HALO: INITIATION #1 Review - Worth Signing Up For

The Halo franchise has mostly focused on the exploits of Master Chief and Cortana, but the most interesting entries in the franchise to me were ODST and REACH, which took the point of views of the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper's and non Chief Spartans, respectively. To me those were far more interesting, as that "nothing can really hurt me and I won't die because I'm the main character" aspect that made Chief (to me at least) unrelatable was gone.

The main character of Initiation is Sarah Palmer, and it's wonderful to see another well fleshed out female character taking center stage in the Halo universe. Brian Reed, a favorite writer of mine from his Ms. Marvel days (before she was Captain and before he was with 343) brings his usual wit to the character, and does a nice balancing act, making her confident and sure of herself while still keeping her relatable. There's also some nice back and forth concerning how the ODST's look at the Spartans, and how they are all at once appreciated and resented. 

That's all I'll say on the plot because it's a worthwhile read. I definitely recommend giving it a look when you can. Another plus for the book is the artwork of Marco Castiello, which shines throughout. His action scenes illustrate just how damn good you have to be to qualify as an ODST, and that Spartans aren't the only ones who can hold their own. Congrats on also drawing an amazing Master Chief on pg. 4 too -- not really related, but wow. 

I'm eagerly anticipating issue #2, and you can grab issue #1 on comic racks everywhere tomorrow. I'm interested to see what our community thinks about the issue as well, so let us know in the comments!