Dune: House Atreides #5

Dune: House Atreides #5

BOOM! Studios 2020

Written by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Illustrated by Dev Pramanik

Ink Assists by Raffaele Semeraro

Coloured by Alex Guimarães

Lettered by Ed Dukeshire

Leto brings news of the revolt brewing on Ix, but the city's leaders make a decision that may threaten everyone.... while Crown Prince Shaddam plots to overtake it. Meanwhile, Pardot Kynes begins spreading his edenic vision to terraform the desert planet of Dune into an oasis even as the native Fremen raise suspicions about his motives... and if he can truly accomplish his goals.

I continue to be impressed with the level an quality of storytelling that I see within these pages. If this were to be televised it would give Dynasty and Dallas a run for its money in the night time soap opera category. Just the wide array of characters and the multiple layers within the storytelling itself add a delicious complexity to the story and yet the way the guys are writing this it’s easy to follow along and to understand what is happening. Personally for me this is what I am now considering the quintessential introduction to the franchise. If you start with this story then reading or watching everything else will make that much more sense to you.

I love the way that this is being told. How the story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader reader learns information is not only impeccably done but it all moves everything ever forward. Also I do like how we see some arcs segway into the next and how smooth and natural that transition is. The character development remains extremely nice to see. The dialogue and the actions folks take alongside with how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter continue to evolve how we see them. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twist & turns along the way as the story intensifies we see this drama taken to whole new heights.

I am a fan of the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and emerge throughout. There is a great tension being built up and there are times when we become so engaged that we holler at the book, like one does at a horror film, about them being stupid. How everything works together to create the story’s eb & flow is delightfully rendered.

The interiors here are sublime. The linework that we see is phenomenal and how the varying weights and end techniques are being utilised to create the detail work is so mind-numbing at times. The faces, facial expressions and body language that we see helps to further the characterisation nicely. I would like to see more backgrounds being utilised more because when we see them they really are extremely well done. Still we get some nice depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story as is. 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 colour work that we see is beautifully rendered. How the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is really done with aplomb.

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This really is being told in such a spectacular way. With intelligent writing and strong interesting characters wrapped up in some stunning artwork this makes Dune one of the more interesting offerings of the week. Also the fact that people act nonchalantly about things they’ve never experienced before that could deadly in a heartbeat well you just want to slap some sense into them. This level of engagement of the reader is another facet that makes this such a great read.