Atreids, Harkonnen and lesser families
The entire first volume of House of Atreides is a collection of miniatures, episodes from the most important planets in the Empire for Dune . It will start with Arrakis, still in the hands of the Harkonnen. Perhaps that is why Baron Vladimir seems to be the most important character of this comic book, and quite positive at the same time. In the following chapters we meet a much younger than his opponent, Leto Atryda, a completely minor Duncan Idaho and a whole lot of people who appeared in the third and further sets of events opening the Frank Herbert trilogy.
In short, the authors deal with events using a method called by Justyna Bargielska “quickly through everything”. They do not play in exploring the character’s psychology – the Padisha Emperor is a screaming despot, the imperial planetologist does not understand politics at all, Duncan is first and foremost material for a warrior, and Rabban is a beast. The only heroes who will surprise the reader are the aristocrats who were the heads of the families from the time of the first volume of Herbert’s Dune , Leto Atryda and the aforementioned baron Harkonnen. The future ruler of Kaladan is a somewhat nervous teenager, and his adventures seem to serve primarily to show the technical facilities of the Guild – its famous spaceships.
The past is dosed dropwise
As you can guess from the summary above, House of Atreides didn’t impress me much. It’s a pretty decent adventure comic focused on presenting characters and setting them in the context of the world we know from books. Perhaps it would be more interesting for someone unfamiliar with Dune , but such a person would hardly be carried away by what is so important in Herbert’s original: the mysterious mood, epic vision and personalities of the characters.
Unfortunately, I do not know the original book from House Atreides, I am ashamed to admit that even in times of great fascination with the fate of Muad’Dib and his descendants, I was not interested in learning more about the history of this world. Especially since it was written by the successors, not the creator himself – I am sometimes wary of such initiatives. Therefore, I do not know whether the torn, fragmented narrative nervously jumping between characters and places comes from the original, and to what extent only the comic suffers from it. But my biggest problem is that… the stories of the Leto, the Harkonnen, the first Arrakis planetologist or the intrigues of the imperial court did not interest me at all. Even the grand scheme of obtaining Kwisatz Haderach has been stripped of mysticism here and gives the impression of vulgar, in a nasty way, primitive breeding of racehorses. As you know, some time passes in the book,
I am here and I will stay here
I know some readers like to take characters off their pedestals and see them as “ordinary people”. Sometimes I do too, but I don’t think I need it in the case of such epic fantasy as Duna . Maybe the way it was done in the comic does not get to me. I reached for it not only to look into the Atreides’ past, but to see the wonders of their universe. The cover of Jae Lee and June Chung promises an interesting aesthetic, different from the adaptation of Dune itself , strongly referring to Mœbius. Meanwhile, the realistic drawings, full of intense colors, are somewhat reminiscent of the TV style, technicolor, which goes well with Picardand not necessarily the works of Herbert. I also had the impression that Dev Pramanik, by showing the facial expressions of the characters, sometimes shifts towards a cartoon line, which I would see in young adult rather than science fiction for an adult audience.
The House of Atreides is torn by narration, many characters are told rather briefly and insufficient use of the comic-book medium to show Herbert’s vision: the great ships of the Guild, the diversity of planets, the vastness of Arrakis deserts. The publication is directed not to fans of this universe, but to recipients who should somehow be encouraged to stay in it after watching Villeneuve’s film … And they will also be surprised why everything, apart from some ceremonial costumes, looks different.
If House Atreides is to be an accessible, easy-to-read prequel to a book that the recipient does not really know, then it more or less fulfills its role. If he was to rediscover the aesthetics of Jodorowsky’s screen adaptation, he unfortunately did not keep up with the prototype. And if it was just meant to be fun, capitalizing on a new wave of interest in the Herbert universe, it promises too much with the cover.
