Alex Sheikman

When I was five years old, my older brothers sat me down and made me watch our VHS copy of The Dark Crystal. I was instantly terrified and mesmerized. Today I can watch the film any time and the brilliance and imagination of Jim Henson still blows me away. I discovered this treasure of a comic while perusing graphic novels at a Barnes & Noble and knew I had to have it immediately. I was not disappointed. The concept art of Brian Froud shines in this series and the myths are woven in a way show more that draws you in. The artwork is exceptional and the storytelling exactly what you would expect from the magic makers at Henson. show less

I thought this was a pretty awesome addendum to the Dark Crystal universe.

First off, if you loved Dark Crystal's aesthetic, you will probably be rubbing your hands up and down this book all the time, especially the cover, which is textured in a way you'll want to cradle on nights beside the fire.

The "creation" part of the creation myths is a little murky, no worse than many actual traditions where cornerstones of the world were ... always there, or manifested without further explanation.

The show more later myths is where the payoff happens. New characters that (in this book) seem like world-building asides, similar to the tapestry of unrelated myths in other cosmologies. The tale of the first conjunction and arrival of the Urskeks fleshes out things quite satisfactory. A significant new character, Aughra's son, promises to be a very important character (and since he's not part of the mythos until now, he'll probably do something profound that makes him worth forgetting? Very promising... show less

This book takes what was seeded in the first book and weaves it into the Cracking of the Crystal.

It serves as a nice mirrored tale to the movie, the movie plot in reverse with negative themes. This is really pleasnt much of the time but is conversely aggravating as the story sometimes drops into over-constrained fan-service at times (Kira's quip about wings in the movie was a sledgehammer of wit to a young me, but here it seems a weak callout to the audience. There's even a dreamfasting show more sequence that goes exactly where you'd expect it to.)

This being said, the dynamic of Aughra's role in the world and the nature of the Urskeks has become complex. The crystal's cracking (and the urskek's fall from grace is tragic in a compelling and frustrating way, if not necessarily a morally reductive one.) The potential of the Podling race is shown here, having had but a brief set of cameos in the movie. Once again, the beauty (and menace) of the world and its flora/fauna fluidity is demonstrated effectively. I'm really curious where the story of Aughra's son is going to lead, and evaluations of his character become even murkier.

I've heard the third and final volume got cancelled, which is a tragedy because I really want to know how this story will end up. show less

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 show more 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. Aughra’s 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. It’s 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. It’s 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. It’s 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 don’t remember the Light Bringers. It is the Light Bringers that bring technology to the world of Thra.

I don’t 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 didn’t really run into anything in here that I wouldn’t 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. show less