I’ve really grown weary of comic book adaptations in film in the past couple years. I’ve already written my thoughts on films like The Dark Knight Rises, but the genre as a whole has started to become stale and predictable, and is so top heavy with the over-bloated Marvel and DC universes which try to tie everything together that truly original and filmic movies like Scott Pilgrim and Kick-Ass* often get overshadowed in the long run.

Based on a “Best Books of 2012″ list on LitReactor (a great writing website which is associated with everyone’s favorite Chuck Palahniuk), I recently got into the graphic novel series, Locke and Key. While I don’t generally read a whole lot of comics, I took a chance and picked up Volume 1, then proceeded to read it in about an hour. The story moves. The characters all have so much depth, and the art is incredible. I ordered 2-5 over the next weeks, and found myself waiting for the FedEx guy to arrive with each new volume so I could speed through it. This stuff is like crack!

Locke and Key follows the Locke family after their father is killed by a maniac, and they’re left to go to the only safe place they know of until the man is caught: Keyhouse, an old house which has been in the family for several generations. The children of the family soon find out that it’s not just a clever name, but there are actual keys hidden around the house, and each one unlocks a different door, each giving them a different magical power. As the series progresses, the story gets deeper by giving more of the backstory, going as far back as the revolutionary way, yet it still manages to relate directly back to the family which we’ve grown to love.

It’s Lost meets Lovecraft (a name referenced several times throughout the series), except it doesn’t hold back on the gore, which is fitting, since it was written by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son. It really does run in the family! However, it never forgets that it’s a comic book, which means it’s free to have some fun, as evidenced by the first book in Volume 4, which portrays its characters and pages as though they were created by Bill Watterson for a Calvin and Hobbes series. I don’t know how, but it just works.

While the stories sometimes dive headfirst into the fantasical, the series is firmly rooted in the personal lives of the family members and the history of the house. It’s an incredible mix of drama, fantasy and mystery, with each element playing into the next. The drama drives the fantasy, just as much as the fantasy drives the drama. Just check out some of the art below.

Rather than having a character explain how they’re feeling in thick exposition, the author and artist literally give you a look into the child’s mind through the use of one of the magical keys. One picture has said everything you need to know.

That’s when I started thinking about the cinematic opportunities that a series like this presents. There’s no big-name superheroes, and they don’t wear costumes. These are real people, something rarely seen in comic book movies anymore, as much as the studios try to make them gritty and realistic. It has all the makings of a great movie. Given the right direction, the story is as absorbing as any thriller or mystery that’s come out in the last couple years and the stylistic groundwork that’s been laid could lead to a really mind-blowing cinematic experience.

The series wraps up in June, at which time it might just waste away in obscurity, but it would be great if it got a shot at the big screen.  If you have any interest in comic books, or even enjoy mind-bending stories like Lost, this is definitely something that you should give a try.

*Not to say Scott Pilgrim and Kick-Ass weren’t appreciated, but they didn’t get the attention they deserved, nor were they looked at as a revolution in the way that comic book movies can be adapted to the screen. Their effects and style don’t reflect the modest budget and lack of studio support that each had. Much like Sin City, they embraced the comic-bookiness of the source material and used the medium to enhance the experience, rather than trying to turn the storylines into large-scale action dramas.