Customer Reviews

The Halo Graphic Novel

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Don't believe the naysayers. If you enjoy Halo and you have an open mind towards graphic novel storytelling then you will enjoy this book. The guys below obviously have no taste in art nor any taste in storytelling---how can Moebius, Nihei, Bisley, etc. have contibuted terrible art? They are all sought after graphic novel artists. The reviews below seem more reflective of wanting to see this book do badly than actually have real criticisms beyond "this is bad, that is bad, etc." My fave stories in this book was Nihei's and Moebius's. Really strong art and moving story lines. Don't buy the hype just buy the book and enjoy the read. Let the haters hate. Halo will always reign supreme.

As the book is a collection of stories, rather than a single graphic novel, a brief review of each is warranted:


The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor

This first story, the longest of the group and centerpiece of the book, recounts a mission of a Covenant Spec Ops squad, lead by the Sangheili commander "Half-Jaw" that the player fights alongside in Halo 2. As the Master Chief flees from the newly-released Flood menace on the first Halo, a hijacked Covenant dropship crashes its way into an agricultural ship and proceeds to infect the crew. The Spec Ops squad is dispatched to find out what happened, retake or destroy the ship, and rescue the Prophet who is trapped onboard.

I'm not a big connoisseur of comics, but I do read through them from time to time, and I think I can tell when the artist is into his work. He was here. The art may not be the most realistic, sacrificing clean lines for the gritty and even hideous imagery that derelict corridors and Flood monstrosities entail, but it is very engaging nonetheless. Though Bisley takes some artistic license with Covenant aesthetic and look of the Flood, their essence is preserved. Especially well done are the Sangheili warriors, both while in repose and engaged in blistering death duels with the marauding parasites. And the extensive usage of dual energy swords is a very cool touch, and never overdone.

My only issues with the story was the dialogue early on, which seemed rather clunky, but that cleared up quickly, and the plot was quite easy to follow. The bits of background on the Covenant included and the expansion of the Flood were welcome additions as well.


Armor Testing

This short depicts, as the name suggests, a field test of the new Mjolnir Mark VI armor Master Chief receives at the beginning of Halo 2, conducted at the Songnam research facility also mentioned in the game. The art used for this story couldn't be more different from that of Infinite Succor, clean, clear lines and vibrant colors, but it suits the more familiar human setting. I really liked the art in this one as well, and the action was depicted well. Indeed, my only problem with Testing is the odd depiction of the Spartan at the center of the tale, and I'm not talking about gender. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable read.


Breaking Quarantine

Essentially a retecon for a controversial part of the novel First Strike, this piece recounts the unkillable Sgt. Johnson's escape from near-certain doom after Captain Keyes accidentally releases the Flood from stasis. Its short and completely free of dialogue, but both of those factors only heighten the desperate and confused mood the story is trying to convey. A mid-ground between the previous two styles, with a good deal of Japanese influence (the artist is a manga author, after all), I think that this piece had the overall best art of the collection.


Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa

The last and most original short in the book, Second Sunrise shows the Covenant invasion of Earth from the point of view of a photographer working in ONI's (UNSC Intelligence) propaganda department. The piece follows him as he attempts to balance artistic credibility and the demands of the military (his job is essentially filtering and editing remote news footage of the war to make it seem as though thing aren't going as badly for humanity as they really are), and then his desperate flight through embattled streets as the Covenant descend upon the city. It also contains a brief lead-in, if a rather obvious one, for Halo 3.

As much as I liked the story of this one, I couldn't really get into the art. Although it shifts from place to place, the overall style is very modern, urban-abstract, a artisitic method I've never been very fond of. Nevertheless, it never gets to over-the-top, although it comes close in places. Another small issue I had was with the portrayal of Covenant weaponry and of the soldiers themselves; it didn't really distract, but I think the artist drew a little too much from older Scifi imagery (although the homage to a Martian tripod was neat).


