The Dark Crystal - in Other Media

In Other Media

• A popular illustrated book titled The World of The Dark Crystal, from the concept artist and chief creature designer for the film, Brian Froud, was released at the same time as the film. This book expands greatly on the world of Thra, detailing its conditions and history, and provides some additional story background.
• A tie-in novelization of the film was written by A. C. H. Smith.
• An illustrated children's storybook version, The Tale of the Dark Crystal, written by Donna Bass and illustrated by Bruce McNally.
• A board game called "The Dark Crystal Game" was also released in 1982 (see List of Milton Bradley Company products).
• A book-and-cassette adaptation was released in 1983 by Disneyland Records as part of its Read-Along Adventures series.
• In 1983, a video game based on the movie was released for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit in the format of a text adventure.
• A couple of months after the film's release, in 1983, Marvel Comics printed a comic book adaptation.
• Music duo The Crystal Method used samples from the film in the song "Trip Like I Do", released on their 1997 album Vegas.
• Legends of the Dark Crystal, an original English-language manga written by Barbara Kesel with art by Heidi Arnhold, Jessica Feinberg, and Max Kim, was published by TokyoPop. Its story is set hundreds of years before the events of The Dark Crystal, after the Great Conjunction which saw the splitting of the UrSkeks into the Mystics and the Skeksis, but before the Great Extermination of the Gelflings. The first volume of the series came out November 2007, followed some time later by the second in August 2010. A third installment had been originally planned but was cancelled and subsequently merged into the second volume.
• Another comic book prequel, The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, is currently being published by Archaia Entertainment as a series of three graphic novels. The Henson Company and Archaia began collaborating on this project in late 2009. A brief preview was made available on Free Comic Book Day in May 2011, and the first installment was released January 2012, shortly thereafter spending two weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list of hardcover graphic books.
• In February 2011, Sandstorm Productions – a firm that partnered with various design studios to facilitate the development and distribution of board games and collectible card games – revealed that it had acquired the license to produce games based on various Henson properties, including The Dark Crystal. Before any definitive plans were made, however, Sandstorm went out of business in June 2012.
• Archaia announced plans for a role-playing game based on The Dark Crystal at the August 2011 Gen Con gaming convention, intending to publish it later the following year. Like its Origins Award-winning Mouse Guard game, The Dark Crystal will be designed by Luke Crane and utilize mechanics similar to that of The Burning Wheel. As of September 2012, it remains in active development, with more details forthcoming in 2013.