Last night I once again co-hosted Podtacular with POD Dust Storm. We talk about Spartan Ops Episode 8 and it’s subsequent chapters in detail as well as have some fun along the way with other tangents.
You can download the full episode here:Â
-Sal
OMG, this map is AWESOME! I love the realistic visuals.
Also, this is going to make for one hell of a great machinima map for my “MAC ROUNDS” web series.
What do you think of it by this preview?
-Sal
HFFL reader “GeneralDiaz” has answered correctly. There were 9 new pages added. They are as follows: 1 (New front cover), 122 (Dedication and Thank You page), 214 (Majestic Map Pack ad), 252 (Castle Map Pack ad),the following 5 pages are all character profiles: 295, 296, 297, 298, 299.
A set of McFarlane series 2 Halo Avatar figures will be coming your way, once you send me your address.
Thanks to all who downloaded the graphic novel. I hope you enjoyed the comics as well as the graphic novel.
I hope there will be a season two so we can do this all over again.
-Sal
Sparth posted a piece of concept art showing what the Forerunner jungle on Requiem could have looked like.
And now for a close-up.
Wow, I really wish we’d have had the floating Calamari/Jellyfish creatures in the game.
-Sal
It’s here! Whew. This is the OFFICIAL article for replying to the Spartan Ops Graphic Novel contest. See this link for contest rules.
Download the full resolution Spartan Ops Season One Graphic Novel. The file is in PDF format. (This file is nearly 160mb, so it’s going to take some time to download.)
My thanks and a dedication:
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my wife for putting up with my many late night and well into the morning hours I put into this project. Secondly, thanks to BS Angel for her kind responses to the series. Thirdly, POD Dust Storm of podtacular.com. He and I spent many hours playing and replaying missions in Spartan Ops.Sometimes for fun, but mostly for research. Over the course of several months I co-hosted on his podcast with regards to Spartan Ops episodes and missions. Thanks Dust, it was a BLAST. Fourthly and most certainly not least, you the readers. I loved getting messages from you with nice things to say. There were times when I was wondering if people were reading these comic books. Through BS Angel’s promotion of them on HaloWaypoint.com as well as the previously mentioned podtacular.com, I think I can call this a success.
I want to dedicate this graphic novel to 343 in general for developing Halo 4. Specifically the team of folks who worked on Spartan Ops, including David Ellis and Chris Haluke. (Apologies that I don’t know all of the Spartan Ops team or they would have all been mentioned.)
This 300 page graphic novel is brought to you free by HaloFanForLife.com. If you have enjoyed the individual comic books and/or this graphic novel and would like to donate to the blog, please feel free to send a donation via paypal to: [email protected]. Any and all donations are graciously accepted.
I had a lot of fun creating this comic book series and graphic novel. Along the way I Photoshopped more than 1500 screenshots, not all of them making the final cut. The total time spent on the 10 episode series of comic books and graphic novel was over 200 hours.
While I started off fairly new to comic book design, I’ve been a graphic designer and production artist for more than 15 years. I’d like to think that over these past few months I was able to improve the design of each successive comic book. You be the judge of that though by leaving a reply below.
Now bring on Season TWO!
-Sal
I’ve finished everything but the front cover. This is proving more difficult than I had thought it would be though as I want the cover to knock your socks off. Once I get this done, the graphic novel will be complete and I’ll post up the link and contest article.
Whew, I’ve put in a ridiculous amount of hours on this series. The final page count is 300 pages. No, it’s not a coincidence that it’s 300, same as the amount of Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. I’m hoping for a season two, but I am glad for a break for the moment.
Hopefully, this gets done today! Stay Tuned!!!
-Sal
Once again, we are treated to more awesome concept art by Nicholas “Sparth” Bouvier, Halo 4 Lead Artist.
WOw, can you imagine if one of these made it into the game? Such a departure from the original blocky Bungie version. Sleek and stylish these concepts pieces are.
They kind of remind me of future rifles as well.
I’d love to see these designs used somewhere. They are just TOO awesome to be kept as concept ships.
-Sal
Wow, this is a visually stunning map. Lots of places to get to, hide behind, explore, etc.
I can’t wait to get the Castle Map pack (coming out April 8)!
-Sal
It’s been a BUSY weekend here at HFFL. Work is progressing on the complete season one graphic novel. I’m about 95% of the way done (literally, not just pulling that number out of thin air). Sunday’s HFFL community Playdate did cut into the time I could have spent working on the Graphic Novel, however, I wanted to have that time with friends and fans alike. To which, I do want to thank all of those who came out for the playdate. I had some great fun, especially being GREEN!
Back to the Graphic Novel and contest for a minute. The contest as stated before is for blog subscribers only. You need to register here to be eligible for the prize packet of McFarlane series 2 Avatar figures. While normal retail would be around $30 for the set, since they are blind packaging, not to mention there are two rare ones within the eight made for this series, you’d be hard pressed to pull all eight in on shot. The Gold Master Chief and Warthog prop from the first series of Avatar figs from McFarlane are hard to find. Â The Gold Master Chief goes for around $17-20 on eBay, while the Warthog isn’t even listed as of this writing. Suffice to say the Gold ODST and Banshee will also be hard to come by and for cheap, let along FREE. Again, this is the chance to win the whole set of eight minifigures and prop vehicle.
To win, you will need to download the Spartan Ops season one graphic novel. From there, you will need to identify how many NEW pages I put in the graphic novel versus the original ten comic books. As well, you will need to identify which pages they are by page number.
