Dune is the sort of fiction I can and have consumed in as many forms of media as I can reach: the original novel, two movies, a TV show, and now a graphic novel series. There is so much imagination and fantastic imagery in this series that consuming different versions can be an entirely different window into the series from another. So was adding an additional window worth it? Yes. Why? The worms.
The Sandworms in Dune are one of its key features (only more so if you get into the bizarre later novels (don’t do it)). They tunnel across the desert planet of Arrakis, destroying anyone foolish enough to be caught on their sands and not clever enough to avoid and symbiotically live with them, as do the native Fremen. They are so dangerous they resist scientific study, and so ever-present across the planet that they influence every decision made by the humans who live there. Dune, The Graphic Novel, Part 1, has the coolest depiction of the worms yet, featuring a multi-segmented maw lined with crushing teeth, on a creature of such scale that its movements above-ground create lightning storms. I would recommend this version to any first-time reader both for its approachability and its excellent depiction of the mighty Shai-Hulud.
Volume 1 follows the beginning of this space-war epic. Paul Atreides, son and scion of Duke Leto Atreides and his concubine, the Bene-Gesserit Jessica, is troubled by dreams of his family’s coming move to the planet Arrakis. House Atreides has been named caretakers of Arrakis by the Padishaw Emperor. Arrakis is the wealthiest planet in the entire universe, for it is the sole source of the precious Spice, a consciousness-expanding drug critical for interstellar travel. To sit over Arrakis is to be among the most influential houses in existence, however it also is to live with a target painted on your back. In the case of Atreides, that target is scoped by their oldest enemies and the former caretakers of Arrakis, the brutal House Harkonnen.
Dune tells a story of space fantasy more than sci-fi, in the same vein as Star Wars. Technology is advanced, but along lines that are closer to sword and sorcery than to Star Trek. It is forbidden to create AI, as AI once nearly wiped out humanity. The mechanics of the Spice, and the Space Navigators who use it to fold space and create wormhole travel, are not fully explained in the same way that The Force is not fully explained (the Prequels don’t exist shut up). Battle is done with swords and personal force-fields. Buildings are grand and mostly stone, and the makeup of the universe is space Feudalism. Altogether, while some parts of it haven’t aged and are rightly criticized, Dune is one of those pieces of fiction so influential that every fan of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and the houses these titans built, should read it.
The first graphic novel covers the first major arc of the story, culminating in Paul and Jessica’s flight from Arrakeen. I whole-heartedly recommend it to old and new fans alike.
