COMIC RELIEF

In case you haven’t heard, Issue 15 of Halo: Escalation launched not long ago and continues the story that first began in Halo: Spartan Ops, as the crew of the UNSC Infinity attempt to track down Jul ‘Mdama, Doctor Halsey, and the vital missing half of the Janus Key. It’s definitely worth jumping into, as fans of both Halo: Spartan Ops as well as folks looking forward to the Halo 5: Guardians campaign should find plenty to pique their interests. With that in mind, I caught up with one of 343’s wild wordsmiths, Brian Reed, whose tireless efforts are integral to the stories being told in each of the aforementioned tales. Let’s see what he has to say about sewing stories into the fabric of Halo.

GrimBrother One: What is personally your favorite corner of the Halo universe to work or play in?

Brian Reed: You’ve asked which part of fun I enjoy the most. I have meetings where we argue about the speed of space ships or the familial relationships of people five hundred years in the future. Basically I get to play make believe all day with my friends and that’s a job where it’s hard to say “well, my *favorite* part is…”



Grim: What can you say about the relationship of comics to games? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of getting the story across in each?

Brian Reed: We work to keep our universe coherent across all mediums, so the comics “count” as much to Halo canon as a game (or a novel or live action series). The nice thing about comics is how fast you can put new story into the channel. Every 30 days we can give a new chunk of Halo Universe lore to the fans, and that’s a speed that you just can’t match with games where you’re working for a upwards of a couple of years to ship a campaign story.



Grim: Any particular episode of Halo: Spartan Ops you consider your favorite?

Brian Reed: The part of building Spartan Ops that I enjoyed most was the chance for the audience to learn more about Halsey, and for all of us to meet Roland. The start of episode 6 when Halsey lamented how she would never know everything is my favorite scene of the series. She’s laying her soul bare for maybe the first time in her life and Palmer is feeling so betrayed that she doesn’t get it. Palmer just sees a woman who has been knowingly committing an act of treason. I also love the start of episode 7 where Roland is honestly trying to understand who Halsey is and why she does the things she does. He’s wonderful fun to write and to spend time with.



Grim: What issue of Halo: Escalation did you enjoy working on the most?

Brian Reed: My favorite was issue 7, where Thorne goes home to New Phoenix. We’d just done six issues of planet hopping while space ships blow up. There was betrayal and infidelity and lies and just huge crazy events, and we knew the next arc was going to essentially be Chief vs Didact: Round 2, so there was the desire to do something much smaller. What came about was this quiet story about a man dealing with the loss of a loved one. In Halo stories we talk so much about ships or colonies or whole worlds being destroyed, but we very rarely get the chance to stop and talk about what that means, and how it affects people on a very personal level. It was really nice to be able to do something so tonally different, yet still so obviously Halo.



Grim: What can fans expect from Halo: Escalation in regards to how it ties in with Halo 5: Guardians? Any cool teases lore-lovers might get excited about?

Brian Reed: Duffy Boudreau is handling the writing duties on the comic now, and is doing an amazing job with the continuation of the Spartan Ops saga. Between now and Halo 5 hitting the shelves, Duffy is doing some amazing things. Things that will result in ONI agents being dispatched to my office if I say too much.

But listen, if you’re not already reading, you should know Duffy has already introduced plot threads that come up in Halo 5. In the months ahead, Duffy helps us introduce some new and very important characters. He wraps up the Janus Key plot from Spartan Ops, and in doing so actually shifts the galactic balance of power in a very key way for the story we’re about to tell in the game.

By the way, a nice lady from ONI just walked up to my desk and informed me I have said enough, so I will stop talking about upcoming plots now.

Oh, she says I’m done saying much of anything to anyone for today and I should go with her now. She’s resting her hand on a holstered pistol and telling me to stop typing. So, um… bye for now(?).