Dune: Edge of a Crysknife (2026)

Dune: Edge of a Crysknife (2026)

Authors: Brian Herbert + Kevin J. Anderson | Illustrators: Simone Ragazzoni / Andrea Scalmazzi / Francesco Mazzoli | Page Count: 112

The BOOM! Studios hype department are fucking hilarious. Described as a 'pivotal collection' in the 'expanded Dune universe', Edge of a Crysknife is the most vacuous, stretched-thin canvas of meaningless, desolate comicbook crap that serial franchise-milkers B. Herbert + K. J. Anderson have shat out thus far.

It promises 'two thrilling standalone stories exploring the myth and legacy of Shadout Mapes', at different times in her life. In reality, it's amateurish fanfic, with woeful dialogue that more often than not is just characters stating intentions. None of it has any weight or drama.

For those that don't already know, A Crysknife is the tooth of an Arrakis sandworm fashioned into a combat knife, traditionally wielded by Fremen warriors.

Shadout Mapes, a minor character in Frank Herbert's original DUNE (1965) novel, was of Fremen origin. I think the implication is that she is as deadly as a Crysknife blade's edge. Or mayhap that she lives her life as if on a knife edge?

The Dreaming: A Retrospective

-A Tale of Two Houses-

Authors: Various | Illustrators: Various | Issues: 60

'This dark night is full of spirits, bad dreams and old harm dressed up in the deceitful skins of men.'

A Sandman spin-off that lasted an impressive 60 issues (June 1996 to May 2001). It began life as a monthly anthology, telling both single issue and multipart stories that took place either within the Dreaming itself or had the Dreaming play a pivotal role in the telling.

Initially, the various dreamers had little or no connection to each other, but the format changed to an ongoing story arc about a third of the way through its run.

Various secondary characters from The Sandman featured from time to time — most frequently Cain and Abel, Lucien, and Matthew the Raven — but they weren't always the main focus and weren't always named.

It seems to have been assumed that most readers would be able to recognise such characters themselves, and tough shit to anyone that didn't already know. That's the nature of some spin-offs, I suppose.

The Deck of Many Things - Dragon Magazine #148 (1989)

The Deck of Many Things

Art: George Barr | Wondrous item, Legendary

There are many versions of the TDoMT. This one is from Dragon Magazine #148 (1989). It's crappy jpeg quality, but it's all I have, currently. 

Cadbury's The Dandy and Beano Card Game (1990)

Cadbury's The Dandy and Beano Card Game (1990)

Promotional Game by Waddingtons Games Ltd for Cadbury's

Unlike The Cadbury's Transformers Card Game (1986) that I made a post about previously, The Dandy and Beano one has no outer card wallet. The image to the right is a quick, crappy cut 'n' paste modification of the Transformers one.

The game is for 2-4 players. In addition to a single instruction card, there are 8 unique character designs. Each of those are reproduced 4 times for a total of 33 cards. You can find pics of them all below the cut. They measure approx 57 x 87 mm. The objective of the game is to be the first person to get rid of all held cards.

A retail Beano only version was also available with additional characters (Ball Boy; Gnasher + Gnipper; Billy Whizz; Walter the Softy; Lord Snooty; Ivy the Terrible), which increased the card count accordingly. It was packaged in a proper card pack with full colour artwork. I don't own it, so don't know if it had additional rules. Billy and Walter could certainly allow for some.

Deep | Mlehst ‎/ Split Tape (1996)

Deep | Mlehst ‎/ Split Tape (1996)

The term 'tape-trading' acquired negative connotations due to the volume of (mostly crap-sounding) bootleg live recordings that made the rounds that way, but it was a perfectly viable method for small or independent labels and/or unsigned bands and artists to distribute demos and limited-run releases to interested parties.

It was through such channels that I bought Split Tape in '96. Only 333 official copies exist, but you can find it from time to time on places like Discogs or eBay.

Both artists play a kind of ambient/electronica with an industrial and experimental vibe. 01. The Deep track(s) in particular are a fine example of a hypnotic exchange given the time to grow from an idea into an all-encompassing mood, occasionally reminiscent of Tribes of Neurot. 02. Mlehst is noisier, less rhythmic, with two bass guitars, a drum machine, loops and samples.

