Forum:Halo: Escalation Thread 2 (Issues 18-)

This is a forum topic dedicated to discussing the comic series Halo: Escalation.

Issue 8
Thought I'd share some late thoughts/ramblings on the newest issue because it's the first one that delves into the series' primary plot line and characters and will probably matter the most going forward.

After the more subdued, character-focused Issue 7 which was a pleasant surprise coming from Reed after the underwhelming display that was Initiation, Halo: Escalation Issue 8 was mostly a disappointment. The biggest question in my mind is who thought it was a good idea to tell this story in comic form? There's just so much depth and complexity that could've been gained if this had been a novel (or perhaps even a CGI film?). Did they not have a novelist on hand? Did someone in a key position (say, in the writing staff) have a preference for the comic format for one reason or the other?

For one, the pace is uncomfortably hectic — what should be defining character moments, like John's reunion with his closest friends and comrades after so many years, are shrugged off in a couple of panels. And it's not like the subtleties of the Spartans' body and sign languages ("Spartan smiles", etc.) could be appropriately pulled off in a comic anyway. What's going through John's head after his loss of Cortana, or when he sees Osman (who I presume he hasn't seen for decades and didn't know was even alive) in the Security Council? What are the Spartans thinking seeing their comrades slaughtered? None of that comes through here. Comics can be a great medium for storytelling but the strengths of the format are all absent here. Everything that we see would've been better presented via prose.

It doesn't help that the art is frankly underwhelming for a series of this scope and story importance. I stress the latter because Escalation is no longer a side story about tertiary characters but a proper continuation of the series' primary storyline. Microsoft has no shortage of money, so why not make sure they have a top artist illustrating their flagship comic? I know Halo has had those in the past (Blood Line stands out for its vibrant, crisp illustration) or was that just a Marvel thing? (though to be fair the art in Fall of Reach was pretty sketchy too).

On a side note, what's with the Spartans' identical light blue eyes? This is a weird visual media thing that first appeared in the Birth of a Spartan trailer and was repeated in Forward Unto Dawn but never came up in the novels.

Spartan Black's demise has been discussed to death both here and on other forums, so I won't delve too much into that. Though one can make reasonable guesses on why 343i decided to get rid of them, I still disagree with the way it was handled. The same Prometheans which supposedly slaughtered Black like animals barely seem to pose a threat to Blue, and if the Didact was involved we get no indication of this. It doesn't raise the stakes or make the Prometheans feel more threatening, it just shows that our main characters are protected by the plot, at least for the time being. As an interesting thought experiment, I wonder how people would've reacted if Black had been replaced by Kilo-Five?

Another issue I have is that while the Didact's return was probably a surprise for no one at this point, I just can't take him seriously whenever he appears in a visual medium. His design is so cartoonish, over the top and injected with the average preteen's idea of "cool" it might easily pass for something scribbled by a 13-year old. He looks like a villain from an 80's kids' show, and the evil throne isn't helping things. I always thought he looked like a comic book villain, and I guess he literally is one now.

Now, the book Didact is another matter entirely — I'm starting to think only Greg Bear could make 343i's version of the Forerunners work by adding the appropriate levels of weight and nuance to their characterizations whereas at the hands of their in-house writers like Reed here they just come across as flat cartoon characters. Unlike some people I'm mostly fine with the Forerunner Saga and even some of its more esoteric aspects: it draws from a long tradition of "sufficiently advanced" technology in science fiction with some thought-provoking themes running in the background, as opposed to more superficial Hollywood and comic book ephemera.

And that's another thing: a lot of recent developments seem to be geared to making Halo less like the gritty, technical military sci-fi it used to be and more like the Marvel universe with the Spartans being turned from an elite special operations outfit into something more closely resembling a superhero team, a brooding godlike general of an immensely complex ancient civilization becoming an over-the-top cartoon villain, or zero concern to physics or technology with pulp silliness like tormented souls popping up from walls or ships no longer having to abide by the previous limitations of slipspace travel. I don't like to point fingers, but I do wonder if all this has to do with 343i's current lead writer's Marvel background. Now, despite not being much of a comic reader, I love pretty much all of the MCU movies which are filled with this kind of absurdity. But I'd rather they kept the Halo universe's tone as it was rather than molding it into something it's not. --Jugus (Talk  | Contribs ) 03:14, 13 August 2014 (EDT)


 * Couldn't agree with you more. And kind of amusing - "tormented souls popping up from walls". The whacky "composers abyss" is just out of place in the Halo universe and makes it seem as though I'm reading a Harry Potter comic. You already know my stance on these science-fantasy elements that 343i implemented since Halo 4. Anyway, I definitely agree that the latest entry in this comic series was a major let down especially compared to the previous issues. Its almost as though everything was rushed and there was little emphasis placed on anything really. Like I said in "subtracting canon" (I know everyone disagrees with the title but it came from lack of better wording, plus I wanted an interesting forum title) the reunion between John & blue team was insignificant, the slaughter of black team was unnecessary & uneplained, and then there's the didact in his great cartoony glory. Basically, when it came down to this issue, my main problem with it was execution and irrational decision making. Now some people may say that "developers may not want to revisit certain characters". If that's the case why bring them back in the first place only to kill them off rendering them nothing more than a skid mark? Leave it alone, leave them where they lay, leave well enough alone. Bringing them back only to immediately kill them off seems more like a slap in the face to most fans than if they just left them a mystery (and you don't want to disappoint the fans since they account for majority of revenues by the way). Just because 343i has the power to do something doesn't mean they should do it. Yes, you're not going to please the fans everytime but at least if they took the time and safest approach to doing things than at least you can lesson the damage. And some may say "what 343i does counts regardless of what the fans prefer". But again, just because they can do it doesn't mean they should. There is a such thing as reviewers, opinions, forums, etc...If 343i properly executed this story w/ proper explanations for things, less rushed plot lines, and better artwork, than there'd be a lesser chance of displeasing fans. And like Jugus said, if you can't do it in a comic, than reserve it for a book, game, or mini-movie like "Nightfall", rahter than trying to stuff and shorten things in a tiny 20 or so page comic.-- Killamin7  [Comm |Files ] 09:38, 13 August 2014 (EDT)


