Issue 2 picks up right where issue 1 left off. The dignitaries, Lasky, Palmer and Spartans are currently in a parts depot looking to be extracted.

We readers are introduced to another Spartan. She is Spartan Ray. She specialized in Communications before she became a Spartan and is the one most qualified for what Lasky needs at the moment.

In the meantime, the depot has been found by the renegade Covenant forces. Here we are introduced to “Shipmaster” Gajat. Followed by Tek, a Skirmisher. Okay, so we were told previously that all of the Skirmishers were wiped out during the battle of Reach. I for one am HAPPY they are back in Halo. I really liked the look of the Skirmisher. As well, I found it hard to believe ALL of them would have been subjugated to Reach. Now during this interaction, we find that there is a HUMAN that seems to be running the shots. Hmm, very interesting…

Meanwhile in orbit, the Infinity, Arbiter’s group and the Brutes have lost contact with Lasky and the rest on the surface of the planet. At this time, we also find out the name of the new XO (Executive Officer /second in command) of the Infinity. His name is Bradley. That’s his last name.

Back on the planet, the rouge group of Covenant burst into the depot only to find the other group having temporarily escaped. Palmer takes one part of the group, while ordering Scruggs to take a second part of the group. Scruggs group lags behind a little. (This is important to note.) Both groups fall under attack from a Covenant Lich and it’s soldiers. Palmer gets the other Spartan’s grenades and tosses them into the Lich (via her helmet).

In the meantime, Lasky and Ray are searching for a communication station so that they an contact the fleet in space. They are almost caught by surprise by an Elite, but end up taking him out. They find what they need and Ray makes a discovery that the network itself is jamming the signal.

Palmer, Scruggs and the other Spartans are fighting off the Lich’s soldiers and win that battle. Lord Hood is suspicious of how the rogue group kept finding them so quickly and suspects there is a spy among them. He finds a UNSC tablet among the body of a dead elite.

Meanwhile, Lasky and Ray are making their way take out two more elites and steal their Banshees. What’s great here is that we see BOTH the classic Banshee and the updated Reach/Halo 4 style Banshee. Man, I’m LOVING how this story is bringing continuity together!

The rest of the rogue group where Lasky and Ray were are leaving in a hurry. They seek to intercept the VIP delegation.

HUGE SPOILER! Scruggs radios to Palmer that the other location they are going to is secure. This among the bodies of dead Spartans and Brutes. Seems HE may be the spy….

Okay, I have to say this tory is INTENSE! Mystery, action, intrigue! It’s a fantastic story and I can’t wait to see what happens in issue #3. The art again is well done. The pacing of the book is frenetic is a good way as it keeps you reading to see what happens next. That final reveal bothers me a bit. I would NEVER under any circumstances think a Spartan would be treasonous. Then again, he’s a Spartan IV and not a Spartan II, like Master Chief.

Whoo-boy! This series is going to be exciting for the third issue! I HIGHLY recommend getting this series. It may certainly have implications for the next game in the franchise.

-Sal

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

Darkhorse will be releasing the next Halo comic next month. I’ve shown the following two covers previously on the blog, so these are a reminder. The last cover is Halo Escalation #2’s.

Escalation #2 cover:

REALLY liking these covers!

Issues will cost $3.99. Look for these at your local comic book store!

-Sal

I picked mine up this morning.

Thus ends the short mini-series of Spartan Palmer and her first mission action as a Spartan.

The cover is excellent. The story moves almost too fast. Again, this was necessary due to the mini-series being only 3 issues long. Getting to see Davis in his gold colored armor for the first time was nice.

I’m happy with the series, though I’d have liked to have seen it stretched into 6 issues. With the story that was told, it could have easily been made into 6 issues. Ah well, can’t wait for the next Halo comic book series “Escalation!” (As I previously previewed HERE.)

-Sal

Halo Waypoint has released another in the entries of the Halo 4 Essential Visual Guide. This time it’s Jul ‘Mdama, the leader of the Storm faction of the Covenant.

