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The Ballad of Halo Jones #3
The Ballad of Halo Jones: Volume 3
BOOK 3 IN THE SERIES.
This third volume concludes Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s masterwork, coloured for the first time by Barbara Nosenzo.
Caught in the Web
Her dreams of escape dashed, Halo has ended up on a decaying ghostworld, where the drink is the only thing that hasn’t run dry. Having drifted from one dead-end job to another, her credits and hopes for the future have almost run out, but fortunately, the military is looking for new recruits. With no other way out, she enlists.
This third volume concludes Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s masterwork, coloured for the first time by Barbara Nosenzo.
Caught in the Web
Her dreams of escape dashed, Halo has ended up on a decaying ghostworld, where the drink is the only thing that hasn’t run dry. Having drifted from one dead-end job to another, her credits and hopes for the future have almost run out, but fortunately, the military is looking for new recruits. With no other way out, she enlists.
96 pages, ebook
Published September 19, 2018
About the author
Alan Moore
1,674 books22.4k followersAlan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 26, 2020
This is arguably the best of the three Halo Jones books.
It's longer, for one thing. Moore and Gibson had fifteen installments in which to tell their story, as opposed to the more usual ten. It allows for more incident and character development. Some of the entire series’ most memorable scenes take place during this arc.
The subject matter is more on the grim and serious side. No more shopping expeditions, no more playing hostess on a space liner … Halo joins the military, and we finally get a glimpse of that war in the Tarantula Nebula that's been teased in the background of the previous two books.
It could be argued that this is, in some ways, a tacit failure of Moore’s original concept. Halo was originally supposed to deliberately go against the grain of the typical 2000AD feature, but being a soldier in a future war is about as 2000AD as it gets.
Still, this is hardly the typical 2000AD spin on future warfare, and it's not as though Moore wasn't hinting at this early on as a possible storyline. And Halo is still very much *not* a typical hero. She feels very down-to-Earth and ordinary, despite being caught up in such extraordinary events.
With this volume, all loose threads from the first two books appear to be accounted for. In his introduction, Moore speculates about the possibility of further adventures. But since it's been thirty-four years, as of this writing, since that intro appeared, and there's been no sign of The Ballad of Halo Jones Book Four, I think we’d best not hold our collective breath. Highly recommended!
It's longer, for one thing. Moore and Gibson had fifteen installments in which to tell their story, as opposed to the more usual ten. It allows for more incident and character development. Some of the entire series’ most memorable scenes take place during this arc.
The subject matter is more on the grim and serious side. No more shopping expeditions, no more playing hostess on a space liner … Halo joins the military, and we finally get a glimpse of that war in the Tarantula Nebula that's been teased in the background of the previous two books.
It could be argued that this is, in some ways, a tacit failure of Moore’s original concept. Halo was originally supposed to deliberately go against the grain of the typical 2000AD feature, but being a soldier in a future war is about as 2000AD as it gets.
Still, this is hardly the typical 2000AD spin on future warfare, and it's not as though Moore wasn't hinting at this early on as a possible storyline. And Halo is still very much *not* a typical hero. She feels very down-to-Earth and ordinary, despite being caught up in such extraordinary events.
With this volume, all loose threads from the first two books appear to be accounted for. In his introduction, Moore speculates about the possibility of further adventures. But since it's been thirty-four years, as of this writing, since that intro appeared, and there's been no sign of The Ballad of Halo Jones Book Four, I think we’d best not hold our collective breath. Highly recommended!
January 18, 2022
Brilliant book!
I'm now vert disappointed that this is the last of the Halo Jones stories - feel like Moore had hit his stride with the character and... and... I want to know what happens next!
I'm now vert disappointed that this is the last of the Halo Jones stories - feel like Moore had hit his stride with the character and... and... I want to know what happens next!
July 20, 2019
Oookay. So I read this book because Garden said she wanted to talk about it and I found the 3-volume set at Comic-Con for half price, and there you are.
The simplest thing to say is that none of the things you'll read about it -- 'epic,' 'groundbreaking,' 'feminist,' even dare I say 'good' -- are actually things that it is until the third volume, but the first two volumes are short and like, honestly, it doesn't matter what I write here, you'll read them and wonder why anyone bothered recommending it to you. Here, look, I'm just going to spoil the plots of the first two books because nothing happens and they're kind of terrible until you get to the third book anyway.
