pages to cover three or four minutes of present action. Later, Hill skips through at least a week without mention.

And I’m not sure Rodriguez fits the material. He does try hard though.