 * I agree. What annoys me about the art style is that it can go from pretty decent, then all of a sudden, it becomes horrid. I wonder if the artist knows how to draw humans, or what the alien species actually look like sometimes. I feel like the poor pacing of these comics has to do with the shortness of each issue. There isn't a lot of room to explore the story or add emotion unfortunately. Darth Maul's Son of Dathomir comic series (also created by Dark Horse) has forty pages per comic and a great art style. This gives each issue enough time to explore entire battles. I realize that Star Wars is more well-known than Halo, but still I would expect Mircosoft to put some money into Escalation to make it a better comic series. Although the series has made several mistakes (mostly due to art style) and has not accurately portrayed some of the characters, I still think it's one of the better comic series we have seen so far and explores interesting parts of the Halo universe, such as the Ealen peace treaties or New Phoenix's reopening. And I wouldn't mind if it continued beyond November.


 * However, I think my biggest problem with this series as a whole so far is how it ends stories. While I know that this is partially due to the length of each issue, a lot of the stories featured in Escalation are poorly wrapped up or forgotten. 'Gajat seemed to be an interesting character. He was a mercenary that was working with human insurgents, Kig-Yar, Sangheili, and Jiralhanae, and then he was killed off and his organization was forgotten about (I know it's a longshot, since the comic covers have been rather unreliable, but I hope the Kig-Yar on the cover of issue 11 is from the mercenary group and Tek has now taken over or something). The Spirit of Fire was advertised to be appearing in one of the issues, but only had a small cameo. Petra was kind of forgotten about. The Ealen IV storyline ended pretty well, especially compared to the others. I think that if the length of each issue and the art style was improved (maybe on par with Son of Dathomir), Escalation would benefit greatly.


 * And I agree that 343i is starting to portray Spartans as superheroes (especially Blue Team/Palmer/Majestic). I think it would have been better if the Didact never changed from his original appearance. It isn't over-the-top cartoon villainy, and I actually like his appearance/armor better. I really hope Halo doesn't begin to drift into the deep sci-fi/fantasy genre. As much as I love Star Wars, I've never been a fan of the hardcore fantasy elements like "Dathomir magic" or Force ghosts turning alive again. That's one of the reasons I prefer Halo. The science is kept relatively realistic and is more based on some form of actual science (real or not). However, some of the Forerunner abilities, like imprints, seem to be coming from the fantasy genre. Nonetheless, I'm excited for November and all of the upcoming Halo content. Broken Circle will hopefully be a refreshing read with the lack of Halsey hate (although I am still waiting for more news on the novel or some sort of preview). - NightHammer (talk) 11:10, 13 August 2014 (EDT)


 * In many cases, it's not the exotic technologies themselves that feel grating to me, it's the way they're portrayed. I can accept that a civilization as advanced as the Forerunners can upload their minds to and fro. But the needless mystification and vilification of the Composer, for instance, is out of place. It's a mind uploading tool (which should be a relatively everyday thing to a Forerunner-tier civ), but 343i's writers can't seem to get over the fact that mind uploading is not some arcane form of demonic magic, nor should it be as difficult as 343 wants to present it as — we're told that the digitized personalities fragmented and couldn't be restored to biological form, apparently because even the Forerunners just couldn't get the soul to work properly. Even though they had consciousness backups in something as mundane as their armor. This leaves the Composer as an oddity - why is this thing treated as so special when it's clearly inferior to many technologies they utilize in their daily lives?


 * The whole geas deal is one of the less compelling aspects of the 343i-era fiction for me, not only because the technology itself is firmly in the realm of the fantastical but because it diminishes human agency: previously, humanity was lauded for our ingenuity and our exceptional ability to innovate and endure in the face of impossible odds. Now, we're told none (or very little) of it was our own making. That we need arcane gene-magic to babysit us rather than being able to stand on our own. Humans have always been the Forerunners' inheritors which put us in a privileged position, but it used to be more subtle than literally saying specific technological breakthroughs are the direct result of genetic programming.


 * It's also emblematic of a problem that tends to plague long-running comic books and TV shows - the trend of making everything so "connected" and "meaningful" that the universe begins to feel small. I was perfectly fine with the idea of the Spartan-IIs being created, or John and Cortana meeting one another, just when they were needed by sheer coincidence. They didn't need to be part of a contrived millennia-long master plan. --Jugus (Talk  | Contribs ) 00:19, 18 August 2014 (EDT)


 * It seems pretty clear that Escalation is telling the stories that future seasons of Spartan Ops were supposed to tell. Future seasons were obviously planned, given the whole "Season 1" label we got, but these seem pretty definitely scrapped in favour of Escalation. To relegate such monumental story developments to a side-comic most players will never have even heard of is really irritating, even more so when elements like John's reunion with Blue Team and grief over Cortana's death are totally glossed over. I understand that the levels of Spartan Ops got pretty repetitive, and I'm sure that was a reason why future seasons were shelved. But if they had foregone episodic-based missions and instead focused on making the seasons as good and as long as they needed to be to fit the story, then these plots could have been given the spectacle, quality, and availability that they deserved. - Black Mesa.jpg Halo-343   (Talk)  21:25, 13 August 2014 (EDT)


 * That is most likely the case. I don't know if some of the previous story arcs would've been as long or exactly the same as they were in comic form (the Petra side story would've most likely been ditched had the story been told in the Spartan Ops format) but it's probable Escalation is built on the basic outline they had for the future seasons. Another reason for Spops' cancellation after S1 may have been the money and effort going into the Master Chief Collection, particularly the enormous undertaking that is Blur's remastering of the Halo 2 cutscenes. --Jugus (Talk  | Contribs ) 00:19, 18 August 2014 (EDT)


