Jim Henson, the legendary puppeteer behind Labyrinth, The Muppet Show, and many other classic creations, passed away in 1990, but his creative legacy lives on. Archaia, the comics publisher that partnered with the Jim Henson Company in 2009, has announced that they will be publishing a graphic novel based on an original script that was written by Henson and Jerry Juhl in the 1960s. The script is a feature length collaboration called A Tale of Sand, and while no art from it is available at this time, Archaia’s press release describes it as dark and existential.
Archaia editor-in-chief Stephen Christy says, “Finding something like this in the archives of The Henson Company was like finding the creative equivalent of a Rosetta Stone. This script is a peek into the early creative mind of Jim Henson, and is a unique vision that is so different from his work with The Muppets, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, or any of his other later works.”
Jim Henson’s daughter Lisa Henson is now the CEO of the Jim Henson Company, and she comments on the new graphic novel as well: “A Tale of Sand was a very personal project for my father. This hasn’t been seen by anyone outside of this company, and I feel very lucky that we can present his vision for this story in graphic novel format with Archaia, giving fans a glimpse at a piece of his creative legacy, and I hope they enjoy this look into his early creative process.”
A Tale of Sand is tentatively slated for publication in late summer 2011.
