Labyrinth (comic)

The cover of Issue One.

Marvel Super Special: Labyrinth is the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film Labyrinth, and was released in a single 68-page volume in October 1986.

The comic was subsequently released as a three-issue miniseries, from November 1986 until January 1987.

The comic was adapted from the film by Sid Jacobson, and illustrated by John Buscema.

Issue One

Issue One was released in the U.S. in November 1986.

Synopsis

It's a nightmare come true for one teenage girl when goblins tear her baby brother from her grasp! Why do they want this particular child? What can the poor girl do to find and rescue him?

Issue Two

Issue Two was released in the U.S. in December 1986.

Synopsis

Sarah's quest to rescue her baby brother from the trolls continues.

Issue Three

Issue Three was released in the U.S. January 1987.

Synopsis

Sarah finds her baby brother, but how can she get him out of the terrible realm of the trolls alive?

Differences from the film

A panel depicting Jareth and Sarah.

• Sarah's eyes are brown, instead of the proper green.
• Both of Jareth's eyes appear bright blue, while one of David Bowie's eyes appears brown due to the permanent dilation of its pupil.
• Any scene where Jareth sings in the film is either deleted or altered to feature dialogue instead.
• When Sarah storms upstairs to her room following her argument with her step-mother, she is shown sitting on her bed and gazing at a photo of her father and mother. She says "guess things can never stay the same can they?" and "Why did you have to leave us?"
• When the goblins invade Sarah's room towards the start of the narrative, she picks up a broom and swings it around wildly to try and scare them off. Production stills exist showing Sarah holding a broom exist, indicating that this is a scene that was filmed but deleted from the finished film.
• Jareth, the Goblin King, introduces himself to Sarah by his first name when he first appears before her. In the film, Jareth never tells Sarah his name and Hoggle is the only character who uses it to refer to him.
• Instead of coming across Hoggle when he is relieving himself in a pond as she does in the film, Sarah first encounters him when she nearly trips over him when walking through some long grass.
• The Fire Gang pretend to show Sarah the way to Jareth's Castle as part of their game with her, a trick they also play in the film's novelization.
• In the ballroom scene. Jareth openly attempts to seduce Sarah telling her the world they are dancing in "doesn't have to be a dream" and leaning down to kiss her. In the comic, Sarah flees when Jareth tries to kiss her instead of when she sees a clock as she does in the film.
• When Jareth learns that Sarah has got through the gates of The Goblin City he is in his bedroom with Toby, instead of the throne room. He gives Toby to a female goblin in a dress prior to leaving the room.
• Instead of saying goodbye to her friends in the throne room of the castle as she does in the film, Sarah leaves them in The Goblin City.
• The final confrontation between Jareth and Sarah takes place in the Escher Room. Sarah defeats Jareth by telling him "You have no power over me! None that you haven't given me!" Jareth repeatedly cries Sarah's name and cowers away from her underneath his cloak before transforming into an owl.