 * You know what? The gameplay already felt a bit detached from the cutscenes. They should have just made a series of animated episodes, and released them episodically, like Forward Unto Dawn, or on DVD ala Legends. That would have been fantastic. --  Qura 'Morhek   The Autocrat     of Morheka   00:26, 18 August 2014 (EDT)

Issue 9
Halo Canon's review Wow this was a loaded issue! Seems as if we now know (not confirmed) who broke Chief's visor. Looks like the Constraint field isn't working for Didact or he'd use it again. Anyways fun stuff! -- Names Gall. Sam Gall

I admit it was a fun read. And it was revealed that the Didact killed black team which helps rectify that issue and put to rest something that made the fans (including me) angry as hell. But it just makes me think, shouldn't they've placed that scene in issue 8? It seems as though they did the same thing in issue 4 where there was a scene that occurs after everything else, but was done in such a way that it made it seem pointless, unnecessary, or unintended. I don't know. But whatever the case I liked the issue but I'm not feeling that cliffhanger where John-117 is once again being treated as a rag doll.-- Killamin7  [Comm |Files ] 18:35, 27 August 2014 (EDT)


 * I tend to be light on praise even where praise may be due, but I have very few positive things to say about this issue or the whole 72 Hours arc. Somewhere along the way, and that's right after Issue #7, Escalation, up until then mediocre to decent, went into full camp mode. At this point I'm fully convinced I don't like Brian Reed's writing and that making him Halo lead writer was a baffling decision. I had a bad feeling from Initiation and its super Spartan who can her face slammed to a metal wall or breathe in space and here that same sort of schlock goes into overdrive. Reed is capable of decent writing, like Issue #7, but when he's doing story-driving content or action it's like he never left the Marvel verse (and what I think about that is further detailed in my Issue #8 rant above). 343i has released quality material and I commend them for their efforts to tie the games and the "expanded universe" together, but why is it that they can't seem to hire decent in-house writers? Broadly speaking, when you look at their releases, most of the ones that stand out from the rest have been written or otherwise produced outside the studio (Forerunner Saga, Forward Unto Dawn, and from what we've seen so far, Nightfall as well; and as much as I dislike the Kilo-Five Trilogy for what it does with the universe and the characters, at least it's not schlock).


 * Things just happen and nothing feels connected or planned out — it's like the story is being made up along the way. Why did the composed New Phoenix residents see one of the slipspace artifacts on Requiem? We may never know. An apt analogy to the story quality would be a kid playing with action figures. I can just imagine lil' Brian Reed sitting on the floor picking things from the toy box that is the Halo universe — Spartans, the Didact, Halos, Composers, Monitors, slipspace portals — and just smashing them together. Bam! Crunch! Kablam! Hey, who are these guys? Spartans with black armor? That's kinda cool but I don't really know them so THEY'RE DEAD! Then the Chief and the Spartans go through the portal and there's, like, a ton of new Composers! But then the Didact uses his special stomp attack! Then the Didact steals a Halo to kill all humans because he's sooo evil!


 * Reed (like Traviss) has people zipping across light-years through portals to no ill effect (if you could build instant-transit portals people can step through without being atomized due to exposure to slipspace, why bother having starships at all)? Why does a Halo have a portal connection to the Composer's Forge when the Composers had been long abandoned by the time the Halos were built? Even if you could, would you really have a portal you can just step through on an installation where there's Flood in containment? A Halo, no less, can now apparently be summoned by a monitor completely unrelated to the Array (though I kind of like Static Carillon). Compartmentalization? What's that? The Didact wants to use a Halo because... the series is called Halo so why not? MacGuffins and superweapons of the week galore.


 * At this point the Didact's lost pretty much any dignity he may have had left from the Forerunner Saga, broken as he may be from the Gravemind's torture - he might as well be Skeletor. He's just a big, buff dude with a couple of special comic book powers and completely devoid of the gravitas and tragedy of his portrayal in the novels. I get that they're intentionally going for the supervillain/nemesis angle, but I believe this was the wrong approach — they should've never made him something that you can go toe to toe with in a fight, much less hurt with something as mundane as a knife. The Forerunners should be far above anything like that.


 * And I still hold that the format was the wrong one for this story — this material would've been best served by a full-length novel. If they couldn't get an author to write one in time (or if Reed insisted it be he who write the story and nobody else because he's lead writer now, damnit) they could've at least trimmed the surrounding filler stories about secondary characters and stretched this arc over at least two or three more issues. As much as I liked Issue #7, having a similar low-key issue dealing with the Chief's return to Earth and reunion with Blue Team would've been much more called for. That they have a main character/plot continuation story this crucial squeezed between the otherwise unconnected Spartan Ops crew stories reeks of poor planning.


 * I'm thinking the Black Team scene had to be in this issue because they wanted to have the Didact's dramatic reveal at the end of the last one. Alternatively, the scene may not even have been originally in - maybe Reed pulled a Bioware due to the unexpected fan outrage and added an "Extended Cut" of Black's fate. After all, in the previous issue, the transmission implies that it is the Prometheans that "are appearing out of thin air" and are "slaughtering the Spartans". Hard to know for sure, but I don't think it's too far-fetched to speculate they added the scene to pacify the fanbase. Although I still disagree with the decision to kill Black off like this (they could've at least given their send-off its own story or comic) I have to admit it does more to justify their deaths than mere Knights. --Jugus (Talk  | Contribs ) 00:58, 28 August 2014 (EDT)


 * Honestly, I found this issue to be okay (still better than Initiation). I really liked Escalation issues 1-7, although the art style has always been my pet peeve with the series (and terrible panel placement). And at least the cover art of the comic, kind of, almost happened. And I don't know if it's just me, but the art style seems to have improved by a lot for the most part. And I'm glad that we got some clarification on Black Team's death.


