Customer Reviews

Halo: Uprising

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I enjoy Halo. I love graphic novels. Now, the two have been mashed together with a couple of legends in charge. Should be the perfect combo, no? That's what I thought when I pre-ordered it. Turns out it didn't meet my expectations, but it didn't completely destroy them either.

Chronology:
One thing that was good is that it created a connection between the story arcs in between Halo 2 and Halo 3. There was a bit of a gap in between those two games that left many of us wondering how we got to that opening cutscene in Halo 3. Then the gameplay started and I'm sure many of you, like myself, brushed that to the side and started to whip some covenant behind. To be honest, even after Halo 3 was finished, the story void between the two games didn't even enter my head. After all, if you are playing Halo for the story, your priorities are different from the typical gamer. All that said, when I heard about this novel being released my curiosity was piqued.

Writing:
I'm a little iffy on the writing. It started out fairly lacking and through the first half of the comic I felt that the writer (Bendis) rushed things to get this little project out of the way. It doesn't feel like a labor of love in the least. A few clichéd moments, a couple of them nearly sent a literal groan out of me. All in all, it feels rushed and less than what I've come to expect from Bendis. As we enter the middle of the story things pick up a bit. A few clichéd moments are still sprayed in, but not nearly as bad as the beginning. Bendis really lets his talent shine as we near the end. His foreshadowing techniques are impeccable, leaving you smiling and nodding once they are elucidated. This is subjective, but I think he did a great job with the ending. The story was shorter than expected, but satisfying, nonetheless.

Artistry:
This was done well. Not going to say it would be in the upper echelon of the graphic novel art, but definitely above average. The drawings have that dark gritty graphic novel feel that fans of the scene have grown to know and love. A few scenes seem rushed here also, and it makes me wonder how much time they were given to complete this project originally. That said, it is only a few scenes; the vast majority of the art is outstanding. I wouldn't say Maleev has outdone himself, but he did a quality job.

All in all, I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't disappointed. This is a step forward for video game stories in different mediums, and after the latest Uwe Boll flick, I think you will agree that it is a breath of fresh air.

First off, the debacle. Readers need to understand that the whole of this work was supposed to be released in the time leading up to the release of Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. Only the first volume made it out on time, and the rest were delayed for (literally) years. What should have been a nice little tie-in between games quickly became a running joke at the comic industry's expense, and unfortunately it's not the only tie-in property Marvel has done this to. This review would get a star or two off for this alone, but that proves unnecessary.

The product. What you get is one binding for four comic books, clearly just trying to jump on the bandwagon calling itself a "graphic novel" when it's only a short compilation. Don't get caught expecting anything more.

The art is mostly great, as artist Maleev does everything from blood-drenched battle scenes to sprawling vistas in a great mix of detail and "feel". The art isn't overly precise, nor is it rushed, and from a technical view it's above-average fare for the most part, with some extra oomph from a few money shots here and there. Everything is recognizably Halo for longtime fans, while being very accessible and cool to any eye. It's not the page-filling masterworks of Todd McFarlane, but it's not bad.

The story is the real weak point. As many reviews note, Master Chief is barely in this comic. He really just bookends the works, appearing in brief vignettes where he does little more than dish out and take a couple panels' worth of damage each time. To talk about the story, we basically skip Chief entirely. The meat of the text focuses on two teens who wind up in a very tired and cliched "star-crossed lovers" plot. There's a lot of hype about a "key" thrown out through the works, the resolution of which is completely underwhelming. Most readers are literally groaning and rolling their eyes at various points as the characters' lame lovestory lurches along, though this is mostly early on and things get a little more even (as in, the writing gets closer to the much better art) towards the end of the run.

In the end, the Master Chief bits that aren't really there are used as a crutch to keep readers tuning in as two teens stumble around a city. It might actually be a spoiler to say that these teens don't do anything worthwhile, because that's basically the ending of the book- that they never did or had anything of interest this entire time. Viewing postmortem this is actually a fantastic piece of black comedy, making readers fret for months and months just to find out they'd been waiting for nothing. Literally.

The most redeeming factor present it Maleev's artwork, but that can't make up for the rest.

Its a graphic novel, not near as good as the other halo books, but the illustrations were entertaining for a while.. Not what I was looking for.

i am glad i downloaded this for free, because this is not as good as you would expect, so you should find it at a library if possible. it is worth a read, but that read will require less than 30 minutes of your time i expect, so you should read it at the library itself.

