I know I’m a bit behind on the promised site relaunch, but it’s almost ready. A good labor day project, yes? The new banner art is almost ready, and I’m so excited to share it. No more free wordpress templets with Jareth slapped on top, nosiree. It’s time to class this joint up, from the banner down.  New fiction, comics and commentary are coming soon. Stay tuned!

Now that the fourth volume of Return to Labyrinth is out in the world, bringing the series to an end, you might be wondering what’s next for the series and for gobblin.net.

I’ll start with Return to Labyrinth, as that’s the easiest question to answer. With volume 4, the series is concluded. There definitely won’t be a volume 5. Whether or not there will be a continuation of any stories established here is entirely up to the Jim Henson Company. So is that it, then? Nothing more to say on the books? Not exactly.

If it were up to me, I’d love to see the books bound up in a 1 volume edition. After all, it’s a lot easier to keep it in stock at stores and libraries if there’s only one book to keep track of instead of 4 sequential volumes. In the event that that happens, I would love an opportunity to add back in a few “deleted scenes,” such as the musical number with the Tessellation Lizards, the “Second Door” from the penultimate chapter of volume 4, and the afore mentioned croquet scene that better established Moulin and Drumlin early on. I’ve got a stack of errors that slipped through, such as switched dialog balloons, sloppy sentences, inconsistencies, and a few oddball things like Sarah’s hair mysteriously going white in vol. 4 (if you were confused by that, I can assure you, I was too!) Maybe see about a new piece of cover art or other color illustrations too.

Will that happen? I don’t know. But I’ll keep you posted.

Now onto the website. For the past 3 years, I’ve run gobblin.net mostly as a Return to Labyrinth community site. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who’s visited, engaged, and contributed to some great discussions. Absolutely, I intend to keep blogging here, but Labyrinth will become less and less of a focus.

I’m also going to remove the discussion pages when I revamp the site. I’ll keep commenting until that day, and I’ll try to answer any specific questions that people might have. Why remove those pages? Quite simply, the Labyrinth universe belongs to the Jim Henson Company, and its fans. I consider myself one of the latter, and I did my services for the former, but the intersection of those roles is at an end. For the last three volumes, I’ve been sort of a one-man marketing machine on this series, on my own time and dime, because I believe in it and because I genuinely love to talk about Labyrinth with fellow fans of the film (even if sometimes we disagree in our interpretations). With this series wrapping up, I think it’s time to hang up my hat as a Labyrinth community manager and focus on talking about new stories.

I sincerely hope that Return to Labyrinth will spark discussion for years to come around the web. If you’re looking for a place to post your reviews, I encourage you to use amazon.com and goodreads. And if you have any questions about the books, you’re always welcome to email me at jakeforbes [at]  gmail [dot] com. I’ll still post about Labyrinth when it’s relevant, and I hope you’ll continue to share your thoughts in the comments. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the only thing I personally consider “canon” in the Labyrinth world is the movie itself, with the novelization, art books and the manga series I wrote being part of an “expanded universe” to take as you will. That said, I’ll be thrilled if I come upon fan-fics or art featuring Moppet, Moulin, Skub or other characters that I had a part in creating. Whatever you take away from Return to Labyrinth, I hope you can enjoy it on its own terms without letting it detract from your own dreams.

So, for a few more days at least, business as usual. Just don’t be surprised if you come back to gobblin.net sometime next week and find Jareth missing from the banner. He and the rest of the Labyrinth gang will be in the archives… should you need them.

It’s happening. The final volume of Return to Labyrinth is now on sale in bookstores around the country. Amazon orders shipped yesterday and comics retailers will have their stock out tomorrow with the rest of the new graphic novels. I’m sure many of you have already picked up a copy and are itching to talk about. Next week I’ll turn gobblin.net into a place to discuss, debate, and dissect Vol. 4 and the series as a whole. I’ll be happy to answer questions. This week, while the book trickles out to readers, I would like to keep gobblin.net a spoiler-free zone.

For those of you who are champing for a chance to chomp the newest book but for whatever reason can’t get a hold of a copy this week, there is one way you can score a free copy. I will send out 5 signed copies of return to Labyrinth this Friday, and all you have to do to win a copy is help me out with a little Goblinology.

What exactly is Goblinology? Well, it’s highly-scientific, that goes without saying! Basically, Goblinologists are experts and observing goblins and deducing their name, occupation and life story without ever touching, conversing with, folding, spindling or mutilating the goblin subject. There are skeptics who call even the very best Goblinologists brazen fabulists, liars and curs, and they might be right. But just because a Goblinologists observations are in no way grounded in facts doesn’t mean they can’t be true.

Anyway, to win one of FIVE SIGNED COPIES OF RETURN TO LABYRINTH VOLUME 4, all you have to do is come up with a name, occupation and other bit of lore for this yet unclassified gobblin specimen.

Is he a blacksmith? A florist? A dentist? Did he commit any grievous atrocities or is he a hero of the people? I haven’t a clue, but I’ll know it when I see it. After all, in Goblinology, there are no right or wrong answers — just various shades of truishness.

