I read Frank Herbert’s Dune as a teenager and it ran through my imagination like no other book before it. It’s only right that I covered the Dune book and comic panel for San Diego Comic-Con @ Home.
The virtual SDCC panel was hosted by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson who spoke with several guests working on differing Dune projects. In attendance were Bill Ransom, Christopher Morgan from Tor Books, Charlotte Greenbaum from Abrams ComicArts, Jonathan Manning from BOOM! Studios, and audiobook narrator Scott Brick. At the start, Anderson, and Herbert shared details about the latest trilogy, which was unveiled at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con @ Home.
The trilogy centres around the Atreides family on their pre-Arrakis home planet of Caladan and is designed to bump to the events in Frank Herbert’s Dune. The Duke of Caladan focused on Duke Leto Atreides, while the second novel, The Lady of Caladan, is about Lady Jessica and is set to come out in September. Finally, we’ll get a Paul Atreides-centered story in the conclusion of the trilogy, The Heir of Caladan, which will debut in fall 2022. The panel also spent some time teasing upcoming Dune graphic novels. Charlotte Greenbaum, editor of the graphic novel series at Abrams ComicArts gave the rundown on what to expect from the comic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s work.
Part one of the Dune graphic novel series was released last fall and is illustrated by Raul Allen and Patricia Martin. The book is a national best-seller and voted third best graphic novel of 2021 by Book Authority. With such a positive reception, Abrams is doing a sized-up deluxe edition coming out in October 2021. The second volume in the series debuts in July 2022. Next up was Jonathan Manning, editor of Dune: House Atreides at Boom Studios. He revealed variant covers for the comic — issue #8 will drop soon and is the last of the second arc. In August 2021, Boom will begin working on the third arc which beings with issue #9.
Of course, a cinematic adaptation of Dune hits theatres this year and these titles can only benefit from the added attention on the franchise. The film stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, with Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica and Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto. The film was delayed from December 2020 to October 2021 because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. If you’d like to watch the panel for yourself, you can find it below.
The Lady of Caladan comes out on September 21. Villeneuve’s Dune finally arrives in theatres on October 21.
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