 * However, in the entire past two issues, Static Carillon seems to be the only character with an sort of personality. The Didact's portrayal has also been ridiculous. Like you said, Reed is trying to make the Didact a typical, campy comic supervillian from the 60s. I'm surprised he wasn't petting a Crawler on his throne in issue #8. Next he will be twirling his space-moustache while stealing candy from humans. Not to mention his super-stomp. Or the fact that he just randomly appears behind/in front of the Spartans twice this issue. And I don't know if it is due to perspectives, but the Didact's height seems really inconsistent. It seems like Reed skimmed one book (maybe) from the Forerunner Saga before writing these comics. Why would the Didact ever use a Halo?!?! I also don't like that Blue Team seems to be able to hold their own, but Black Team was killed with ease. And I still don't understand how a knife was able to pierce the Didact's combat armor. They could have at least had him "unlock" his helmet and give him an evil monologue so the Chief would just be stabbing face, not armor. Once again, I think the series would have benefited if each issue was longer. I'm still really nervous that Reed is going to kill of Blue Team in Escalation. - NightHammer (talk) 01:41, 28 August 2014 (EDT)

I'm glad to know i'm not the only one to see that Black Team's death was altered a bit. I assume its from fan back lash.Kal825B (talk) 09:16, 28 August 2014 (EDT)

"they wanted to have the Didact's dramatic reveal at the end of the last one."

- Jugus

But a dramatic reveal only works when you don't know it's coming. And even casual fans would think it was obvious that the Didact was still going to be alive. Which means Black Team's death still feels needless. A bit less easy perhaps, given the fight Didact put up against John while distracted by enacting his genocidal plans, but still needless.

Not having read the story yet (or any of Escalation, really, beyond preview pages) I don't understand what the Didact's plan is. He's on a Halo, presumably with the full authority to use it that being a Forerunner entails, but he also has a whole mess of Composers at his disposal now. One makes the other redundant. I get that, in-canon, the Didact wasn't expecting to run into 859 Static Carillon, but from a storytelling point of view it means one or the other of these plot points are going to be dropped. Either he tries to take Gamma Halo to Earth, which renders the Composers pointless, or he leaves it behind and tries to bring the Composers to Earth which means Gamma Halo didn't need to be in the story. Gamma Halo was enough of a threat, why introduce this new story element? Unless it's because they're needed to compose something very specific before being abandoned - namely, in my full expectation and dread, Blue Team, souls implanted in Promethean shells and turned against the Master Chief.

There was also some speculation previously that the Monitor would turn out to be a repaired 343 Guilty Spark. I'm a little glad that it isn't - it gives 343 the chance to make his eventual fate and possible return to the series a much more dramatic story. I would like to see the Didact pick up a Monitor assistant - someone who carries out his orders, and is a more capable threat than the Covenant remnants. Maybe we could see Jul 'Mdama feeling threatened by being usurped as the Didact's emissary, and trying to either reclaim his place through earning his "god's" favour or by taking out Carillon himself? But of course, I fully expect the story to end with the Didact out of commission, the Composers Forge destroyed, and John once again the last Spartan-II, completely undoing the potential the series is trying to set up. --  Qura 'Morhek   The Autocrat     of Morheka   17:37, 28 August 2014 (EDT)


 * Are you familiar with the Halo-Composer tuning theory? Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 20:38, 28 August 2014 (EDT)
 * Yeah, and I wish this arc's writing quality hadn't made me worry about that nonsense actually turning out to be the case. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 00:56, 29 August 2014 (EDT)
 * What's so bad about that? Tired of composers? Tired of Halos? Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 01:03, 29 August 2014 (EDT)
 * Because it's space magic. Granted, both Halos and Composers are already space magic (though the Composer is the more plausible one of the two) but I guess it's... double space magic. Combining them makes the space magic exponentially worse because two unrelated pieces of magitech/clarketech are easier to accept independently than in tandem when no connection between them was ever stated or implied. When you have two very specialized pieces of hardware designed to achieve a very specific effect, you can't just expect to be able to glue them together to make a special upgraded version of the two. It's Mass Effect 3 ending tier of clueless writing.


 * And yeah, guess I'm also kind of tired of constant new Forerunner gadgets, superweapons and existential threats to humanity. This story did not need the Didact procuring a Halo or a new Composer and threatening to kill humanity once again. It could've been something smarter. What immediately springs to mind (and I'm making this up as I go along, so bear with me) is a more low-key plot where more time is spent dealing with John's return to the UNSC (such as having him ask about Halsey since finding her was his main goal in H4) and his reunion with his lifelong teammates and friends he hasn't seen for years. The Spartans are then sent back to Requiem because sensor data Cortana left in the Chief's armor indicates the Composer's portal linked there and they must ensure the Didact is dead. On Requiem, the Spartans find the Didact brooding in grand solitude in a scene evocative of his return to Nomdagro in Silentium (holograms of his children may or may not be involved). The Spartans' first encounter goes something like it does in the comic, they open fire, and the Didact says what he does ("See that which you fear"... etc). We get not just monologue, but dialog between the Didact and the Spartans (something that never happens in H4). The Didact is sullen, tired, and visibly changed by the battle with the Chief. In a standoff-type situation which may or may not involve physical fighting, the Didact's driving motives and goals are disseminated and broken apart. The Didact is made to realize he has and will not have a future no matter what he might do. How this ends (i.e. whether the Didact will accept this or continue to delude himself) obviously depends on where the story is going on a larger scale.