The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume One: Halo Jones goes shopping.
The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume Two: Halo Jones gets a job on a cruise ship.
I mean, like, that is basically it. Volume 1 takes place in about 6 hours of story time and nothing happens until the last two pages. It's supposed to just be about "women being women" or something, according to Moore in the afterword, but it's bogus. It's dreck. Find it for five bucks or less if you can.
Volume 2 is mildly better because, like, a few things happen, but they're sort of inconsequential and basically unconnected from one another. The most interesting part of the book is its prologue, which starts to paint a picture of the world of poverty which Halo escaped in the previous book. And like, a few other interesting things happen, but most of them aren't clearly interesting until either the last few pages of Volume 2, or once you get rolling on Volume 3 (this one).
And oohhhh, Volume 3.
If Volumes 2 and 3 are what it's like to watch the original X-Men movies 20 years later, Volume 3 is what it's like to get your face blasted off by Logan. But better, really -- it's all the anti-war and anti-corporate sentiment of Starship Troopers and Apocalypse Now. It's just dark -- incredibly dark, painfully dark, the kind of truth-in-darkness that has come up through time to the inky black hell that is life in 2019 to sort of explode.
Halo Jones is fucking genius, but, like its titular character, it takes a looooong time to come to fruition. It is a painful book to read while living in the world we have been doomed to, but that is perhaps what makes it most sublime.
The simplest thing to say is that none of the things you'll read about it -- 'epic,' 'groundbreaking,' 'feminist,' even dare I say 'good' -- are actually things that it is until the third volume, but the first two volumes are short and like, honestly, it doesn't matter what I write here, you'll read them and wonder why anyone bothered recommending it to you. Here, look, I'm just going to spoil the plots of the first two books because nothing happens and they're kind of terrible until you get to the third book anyway.
The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume One: Halo Jones goes shopping.
The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume Two: Halo Jones gets a job on a cruise ship.
I mean, like, that is basically it. Volume 1 takes place in about 6 hours of story time and nothing happens until the last two pages. It's supposed to just be about "women being women" or something, according to Moore in the afterword, but it's bogus. It's dreck. Find it for five bucks or less if you can.
Volume 2 is mildly better because, like, a few things happen, but they're sort of inconsequential and basically unconnected from one another. The most interesting part of the book is its prologue, which starts to paint a picture of the world of poverty which Halo escaped in the previous book. And like, a few other interesting things happen, but most of them aren't clearly interesting until either the last few pages of Volume 2, or once you get rolling on Volume 3 (this one).
And oohhhh, Volume 3.
If Volumes 2 and 3 are what it's like to watch the original X-Men movies 20 years later, Volume 3 is what it's like to get your face blasted off by Logan. But better, really -- it's all the anti-war and anti-corporate sentiment of Starship Troopers and Apocalypse Now. It's just dark -- incredibly dark, painfully dark, the kind of truth-in-darkness that has come up through time to the inky black hell that is life in 2019 to sort of explode.
Halo Jones is fucking genius, but, like its titular character, it takes a looooong time to come to fruition. It is a painful book to read while living in the world we have been doomed to, but that is perhaps what makes it most sublime.
October 4, 2018
A good ending to a fascinating journey.
August 13, 2020
The third book of the Ballad of Halo Jones, this one initially finds her down and out. Out of funds and options, she is now stuck on a nowhere planet and drinking to forget her sorrows. But change would come when the opportunity for a job comes along.
But the job offer would actually be enlistment (via the shipmate she met in the previous book) into the military conflict between Earth and the worlds of the Tarantula Nebula. She get basic training and is assigned to patrol duty. She then gets to see first hand the conflict that is happening and wonders whether it is worth it.
When she gets sent to the planet Moab, a heavy gravity world that plays havoc with time, she begins to question the futility of war but gets involved in a relationship with the general in charge of the war. When the war winds down, questions begin to be asked about the general's methods, especially one that Halo discovers, to her horror, that she was involved with on the cruise ship in the previous book. At the end, she makes a decision about her relationship with the general and decides to makes her own path in the galaxy again.
