Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1 of 3
by Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson
Frank Herbert's Dune: The Graphic Novel (1), Dune Comics (Frank Herbert's Dune: The Graphic Novel — 1)
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The definitive graphic novel adaptation of Dune, the groundbreaking science-fiction classic by Frank HerbertDune, Frank Herbert's epic science-fiction masterpiece set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar society, tells the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism, and politics, Dune is a powerful, fantastical tale that takes an unprecedented look into our show more universe, and is transformed by the graphic novel format. In the first volume of a three-book trilogy encompassing the original novel, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's adaptation retains the story's integrity, and Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín's magnificent illustrations, along with cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz, bring the book to life for a new generation of readers.
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I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. Okay, well, I know, but I kinda don't know, either.
Here's the thing: I love the Dune series. I mean, after the first trilogy, it's definitely diminishing returns, but those first three books? Damn. I've read those first three at least four times, and each time, I get something new out of them.
Then, after Frank Herbert passed, his supremely untalented son Brian hooked up with Kevin J. Anderson, supreme hack, and then proceeded to crap all over Frank Herbert's legacy. Where Frank's writing was lyrical, philosophical, subtle, and carried various shades that hid layers of depth, Brian and Kevin just spit out on-the-nose dialogue, bland plots, with no depth. It's like getting Terry Brooks to add show more to Tolkien's Middle Earth saga. It's like getting James Patterson to write the sequel to any Cormac McCarthy novel. They'd both likely say yes, but the results would be ass.
So, now the dreadful duo take on distilling Frank's greatest novel down to a comic book script and find an art team that can do creative justice to all the wonderful things involved in building out the Dune universe.
And the results are, as per Brian and Kevin's standards, underwhelming.
The writing—and trust me, I understand what a daunting task it must be to turn this novel...even roughly a third of it...into a workable graphic novel—is stilted, with no subtlety. In short, standard
junior Herbert and Anderson fare. It's mostly banal.
As for the art, it's a bit better, but it feels like Raúl Allén is trying to ape Gabriel Rodriguez's style (likely most famous for his art in Locke & Key), while trying to be a bit less cartoony. But the static nine-panel page layout he favours does little to break the monotony.
Let's face it, Dune is a lot of talking, or a lot of explaining. I mean, Frank wasn't your typical action-sequence writer, and the bigass battle he leads to at the end of the book spans...what? one or two paragraphs? My point is, this graphic novel requires an artist that can create dynamic interest out of a fair amount of talking heads, through various camera angles, close ups and long shots, and interesting backgrounds and actions, while make all those talking heads fascinating.
Raúl Allén ain't that guy. Hell, if they had gotten Bill Sienkiewicz to do the insides instead of just the cover, he may have managed to overcome the crap writing and give us something approaching special.
Why do I keep doing this to myself? Picking up something that is inspired by Frank Herbert, hoping against hope that it'll be better than what they've done before, but ultimately realizing that, once again, a good idea was butchered by Brian and Kevin.
Why do I do it? Because I love Dune. I've loved it since I first read it at 14, and 44 years later, I still do. So yeah, I'll help line Brian and Kevin's pockets with more undeserved wealth and pick up the next couple of installments of this, but I don't expect to be anything but underwhelmed again and again. show less
Here's the thing: I love the Dune series. I mean, after the first trilogy, it's definitely diminishing returns, but those first three books? Damn. I've read those first three at least four times, and each time, I get something new out of them.
Then, after Frank Herbert passed, his supremely untalented son Brian hooked up with Kevin J. Anderson, supreme hack, and then proceeded to crap all over Frank Herbert's legacy. Where Frank's writing was lyrical, philosophical, subtle, and carried various shades that hid layers of depth, Brian and Kevin just spit out on-the-nose dialogue, bland plots, with no depth. It's like getting Terry Brooks to add show more to Tolkien's Middle Earth saga. It's like getting James Patterson to write the sequel to any Cormac McCarthy novel. They'd both likely say yes, but the results would be ass.
So, now the dreadful duo take on distilling Frank's greatest novel down to a comic book script and find an art team that can do creative justice to all the wonderful things involved in building out the Dune universe.
And the results are, as per Brian and Kevin's standards, underwhelming.
The writing—and trust me, I understand what a daunting task it must be to turn this novel...even roughly a third of it...into a workable graphic novel—is stilted, with no subtlety. In short, standard
junior Herbert and Anderson fare. It's mostly banal.
As for the art, it's a bit better, but it feels like Raúl Allén is trying to ape Gabriel Rodriguez's style (likely most famous for his art in Locke & Key), while trying to be a bit less cartoony. But the static nine-panel page layout he favours does little to break the monotony.