For example, the cover will be all new, so that would be one page and page one per description. Another example would be (and this is NOT the correct answer)
5 new pages – page numbers 1, 7, 30, 35, 60
The above is how I’d like for you to format your answer for the contest. To enter, you must reply to the official contest article that I will be posting soon. It will be labeled as the official contest article, so it won’t be hard to miss. Shipping for the prize packet is at the winner’s expense. If you are under 18 years of age you must have written permission to enter. (I will need to see a hand written note (can be sent as a scan by e-mail) by your parent or guardian giving permission to enter. Over 18 no note needed, LOL. (Well, unless you want to…)
Any questions, please either reply to this article or e-mail me at: [email protected]
-Sal
If you played Halo 4 yesterday, depending on the playlist, you were greeted with some very VIBRANT GREEN colors in matchmaking. I of course wore green for my armor color is observance of St. Patrick’s day. Beyond that though, I happily enjoyed the ultra green color change when either in a hill or carrying a flag. Below is but a sampling of me playing yesterday.
I really like the 343 did this. It was a nice change of pace. I hope they do more special traits like this in the future. Just a fun way to break things up a bit. Hmm, now if only WE gamers had the ability to make those changes in forge for custom games…
-Sal
Now that all 10 episodes of season one are out and I’ve made the comic books for each, I’m now making a graphic novel of all ten comics. The final result will be about 300 (yes three-hundred) pages long. Needless to say the file size is going to be “ginormous.”
I have to finish compiling all the pages as well as create a new cover for the full season graphic novel. I hope to have this completed over the weekend, if not by Monday. The file will be as a PDF. Again, it will be HUGE. I’m talking nearly 200mb possibly.
This file will be of better quality than the individual comics I’ve released as those were only 72dpi per page. The new file will be 200dpi per page. I could push it to 300dpi, but that would make the file size that much more massive…
So stay tuned to HaloFanForLife.com over the weekend. There will be a contest associated with the file. (So yes, you’ll need to download it) The prize will be…
A complete set of McFarlane series 2 Avatar figures! (Yes, with the Banshee AND Gold ODST included.)
Only blog subscribers will be eligible for this prize packet. So if you want a shot at this, you’ve got to register! Twitter followers and Facebook subscribers, register on the blog. Responses to the contest via Twitter and/or Facebook are not eligible to win.
More info on the graphic novel and contest VERY SOON!
-Sal
I rarely post about other games here on HFFL. However, when another game has a solid Halo reference, I need to post it. In this case, it’s quite a step further. The popular game Minecraft now has Spartan Skins available for download.
The pack is available for 160MSP and can be found on XBOX marketplace. That pack also includes skins from other games. Waypoint is giving away free codes for the DLC pack via their Twitter account. So go follow them! Waypoint onTwitter
-Sal
My lovely wife was nice enough to buy these for me. I would have had Primordium and The Thursday War sooner, I’m just not one for hardcover books. They take up too much space…
A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends.
Since then, I’ve traveled back and forth across this galaxy, and out to the spaces between galaxies–a greater reach than any human before me.
You have asked me to tell you about that time. Since you are the last true Reclaimer, I must obey. Are you recording? Good. Because my memory is failing rapidly. I doubt I’ll be able to finish the story.
Once, on my birth-world, a world I knew as Erde-Tyrene, and which now is called Earth, my name was Chakas…
In the wake of apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, two humans–Chakas and Riser–are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed.
Captured by the Master Builder, misplaced during a furious battle in space, they now find themselves on an inverted world where horizons rise into the sky, and where humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of horror and neglect. For they have become both research animals and strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end–a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to inherit their sacred Mantle of duty to all living things.
In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and for the Librarian’s tampering with human destiny.
This journey will take them into the Palace of Pain, the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor, and who now has control of both this Halo and the fate of Forerunners and Humans alike.
Called the Captive by Forerunners, and the Primordial by ancient human warriors, this intelligence has taken charge of, and retasked, the Master Builder’s cruel researches into the Flood–which it may have itself unleashed on the galaxy more than ten thousand years before.
The Thursday War: Welcome to humanity’s new war: silent, high stakes, and unseen. This is a life-or-death mission for ONI’s black-ops team, Kilo-Five, which is tasked with preventing the ruthless Elites, once the military leaders of the Covenant, from regrouping and threatening humankind again. What began as a routine dirty-tricks operation―keeping the Elites busy with their own insurrection―turns into a desperate bid to extract one member of Kilo-Five from the seething heart of an alien civil war. But troubles never come singly for Kilo-Five. Colonial terrorism is once again surfacing on one of the worlds that survived the war against the Covenant, and the man behind it is much more than just a name to Spartan-010. Meanwhile, the treasure trove of Forerunner technology recovered from the shield world of Onyx is being put to work while a kidnapped Elite plots vengeance on the humans he fears will bring his people to the brink of destruction.
Halo: Evolutions Volume I: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe:
Tobias S. Buckell
B. K. Evenson
Jonathan Goff
Eric Nylund
Frank O’Connor
Eric Raab
Halo: Evolutions Volume II: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe:
Tessa Kum & Jeff VanderMeer
Kevin Grace
Robt McLees
Karen Traviss
Fred Van Lente
I am SO excited to finally read these. Now I can be completely caught up all all Halo books.
With Silentium (third book in the Forerunner Saga) right around the corner, I need to get these read!
Sparth is an amazing concept artist whom I’ve featured on HFFL several times before. He post a couple more renderings of the Forward unto Dawn with some differences.
Awesome stuff as always!
-Sal
