Labyrinth gets graphic novel prequel

Illustrator Brian Froud, who worked on the cult children's fantasy film, will oversee character design

        reddit this
    Comments (43)

    Alison Flood
    guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 January 2012 08.05 EST
    Article history

Labyrinth
Labyrinth star David Bowie, as Jareth the Goblin King. Photograph: Tristar/Everett/Rex

New light is set to be cast on David Bowie's enigmatic, tight-trousered portrayal of Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's cult children's fantasy film Labyrinth through a graphic novel prequel out later this year.

A deal between the Jim Henson Company and comics publisher Archaia to publish graphic novels based on Henson's creations has already seen adaptations of Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal. Now a long-rumoured Labyrinth comic is on the cards, with illustrator Brian Froud, who worked on the original film, to oversee character design and conception.

Released in 1986, Labyrinth told of young girl Sarah's quest to rescue her baby brother Toby from the labyrinth of the Goblin King, after she wishes the goblins will take him away in a fit of anger. Jennifer Connelly played the part of Sarah, with a big-haired Bowie attempting to seduce her into staying with him in the labyrinth as the Goblin King Jareth: "I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," he says to Sarah. The Archaia graphic novel, due out late this year, will cover Jareth's past.

"It's the story of how Jareth is brought into the Labyrinth for the first time. So, it doesn't deal with Sarah, it doesn't deal with Toby or anything like that," Archaia editor-in-chief Stephen Christy told Entertainment Weekly.

"It's a very tragic story that is the opposite of Sarah's, which has triumph at the end. It's a prequel, so we know what happens in the movie. We know how it's going to end: Jareth is going to be the Goblin King … so we're showing how he's pulled into the labyrinth for the first time. It's going to be cool. We're switching up the dynamic of it, but what we're doing is completely true to the spirit of the original."

With Bowie performing songs for the original film – "You remind me of the babe" – Christy also hopes to include music in the prequel. "I don't know if this will work out," he told Entertainment Weekly, "but I want to do songs where they're songs being sung (by characters) and we show the notes on the page, so you can actually play along." And he says he's "talking" with Bowie about the idea: "The budget to get Bowie to do one song would be the budget of all the books, but we're talking to him to at least get his blessing or maybe an introduction or something."

The graphic novel follows a series of manga sequels to Labyrinth, which featured an older Toby as he returned to the Labyrinth to become Jareth's heir. Christy said that "a whole generation" grew up with the film, and that it was "a big deal to a lot" of people. "It was one of those movies that stays with you from your childhood. We can probably count on two hands the movies that really affected us when we were kids, and I think for a lot of people Labyrinth was one of them," he said.