Dune: House Harkonnen, Vol. 2

Dune: House Harkonnen

by Brian Herbert (Other), Fran Galán (artist)

Spanning from Arrakis to Wallach IX, formative moments from major characters’ past in the Dune universe come to light driven by the ruthless machinations of House Harkonnen! Chaos ensues across planets with tense rescue missions, impossible choices, meanwhile events on Ix turn explosive, and Bene Gesserit plotting finally comes to fruition. As the Harkonnens brutality abounds on Arrakis, Liet and Warrick are pitted against each other in the name of love, Leto finds himself in a fateful meeting elsewhere, and Duncan takes a significant step toward who he’s destined to be... The tension rises in the thrilling prequel adaptation by authors Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, artist Fran Galán (Creepshow), and colorist Patricio Delpeche (Fissure), where deadly choices and conflicts will shape the future of Arrakis and the entire Dune universe! Collects House Harkonnen #5–8.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2024

About the author

Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Patrick Herbert.

Reviews

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same old, same old... which basically means I'm still very much on board with what I said about volume 1. Basically, that I'm glad I read the novels a long time ago, because the graphic novel version is a good adaptation of those, but, as a shorter format, it is not always easy to keep up with all the different characters and plots.

And, once again, I didn't completely love the art, but I did like it better than the one in the first volume.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight improvement over the previous volume. While I'm still not particularly happy about some story choices and expanding on things I don't necessarily feel had to be expanded upon, at least the plot thickens in this volume and things start happening. Good to see more of lady Jessica, too, and of Thufir Hawat - what little we get to see of him.

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKULTUROWY KOCIOŁEK: Diuna: Ród Harkonnenów tom 2, to nie tylko kontynuacja historii rozpoczętej w poprzednim albumie, ale przede wszystkim jeszcze mocniejsze zgłębienie świata i pogłębienie naszych relacji z poznanymi bohaterami. Postaciami, które muszą mierzyć się z coraz to większym chaosem ogarniającym planetę Arrakis.

Autorzy umiejętnie rozwijają tu wątki wprowadzone wcześniej, rzucając przy tym nowe światło na znane już fakty i dodając do scenariusza nowe elementy historii. Komiks niejednokrotnie przenosi nas w sam środek intryg, które toczą się na najwyższych szczeblach władzy. Harkonnenowie, jako bezwzględni władcy Arrakis, są głównymi antagonistami, a ich brutalne metody rządzenia budzą zarówno strach, jak i pogardę. Autorzy nie boją się pokazywać ciemnych stron ludzkiej natury, co nadaje historii dodatkowej głębi.

Twórcy świetnie radzą sobie także z ukazaniem złożoności różnych bohaterów, których losy mamy tu okazję obserwować. Każdy z nich to mieszanka innych emocji, które napędzają jego działania i stymulują go do pewnych działań (niekiedy impulsywnych). Duet Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert skupia się tu także na ich stopniowej ewolucji. Postacie pod wpływem pewnych wydarzeń zmieniają się, coraz bardziej przypominając bohaterów znanych z oryginalnej powieści. Dotyczy to zwłaszcza Leto, w którym coraz mocniej klaruje się jego poczucie odpowiedzialności i jego kompas moralny.

W przypadku scenariusza jedyne, do czego można się przyczepić, jest momentami dość wolne tempo akcji. W niektórych momentach dialogi są moim zdaniem trochę za bardzo rozciągnięte. Jest to jednak problem bardzo, ale to bardzo marginalny....

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/diuna...

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
More prequel stories to Dune. Very entertaining to see the setup.
- Gurney Halleck goes through pure chaos in this Volume. Seeing his sister abused and murdered, being worked so hard in the slave pits of Geidi Prime, and eventually escaping to become a smuggler with Earl Verinus of Ix
- A Fremen warrior named Liet competes for the hand of a woman and when he loses, he leaves Arrakis and joins the Earl
- Duncan Idaho becomes a Swordmaster finally
- Rabban gains favor with Baron Harkonnen by striking against his father
- Lady Jessica finally becomes a full Bene Gesserit sister and gets assigned to Duke Leto on Caladan
- Leto sends supplies to help the Rebellion on Ix to overthrow the Teilaxu

Looks like the next one will be action packed! (Maybe the birth of Paul?)
Too long between Volumes!
But still very good! Recommend.

[Federico Lucifredi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dune prequels are complex in story, with a twisted, action-centric plot. They lack the "plans within plans" nature of Frank Herbert's writing, and the motivation of the characters is simple, even banal — one dimensional. In Dune, only the Harkonnen Baron had simple motives (but oh-so-complex plans!), in the prequels, everyone is a mere shadow.

For this reason above all, the prequels are perfectly suited to a comic-book rendition. Where plans within plans would be hard to compress into speech bubbles, this simpler thinking fits the available real estate. And the art is a credit to the publisher, they have recruited amazing artists throughout, the level is impressive.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dune: House Harkonnen volume 2
This sprawling series continues, spanning vast areas and relationships, and shaping the Dune that we’ve all dived into ****

#5 - “If you surrender, you have already lost.”
#6 - “Love is the highest achievement to which any human may aspire.”
#7 - “Enemies strengthen you; allies weaken.”
#8 - “One uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp with too much force is to be taken over by power, thus becoming its victim.”

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is better than I expected even. Good lord, the Harkonnen's are complete bastards, particularly Raban. I was unsure if these prequels would add much but they are quite good. Having the adaptations done by the writers of the books helps. Fran Galan's art is a step up from the first volume as well.

[Martijn Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like book one, this is a big ongoing story that started with Huis Artreides, book one. Because of the time jumps and many characters, it is sometimes difficult to follow and there are sometimes illogical "cuts". Still a must for the Dune lover but understandable if other comic readers drop out by now.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yowch. The prequel series continue, and some of the questions surrounding where some of these prequel characters are in the main Dune story are find answers in the most unexpected and horrible of ways. The machinations of the Great Houses continue abreast, and it's clear to see where some of these old animosities come from with all this gloriously painful context.

[Erik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Purely plot driven as the plot bounces between scenes every 2-3 pages. Every character has only 1 trait, even the ones that were more developed in the original Dune novel. Contradicts quite a bit with Dune, too. I read the novel years ago and thought it was just ok, but liked this quite a bit less.

[Dippit! with E.S.Jennette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was ok, I liked it more then the first one.

[Simon Walpole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and volume one work well as an overview of the events of the novel of the same name. Rabban as we know is a real shithouse gives insight into why gurney halleck hates him

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite the combination of Art and Story as the authors' crawl through the trilogy produced almost 30 years ago.

[Rachel Newhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues to be very interesting backstory. My only complaint is that there's TOO many threads going on, so it's really easy to loose track of who is who. By the time I get the 3rd volume, I will probably need to reread 1 & 2 to have any idea where I'm at.

There's also a pretty long list of content warnings for this one, so while I'm enjoying it because I love the Dune franchise, I can only recommend it for OT/adults.

CW: violence, brief language, rape/sex (no nudity)