Jim Henson’s 1985 film Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite movies. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear that Tokyopop was publishing a continuation of the story in manga format. This Christmas, I received volume one from Rachel – which made me very, very happy. So how did the first volume hold up? Well, there are a few hits and misses, but overall it’s an entertaining continuation of the original story.
Return to Labyrinth Manga – Story by Jake T. Forbes, Art by Chris Lie, Published by Tokyopop.
Story
The Return to Labyrinth manga takes place several years after the events of the film. After a brief flashback from the movie, we meet an older Tobey (he’s now supposedly 13 years old). Toby is portrayed as a troubled teenager who is interested in acting, has pretty bad luck, gets into trouble a lot and has issues with his mother. His sister Sarah (who is in her 30s) isn’t a big part of his life – and is strangely missing from most of the story. Writer Jake T. Forbes has recently stated that Sarah will play a larger roll in additional volumes.
The first chapter of volume one follows the film in several ways – mainly by mirroring Sarah’s issues with her parents, herself and Toby. By playing up Toby’s problems, it makes things easier for Jareth to lead him into the Labyrinth. When Jareth The Goblin King finally shows up, the story really begins to feel more like the film!
After entering the Labyrinth and The Goblin Kingdom, Toby meets several new characters – such as the faerie ‘Hana’ and the furry creature ‘Stank’. Writer Jake T. Forbes has balanced these introductions with old favorites from the film, such as the oddities of the Labyrinth and it’s unusual cast of characters.
Thankfully, some of my favorite characters Hoggle, Sir Didymus (with Ambrocious) and Ludo begin to make their appearances. There’s even the goblins with the bitey poles in the background! Jareth pops up here and there, which makes it feel a lot like the film too. There are several points in the story that really connected with the film – all involving either Sir Didymus, Jareth or Toby. Unfortunately, there are several points where I was pulled out of the story entirely (as I mentioned before – Labyrinth is one of my favorite films).
The main scene I was the most disappointed with is a scene at the ball (towards the end of volume one) when Toby meets Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus for the first time. When they realize that Sarah never mentioned any of them, Ludo says “Sawah Friend. Sawah…Gone.” That really depressed me. Actually, in the panel before, Hoggle says “I guess she just…didn’t need us.” That seemed really sad and unlike Hoggle’s character from the film. I guess that’s just a little bit of ‘deconstruction’ that the writer felt needed to be added. After that, the story perks up again.
Art
The cover art, by Kouyu Shurei is truly amazing. She’s really captured the spirit of The Goblin King Jareth and his Labyrinth. The cover also provides nice distinctive portrait of Toby, the main character of the story. The warmth of the colors remind me of the Labyrinth theatrical poster and the level of detail is simply amazing.
I was expecting the cover to be a preview of the interior art. Once inside, I quickly realized that this wasn’t the case. Instead, the artwork is by Chris Lie, whose art is a loose combination of western and manga style. While a very competent artist, I was expecting a much tighter manga style. I initially picked on every little element that looked wrong, but after re-reading the manga, I’ve decided that the artwork takes some time to warm up to. I still have some problems with ‘grown-up’ Sarah though. Why does she look like a slightly hipper version of Velma from Scooby-Doo?
Character Design
The character design left me with mixed feelings. While it’s great to see old friends again, I was kinda distracted by some of the interpretations of familiar characters (as I said before). Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen the film so many times – or that I’m looked at Brian Froud’s art so much!
Likes:
- The Goblin King Jareth. He looks like he stepped directly out of the film and into the manga.
- The new characters such as the faerie Hana and her trusty steed Stank.
- The goblin/human character Moppet – she wears a masquerade ball mask and her identity is unknown, which is pretty interesting!
- The world of Labyrinth. The Goblin city and kingdom look great!
Dislikes:
- Sarah. She is unrecognizable with her short hair and glasses. I was expecting her to look like a mature version of herself (or actress Jennifer Connelly)!
- Hoggle looks weird to me – I’m not sure why. Sorry!
- The goblins. I think they look too ’soft’. They’re like this weird Ralph Bakshi style mixed with a tiny little bit of Tim Burton. Missing ingredient? Brian Froud!
Conclusion
Overall I enjoyed the story but was disappointed by several elements. The biggest disappointment was the absence of Sarah throughout the story (and her character design). What could have been an excellent opportunity to include both brother and sister in an epic adventure ends up something a little less epic (so far – I realize there’s more story to tell). Since we hardly knew Toby in the Labyrinth film (he was a baby), I have a disconnect to his ‘grown-up’ (13) character. As a baby (and Sarah’s brother) it was easy to feel sympathetic to him in the movie – he was helpless and constantly in danger (of being turned into a goblin). In the manga, he seems to be able to take care of himself – even with the bad luck.
