There are a lot of comics out there, but some just stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we’re taking a look at the comic book adaptation of the prequel of one of the most famous and beloved science fiction stories of the 20th century: “Dune House Atreides” published by Boom! Studios. Come on a journey filled with high politics and low morals that serves as the comic book prequel to the upcoming 2021 mega blockbuster by director Denis Villeneuve.
Who Is This By?
“Dune House Atreides” is a comic book adaptation of the 1999 book of the same name. Both the prose book and this comic book are written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Brian is the son of Frank Herbert, the author of the landmark 1965 novel simply titled Dune while Kevin is a very prolific science fiction and comic book writer who has penned quite a few Star Wars comics and has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards for his work. The art is provided by Dev Pramanik who is also working on Vault’s “Vampire: The Masquerade” and colored by Alex Guimaraes.
What’s It All About?
Set 35 years before the events of the 1965 novel, “Dune House Atreides” follows the lives and adventures of four characters who will play an important part in what is to come. A young Duke Leto is sent from his home on Caladan to the Machine Planet of Ix in order to further his education with an old family friend. The vile and brutal Vladamir Harkonnen ruthlessly dominates the desert planet Arrakis, ramping up production of the vital spice melange while plotting to gain even more power and prestige. Meanwhile, the young prince Shaddam plots to kill his father Emperor Elrood IX and become the Padishah Emperor, a curious and capable planetologist named Pardot Kynes explores the harsh ecosystem of Arrakis while trying to make contact with the elusive Fremen, and a young Duncan Idaho desperately tries to escape his Harkonnen prison and the nephew of Vladamir Harkonnen, Beast Rabban, who hunts him for sport.
If you’re a fan of the series and Frank Herbert’s original book, these are all familiar characters. If you’re not, the book is very easy to follow and if you’re still lost there are thousands of references and resource pages on the internet that can explain everything.
All of this comes together in a complicated web of politics, bravery, desperation, and violence that provides an entertaining prelude to bigger and more destructive events that are yet to come.
What Makes It So Great?
There are two things that make “Dune House Atreides” a great book, and these are the same two things that make the entire Dune franchise so engaging and worthy of being one of the most popular science fiction series of all time. The first is Frank Herbert’s fantastic world building. The Dune universe is an incredibly rich and highly detailed playground filled with all sorts of cultural touchstones and historical events that make the universe really come alive and create a setting that is wholly unique. Interestingly enough, one of the hallmarks of the Dune universe is the absence of artificial intelligence or “thinking machines”, which don’t exist in this world after humanity launched the Butlerian Jihad and wiped them out in order to free humanity from their grasp.
This noticeable lack of machines forces the story to focus on human thought and action, which leads into the second reason why “Dune House Atreides” is great. For all the grand buildings, strange cultures, and sweeping historical narratives, it’s still a very human story with very human themes. This is a story about big, universal ideas such as honor, greed, freedom, curiosity, and ambition. Despite being set in the distant future, “Dune House Atreides” is a story that feels timeless like a fairy tale or parable, but with genetic enhancements and laser guns.
That’s not to say that “Dune House Atreides” is devoid of action or interesting things to look at. Pramanik and Guimaraes are a fantastic pairing and this is one of the most gorgeous visual realizations of Frank Herbert’s work I’ve ever seen. The costumes are appropriately ornate and highly detailed, the buildings and ships of each of the noble houses have their own distinct color schemes and designs which make them instantly recognizable, and the whole series is bathed in gorgeous swathes of color that make the book a treat for the eyes. It’s the visualization of a human civilization that is so massive, so distant, and so foreign to our modern sensibilities that if the story wasn’t so human it would feel like we were reading a story about a race of highly advanced aliens.
How Can You Read It?
Issue #4 hit bookshelves on the 27th of January and the rest of the series is available at your local comic book store and wherever comics are sold.
