Is this an intergalactic extension that just doesn’t need to exist?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Dark Horse:

The UNSC Infinity, the UNSC’s newest and most sophisticated flagship, proves to be a tempting target for a group of insurgents. It’s up to Sarah Palmer and a bunch of rookie Spartans to defend Infinity, but are they up to the task?

From start to finish this comic book is accessible, whether you’re familiar with the franchise or not the creative team has built a tale that exists on its own with just enough proper support to give the air of substance.  That being said there are some drawbacks here and there which ultimately prevent it from being a memorable journey among the stars.

Brian Reed pens the script and might I say the author does an exceptional job creating an easy to follow narrative.  Sure there are some embedded twists and turns that are bound to cause our primary characters some trouble but for the most part everything plays out in a fairly straight forward fashion.  Considering that the source material is a first-person shooter saga that’s been around since the original Xbox there shouldn’t be much surprise that our heroes and villains are little more than stiff archetypes.  In short: it’s a smartly crafted romp but there’s just something lacking in the subtext.

The visual side of things is brought to life via the works of Marco Castiello.  The talent balances core elements from its birthing ground with the spirit of an interactive cut scene to achieve renditions that are sure to please devoted followers.  Some of his art might come off a bit bland but for my two cents I found his interpretation of the saga and its varying events to be quite refreshing.  Especially when the author took some honest but predictable plot points and ran with them.

Halo: Initiation #2 highlights some basic but key notes from works of science fiction, with very little depth within the confines of its pages.  Nonetheless it builds itself up enough to earn a recommendation from this reviewer.

3.5/5