To learn much more about Jul, especially regarding the events that lead UP to Halo 4, read the Kilo-5 trilogy. So far the first two books are out. Glasslands is the first, with The Thursday War being the second. The third book will be out in a scant few months.

-Sal

I’ve just received 5 codes each for the online version of the Halo Initiation comic books, issues 1 and 2. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be having a separate set of trivia questions for these codes. The winner will receive a set of codes. One each of issues 1 and 2!

You might want to consider the content of the series for the trivia questions…

You will need to sign up on Darkhorse.com for a free account in order to redeem your codes.

-Sal

With this series only lasting 3 books, issue 2 moves at a frenetic pace.

Issue 1 ended with Jun asking Palmer if she wanted to be a Spartan.
Issue 2 picks up with Insurrectionists planning to steal the UNSC Infinity. The next couple of pages show Palmer’s transformation from normal human to super soldier. What’s great about these pages is that they tell some of the story of what those changes actually are. VERY cool!

Palmer and 4 other spartan recruits go through an exercise against marines where 4 of them are taken down. Palmer is the lone survivor, but at a cost. Yes, she completes the mission, but learns a lesson in team support. Thankfully this is just an exercise and all of the spartans are alive and well.

Next we see the newly minted spartans aboard the Infinity. There is a two-page spread showing the Infinity in all it’s glory and it looks outstanding!

The Innies pose as a construction crew and board the ship shortly thereafter kidnapping Captain Del Rio.  He’s such a putz… Alarms sound, we get to see the Infinity’s AI, which at this point is NOT Roland, but one who takes a female form. The Innies take control of the ship. Palmer moves to action selected the now known Scout armor she is seen wearing in Halo 4’s Campaign and Spartan Ops. The last page shows her being harnessed up in the suit.

Okay, so the story is good, but man, there are SO many questions I’d like to ask. One thing mentioned in this issue is that Spartans do not have rank. ‘Spartan’ IS their rank. Um SORRY…No that is WRONG! Master Chief is a RANK, not his name. All of Noble team had ranks. Palmer herself is a Lieutenant in the campaign, then goes on to be a Commander. So um, PLEASE do NOT screw with continuity here! GRR, I really hate when this kind of stuff happens.

The art itself is good. I think better in this issue than in the first.  Though I’m not found of the cover of this one as Palmer looks to “girlie.”

All this said, if you’re into the fiction as I am, this is a MUST buy!

On sale now at a Comic Book store near you! (And I HIGHLY recommend buying from those local shops as they need your support, rather than an online retailer.)

-Sal

Halo: Escalation #1

On sale Dec 11, 32 pages, $3.99
Series is ongoing

Halo, the most celebrated video game series of all time, joins forces with Dark Horse for a thrilling new ongoing series!
The UNSC flagship Infinity is assigned escort duty for a diplomatic mission between the Arbiter and a powerful chieftain of the Brute tribes—but when a rogue Covenant group attacks, it’s going to take all the firepower the Spartans have to keep the delegates alive!
• First issue of an all-new ongoing Halo series from Dark Horse!
• An essential addition to the Halo canon!
• The Halo franchise has sales eclipsing $3 billion over its lifetime!
• From Christopher Schlerf, lead writer of Halo 4!

Source Link

Man, I can’t wait for this comic!!! More Halo stories PLEASE!!!!

-Sal

Here are the cover and first six pages of the new Halo Initiation comic book, out in stores now! Click each to make bigger.

The story has progress very quickly! Hmm, I don’t like the line delivered by Musa. Spartans DO have rank. Master Chief being the most famous of them is and of itself a rank. Palmer becomes a Commander, several Spartan IIs had ranks, In Reach we saw that Noble team members each had a rank. Grr, I dislike it when continuity and/or facts are screwed up in books/comics/etc.

Anyway, still like the series, even with the mistake.

-Sal

Here are some of the pages from Halo Initiation #2 showing the progress from concept to line drawing to inking. Click each to make bigger.

