I’m not sure what is about the eighties, but in my experience it’s still the go to era for the coolest pop culture. Being the father of two children under twelve, it’s thrilling to see that they relate to movies that were made way before they were even thought about, hell even way before I knew how to make them.  They seem to capture the imagination more than any modern movies, Marvel aside of course. A huge part of that era was the late great Jim Henson, who’d previously brought us The Muppets and The Dark Crystal, but for my money, his greatest creation came in 1986 when he gave us Labyrinth.

Playing on the nightmares and paranoia young sometimes feel, Labyrinth told the story of  young Sarah, who is left to babysit her baby brother. Annoyed at his constant crying, the world’s worst sister wishes her brother away. The wish is duly granted by The Goblin King played memorably by David Bowie in really, really tight jodhpurs.  Realising she is going to be in a world of pain with her parents , when they come home and also feeling slightly guilty, Sarah travels to the land of the Goblin King and has to master the Labyrinth, complete with it’s weird and wonderful creatures, and confront the mulleted one, or risk losing baby brother forever.

Seeing the huge potential in a Labyrinth book aimed at youngsters, BOOM! Studios have created just that; a fully interactive story with luscious artwork by Kate Sherron and Laura Langston that’s aimed squarely at the Adventure Time crowd.  Every turn of the page presents an opportunity for the reader to help Sarah in her quest to get her brother back, with all the characters and locations in the movie beautifully detailed and present. It’s hard to put an age rating on this book but I’d wager that your five or six year old will enjoy this almost as much as you will enjoy the excuse, should it be needed, to delve back into the world of one of the eighties most iconic movies. Chris Andrews

Pre-order Jim Henson\’s Labyrinth: A Discovery Adventure here