New Dark Crystal! Now with 30% more Gelflings!
Marvel never seemed to have enough movie adaptations. Santa Claus, 2001 the sequel, Raiders… But here was something odd and fairly new. If Jim Henson had a comfort zone it was populated by the soft, lovable Kermit The Frog but also the less remembered Chung King Dragon! One can imagine the late Mr. Henson seeing his Muppet universe as being complete and wishing to conquer a new universe… a universe controlled by…
Marvel Super Special #24 – The Dark Crystal ©Disney/Marvel
The Dark Crystal! Or kinda… there’s this crystal which balances the whole universe… it seems that a part of said crystal was busted off and then all heck broke loose. A hero strove to – I think you see where this is going. Whatever else was going on in Mr. Henson’s wonderful mind and large Muppety organization, he and it wanted something bigger. And, back in 1979, the biggest entertainment thing going was movies. Which also was a logical next step for the Muppet creative endeavor. Thus Mr. Henson embarked upon melding muppetry (an adverb and a verb; no really!) with puppetry and electronic (digital) animation to make non-human populated movies.
But this account is not about the good or the bad of the movie, The Dark Crystal. Nor about the late, great Jim Henson nor about the fabled Henson Creature Shop he founded with legendary muppeteer Frank Oz, once located in the United Kingdom, then Manhattan and lastly in Burbank, California. This is a side note to the late, very late comic movie adaptation made by Marvel Comics.
When I heard that The Dark Crystal was getting a prequel on Netflix, I laughed. Then I paused to attempt the math of how many years had passed. Then I interrupted myself to wonder about whatever Netflix execs were taking and where can I get some? As I sallied that last joke to myself, I thought hey I have some pictures of how late this book was…
Editrix Supreme Louise Jones and Assistant Acolyte Danny Fingeroth had tapped one of the finest artist of any field, Bret Blevins, to do the art for the adaptation of The Dark Crystal. Following legendary Creator and Publisher, David Anthony Kraft’s script. 68 pages. 68 PAGES!!! Hoo hah – that’s a lot to get done and move to the East Coast.
Oh yeah, Bret and his lovely and really sweet wife, Pat, drove from the Midwest to New York City with, uhhh, 66 pages in his trunk. Or maybe it was all 68—but he also needed to finish the cover. It’s even more complicated than that—for Bret did not do the inks of the interior. Inker of Renown Vinnie Colletta did the foregrounds and really talented but reclusive artist Rick Bryant and really reclusive but talented artist Rich Howell did all the background inks! That’s a lot of stuff to keep track of. At least Brett painted the cover—that’s a straightforward credit.
Now here’s where it gets funny. The above pix were taken during the day. Everything was peaceful, serene even. Artists were arting away and freelancers were snoozing… Then I guess there must’a been a page count or something, because later that afternoon, around 6PM to my remembrance:
ALL HANDS ON DECK!
Which meant everyone in the office who could hold a brush was made to color Dark Crystal pages. Which is how yours truly and his pal, Jack Morelli – normally a letterer, got into the coloring credits of this book. That does not mean that our coloring efforts were appreciated.
Introducing: Steve Oliff! Steve took one look at Jack’s and my efforts—everyone’s efforts and gave a deep sigh. Very mellow young man, Steve is; he should have been yelling and kicking garbage cans over. Instead, he took out all the pages and worked them all over. Hard. Because when it comes to coloring, Steve is—still is—one of the tippy-top practitioners of the trade. It was Steve who shouldered Marvel into the computer-coloring age (with Akira – a seminal Manga series that Marvel repackaged and published). It was Steve who cooked up the name “olyoptics” for his coloring company (add a “.com” to that to see what he’s up to these days!).
I can’t imagine what they’re looking at. L-R: Bret, Steve, Louise, Pat (bent over), Jack Abel in the far background and standing in a fetching red cap, Walt Simonson (Mr. Louise Jones)
The Dark Crystal made its due date, everyone caught some sleep and Bret had a cult favorite movie adaptation on his hands. He went on to do dozens of comic books—a long stretch on New Mutants and one of my favorites, Cloak & Dagger. Then on to children’s books then work for DC. He’s still going strong.
Pat arrived to take up the job as Assistant Editrix to Creator Writer Artist Editor Carl Potts. I think she did that for about a year.
And 37 years later, Dark Crystal Age of Resistance was born! Go check it out on Netflix—the buzz is mostly good.