WARNING: The following contains spoilers for DUNE: House Atreides by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Dev Pramanik, and Alex Guimaraes.

 The world of Frank Herberts's Dune is one of political intrigue, deception,  zealotry, and violence. The new series from Boom! Studios, Dune: House Atreides set out to introduce readers to the world of Dune before Dune and the events that presaged the series' action.

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The humans who populate the various planets of Dune's universe are as uncaring as the universe itself. They are also similarly complex. Society in Dune is one of intergalactic feudalism. Great houses rule over fiefdoms and are in turn ruled over by the Padishah Emperor. To read Dune is to enmesh oneself in the complex web of relations, tensions, debts, and loyalties that drive this world. At times for the great families of the Padishah Empire, politics are a matter of survival. Assassination has become commonplace, almost expected, it could be said that the prevailing attitude of these nobles is that if no attempt has been made on one's life then they are not doing anything of real consequence. Dune, above all else, is a story about power, who has it, who doesn't, and the ways in which it can be applied.

The-Winds-of-Dune

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Boom! Studios' new series, Dune: House Atreides, does an excellent job of introducing its readers to this world with a handful of scenes. The comic sets up stories about at least three major houses, but let's focus on the titular family for now. The Atreides trace their noble lineage all the way back to Earth's ancient Greece and Atreus, the son of the Greek king Agamemnon, featured in Homer's The Illiad. The family rose to prominence during the Butlerian Jihad, a violent revolt of the last free humans against the Thinking Machines lead by the Earth super computer Omnius. This 'luddistic' crusade saw not only the destruction of Omnius but also of the Earth itself with atomic bombs. Interested readers should check out The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (who also wrote this comic). Now, over ten millennia removed from their Mediterranean origins the Atreides are the stewards of the planet Caladan within the feudal framework of the Padishah system. House Atreides, whose crest is a hawk, is also the house of Dune's protagonist, Paul. However, he is not the main character of this story, as it takes place several decades before the events of Dune.

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The final, and maybe most important piece of information is that the Atreides have their greatest rival in the House Harkonnen who, at the time of this comic, rule over the planet Arrakis - colloquially known as Dune. The Harkonnen's are formidable foes not only because they possess a sort of sociopathy and greed that is unparalleled even in the bloody minds of the other great houses, but because their planet, Arrakis, is the only planet upon which the most valuable substance in the universe - the spice melange - can be found. Indeed, this spice is as the core of Dune's narrative.

In light of all of this, DUNE: House Atreides had its work cut out for it in terms of introducing all of this within the industry-standard twenty-two pages. This is quite a lot to bring to bear, however, save for the rivalry between the two houses everything else covered in this article is at the least mentioned in this first issue. While this can make the first issue feel like a retread of familiar ground for those already familiar with Dune's characters and lore, it is an excellent introductory issue that will enable new fans to pick up the comic and get a taste of what the broader series has to offer.

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