Сила темного кристалу. Книга 2

Jim Henson's The Power of the Dark Crystal #2

by Simon Spurrier, Kelly Matthews (Illustrator), Nichole Matthews (Illustrator)

Минуло багато років, відколи Темний Кристал було зцілено, а у світі Тра запанував мир. Славетні герої Джен та Кіра стали королем і королевою, але спокій приспав їхню пильність. Уся планета страждає, і це відчувають не лише мешканці її поверхні. Таємнича раса створінь, які кличуть себе вогнелінґами, живе у царстві під землею, cхована від королівства ґелфлінґів. Молода вогнелінґа Турма вирушає на поверхню, щоб вкрасти уламок Кристалу, який зможе відродити її Батьківщину. На неї чекає дружба з ґелфлінґом Кеншо, зустріч зі скексі та містиками, а також неймовірні пригоди!

Містить випуски: #5-8

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics, Film

112 pages, Hardcover

First published April 24, 2018

Reviews

[Chad]

A much more action packed volume with Thurma and Kensho with the shard on the run from Jen and the rest of the Gelfling army. Spurrier brings in a lot of character moments with Thurma, Kensho, and Jen all making mistakes while doubting themselves. This may be Spurrier's best writing. The book continues to look gorgeous. I wish the original Dark Crystal had been profitable enough that we could see this as a movie.

[Shadowdenizen]

4.5 stars.
See review for first volume, which covers the series.

[Jes]

Super sweet volume! Deeply bittersweet. I loved seeing more of Kensho’s family and I loved getting to see Jen and Kira dreamfast. This review is a little brisker because I’m so excited to get to the last volume! More complex thought to come in my review of book three.

[Ryan]

Volume 2 does not suffer from the second book slump. But is that even a thing with graphic novels? This smoothly continues from book one. This time our team of heroes are on a quest to the firelands to put back that shard. Loving this series.
#KillYourTBR
#BNFantasyChallenge
#MountTBR

[Tamara]

This was a good continuation to the first volume
It starts off exactly where the last ended

the story is continuing where we left off
its been 100 years since the movie the dark crystal, Jen and Kira have ruled and brought a long period of peace but now they are old and haven't been involved much in the daily workings of the world. Bring in a new character who comes from the firelings a clan living in the center of Thra. She asks for help but through misunderstandings and confusion Chaos ensues. Now the question is who is right and who is wrong and can Thra be saved. In this Volume the characters are learning from each other and starting to see each others perspectives.

[Penny Geard]

I am enjoying this series but I do still find I feel like I'm missing the details. I think it might be the way it jumps between the different character groups. I wish Jen/Kira were either in the story more or not in it at all.

Also, the conflict that gets the most focus is miscommunication. I often don't mind miscommunication because I think it's realistic, but this is a little angsty for me. Like, just talk! 🙃

Nice bright colours, and I love the pages by Sana Takeda.

[David Veith]

give me more!

[April Helms]

The followup to volume 1, where I had expressed a few reservations. Well, I'm hooked. Just love the shades of gray- the Gelfling are not portrayed as the heroes so much, and it's interesting to watch the quiet dissention within the ranks of the uRuh. OK, with one uRuh. But still. The Skesis are still pure evil, would not want that to change. In this installment, Jen is realizing the deep damage done while he and Kira had been in stasis. The main heros Thurma and Kensho are trying to make their way back to Thurma's beleagured world. There are some Gelfling who are trying to stop them, and there are those with Jen, who want to help them. In the castle, the Skeksis show their cunning as well as their cruelty. Eager for the next installments- this is a long series, but that's OK.

[Абрахам Хосебр]

