Joe Hill kicked off his comic-writing career with IDW Publishing with an imaginative and compelling story. The first issue of his Locke & Key flew off the shelves in comics stories, required another printing, and was snapped up almost immediately by movie production companies.

For those who don't know yet, Joe Hill is one of Stephen King's sons. Joe wanted to become known as a horror writer in his own right rather than hanging onto his famous dad's coattails, and Joe has succeeded in a lot of ways. His first novel, Heart-Shaped Box garnered a lot of literary attention as well as readers. His collection, 20th Century Ghosts, became well-known in short order.

Locke & Key is going to be at least a six-issue comic series, though Joe promises he's got plots that would take the series out to nearly 70 issues if he gets to write them. The story's focus is on the Locke family, which went through the horrible tragedy of losing their father, Rendell Locke, to psychotic students he once taught.

Issue #2 picks up the family's story after they've moved to Lovecraft, Massachusetts. And doesn't that name summon all kinds of wicked demons immediately to mind? As it turns out, Keyhouse, where the family moved, has all kinds of dangerous secrets lurking within it.

I love Joe's easy storytelling ability. He makes everything look simple as he tells the story through dialogue between the characters as well as Bode's first-person narration. Bode Locke is in grade school, and Joe portrays his voice convincingly throughout. Joe maintains the eye and focus of a child almost effortlessly: filled with excitement, the need to be the center of attention, and the disappointment and irritability that he displays when that doesn't happen.

Joe also writes Bode intelligently, showing how he's smarter than the monster he discovers in the wellhouse. But he also has fun with Bode, showing how Bode carries on while he's bored, such as putting a mop bucket on his head while talking to the woman in the bottom of the well. Of course, the inherent danger of walking on the edge of the well that Bode seems to miss screams in the face of the reader. I found myself tensing up, waiting for Bode to inevitably fall into the well and meet his doom.