Dune Marvel Super Special Part Two

Dune
written by Ralph Macchio
illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz
Part Two
from Marvel Super Special No. 36, 1984

Dune Marvel Super Special Part One

Dune
written by Ralph Macchio
illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz
Part One
from Marvel Super Special No. 36, 1984

Strange as it may seem, the novel Dune has never appeared as a comic book. The closest it has come to a comic book incarnation was in 1984, when Marvel comics produced a 64-page comic adaptation of the movie under the Marvel 'Super Special' imprint, which was designed to showcase comic book adaptations of feature films.

The comic book adaptation was written by Ralph Macchio and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, with colors by Christine Scheele and lettering by Joe Rosen.

As the 'Super Special' adaptations went, Dune was one of the more challenging ones. To begin with, David Lynch's film sought to condense a 500+ page novel into a feature film with a 136 minute running time, which in turn presented a challenge to Ralph Macchio in terms of adapting the material into a 64-page comic. But Macchio did a god job, staying true to the film's plotting, which differs a bit from the novel. 

Sienkiewicz's art is serviceable, relying on an expressionistic design that had to accommodate quite a bit of text boxes and dialogue balloons.The Dieselpunk stylings of the movie are absent, but in fairness, Sienkiewicz was probably working from an early-draft script when he took on the assignment.

There is no getting around the fact that, if you are not already familiar with the novel, both the film and the comic adaptation are not going to be very accessible. That said, this comic adaptation is in some ways much more easily grasped than the novel.

I'm posting the entirety of the Dune Super Special in two parts. Part Two will follow this post.

Book Review: Urshurak

Book Review: 'Urshurak' by The Brothers Hildebrandt and Jerry Nichols

3 / 5 Stars

In December 1979 I decided, as a Christmas present to myself, to get Urshurak (406 pp, Bantam Books, September 1979). It's hard to imagine this 40 years later, but at the time, Urshurak was a big deal. 

Back in those days, when you went to the 'fantasy' section of Waldenbooks, you saw The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), some Conan titles, Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, and that was pretty much it. 

Urshurak, with its 16 full-color plates and 80 black-and-white drawings, signaled an effort by Bantam Books to take the genre seriously both in terms of marketing and book design.

Illustration from Urshurak used for a 1995 Bros. Hldebrandt trading card

The story goes that the Brothers Hildebrandt conceived of the project as a film treatment, and when that fell through, arranged with editor Ian Summers to incorporate their storyboards into a novel. 

Unsurprisingly, Urshurak borrows quite heavily from LOTR, which by '79 had become synonymous with the Hildebrandts due to the success of their Tolkein calendars. Many of the characters and settings in Urshurak are counterparts to those from LOTR, and the plot, as well, is derivative of Tolkein's work. Signifying an awareness of more Inclusive sensibilities, as well as an eye towards casting a variety of actors, Urshurak adds a female (the Amazon Zyra) and two black men (Ali Ben Kara, Shandor the Wizard) to the Fellowship, along with the standard-issue Ranger, Dwarves, and Elves.

Illustration from Urshurak used for a 1995 Bros. Hldebrandt trading card

After re-reading the novel for the first time in 40 years, I have to say that the narrative, which necessarily has a stripped-down, condensed character (it's recapitulating LOTR within the span of 406 pages), is passable. What gives the novel three stars is its illustrations, which, even in an era when digitally-composed fantasy art is a pervasive feature of the genre, remain pleasing in their bright colors and composition.

(I was unwilling to risk cracking the binding of my copy of Urshurak to make scans of the artwork; to see the art, I direct you to this Blog Post).

Advertisement for Captain Company, 1994, June 1980

Summing up, looking at Urshurak after the passage of 40 years it's best regarded as a progenitor of the Young Adult lineage of fantasy novels that is currently exemplified by the 'Harry Potter' and 'Golden Compass' franchises. I venture to say that kids who like those books likely will find Urshurak an entertaining read. In that spirit, I am retaining my copy of the book to bestow to my nephews, in another 8 years.........