The collection is completed by a gallery of twenty or so stand-alone pieces of art, each from a different artist, among them Craig Mullins. It was an unexpected touch, and really helped fill out the book. Among my favorites was one by Bungie artist Lorraine McLees (who also wrote the foreword), of the Chief surrounded by a truly formidable arsenal of human weaponry.

Overall, the graphic novel is a must buy for any Halo fan, or anyone with a appreciation for high-quality comic artwork. I have high hopes for the future of the franchise (and Bungie proves that it's the best company ever. Again.)

Greetings,

I have only dabbled in the Halo games because I am terrible with modern first person shooters. I decided to buy the Halo graphic novel because I am a fan of comic books and I wanted to know more about the Halo universe.

This book contains four short stories. It also has a brief gallary of artwork.

The stories are OK, but only OK. Not bad. Not great either.

The artwork ranges from delightfully detailed to confusingly jumbled. Several times, I had to stare at a page for several seconds to understand what was happening in the pictures.

A positive note is the fact that people who are unfamiliar with the Halo game stories can read this book. If you are a fan science fiction on a basic level, you should be able to follow the stories. Plus, there are letters from the creators of the stories before or after the narratives.

To be honest, reading the messages from the creators was more entertaining than the comic stories. Think of it like watching a DVD in which the extras are more entertaining than the feature film.

I would have prefered that the Halo graphic novel feature ONE story, like "The Dark Night Returns." This is supposed to be a novel, after all.

The best story is the tale about a reporter and an attack on Earth. If that story had been developed into a fun saga, the Halo graphic novel would have been truly special.

The Halo graphic novel is nice. Is it worth your money?

If you are a diehard Halo fan, buy this book.

If you are not, find a diehard fan and borrow his book.

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.

This is a very impressive collection. Extremely well put together, and you can tell the teams working here are fans who love what they're doing.

When they called this a `Graphic Novel' they really meant it. Two of the four stories are told mostly visually (one entirely without text, but incredibly compelling), and the other two, while heavy on story, are still beautifully rendered. (I'm not a fan of the art style in "second sunrise', but it's still well done.)

The art compilation in the back of the book is fantastic, and has some really creative stuff. I love the weapons load out with the Master Chief standing in the middle of all his gear.

Any fan of the Halo `verse will have fun with this.

(and if you haven't read the Eric Nylund novels, you're missing a Huge part of the Halo story! Don't miss it!)

i have always loved marvels comics i grew reading spiderman the hulk fantastic four
x-men etc. and i loved Halo as well one of the greatest video game experiences of all time and when i heard that a Halo comic book was coming out and it was bieng developed by marvel i was very excited, teh book is a little short but it's all 115 pages of great art and storytelling the book contains four short stories one about the covenany discovering the flood on Halo another about the testing the masterchiefs Mark VI armour one about Seargent Johnson's escape from Delta Halo
and the last one is about a photographer that lived in New Mombasa before the Covenant attacked the city the last 15 pages of the book are a wonderful and well put together art gallery this book although short is a great comic book if you love Halo and you love comic books than you ought to pick this up

I was shocked to see any negative reviews of this book! Maybe I just don't know what a good comic is because this was my first. But if you're a fan of the 'HaloVerse', or are even a little interested in the Halo story then you should like it. Great side stories and great Halo art.

I felt this book wasn't worth the price. At least for the hard cover version. The only really good story is the first one, other than that the others aren't very good. Reasonably good artwork but the last one had more of a kid like style and the story wasn't very good and a little confusing even. The drawings in the back were better than half the stories. I expected more but i would say it isn't worth the 20-25 dollars. wait for the paperback.

I didn't think when i bought it that it would be as graphic as it is, but the call it the 'Graphic Novel' for good reasons. If you have read the other 3 Halo books it dose fill in a few cracks, also in the Halo 2 story. I wouldn't recomend it for younger readers though.

This is a great book to add to any Halo lover's collection. It gives more insight into the Halo world and the pictures are just amazing.