My long wait to finally read Heaven & Earth is over! Let me tell you, it was an incredibly grueling process - I had just taken out an interlibrary loan for Small World before libraries shut down due to COVID-19, and none of my local libraries had a digital copy of Heaven & Earth. I luckily have a coworker who lives in Ohio, so I was able to borrow their Libby account - but then I had to wait 3 whole weeks once I placed the digital copy on hold. I felt like I had to literally move Heaven & Earth just to get a copy (laugh at my pun, damn you). If only there were a magic key to unlock and gain access to every library/book in the world, regardless of where you live (Mr. Skelton, hear my cry for a Librarian Key!)
The Heaven & Earth hardcover edition contains three shorts from the Golden Age arc, including “Open the Moon,” “Grindhouse,” and “In the Can.” I read it in one sitting, on my porch with my cat curled on my shoulder, the way all good comic reading should be done.
“Open the Moon” brings us back to 1912, where Ian Locke has a terminal illness that cannot be healed with the Mending Cabinet. He laments that he will not be able to see the world or do interesting things like the other Lockes, so his father tasks Harland with creating a key which will allow Ian to see all of life, everywhere. No cases of FOMO to be seen here! It’s a touching, heartwarming story that gives us a glimpse into the history of the members of the Locke family - which, of course, I hope we get stories about all of them, and even more of the ones we’ve already seen.
“Grindhouse” follows up with a grown-up Mary and Jean, along with Mary’s two sons who also appear in “Dog Days.” This time, some bandits seek refuge in the Keyhouse and unlock the mansion’s secrets in true “revenge film” fashion. This one contains some graphic and unsettling sexual content, but the Locke family is badass and witty as always. I’m not a huge fan of the new key introduced here, only because it seems the only purpose it would serve is for a scenario like this one, and we already know The Great Lock (chain key) serves this function in prior instances. I feel like that would have been a far better fit.
In “In the Can,” Bode does what he does best - happening upon keys at random and creating a mess of things. This time he happens to find the “IDW Key,” as this comic is from the IDW 10 Year Anniversary special. I also read NOS4A2 this week, and there is a sweet little nod to Keyhouse in there that made me realize that like his father, Joe Hill has created an intricate multiverse, and when Bode uses this new key, we get a glimpse of Christmasland (although the art style is very different from that of The Wraith and mashed up with other series). I wish that could have been expanded upon - I’m sure Charles Manx would be very interested in young Bode and the Lovecraft “inscapes” (especially considering they are so different from the other inscapes). Is this a hint that we will see a crossover in the future? One can hope, although one does not hope Charlie gets his hands on any keys. Not sure what the other two scenes were from, but this was a fun little short nonetheless.
One of the things that Locke and Key does best is diversify the art styles to fit with the atmosphere and plot of the story it is telling. We perhaps see this best illustrated when Bode uses the animal key to make new friends in Keys to the Kingdom, which reads like a majorly fucked-up Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. It is seen here too.
The back half of the book is a photo gallery and tour of the "real" Lovecraft, MA location. It is interesting content, if you are a fan of the "special featurettes" on DVDs. I am definitely going to have to put the real location of the "Drowning Caves" on my travel list.
I was a bit annoyed that this copy didn’t include Dog Days, any of the “Kinsey’s Komic Korner” shorts, or the Guide to the Keyhouse that is in the Grindhouse single release (and neither did the Small World hardcover release). I’m always confused on how they choose to arrange these hardcover copies, but hopefully one day they will release ones that contain the entire arc (Yes, I know there’s one more issue left, don’t come for me).
Now I guess I’ll just be over here twiddling my thumbs and waiting for Hell & Gone and then the World War Key arc to drop. I don’t ever want this series to end.
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