Dune: House Atreides #2 - BOOM! Studios

DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES No. 2, November 2020

Somewhat strangely focusing upon House Harkonnen rather than its titular family, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s storyline for Issue Two of “Dune: House Atreides” must nonetheless have provided its fans with a healthy dose of exciting endangerment and enthralling intrigue. In fact, arguably the highlight of this “newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint” is the detailed depiction of Rabban’s frightening attempt to bring down one of the mighty sandworms on Arrakis, rather than the comic’s somewhat matter-of-fact portrayal of young Leto slowly making planet fall on Ix; “We have delivered your belongings here. The shuttle will take you to the surface. We thank House Atreides for your patronage…”

However, for those within this book’s audience more interested in the wider political scope of the science fiction franchise, the collaborative pair’s script rather agreeably still manages to crowbar a tantalising taste of the Bene Gesserit Mother School of Wallach IX, in between Pardot Kynes’ attempt to show some polite veneration towards Vladimir Harkonnen at the Baron’s headquarters, and Duncan Idaho’s desperate attempt to flee from the slave pits on Giedi Prime. Furthermore, Reverend Mother Anirul’s evident delight at the ancient order’s attempt to create the Kwisatz Haderach is especially well-penned, with the woman positively beaming at her brethren over a scroll containing a complicated family-tree, when she announces that a Harkonnen daughter will mean the universal super-being is only a generation or two away from being born.

Likewise, this twenty-two page periodical’s cliff-hanger is similarly as beguiling, with illustrator Dev Pramanik pencilling a well-paced surprise for any bibliophiles unfamiliar with “the eponymous prequel novel” upon which this mini-series is based. It is easy to imagine the internal emotional struggle taking place within the adolescent Leto as he experiences a mixture of homesickness for Caladan and excitement for his new adventures on the mysterious industrial planet of Ix. So when his journey from the sterile atmosphere of a Spacing Guild Heighliner supposedly deposits “the guest of Earl Dominic Vernius” at his final destination, the stunned surprise and fear on the lad’s well-drawn face should actually cause many readers to actually hear a distinctive crack in his voice as he gives a distraught cry for assistance.

The regular cover art of "DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES" #2 by Jae Lee & June Chung