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Book Review of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Volume 1

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Volume 1
ophelia99 avatar reviewed on + 2527 more book reviews


This is the first graphic novel in a graphic novel trilogy that delves into the mythos behind how the world presented in The Dark Crystal came to be. This was an absolutely wonderful read. It adds a lot of background to the Dark Crystal story (although I will admit it's probably been 15-20 years since I've watched the original movie). This stands alone very nicely and the artwork was absolutely stunning.

This book is mainly the story of Aughra, in this series she is portrayed a more revenant Earth Goddess type, and her favorites of her world are the Gelflings. However she strays a bit from tending the world to scouring the heavens when a race called the Light Bringers show up and introduce Aughra to the worlds beyond her own. Aughras son, Raunip, thinks that the Light Bringers are leading his mother astray and wants to bring a stop to the Light Bringers rule.

It has been a long long time since I have seen the Dark Crystal movie. Its one of those movies that I desperately wanted to watch over and over when I was young. While I loved the story in the movie, I remember thinking the actual movie itself was a bit boring. I really did enjoy this graphic novel though because it expands on the story and tells how the world of Thra got to be where it was in the Dark Crystal movie.

The artwork is absolutely breathtaking. Its full color, beautiful and is easy to follow. It does a wonderful job of conveying what the world of Thra is like and does an excellent job with character expressions as well. Its just absolutely stunning.

The story was well done too. There are definitely desprepencies with the movie though. I remember Aughra being a bit goofy in the movies, here she was more of a Goddess figure that the Gelfings worshipped. I also dont remember the Light Bringers. It is the Light Bringers that bring technology to the world of Thra.

I dont remember the Gelfings being hunter/gatherers and that is what they are initially portrayed as in the novel. The Light Bringers basically pull the Gelfings out of a hunter/gatherer community and into a more enlightened age.

The story sets up things for the next two books. Basically we are introduced to the characters, the world, and some beginning conflict. There are some interesting epic poems throughout the book as well that were fun to read. This book should be appropriate for all ages, I didnt really run into anything in here that I wouldnt let my six year old son read.

Overall an excellent read, I really enjoyed it. The artwork is absolutely beautifully, the story is engaging and interesting. I love the world of Dark Crystal and am so happy to be able to learn some background on the world of Thra. I am very eager to read volume 2. I highly recommend this to fans of fantasy graphic novels or to fans of the Dark Crystal world.