There are several good things in volume one. The story was fresh and pretty exciting. It’s interesting to pick up the story years after the events of the film took place. It’s also nice to revisit old friends again. Jareth is awesome. Toby has potential. Overall, I think even with the hits and misses of Tokyopop’s Return to Labyrinth manga, the story kept me interested. I think I’ll follow Toby, Jareth the Goblin King and company further into the Labyrinth and see how all of this turns out for them!
and.. in the manga Toby goes down to the dungeons to get to that topsy turvy stair bit..
in the film Sawah goes up those stairs from the er.. throne room..
FAIL!
lol
XP
Hey Guys,
I must say, after reading the reviews from tons of people on amazon.com and other sites about this book, it made me believe that it was not worth buying.
I love labyrinth so much that I just couldn’t listen to everyone bash it. I had to see for myself. It’s been years since we have seen anything new. Its about time Labyrinth is being resurrected. Yet it is a classic its nice to see more to the story. With movies being made and having so many sequels, you would almost kind of wish Labyrinth was made now a days just so we can see more of it in the future. But then it wouldn’t have David Bowie who makes that movie beyond amazing.
When I did get my hands on the book, I read half before bed and just finished it now. I must say, it made me laugh a few times and Toby is kind of cute. He looks like a young Jareth and sort of like Roxas from Kingdom Hearts. n_n
I always liked the sister and thought she was beautiful. But indeed remember she did return home in the human world and therefore leaving Jareth to stay as the goblin king in his world. So to believe that Sarah after all these years would go back seems lost. Due most to the fact that she is now a grown adult and teaches. Toby though is a great way to bring back labyrinth but still get to show some old characters like Sarah and have even the goblins remember her. It makes more sense. It would be nice though to see Sarah return to the labyrinth one more time to see Jareth. n_n
I think the artist made Sarah look the way she did in the manga because well if she is almost 30 then that means she has been through college and is now living an “adult” life on her own. People change and I sure don’t look the same as I did back in high school. I am only 23 and I have changed so much. My hair and style of dressing is completely different. But to me Sarah looks like someone who has been through college and now works everyday to support herself. The modern day look for women. Glasses and short hair. Give her that modern workingwoman look.
Anywhoo, as for Jareth still looking fabulous and finding out how long he has ruled for would make any king want to quit his job LOL and place Toby who is rather cute and could easily replace Jareth after living for a few centuries makes this a story I want to continue reading. I hope to see more in the future books. I am not one to buy Manga but this indeed is worth buying if you are a fan. I know most of you would rather see works from the Original artist or even the cover artist but manga is not supposed to be so detailed and perfect. It’s done quickly. If it was done like the cover art, then expect one of these books to come out every year or two. LOLz
Indeed though I do wish to have a poster of the cover art on my wall. But remember its a fun story and worth reading more about. Sometimes I think with everything we have now a days people just don’t appreciate what they have right in front of them. It seems to me that people want more. Though I believe manga shouldn’t be 10 bucks a pop. I am not sure what I would do if this series goes on for another 10 more copies.
I just want to let you know David that you got a good review here. But indeed I was happy to see Jareth in manga form. I think the character was captured quite well. I hope to see something happen with Toby. Maybe even Sarah will join in on the fun. Who knows?
-Ginger
youtube.com/gingeranne
gingie-breads/livejournal.com
Quick update: I’m about halfway through Return to Labyrinth volume 2 – it’s…interesting. So far there’s a lot more of Toby in this one, and the plot surrounding his ‘kingship’ starts to deepen. The art is still bugging me, but I’ll have more to say on that issue in my upcoming review of volume 2.
Hey, one thing i am desperate to ask! Did Jareth marry Sarah? lol, sorry, it was random but please give a reply -.-’
no sarah went back to the ‘real’ world and lived her life normaly and Jareth stayed in the Labyrinth and is apparently dying there.
T.T Personally, my sympathies lie with the Gobin King… i remember being bitterly disappointed >_<
I know me too! but then again how old is Jareth? and Sarah’s like 15 sooo…………… *creepy*
Hehe…*nod*
Then, Sarah did mention as she told Toby the story…that the girl fell in love with the Goblin King? O.o lol…?
Talk about love…this is my all time favorite movie. i wish they would make a movie of Return to the Labyrinth.
i have crystalls like Jareths. i love the movie soooo much.
im on a search for the books. Sometimes i wish i could just enter the labyrinth myself and meet Jareth ( i think hes cute) trust me… im wierd!
I finally finished writing my review of volume two! It features an improved story (yay!), less Jareth (boo!), more Toby, stronger art and is a big improvement over volume one.
