Well, it's here. Escalation 24, the conclusion to the longest Halo comic ever. And God was it disappointing. I mean, after the preview released, I didn't really have high hopes, but for some reason I wanted to remain optimistic. I mean, the Janisky story arc was pretty good and certainly had a surprise ending, so maybe the remaining 18 pages would hold some sort of twist. Nope, barely anything happened so little in fact that I could probably sum it up in a single minute if I really wanted to. But we'll save any sort of ranter discussion for after the issue. Until then, this is Halo Escalation issue 24. We pick up with Jule and his forces under attack from sentinels, believing the custodian to have retaken control, ignorant of the truth. Meanwhile, Palmer and Tanaka are fighting off sentinels and trying to return control to the custodian. Meanwhile, saline on his forces have taken control of Jule's weapon vault. Salih thanks I eat for his help and devotion before I eat leaves for the hangar bay, claiming he will help secure it. In truth, he'll be waiting for Thorne to arrive. Unknown to I eat, two zealots overheard his conversation in English from the last issue and follow him. Back at the absolute record as Glassman and Company continued to work to restore the custodian, Halsey catches on and tries to interfere with the process. In the end of this, Palmer goes after Halsey. Jule, meanwhile, takes note of the weakened attack from the sentinels, a result of the custodian's attempt to take back control and orders Song of Retribution to approach the site. Back with Halsey, Palmer shows up in order to stop interfering or she'll shoot. Before she can, however, Halsey erects some sort of containment field and opens a teleportation node for herself. On breath of annihilation, I eat is cornered by the two zealots. Making a plea for his life, he says that he'll bring the Spartan to them. He does just that as Thorne crashes into the hangar with his banshee, killing the two zealots in the process. At the absolute record, Song of Retribution fires on the site, hitting the chamber where Halsey and Palmer currently are. The blast frees Palmer and allows the recalibration process to finish. Halsey runs towards her teleportation node, Palmer firing at her from behind. And for some reason, Palmer now shoots like a stormtrooper. I mean, say what you will about the woman, but on any other day, she's a damn good shot. Just look at her performance in Spartan ops. That's some skill. And now, despite the dozens of hours she has since spent in the war game simulator, she's been reduced to a stormtrooper. God damn it. So anyway, Halsey makes it through her teleportation node only to find herself on the face of the custodian. He reveals that before she took control, she was actually on track till legitimately earn it. However, with her conduct, she has proven unworthy and the Janusky is taken from her. Then the absolute record starts something. I'm honestly not sure what. Glassman says the site is disappearing right out from under us, but I'm not sure if that means it's disintegrating or moving itself or what. Anyway, Glassman reveals that he may have found Breath of Annihilation based on a star map revealed during the test. With it being their best bet for escape, they open a portal and jump through. Jewel mean while it's preparing song of retribution for departure. A subordinate notes that if they leave now, many of their forces will be left behind, the Jewel rebutts that they have no time to waste. An incoming phantom reveals that they have the unconscious Halsey on board prompting Jewel to wait for it, but no other. On Breath, which is now under the complete control of Selenion, Glassman Tanaka and Palmer meet up with Aeet, who brings them to Thorns' location. When Breath jumps to Sungheely's space, Aeet and Company depart on a phantom and rendezvous with Oni. Selen meanwhile is confronted by Jewel. The two ships are evenly matched on either Cleams victory this day, meaning Selenion is still out there as a potential covenant leader for the next game or story. The issue comes to an end on Infinity where Lasky is debriefing Palmer. He notes that when talking about Halsey, she doesn't sound as angry as she used to. Palmer reveals that she's just glad that Halsey fucked up in the same way she did. After everything that Spartanops and Halo Escalation built up to, that's it. That's our payoff. What the actual fuck? Halo Escalation had quite the legacy to live up to. Halo comics have been generally well received in the community and they, at one time, set a precedent for video game comics. As I once said, they weren't the first to do it but they showed how to do it right. Now it seems like 343 needs to go back and look at what made those comics work, why people enjoyed them, and what makes them memorable now. Halo Escalation was meant to fill the gap between Halo 4 and Halo 5, and while it does accomplish that goal, it only does so by the skin of its teeth. The overall story is so bare bones that it might as well not have happened at all. The Janiski story arc gave us hope that something real would happen in these comics, but now, at the end, you'd be forgiven for never knowing what happened. The Janiski is gone and I don't really know what happened to the absolute record, where basically where we were at the end of Halo 4's campaign. As it stands, Spartanops and this comic don't matter, and may as well have never happened. Thorn went nowhere, the Janiski went nowhere, and nothing from Spartanops or Escalation plays into Halo 5 at all. Well, with the exception of Tanaka and that atrocious Palmer is cool with Halsey now bit. Now sure, this could potentially play into a story at a later date, but Chantazar we won't see that for a year or two from now, and when it does finally play into a game, I'll bet my life that having the knowledge of Spartanops and Escalation really won't matter. Halo Escalation was a failure of a comic in my opinion, and given how much good there is in certain parts, it really pains me to say that. The initial six issues barring the deceptive description from Dark Horse were actually really good, and those two part stories about Tanaka and the Bioepin were really up there in terms of narrative quality. The art is another story, but that's not really pertinent to this discussion. If you avoided picking up the individual issues, you were probably better off, and if you want to get into it now, you'll certainly save money by getting the trade paperbacks. Maybe it was too much to hope that Escalation would have stronger ties to Halo 5, but I just can't accept that, especially given the quality of comics past. These, 343, if you see this, understand that we don't dislike Halo comics, but as I've said, there is a certain bar of quality that was set by the Marvel run comics that these just don't live up to. After the less than stellar reception of the Kilo 5 books, you proved that you could learn from your mistakes with the latest batch of books. I don't think anyone would disagree that the books from this year alone were some of the best in a long time, and honestly, Halo Evolution's remains one of my favorite publications of all time, Halo wise. I sincerely hope that you can do the same with whatever Halo comic comes next. Well, that's my pseudo soapbox speech for today. Thank you all for watching. These Escalation reviews have been a real interesting experience, and I look forward to doing some more whenever the next comic comes. Before we go, some news. The last light reviews next up on the chopping block, followed likely by Shadow of Intent, then Halo 5. Halo 5 has a lot to break down, discuss, and in some places, rip apart. So please be patient with that one. I'd also like to try and film my head bobbing in Halo 5's theater, but we'll see whether or not that's an option. Thanks for watching, and until next time, this has been Halo Canon. Hey guys, thanks for watching. If you liked this video, please consider giving it a thumbs up, subscribing, and sharing it around. You are the reason I get to keep doing this, so thank you, profusely thank you. If you want to dive deeper into Halo's lore, head over to the Halo Archive. It's a lore based community that welcomes everyone from experts to rookies. No matter what you're working knowledge, you'll be sure to find a friend and a good time.