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Rating:  -
John, Spartan 117, is not a Marine. He is a UNSC Master Chief, and the only two branches of the military in the world that have a rank called Master Chief are the United States Navy and Coast Guard. He is a Sailor. If the stories are followed, you will find two other Spartans, both Second Class Petty Officers in the book Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. Yes he is a bio-mechanically enhanced human, but not a cyborg. And a Sailor!
Rating:  -
I read this in order to catch up on events in the Halo universe before the release of Halo 3. I'm glad that I did. It was very interesting storylines with great artwork! If you appreciate Halo's story and want to know more, and also love comics, this is for you! There's nothing bad about it!
Rating: -
This comic book anthology is not a good value. For $50.00 full retail you can get a game that will take you many hours to finish. For $7.99 you can get a Halo prose novel that may take you anywhere from several hours to a couple of days to read. For $24.99 you get this anthology of four stories that should take you, unless you're still in first grade, about an hour to finish.
In addition there is a collection of drawings and paintings (mostly of the Master Chief) from some very talented artists, a 24-page gallery that is longer than all but one of the stories. You also get a total of 14 pages of introductions - of the stories, the artists, the comic book project, the significance of Halo in pop culture, blah, blah, blah. This is the same number of pages as the book's second longest story! That's a total of 48 pages that could have been given to another story, or could have been left out to produce a more reasonably priced book.
The stories themselves are mostly run-and-shoot, adding very little to the Halo universe. The one exception happens to be the best piece in the book, a story that at its Orwellian worst is reminiscent of war reporting from Iraq. Brett Lewis and Moebius are the only two creators here who exploit the medium and follow in SF's grand tradition of using an imagined future to shine a light on the present.
Look for this used, or better yet borrow it from a friend or library. For those that might interested, reviews of each story follow.
THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE INFINITE SUCCOR
Writer Lee Hammock
Artist Simon Bisley
Here we find out how SpecOps Commander Rtos Vodumee, seen in Halo 2 along side the Arbiter, lost a bit of his mouth and how he knows so much about the Flood. While the story is minimal it's loaded down with far too much text. The Commander, for example, is given lengthy orders, which he then repeats verbatim to his subordinates in the next scene. Once would have been enough. Perhaps it was intended as a reflection of the culture, or perhaps it's just sloppy writing, but much of the dialog is stiff and stilted: "And one cannot train in the ways of spilling blood without partaking in the act. It is good to see that the softness of others in the Covenant has not weakened your discipline." The story, such as it is, has Rtos Vodumee leading a landing party to retrieve a high ranking Legate from a valuable and now Flood-infected ship. Along the way many Covenant troops, both clean and infected, are blasted, blown up, and cut down. If you like action, this piece is nearly all so, 45 pages of vivid, kinetic painting that will have you hurriedly flipping pages. Bislesy's minimal style fits the pace of the story, not bothering to slow down the reader with lots of detail.
ARMOR TESTING
Writer: Jay Foerber
Artists: Ed Lee, Andrew Robinson
A 10-page story depicting a trial run of assault armor, the kind of suit worn by the Master Chief. The person inside jumps from space, makes a controlled landing in a simulated hostile zone, and then takes out all his opponents. There's a little twist at the end, but there isn't much remarkable about "Armor Testing" except the artwork, an animation style presentation enhanced through computer filtering by Ed Lee based on Andrew Robinson's fully colored and inked pages.
BREAKING QUARANTINE
Writer/Artist: Tsutomu Nihei
You may remember from the fist game that the Master Chief is quickly isolated from the rest of his squad when they first encounter the Flood. If you ever wondered how the cigar-chomping Sergeant Johnson escaped, you need wonder no more. Nor will you be kept in suspense for long. It shouldn't take you more than a minute to flip through this 11-page shoot-out. Japanese artist Tsutomo Nihei presents a painted project that is stylistically unlike most manga and features no script but the Japanese onomatopoeia - the "don don don" of a hand gun, the "kachin" of a switch being flipped, the "ga gi gi gi gi" of an automatic rifle.
SECOND SUNRISE OVER NEW MOMBASA
Writer: Brett Lewis
Artist: Moebius
The best 14-pages in this anthology relates the story of a journalist covering the Covenant invasion of Earth at New Mombasa. In Halo 2 we see only the smoking remains, but through this story we get a glimpse not only of the civilian life in the Halo universe but how the military controls the press and the public's perception of the war. As you might expect, the art from Moebius is exceptional and compliments a very fine script from Brett Lewis. Where the other stories are largely sizzle, this one brings on the beef.
GALLERY
24 pages of splash art, most of it featuring the Master Chief. Some great pieces here, but hardly worth the cost to include them.
INTRODUCTIONS
14 pages of self-congratulatory logorrhoea.
Rating:  -
Unfortunately Microsoft is one of those companies that will milk anything till it is dead and withered. Fortunately their current cash cow is Bungie's Halo franchise. If i have to explain Halo your in the wrong place.
Marvel did a beautiful job colaborating with the various artist to provide a gorgeous peice of eye candy. As far as story goes... read the books. This is a collection of 4 comics.... and when have you ever seen four comics explain or lead to anything. Regaurdless the shorts featured are a definate flashback for even the greenist player.
Rating: -
This is a really good collection of stories. if you like halo you would do well to buy it or even just read it. this is another fine halo product.
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