Volume two was DEFINITELY better than Vol. 1. By a long shot. The end is such a cliffhanger! GAH!! NOOOOO!! What’s really driving me crazy is that it took so long for volume 2 to come out. God, I HOPE volume 3 doesn’t take so long. I think I’m going to go crazy. Any word on what’s going on with volume 3. I know it’s only been a month, but I’m already desperate.
Roxy – I totally agree with you about the improvements! In my volume 2 review, I mention possible volume 3 release:
Let’s hope it’s sooner than that!
Summer?! *swoons* I won’t last that long–hmmm… That sounds redundant. Maybe I said that already in your Review of the second volume…? I probably did. I’m hoping it’ll be sooner. Ideally, this one will be much better received and increase the popularity enough to get the third volume out sooner.
Hi can any of you tell me where to get the 2nd book? i cant find it any where!
i cant wait until the next book. i need my fix. so when does the next book come out? all i have to say is keep up the good work.
Roxy – Yes, summer is a long wait. Hopefully the Dark Crystal manga will fill in the time between now and then.
Brogan – Order Return to Labyrinth Volume 1 and Order Return to Labyrinth Volume 2 from Amazon!
jarrett savoie – Book three comes out sometime in the summer 2008.
Any chances that this will come out in Brazil? Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies and I really wanted to read Return to Labyrinth
I LOVE THIS MOVIE, i have got to read then manga!
Actually, one point which really bothered/annoyed me was the ball scene. Toby meets Ludo and Hoggle and Sir Didymus, they mention that they know Sarah and then…nothing. Toby, who seems like he might get curious easily, doesn’t ask how they know her. The don’t tell him how he was kidnapped by Jareth, which strikes me as something he should know, and they don’t tell him how Sarah fought to save him.
As far as the inside art, I agree with your review of it. It’s not bad, and it does basically take some getting used to, but it was a bit of a let down after seeing the cover art (which I adore).
Your mention of the goblins looking too soft made me think of them again. The city almost seems more…pleasant? Less hostile? than it did in the movie. I can also see Toby as being at least 15.
Serina: “Toby should be the one becoming entranced with Jareth, not the other way round.” There did seem to be some odd innuendo thrown in there, which actually amused me. (I’m a slasher by nature, so it didn’t bother me). The book Jareth does seem to lack some of the charism movie Jareth had, which I kind of blame the art for. And some of his lines.
I don’t mind the two females as much as I could (the fairy and the goblin-mask girl) but they are not too desirable/interesting to me. The masked girl seems rather weak-willed at times, with her chasing after Candelwick, and doing whatever her employer tells her to. She does rebel a little, however, against her employer.
As for the fairy – remember when one of them bit Sarah? I thought they couldn’t talk, or could only make sounds. The book fairy seems to go against the previous information the movie supplied, which confuses me.
All in all, I don’t see Jareth as coming off as ’slightly bisexual’. He just seems really, really interested in Toby. (Understandable, since he’s been following him around granting his every wish for years…) And probably finds amusement in Toby’s reactions, possibly because they remind him of how Sarah would react? Either way.
Ginger: “I know most of you would rather see works from the Original artist or even the cover artist but manga is not supposed to be so detailed and perfect.”
Not exactly. There are plenty of beautifully drawn/detailed mangas out there. (The coloring would take forever though)
I think the reason the inside art disappointed so many was because it is a manga, which attracted manga fans as well as fans of the movie. Just from the cover art, I was expecting something that built on the allure of the movie. And western styled comics can be beautifully drawn as well (I’ve read enough…). The inside art seems a bit…lacking. Posture seems a bit stiff at points as well. Not bad, just not my cup of tea, you could say.
HOLA
So far I like volume 2 is better than volume 1 for RETURN TO LABYRINTH
I think JIM HENSON should turn it into a movie because if hes going to finish the story of the LABYRINTH by explaining it in a book, then he should make another movie to show the ending, the way it should end.
Hola
I think Volume 2 in return to labyrinth is better than volume 1.
I think that Jim Henson should turn the RETURN TO LABYRINTH a movie because if hes going to explain the ending in a book, then he should show us all how the LABYRINTH ends.
HOLA
I think that volume 2 in RETURN TO LABYRINTH is better than volume 1.
I think that Jim henson should make “RETURN TO LBAYRINTH” a movie because
if hes going to explain to us how the story ends in a book, then he should show us how the story ends.
Sorry about the repeat i was having problems with my computer.
If Jim henson does make REURN TO LABYRINTH a movie then I hope it turns out to be a great movie like the first one.
Hi this looks really interesting, and was wondering where i would be able to buy a copy of this ?
please email back as i love this film
at selgie@hotmail.co.uk
=]
Ok now I have to check it out.