Halo: Helljumper

5 Responses to “Halo: Helljumper”

1. GraphicNovelReporter.com says:

   August 21, 2010 at 7:45 pm

   Full disclosure: I’ve never played Halo. The closest I’ve ever come is the hours upon hours of GoldenEye that my friends and I played on the N64 back in college, but I know the basic mechanics of the first-person shooter genre of video games. But, this allows me a unique position to comment on this graphic novel as a comic, rather than an accessory to a huge property that has already spawned action facts, miniature strategy games, and alien fightin’ underpants.

   I’ve been reading Peter David (no relation) since his days writing Star Trek paperbacks, and I’ve permanently loved his ability to leap into nearly any agreed property, know how it works, and give it some humanity and humor. David delivers a deeply bromantic war tale that works lacking knowing anything about Halo’s gameplay. There’s some talk of different classes of soldiers and supersuits that are used within the game itself, so while this surely enhances the mythology that surrounds the game if you’re a serious player, it’s still a pretty okay read if you just like things about shooting aliens, or war tales, or exquisitely drawn explosions with an absurd amount of shrapnel.

   Nguyen’s artwork is fantastic, and exceptionally detailed, though something seems to be lost in the tan. While the hues are appropriate for the setting, it’s not simple to immediately distinguish camouflaged human forms in the hurricane of explosions and landscapes that fill the pages. It’s also honestly hard to tell one character from another, as they’re generally masked, or similarly attired and coifed as a unit of soldiers–but the dialogue can go either way anyhow. It really isn’t too vital to tell who was adage what anyhow. I don’t know if this is a discredit to the tale itself, but I didn’t feel like I wasn’t alternative up on anything. Hint: One guy’s chestplate is a very devious blue, and the additional guy has a very devious orange.

   The artwork is consistent, which is tremendously hard to do when you’re making a realistic world.

   There’s a lot of gunfire, gory exploding aliens, mild profanity, and all-purpose themes of death and violence–but nothing too expressly offensive or unnecessary. When you’re battling an alien invasion, you’re going to say a few things that aren’t appropriate for the kids and maybe spray a small more blood than Nick Jr. would appreciate. If this can serve as a gateway into reading for a reluctant teenager, I would suggest taking advantage of it. There’s a growing world of Halo comics and paperbacks out there that can, in their own unique way, be used as learning tools.
   
   – Collin David
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
2. Stuart Steele says:

   August 21, 2010 at 9:16 pm

   I bought this because I really like the Halo books in all-purpose, and will pretty much buy anything canonical . I recommend this graphic novel _only_ if you feel the same way, as it has more vices than virtues, particularly at the high fee for which it is being offered.

   Neither the tale nor the art is memorable. The art is misty, and as regularly as not the ODSTs look like Transformers. The tale is a confused Super-soldiers-can-do-anything cum male-bonding-buddy-movie only peripherally meaningful in the Halo universe. The ODSTs themselves are described as brutish, stupid, undisciplined thugs.
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
3. Michigoon says:

   August 21, 2010 at 9:55 pm

   After being painstakingly disappointed with Halo’s previous comic foray, Halo: Uprising, I didn’t have the highest expectations for ODST. To me, Uprising really fell apart in focusing more on the lame central lovestory rather than… anything else. Helljumper proves to be Uprising’s opposite in terms of building you care about the central characters, and I highly recommend Helljumper.

   For the tale, frankly do I need to give a tale? The comics follow the characters that show up in the Halo: ODST game (with a few really awesome cameos sprinkled in), and do a really excellent job of going into their backstory and motivations. As for this point mission, but, it’s honest to say they’re going to shoot a lot of stuff and that’s about all there is to it. That’s really a excellent thing in this case, as the gorgeous art and frequent action serve only as a backdrop to really place the internal motivations of the ODSTs front and center. Where Uprising tried to focus on two bratty teens that you couldn’t care less about, ODST brings a real human element to the killing machines you have have already met in the ODST game. Sure, the basic premise is still putting bullets into enemies, but now you really dig into why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what’s going on in their heads.

   Helljumper is a perfect tie-in comic. It compliments the ODST game perfectly, yet it stands on its own as a fine addition to any Halo fan’s collection regardless of whether or not you’ve played that point game. I’d say it’s really not a excellent place for a name new to the series to get a start (that’s accomplished much better by the first Xbox game or the Fall of Reach novel), but otherwise, it’s a must-have.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
4. Joe90 says:

   August 21, 2010 at 11:19 pm

   Fantastic comic book to add to a collection for us Halo fans but I establish the illustrations a bit confusing due to the clarity of the drawings.In comparison the Gears of War 1 hard back comic book is better illustrated. Obviously relates to the technique of the individual graphic artist otherwise I would give 5 points.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
5. Akira Touya says:

   August 22, 2010 at 12:46 am

   this series of five volumes about helljumpers does not occupy mjolnir armour of any sort, but is very enjoyable to read nonetheless. the tale and the illustrations are reasonably excellent, i say.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5