Robert Kirkman

Preview Night, the first day the lucky few get to step foot on the comic con floor. It’s not as crazy as the actual first day of the con, but that doesn’t mean it’s not packed. If you’re the type that want to take pictures of the great displays at San Diego Comic Con, this is probably your best shot. Are there still going to be people blocking your pictures, of course, this is comic con we’re talking about. But the pushing is less, and the smell is far more pleasant. Rather than smelling like the Wrath of Con, you know that powerful overwhelming, powerful, gag-inducing, smell of funky BO that invades the con every year by Friday, it has more of a pleasant new carpet smell.

with Robert Kirkman

If you’ve never been to comic con, just being on the floor can be overwhelming. Distracting shiny things, seeing your favorite artists and writers, it’s a little much for first timers. For this blogger, there was a schedule for preview night, and yet, I admit, I fangirled just a little when I spotted Robert Kirkman signing Walking Dead Comics over at the Image Booth and got completely off course.  Which of course lead me to Joe LeFavi, over at Archaia’s booth.

If you don't know who Joe is, he's one of my favorite guys, he’s in the know to a whole lot over at Archaia, and he’s a fellow Jim Henson lover, a definite much see person at Comic Con. Trust me, a chat with him is always worth it, especially if that chat includes Fraggle Rock, The Labyrinth and David Bowie, or even My Little Pony.

With Joe LeFavi

And if you’re a toy/figure collector be prepared to be even more overwhelmed. Preview Night is a must for collectors. Not only are Comic Con exclusives unveiled this day, but it’s your first chance to scoop them up. Most retailers have learned over the years of the voraciousness of comic con buyer appetites, and have limited the quantities they release each day, they do it in the name “fairness,” but preview night is the one time competition will be less. Not non-existent, which you would have seen if you were trying to buy this year’s Monster High exclusive, Scarah Screams & Hoo-Dude Voo-Doo, but I’ll get into that more later. Bottom line, have a plan of action and snap up everything you want. If you save it for later, it probably won’t be there.

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One Extra Special thing that happened on Preview Night this year was the cast of Twilight, except the Trinity, came out and greeted fans that were insane enough to camp out. I was not one of those insane campers, but I did do the meet and greet with the cast all the same. There were 28 cast members that I counted that came out for photos and signatures, and unfortunately while the photos came back from the con, the poster I had to give away did not. It mysteriously disappeared out of my belongings, so no giveaway there, but I do have another twilight poster that will be up for grabs.

Photos: Courtesy of our lovely photographer SweetLeilani

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Just another reason why Archaia is awesome!

EW is reporting that Archaia is prepared to enter back into the fabulous world of the Labyrinth for a prequel, and maybe even answer of the question of who is the babe, the babe with the power?

Archaia editor-in-chief Stephen Christy is overseeing the graphic novel based on Jim Henson's classic film Labyrinth. He told EW "It’s the story of how Jareth is brought into the Labyrinth for the first time. So, it doesn’t deal with Sarah, it doesn’t deal with Toby or anything like that.”

The 1986 film centered around Sarah, played by a very young Jennifer Connelly who held a ton of animosity towards her half-brother Toby, so much so that she called upon Jareth the Goblin King, played by David Bowie, to spirit him away, and away he did. She realized her folly, but still she was forced to navigate through the magical maze and retrieve the boy, all the while being subjected to the Jareth's temptations. Her will was much stronger than many, like myself who would have easily fallen prey to Jareth's charisma, and with that charisma and charm, not to mention that wonderful hair and those traffic stopping pants, earned a place in the hearts of fans everywhere. But what the movie didn't do was reveal anything of the goblin King's origins, leaving the door wide open for Archaia.

“It’s a very tragic story that is the opposite of Sarah’s, which has triumph at the end,” Christy explains. “It’s a prequel, so we know what happens in the movie. We know how it’s going to end: Jareth is going to be the Goblin King … so we’re showing how he’s pulled into the Labyrinth for the first time. It’s going to be cool. We’re switching up the dynamic of it, but what we’re doing is completely true to the spirit of the original.”

Many of the details for the graphic novel are still being decided upon, as is how much involvement David Bowie will have, which I hope will be a lot. At the moment they're hoping to integrate some somgs into the graphic novel, but sadly, Bowie penning the songs is a little out of the budget. But fear not, you'll still get your dose of Bowie, as he has likeness approval. That's right, Jareth will be drawn as a young David Bowie, he'll be about the age of Sarah in the original film.

This isn't the first time that the Labyrinth has been tackled on page. 2006 marked the beginning of Tokyopop's four year and four novel journey entitled Return to the Labyrinth, which was the story of a teenage Toby. The book was filled with a bevy of new characters, and received much criticism from readers for straying too far from the source material.

 Let's hope that Archaia treads much lighter, and stays within the heart and soul of the beloved movie, which Christy is adamant that it will. “We’re really taking our time with stuff. At Archaia we never want to do things the way other people do it — unless they’re doing it better than we’re doing it. We are such fans of the material that we couldn’t in good conscience just sh– something out.

“I hope that Jim would be happy to see how a whole generation grew up with this movie,” he says, reflecting on the film’s cult following. “Labyrinth was a big deal to a lot of people. It was one of those movies that stays with you from your childhood. We can probably count on two hands the movies that really affected us when we were kids, and I think for a lot of people Labyrinth was one of them.”

Archaia’s Labyrinth prequel graphic novel to be released sometime in late 2012.

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