Graveyard Picnic: REVIEW: Return to Labyrinth

I suppose pretty much everyone knows Labyrinth, but for those that don't, let me give a short synopsis of the film.

Sarah is an creative teenage girl who's sick of having to take care of her baby brother Tony. One day she asks the goblins and their king to come and take him away. They hear her and take Toby with them, to the castle beyond the goblin city. Sarah immediately feels sorry and begs the Goblin King to give her brother back. He promises to return Toby if she can get to the center of his labyrinth in less than thirteen hours.

A couple of years ago I discovered that Jake T. Forbes had made a manga sequel to the film. Since Labyrinth is one of my favourites of all time, I simply had to read them. I found volume one, and started reading it immediately. I did the same as soon as volume two and three had come out, but after buying volume four, I couldn't find the time to actually read it. Yesterday I was browsing through my 'library', when I found the mangas again. I started rereading them at once.

Return to Labyrinth takes place, as the title suggests, years after Sarah has gone into the labyrinth for the first time. Toby, who is now a troubled teenager, ends up in the labyrinth, shortly after meeting Jareth. There he meets goblins, a fairy and other strange creatures, among which a mysterious girl who is very different from the goblins. Toby ends up in the goblin king's castle, and soon he finds out that Jareth has made up a plan in order to save himself that involves Toby.

The manga was very enjoyable, because there were lots of references to the actual film. There's also many new aspects to the story and quite a few new characters are introduced. The first volume appears to be a normal teenage boy's story at first, so the magic of the goblin world hits you twice as hard, and damn, does it feel good! The drawings are quite nice, but not as pretty as the cover would suggest.

The humour is a bit immature at times, but for me, the thrilling plot, effect of the contrast between the (seemingly) beautiful fantasy world and the ever approaching danger, makes up for that. There's several unexpected twists to the story that surprised me, in a good way of course.

I enjoyed the fourth (and last) volume the most, because to me, the ending was absolutely beautiful. If only I could tell you more, but all I can say is that the end was a very pleasant surprise. I'd definitely recommend the manga to any fan of the film.