 * My point being, we absolutely did not need a continuation of the Didact's schlocky supervillain antics from Halo 4. As it stands, the events of Halo 4 did nothing to change the characters of the Didact or even John — there's no visible arc, no change in attitudes or the way they view each other. Apart from the Didact finally deciding to kill the Chief. wow such depth --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 02:12, 29 August 2014 (EDT)


 * @Morhek: I really should have put "dramatic" in quotes to highlight I was talking about the writer's probable intent, not the result. Because Tron Skeletor in his evil lair was more silly than dramatic. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 00:56, 29 August 2014 (EDT)

"I can just imagine lil' Brian Reed sitting on the floor picking things from the toy box that is the Halo universe — Spartans, the Didact, Halos, Composers, Monitors, slipspace portals — and just smashing them together. Bam! Crunch! Kablam! Hey, who are these guys? Spartans with black armor? That's kinda cool but I don't really know them so THEY'RE DEAD! Then the Chief and the Spartans go through the portal and there's, like, a ton of new Composers! But then the Didact uses his special stomp attack! Then the Didact steals a Halo to kill all humans because he's sooo evil!"

- Jugus

Probably the BEST way to describe Brian Reed's writing style in regards to the first "two" 72 hours. And probably will be for the third. To continue my small review on the comic, I did find the comic to be a fun read because of the action (not all as I hinted above). Static Carillon was a likeable character. And like I said, I'm glad we got a more reasonable answer to how black team died rather than the illusion that promethean knights did it. But still the comic felt amateurish. My first issue was the plot order primarily when it comes down to the Didact killing black team. It should have happened in part 1. And even then, this still renders black team's death rather insubstantial or unnecessary to the plot since it cuts straight to the Didact w/ blood on his hands. Than there's the "supervillian" Didact. He's really starting to look like such, just take a look at the cover, the "stomp" attack, how he's just tossing the Spartans around and crushing their helmet. Stab, him in the eye and he doesn't even flinch. Seems like realism is tossed out the window in favor of making this guy seem invincible. Than there's the Halo and composers. Where'd they come from? And based on the Didact's intentions, it seems as though the composers serve no purpose. They're just there just because - "surprise!" Nothing that goes on in this issue serves a purpose or do anything to move the reader. No emotional impact whatsoever. No mystery explored (why are there more composers). It seems as though its just all action but no real story behind it. Just stop the shallow, petty, cheap bad guy from destroying the Earth just like it was in Halo 4. Only Static C. seems to stand out or serve a purpose in this issue. And a lot of what happens in this issue was rather predictable. I thought the next 72 hours was supposed to be about the chief. It's starting to seem more like its about the Didact. So now we have one more issue to explain "why the chief left" and I have a strong feeling that's not going to be accomplished properly if at all.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 19:45, 28 August 2014 (EDT)

Issue 10 Preview
Issue 10! (Spoiler Preview) Apparently Master Chief gets thrown at Blue team and the Didact gets shot with Scattershot. 


 * Interesting, but I think we should hold off on updating pages at the moment. If I recall, 343i said that any Escalation preview that isn't released by them or Dark Horse is considered leaked. - NightHammer (talk) 21:24, 7 September 2014 (EDT)

Understood. Just wanted y'all to see it first that's all. -- The name is Gall. Sam Gall.


 * Not suprised MC survived the encounter. Great suspense 343I! -_- Anyway, it's about time we see this guy get shot, look vulnerable for once. Honestly I just hope he gets killed this issue. We need a new vilian that we can take more seriously.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 08:33, 8 September 2014 (EDT)


 * @Killamin7: I agree. The Didact has lost all credibility as a villain. He needs to die so that 343i can replace him with something (hopefully) decent.--Weeping Angel (talk) 14:49, 8 September 2014 (EDT)

@Killamin7 in Issue 10 he does get hit with what seems to be a Scattershot slug which causes him to stagger. I believe Blue team will kill him in this issue but who knows? -- Sam Gall.


 * Yes, I saw the panels. Anyway, there is a chance that the Didact will meet his end in issue 10 but this is Brian Reed we're talking about so...But my problem is the emphasis that seems to have been placed on the Didact for the first two arcs of this storyline. My fear is that by the time we get to the reason why the chief left, we will be so far-gone from the plot that there will no real impact felt behind it. So far all we have is this crazed villian running around gathering magitech just to do the same thing he did in Halo 4. So even if he gets killed, what next? 343I should have went with a more substantial plot (like the one Jugus came up with above).-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 08:56, 9 September 2014 (EDT)

Issue 10
<youtube width="300" height="200">mwJYSwfIO4w Well the Didact was able to tank a direct hit to the head from a boltshot without visible damage. That's impressive. Also we see the UNSC Home fleet and the innards of the Slipspace capable Longsword. Good stuff in this article. -- The Name is Gall. Sam Gall.

I must say, this issue is actually pretty decent compared to the last two. But I don't know whether to buy it or not if the Didact is actually dead. You wouldn't think such a major villain from a video game would suddenly be killed off in a comic series. But he did look, well, dead. Looks like our next mystery is where Static Carillon placed the Halo ring. Finally, Chief reassigning himself and battling whatever else is still prevalent with Blue Team seemed anti-climatic. I can't describe it exactly, but it is. It's too bad this issue doesn't explore why Chief is wherever he is in the Halo 5: Guardians trailer, if it's meant to be taken literally. Thoughts? And as pretty as it is, again the cover page seems to have no relation whatsoever to what occurred. 120.144.131.19 17:15, 24 September 2014 (EDT)

Couple things I really want to know what planet all that happened on. -- Sam Gall.
 * 1) Didact as foreshadowed by Chief seems to be dead but nothing is certain.
 * 2) Chief getting reassigned is confusing because it looks as if his helmet is fixed so the story arc was very pointless. I mean take it out and it did nothing to advance the overarching plot.
 * 3) I'm glad Blue team is alive so maybe we see them in a SpOps Season 2 or Halo 5: Guardians?
 * 4) Cover shows them running from explosion which I guess makes a bit of sense because there probably was a few on the planet wherever it was.

