Novelization of THE DARK CRYSTAL Out in June 2014

In his 1979 film Manhattan, Woody Allen referred to the practice of writing novelizations of movies as “another contemporary American phenomenon that’s truly moronic.” I was a child at the time and I loved buying the novels of my favorite films, among them The Dark Crystal, which had cool cover art and a nice selection of color photos from the film. The book is being rereleased in June in hardcover, along with the novelization of Labyrinth. From the press release:

May 12, 2014 – Los Angeles, CA – Award-winning publisher Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios, is excited to announce the June debut of JIM HENSON’S THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE NOVELIZATION, the second in a planned series of three hardcovers that reprint the prose novel adaptations of fan-favorite Henson properties. The book follows the recent April release of JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH: THE NOVELIZATION and will be followed by the August release of JIM HENSON’S STORYTELLER: THE NOVELIZATION.

JIM HENSON’S THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE NOVELIZATION, written by author and playwright A.C.H. Smith and overseen by Jim Henson, reprints the long-out-of-print prose novel of the classic 1982 fantasy film for the first time in hardcover and features illustrations and concept designs by legendary illustrator and concept artist Brian Froud (The Goblins of Labyrinth, Faeries) that have never before been published. The book also contains an exclusive peek into Jim Henson’s creative process with a transcription of over 20 never-before-seen pages of his detailed notes on an early draft of the adaptation.

“There’s an entire generation of Jim Henson fans who never had the opportunity to enrich their enjoyment of classics like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal with the prose novel adaptations,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “We’re honored to be working with The Jim Henson Company and The Jim Henson Archives to give these reprints the Archaia treatment and present them in beautiful new editions.”

Archaia began publishing comic books and original graphic novels based on The Jim Henson Company’s most popular titles in 2010 with the FRAGGLE ROCK comic book series and has consistently published new projects since that time. Archaia’s relationship with The Jim Henson Company resulted in the Eisner Award-winning JIM HENSON’S TALE OF SAND, based on the lost screenplay by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl and illustrated by Ramón Pérez, along with critically acclaimed interpretations of JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER, THE DARK CRYSTAL, and FRAGGLE ROCK.

JIM HENSON’S THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE NOVELIZATION goes on sale in comic shops and specialty stores on June 4th under Diamond Order Code APR140989, and wherever books are sold on June 10th (ISBN 978-1-60886-418-8). The 6” x 8”, 224-page hardcover prose novelization will retail for $19.99.