‘Dune’ Prequel ‘House Atreides’ Comic Adaptation in the Works

Boom! Studios is headed to Arrakis. The Los Angeles-based comic book publisher has acquired comic book and graphic novel rights to Dune: House Atreides, the New York Times-best-selling prequel to Frank Herbert’s iconic science-fiction property, with plans to release a 12-issue adaptation scripted by the novel’s authors, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

House Atreides will bring the 1999 novel to comics, set more than three decades before the events of Herbert’s original 1965 novel — hitting the big screen from director Denis Villeneuve and Legendary — and telling the story of the earliest days of the rule of Baron Harkonnen, as Pardot Kynes arrives on Arrakis to search for the origins of the all-precious spice and an 8-year-old Duncan Idaho escapes slavery and sets out on a path toward his destiny.

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“It’s been more than 20 years since Brian and I published House Atreides, the first of our new novels set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe,” Kevin J. Anderson said in a statement about the project. “We loved exploring all the possibilities Frank created for us, and those books introduced a whole new audience to Dune. Now, in adapting House Atreides into a vibrant graphic format, it’s like rediscovering the story and the world all over again. So much of the novel is visually driven, the union of comics and House Atreides is a natural.”

Boom! CEO and founder Ross Richie added, “There are few novels in modern history with bigger impact and continued relevance than Dune, so it’s an honor for Boom! Studios — and for me — to be a part of sharing this unforgettable world with readers.”

Dune: House Atreides is being published in coordination with Herbert Properties LLC and Abrams ComicArts, which will adapt Frank Herbert’s original Dune into three graphic novels beginning this fall. Those books will also be adapted by Brian Herbert and Anderson, with art by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín and covers by Bill Sienkiewicz. (Sienkiewicz, who illustrated the Marvel comic book adaptation of the 1984 David Lynch movie, designed the logo seen above.)

Dune: House Atreides will launch later this year. More information, including series artists, will be released in the coming months.