Dune House Atreides #11

Dune House Atreides #11

BOOM! Studios 2020

Written by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Illustrated by Dev Pramanic with Mariano Talbo

Coloured by Alex Guimarães

Lettered by Ed Dukeshire

The newly crowned Duke Leto Atreides has been framed for a crime he did not commit and must risk everything to prove his innocence to Imperium's royal houses. Will it work or will Baron Harkonnen's evil plan finally come to fruition? The Bene Gesserit assert their influence once more, having predicted a great importance in the Atreides bloodline, one that will influence the coming of their messiah -- the Kwisatz Haderach!

Next issue is the climactic conclusion to the House Atreides story arc and I cannot wait to see how Leto’s trial plays itself out. This has been such a fantastic look inside politics, marketing, infighting, backstabbing and everything else that the likes of Dynasty or Dallas brought to us for years. Mystery, intrigue and manipulation are all on display here as the characters have no choice but to play out the cards they were dealt while trying to stay alive and bring the truth to life. How the boys have been able to bring this to life the way that they have has been a pure and utterly joy to read.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in keeping their ever changing personalities understood. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more involved and engaged we become.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. How the layers open up new avenues to be explored, and some already are while others won’t be, and how they add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story is incredibly well rendered. The new ally or informant for instance is a great example and whether we learn who this is or not doesn’t matter all that does aree their deeds. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceptionally well.

I like the interiors here, could they be a tad sharper sure but they do their job in bringing the emotions and feelings of the characters to life exceedingly well. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how alongside the varying weights and techniques being utilsied to create the detail within the work that we see is fabulous. How we see the backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments could be better but what we see does so nicely. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a strong eye for how colour works.

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I’m a firm believer that this is how you should start your journey with Dune. Yes the film is out now, the second or new version, but that shouldn't be seen until you’ve read this because it will give you such a better understanding of the world(s) that have been created and the importance of the spice crop. Just my personal opinion so take that for what you will but I’m in love with this series and just how stellar its been put together and executed.