Jim Henson's two fantasy films, 1982's The Dark Crystal and 1986's Labyrinth, are beloved cult classics that continue to receive new media and merchandise based around them to this day. Much less remembered is the fact that in the 2000s, Tokyopop published original English manga based on both movies.
Legends of the Dark Crystal, written by Barbara Randall Kesel and illustrated by Hedi Arnhold, was a prequel to The Dark Crystal, taking place centuries in the movie's past. Much like the film, it followed a male and female of the Gelfling race fighting against the evil Skeksis. However, it takes place much earlier in the Skeksis' rule, before the Gelflings were nearly extinct. The first volume was published in 2007, and although it was originally intended to be a three-volume series, the second volume was not released until 2010, by which point the third volume had been canceled.
Return to Labyrinth, written by Jake T. Forbes and illustrated by Chris Lie, lasted quite a bit longer, with four volumes published between 2006 and 2010. Rather than a prequel, it is a sequel taking place ten years after the movie and following Toby, the younger brother of Labyrinth's original protagonist Sarah. Jareth the Goblin King, who kidnapped Toby when he was a baby, has decided to bring him back to the Labyrinth as the heir to the Goblin Kingdom -- a decision that not everyone in the kingdom is happy about.
Despite the continued popularity of the original films, the Jim Henson manga are largely forgotten today. One probable reason for this is the lukewarm reception that Return to Labyrinth received from both critics and fans. Readers didn't care for the underdeveloped new characters introduced in the manga, and many felt mislead by the cover illustrations, which were much more lavish and detailed than the simpler, more Western-styled interior art. Legends of the Dark Crystal was better received, with both its writing and artwork being praised, but the three-year gap between its two volumes meant it didn't stay in the spotlight for very long, giving readers time to forget about it or lose interest by the time the second volume finally came out.
In addition, Tokyopop shut down its publishing operations in early 2011, less than a year after the publication of both series' last volumes. Its original manga, including the two Jim Henson series, went out of print, making them much more difficult to find and read in the first place.
Given that Tokyopop resumed publishing manga in 2016, there's a chance that these manga may be reprinted one day. Return to Labyrinth writer Forbes has expressed a desire to restore a handful of "deleted scenes" if the manga is ever republished, which could address some of the criticisms about its pacing and characterization. However, several factors make it unlikely that Tokyopop's Henson manga will ever return.
For one thing, multiple alternate prequels to The Dark Crystal have since been released in the form of comics published by Archaia, novels, and a Netflix series. Labyrinth has also received a prequel comic from Archaia, and a movie sequel, which is unlikely to have much in common with Return, is currently in production. This means that Return and Legends have been rendered solidly non-canon, and rereleasing them might confuse readers about which material should be considered "official."
The Jim Henson manga have largely been forgotten and are unlikely to return, but they make for an interesting look at the state of Henson's movie franchises in the 2000s. Original English-language manga was at the height of popularity at the time, and the worlds of the films were just beginning to be expanded on in other media. Return and Legends are products of their time in more ways than one, but they were important first steps toward the future of their franchises.
