As a comics fan, having a shot at playing in my favorite sandboxes for a living is an absolute dream. Seeing as Jim Henson created most of the sandboxes many of us spent our childhoods playing in, living vicariously through the folks who made Jim Henson Presents #1 such a special proverbial sandcastle to marvel at is a pretty lovely substitute.
Kicking off this brand-new, four-issue anthology series from Archaia, with stories from the worlds of Fraggle Rock, FarScape, and The Dark Crystal, are comics vet Shannon Watters (Lumberjanes), novelists Seanan McGuire (What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings?), and Jill Tew (The Dividing Sky), as well an all-star group of artists featuring Max Sarin (Giant Days), Carola Borelli (The Graveyard Club), and CountANDRA. What is immediately apparent about this group is that, collectively, they just get it. The source material means as much to them as it would for anyone picking up and leafing through a copy of this issue at the comic shop. The very spirit of the characters lives in these pages, because these creators have captured that classic Hensonian magic (Hensonian? Sure, that’ll work.) seen far too infrequently these days.
Fraggle Rock’s “Beauty Is in the Pie of the Beholder” from Watters and Sarin is a gleeful, silly holiday tale in which Boober bakes up his famous, stomach-turning dessert that is only fit for Marjory the Trash Heap. You can practically hear the Fraggles’ goofy voices speaking the spot-on, smile-inducing dialogue.
Jumping back into the world of FarScape with Tew and Borelli for a romp of a story is a leap you may not know you needed to take, but you’ll be damn glad you did. It’s got a race around Moya, the sentient biomechanical spaceship, for bragging rights and passing off of latrine duty. It’s got gambling and sci-fi cuss words. It’s got bunches of sexy innuendo and a whole lot of heart. It’s exactly what FarScape once was—terrific fun and vibrant with wild imagination.
The Dark Crystal still creeps the bejesus out of me truthfully enough, but CountANDRA’s artwork paired with Valentina Pinto’s colors and McGuire’s script is positively enchanting (and skin-crawly from all the creepiness). It’s brimming with all the drama and stakes expected from the world of Thra.
I can’t imagine many readers will pick this book up to introduce themselves to these worlds for the first time, but if you grew up in these sandboxes, you’re in for a real treat. Do yourself a favor, Henson fans, add Jim Henson Presents to your pull list immediately. Wonderment, joy, and a delightful nostalgic tingle are guaranteed.
Creative Team: Shannon Watters, Jill Tew, Cameron Chittock, Seanan McGuire (writers), Max Sarin, Michael Bayliss, Cory Godbey, Countandra (artists), Miguel Mercado (cover artist)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
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