Let's face it, Dune is a lot of talking, or a lot of explaining. I mean, Frank wasn't your typical action-sequence writer, and the bigass battle he leads to at the end of the book spans...what? one or two paragraphs? My point is, this graphic novel requires an artist that can create dynamic interest out of a fair amount of talking heads, through various camera angles, close ups and long shots, and interesting backgrounds and actions, while make all those talking heads fascinating.
Raúl Allén ain't that guy. Hell, if they had gotten Bill Sienkiewicz to do the insides instead of just the cover, he may have managed to overcome the crap writing and give us something approaching special.
Why do I keep doing this to myself? Picking up something that is inspired by Frank Herbert, hoping against hope that it'll be better than what they've done before, but ultimately realizing that, once again, a good idea was butchered by Brian and Kevin.
Why do I do it? Because I love Dune. I've loved it since I first read it at 14, and 44 years later, I still do. So yeah, I'll help line Brian and Kevin's pockets with more undeserved wealth and pick up the next couple of installments of this, but I don't expect to be anything but underwhelmed again and again. show less
derson, Raúl Allén & Patricia Martín (2020, USA). Despite repeated attempts to find further means of cashing in on the Dune corpus, by 2010 interest had clearly begun to wane and two planned Dune books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson were quietly cancelled (although another trilogy was completed and published). With, it must be said, good reason: their additions to the Dune universe have been uniformly shit. But then the Dune film – its second movie adaptation – was greenlighted, with no less than semi-auteur box-office darling Denis Villeneuve at the helm, and the Dune universe suddenly got a shot in the arm. I’d thought this graphic novel adaptation was, like the earlier Marvel one, tied in to the new movie adaptation. show more But now I’m not so sure. The artwork in the graphic novel doesn’t appear to match the production design from the Dune movie trailer. Which suggests it’s yet another cash-in. On the one hand, the graphic novel is faithful to the novel. But it fluffs some scenes – the banquet scene especially – and puts too much emphasis on others, such as the gom jabbar scene. But, worse than that, everything looks disappointingly generic. Lynch’s film had its problems, but it looked absolutely gorgeous. It had exactly that level of over-elaborate design you’d expect of Frank Herbert’s universe. I doubt Villeneuve’s production design will match it. The graphic novel art looks, well, boring. The characters appear far too ordinary and similar and, disappointingly, there’s no intricate detail in the backgrounds. This is the blandest version of Dune that has been produced yet. I will, of course, be buying books two and three. show less
This was a surprisingly good read. I have to admit that this is first time that entire setting is presented as a feudal high technology world (1980's movie was good but had weird scenography and outfits, little bit too artsy, good but too artsy for me; on the other hand TV show had some very low end CGI), society placed in the setting that is mix of future and past. Vibe coming from the pages shows us worlds in space ruled by feudal lords not unlike those from middle ages.
Finally, Harkonnen's are portrayed as a sinister but not degenerative force. They are sick but not look-my-pus-streaming-down sick. Baron was great and so was his crazy Mentat Piter de Vries.
Art is gorgeous and very detailed. It reminds me very much of the Belgian show more school, especially authors of stories like XIII and Largo Winch. Art might look a little bit stiff at moments but is very realistic.
Only issue I had is basically main difficulty with any Dune adaptation. Book is very introspective, every character trying to win the mental game of chess with everyone around them, in real life it would be whole bunch of weird staring contests. This constant internal dialogue is very difficult for presentation in visual media. In this adaptation they managed to do it justice but it does have a little bit awkward effect.
All in all excellent adaptations. Book stops at the end of the first third of the story and second volume comes next year (which is saaaad but OK, I hope they continue with the same quality).
Recommended to all fans of good epic space opera SF, newcomers and readers already familiar with the story and lore. show less
Finally, Harkonnen's are portrayed as a sinister but not degenerative force. They are sick but not look-my-pus-streaming-down sick. Baron was great and so was his crazy Mentat Piter de Vries.
Art is gorgeous and very detailed. It reminds me very much of the Belgian show more school, especially authors of stories like XIII and Largo Winch. Art might look a little bit stiff at moments but is very realistic.
Only issue I had is basically main difficulty with any Dune adaptation. Book is very introspective, every character trying to win the mental game of chess with everyone around them, in real life it would be whole bunch of weird staring contests. This constant internal dialogue is very difficult for presentation in visual media. In this adaptation they managed to do it justice but it does have a little bit awkward effect.
All in all excellent adaptations. Book stops at the end of the first third of the story and second volume comes next year (which is saaaad but OK, I hope they continue with the same quality).
