: I'm not surprised they killed the Ur-Didact. Just disappointed. This arc
: didn't really need to happen because nothing was really gained from it.
: Most people by the end of Halo 4 assumed Didact was gone anyways; it
: wasn't something that needed to be wrapped up right away.

: Also, where did that Shield World at the end come from? That wasn't near
: Installation 03, was it?

: I love Halo, and I'm still interested in what 343 is doing with it. But man
: it sucks when I ask myself nearly every month, "why did I pay $4 to
: be disappointed?"

I see your point. On the other hand, you can look at it this way: it's just a lengthier tale in the same way First Strike was; the game players just got the short version of "he's here now," whereas lore fans knew he'd met up with the other Spartans and delayed the invasion. There may or may not be hooks into Halo 5 in the same way.

With that said it's fair to say "the journey, not the destination" is not a sentiment many serialized but limited-run comic books engender in me, and Escalation really hasn't worked any harder to do that. I think most people would not be disappointed as you if there was more character beats with Blue Team, et al.

As for the rest, I need to digest the book a bit more.