[ 230 ]

[katara]

Title: Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #6
Author: Simon Spurrier, Daniel Bayliss (Illustrator), Dan Jackson (Illustrator), Fiona Staples (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.9/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: September 15, 2018
Book Summary: Maria comes face to face with the underbelly of goblin society and meets a new companion along the way.
Book Review: As our story begins, we find Jareth unseemingly in a bit of a foul mood. He has ordered the goblin to bring back Toby to him so that the child could watch his sister fail in her attempts to retrieve him. But the goblin believes another singsong number might be a better trick to getting Toby back in a bit of a better mood. The goblin picks up Toby and brings him back to Jareth....

We once more return to the lovely Maria whom has learned she has the ability to manipulate and control the labyrinth with the power of her son's chalk. But she has also learned that she isn't the only one with that ability when the Owl King appeared to remind her of this and takes with him her two friends, leaving Maria alone.

Now alone and devastated by the loss of her friends, Maria feels for a brief moment that all her work is for naught but her love for her son compels her to keep moving forward. She finds the gondola driver whom offered her a ride earlier and she takes that offer now. Once in the boat, the gondola driver realizes Maria no longer has the ring in her possession, he throws her in the water and down into a tunnel. Maria grabs holds of a vine and clings to that until the moment she hears "G'Day". Looking up at a small ledge, Maria finds a pink worm named Cible. She explains her plight and her mission to retrieve her son from the Owl King's possession. The little worm pulls out a tiny saber and slashes the vine Maria is holding onto and the two plummet down into the water together.

The scene changes to the Owl King and his loyal minion, a troll named Septimus, are interrogating Skubbin. Here we learn the truth about Owl King and his relations to Skubbin and what Skubbin's true destiny and mission are revealed in these pages. Skubbin is defiant and will not not betray his friend no matter how much the Owl King threatens him.

As we return to Maria, we find her and the little worm have survived their fall. Here we find the fiesty little worm has a story. She tells Maria that she is part of a revolution against the goblins and the Owl King. As they head toward the castle, they catch sight of mounted goblin knights chasing after Tangle. It seems the walking bush has managed to escape his captors and is being chased by goblins. Maria, whom has had enough of the Owl King tormenting her friends, wields her chalk and draws the goblin knights out of the Labyrinth.

As we turn once more back to the Owl King with Septimus, the king has cast Skubbin back out into the Labyrinth with with a plan to ruin Maria's plan to reunite with her son. Once Skubbin is gone, the the King and Septimus turn to plan what to do with baby Jareth.

What can I saw about this series? It is the best. I have always loved The Labyrinth since I was a little girl and I always wondered what exactly was the backstory for Jareth. There was never anything that came out that offered an ounce of a backstory. Comic books just retold the tale of Sarah's adventures during her run through the Labyrinth to gain back her brother. And books were just a novelization of the movie. So there was never anything as I grew up to tell how he exactly became the Goblin King.

And now here we have something that offers us a backstory. Of course, most of this tale is taken during the time Sarah is running the Labyrinth. It comes from Jareth himself so I am going to assume that someone has told this tale to him when he was a child or he found out some way. Perhaps told that his mother was unworthy and his thoughts. But what about his father? We saw him in the beginning but that doesn't tell us anything about has happened to him since. I am certain he probably doesn't care whether Maria and his son survives or not. So I am guessing we have seen the end of him?

Or have we?

We won't know until the end of this series.

I am hoping that there is going to be more. Don't get me wrong the manga was nice but it seemed a bit rushed with the storyline like mangaka was given a certain amount of time and the product he/she released really offered no true character to the players - Jareth, Sarah, and Toby. So I am hoping that after this we will get more to come.

Still this series is wonderful and I am so happy I continously am picking this up. :D