You long time readers know I LOVE concept work. Progressions are my next favorite. I just love to see how something goes from an idea to a finished piece.

-Sal

So I picked this up today at my local comic book store. After what seemed like a long wait (it wasn’t), I finally had this in my hands to read and review it.

As much of this review is going to talk about what happens in the comic book, if you plan on getting this, then do NOT read any further. it will contain SPOILERS aplenty.

Our story starts out with a wheelchair ridden UNSC Commander who has come to speak to other high ranking UNSC officiers. Turns out this particular commander was a Spartan long ago. His name is Musa. He was a Spartan II.

He addresses the officers to let them know that with Master Chief missing and the rest of the Spartan 2’s and 3’s all but gone, he’s created a NEW batch of Spartans.

While this is an initial good set-up for the story, not enough is given to the backstory of Musa, who I hope we’ll learn about sometime in the near future.

A page or two after this reveal, we get to see “Lance Corporal” Sarah Palmer getting ready for battle by way of scrambling for her ODST gear, then dropping in on a planet in an ODST Drop Pod.

The artwork showing the pods dropping is excellent. It’s even available for free as part of the preview for this book here.

The story moves to planet-side where we see a Marine and a high ranking UNSC officer scrambling to get away from the covenant, while in a warthog.

The warthog coms under attack by a Brute Chieftan and the marine dies. The officer is carrying an important AI core and must not be caught. When all of the sudden, Palmer lands nearly on top of the chieftan.

She quickly break out of the pod and into action right away fighting of the same brute, a grunt and an elite, with several other covenant see in on the very close horizon. There isn’t a ton of dialog in this portion of the book and there really doesn’t need to be as it’s the action that pulls you in.

Needless to say Palmer wins the day, but not before being shot a couple of times by a needler. She escapes with the officer and AI core in tow, safe and secure.

Next we see Palmer in a hospital bed. She has a visitor. Something seems strangely familiar about him. ONI perhaps??? No in fact it’s Jun. Yes, THAT Jun. Noble 4 from Reach. He has indeed survived. Though now he’s wearing a suit and looks more like a beefy Professor X from X-Men, than the tanner non-caucasian Jun we know from the game. (Hopefully, he’ll be draw more accurately in the last two issues if he appear in them again.)

Jun talks with Palmer about the mission and then drops the bomb on her, asking her if she want to be recruited as a Spartan.

The comic book is fairly short at 28 pages. I’d like to know more about this Musa and of course how Jun survived. With this being only a 3 part series, I was hoping for some more action, more backstory and more overall comic book. At a price of $3.99 before tax, I expected more pages. Maybe I’m so far removed from comic books now though that 28 pages are the norm for the price. It just seems a bit short to me is all.

The artwork is good. The page with Master Chief on it is my favorite of this book (as seen above). The panel layout is nice and flows easily so you won’t get lost. The text bubbles and text effects are well done.

My two main gripes for the artwork is that Jun doesn’t look like Jun from Reach. Since this comic takes place within a couple of years at most after the events of Reach, Jun shouldn’t look as aged as he is in the book. As well, they totally missed the mark on what Palmer looks like, with exception to the cover art.

All in all, it’s a good book. Not great, but good. Is it worth picking up? Yes, if you’re into more story. In fact you will get a code will allow you to view it online so you won’t have to worry about losing/tearing your physical comic book.

This was a good start to the series. Again though, since it’s only a 3-book story arc, I really hope book 2 is much better. More action please! More story! MORE PAGES!

-Sal

As I posted in the wee hours this morning, Halo Initiation is out. I was able to get my hands on a copy as seen above. Just got home and will read this a couple of times then write a review after.

I’m just excited that Halo is back in comic book form!!!

-Sal

“Before she was a super solider defending humanity as part of the Spartan IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST—Orbital Drop Shock Trooper—carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines!”

Here is the preview of Halo Initiation (Click to make bigger):

I am SO looking forward to this!

Source Link

-Sal