I ripped the cassette to digital files many years ago for use in my mp3 player. You can find a DL link for both below the cut. [1]

DIO: Fan Mag [Metal Hammer] (YEAR UNKNOWN)

DIO: Fan Mag [Metal Hammer]

Mid-May. Early afternoon. There were clouds overhead, scattered and motionless, but it was still hot. The starlings in the rear garden were being dicks, as per usual, shitting on the fence and bullying the smaller birds. The crows sat atop rooftops, deliberating on whether or not the available food was enough to warrant them bullying the starlings, in turn. It wasn't, so they merely watched and waited.

I took refuge indoors and set about the eternal struggle: getting rid of old crap to make way for new crap, specifically books. With courage to the sticking place, I braved the dust and spiders. I unearthed a bunch of Metal music mags from a bygone era. I kept a few things for later perusal (Manowar, King Diamond), but got rid of most of them. Necessity.

The DIO Fan Mag was a pull-out and keep supplement from an issue of monthly UK magazine Metal Hammer that I'd pulled-out and kept. As such, I don't know what issue it was in, but given that the info goes up to Lock Up the Wolves, it must've been around 1990. That's also why page numbers begin at 41 and end at 60. (The 8 missing pages were likely two double-sided posters that lived and died on my wall.)

DUNE: Book Covers by Ozan Korkut

DUNE: Original Novels:

Book Covers by Ozan Korkut (2015-20)

The six images above are by artist Ozan Korkut, created for Ithaki Publications' Turkish language editions of Frank Herbert's original Dune novels. It's likely that I'll eventually find time to include the final retail versions in each book's respective Book Covers post, but I found some 'clean' ones with no text or logos, which I figured would make an interesting separate post. The images above are just a thumbnail. You can find larger versions of each one below the cut. They're not a high enough resolution for printing, but they're decent enough for a crappy Blogger web page.

The DUNE Font (2023)

A link to a fascinating article titled The Mystery of the Dune Font on the Fonts In Use website. The opening paragraph is copy/pasted below the cut by way of an appetiser (used without permission but with utmost respect), but the full article is worth your time if you're interested in such things. I'm not affiliated with Fonts In Use. I simply liked the article and decided to share it.

The Mystery of the Dune Font

Putting a name to the typeface that defined the visual identity of the science fiction series and its author, Frank Herbert

Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Jan 26th, 2023. Artwork published in circa 1975.

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The Art of Judge Dredd The Movie [A Selection] (1995)

The Art of Judge Dredd The Movie [A Selection]

Related to the Judge Dredd post on The 7th and Last.

The 1995 Judge Dredd movie may have had some of the worst casting of any Hollywood junk that year, but not everything about the venture was terrible. Some of the production art was pretty darn good. I know because a book from the same era gave an insight into what might have been.

INFO: ISBN 0-7522-0666-4, Page Count: 157, Published by Boxtree Limited. 1995.

Below the cut you'll find a small selection of what I feel are among the more interesting images from the book – that excludes much of the 'tech manual' stuff for weapons and vehicles, etc, so if that's your jam, apologies in advance.

DUNE: The Official Movie Graphic Novel (2022)

DUNE: The Official Movie Graphic Novel (2022)

Author: Lilah Sturges | Artist: Drew Johnson | Colourist: Zid | Page Count: 120

If you look through the contents page of both this blog and my main one, The 7th and Last, you'll notice that I really like Frank Herbert's DUNE. Over the years I've read all six of the original novels multiple times.

Beyond the printed page, I've watched the David Lynch film so much that I could probably replay the entire movie in my head with a fair level of accuracy. And I've even watched the TV Miniseries about half a dozen times. Then there's the many video games, soundtracks, and previous comic book adaptations, all of which vary greatly in their relatedness and believability.

What I've not watched is the film version made by Legendary Pictures in 2021, for various reasons, none of which will add much to this review. The reason I mention it at all is because the comic book in question is an adaptation of it, not of Frank Herbert's original novel.

