Artwork: 5
Story: 4

In essence a precis of the David Lynch movie but oh, my soul, captures the best moments from the movie and the book in an astoundingly poignant manner. The artwork is astonishing, this must be Bill Sienkiewicz' finest work. Every panel could be blown up and mounted as a poster, simply mind-blowing.

It's impossible to recreate the epic scope of the books or the movie, for that matter, in such a condensed format, so those who are not familiar with the Dune story will find this a very disjointed narrative. But as someone who knows this world intimately, I think Macchio (not of Karate Kid fame, sadly) certainly picked his scenes adroitly. This is basically a highlights reel but it's gut-wrenchingly beautiful, the way it's been composed. ( )

In late 1984, Marvel Comics adapted David Lynch’s film, Dune, as a comic book. They published the adaptation in three forms: the first, Dune: The Official Comic Book, told the complete story of the film in paperback novel size and was co-published with Berkeley books; the second, Marvel Super Special no. 36, also featured the full comic adaptation though in the oversized magazine format of the Super Specials; the third was a comic book miniseries simply titled Dune that repackaged the comic adaptation into three issues. This Marvel/Berkeley book features Ralph Macchio’s tight scripting and Bill Seinkiewicz’s gorgeous art. Both Frank Herbert’s original novel and Lynch’s film provide perfect source material for Seinkiewicz’s more abstract style.

Though Lynch’s film received negative reviews and was a box-office failure, it has since gained a cult following and more appreciation. Frank Herbert himself was overall pleased with the film, a few quibbles notwithstanding (scenes that were cut and the decision to make Paul more of a literal god). Those familiar with the original novel will find plenty that successfully made the transition from book to film and then from film to comic book adaptation. Based on the overall quality of this comic adaptation, one cannot help but be surprised that Marvel or another company hasn’t adapted more of the Dune franchise, as the work is perfectly suited to the medium. ( )