Today’s Comic> Legends of the Dark Crystal v2

Groupies.

Jim Henson’s Legends of the Dark Crystal: Trial By Fire

Tokyopop (August 2010)

I had given up hope that this volume was ever coming out. I can’t even find my review of the first volume (which I’m sure came out while this blog existed) but for the uninformed, here’s a recap.

In this prequel to Jim Henson’s amazing movie, we meet Lahr and Neffi, two Gelfling who by accident learned that the Garthim could actually be killed. Now determined to rescue both of their villages from the Skeksis and help out the third village that they came across on their journey.

That was last volume, which gave us a look at the Gelflings as a people, since they were all dead but two when the movie took place. This volume has our heroes invading the Crystal Castle to keep their people’s essences from being drained to power the Emperor. However, the Skeksis get along less well than your average Decepticons and are always stabbing each other in the back. This actually plays well into our heroes’ plans, but Lahr may be forced to abandon his people in order to save them.

Normally I tell you more than that, even in the usual format, but in this case I really don’t want to spoil anything. From the writing to the artwork (personally, I would have thought something more European than Japanese/manga style, but this is Tokyopop and the artist proved me dead wrong anyway), this is a fantastic story whether you’re a fan of the movie or never heard of it. (And you really should check the movie out at the earliest opportunity.) I’m not a big fantasy fan (odd, considering my favorite movie is The Neverending Story and I love The Dark Crystal), but this was worth the months of wait and I highly recommend it.

Later tonight: “The Weekly Wrap-Up” featuring “Best Scene of the Week”

Related Articles

• Slight Details Revealed About the Spierig Brothers’ Power of the Dark Crystal (slashfilm.com)
• Jim Henson Teaches You How to Make Puppets! (wired.com)