A must have for any TRUE Halo fan. The story-line was a so-so, but the art work was just simply amazing. There were a few times where the panel seemed to "busy", but you can't complain for the serious detail involved in this one. I'm already reading it for a second time. I am glad to have purchased this to add to my Halo novel collection, and I recommend purchasing this one as well!!

I did not feel as if the stories in this graphic novel were very good. However, the art is great, and very enjoyable to look at, and, if you are wanting to know everything about the Halo world, it is certainly worth buying for the art.

This book was pretty interesting. It follows the Master Chief in a crazy, one-man-behind-enemy-lines mission and a guy who's brother tricks the covenant into looking for something on Earth that doesn't exist, to give the UNSC more time to make a move.

As a big fan of the Halo Universe, having read every novel/comic and played every game (still need to finish Halo Wars), seeing the war through the eyes of the regular citizen was interesting.

I feel like nothing was accomplished or resolved at the end. Yeah there was the main storyline with the love story and all but it was nothing worth really caring about. Seeing the Master Chief kick [...] as usual was pretty good and it was fun to see what he was doing when the Forerunner ship was on its way to Earth.

I know this review seems a bit flimsy, but I have only read it once and felt a little disappointed at the end. I will probably read it again, so STAY TUNED!

The point of these Halo graphic novels is to illustrate the point that the series isn't simply about shooting aliens; there's a greater underlying purpose to your actions as Master Chief when you play the XBox games: saving humanity. You may be just a single person when you pick up that controller but you're not the only person in this war. Many civilians are caught in the crossfire.

To me, this seemed like a longer, yet somewhat less emotional, version of "Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa" from the first Halo Graphic Novel. I enjoyed the longer read but still wished it was double its actual length. The fact that it's less emotional than "Second Sunrise" isn't saying too much because "Second Sunrise" was very, very good and this is worth reading, too.

Finally, the art in this is phenomenal. While the main female character's choice of clothing may make you raise an eyebrow, remember the time period (2054). I'm most likely going to use this as a guide when I decide to draw things from the Halo universe myself.

"Halo Uprising" is a hardcover reprinting of issues #1-#4 of the "Halo Uprising" comic and it tells the story of two brothers Ruwan and James Ackerson and pop star Myras Tyla who are involved in the invasion of Cleveland by the Covenant. James is the sole surviving soldier who has been caught on a raid to a Covenant Dreadnought, and after being tortured tells the enemy that they need The Key Of Osanalan, and that they can only find it in Cleveland where James' brother Ruwan has relocated after the destruction of Mombasa.

As Ruwan is sitting in a hotel's bar, it is attacked, and here he meets pop star Myras Tyla, and together they escape, are captured, and then escape again. After their second escape they run into some Earth forces that are defending Cleveland, and Ruwan spills the beans that The Key Of Osanalan is totally made up, and so far the story is only half over.

Intertwined throughout this story is another story in which Master Chief is making a superhuman raid on a Covenant Dreadnought trying to kill a Covenant Prophet.

I read this graphic novel because of the war story, so the main problem for me is that being unfamiliar with the Halo universe I kept feeling that I was missing something. The whole Master Chief storyline was unnecessary and kept grinding the main story to a standstill, for me that is. Another is that there wasn't enough James. I would have liked to have seen some his story before his capture. The writing as a whole is pretty good, although a bit awkward at times. Although I have to admire Maleev's detailed artwork, his people are all individualistic and easily told apart; and it is often quite spectacular, still, the artwork is also quite often very muddy and stiff, not quite flowing as it should in a comic and with some of the detail lost in the murkiness. The ending however is a solid wrap-up to the story.

"Halo Uprising" also reprints the promotional "Marvel Spotlight: Halo" in which Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Halo creators Frank O'Connor and Brian Jerrard are interviewed, with a good sampling of artwork accompanying each of the interviews, with a portfolio of Maleev's original artwork for "Halo: Uprising" ending the book. I would say that this is good fan fiction, but, if like me, you are unfamiliar with either the Halo universe, or the artist's or author's work you should stay away. This book just doesn't work as an independent work, but fans of "Halo" will probably like and raise it a star or two.

It's Halo, what more is there to say? Good back story. Well written. Definitely worth a look.