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Review: Halo: Initiation #1

By | August 16th, 2013
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The first “Halo” comic to come out of Dark Horse comes a little too late to capitalize on the Halo 4 hype. While the series covers an intriguing part of the series’ saga, it offers little for all but the most diehard fans.

Written by Brian Reed
Illustrated by Marco Castiello

Halo—one of the largest video game franchises—comes to Dark Horse!

Before she was a supersoldier defending humanity as part of the Spartan IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST—Orbital Drop Shock Trooper—carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines!

• The origin of Sarah Palmer—and the Spartan IV program!

• The Halo franchise has sales eclipsing $3 billion over its lifetime.

• From one of the writers on Halo 4—comics veteran Brian Reed!

Adaptation from one story medium to comics is always a bit tricky, and it seems video game adaptations tend to have the worst of it. After all, these are worlds that are made to be played, driven by user choice. Often, story takes a backseat to gameplay. While the Halo franchise has never been know for it’s particularly gripping plots, the recent “Halo 4” offered one of the best story-lines to date, planting many seeds for future stories to be told.

“Halo: Initiation,” is the fruition of one of these seeds, Sarah Palmer and the origin of the Spartan IV program. With ties to not only “Halo 4,” but “Halo 3” and “Halo Reach” as well, there’s a lot of fun nods and easter eggs for fans of the franchise. Unfortunately, this first issue relies more on brand recognition than engaging story-telling to win readers over.

Brian Reed, a member of the “Halo 4” writers teams and respected comic scribe in his own right, delivers a script that is disappointingly sparse, puffed up by well-worn military tropes. Aside from the fact that she is the protagonist, there’s little reason to root for Palmer, a gruff and somewhat unlikeable hard-case bordering on Mary Sue territory. Her short internal narration, a reflection on her relationship with her father, feels out of place with the surrounding events and does little to build up the character. Likewise, what little dialogue is present feels hollow, lacking any sort of heart or urgency, simply moving the book along its paces.

The sparse pages do, however, offer a showcase for the art of Marco Castiello, who previously collaborated with Reed on “Secret Invasion: Front Line.” Castiello handles the obligatory iconography like Master Chief’s armor and raining ODST’s well enough, but nails the dynamic battles on war-torn Earth. Seeing Palmer go toe-to-toe with a hulking Brute and Covenant troupe, equipped with the series’ iconic weaponry, is certainly exciting. Using close ups on the bestial soldier’s glowing red eyes highlights the larger than life nature of this foe. The artist’s backgrounds are disappointingly sparse, a fact which keeps Castiello’s art from truly excelling. Letterer Michael Heisler deserves a shout out, as his work captures the unique sounds of each piece of weaponry, adding life to these machines that are nearly as important to the franchise as the characters themselves

As the first part of a three issue miniseries, this surprisingly slight debut bodes ill for coming issues. With a no-frills, formulaic approach, “Halo: Initiation” #1 is little more than a quick franchise cash-in, one that doesn’t capture the full attention or craft of the creators involved.

Final Verdict: 3.0 – Pass. Not even Master Chief can save this one.


Zach Wilkerson

Zach Wilkerson, part of the DC3 trinity, still writes about comics sometimes. He would probably rather be reading manga or thinking about Kingdom Hearts. For more on those things, follow him on Twitter @TheWilkofZ

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