Locke & Key (IDW Comics)

The Netflix television adaptation of *Locke & Key* ran for three seasons, premiering in February 2020 and concluding with its third season in August 2022. The show was developed by Carlton Cuse, Meredith Averill, and Aron Eli Coleite, and while it followed the broad premise of the comic, it diverged significantly in tone, making the story more family-friendly than Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez's darker source material.

Yes, Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King and Tabitha King; his full name is Joseph Hillström King, and he adopted the shortened pen name 'Joe Hill' to build his career without trading on his famous family name. He has since become one of the most acclaimed horror and dark fantasy authors in his own right, with novels including *Heart-Shaped Box*, *NOS4A2*, and *The Fireman*, in addition to his comics work.

The Locke & Key series features dozens of magical keys hidden throughout Keyhouse, each granting a unique power—the Anywhere Key allows teleportation to any door the user has seen, the Head Key lets someone enter another person's mind, the Gender Key changes the user's sex, and the Omega Key is central to the series' overarching conflict with the demonic entity Dodge. New keys continue to be discovered throughout the comic's six story arcs, each tied to the dark history of the Locke family.

*Locke & Key* debuted from IDW Publishing in 2008 with the first story arc *Welcome to Lovecraft*, written by Joe Hill with art by Gabriel Rodríguez. The main series ran through six multi-issue arcs, concluding with *Alpha & Omega* in 2013, and the complete run has been collected into multiple trade paperback and hardcover editions that remain among IDW's best-selling original titles.