Halo Comic Book Review: Escalation #1 (SPOILERS)

Halo Escalation 1 01 COVER_sm
Darkhorse has delivered another epic Halo comic book series in Escalation.

In issue #1 we’re introduced to a few new characters. First up we find out about another Spartan Fireteam named “Jackknife”. It’s led by Spartan Scruggs. Scruggs looks like a cross between Jun from Darkhorse’s Halo Initiation and Frank O’Conner, 343 Halo franchise development director.

Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer is prevalent in the story and first shown in battle…sort of.

Several of Halo 4’s spartan armor are shown as well, which is nice to bring further into the canon.

One thing I think could have been improved upon is the height difference between Lasky and Palmer. Consistently Palmer is shown to be the same height as Lasky. We all know Palmer is nearly a foot taller than Lasky. Maybe I’m nitpicking though.

Lord Hood makes his appearance again in Halo, which is very nice to see. Admiral Osman (whom we know from the Kil0-5 trilogy a well as an episode of Spartan Ops) is also in the book. Now you just know if ONI is involved, something MUST be up!

A brief review of the happenings of Spartan Ops as well as Lasky and Palmer’s actions with regards to Dr. Halsey. Very surprisingly, Palmer does NTO throw Lasky under the bus, but rather takes one for him.

Now we finally get into the meat of the story which is about a high profile meeting between a Brute Chieftan and…THE ARBITER! YES!!! Finally, the Arbiter is BACK. ANd he looks MAGNIFICENT in this issue. His armor has been upgraded. He looks much more badass!!!

As can be expected the Brute Chieftan is untrusting and wary of the Arbiter. This is in part why the UNSC is present, not only to have escorted the Arbiter, but to make sure nothing goes awry with the meeting.

Suddenly the meeting comes under attack. Palmer and the rest of teh Spartans assigned to this mission jump to action. It’s some rogue band of Covenant. Are they part of Jul M’Dama’s group, or something else? One thing that’s cool is that we see the Jackals as we knew them from the classic Bungie trilogy of Halo games. Long beaks!

Spartan DeMarco from Fireteam Majestic is on this mission. It’s not know if he lost his position as team leader or if Jackknife is a compilation of team leaders for this high-profile mission.

The Arbiter, Brute Chieften, Admiral Hood, Lasky and the Spartans run for cover and find refuge in a parts depot. That’s the end of the book.

Now let’s talk a bit about art style and color. I have to say I enjoyed this art style even more than I did Halo Initiation’s art style. The only thing that is a slight mark is the slender Spartans. Other than that, no complaints. The inking is well done and color choices are fantastic.

Oh, I should make note that we see Brute armor from Halo ODST/Reach in here, as well as some of the classic Elite armor, notably the Flight armor.

This was a great opening to the series. I love how each era is represented in this book, bringing it together. That makes this much more cohesive in terms of continuity. The writing is definitely on par with what we know of Halo.

All in all an excellent read and visual delight! I highly recommend getting this series. This issue’s been out for a month, so it may be hard to track down. However, I believe you can still order this through Darkhorse itself.

I’ll be reviewing issue 2 tomorrow, so come on back for some more Halo comic book goodness, brought to you by Darkhorse!

-Sal

-Sal

 

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About Sal

I’ve got tons of experience with Halo gaming and collecting. I feel I have something to offer to the greater Halo fan community. Posts along the way will be about tips and tricks in the games as well as collecting and many more Halo related things. I’ll also repost interesting articles from the official site, Halowaypoint.com, or from fellow Halo fan sites. As I continue this blog, I hope to help gamers who want advice on the games, as well as any collectors with regards to where to find collectibles as well as deals, coupons and so on. You can also follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/HaloFanForLife or Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/halofanforlife11. Welcome to my blog and I hope you’ll come back again and again. -Sal

2 thoughts on “Halo Comic Book Review: Escalation #1 (SPOILERS)

  1. I really like this series and think it is a nice progression from Initiation. It is great to have Arbiter back as well as the Brutes. I understand about the differences in height between Palmer and Lasky, and I could forgive it more if they did not have them at different heights on the cover. However I am enjoying the story.

    • I’m VERY happy that the Arbiter and Brutes are back in. They are just as much a part of Halo as Chief and humanity.

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