A book that is darker than the previous two, this one shows a Halo that now world weary and disappointed with her life. Whatever happens to her from now on is not yet known as future planned episodes of Halo Jones' story were not written, but if there were, they would surely explore yet more fascinating aspects of her life.
But the job offer would actually be enlistment (via the shipmate she met in the previous book) into the military conflict between Earth and the worlds of the Tarantula Nebula. She get basic training and is assigned to patrol duty. She then gets to see first hand the conflict that is happening and wonders whether it is worth it.
When she gets sent to the planet Moab, a heavy gravity world that plays havoc with time, she begins to question the futility of war but gets involved in a relationship with the general in charge of the war. When the war winds down, questions begin to be asked about the general's methods, especially one that Halo discovers, to her horror, that she was involved with on the cruise ship in the previous book. At the end, she makes a decision about her relationship with the general and decides to makes her own path in the galaxy again.
A book that is darker than the previous two, this one shows a Halo that now world weary and disappointed with her life. Whatever happens to her from now on is not yet known as future planned episodes of Halo Jones' story were not written, but if there were, they would surely explore yet more fascinating aspects of her life.
September 16, 2020
The third volume of the Ballad of Halo Jones ties the story up very well. All Halo wanted from the beginning was to get out. And she did. And it cost her so much. This volume is by far the heaviest one of the three, showing the inhumanity of war and how it destroys the ones fighting it. War becomes the reason for itself at some point, and even the innocent start acting for its will.
April 17, 2020
Fascinating early Moore work. Doesn't hold up to the level of the later stuff, but a lot of fun in its own right.
August 15, 2013
In this final volume of the Ballad of Halo Jones, both author Alan Moore and artist Ian Gibson are clearly giving us some of their best.
Moore has reached a climax he was never sure he'd see, and the payoff is an almost complete turnaround from the flighty, fluffy beginnings of the character. Many pieces that have littered the earlier stories are here assembled into a remarkable whole. Meanwhile, he takes science fiction conventions and turns them largely upside down, incorporating them deftly into the story rather than leaving them to frame it.
Gibson's art has also attained a level above that of which he seemed previously capable. He appears to have taken time and trouble to fill in his pictures lovingly, rather than filling them with scribbles and slabs of ink. The characters here become real, through both the creators' talents, and the story reaches its inevitable end with a beauty and finality unexpected from its origins. This book is where the whole series becomes worthwhile.
This edition once again features a contemporary introduction by a still pre-Watchmen Moore, illustrated by sketches and layout drawings by Gibson. Also included are 2000AD covers that featured Jones.
Moore has reached a climax he was never sure he'd see, and the payoff is an almost complete turnaround from the flighty, fluffy beginnings of the character. Many pieces that have littered the earlier stories are here assembled into a remarkable whole. Meanwhile, he takes science fiction conventions and turns them largely upside down, incorporating them deftly into the story rather than leaving them to frame it.
Gibson's art has also attained a level above that of which he seemed previously capable. He appears to have taken time and trouble to fill in his pictures lovingly, rather than filling them with scribbles and slabs of ink. The characters here become real, through both the creators' talents, and the story reaches its inevitable end with a beauty and finality unexpected from its origins. This book is where the whole series becomes worthwhile.
This edition once again features a contemporary introduction by a still pre-Watchmen Moore, illustrated by sketches and layout drawings by Gibson. Also included are 2000AD covers that featured Jones.
October 14, 2018
For various reasons, the series wasn't continued so this volume is more of a closing to a chapter of Halo Jones' life than a conclusion (as suggested by the prologues examining her life from the far far future). Halo, forever looking for a purpose and a crust, joins the military, fights in some utterly meaningless but terrifying military occupations and loses her friends and her mind (for a while).
March 9, 2010
Impresionante cierre para una serie tremenda, lástima que se nota que quedaron cosas por contar. Releer y rerreseñar ni bien pueda.
August 13, 2026
With Book Three, The Ballad of Halo Jones reaches its conclusion—and somehow Alan Moore and Ian Gibson manage to make the final chapter both the darkest and the most fitting part of Halo's extraordinary journey.
Halo's dream of freedom has taken her farther than she could ever have imagined, but freedom doesn't necessarily mean happiness. Stranded on a decaying world, drifting through dead-end jobs and watching her hopes disappear along with her money, Halo eventually finds herself with only one way forward: enlistment in the military.
