Halo Comic Series to Feature Hit Creative Team
by Philip Kollar
Comic books seem to be making the leap into video games with an ever-increasing frequency, but, for some reason, it rarely seems to go the other way. Even in the rare cases we do see comics based on videogames -- such as Metal Gear Solid or Tomb Raider) -- they tend to be from smaller publishers like IDW or Top Cow rather than Marvel or DC.
Thus, why last year's Halo graphic novel came as such a shocker. Less surprisingly, the Halo graphic novel hardcover, released last July, sold very well, remaining in the top ten for several months and nestling in as Marvel's best-selling graphic novel of the year. Less surprising yet, soon after the graphic novel's release and success, Marvel and Bungie revealed their intention to print more money with a Halo ongoing series. Little talk of the ongoing has slipped out since its announcement, but Newsarama had this tantalizing tidbit hidden in their coverage of last weekend's New York Comic-Con:
"Quesada also announced a Halo ongoing, naming Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev as the surprise creative team on the new series."
Given the not-terribly-popular group of creators that worked on the graphic novel, Marvel easily could have given this new ongoing to a similarly obscure writer and artist. Instead they've bizarrely decided to go with Bendis and Maleev, who are easily two of the most well-known guys working at Marvel right now. For the non-comics-literate, let me explain why the choice is significant:
Brian Michael Bendis is often lovingly (and occasionally scornfully) referred to as Marvel's "golden boy." He's always writing a ridiculous number of books, many of which are at the top in terms of importance to Marvel's universes and sales. At the moment, these include Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. Past important works for the company have included launching Ultimate Fantastic Four and writing 2005's big summer event, House of M. One of Bendis's most prolific works at Marvel was a four-year run with Alex Maleev on Daredevil. Kicking off on issue #26 and going all the way to #81, the two crafted a wildly popular and well-done epic featuring Daredevil's identity being outed to the press. Sales soared, and this soon became one of the most popular runs on Daredevil in the title's history.
These two on the new Halo ongoing series should be big. And it should mean very good things for comic fans and video game fans alike. No firm news yet on when we should expect the comic to start hitting stores, but 1UP will keep you updated as more news drops.
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