Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas #1 features the story of desperate soldiers during the Battle of Arrakeen and the beautiful art of Jakub Rebelka! The short story was first published in the magazine, Amazing Stories, in #597 (1999). It was a new Dune story after Chapterhouse: Dune (1985) by Frank Herbert. Also, the first collobration of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The short story was later collected in The Road to Dune (2005), a companion book that compiles notes, the alternate story, “Spice Planet”, letters, and short stories. The writing duo’s first novel in the Prelude to Dune series was Dune: House Atreides (1999).
They had adapted the novel for BOOM! Studios in a twelve issue limited series. Herbert and Anderson also adapted the first book in a graphic novel for Abrams Comic Arts with a second part coming up. Since this short story by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson takes place during the Battle of Arrakeen, fans of the novel, 1984 David Lynch movie, and the recent Denis Villeneuve film can all appreciate this work. The cover by Jeff Dekal has the ragged Artredies survivors look out from their cave out to the Arrakis sand dunes to the Caladan seas. Herbert and Anderson adapt their short story with illustrations by Jakub Rebelka.
The one-shot is published by BOOM! Studios. We open with a little catch up summary, Arrakis with the city of Arakeen, Duke Leto Atredies is betrayed by Baron Harkonnen who has brought in troops to retake the city and the planet of Dune! The red skies have the Harkonnen ornithopters hovering over Arakeen like vultures. The city burns as we see fortress structures built into the Shield Wall. We see all this in a large panel with a smaller one showing the shredded Artredies flag. A two page spread shows that the ornithopters are dropping explosives onto the fortresses as the Harkonnen troops begin to occupy it.
We get the narrator, Sergeant Hoh Vitt of the Artredies Guard, admitting their failure to protect the duke and his family. A Harkonnen commander orders the firing of what Vitt calls “ancient artillery” on the Atredies entrenched in the Shield Wall. The explosion thrums the cave with the Atredies survivors. They are bandaged, wounded, and pelted by rocks from the artillery fire. Vitt hears the gasp of his nephew, Elto, who is dying. He wants his uncle, who is jongleur, a name for a medieval entertainer, to tell him a story. This is as a story of the ground troops, the grunts who defend House Atredies, normal humans not story of the nobility or advisors.
He compares the artillery shelling to waves crashing on the cliffs of Caladan, the Atreides homeplanet. Vitt brings up the sights and smells of Caladan, the fishing boats, and Castle Caladan next to the sea. The story is interrupted as the cave is plunged in darkness. A gunner, Deegan, restores a glowglobe to give a little light. Scovich gives a drop of water to a distrans bat in its cage. He hopes to send it out with a message of rescue. Elto wants a story of how they got to Arrakis. Vitt’s story covers Duke Leto, his son Paul, and Lady Jessica, all of whom we see from behind, not personal, no faces, a nice touch.
Tensions flare up with the soldiers about who is to blame, but Vitt is able to calm them down. Deegan freaks out and wants to escape, the last sedative is given to him, and he gives a story to put him to sleep. Then, Vitt goes to the defense of Arrakeen where they fight against troops that are using the Sardukar style, the elite troops of the Emperor. This is recognized by Gurney Halleck, House Atredies Warmaster, and then the Harkonnen artillery fire starts. Halleck calls for Vitt to retreat and defend the supply caches in the Shield Wall.
They fire lasguns down at the artillery and Elto is successful in destroying a cannon before their retreat. Scovich releases a bat to send a message, slipping through a crack in the cave, which Scovich says is a “Fremen trick.” Elto wants another story from his uncle. He has Elto remember the seaweed forests and the coral gems they found, the contrast of the green with the red of Arrakis is incredible, Rebelka is also the colorist. Hoh Vitt’s story brings all of the soldiers’ memories of Caladan for one final time. Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas has some stunning artwork, a story of trapped soldiers, and the power of a storyteller!
Five Coral Gems out of Five!
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