And this is where the story changes completely.
War changes Halo, but Moore is far too intelligent a writer to turn that transformation into a simple "coming of age" story or a conventional tale of heroism. What happens to her is complicated, painful and profoundly human. The woman who simply wanted to see the universe has now experienced enough of it to understand that adventure and freedom have consequences.
This is also where Moore's writing becomes particularly impressive. Across the three books, Halo Jones has moved from social satire to adventure to space opera and finally to something much more reflective and tragic. Yet none of those transformations feels forced. They are all natural consequences of Halo's journey.
And Ian Gibson's artwork is magnificent. His work seems to grow alongside the story, becoming more expressive and sophisticated with every page. There is an incredible amount of visual storytelling here, and the strange, beautiful, grotesque universe he creates is inseparable from Moore's writing.
The ending is bittersweet—and I think it is absolutely perfect.
Not because it gives Halo the kind of triumphant conclusion we might expect after following her for three books, but precisely because it doesn't. Halo's story has always been about wanting to escape the life that has been assigned to her and discovering what lies beyond it. The final pages understand that freedom, experience and happiness are not necessarily the same thing.
There is something wonderfully melancholy about closing the book and realizing that Halo Jones has become much more than the "everywoman" we met at the beginning. She has lived, travelled, fought, lost, changed—and, most importantly, remained herself.
The Ballad of Halo Jones is one of those works that makes you wonder why it was never allowed to continue. But perhaps there is something appropriate about leaving Halo's story where Moore and Gibson leave it.
Three books. One extraordinary journey.
A masterpiece of British comics—and a genuinely unforgettable character.
Halo's dream of freedom has taken her farther than she could ever have imagined, but freedom doesn't necessarily mean happiness. Stranded on a decaying world, drifting through dead-end jobs and watching her hopes disappear along with her money, Halo eventually finds herself with only one way forward: enlistment in the military.
And this is where the story changes completely.
War changes Halo, but Moore is far too intelligent a writer to turn that transformation into a simple "coming of age" story or a conventional tale of heroism. What happens to her is complicated, painful and profoundly human. The woman who simply wanted to see the universe has now experienced enough of it to understand that adventure and freedom have consequences.
This is also where Moore's writing becomes particularly impressive. Across the three books, Halo Jones has moved from social satire to adventure to space opera and finally to something much more reflective and tragic. Yet none of those transformations feels forced. They are all natural consequences of Halo's journey.
And Ian Gibson's artwork is magnificent. His work seems to grow alongside the story, becoming more expressive and sophisticated with every page. There is an incredible amount of visual storytelling here, and the strange, beautiful, grotesque universe he creates is inseparable from Moore's writing.
The ending is bittersweet—and I think it is absolutely perfect.
Not because it gives Halo the kind of triumphant conclusion we might expect after following her for three books, but precisely because it doesn't. Halo's story has always been about wanting to escape the life that has been assigned to her and discovering what lies beyond it. The final pages understand that freedom, experience and happiness are not necessarily the same thing.
There is something wonderfully melancholy about closing the book and realizing that Halo Jones has become much more than the "everywoman" we met at the beginning. She has lived, travelled, fought, lost, changed—and, most importantly, remained herself.
The Ballad of Halo Jones is one of those works that makes you wonder why it was never allowed to continue. But perhaps there is something appropriate about leaving Halo's story where Moore and Gibson leave it.
Three books. One extraordinary journey.
A masterpiece of British comics—and a genuinely unforgettable character.
November 21, 2016
When i created the book shelf categories on this site, i tried to capture all the possible classifications of WHY i read the book i read, than WHAT they are classified as. Overtime i have realised that the books i am surprised by are the ones that always end up fitting in more than one shelf. And even after knowing Alan Moore, i am still surprised how his works always end being more than one thing. And that too, perfectly. Like the man understands deeply, the way human society ticks and hence can write in the complexities as if he were the clock-maker himself.
Ballad of Halo Jones is no exception. The book, currently in 3 parts,can be misjudged as being frivolous. The first comic does revolve around shopping expeditions at times. Like any Alan Moore work and like us humans, a shopping expedition can also be an insight into us, flawed and frivolous as we are. For those who stick with it beyond the first book, you get to this volume. The one where our initially young adult character grows through adulthood and into the disillusionment that we all know, as we grow up.
