The spice must flow! This week, BOOM! Studios announced it has acquired the comic book and graphic novel publishing license to Dune: House Atreides, a prequel novel to the bestselling sci-fi series by Frank Herbert. Adapted and scripted by original Dune: House Atreides authors, Brian Herbert, heir to the Dune series, and Star Wars writer, Kevin J. Anderson, the twelve-issue limited series from BOOM! Studios is slated for release this fall. Herbert’s comic adaptation lines up with director Denis Villeneuve’s new Dune film scheduled to release in December.
Dune is a genre classic. The science fiction bestseller is set in the far distant future, in which powerful dynastic houses war over control of galactic trading routes and production of the invaluable spice, melange. From oceanic planets to barren, sand-swept worlds, control of the mind-altering and life-extending spice has brought rival planetary powers, House Atreides and House Harkonnen, into conflict over stewardship of the coveted resource. Since publication in 1965, Frank Herbert’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel, Dune has spawned a series of critically acclaimed novels including 1998’s Dune: House Atreides, a feature film directed by David Lynch, a television mini-series, Marvel Comics adaptations, and notable games, including a board game from Avalon Hill, a collectible card game, and the innovative real-time strategy game, Dune II.
This fall, Dune: House Atreides Brian Herbert, son of the late Frank Herbert, and Anderson return to collaborate on a BOOM! Studios twelve-issue limited series based on the novel. Of the reunion, Herbert explained how special the original prequel novel was to him. “Dune: House Atreides holds a special place in my heart. It was the first novel Kevin and I wrote in my father’s fantastic Dune universe, and it is our first collaborative novel to be adapted for comics.” Illustrated by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, the new Dune: House Atreides, from the publisher of popular licensed properties including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, features cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz, who originally provided cover art for Marvel Comics illustrated adaptions in the 1980s. Anderson, international best-selling Star Wars author and speculative fiction writer, speculated on his work on Dune, relating, “We loved exploring all the possibilities Frank created for us, and those books introduced a whole new audience to Dune. Now, in adapting House Atreides into a vibrant graphic format, it’s like rediscovering the story and the world all over again. So much of the novel is visually driven, the union of comics and House Atreides is a natural.”
The BOOM! Studios announcement for the Dune: House Atreides 12-issue comic adaption includes intriguing plot details revealed in a brief synopsis of the series:
Set in the years leading up to the explosive events of Dune, Dune: House Atreides transports readers to the far future on the desert planet Arrakis where Pardot Kynes seeks its secrets. Meanwhile, a violent coup is planned by the son of Emperor Elrood; an eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho seeks to escape his cruel masters; and a young man named Leto Atreides begins a fateful journey. These unlikely souls will come together as renegades and soon discover that fate has decreed they will change the very shape of history.
Dune: House Atreides, the new twelve-issue limited series from BOOM! Studios releases this fall. Read the full press release here.
