Sweet!

[telophase]

Via Cognitive Dissonance, an announcement from the San Diego Comic-Con:

The Beat from Mile-High Comics reports the announcement:

The Jim Henson Company has partnered with TOKYOPOP Inc., the #1 publisher of manga in the U.S., in an exclusive manga publishing deal to bring three of its fantasy titles to fans. Most notable among them is MirrorMask, the feature film from Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman due for release on September 30th of this year. TOKYOPOP’s MirrorMask prequel manga will be plotted by Gaiman, the award-winning writer of the highly successful Sandman comics as well as the novels Good Omens and Coraline. Also included in the deal will be all-new original graphic novel series for the immensely popular properties The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

The MirrorMask prequel will tell the story of the princess' escape from the Dark Palace and how she came to acquire the MirrorMask.

TOKYOPOP also plans to release a sequel manga to Labyrinth, which first hit the big screen in 1986, remained a fan favorite over the years and also served as an inspiration for MirrorMask. Its manga version will follow 13-year-old Toby as he journeys back to the Labyrinth to assume his role as the heir to the Goblin Kingdom. Manga writer Jake Forbes will write this series.

The final title will be a prequel to 1982’s The Dark Crystal, the classic tale of good versus evil that broke ground as the first fully animatronic feature. Henson also recently announced that it is in preproduction on a sequel theatrical film of this cult classic.

Comments

[teleute12.livejournal.com]

Its manga version will follow 13-year-old Toby as he journeys back to the Labyrinth to assume his role as the heir to the Goblin Kingdom.

I think I read a fic like that once. In fact, I think I tried to *write* a fic like that once (although I assume this manga will not be nearly as much of a ripoff of various Mercedies Lackey novels, heh). Sounds interesting, anyway.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

XD I bet there's lots of fic like that out there. I fear the consequences to my sanity, however, should I try looking for any, so I shall refrain.

[octopedingenue]

Neil Gaiman manga! *dies happy* I liked Death: At Death's Door but a manga based off a Gaiman property actually written by Gaiman will be incomparably awesome.

[artist-luver.livejournal.com]

KYAAAA!!!

my favorite movies actually are going to have sequels in MANGA form!?!? AWESOME!

*happy dance*

thanks for the great news!

[settiai]

Squee!

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

Wha-... Tha-... Jareth? More? Kyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!!!!! *squealsputterdancefalloverwhee!* Happy happy joy joy, happy happy joyjoy...

And yes, I think I have read that fic. It's on FF.Net. XD;;;



BTW, Telo, you're in library sciences, right? *saw an old librarian of hers at work today, and is thinking schoolish thoughts*

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

*squints suspiciously at Labyrinth sequel plot*

Does that complete destroy the first movie? Ummm. Correct me if I'm wrong but the King of the Goblins was a pretty evil guy. Toby definitely wasn't supposed to be in that world. I'd also always assumed that the entire kingdom was a metaphor for...something. This manga is going to give it an objective relality, completely free of Sarah's adolescent fantasies, and that just seems wrong.

I'm so confused! Such an ambiguous movie, it seems a shame to pin it down for the sequel.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yup, got my MLIS and an working as an IT Librarian. XD

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

... Is it fun? o.o

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Fun...? Well, it's not a barrel o'laughs, but then again it's one of the very few jobs that I've had were I don't dread going in to work each day. I like it a lot, especially since I specialized in computer stuff, so I'm not dealing directly with the public most of the time, which would DRIVE ME INSANE if I had to do it. You do not want me as the public face of your group. XD

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

Is it hard? You already said you like it... What kind of courses did you have to take? *seriously despising customer service at the moment*

NO MORE CUSTOMERS, PLEASE. *sob*

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

No? I mean, Jareth was an evil sexy villain because Sarah wanted him to be that way. Remember? "Everything that I've done, I've done for you"? I mean, sure, there's lots of fan speculation on just what everything is and what it represents (almost everything from the Labyrinth was in Sarah's room), but the words from the story are pretty clear... or maybe I've just been reading too much Labyrinth fic lately. And I want to watch it again... (The first time I saw it was about a year ago. I watched six times that week... Ah, david Bowie in tights... *.*)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I took this degree program (http://www.unt.edu/slis/programs/pos/digitalimaging.htm), although it's been reorganized sicne I took it, so the course list there isn't quite the course list I took. It was easy - library school is simple if you've got half a brain. What really got me the job was that I'd taught myself the basics of PHP and MySQL, enough to code a simple database-driven website, which showed them that I was going to be able to learn the various languages and databases and stuff that the job needs.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Wonder if they've got writers for all those yet.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oops, they do. Didn't catch Jake Forbes on the second one.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Exactly my point! There are two possibilities for labyrinth:

1) It exists outside of Sarah's imagination. The labyrinth is real, Sarah really goes there, even if Sarah dies tomorrow, the labyrinth remains. In this scenario our good friend Bowie exists regardless of what Sarah thinks of him. Hoggle, etc, exist without Sarah, with their own personalities.

2) The Labyrinth is a figment of Sarah's imagination. It exists as it does because she wants it to be that way. Our good friend Bowie is evil because she wants him to be evil. Without Sarah, there is no labyrinth, no Hoggle, no bog of eternal stench, etc.

If Toby is going to the Labyrinth, that indicates that it exists independently of Sarah. In which case we are in scenario 1). In which case the Goblin King is evil and Sarah was wasting her time when she rescued Toby so many years ago. You see?

The other possibilty is that the Labyrinth is a real place you can really go to, but a changeable one. It appears differently to every person who enters it, based on that person's whim. In which case I expect to see a completely different Labyrinth from Sarah's, or maybe a mostly different Labyrinth, with points of similarity based on Sarah's descriptions to Toby. Or maybe it's a figment of Toby's imagination, based on stories Sarah told him. In any case, different. All bets are off.

But wouldn't that still destroy the first movie? the lesson of the first movie is "be careful what you ask for, you might get it". It can't be healthy for Toby to leave behind the "real" world for this dangerous changeable fantasy world. If the manga is going to take something that was destructive for Sarah and make it constructive for Toby... I demand to know what the difference is. Why is it okay for Toby to fantasize about being King of Goblins, but not okay for Sarah to fantasize about David Bowie?

Hopefully this makes sense.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Oh yes and also: when the manga comes out, we will know the answer to the question "is the Labyrinth real," based on whether Toby's Labyrinth is the same as Sarah's. Part of what I liked about the movie was that it was ambiguous.

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

I'm going with answer 1-b for $500, Alex. XD

There's a theory that Jareth kidnapped Toby to have him as his heir anyways. But by becoming what Sarah wanted him to be, by following the story ("But the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl, and given her certain powers..."), maybe that screwed up his plan a bit. Hell, maybe Toby wishes Sarah away and becomes the heir by being the only person to ever escape from the Underground twice. I dunno. For all we know, Toby's a spoiled brat, or an angsty teen, or something else that requires a swift magical kick in the bum. As you said, only one way to find out...