DUNE: Marvel Super Special No. 36 (1984)

Marvel Super Special: Dune (1984)

Adaptation: Ralph Macchio  |  Illustrator: Bill Sienkiewicz  |  Page Count: 64

It's a comic book adaptation of David Lynch's filmed version (1984) of Frank Herbert's novel (1965), which essentially means it's a comic of a film that was itself heavily abridged from the text it was based upon. As such, expecting anything other than functional as far as story goes is optimistic.

It begins by recreating Irulan's monologue almost verbatim. However, with such a small page count, as the story deepens, as complex events begin to overlap, the author has no choice but to get more ruthless when it comes to what gets the chop.

Many of the things you'd expect to see are either omitted, shortened or merely referred to (e.g. the hunter-seeker scene isn't shown but is referred to later, whereas the Bene Gesserit Litany against Fear is shortened.) The film's voice-overs are retained, though, in comic book thought bubbles.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Guild Navigator gets new dialogue in a bid to hurry the story along whilst trying not to lose too much of the reasoning, but the layered processes of self-interest between the Guild representative and the Padishah Emperor that give the scene its weight take a sizeable hit. I'm guessing it was a frustrating situation for the author, and I know first-hand that it is for the reader.

Of all the omissions, I feel that neglecting to give Dr. Yueh due attention in the early part of the story was a mistake, making his actions later in the story carry almost no emotional punch.

In any comic venture that must succumb to such inherent problems the art has the potential to be the saving grace. All credit to Bill Sienkiewicz because in Dune's case it does the job admirably. The likenesses are good; the colour palette is dark, moody and dramatic; and the panels well-placed.

A small number of pivotal scenes get a full page to work their magic on; it's then that the sense of scale of the monstrous Shai-Hulud effectively comes to the fore.

In closing, for fans of the film who are already familiar with the story it's a reminder of why we love it, flaws and all. But for someone entering the Dune universe for the first time - it's best not used for that purpose. If you have the option, view the film before reading the comic. Or better still, if you're willing to go full Dune, read the book, see the film and then read the comic!

The book collects together all three issues of the Marvel Comics adaptation.

NOTE: No need to go looking for the previous 35 issues. I've not covered them. I do plan to feature a few more eventually, but as it stands now this is the first and only one to date.