Review: The Dark Crystal - PART 1

The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths Volume 1
Brian Holguin, Lisa Henson, Alex Sheikman, Brian Froud
first published November 15th 2011
Archaia Entertainment  

Part one of a three-part graphic novel series delving into the origins of the Skeksis, Mystics, Gelflings, the world of Thra and the Dark Crystal itself. Spanning a time period from thousands of years ago to right up to the start of the original film, this graphic novel epic will tell the definitive origin of Dark Crystal, under the supervision of The Jim Henson Company and The Dark Crystal concept designer Brian Froud.

Synopsis from Goodreads

I admit it. I'm guilty of sitting in Chapters to read this book. I've always felt like it was somehow cheating to do this, but I thought I should try it at least once. And it was great (once I got past the feeling that everyone was silently judging me)! I highly recommend trying it.



It has been years since I watched the movie, and to be honest, it scared the crap out of me. In fact, 25 years have passed and I still haven't recovered from my childhood trauma. But... the thought of a prequel in graphic novel form set my imagination on fire. I NEEDED to read this. Consider it a cheap form of therapy.

The artwork is beyond phenomenal! I had a hard time not leaving my finger smears across the pages, since I had no intention of buying it. I would give a five star review based on the illustrations alone. And the story is definitely intriguing. I'm curious to see where the story will go from here. It is broken up into several shorter stories, spanning generations, but they are nothing more than little tidbits of a larger story. I almost felt a little cheated by the fact that it was such a broken story, although it is certainly a more unique approach than what I was expecting.