Late entry…Halo Escalation 13 is out. (Spoilers)

Man, the holidays just screwed up my schedule. I completely forgot to post this when the issue came out. Well, better late than never, I guess.

Halo Escalation 13 has been out since the last weeks of December. Below is the cover followed by the first few pages of the issue from Darkhorse. After that I’ll give my thoughts on the issue.

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Okay, first, if you don’t want to be spoiled any further than these first pages, don’t read any more until you get the issue for yourself. You’ve been warned.

Okay, now on with these spoilers of this issue.

One word comes to mind. WOW. This covers a whole lot of things that are happening in this issue. Mostly though the it’s the return of one Dr. Catherine Halsey…

This issue reads at first from her mind going over a few points in Halo history with respect to the Spartan program. As well, we read her thoughts regarding the Janus Key first introduced in Spartan Ops, via Halo 4.

From there, the action goes to Spartans Palmer and Thorne. They are battling Prometheans on a human colony world. Palmer thinks that Jul ‘Mdama is not only behind the attack but is personally overseeing it and is on planet. The Covenant/Promethean attack is thwarted. However, Palmer isn’t quite done. She meets with Captain Lasky, commanding officer of the UNSC Infinity. They have a discussion that is a little heated on one side. Palmer still can’t get over missing the shot that would have killed Halsey. She is clearly holding a grudge against that woman. It’s a little sad to see as Palmer had seemed to grow in character. We now see that she hasn’t really grown that much.

There’a a conversation between Palmer and Dr. Glassman as well. Seems Glassman is still trying to figure out what the other half of the Janus Key is.

During this conversation, the Infinity is making a slipspace jump when all of the sudden they are torn out of the jump. The Infinity itself is fine, though it’s in the midst of an asteroid field. It tries another jump and only goes a pitiful 1/4 kilometer. Rather than risk injury to the ship and her crew, Lasky orders not to jump again until they find out what the cause of this is.

Roland, the Infinity’s A.I. locates a power source emanating from a nearby planet. Palmer readies herself to investigate.

The story shifts to Halsey with Jul ‘Mdama. She’s orchestrated this little fiasco for the Infinity. Jul is mad that he’s lost men and the surviving men of the previous attack want her killed. However, Halsey has a plan to get the other half of the Janus Key back. Crippling the Infinity as she has is just the start of it.

Okay, so that’s the story. It looks like things are really going to heat up. Personally I’m still a little peeved that Halsey is being portrayed the way she is. It’s obvious she has plans for the Janus Key and they do NOT involve Jul ‘Mdama. Hmm, I wonder how THAT is going to play out. She’s already lost an arm under his ‘care’. She’ll lose more than that by betraying him.

I think the artwork is pretty good in this issue, though Lasky and Glassman could have been drawn closer to their appearance in Halo 4.

My only real complaint though is Palmer. Once again, she’s turned into a class “A”…well, I can’t say as this is a family friendly blog. Honestly, her behavior is nothing like those of the Spartan II program. This is PRECISELY why Halsey got her candidates when they were kids. Full grown humans were never intended to be used for the spartan program because of their previous life-experiences and jaded mindsets. This is MOST evident with Palmer. I just can’t stand her. She’s not in keeping with a good military commander either. I understand her motivations to a degree, but I think she’s a bit extreme. Were it not for Halsey in the first place, Palmer would NOT be a Spartan.

I hope that in ensuing issues, Palmer is written out of Halo. I’m not at all against a strong woman character. Just THIS particular character rubs me the wrong way. I’ve served under women when I was in the Navy. None of them acted like Palmer and I would have followed them into battle without hesitation. I can’t say that for Palmer.

This does make for a compelling story. However, I know many folks just were not enamored to Palmer. So either she is killed off or needs to have a serious attitude adjustment. Yes, that’s my opinion of course. But then, that’s one reason I have a blog. To speak my own opinions, LOL.

Anyway, I definitely recommend getting this issue. It’s the start of another story arc that could have significant consequences going forward in the Halo Universe.

If you can’t find this at your local comic book store (which I always recommend buying from first), then buy it direct from Darkhorse.

-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

5 thoughts on “Late entry…Halo Escalation 13 is out. (Spoilers)

  1. Whhhhaaatttt?? … i thought issue #12 was the final. (swear i read that somewhere) … but thats epic they are making more.

  2. I love that they are finally shedding some light on Halsey again. I’ve never really liked Palmer. She has a horrible attitude, but i have a feeling they will turn it around, and she will somehow turn into a likable character. My guess, is that she will end up helping Halsey, which will be the pivotal character change for her. Guess we will have to see. Nice post Sal 🙂

    • Thanks.Palmer was making a slow turn around, but then this issue wiped away the progress she had made in recent issues.

  3. After everything that was done in the first few issues I really thought they were well on there way to rehabbing Palmer as a character but now that has all gone to the wayside. I cannot understand why they had Palmer revert to what made people dislike her. I can’t see any explanation for it.

  4. Well, they must have something big planned for Palmer. Since Palmer was a huge hero in Spartan Assault. She has the potential to be great, just that attitude of hers needs some work. If they do it right people could really respect her.

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