Halo: Escalation
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
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Halo: Escalation is a comic book series produced by Dark Horse Comics.[2] It focuses on "how the events of Halo 4 have helped define the destiny not only of the Chief but of the galaxy as a whole".[3] The series is told in multiple arcs set between Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. The majority of issues focus on the crew of the flagship UNSC Infinity shortly after the events of Spartan Ops, particularly during their encounters with remnants of the Covenant and the resurgent Insurrection. However, the third story arc ("The Next 72 Hours") instead acts as an epilogue to Halo 4 and takes place six months before the greater part of the series.
Halo: Escalation was originally marketed as a limited-run series consisting of 12 issues;[4] however, it was later continued with another twelve issues. A paperback edition of Halo: Escalation - Volume 1 (collecting Issues #1-6) was released on October 8, 2014.[5] Halo: Escalation - Volume 2 (collecting Issues #7-12) was released on April 21, 2015,[6] Halo: Escalation - Volume 3 (collecting Issues #13-18) was released on September 22, 2015,[7] and Halo: Escalation - Volume 4 (collecting Issues #19-24) was released on March 22, 2016.[8]
The series was later released in two hardcover "Library Editions" featuring extra content such as developer commentaries. Library Edition Volume #1 (collecting Escalation Volumes 1 and 2, and the entirety of Halo: Initiation) was released on May 11, 2016.[9] The second and last Library Edition (collecting Volumes 3 and 4), was released on June 27, 2017.[10] Dark Horse Comics later released two softcover "Omnibuses" collecting both Initiation and Escalation Volumes 1 through 4 similarly to the previous Library Editions. Halo Omnibus Volume #1 (collecting all of Initiation and the first year of Escalation) was published on November 28, 2018.[11] Halo Omnibus Volume #2 (collecting the remaining half of Escalation) was published on May 1, 2019.[12] The entire series was bundled once more with Initiation into a single trade paperback compendium entitled Halo: Initiation and Escalation that was released on November 2, 2022.[13]
Plot synopsis[edit]
Issues 1 to 3 focus on UNSC Infinity's mission to provide security for the Sangheili-Jiralhanae peace delegation on Ealen IV and their struggle for survival after Covenant forces under the command of Vata 'Gajat attack the conference. In Issues 4 to 6, the Infinity crew track down the spy in the UNSC's ranks who leaked the location of the negotiations to the Covenant and face down the New Colonial Alliance and Captain Daniel Clayton, the true mastermind behind the attack. Issue 7 focuses on Spartan Gabriel Thorne's trip to the reopened New Phoenix to receive closure for his grandmother's death in the Didact's attack on the city.
Issues 8, 9 and 10 form a story arc called "The Next 72 Hours" which details Spartan John-117's fate immediately after the events of Halo 4. Issues 11 and 12 comprise a story arc called "Exposure" in which Spartans Ray and Thorne are deployed on a mission to uncover the secrets of a mysterious biological weapon. The next four issues form another story arc, "Spartan Ops: The Janus Key",[14] that returns to the principal plot threads of Spartan Ops, continuing the ongoing conflict between Infinity and Jul 'Mdama's forces and their struggle for control of the Janus Key.