Recommended to all fans of good epic space opera SF, newcomers and readers already familiar with the story and lore. show less
Grafica mi s-a părut foarte bună (e ceea ce înțeleg prin BD, nu manga sau DC/Marvel) și cu o subtilitate cromatică eficient folosită pentru a transmite stări. Adaptarea cărții e foarte ok pentru un mediu narativ destul de superficial in potențial (BD-ul) și nu numai că nu pierde mai nimic, dar pentru mine (care am citit cartea) e chiar exces de informație. Problema mea e că este exagerat de statică. Practic 90% din carte sunt dialoguri nenumărate, adică vizual doar fețe care vorbesc, fără mișcare, fără acțiune. Acest volum este în sine doar o mare expozițiune și nu e corect că se vinde separat de volumele 2 și 3, făcând parte dintr-un întreg. Nemira s-a temut să riște cu toate 3 simultan, dar riscă show more efectul invers: acest volum să dezamăgească și să ducă la evitarea cumpărării restului. În rezumat, vizual (arta grafică) e foarte reușită, narativ este un eșec, separată de celelalte 2 volume. show less
I dutifully read the first six books of the Dune series back in the '80s to earn my sci fi geek cred, despite the fact that I found them intensely boring. (Around the same time, I masochistically slogged through Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.)
This stiff graphic adaptation just drives home for me how dull the first book is with its dreary court intrigue and hollow protagonist, Paul Atreides.
I always did get a kick out of Herbert's character names though, e.g., Gurney Halleck, Duncan Idaho, Vladimir Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, Shadout Mapes, and Iakin Nefud.
This stiff graphic adaptation just drives home for me how dull the first book is with its dreary court intrigue and hollow protagonist, Paul Atreides.
I always did get a kick out of Herbert's character names though, e.g., Gurney Halleck, Duncan Idaho, Vladimir Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, Shadout Mapes, and Iakin Nefud.
A competent, but ultimately perfunctory adaptation
The first volume in a planned three volume adaptation of Frank Herbert’s masterpiece is the most faithful adaptation of the book yet, and that informs both its strengths and weaknesses. For Dune purists it hits all the story points and remains true to the source material. But that approach also means that the dialog doesn’t always work in the comics format leading to some stilted exchanges. The visual design choices are less extreme than the movie or TV adaptations and probably more realistic, but the art while technically well done feels a little flat, and I got no real feel of the characters as individuals. There are also a few lettering mistakes which I wouldn’t expect in a book with such high production values. Overall it’s show more a nice package and will appeal to those already familiar with the novel. show less
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Brian Herbert is an author and the son of Frank Herbert, the creator of the Dune series. Brian Herbert has had several stand-alone novels published but he is perhaps most well-known for his books that expand on his father's Dune novels. Written with author Kevin J. Anderson, these novels have been commercially successful and generally well show more received by the public. Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune novels House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino, The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, The Battle of Corrin, The Road To Dune, Hunters of Dune, Sandworms Of Dune, Paul Of Dune, The Winds Of Dune, and Sisterhood of Dune. Brian Herbert has also edited several works relating to the Dune universe and to his father. In 2003, he authored Dreamer of Dune, the biography of Frank Herbert, a Hugo Award finalist nomination. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Kevin J. Anderson was born on March 27, 1962. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked in California for twelve years as a technical writer and editor at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His science fiction books include Resurrection, Inc., the Star Wars Jedi Academy Trilogy, the Young Jedi Knights series, Ground Zero, Ruins, show more Climbing Olympus, Blindfold, and The Dark Between the Stars. He has also written several books with Doug Beason including Ignition, Virtual Destruction, Fallout, and Ill Wind. (Bowker Author Biography) Kevin J. Anderson has written twenty seven bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He also holds the Guinness world record for "The Largest Single-Author Signing". (Publisher Provided) show less
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- Canonical title
- Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1 of 3
- Alternate titles
- Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1
- Original publication date
- 2020
- People/Characters
- Paul Atreides; Jessica Atreides; Leto Atreides I; Gaius Helen Mohiam; Vladimir Harkonnen; Piter De Vries (show all 16); Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen; Thufir Hawat; Gurney Halleck; Wellington Yueh; Mapes; Duncan Idaho; Stilgar; Liet-Kynes; Esmar Tuek; Iakin Nefud
- Important places
- Arrakis; Arrakeen, Arrakis; Dune; Giedi Prime; Caladan
- Epigraph
- Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. - From Collected Sayings of Maud'dib by the Princess Irulan
- Dedication
- For Frank Herbert, who read the early drafts of Dune to his family, and to his loving wife of nearly four decades, Beverly Herbert, who always provided wise counsel
- First words
- Arrakis. Dune.
A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Yes. They'll call me Maud'dib, after the desert mouse. "The one who points the way." Yes . . . that's what they'll call me. And now that I have seen . . . now, my father, I can mourn you.
- Blurbers
- Heisserer, Eric
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- First installment of a three-volume graphic novel adaptation by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
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