At long last, the Volume 3 cover art is ready to debut! Here we have the trio of baddies — Mizumi, Drumlin and Moulin of the Moraine Kingdom.

If the Return to Labyrinth quartet were a trilogy, I guess this would make volume 3 the Empire Strikes Back edition. In addition to an icy scene, there’s also a wrinkly mystic, so I think the comparison is apt. No gas mining pimp daddies, though. Does Toby lose an arm? You’ll have to wait and see!

Now on to the contest judging! Thanks so much to everyone who entered. To the folks who nominated Jareth and Sarah (re: EVERYBODY!)… er, not so much. At least not this time. There’s still one more volume to go

The prize has to go to “Sarah” who said:

The top right corner will have Mizumi watching over them all. I’m not sure on the colours. I’m thinking maybe a white and black colour scheme with a hint of other colours…

Several people mentioned Mizumi, but only Sarah called out her position on the page (did you raid the Hall of Prophecies?!), plus her color scheme was pretty close. In her honor, volume 4 will have a character named Sarah in it! You would think this contest was rigged! Fine, I’ll get in touch with “Sarah” about a more Gobliny name in her honor.

Thanks to Bryce and the folks at Henson for allowing me to post this preview.

Okay… so it seems like I overpromised and underdelivered on the volume 3 cover reveal timeline. In the meantime, as a monochrome consolation prize, here are a couple of thumbnails from later in the book. Where’s Toby running off to and what does Moulin have to say to him? Sorry, but you’ll have to wait to find out.:P

The “Analog Adventures” festival is now underway. I’d seen Labyrinth on the big screen last year when they ran a few copies around select screens to celebrate the 20th anniversary, but the Neverending Story I had never seen projected before. I remember the first time I saw it — it was over Christmas break and I was probably 7 or 8 and staying at my Aunt Donna’s house in Vacaville. After spending way to much time weighing my options, I selected the Neverending Story and Muppets Take Manhattan. I still remember feeling excited by Atreyu flying on Falcor, terrified by the Swamps of Sadness and Gmork and guilty about seeing the perfectly chiseled nipples of the sphinxes. Watching the film again for the fiirst time in about 5 years didnt disappoint. Sure, there a few awkward audio transitions, and moments of bad child acting and weirdness (like Bastian savoring his apple core?), but they only add to the overall charm. (And it was an amazing rush when the whole audience cheered at the introduction of Atreyu!) What a wonderful film.

A question for the Neverending Story diehards out there to debate — midway through the film, Bastian comments that they wish they’d let him pick the Childlike Empress’ name as his mom had the most wonderful name. Then, at the end, when he does yell out the name, you can lip read that he is mouthing “Moon Child” which is straight from the book (whereas, as far as I remember, the association with mom wasn’t). So was Bastian’s douchie dad married to a hippy, or is that a minor inconsistency?