Земля Тра помирає. Смоляна пошесть – гнилизна шириться палахкими лісами і родючими рівнинами, хворіють звірі і люди, посіви гинуть, населення міст і сіл страждає від хвороб та голоду. Все це до болю схоже на біблійні кари єгипетські і може все ж таки є за що? Хто зна, може це покарання ґелфлінґам за те що зійшли зі шляху безкорисливого добра. Адже Дім Кристалу перетворився на Дім Підношень, раптово постає давно забутий расизм, а зачаєне зло виходить із тіней.
“Коли я був юним, вчитель розповідав мені про створінь, що звуться шрукілами. Це примітивні звірі. Вони плодяться, їдять – намагаються й самими не стати їжею. Поводяться, як звичайні тварини. Але в них є одна особлива риса : перед смертю кожен шрукіл співає. Наче плаче, немов намагається усім створінням довкола донести: “Я жив”. Я жив, але тепер моє життя добігає кінця. Пам’ятаю, мені було дуже цікаво дізнатися, як же звучить ця пісня і сьогодні вся Тра її співає.”
Ось таку коротеньку промову звіщає герой давно минулих часів Джен. Але й він сам вже сумнівається у своєму геройстві й праведності шляху, котрим він ступає: в бойових обладунках, з проклятим скіпетром в руках, верхи на смертоносному гартімі – комасі, родичі котрої колись мало не знищили всю його расу.
Друга книга фентезійної притчі “Сила Темного кристалу” сконцентровується довкола теми різних поколінь. Бо ж буває таке, що вже пора передати віжки молодому поколінню, а їм все ще не довіряють, все ще знають, як краще.
Кеншо і Турма знаходяться в бігах – їх переслідують летючі чатові гелфлінґів, але й окрім них по п’ятах ступає значно підступніший ворог – підскарбій скеґсі. Також є місце і для нових персонажів, одним із них є Блакитний Дракон, викликаний співом містиків, це своєрідний Deus Ex Machina, котрий рятує Кеншо від засідки і з’єднує обидвох закоханих.
Події другого тому сконцентровані не тільки за межами Кристального Замку, але й у глибині його підземних казематів: здобувши контроль над первосвящеником, скеґсі таки вириваються на волю і заволодівають скарбами. Вони всіма силами намагаються повернути владу у замку і це їм легко дається, адже король і більша частина воїнів зайняті пошуками “зрадників”.
В порівнянні з першим томом сюжет не просідає і все ще тримає темп, а кінцівка взагалі розривається на півслові, в апогеї подій.
Сценаристам вдається поглибити “хімію” між персонажами: обоє недоговорюють одне-одному важливі речі, але все ж таки відкривають гірку правду. Цікавим героєм постає Колба – мати Кеншо, вона дає корисну пораду для втікачів.
За якістю друку, прошиттям і перекладом, другий том нічим не поступається першому. З помилок, я виявив лише одну – на задній обкладинці є хибодрук “прекраснйи”. Третього тому поки що немає в продажу, а це сумно, адже обірвалась історія на дуже важливому місці. Тому для стимуляції видавництва MOLFAR COMICS, раджу придбати перші два і таким чином убити двох зайців одним пострілом: почитати яскраву фентезійну притчу для дорослих і дітей і пришвидшити вихід третього тому.

Абрахам Хосебр, 2021 (https://cutt.ly/FhVWe4Q)

[Daniel V. N.]

The artwork, while beautiful, simply does not match the grit of The Dark Crystal (1982) or The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019). It’s a shame that the Matthews were matched to this project, as in many different IPs I am confident I would greatly enjoy their illustrations, but for The Dark Crystal I would have preferred something more akin to Fables (2002-). Mark Buckingham was already attached to the project as cover artist, but I would have loved to see his take on the characters of Thra.

Unfortunately, I also find the story lacking. From what I can gather this is the storyline The Jim Henson Company considered for the sequel to the original movie, but the narrative just falls flat. All recurring characters appear to have been shoe-horned in to a narrative that does not have to be set in the world of Thra. The whole issue of someone new gatekeeping and now monetising the Dark Crystal just feel forced.

Spurrier struggles to catch the mannerisms of the recurring characters, and that means that while you as the reader are expecting to see characters like Aughra again, the excitement sours when the character simply doesn’t act or speak like Aughra.

The ending is the only redeeming quality of the comics, as it at least ties up the grander narrative

[Scot Eaton]

(Review is for all 3 volumes)

What BOOM Studios has done with this comic is something very special. They took a movie that never made it out of pre-production, and was doomed to never be filmed, and they made it into a reality. I would love to see more things like this in the future.

THE STORY: Above-average for comics. It's clear the original script made it pretty far into the pre-production process. The main characters Kensho and Thurma are far more interesting than Jen and Kira ever were, and overall it just works. There's a small amount of sequelitis in the return of certain characters, but the story gets over it quickly and rightly shifts the focus to Kensho/Thurma.

THE ART: Is absolutely gorgeous. Every page is brimming with color and life. This is one you're going to want to have on your shelf. The pacing of the panels is great, and there are some intentionally artistic moments where the art is used to tell multiple stories on the same page.

OVERALL: This is a triumph in graphic novel achievements. I expected a retread cash-in, and instead got a sequel to the original movie that stands on its own two feet.

[Megan]

Just as with the first volume, the artwork is amazing and the storyline is very well done. This book continues the story of a Gelfling named Kensho and his friend Thurma who are trying to save both of their worlds.

The power of the Crystal could very well save Thurma's world from falling apart but the journey back to her home is full of surprises and some bumps along the way. She has kept some things from Kensho and knows that when he finds out the truth, it could very well be the end of their friendship.

The evil Skeksis are attempting to take over again due to the crystal being broken and the citizens have their hands full as they try to deal with the blight that has infected the area and are hoping to get rid of the Skeksis again.

Full of surprises, the power of friendship, love, fascinating creatures and the power of trying to do what's right, I highly recommend this book particularly if you have enjoyed the Dark Crystal movie like I did. I can't wait to continue the series soon!

[Silas]

It has been a while since I read the first volume of this book. I generally remembered the plot of the first volume, so I wasn't completely lost here, but I had more or less forgotten the characters' names, and some of the finer details. Despite that, I was able to pick this up without too much difficulty. This volume is the second of three parts, and fitting with the trilogy story arc, this one is the low point of the story, where deceptions come to light and divisions are created. It's as good as the previous volume, and after having seen the Dark Crystal prequel, I saw several of those elements here, since they used them for that, so that was interesting. I'm glad I finally picked this back up, and I don't think it will take nearly as long for me to read the next one.

