Review: Halo Graphic Novel

       The Halo Grapic Novel is four comics brought together into one book. I know it wasn't very professional of me, but I didn't even read one of them because I hated the art so much. But here are the other three.


       The first comic is The Last Voyage of The Infinite Succor. It follows SpecOps Commander Rtas 'Vadumee, and his team while investigating a loss of communication with an agricultural ship. It also follows MCPON John-117 while in the swamps of Installation-04's Flood Containment Facility. I don't want to give any spoilers, because it's such a good story, so I'm not going to say any more on it. The art is a little gritty for my taste, but that might be what the author was trying to portray.

       The second story is a relatively short comic, Armor Testing. It just shows a testing session of the new MJOLNIR Mark-VI Powered Assault Armor. The testing takes place on Earth, and the one wearing the new armor is Spartan-II Maria-062. The comic has good, clean art, and is actually a quite interesting look at the Mk VI armor.

       The third story, Breaking Quarantine, is about Sgt. Johnson's escape from the Flood Containment Facility. There are no words, I think because the "author" is Japanese, and doesn't speak English.* It's a good story overall, and one that Halo fans wondered about, until this came out.

       The fourth and final story is Second Sunrise Over New Mombassa. As I said at the beginning of this review, I did not read this one. I tried to, I really wanted to. But the art was just too hard to get past. You can see the artwork at the bottom of the review.

       All in all, even though I didnt like the fourth story, the Graphic Novel is worth reading for any Halo fan, although I would never buy it. 3 out of 5, 7 out of 10.

Review: Halo The Fall of Reach - Bootcamp

       Halo: The Fall of Reach - Bootcamp is basically a retelling of Halo: The Fall of Reach, but in comic format.

       Bootcamp is about the very beginning of the Spartan-II project, including the abduction, training, and augmentation of the 75 children, including John-117. It also shows their first mission - capturing Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the Insurrection.

       I liked the art (which is a big thing for me. If I dont like the art in a comic book, I wont read it), and it was an interesting look at the start of the S-II project. If you wanted to know more about the Spartan-II project, but dont have time to read The Fall of Reach novel, I suggest reading this. 4 out of 5, 8 out of 10.

Review: Halo Uprising (spoilers)

       Halo Uprising follows Master Chief on the Forerunner Dreadnought, as well as Ruwan Ackerson, and Myras Tyla.

       It follows Master Chief's activities on his way to earth, as well as how he gets off of the Dreadnought.

       It also tells the story of when the Covenant attacks Cleveland, and why they didn't destroy it. They had captured Colonel James Ackerson, and told him that they were going to destroy Earth. And in an attempt to save his brother, Ruwan, he lied to the Brutes, and said there was something in Cleveland, Ohio that they couldn't fire the Halo Array without. The "Key of Osanalan", he called it. Of course, the Key was fake. Him and Ruwan made it up when playing together. When the Covenant invaded Cleveland, demanding the location of the Key from it's citizens, Ruwan heard the name, and knew it was James. Ruwan eventually makes it to a UNSC outpost, and meets with the Covenant, saying he was the Key. He was then sent to the Minister of Inquisition. Before meeting with the Covenant, he was injected with a tracking substance. The plan was that he would become a target. Once he was on the CCS-class Battlecruiser, the Orbital Defense Platform Nassau used its MAC to destroy it. Ruwan, and everyone else on it died.

       Uprising wasn't my favorite comic. So far, I've only read Uprising, Helljumper, and Halo Graphic Novel. Helljumper is my favorite at this point. The story was ok, but I didn't care for the drawings. I really liked Helljumper's art. I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy this for more than $2, unless they're a hardcore Halo/comic fan. I just checked it out of the library, and that's what I recommend you do, if not, borrow it from a friend.

Review: Halo Helljumper (mild spoilers)

At first, I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to read any of the Halo comics. I've never really cared for comics. But I thought, if I consider myself a true Halo fan, I should read all the Halo material I can. So I started with Helljumper.

Helljumper follows a squad of ODST's on a mission to investigate a distress call from the small colony of Ariel. When they get to the planet, they discover it's abandoned. So they begin searching the planet for the presence of the Covenant, as well as the human colonists. They soon discover a mass occupation of Covenant troops, digging for something, as well as forcing the colonists to help dig. Two ODSTs infiltrate one of the dig-sites, and enter a system of Forerunner tunnels. NOTE: Do NOT read any further if you don't want a mild spoiler. Eventually they find a Forerunner construct that calls itself The Knowing. The Knowing tells the ODSTs that if the Covenant gets their hands on itself, that they could wipe the human race out "down to your last DNA strand". The ODSTs, Reclaimers, order The Knowing to destroy itself. The construct obeys it's master's command, and detonates the facility it was housed in. With nothing for them on Ariel for them anymore, the Covenant leave the planet, and the ODSTs go home.

It was an interesting story, though not essential to the Halo story. It was also very short. It took me only about an hour to read it. I would try to check it out of your local library, as it is worth reading. Personally, I wouldn't pay for it, but if you want to, that's up to you.

Expect my reviews for the other Halo comics, as well as the graphic novel sometime next week.