And because it is never about one thing, you also get to see what war does to humans. What it does our dreams. How is shapes our malleable personalities. And what happens when you come through it.
This is just a splendid read, one of the best. (And yes, the artwork is fantastic. It is black and white, but that binary nature didn't stop Gibson from capturing the complexities demanded by the tale)
Just pick it up if you come across this at some shelf and i hope you cherish it as i do.
Ballad of Halo Jones is no exception. The book, currently in 3 parts,can be misjudged as being frivolous. The first comic does revolve around shopping expeditions at times. Like any Alan Moore work and like us humans, a shopping expedition can also be an insight into us, flawed and frivolous as we are. For those who stick with it beyond the first book, you get to this volume. The one where our initially young adult character grows through adulthood and into the disillusionment that we all know, as we grow up.
And because it is never about one thing, you also get to see what war does to humans. What it does our dreams. How is shapes our malleable personalities. And what happens when you come through it.
This is just a splendid read, one of the best. (And yes, the artwork is fantastic. It is black and white, but that binary nature didn't stop Gibson from capturing the complexities demanded by the tale)
Just pick it up if you come across this at some shelf and i hope you cherish it as i do.
October 6, 2020
The conclusion to Halo Jones' story sees the character hitting rock bottom and, in desperation, joining up to fight in the war in the Tarantula Nebula.
This is by far the most mature and, frankly, bleak book of the series, with very strong overtones of both Vietnam and WWI stories.
Halo finds herself an unlikely grunt in a possibly-illegal war where the politics of the conflict have fallen away and been replaced simply with the war's self-perpetuation. Our heroine hates the fighting and feels the incremental loss of her humanity keenly and yet, when the war ends, finds herself wishing for the simplicity of combat.
Moore also experiments, quite successfully, with some interesting science fiction concepts here, as the war takes Halo to a planet whose intense gravity not only has the potential to turn an unshielded soldier into a puddle but which also causes time-dilation that plays havoic with Halo's understanding of how long she's been fighting. They're both great ideas and the latter one also clearly has an element of allegory to it too.
Part of me was disappointed that Halo's story doesn't have a nicely wrapped-up happy ending, but seeing as how Moore's whole concept of her was that she's ordinary, just like the rest of us, it makes sense that she merely survives and keeps going as best she can.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
This is by far the most mature and, frankly, bleak book of the series, with very strong overtones of both Vietnam and WWI stories.
Halo finds herself an unlikely grunt in a possibly-illegal war where the politics of the conflict have fallen away and been replaced simply with the war's self-perpetuation. Our heroine hates the fighting and feels the incremental loss of her humanity keenly and yet, when the war ends, finds herself wishing for the simplicity of combat.
Moore also experiments, quite successfully, with some interesting science fiction concepts here, as the war takes Halo to a planet whose intense gravity not only has the potential to turn an unshielded soldier into a puddle but which also causes time-dilation that plays havoic with Halo's understanding of how long she's been fighting. They're both great ideas and the latter one also clearly has an element of allegory to it too.
Part of me was disappointed that Halo's story doesn't have a nicely wrapped-up happy ending, but seeing as how Moore's whole concept of her was that she's ordinary, just like the rest of us, it makes sense that she merely survives and keeps going as best she can.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
August 28, 2022
Es raro hacer una reseña de Halo Jones dado que en sí se trata de un cómic raro. Es decir: El desarrollo de personaje que tiene Halo es muy bueno. Podemos ver como el personaje literalmente crece. Pero los personajes a su alrededor se mantienen más bien estáticos a pesar del paso del tiempo. Incluso hay personajes que son tan poco desarrollados que se entremezclan y, por ende, su final pierde fuerza cuando llega.
Pero que no se confunda: El cómic es muy bueno. Se nota que tiene a Alan Moore en los guiones dado que todo está muy bien hilado. Que los capítulos sean tan cortos es super agradable dado que te brinda flexibilidad por si quieres leerlo de corrido o de forma más esporádica. Por otro lado, hay una gran diversidad artística de la mano de Gibson quien va tomando fuerza conforme la historia avanza.
