Image courtesy Dark Horse Image courtesy Dark Horse

Craving more stories in the Halo universe? Dark Horse has you covered.

Although graphic novels and comics set in the Halo series have heretofore been handled by industry giant Marvel, Wired can exclusively reveal today that the next series of books based on Microsoft's insanely popular Xbox shooters will be produced by Dark Horse. On August 14, it will launch the first issue of a new mini-series called Halo: Initiation.

Brian Reed, the comic writer who adapted the Halo: Fall of Reach novel into comic form in 2010 before joining 343 Industries to write the Halo 4 game, will write the books, with Marco Castiello (Star Wars: Purge) on art. Initiation is the origin story of Sarah Palmer, a character introduced in Halo 4. Although she appeared in the game as a commander of the Spartan forces, she was originally an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper; this series follows her career path.

"After Halo 4 and Spartan Ops, fans wanted to know more about the origins of the Spartan-IV program and Sarah Palmer in particular. So it's great fun to be able to grant those wishes with a partner like Dark Horse," Reed said in a statement issued by Dark Horse.

Check out the first glimpse at pages from Initiation above.