The film's fans claim it's very faithful to the source, so I figured I'd be in familiar territory, at least. Nevertheless, it means I'm writing about an adaptation of a film that I've not seen, which is a rarity for me. But I'll give it a try.

DUNE 2000: PS1 Music (Game Rip)

DUNE 2000  ☆  PS1 Music (Game Rip)

Dead Boy Detectives: Collected Comic Book Covers

DBD: Collected Comic Book Covers

Related to the Dead Boy Detectives: Vols 01+02 post on The 7th and Last.

LINK - The DCAMU Movies

The DC Animated Movie Universe posts that were here in December 2022 didn't fit with what I want the blog to be about, so they've been moved elsewhere: Click the image above to go there.

Dune: The Waters of Kanly (2022)

Dune: The Waters of Kanly (2022)

Authors: Brian Herbert + Kevin J. Anderson | Illustrator: Francesco Mortarino | Page Count: 24 x 4 issues (inc covers, etc; it's only about 82 of actual story content)

'There was a traitor among the Atreides... a traitor.'

The Herbert + Anderson machine just keep shitting them out. And while it's well-known that you can't polish a turd, it seems you can stretch it out into four parts.

Set after the Battle of Arrakeen, as it happened in Frank Herbert's first DUNE novel (1965), it follows Gurney Halleck, the weapons master of House Atreides. In order to properly comment on the story I'll need to refer to the outcome of that battle, so there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the first novel in what follows.

Folks who've read the novel will know that from Gurney's perspective his beloved Duke is dead, as is the noble's son and the Lady Jessica, all because someone inside of House Atreides lowered the shield walls, giving the Harkonnens a strategic advantage. Gurney and about six dozen other survivors lick their wounds and take shelter with smugglers. The Waters of Kanly invents a story of what he did while he was there, before his return in the original text.

Dragon's Claws: Collected Comic Covers (1988-89)

Dragon's Claws: Comic Covers (1988-89)

Related to the Dragon's Claws (2008) TPB post on The 7th and Last.

The ten Dragon's Claws issues and Death's Head #2, in which they appeared.

Dune: Blood of the Sardaukar (2021)

Dune: Blood of the Sardaukar (2021)

Authors: Brian Herbert + Kevin J. Anderson | Illustrator: Adam Gorham | Page Count: 42

[No Quote]

A one-shot story set in the DUNE universe, revolving around a Sardaukar colonel by the name of Jopati Kolona, who, according to the promotional blurb, must 'choose between duty and forgiveness', but it's not in any meaningful way, thanks to the weak characterisation and dull backstory that the 'elite' military leader is given.

Under orders from the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV, Col. Jopati participates in a situation that he deems dishonourable, and which gives rise to a moral dilemma.

Interestingly, the story's primary setting is the same as it was in the other one-shot by the same authors that I read recently, A Whisper of Caladan Seas (2021), which featured soldiers from the opposing army. The situations are different but occur around the same time. [1]

Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas (2021)

Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas (2021)

Authors: Brian Herbert + Kevin J. Anderson | Illustrator: Jakub Rebelka | Page Count: 41

"There is a power in memories... in stories."

An overpriced comic book adapted from the first ever DUNE universe tie-in short story from the combined incompetence of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

It purports to be issue No. 1, but it's really just a one-shot. It's just more publisher lies. BOOM!' Studios did the same with the Blood of the Sardaukar one-shot, too.

It's set in the year 10, 191 at the Battle of Arrakeen, which occurred in Frank Herbert's first DUNE novel.

A contingent of Atreides guards get trapped in an Arrakis cave during the conflict, and slowly begin running out of food, air, hope, or anything interesting to say.

The leader of the group is Sergeant Hoh Vitt, a storyteller from a long line of storytellers, who, it's alleged, has the ability to spin a yarn that's so all-consuming and influential to men's minds that it's considered a powerful and dangerous skill.

Edgar Allan Poe: A Dream Within a Dream (1849)

A Dream Within a Dream

by Edgar Allan Poe | 1849

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone? 

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

Textless Film Posters: Part One

The Dreaming: Collected Covers (1996-2001)

The Dreaming: Collected Covers (1996-2001)

Related to The Sandman Library posts on The 7th and Last.