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Comic Books Invaded by Halo's Covenant. by Mike-oh

Heads up humans! Covenant coming through.

The Halo Graphic Novel. When Halo 2 was released, we pre-ordered our copy. Got the special version in the metal tin case. Had to wait in line at midnight outside the local Gamestop to get it. We were pumped. In the days and weeks that followed, we were slowly losing our enthusiasm. The story didn't hold a candle to the first Halo. And there were little differences between the first and second versions that made it hard to tell if this new Halo was better or worse. At the end of the day however, it was clearly not measuring up to the hype that preceeded its release.

Now they are working on Halo 3. They (Bungie) would be fools not to. Somewhere in between Halo 2 and Halo 3, Bungie taps Marvel to help them sustain the interest and energy around the universe that is Halo. Of course Marvel is the publisher, but apparently the folks at Bungie were the ones really responsible for producing the graphic novel which released in June of 2006. Based on the number of comic book creators who are also Halo fans, Bungie was able to attract a wide variety of talent to help bring the Halo universe from the Xbox screen to the pages of comics.

The Halo Graphic Novel boasts the talents of standout comic book creaotrs, including:

• Cover:
o Phil Hale, artist

• The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor
o Simon Bisley, artist
o Lee Hammock, writer

• Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa:
o Jean "Moebius" Giraud, artist
o Brett Lewis, writer

• Breaking Quarantine:
o Tsutomu Nihei, artist and writer

• Armor Testing:
o Ed Lee & Andrew Robinson, artists
o Jay Faerber, writer

• Gallery Pages:
o Doug Alexander
o Rick Berry
o Geof Darrow
o Glenn Fabry
o Scott Fisher
o Sterling Hundley
o George Pratt
o Greg Staples
o Justin Sweet
o Tsutomu Nihei
o John Van Fleet
o Kent Williams
o …and several Bungie artists

Overall, the graphic novel delivers the goods. It's very consistent with the Halo universe we all know and love. And like the Matrix Comics, it goes beyond the stories and characters introduced through the game and incorporates new characters and situations based on what we all understand about the Halo universe.

Wikipedia breaks down the stories for us here:

Although the HGN combines to tell a cohesive story, the book itself is broken down into four parts, which all feature separate writers and artists, as well as telling independently cohesive stories. The following are descriptions of each section, that are taken from the inside cover of the HGN:

* The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor: Art by Simon Bisley, Story by Lee Hammock - A distress call brings the Elite Spec Ops Commander to a Covenant supply craft hanging crippled in the outer reach of the Threshold system. As he boards the seemingly abandoned agricultrural ship, it becomes clear that the enemy here is not some enterprising human force, but something far more terrifying.

* Armor Testing: Pencils by W. Andrew Robinson, Colors by Ed Lee, Story by Jay Faerber - A Spartan's life is a dangerous one and a Spartan's armor is the last line of human defense. Testing it, then, becomes an equally dangerous propostion - but for whom? The test subject, or the testers?

* Breaking Quarantine: Art and story by Tsutomu Nihei - Sergeant Johnson has a problem. Actually, he has thousands of problems, and most of them are flood infection forms. Trapped in the bowels of an ancient alien artifact and surrounded on all sides by a virulent force of nature that needs his flesh, he has a choice: Get out or die trying.

* Second Sunrise Over New Mombasa: Art by Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Story by Brett Lewis - Before it was reduced to rubble and carnage, New Mombasa was a glittering African jewel, a hub for commerce, transit and politics. And before the Covenant assault finally crushed the metropolis, its citizens, private and public, fought back. This is their story.

Of the four stories, Second Sunrise was my favorite. The art was dynamite. Very stylized. And the story hung over my head like a raincloud waiting to unleash the storm. My second favorite was Armor Testing. Again, I thrilled to the art. And the story itself is a testament to the comic book worthiness of the characters and subjects of the Halo universe. In other words, Halo action translates nicely to the comic book page.

As much as I enjoyed these two stories, taken as a whole, the Halo Graphic Novel still left me wanting. I wondered if they really found the best talent available for the project. And wasn't there enough talent available (based on all of the poster pages) to produce another story? More than anything else, I felt at least one of the stories should have been given enough pages to deliver more of an epic feel. The Halo universe is definitely epic. The Halo Graphic Novel isn't. But if at first you don't succeed...

So, what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Give us your feedback.