Dune – The Graphic Novel Book 1 (2020)
Dune – The Graphic Novel Book 1 (2020) : Dune, 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, fanstastical tale that takes an unprecedented look into our universe, and is transformed by the graphic novel format. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s adaptation retains the integrity of the original novel, 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.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson: We’d like to acknowledge the hard work, attention to detail, and patience of Charles Kochman and Charlotte Greenbaum of Abrams ComicArts Bill Sienkiewicz, Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín for their artistic contributions; Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert of Herbert Properties LLC, as well as our literary agents, John Silbersack and Mary Alice Kier; our attorney, Marcy Morris; and our incredible wives, Jan Herbert and Rebecca Moesta.
From Raúl Allen and Patricia Martín: We want to thank everybody who made this book possible, particularly the team behind all these pages, for all their effort and passion. In particular Rebecca, Uge, Santi, Tesi, Miguel, and Samuel … Also, a big thank you to our dear editor, Charlotte Greenbaum, and the Abrams team for their trust.
We also feel immensely grateful to our families for all the love and patience during these challenging days.
And to Raul’s brother, who shared his love of Dune and comics with Raúl. Wherever you are, this book is for you, Luis.
Special thanks to Borja Pindado, Aneke, Álvaro Cubero, Néstor Martínez, Antonio del Hoyo, Miguel Sastre, Adrián Rodríguez, Ruth Prado, Jesús R. Pastrana, and Sara Rodríguez; without their help, this book would not have been possible.
PREFACE
FRANK HERBERT’S CLASSIC DUNE IS A FANTASTIC VISUAL EXPERIENCE, an epic story that is the most beloved novel in science fiction. This monumental literary masterpiece, with larger-than-life characters, Machiavellian plot twists, and sweeping vistas of the desert and galaxy, is a perfect candidate to be adapted as a graphic novel. We are extremely pleased to present Frank Herbert’s DUNE: The Graphic Novel, Book 1: Dune.
When we turned to the task of writing the script, we decided from the outset with the full support of our publisher, Abrams that this must be a definitive graphic novel treatment, a truly faithful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic from 1965. We weren’t interested in doing our interpretation of Dune or modifying the story to add our own special stamp. We wanted this to be pure Dune-chapter for chapter, scene for scene.
Naturally, this does not mean the inclusion of every gesture or line of dialogue—a picture is worth a thousand words, after all—but we wanted to convey the ambitious story the way Frank Herbert originally told it. Because the original novel is broken into three “books,” the graphic novel will be released developed a general look and atmosphere for the pages and layouts. We are very excited about how this first volume turned out and look forward to the subsequent two books, which will complete our adaptation of the novel. We hope these Abrams publications bring a whole new audience to Frank Herbert’s breathtaking universe of adventure, politics, religion, and ecology.
We first got together in 1997 to explore writing in the Dune universe, and since then we have written many international bestselling novels that expand on Dune’s history and characters. In our novels, we have developed the full stories of Duke Leto, Lady Jessica, the Baron Harkonnen, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, and his henchman Count Hasimir Fenring. We have traveled five thousand years further in the future to complete the epic that Frank Herbert outlined, and we have gone ten millennia deeper back in time to describe the origins of the Butlerian Jihad, the Fremen arriving on Arrakis, the establishment of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Mentats, the Navigators, and the Spacing Guild. We have written millions of words of original fiction—but this graphic novel is a special treat for us, to go to the heart of the source material, to bring Frank Herbert’s original novel to life in exactly the way he envisioned it. In these illustrated pages, we want the legions of dedicated Dune fans to have an exciting new visual experience for the greatest science-fiction novel of all time.
BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON
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 MUAD’DIB BY
THE PRINCESS IRULAN
FFRANK HERBERT (1920-86) was an American science-fiction writer best known for his novel Dune and its subsequent five sequels. Though Herbert did not graduate from university, he became famous for his science-fiction works, and Dune is arguably the most admired science-fiction novel of all time. The series is widely considered the archetype for all science fiction that followed.
BRIAN HERBERT, the son of Frank Herbert, has written a moving biography of his father, Dreamer of Dune. Brian is also known for his collaborations with author Kevin J. Anderson, with whom he has written multiple sequels and prequels to his father’s landmark 1965 science-fiction novel Dune, all of which have made the New York Times bestseller list.
KEVIN J. ANDERSON is an American science-fiction author of more than fifty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, and The X-Files and, with Brian Herbert, is the co-author of the Dune prequel series. He currently resides near Monument, Colorado, with his wife.
DC Comics with writers such as Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, and Peter Milligan. As an illustrator, Allén has worked with Quentin Tarantino, Playboy, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
PATRICIA MARTIN is a letterer, comics artist, and illustrator, nominated for multiple Harvey Awards. For the last four years she has worked on Wonder Woman with Steve Orlando, Bloodshot Reborn with Jeff Lemire, Ninjak with Matt Kindt, and Secret Weapons alongside artist Raúl Allen and writer Eric Heisserer. She lives in Spain.
BILL SIENKIEWICZ is an Eisner-winning, Emmy-nominated artist best known for revamping the style of comic and graphic novel illustration from 1980 onward, most notably with Marvel Comics and DC Comics. In 1984, Sienkiewicz was chosen by David Lynch to illustrate the comic book adaptation of his Dune movie.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR DUNE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, BOOK 1: DUNE
“Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín take a dense story and apply all that nuance and subtext to their visual language in adapting Dune. Panels establish scope and geography, and showcase the character who has the power in a scene, all the while
guiding you as if you were on a theme park ride through the wild sci-fi action of warring families and giant sand worms. These two have pulled off a rare feat and
made a political tale visually compelling.”
-ERIC HEISSERER, OSCAR-NOMINATED SCREENWRITER OF ARRIVAL
PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL DUNE NOVEL
BY FRANK HERBERT
“I know nothing comparable to it except Lord of the Rings.”
-ARTHUR C. CLARKE
“Powerful, convincing, and most ingenious.” —ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
“One of the monuments of modern science fiction.” – CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“Herbert’s creation of this universe, with its intricate development and analysis of ecology, religion, politics, and philosophy, remains one of the supreme and seminal
achievements in science fiction.” -LOUISVILLE TIMES
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
Project Manager: Charles Kochman
Editor: Charlotte Greenbaum Designers: Megan Kelchner and Charice Silverman
– Managing Editor: Lisa Silverman … Production Manager: Erin Vandeveer
Art assistants: Jesús R. Pastrana (pencil and inks), Guillermo Ortego (inks), David Astruga (designs and color), Alex J. Brady (designs)
Additional colors: Mónica Jaspe Garfia Endpapers: Jesús R. Pastrana and Raul Allen
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the
Library of Congress
ISBN 978-1-4197-3150-1 eISBN 978-1-64700-182-7
Published in 2020 by Abrams ComicArts, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
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