I think being "Composed" gives 343 room to manoeuvre where the Didact's future is concerned. He's already been composed and uncomposed once, as I understand it - the experiment that gave him his body. If he returns even more mutated and deranged, or more stable but in a robotic Promethean shell (or heck, maybe that massive thing from the trailer is his new body) it allows the player to engage him in terms that aren't near-godlike and therefore not fun for a game. If it is his final death, then it feels anti-climactic to kill him off in peripheral media, and a waste of storytelling opportunity, at least to me. --  Qura 'Morhek   The Autocrat     of Morheka   22:27, 24 September 2014 (EDT)
 * Actually Reed already confirmed over Twitter that the Ur-Didact is alive and not composed. Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 22:37, 24 September 2014 (EDT)
 * Tinfoil hat theory: the very ambiguous energy blast that cremated the Didact (yet doesn't seem to do any damage to the control room itself) was a security measure designed to extract and retain the essences of anyone in the control room in the event of catastrophic damage. This is how they'll bring back Sergeant Johnson and Faber. Doesn't explain why John wasn't affected since he was still there, but maybe you have to stand in the main chasm (the Chief was already outside the chamber).


 * If and when the Didact returns I hope they'll have the sense to redesign him into something that can be taken more seriously than his former incarnation and not another, even more dumbed down abomination. The Prometheans and the Didact were a really poor introduction to the Forerunners on a visual storytelling level — the first time we see a living Forerunner, ever, and then he turns out to be some unholy spawn of Lord Voldemort, Count Dracula, a blobfish, and a porcupine (not sure how that would even go down but I prefer not to think about it). I know he is a twisted shell of his former self but like I said it's still a poor way to introduce the Forerunners. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 02:36, 25 September 2014 (EDT)

You know what? Beyond the expected illogicalities and plot holes there are some things I liked in this issue (then again it could also be a case of lowering my expectations after the last two). I like the fact the Chief and the Didact have an actual conversation for the first time given that the Didact has been built up as John's ultimate nemesis, yet all we had before was the Didact monologuing. This is not without its problems, however — as I snidely noted in my edit summary for Issue 10's plot synopsis, there's nothing stopping the Didact from ending the Chief right there, fleeing the control room when he does, or taking John with him. Instead he just stands there like an idiot even though just a moment ago he was fully determined to slaughter Blue Team as he did Black (this could've been fixed with a simple bit of exposition - have the Didact's armor be so damaged he can barely walk to the command console). I still like Static Carillon, though I wonder how does it A: have authority to move Halos or access their teleportation systems and B: know about the final Halo Array in the first place (compartmentalization should be a thing and the newer Halos were the most carefully-guarded secret in the ecumene) or C: why does an emergency teleport take you to the control room of all places (actually, I'll answer that - because they needed a convenient way for the Didact to make it into the control room within the confines of the comic's limited amount of pages, another reason why this would've worked better as a novel).

And what's going on with John at the end? Lord Hood is telling him and his buddies to take some R & R, which is not really unreasonable even for Spartans, but then he basically goes rogue for no good reason. Him disobeying orders made sense in Halo 4 where his orders contradicted with a very acute threat he had to deal with, but that's not really evident here. He's just going on an ambiguous crusade with no apparent goal or cause. Is he supposed to be hunting the Didact or Gamma Halo? Or is this meant to hint that he's finally losing it? In this case I think the writing did a poor job at portraying either — the presentation felt more like it was meant to be endearing and illustrate how the Chief will always continue fighting and winning, etc, but it loses its steam when we have no apparent threat on the loose or a clear catalyst for John deciding to ditch the UNSC. Beforehand I think most people were under the impression something really major was going to happen that absolutely shook John's world (worst-case scenario being Blue Team dying, or at least appearing so, or being separated from John) but that isn't really the case — Blue Team kills the bad guy, saves the day is happily together again. This is another one of those cases that would've greatly benefited from an extended look into the Chief's head we would've gotten in a novel. As it stands, the ending comes out of nowhere. "After defeating the Didact, John-117 joined the crew of Infinity... but why did he leave?" says the promotional blurb for The Next 72 Hours, but upon its conclusion we're none the wiser. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 02:36, 25 September 2014 (EDT)


 * I was under the apparently mistaken impression that he had been composed. After reading your plot summary, and coming up with my own ideas of how he might return under those conditions, I wish he had been. It would have made more sense than the contradictory facts of a crispy fried Forerunner corpse and him apparently not being dead (is he only mostly dead? Will he have fun storming the castle?) As for the series as a whole, it seems entirely based on making grand promises and then delivering something entirely less, apparently on purpose. The first arc sounds great, dealing with politics and intrigue. Then it gets mired in a plot that promises (threatens?) to resolve the Spirit of Fire issue, then drops that thread like a hot potato. Then it promises the epic showdown between John and the Didact, while threatening to kill of Blue Team, and does neither. I just...I have no idea why these stories need to exist. It's as if they're trying to make grand stories that make sweeping changes to the Halo universe, but then decided they couldn't change anything at all. --  Qura 'Morhek   The Autocrat     of Morheka   06:05, 25 September 2014 (EDT)

I'm glad they killed off the Didact, for now anyway. He was a bad villain done poorly from the very beginning, and I'd much rather see the Halo universe without him. Morhek hits it on the nail here. Why bring him back at all only to kill him off 3 issues later? He could have just died at the end of Halo 4.

