Return to Labyrinth, a Henson Company/Tokyopop manga, should be considered a companion, rather than a sequel, to the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, about 15-year-old Sarah’s coming-of-age journey to save her half-brother, Toby, from the Goblin King’s Muppet-laden Labyrinth. 13 years after his older half-sister’s adventure, high schooler Toby doesn’t know that the Goblin King, his former kidnapper, now thinks of the boy as his heir. When Toby learns that Jareth has been granting his wishes – “meddling,” as Toby puts it – he enters the Labyrinth in an attempt to get Jareth out of his life.
Motivated by personal annoyance instead of a need for maturation [the way Sarah was], Toby makes a bland, uninteresting protagonist. His companions – sharp-tempered Faery Hana, her playful, piss-happy steed Stank and the groveling goblin Skub – provide much more color. Other plot strands, like a Cinderella-like subplot involving Moppet, the human servant to Goblin City’s mayor, and negotiation between Jareth and the neighboring Queen of Cups about Jareth’s line of succession [?!], come in suddenly with some confusion, but will certainly be resolved in later volumes. [Return to Labyrinth is the first of three manga.]
Geared toward teens and thus a new generation of Labyrinth fans younger than those who saw the movie’s theatrical release, Return… pays homage to the original with a similar punny, potty-mouthed sense of humor. Those familiar with the movie will also enjoy picking out continuity nods, old favorites [hey, Hoggle really is “prince of the Land of Stench!”] and plot parallels.
Devout Sarah fans will be disappointed, since blockily drawn, bespectacled [?!] Sarah has only a small role in this volume. Devout Jareth fans will probably object to the portrayal of the Goblin King as a long-fingered, smarmy figure whose interest in Toby seems predatory [when giving some royal garb to Toby, he assures the boy that he “won’t peek”]. Taken for what it is, though – a lightweight supplement to a cult favorite – Return… is an amusing curiosity. Just don’t expect it to show you your dreams.
2 Comments
Hmm. Less horrific than feared, then? 🙂 I shall have to check it out, though it is sad to hear that they have gone the Bland Protagonist route.
Rampant Bicycle
http://www.rampantbicycle.com/blog
I didnt have ‘high’ hopes for it, but what came out wasnt what I was expecting at all.
I didnt like the art style at all. Ive watched the Labyrinth ever since I can remember, so of course I was very happy to hear about this manga news (me being a anime/manga fan myself) and when I saw the cover I bought it without thinking twice….but, Im afraid the cover art was done by a different artist, and when I actually sat down to read the manga, I was very disapointed to see the art style became..”blockily” and actually looked like my nieces manga style.
I did like the story, although it could of been better planned. Im hoping the MirrorMask and the Dark Crystal mangas will be just a bit better then what this one turned out to be.