Joe Hill (born Joseph Hillstrom King), son of Stephen King and acclaimed horror / suspense author in his own right is continuing to following his dad’s example as he adds himself to the list of authors successfully working with IDW Publishing. The comic book interpretation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series has been a huge success, both financially and with the favor of his fanbase. Joe Hill’s Locke & Key is coming to IDW publishing in February. See press release below.
From IDW Press – 1/28/08 Best-selling suspense writer Joe Hill is ready to unleash his all-new fantasy-horror comic series on readers in February 2008. A rising star in the horror genre, Hill’s stories have ranged from serial killers and abducted children to supernatural novels, but his latest dark fantasy, Locke & Key, is being unleashed in comics form as an initial six-issue series from IDW Publishing (www.idwpublishing.com).
“Hill is one of the most talented up-and-coming horror writers I’ve read in years,” says Chris Ryall, publisher and editor-in-chief for IDW Publishing. “He has the unique ability to compress epic-like tales into a tightly developed series of brief episodes. This approach is nothing short of perfect for comics.”
Hill’s first short-fiction collection, 20th Century Ghosts, received the British Fantasy Award, The International Horror Guild Award, and the Bram Stoker Award for best collection. The Washington Post noted that “the collection should establish its author as a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction.” Following the success of 20th Century Ghosts, Hill released Heart-Shaped Box, a New York Times bestseller that made the Publisher’s Weekly 2007 Best Books of the Year list. The supernatural thriller about a merciless ghost is currently being adapted by Warner Brothers for a planned feature film release.
Locke & Key
Featuring art from Gabriel Rodriguez, who worked on IDW Publishing’s Beowulf and Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, Locke & Key is a supernatural thriller about three children who find themselves the custodians of a New England mansion. Within the house are fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them-fundamentally changing a child into an old person, a boy into a girl, and so forth. The mansion is also home to a hate-filled creature that will not rest until it forces the kids to open the most terrible door of all.
“Ultimately it’s a kind of modern Grimm’s fairy tale, about the way young people discover and construct their own identity,” says Hill.