También hay que destacar que la trama se vuelve muy interesante. Tiene los comentarios sociales de Moore, pero sin que estos lleguen a robarle mérito u atención a la historia. Si uno quiere los analiza y sino no y sigue disfrutando del cómic en igual medida.
Creo honestamente que es una obra que habilita a la relectura dado que nos brinda muchos detalles que parecen ser intrascendentes, pero como dije al principio terminan siendo hilados a lo largo de la trama.
Pero que no se confunda: El cómic es muy bueno. Se nota que tiene a Alan Moore en los guiones dado que todo está muy bien hilado. Que los capítulos sean tan cortos es super agradable dado que te brinda flexibilidad por si quieres leerlo de corrido o de forma más esporádica. Por otro lado, hay una gran diversidad artística de la mano de Gibson quien va tomando fuerza conforme la historia avanza.
También hay que destacar que la trama se vuelve muy interesante. Tiene los comentarios sociales de Moore, pero sin que estos lleguen a robarle mérito u atención a la historia. Si uno quiere los analiza y sino no y sigue disfrutando del cómic en igual medida.
Creo honestamente que es una obra que habilita a la relectura dado que nos brinda muchos detalles que parecen ser intrascendentes, pero como dije al principio terminan siendo hilados a lo largo de la trama.
February 16, 2021
The Ballad of Halo Jones Book Three
- 4.5/5
The best a've the tree beuks a've Halo Jones be scribbler Alan Moore and artist Ian Gibson. Halo, findin hersel in a deid end and wae nuffin leeft gais awf tae join the armie. Wit coms aw it is ah tru 'war is hell' storie. She's lef wae trama, mair deid freends n guilty fae sum unfirseen consequences fae revious tales.
The art be Gibson is fine, cartoony when it shed, gritty when is needed. The colourin wurk dun be Barbara Nosenzo fir the 2018 rerelease is nae half bad tae, thoug yeh kin kinda tell it wisnae drawn wae colur in mind.
Aw in aw, a great storie aboot wit war kin dae tae a soul.
The best a've the tree beuks a've Halo Jones be scribbler Alan Moore and artist Ian Gibson. Halo, findin hersel in a deid end and wae nuffin leeft gais awf tae join the armie. Wit coms aw it is ah tru 'war is hell' storie. She's lef wae trama, mair deid freends n guilty fae sum unfirseen consequences fae revious tales.
The art be Gibson is fine, cartoony when it shed, gritty when is needed. The colourin wurk dun be Barbara Nosenzo fir the 2018 rerelease is nae half bad tae, thoug yeh kin kinda tell it wisnae drawn wae colur in mind.
Aw in aw, a great storie aboot wit war kin dae tae a soul.
August 27, 2026
Watchmen and V for Vendetta are probably the best and certainly the most important of Alan Moore's works, but the third volume of Halo Jones is absolutely my favorite, and it's not close.
Years ago, I had a small collection of old newsprint 2000 A.D. tabloids, and had a bunch of this part of Halo Jones. For this third (and sadly final) installment of the story, Halo Jones finds herself enlisted as a soldier, fighting battles on a planet with gravity so heavy that it dilates time. Trapped, as she always finds herself, she struggles against the constraints of the world she lives and and of the people around her, leading to the inevitable conclusion.
This is my favorite of Moore's work and always will be.
Years ago, I had a small collection of old newsprint 2000 A.D. tabloids, and had a bunch of this part of Halo Jones. For this third (and sadly final) installment of the story, Halo Jones finds herself enlisted as a soldier, fighting battles on a planet with gravity so heavy that it dilates time. Trapped, as she always finds herself, she struggles against the constraints of the world she lives and and of the people around her, leading to the inevitable conclusion.
This is my favorite of Moore's work and always will be.
August 23, 2021
First Edition = October 1986 = £4.95 = $9.95
What a finish! Alan is in top form as he covers the galactic war through the actions of Halo. He connects his own dots from previous books and the revelations are fun to be a part of. There are themes galore that I could go into but lets just say that the horror of war is the enveloping scope of the thing. Sure it's very depressing but it's profoundly presented and makes for a great read.
