SDCC: Dark Horse announces ongoing Halo comic series

Not a mini-series or a limited run book, this Halo-branded comic is here to stay.

Game developer 343 Studios’ own Frank O’Connor made the announcement for the new book at Comic Con this past weekend and fleshed out a little of what fans can expect from the first Halo ongoing comic book series.

Taking place in the current Halo Universe (post Halo 4), the brand new book will be titled Halo: Escalation and will fill in a whole bunch of the blanks that the fourth (numbered) game in the Halo franchise left open. Fans can expect to see direct results from the events of Halo 4 play out in the first issues of Escalation, as well as meet up with a few favorite characters.

Escalation kicks off with a focus on the UNSC Infinity (the massive ship from Halo 4), her commanding officer Captain Lasky and the newly introduced Spartan Sarah Palmer as they escort none other than the Arbiter on a diplomatic mission to negotiate peace with the Brutes. Of course, things don’t go exactly as planned as they end up having to fend off an attack by those less inclined towards peacetime.

Writing the book will be Halo game scribe Chris Schlerf, which is always a great move as far as I’m concerned. Keeping the same writer pretty much means that both the comics and the games will have the same flow and be in sync (as much as possible anyway) going forward – nothing bad about that. In addition to Schlerf, Omar Francia will be bringing the Halo Universe to life with his pencils (as seen in the Star Wars: Legacy and Mass Effect comics) and Anthony Palumbo (Dragon Age) will be providing the cover illustrations.

“There are many, many more stories we want to tell in the Halo universe than we’d ever be able to explore solely through the games,” said writer Chris Schlerf. “Having the chance to see those adventures come to life on a monthly basis feels like the ultimate realization of an awful lot of dreaming on our part.”

I’m sure fans would agree with that statement as there’s an absolutely massive universe behind the games, which only show a small part of what previous developer and series creator Bungie built and what 343 is expanding upon right now. Other than the novels, there hasn’t really been a way to explore that boundless fiction on a regular basis. Well, till now that is.

Halo: Escalation hits stands from Dark Horse Comics on December 11th. If you’re a Halo fan wanting some four-color action at present though, you won’t have to wait until the end of the year as the first issue of Dark Horse’s Halo: Initiation miniseries is due next month. That book focuses on the events surrounding the newly released Halo: Spartan Assault game, which is available now on Windows 8 and some Windows Phone devices.