These days， the sci-fi epic blockbuster Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve， hit China.

This blast of a “sandstorm” has not only brought ultimate audio-visual experiences to the audience but also aroused another wave of “sci-fi boom”. It goes beyord questioning that Dune 2 will continue to be produced by the same team and will be released in North America on October 20， 2023.

Dune is a movie adapted from a novel of the same title written by Frank Herbert. This novel， honored with both the “Hugo Award” and “Nebula Award”， is known as “Sci-Fi’s Origin”. It contains complicated stage settings， numerous internal monologues， and psychological descriptions， thus being regarded as “the most difficult Sci-fi literature to be adapted into a movie”. Of course， it will be even more difficult if Dune is adapted into a comic.

As a line in the movie says： “Dreams can weave beautiful stories， but everything important happens after you wake up”， director Villeneuve used concise dialogues and beautiful， impressive images in the first movie of this series within two and a half hours， to set up a dream-like background， build a stage， and comb through the complicated ties between characters for the adventures to come. Most importantly， the embryonic form of the “dune” universe has taken shape.

What follows next is a comic version of the original Dune. Let’s take a look at the development team’s creative intentions and adaptation plans：

From the beginning， we decided to stay faithful to the original Dune， a classical work of Frank Herbert published in 1965 and to adapt it into a comic. We have no intention of making our interpretation of Dune， modifying the story， or adding our elements. We just hope the comic is Dune， in which each chapter and each scene is faithful with the original. Of course， it doesn’t mean to collect every action or every dialogue in the original， because a picture speaks more than thousands of words. We expect to interpret this ambitious story with the initial intention of Frank Herbert. As the original novel is divided into three parts， the comic will be also created in three parts.

Currently， CITIC Press Group plans to take two or three years to bring us the comic adapted from the original Dune. It will soon publish the first part of the comic Dune， which will come out following the release of the movie Dune. The readers will enter the story of Dune more easily with pictures and frames one after another. The perfect storyboard will bring a breathtaking visual experience to the readers and immerse them in the greatest ever sci-fi story.

Frank Herbert’s son， the core member of the adaptation team for the three comics of Dune， and also a bestseller author of The New York Times， ensures the original style and high quality of the comic. The process from creating the manuscript to selecting the right illustators is critical. After reviewing many illustators’ works， Bill Sienkiewicz’s style and imagination were appropriate for the cover painting; Raul Allen and Patricia Martin were selected to paint the inside pages. After the designation of illustators， many problems followed， including character design， costumes， technology， background， and how to paint so many planets like Arrakis （Dune or Desert Planet）. During the process of solving each problem， the adaptation team would comply with Frank Herbert’s original Dune， to ensure that the paintings would be up to par with the incredible universe he created.

Even Eric Heisserer， the playwright of Arrival， spoke highly of the comic Dune. “In the comic Dune， Raul Allen and Patricia Martin tell us a tightly written story， and integrate all the details and subtexts into visual language，” he said， “The pictures， frame after frame， show us the sphere and landscapes， and display the powerful characters in the scenes. They are leading you into crazy scientific action， to fight against the enemy family and the giant sandworms. The two illustrators have made a magnificent feat， changing a story full of tactics into a visual feast.