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Locke and Key, a Reading Order Guide for Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s series

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Welcome to Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them… and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…

This is the premise of Locke and Key, the comic book series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez published by IDW, which is also now a Netflix series. The original run of the series has been published as a set of limited series, followed since then by a series of short stories set in the past. The Locke and Key universe continue to expand, slowly, but still…

And, as a very popular comic book, there are multiple editions. Here is a guide to help you navigate all this.

Locke and Key Reading Order

Locke and Key: The Main Series

The main story is about the Locke family, present day. After the murder of their father, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke move with their mother Nina to the family estate of Keyhouse, located in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. The young Bode soon uncovers The Ghost Door which separates his spirit from his body. With his brother and sister, they begin discovering more secrets and the keys that open more than doors. Each key brings a lot of possibilities and problems, but the real danger is outside with those who want the keys for themselves.

Locke & Key was also collected in three hardcover books with all-new cover art and design by Gabriel Rodriguez:

 Recently, All six arcs of the main story have been published in one compendium edition:

  • Locke & Key: Keyhouse Compendium
    collects all six volumes of the critically acclaimed series into one massive compendium, featuring new front and back cover art by Gabriel Rodriguez.

Locke and Key: The Golden Age

The Golden Age is a series of stand-alone stories exploring the history of the Keyhouse and the Locke Family, also serving as a prelude volume to World War Key (an upcoming Locke and Key series). The Hell & Gone story is also a crossover with Sandman.

  • Locke & Key: The Golden Age
    Collects Small World, “Open the Moon”, …In Pale Battalions Go… #1–3, “Face the Music”, and Hell & Gone #1–2

This title will be released on March 15, 2022, as the short story Face the Music has not yet been released. Several of these stories have already been published in the past: 

  • Locke & Key: Small World
    Collects The Golden Age stand-alone issue Small World.
  • Locke & Key: Heaven and Earth
    Collects The Golden Age stand-alone short stories “Open the Moon”, Grindhouse, and “In the Can”, (a rare Locke and Key short that was published in IDW: 10 Year Anniversary Comic Book in 2009)

Other stories…

Through the years, a few Locke & Key short stories have been published and are considered at the moment stande alone issues (and not part of any arc).

  • Locke & Key: In the Can (2009) — published in IDW: 10 Year Anniversary Comic Book. While exploring the woods near Keyhouse looking for more keys, Bode Locke feels the call of nature and stumbles upon a mysterious outhouse with the IDW Key hanging from a hook along with a roll of toilet paper. 
  • Locke & Key: Grindhouse (2012) — In the glare of a Depression-era summer, three Canuck gangsters pull the heist of their dreams and take off for the perfect hiding spot… an isolated mansion on the tip of Lovecraft Island known locally as Keyhouse. 
  • Locke & Key: Nailed It (2019) — A 2019 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive.
  • Locke & Key: Dog Days (2019) — The children of Mary Locke, two brothers, play with their dog Lloyd and the Animal Key. 
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