This issue in particular highlighted just how unsuitable this art style is for storytelling. Lord Hood looks like he's in some sort of action figure pose on page 8 and apparently Blue Team can only make like two faces when their long lost leader and friend showed up. All sorts of wow in this issue. UrDidact's hideout in the end looks like some strange lovechild of Human and Forerunner architecture. Then there's that super duper evil chair that was totally needed. I don't know. They really need to find a good artist for the next series because so much of this is mediocre. The only panel I enjoyed was the Composer's Abyss and what the obvious inspiration behind it was.

Like the rest, of course, this story feels rushed and it has no real business doing so. Blue Team is such an integral component of the Halo universe that fans absolutely adore and crave more for. Putting that aside, newer fans who have no idea who Fred, Kelly, and Linda are would probably be totally dumbfounded as to why the Master Chief, who was drifting in space for four years, wouldn't have been welcomed to warmer sight by his best friends. This is a guy the three of them have known and loved as a brother and a leader since they were six. Not one smile on their face. Not one affectionate comment to their long lost friend. Spartans are so much more than the emotionless, walking tanks people expect them to be and this reunion really let me down.

Really, this story and all others in Escalation would be so much better in a short story anthology. The comic medium for Halo seems to rarely provide us with an intriguing and engaging tale, and Escalation is shaping up to be no exception. There are few instances where the visuals shown provide any worthwhile effect on the story for me. Honestly, this series is making me think that comics are a very poor way to tell a story.