During the 1980s, Jim Henson (The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller) brought two ambitious live-action fantasy films to the screen: Labyrinth (starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly) and The Dark Crystal. The films failed to find their audience at the box office — but today, thanks to the millions of teens who later discovered them on home video, they’re more popular than ever! A new Dark Crystal movie is even in the works for 2009, and will be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars).
As part of this phenomenon, TokyoPop has launched two new manga series: Return to Labyrinth (a sequel) and Legends of the Dark Crystal (a prequel). These are drawn in the style of Japanese comics, but produced entirely in America, so they read left-to-right (many manga translated from the Japanese read right-to-left, as they do in Japan).
CADL has (or has ordered) the initial volumes in these series. They’re perfect for fantasy fans, manga fans, or fans of the films. Also on the way: The Goblins of Labyrinth, featuring the artwork by Brian Froud that inspired the film, with text by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. Don’t miss it!
P.S. Fans of these films/books may also be interested to check out the Henson-produced fantasy film Mirrormask, now available on DVD.
November 29, 2007
Believe it or not, it looks likely that sometime in the near future your library will start carrying comic books. This would work and look very similar to what your library already does with magazines. There are still a few details to work out however, and one of them brings me to the topic of this post.
What types of comic books would interest you? We have a large list of titles we are already considering, but frankly, 
this list is largely based on the comics that I would like to read. While this sounds great to me, it might not be the best way to spend our entire comic budget. We would like to know what comic titles you would like us to start collecting. Are you a super hero fan, or do you prefer Manga? Maybe you like humorous comics, or something more dramatic. Just for a frame of reference I will list some examples of titles that we are considering. However, keep in mind that this is just a quick list based on what I enjoy, and we want to change it to reflect what you want to see.
-The Walking Dead
-Ultimate Spiderman
-Wolverine Origins
-Teen Titans
-Y the Last Man
-World War Hulk
-Naruto
-World of Warcraft
-Batman
-Ultimate’s
f you have ever wanted to have some direct influence over what materials your library purchases now is your chance. Please email us at bernsteinj@cadl.org, or use the comments field to tell us what types of comics you would be interested in reading at your library. Better yet, give us the names of some specific titles or series you would like us to purchase and you just might find them on the shelf at your library very soon.
November 15, 2007
