Brian Herbert And Kevin Anderson Explain The Making Of Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 2: Muad'Dib - Exclusive

Thanks to the efforts of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, there are more ways to be introduced to "Dune" now than ever before. The original novel still holds up incredibly well, and there was an Oscar-winning film that was released in 2021 that will receive a sequel in 2023. For people who are completely unfamiliar with "Dune" or merely want to be reintroduced to the story in a new medium have a graphic novel series to enjoy. 

The first volume of this project came out in 2020, and now, courtesy of Abrams Books, readers can flip through the second volume, subtitled "Muad'Dib," at their leisure. The series can function as a way for a whole new audience to check out this story that's influenced generations of sci-fi lovers. In case you're still on the fence about whether or not to get the new book, Herbert and Anderson did an exclusive interview with Looper where they spoke at length about the making of the graphic novel and what kind of freedom they had in telling this tale within the pages of a comic.

"Dune" is a long story, so it should come as no surprise to hear that the original novel requires multiple graphic novels in order to tell its story all the way through. Fortunately, going into the second volume was easier for the team, as Kevin Anderson stated, "'Volume Two' was easier because 'Volume One' did all the heavy lifting of introducing all the concepts, and the story is really rolling by 'Volume Two.' Paul and Jessica run through the desert, and they meet up with the Fremen, and the Harkonnens are wrapping up after the battle of Arrakeen."

By the sound of it, "Volume Two" had many big action set pieces that were apparently a lot of fun for the illustrators to draw, and things will only get bigger going into "Volume Three." As for adapting the story, they had the best road map and didn't deviate from the original story. Anderson continued to elaborate how they set out with the goal of adapting Frank Herbert's story as faithfully as possible, but they managed to take some creative license when presenting what would ordinarily be dry information. 

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"You have a conversation between Jessica and Stilgar that goes on for pages and pages," he explained. "You don't just do panels of Jessica talking, then Stilgar talking, then Jessica talking. You mix that up with the head shots, but then you can do an outside desert scene and then you can do Fremen and the Sietch, and you can do them walking through the caves." With this, it still looks like action's taking place on the page even if it's a relatively docile scene. 

"Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 2: Muad'Dib" is available to order now from Abrams Books.