A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #12
Author: Simon Spurrier, Ryan Ferrier, Fiona Staples (Cover Art), Daniel Bayliss (Artist), Dan Jackson (Colorist)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.25/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: April 4, 2019
Book Summary: The final chapter of the origin of the Goblin King, and the mother who risked everything to save her boy.
Book Review: We have come to the finale of this series and we will know exactly what fate Maria will have.

Our issue opens shortly after Sarah has beaten Jareth and has returned home with Toby in tow. We find Beetleglum sitting on the throne when an owl enters the room. It is Jareth and he is not at all pleased with Beetleglum. In his storytelling, Jareth has come to realize that it is Beetleglum is behind allowing the Outsiders into his kingdom and he is also the reason for the downfall his kingdom has suffered. The question is: why though?

Beetleglum answers simply: he didn't know how Maria's story ended and wanted to hear the rest of it. The thing is Beetleglum was there and had been part of Maria's story since the beginning. So how was it he did not know? That was a interesting question.

Once more we find ourselves back in the past. Maria has unseemingly lost and is being dragged by Septimus toward the portal. It is at this point that Maria realizes that it is not her chalk that has given her power but it is herself. She attacks Septimus and manages to get free of him. She heads toward the Owl King's device and starts to change it. The others attack Septimus in order to keep him busy as the Owl King disappears and baby Jareth is saved. It is at this moment, Beetleglum steps in. Maria has saved her son and wants to go back home to live normally once again but she has come to realize that all of that is too late. The clock has struck thirteen and Maria as well as her son are now permanently stuck as the Labyrinth is tied to both she and her son. All of this is now starting to have an affect the real world. Seeing this, Maria takes her son and says goodbye to all of her friends before stepping into the portal.

We return again to Beetlglum and Jareth. Beetleglum wants to know more. Of course there were some happy endings. Maria's friends each got one. Cible became famous. Tangle got all the hugs and affection that once eluded him. Skubbin has gone off on adventures. And Jareth, well he came out of all it a fully formed adult. Jareth offers Beetleglum several different scenarios as to this reason of appearing to be grown up. Beetleglum, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care. All he cared about was making sure Jareth had a good life.

As we come to the end. We find Jareth heading to a Goblin's ball. There is a pair waiting for him to arrive. He informs them that Sarah will not be joining them. It is then we find that it is Maria and a reconstructed Albert, whom are waiting for him. She is happy there.

We have come to the end of the series and I must say that although I was somewhat happy with the ending, I also felt like the ending was a bit flat for me. I suppose I had a bigger higher hope for the ending with it being a bit more dramatic but in truth, it wasn't. It seemed like the writers were just tired of the story and just wanted to finally end it. So it was like, "Here we go. Maria gets to live her life in the Labyrinth with her son. That should make the fans happy." Still it was a nice read and a bit of a nice finish to the series. I do hope this means we will be having more of Jareth and maybe even Sarah reunion in the future.