Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas is a 2021 comic written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, illustrated by Jakub Rebelka, and published by BOOM! Studios. SUMMARY: During the chaos of the legendary Battle of Arrakeen, a group of Atreides soldiers get caved in. So while Paul Atreides meets his destiny in battle, Sgt. Vitt uses his family’s gift of storytelling as a Jongleur to transport his men from their tomb to their homeworld of Caladan. Can Vitt mentally transport them back to the lushness and vast oceans of Caladan and give them the gift of hope in the darkness?

Soldiers of the House Atreides are stuck in a cave in during the battle between Atreides and Harkonnen forces for control of the planet Arrakeen. The group struggle to survive as they try to escape while waiting for help. The story is actually pretty interesting. Having recently seen the 2021 Dune film, it’s cool getting to read more expansive material. One of the thing that I appreciated from the story was the use of exploring Caladan while we see these characters struggling both physically, mentally, and emotionally from their situation. And I gotta say that the Voice has to be something pretty powerful because that ending was so unexpected. It didn’t wow me with anything game changing in the grand scheme of things and I would’ve liked to have seen more diversity of conversation but it is a short story and I thought the story was unique. (3 out of 5)

I thought the characters were okay, but there’s little time to actually get to know them. They have specific quirks and traits that separate them but nothing really deep, such as their motivations, backstories, or even their relationship to each other. Hell, most you don’t even know their names. The story primarily focuses on Sgt. Vitt who’s trying to keep hope in the hearts of his soldiers. Again, a cool guy but outside of his loyalty to House Atreides and the fact that his family are Jongleur, a powerful bloodline with the ability to use Voice (a powerful ability). I would’ve liked to have seen more banter or perhaps more desperation from the characters. Still, they were a decent cast. (3 out of 5)

I am on the fence about the art style. On one side of the fence, the range allows the scenes to be expressive in different ways. This difference does tend to make certain scenes stand out more than others. To be specific, scenes utilizing character conversations are pretty expressive. However, on the other side of the fence, the art style can be pain to look at during the action. The lack of distinction makes the action hard to tell what’s going on and characters often blend together in certain scenes making it hard to tell who’s who. I had the same problem with the 30 Days of Night comic. In certain scenes it works but in others it looks like a complete acid trip. Still, there’s joy to be had when looking at the colors and how the tone changes from location to location. Whereas cave is dark and gloomy, Arrakeen has hues of orange and red from the fire, rock and sand, and scenes of Caladan are lively and vibrant. Not saying that Jakub Rebelka did a bad job but the art style isn’t really my cup of tea. (3 out of 5)

Thought the writing was okay though admittedly I would’ve liked to have seen more. Perhaps more buildup to the attack, or have more banter between the characters about their backstories or perhaps their goals in life. Something to help flesh them out. Usually when you read a story or watch a movie about characters stuck in a location and can’t escape, characters talk about themselves and their lives. Now, I’m not looking for the deepest characters but those conversations would’ve shown personal stakes outside of their survival as well as expanding more of the lore.

I don’t know much about writers, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, or much about any of their works. Herbert has a long personal and professional history of the Dune series (as his father Frank Herbert was a writer and created it) and Anderson has done a lot of science fiction. I feel like if this were a novel that it would’ve been ten times better. Still, I thought the writing was okay I just want more. (3 out of 5)

In the end, Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas is a good time. Though it doesn’t much in terms of being overly deep, it’s a good expansion of the mythos by exploring a smaller portion of an exceptionally huge pie. Though I’m not a fan of the art style, it’s got some good imagery, the story is unique, and I thought the writing was good. Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas gets 3 out of 5. The movie did a good job of pulling me into the mythos and this comic makes me want to be even more invested.