The ending was the most disappointing part of this issue. the Chief was supposed to be going Rogue on some mission to find Cortana, the Didact, SOMTHING! Instead, he rebelled against command by doing the stuff he's always done. In order to fill this plot hole, I point the finger at ONI. What if Blue team never integrated into the SPARTAN branch, but instead went with ONI? Naturally, Osman might not want to keep Hood completely in the loop on what the Blue team is doing. --Weeping Angel (talk) 11:45, 25 September 2014 (EDT)


 * Replace the word "killed" with "contained" bro, since he's not dead. XD Sith-venator Wavingstrider  Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 12:00, 25 September 2014 (EDT)


 * Honestly, they could've made the "Chief goes rogue" plot work a lot better if they'd had it happen because he somehow learned of ONI's shenanigans during the Kilo-Five trilogy and decided their influence within the UNSC had become too great (I could see him having a problem with their treatment of Halsey, for instance). As for Blue Team becoming a full-on ONI unit, I really hope that's not the case (and it doesn't quite look like that). --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 12:29, 25 September 2014 (EDT)

I still don't have the paper copy of this issue since the comic shop I get if from has yet to get the shipment for some reason, so I'm relying on Halo canon's review for the scope. I like issue 10 at the same time it left me disappointed. I like how Kelly's speed was displayed when she avoided the Didact and how Static Carillion demonstrated what could take down the Didact (a powerful laser). I like how the Halo was able to detach a piece from itself (although I think it would have made more sense to teleport the Didact to some random spot on the Halo and detaching that instead). As for the planet the composer's forge is on, it looks kind of like Requiem but that's another issue. And finally I like some of the smaller details like the return of some UNSC Destroyers (even though there was one in Glasslands). However, after taking a deep look at the final story arc, all I can say is this - the next 72 hours was nothing more than filler. And not the good kind of filler like HE#7. I hate to say it but the only real "things" we got out of this entire story arc was John reuniting with blue team (which wasn't sh$t), Static Carillion, the Didact survived, and a lil bit of John's childhood. Other than that, the story does nothing to move the series forward. Instead it seems to have kept it stagnant. It's basically just a retelling of Halo 4's story but shorter. There's so much that Brian Reed could have done to help bring out this entire arc. If I was him I would have done it like this: Issue 1 - The chief is reunited w/ blue team while John's personality after Cortana's death is explored, Issue 2 - It is discovered that the Didact is still alive and blue team heads out to investigate, Issue 3 - In the ensuing fight to stop the Didact something devastating occurs that causes John to depart the UNSC or "leave" (in other words give us a reason as to why he won't stop). Instead, what we get is a whole story arc that just waste time repeating the same two stories (the Halo & the composer) again and in the end accomplishes nothing other than leave us mystified as to why the chief "left". So hopefully Exposure moves the story forward and Brian Reed doesn't screw that up too.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 12:38, 27 September 2014 (EDT)


 * I agree with pretty much everything you guys have already said, and though not Escalation-specific, if we don't see the whole "Chief rebelling against power hungry ONI to find rogue Halsey with the help of his best friend Thel and bring back/save Cortana" bit in the near future, I'd sum up nearly all the new stories recently with "wasted potential". If they leave Cortana "dead" and/or (especially and) kill off/make an antagonist of Thel in Halo 5, I'm going to be very unhappy. Hopefully Thel's "how well do you know your friend" line from the trailer is as misleading as Escalation's preview descriptions. Alex T Snow (talk) 18:34, 1 October 2014 (EDT)

I have little to add to my previous complaints about this arc being schlocky, rushed and ultimately many kinds of pointless, but I don't think that's the core reason for my disappointment. I can deal with silliness and illogical situations as long as the story and characters are fulfilling. Where this arc really failed for me was the character beats. Blue Team has been separated from the Chief for so long and when they finally reunite there's next to no payoff to that. While Nylund was heavily action-centric, he still invested into the Spartans' more personal moments and interactions (for example, their reunion after Reach in First Strike, where they've been separated for a couple of weeks only, depending on your frame of reference). None of that's in here. We don't see what any of them are thinking or feeling apart from the Chief's little near-death experience; instead, the Spartans are little more than interchangeable action figures. Or what about John's quest to find Halsey? He still didn't ask about her at the end. And as I said in my Issue #8 rant, what is he thinking seeing a long-lost Spartan compatriot in the Security Council? And why does he choose to leave the UNSC behind with seemingly no incentive at all? This arc was full of missed opportunities and really highlighted the weaknesses of the comic format in comparison to a novel — at the very least, "The Next 72 Hours" should've been its own dedicated graphic novel and not a small part of a serialized comic. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 00:09, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * All I can say is that Brian Reed (just like Karen Travis) failed to show that he is a worthy writer for the series. He placed no emphasis on character development and could care-less to do so.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 02:36, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Honestly, I don't think Reed is as callous and uncaring as Traviss who flat-out states she doesn't care about anything in the 'verses she writes about, it's just that he's not a very good writer and can't seem to be able to write things outside the Marvel superhero comic formula — which works brilliantly for Spider-Man but not for Halo, whose military sci-fi nature calls for a less over-the-top and in-your-face approach. As I said before, he's like a kid playing with action figures. Most of the time, that is; he did a pretty good character story with Escalation #7 and his portrayal of Halsey in Spartan Ops was decent enough (though I'm prepared to take that back if he turns her into a villain). But then you have the bad parts like the dissonance between how Palmer is portrayed and how she comes across (as well as the retconning of her rank), his apparent scorn at anything military (of which the anarchic nature of the Spartan branch or the Chief leaving the UNSC is probably a result), nonsensical comic book schlock like Ilsa Zane's augmentations, his total disinterest at the science and technology of the setting beyond magical MacGuffins, or his one-dimensional cartoon villain portrayal of the Didact. The list goes on. Point is, I would definitely be happy if they got someone else in his place as soon as possible. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus  (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 03:12, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * True. I just think the way he handled black team was "Traviss-like" lol. But yeah Reed is definitely writing from a superhero perspective with little emphasis placed on realism or plausibility. Ilsa Zane was a clear example of an invincible supervillian (surviving in the cold vacuum of space w/o a suit???). And the Didact's portrayal was extremely disappointing (especially his appearance). Reed has a lot to make up for. I may be out of the loop on this but when/where was Palmer's rank retconned?-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 09:08, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * On the Halo 4 website, Palmer's profile said she used to be a lieutenant when she was still a Marine. Halo: Initiation instead established that she was a lance corporal by the time she was recruited to be a Spartan. Which raises the question of how they were able to gauge her purportedly excellent leadership qualities when her rank would provide no leadership training nor experience. I speculate Reed changed this in response to criticisms about Palmer never actually getting her hands dirty in Spartan Ops and he probably thought a lowly grunt was more relatable than an officer, without considering the further implications at all. Though almost certainly unintentional, this casts her behavior in a new light - maybe she acts so erratic and unprofessional because she is overpromoted and grossly underqualified, and the only reason she got her job is because Osman wanted someone she could easily order around on Infinity.


