Ever feel like you never want to stop dancing? Twirling and reeling, the music pushing and pulling you until you realize you’re surrounded by other dancers dressed so refined. It’s a party the likes of which you’ve not seen, but heard of in stories of luxury. To call it a simple “ball” would be an insult to organized revelry. No, this gathering holds magic, mystique, and beautiful confusion. The real ball isn’t the one you attend, it’s where it takes place. As was said, this is no mere gathering of music, mischief, and hidden identity, this is a masquerade.

Cover your face and join the fray and fracas that could be Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Masquerade.

 

Imagine an average party, the kind you’ve been to before a thousand times over, but it feels fresh as a morning muffin straight from the oven each time. That’s pretty much as “meta” as I’ll ever get, but it works for Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Masquerade. Sort of. This is the story of a background character’s origin which in its own right is a fine take on characters themselves, but gets to be one we’ve heard before with fresh wrappings.

 

An underling is unappreciated by the master he serves. The main character is someone in a new place looking for someone or something they’ve lost or been lost to. They want to find their way home. We’ve heard these all before, but what happens when the background is thrust into the foreground without a copy of the script? She has to make it up herself and pray for the best. Familiar territory in the grand sense, yet the spin that we could all be lost in the Labyrinth in some way makes for a good story as a one-shot. It’s a good thing that this comic is a one shot, because it didn’t progress the characters enough to feel for them. Jareth and Sarah make little cameos to secure that you’re in the same world as the movie; a few notable goblins are seen, but, otherwise, the “Labyrinth” bit of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Masquerade is mostly MacGuffin. Its existence is only a platform from whence to start the tale and move it forward, rather than the feeling of the Labyrinth itself being a character that participates in the story. Some Labyrinthian names are dropped, words like “oubliette” or “Bog of Eternal Stench,” and we do see a familiar junkyard located much closer to the castle than I would have thought, but these are for scholars to determine.

 

This story could have been told without the Labyrinth franchise being involved. If you’re a diehard fan of the world of the Labyrinth, then hop aboard the Cleaners and take a ride. Otherwise, hold out for another series or one-shot; Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Masquerade isn’t the party you were looking for.

 

You can thank me later…