Locke and Key: Clockworks #4 Review

Watch Rendell use the Omega Key.
By Joshua Yehl

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez have been unlocking all sorts of secrets through their time-jumping Clockworks arc, providing some much-wanted answers for longtime readers. Some mysteries seem less scary when the reader sees how they came about, but here the origin of how Dodge became a murderous psychopath maintains a lip-biting tension until the last page.

As much fun as it is to learn about the magical nature of the keys (and believe that Hill weaves some great lore about them), the real highlight of this issue is the characters. Dodge thinks he is so cool that he becomes careless with Duncan. Rendell is so gaga for Kim that he fails to notice Erin's obvious affection for him. Mark was upset at being teased before, yet now he taunts Duncan relentlessly. Teenagers. Little time has been spent with these characters, but Hill crafts them with such humor and humanity that the reader will be shouting at the page for them to turn back as they watch them travel down towards the Black Door.

Rodriguez again provides an astoundingly high level of artwork to bring this masterful story to life. At this point in the story, many images from as far back as the first volume are seen again in a new light, so much credit is due to Rodriguez for his incredible ability to hide Easter eggs in plain sight that reward any who would go back and start from the beginning -- and with a series this amazing, it would be crazy not to.
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