 * Additionally, it's clear the Spartan branch or their lack of formal ranks wasn't a thing by the time the final Halo 4 campaign script was laid down. Del Rio refers to Palmer as a lieutenant when he orders her to arrest the Chief which suggests she's still Navy. They later retconned this so that Del Rio is apparently addressing an off-screen Navy lieutenant, which breaks the scene in basically every way possible ("I'll ignore the only other superhuman individual on the bridge and while it looks like I'm yelling and gesturing at said superhuman individual I'm actually addressing a nobody we don't even see"). You have to wonder if making the Spartans into the bizarre, anarchic bunch they are now was really worth it. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 13:20, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * And let's not forget that adding a massive Spartan branch of hundreds of regular people who are basically regular soldiers in fancy armour (so why don't they give every soldier augmentations and Mjolnir?), aside from making them common place and far less special, it basically writes ODSTs out of existence. I mean, space Marines are pretty badass, but then you have ODSTs, who drop from orbit and doesn't afraid of anything, while the few and far between Spartans are basically gods. Chief's arrival at Crow's Nest for example, among countless others. Now it's "lulz send in the Spartans. a dozen died today? oh thats fine, we have 500 more." Alex T Snow (talk) 23:06, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Those are my two biggest problems with the Spartan-IVs for me, summed up quite nicely. One, they render the ODSTs obsolete, those wonderful mavericks with a badass rep of their own and already resented the IIs for their effectiveness. And two, so far, not a single one of them has sufficiently proven to me as a fan that they deserve to be Spartans, that they have that nearly unquantifiable spark of Spartan-ness. They still feel like soldiers or Marines in powered armour. Escalation did some good work, furthering Thorne as a character and introducing Ray, who seems capable. But it seems like every step forward is accompanied by two steps back - Scruggs murders his entire team, apparently with little effort. They get squandered dicking around looking for the Spirit of Fire, which turns out to not actually be ready to return to the plot yet. Then the IVs plot gets unceremoniously dumped in favour of showing us a complete divergence with the Chief. And the next arc of Escalation sounds as if it's going to be set up for Nightfall, so it's not their story again. I noticed a few minutes ago that I automatically corrected SPARTAN to Spartan. That's how it feels - they don't feel like capitalised SPARTANS like the Chief, Tom and Lucy and the criminally abandoned Saber Team did. They haven't earned those capitals. And the story could have been about that, proving they have what it takes - that they don't have the experience of their predecessors, or quite the physique, but they have that spark, that drive to get the mission done, to save others by taking the burden upon their own shoulders, to achieve the impossible. But it's all setup and no payoff. It all feels like a waste. --  Qura 'Morhek   The Autocrat     of Morheka   05:45, 3 October 2014 (EDT)

Issue 11 Preview
This issue looks promising since Mr. Reed is taking a hiatus (I believe) and Thorne's story has always been strong.


 * Reed's still co-writing it, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here (while Duffy Bodreau is a complete unknown to me at this point). I agree that Reed's handled Thorne decently enough so far, and a lot of the problems with The Next 72 Hours can be pinned on the fact he tackled characters people are used to reading about in much more detail (Blue Team and the Didact). When those characters get reintroduced in a very condensed and hectically paced comic book and their portrayals are as flat as cardboard, it's no surprise people are feeling let down. Meanwhile, Thorne is Reed's own baby and has always occupied that same comic-bookish narrative framework without a more nuanced portrayal (such as a novel) to weigh against. --<font color="MidnightBlue">Jugus (<font color="Gray">Talk  | <font color="Gray">Contribs ) 03:24, 2 October 2014 (EDT)
 * I want Thorne to ask Ray out. <.< >.> They'd be a cute couple. Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 03:46, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Thorne asking Ray out? I think its gonna be Ray asking Lasky out unless Ray spends more time w/ Thorne.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 09:08, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * I think we all know there's some kind of thing between Lasky and Palmer. Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 12:26, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Right. I just thought Ray might try to slide in-between that :).-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 12:35, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Huh, I always thought it was Lasky/Palmer and Thorne/Grant. Also, I really hope Thorne or Ray aren't killed off, but I have feeling one of them will be. - NightHammer (talk) 16:17, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * I've always thought of Grant as that reliable friend to Thorne, but not much more than that. Grant is a bro though none the less. Sith-venator Wavingstrider Fett helmet.jpg ( Commlink ) 16:32, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Yeah that makes more sense. Especially after Issue 7 of Escalation. Maybe Madsen has a chance making sure the female Spartans of Infinity feel "safe and secure". :) - NightHammer (talk) 23:17, 2 October 2014 (EDT)


 * Reed is probably good at handling his own characters but other ones like blue & black team, he doesn't seem to have a clue. He also didn't seem to care too much about how the fan-base would react to how existing characters were handled. So yes, I'm a lil afraid of Reed throwing in something outrageous or over-the-top in exposure. We don't need anymore non-sense in the post-war Halo era. Looking forward, a bio-weapon sounds interesting. Perhaps it may be linked to flood.-- Killamin7  [<font color="Red">Comm |<font color="Black">Files ] 09:08, 2 October 2014 (EDT)