Gibson's art is stunning. He draws the female figure with such perfection that it's hypnotizing. The rest is great as well but he made me firmly in love with Halo from the very start to the very end even if there were no words.
What a finish! Alan is in top form as he covers the galactic war through the actions of Halo. He connects his own dots from previous books and the revelations are fun to be a part of. There are themes galore that I could go into but lets just say that the horror of war is the enveloping scope of the thing. Sure it's very depressing but it's profoundly presented and makes for a great read.
Gibson's art is stunning. He draws the female figure with such perfection that it's hypnotizing. The rest is great as well but he made me firmly in love with Halo from the very start to the very end even if there were no words.
June 26, 2021
In the third one Halo enlists into the army and it suddenly becomes all dark and depressing like all war stories. Moore is as usual, inventive (some of the combat takes place on the planet with high gravity which also slows down time extremely) but so far I haven't seen why this trilogy is supposed to be special or why Halo should (the narrator helpfully reminds us from time to time that this is all in the past). I'm not sure if there are more books with this character but I've lost interest at this point.
October 25, 2021
Ian Gibson's art changes delightfully across each of these books. In Vol. 3 the populist pleasing 'war story' succeeds conveying horror and trauma, this time with a European style: broader feeling canvases and Nosenzo's colouring is the best it's been. Moore comes through as a writer doing a lot in little moments, expressing the fallacy and stupidity of war through the characters with reasoned SF. The final chapter of this unfinished 9-book series is particularly strong and as Gaiman often remarks, wonderfully heart-wrenching.
September 23, 2018
A fascinating volume, with Jones going to war in a zone where gravity massively affects time. The story's epic tragedy continues, but it's still not enough to defeat our hero. Moving, clever, it still holds up really well, with a tragic payoff from a good deed in the prior volume. Shame that it had to end here, in what was projected to be 9 books. Still, it's a good enough note to end on, with endless possibilities forever promised in the imagination.
January 21, 2019
Wow, is this volume bleak. There's way more violence and despondency than what the hopeful beginning had made me believe it would come to.
It is, however, a brilliant third act that provides the best possible closure to Halo's path.
This isn't at all the type of book I usually read, but I found that looking past an art style that's not usually my style and giving an unknown genre a chance can lead to great discoveries.
It is, however, a brilliant third act that provides the best possible closure to Halo's path.
This isn't at all the type of book I usually read, but I found that looking past an art style that's not usually my style and giving an unknown genre a chance can lead to great discoveries.
October 11, 2019
Halo Jones is a heroine for any age. The writing is pin-sharp, the art is evocative and dynamic, and - for the first time in these editions - the colours are wonderfully rich and add depth to every image.
This collection is a must for any fan of graphic novels, sci-fi, coming-of-age (and beyond), well-plotted anti-war and dystopian stories and, well, almost anyone.
This collection is a must for any fan of graphic novels, sci-fi, coming-of-age (and beyond), well-plotted anti-war and dystopian stories and, well, almost anyone.
January 2, 2024
And then in Book 3 this turns into really a completely different type of book. All military all the time. Though still in a hopeless pointless sort of way. With characters dying left and right. And it kind of ends like it was going to go in a different direction.
Readable throughout. And art was fine. The world building was pretty good.
3.5 of 5
Readable throughout. And art was fine. The world building was pretty good.
3.5 of 5
November 28, 2018
This one I liked. Promethea, not so much. But that's another review. For now, I liked it. (Not really a review - I do recommend you read it if you haven't … it will be half an hour of your life well spent). Promethea, not so much …
August 4, 2020
The Ballad of Halo Jones is longer and darker then the first two volumes. When people refer to this as a classic, I'm pretty sure this is the part of the story they refer to. There are come really good, really powerful moments in this volume.
June 17, 2026
I liked the first two volumes of Halo Jones - this one is a masterpiece. Vietnam satire with an all-women platoon of disposable starship troopers. The section with warfare on a high gravity world where minutes of combat for the soldiers translate to months of real time is incredible.
January 24, 2021
Way ahead of its time. Still pretty good.
February 1, 2021
It still remains one of the best things to come out of 2000AD. A truly original setting and nothing but strong female characters makes such a wonderful change.
December 15, 2022
The best of three very good books.
June 18, 2024
Tomo final de la épica espacial de Moore y Gibson.
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