: It's been a while! Hope you're all doing well. Something came up today where
: I wanted to reference a particular halo comic strip but I couldn't find it
: for the life of me. I know one of you will have the answer...

: It showed some Bungie employees in a conference room talking about how the
: "giving the covenant back their bomb" cutscene in Halo 2 would
: play out. Marty wanted a 20-second blackscreen or something like that. I
: don't think it was AHCS or One One Se7en but I could be wrong. In my
: cloudy memory it was a simple art style with heavy black lines like
: Stuntmutt or maybe even Frankie, or Penny Arcade.

: Can anyone find it?

This was one of the few Bungie-sanctioned comics, one-offs (similar to the one of MC and Sarge getting frustrated when the war is over and they're trying to live 'civilian life' and it's all funny and they realize they're meant to be fighting aliens). I think the mood in the studio back then was to let creatives be creative and if they could contribute something to make the fans laugh, go for it. I don't think there was more than 3 or 4 of these strips.

David Candland did this one you're describing and it's actually a 'recreation' of a moment between Joseph Staten and Marty. I think Joe is showing the animatics he created for the Halo 2 trailer and Marty's impatient with the length of the black between "I won't" and him floating through space grasping the bomb. It's a definitely 'inside' joke kind of strip.

Yes, my attempts at locating it on the 'net was not fruitful. Search terms for it are tough because of the mass of bungie comics that have spawned over the years. I think it was revealed in a Bungie Weekly update, (and touted as the start of a 'scheduled' strip, but it became apparent it was not to be) but I'm pretty sure it was Max who was announcing such things back then, it wasn't Frankie. Or else it was simply a blog entry over in whatever incarnation of Bungie.net was around in the early 2000's.

For all we know, Louis Wu in fact has a copy of it here on this old fart of a server... I got as far as checking the Misc Art page but turned up zilch. It's definitely out there somewhere... in the heavens...

- M