[Worthy]

This is a really strong continuation to an already strong first volume! ‘The Power of The Dark Crystal: Volume 2’ greatly builds on the story of the first, whilst also adding new developments and tensions within the characters. Jen, Thurma and Kensho are the stand out characters in this volume as all of them have some kind of internal conflict that they must face and I really enjoyed seeing how their decision impacted the rest of the story. The art style is fantastic as ever and I’m really excited to see how the story ends in the final volume!

[Lia C]

The second installment is out of three, which is the official sequel to Jim Henson's film, The Dark Crystal.
After the Thra-shattering events in the first book, we find Thurma and Kensho feeling the consequences of their actions that put their friendship to the test. Jen and Kira are also feeling the effects of their long slumber and how detrimental it's been to Thra. The story holds your attention and propels you to the final portion of the story.

[Steven Shinder]

This is a bit of an improvement over Vol. 1. There's still a bit of the clinging to what the fans of the movie loved. Almost like the thought process was, "People loved the Chamberlain, so let's give him a huge presence here!" But I love the newness of the Thurma and Kensho moments. And there was a sweet dreamfast between Jen and Kira at one point.

[Jessica Mathes]

I thought this one was better than the first one. The art is beautiful and the writing was better, other than the fact that the characters do so much stuttering which kind of annoys me. The story in volume 2 was more interesting and less repetitive than volume 1. However, it is somewhat repetitive that Thurma and Kensho keep lying to each other.

[R]

Beautiful illustrations and a fantastic story. I am excited to see how this sequel wraps up the story.

There is an unfortunate misprint approximately halfway through this edition. The text bubbles from a right page are repeated on the left side. The illustrations on the left do not correlate with the text bubbles. I wish I knew what Kensho and Thurma are saying in that dire situation!

[Peacegal]

I was actually more impressed by this one than the first volume. The story seems to be coming into its own and seems less of a rehashing of the original movie plotline and other fantasy tropes. As always, the illustrations are top-notch and a real joy to immerse yourself in.

[Sarah Morgan Sandquist]

The story continues at a quick clip but without a sense of rushing. The pacing conveys the urgency of the plot. The art continues to be immersive and gorgeous. Themes and conflict developed in the background of volume 1 now take center stage. I can't wait to see how it ends.

[Rachel]

I feel like such a grinch, but I prefer to keep my reviews honest, even when it makes me feel bad. I just didn’t love this. The illustrations are good and the colors are glorious, but I’m finding the storyline tedious. I’m so sorry. I have one more volume to read for book club and I’m dreading it.

[Carl]

A Marvelous 2nd volume of the Adaptation of the never made sequel to the original Dark Crystal movie. A more dynamic action pakced volume but still loaded with character moments. Bautifully Illustrated by Kelly and Nicole Matthews.

Fantastic!

[Riley]

The story and characters get better with time, wasn’t too sure about them first volume but they are more fleshed out and at time morally ambiguous which make them feel more true. Loving it so far hoping it keeps getting better.
4/5

[Kevin Haar]

Continuing story with more amazing artwork and character designs. Yhe emotional investment in Thurma,the Fireling, and Kenshin, the Gelfing continue to drive the narrative. Other characters not used as effectively as in Volume One. Eagerly looking forward to the final volume.

[Laura]

It is just a delight to read. The illustrations are gorgeous. Having a ton of fun reading these. I especially love Moghra.

[Sean]

I thought this was good but honestly not as good as I hoped. It had amazing artwork but was a bit lackluckster in story. Seemed like a retelling of the original Dark Crystal story.

[Jennifer]

This volume is just as beautiful as the first volume. The character depth makes the story better than the first. All in all, a beautiful graphic novel. I highly recommend this series.

[Dann]

The adventures continue in The Power of the Dark Crystal: Volume 2, the second chapter of the official sequel graphic novel series to Jim Henson’s fantasy epic. With the Crystal shattered once again, Jen and his guard set out to retrieve the missing shard stolen by the Fireling Thurma; meanwhile Thurma struggles to find her way back into the underworld of Thra. Authors Simon Spurrier and Phillip Kennedy Johnson do a lot of good character development with Jen questioning whether he’s on the right side and Thurma questioning what lengths she’s willing to go to in order to save her people. And illustrators Kelly and Nichole Matthews create some interesting new creature designs. In fact, included in the supplemental materials are the Matthews’ original design sketches for a number of characters. However, the plot doesn’t really go anywhere and reads as a middle chapter in a larger story (which it is); though it does have a pretty good cliffhanger ending. A definite improvement over the first volume, The Power of the Dark Crystal: Volume 2 is action-packed and full of thrills.

[Heather Brush]

More please. 12 volumes?!

[Lauren]

Full review under volume 3.