Review: Halo Uprising #1
Full disclosure: I'm a huge Halo fan. Though I've only recently begun to fully enjoy the FPS experience, Halo's story was enough to pull me in from the beginning. The Halo story is epic, covering a huge volume of time and space. Spread over thousands of years and dozens of parsecs? As Jayne would say, "I'm in."
The Halo Uprising comic series represents Marvel's comic closing of the small story gap between Halo 2 and Halo 3. Written by Brian Michael Bendis -- who's responsible for an incredible volume of work from Ultimate Spiderman to Alias -- Uprising will consist of four issues chronicling the covenant's invasion of Earth and temporary capture of John 117, the Master Chief.
In this first issue we meet a yet-unnamed hotel concierge from Cleveland and Myras Tyle (a musician) who represent the human element of the story. Of course, we also get to see the 'Chief brrrrrt and fshammm his way through a pile of Covenant forces -- brilliant, artful interpretations of a situation any Halo player will instantly recognize.
And while issue one just barely scratches the surface of the Uprising story, focusing primarily on exposition, the art is indeed amazing. One frame stands out: the 'Chief standing tall and small in a full-page vertical frame facing a hoard of Covenant in the foreground. This page is worth the price of the comic alone.
It's also interesting that Covenant dialoge is represented in two fashions. Sometimes -- especially when they're speaking to each other among humans -- their words appear in Covenant hieroglyphs. When they're all alone (or with the 'Chief), we see their words in English.
I'd wholeheartedly recommend the series to anyone who wants to fill the story gap. Issue one is now available in a black-and-white sketch-style cover second (read: 1A) printing which is easy to find at your local shop. And for collectors, the full-color first printing is easy to find via eBay or Amazon. Issue #2 is currently scheduled for an October 17th release, with #3 hitting streets around holiday season.
Halo Uprising #1 [Marvel]
Via Amazon
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Brian Michael Bendis is indeed one of the top writers working right now in the comic books industry. The volume AND quality he puts in his monthly titles (New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Powers, Halo, have I forgotten one?) is simply amazing. The guy is just a master crafter of great dialogues and banter. Haven’t read is Halo yet but I’ll try it 🙂
Cleveland! The promised land, as foretold in the Bible, where all-day parking is only $4. As described on 30 Rock, “the Cleve” is a harsh town that is not for all. And Buffy fans will remember it as the site of the last remained North American Hellmouth. Where Drew Carey and his friends held that big production number. And I think we have a couple fairly successul sports franchises too. Maybe it’s not quite as hip or aggravating as NYC, but as Uprising demonstrates, it’s a nexus linked to larger wonders…
dxf: As one of the Elites says in the comic, “Cleve. Land. … What’s a Cleve?”
“Cleve” is Latin for “ample parking.”
For more reading on the subject…
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/10_09_07_know_cleveland/