Oh my god. It's here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, oh yeah. What the fuck is this? Well, we're finally here. Escalation issue 8. It seems like it's been a long way, but we're finally entering the next 72 hour story arc. Our comic starts out with a brief retelling of the events of Halo 4. For some reason, they felt the need to indicate the date is July 24th, 2557, even though the chief woke up on July 21st, and his confrontation with the Dietict was on July 25th. We cut to the chief being debriefed by the UNSC Security Council. We can really tell how frightened these guys are at the prospect of a living foreman or scrutinizing every detail of the chief's actions. That is until, of course, Lord Hode tells them to chill the fuck out. Bad ass Lordhood, baby. The debriefing concludes with the council deciding to blame the new Phoenix incident on the covenant and to credit the victory to the Master Chief. So got to stop for a moment and ask a simple but probably pointless question. Why is the Master Chief in his armor? We saw him remove it at the end of Halo 4, though it could be said that the seeming question takes place after the next 72 hour story arc. Still it's kind of strange seeing as the chief is usually wearing his navy uniform during debriefings. You could argue that after four years drifting in space he wouldn't have access to his dress blues, but I still wonder why he's allowed to keep his helmet on. I know the real world reason why, but it still kind of feels weird and not a place. After the meeting, Hode catches up with the chief, apologizing for what he calls a lack of professionalism in offers the chief of promotion, saying that the chief could easily be an admiral with his record. The chief responds, saying, the admiral doesn't have quite the same ring. It can be easy to forget that the chief can crack a joke, rare though it may be. Hode goes on to tell the chief that he has a problem and needs the chief's advice. It seems that only personnel were on Gamma Halo during the attack on Ivla Station and escorted by Black Team, because they were on the Halo they were actually spared from the destruction. Now I'm actually surprised to find out that the chief knows about Black Team since they were a Black Ops unit. I guess that's really nitpicking though. Still I'm excited to see Black Team back in the fold. I wonder how they got off line installation 1-4, but I guess that's probably not important to the story. We find out that Team Black and the only team they were escorting sent out a distress call an hour before and have since been silent. Based on what's set in the distress call, the chief immediately thinks Prometheans and volunteers to join the team that's having to Gamma Halo. And the team is of course, blue team! Oh yeah, blue team is reuniting. What the fuck is this? What is blue team have armor that looks exactly the same as the chiefs? Is armor supposed to be unique? Hell the Halo 4 visual guide suits that blue team is in 2558 wearing Bayside Mark 6. So what the hell 3-4-3? And since when is Kelly a sniper? Does no one from the story team properly proofread these before they go to Prints? It's here, see what's with the different color sets? Fred and Kelly get blue, but Linda's gray? I guess I'm nitpicking again, but you know these small details are important to me and other fans. Well, either way, I can't wait to see blue team reuniting. After so much time apart, I can only guess what they're going to have to say. What? That's it? A couple lines of banter and whoosh off to Gamma Halo? The fuck 3-4-3? This is the first time John Cena fell smart since his return to Earth after the events of Halo CE. And you give them a couple panels to reunite? Hell from blue teams perspective, it's been even longer since John was in cryo for 4 years. And nothing? Ugh, moving forward, the team deploys to Gamma Halo and it isn't long before they find the corpses of the only team in really, really. You bring back team black with no explanation how they got offline installation 1-4 and then you just kill them off, a 4 man Spartan team and boom, dead. Jesus Christ, what was the point of bringing them back if you were just going to kill them? I can't. This is gotta be some of the worst writing in Halo media history. I mean, I get that this is supposed to be about the Chiefs personal journey, but you have to get the reader invested too. For people who don't know about team black, this is just more dead Spartans. And for people that do, it's an insult. We've been waiting for years to hear about the fate of black team, only for them to die off screen because drama, killing some name of Spartan 4's would have been better. Then we know we don't need to be emotionally invested in them, just that the enemy being faced is a powerful and capable one. Oh yeah, and in the very next scene, Blue Team dispatches a squad of knights no problem. Okay, I have to call them out of this bullshit. What the fuck are you thinking? Brian Reed. No seriously, I want to know. I need to know because this is bullshit through and through. There is no excuse for this. Especially for someone who boasts so many years in the comic industry. So getting back to the story, Blue Team follows some crawler tracks, coming across the location where the composer was originally stored on the installation. As they go deeper and deeper, they come across what I can only imagine to be the first level of hell. In fact, this is the composers of this, where all the composed humans were sent. As much as I am pan this series, these images are truly haunting. On the other hand, I don't know that they really belong in Halo. From the comments I have seen, this scene is really confused a number of fans as to what the composer does to a being. I just figured that there are projections, much like Cortana projects herself in a Holo Tank, but who knows, it's very unclear. Meanwhile on another planet, I think, a monitor is in distress, saying he has to tell someone about the human presence. And so, the moment we have all been waiting for, the Died Axe return. Indeed, the Died Axe is alive and well, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for Blue Team. But seriously, did you have to have him in such a stereotypical setting, a bad guy on a throne, and have him expecting the Died Axe to ped a crawl or well laughing maniacally? Still, it's interesting what this planet could be. Is it simply another part of the Halo, or is it actually a new planet? Many have thought it might be Nome Doggo, the place where he lived when he was married to the Liberian, so that's up in the air. Well, that's it for Issue 8. Overall, it was a decent read, but I took serious issue with a number of decisions by 343 and Brian Reed. Look, guys, if you're going to be making all these changes, take some time to explain them, otherwise you can fuse your fans. You guys boast all the time about caring for the fiction. And while it shows at times, it's times like these that make people doubt. And you have to know that negativity leaves a much stronger impression in the short term. All it takes is that moment of doubt to lose fans forever. This has been Halo Cannon. I'll see you next time, Spartans.