Send your goblin name and a brief goblin bio of this mystery specimen (no more than 200 words, please!) to gobblincontest [at] gmail [dot] com by Saturday 8/7, midnight PST. I’ll pick 5 of my favorite responses and send those lucky Goblinologists a signed book (and if you’re lucky, a Jareth sketch too!).

Feel free to post questions about the contest in the comments, but remember — only descriptions received by email will be considered.

With just over a month until Return to Labyrinth 4 launches, I’ll be unplugging from the internets and sallying southward to Panama and Costa Rica to unwind with my good friends the Capuchins, Golden Anteaters, and of course THE SLOTHS! This will be my second trip to Costa Rica, but my first time visiting the now-famous Sloth Rescue. Surely you’ve seen this by now? Even if you have, let’s watch it again!

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

I won’t be around to participate in the comments until July 8th, but there are a few scheduled updates, so be sure to drop back by from time to time for your weekly preview pic as well as a very exciting announcement on Tuesday (6/29).

Pura vida!

As was pointed out in the comments, Return to Labyrinth volume 4 is now listed on Amazon with an August 3rd release date. I just want to clarify a few things here:

• The writer has no control over setting release dates on a project like this. Publishers set dates.
• For my part, I’m basically done with this volume. There will be some reviewing and revisions until close to release, but my day job is now focused on making sure that I’ve got  a NEXT project ready to start talking about once RtL4 comes out. In the meantime, I’ll still be running gobblin.net as usual.
• 15 months between graphic novel volumes isn’t ideal (I share in your frustration there as a reader and as a writer who would like more work), but it’s pretty typical for graphic novels done outside of the Marvel/DC/Manga systems.
• Frustration or disappointment about a release date is perfectly understandable and fair, especially when we’re talking about a much-anticipated conclusion to a story we’ve been following for 4 years. But this isn’t a case where fan action can make it happen sooner — it’s not a finished book, sitting in a vault on a whim, but in the middle of its creation. The publisher wants to get it out as soon as possible as that’s when they get paid.
• The only way, hypothetically, to speed up the release, would be to cut corners on art, which no one wants to happen. Volume 1 was rushed a bit towards the end, which resulted in some of the chapters having smudgy tones and inking that didn’t do justice to Chris’ pencils or the series as as whole. The publisher learned a lesson there and the remaining volumes have been much better for it! Bottom line, quality first!

Thanks for your understanding. Right now, I’m just hoping that Tokyopop will have plenty of volume 4 at San Diego Comic-con, as I plan to be there and I hope there will be books to sell and sign!

Gobblin.net will remain THE source for information on Return to Labyrinth news and fun, but if you’re looking for other ways to keep in touch with updates, you can now follow gobblin on Twitter (Retrn2Labyrinth) and on facebook (see the widget in to the right).

Both feeds should be tied to updates here on gobblin. The facebook page also allows for user-driven discussions, so those of you who have been clamoring for forums now have a place to discuss the series outside of the comments.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the integration, let me know, and if you don’t use twitter or facebook, don’t worry — nothing changes here!

The New York Times released their list of best-selling comics for the past week and Return to Labyrinth comes in at #4 on the manga list, topped only by Naruto (which is like the Harry Potter of manga). Incredible! From scrappy underdog with legs to best-seller in just three volumes. Thanks so much for supporting the series, everyone.

Let’s celebrate!

The waiting is over, Return to Labyrinth volume 3 is out, and thanks to all of you, it appears to be quite a hit! For most of the week, RtL3 has been the #1 manga release on amazon.com (it’s neck and neck with the latest Fullmetal Alchemist). It’s so exciting, gratifying and humbling to see this series growing in readership with each volume. It was the great feedback for volume 2 that allowed the series to get a little extra breathing room with four volumes instead of three. Thank you so much, gobblin readers and the anonymous other readers who have kept this series alive and thriving! It is your feedback and support that push me to be a better writer. I couldn’t do it without you!

I also want to thank you all for keeping the series alive between releases, with your videos, artwork, fan fics, costumes and avatars. Hopefully volume 3 has enough new dramatic and visual hooks to inspire more creativity from the Labyrinth community. The Labyrinth film is such a wonderful celebration of creativity — thanks for keeping that dream alive!

Until next time,

Your Humble Gobblin Scribe

Welcome to Gobblin.net – a place for news, commentary, recipes and random curiosities from across geek culture. For the time being, it’s also your headquarters for info on Return to Labyrinth, the manga sequel to the cult classic 80′s movie that I’m penning for Tokyopop with illustration by Chris Lie. There are a lot of great voices out there covering manga & otaku culture – I hope that I can add to that discussion and provide a venue for discussion and debate without being entirely redundant. Any feedback you have to help make the site better is strongly encouraged!

Also, if you’re thinking of ordering Return to Labyrinth or any of the other series I work on as a freelancer, consider purchasing them through the links on the left. The books listed there are ones that I have worked on as writer, editor or contributor. As this work is for-hire, I don’t get royalties from the publisher, so a few extra pennies for your support is welcomed!

Cheers,

Jake