Labyrinth comic to reveal origins of the Goblin King — exclusive first look

Jim Henson’s beloved 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth is getting the comic book treatment, EW can exclusively reveal.

Boom! Studios imprint Archaia is publishing the first ongoing comic series inspired by the movie, from writer Simon Spurrier and artist Daniel Bayliss and concerns the origin of Jareth the Goblin King, the character played by David Bowie in the movie. In Henson’s film, the Jennifer Connelly-played teenager Sarah travels through the Labyrinth to save her baby brother Toby from the clutches of Jareth. In the comic series, the Goblin King recounts his beginnings to Toby, introducing readers to Jareth’s mother and father in 18th-century Venice. Issue #1 of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth will go on sale in February with a cover by Fiona Staples, a subscription cover by Rebekah Isaacs, and variant covers by Laurent Durieux, Jill Thompson, and Bill Sienkiewicz.

“It’s the backstory of how Jareth came to be in the Labyrinth himself,” says Lisa Henson, the daughter of Jim, and CEO and President of The Jim Henson Company. “The Goblin King, he’s not a goblin, he’s human. Many people have asked, ‘Well, how did he get there?’ So, that’s something that we thought we would explore.”

“We’re sort of having our cake and eating it,” says writer Spurrier. “The ‘Bowie form’ version of the character is very much present in our story. But there’s a huge amount of stuff about the people who loved him and he loved. What happened to them? How did this all shake out? How did he come to be who he is? I hope that by exercising both sides of that picture, as well as leaning into all the other amazing things that are fantastic about the Labyrinth as a concept, we should hopefully get our Bowie itch scratched while also enjoying the fantastical, surreal wonder of this world.”

Exclusively see the covers by Staples, Thompson, and Sienkiewicz, and below.