The Halo Graphic Novel

Based on the wildly popular videogame, this anthology collects four stories by different creators, all set in the Halo universe of the 26th century. The game's central story details a war between Earth's United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a coalition of hostile alien races. At the center is Master Chief, a UNSC cyborg-marine who discovers the terrible secret of the Halo, a series of ringlike artificial planets. Hardcore Halo fans will love Lee Hammock's "The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor," viscerally illustrated by Simon Bisley, detailing the Flood, a nasty parasitic race of monsters that threaten both the Covenant and the human race. For newcomers there's the legendary Moebius's "Second Sunrise over New Mombasa," in which he renders a beautiful, futuristic version of the Kenyan city—and deftly surveys the intersection of war propaganda and the media. The book's artwork is skillful and unusual (including a story by Tsutomu Nihei and a gallery by an all-star lineup of artists in the back) and the writing brings the Halo universe and its central tenets to life. But ultimately the reader will yearn for the depth of a real, book-length graphic novel—and maybe that's next to come. (July)