: I really tried to find some enjoyment out of this series, I really did. But
: it just kept being so frustratingly bland in every aspect. They had an
: opportunity to flesh out the characters of the Infinity, and make some of
: them much more likeable, and they didn't even bother. Like I have no idea
: what the point was. People seem to like the Avatar and Mass Effect comics
: from Dark Horse- why have the two Halo comic series from them been so bad?

: The only thing it had going for it was seeing two types of Banshees or
: Jackals together. And I could've drawn that myself. :\

That's ultimately what it keeps coming back to, for me. What was the point? Was it really a case of "oh god, Spartan Ops fell through like an anvil through cheap wood, and we have all this story material to use up before Halo 5..." My best guess is that Thorne being part of Osiris influenced the decision, and is why they spent so much time making him one of the few new Spartans I actually like and completely ignoring Madsen, Grant and Hoya who remain walking archetypes. But when he got bumped from the team for Buck, he became redundant. And...I can't comprehend the decision not to tie the Absolute Record in to the Guardians. I'm genuinely convinced it was cut, because the opportunities are too perfect for them not to occur to 343i, and that someone at 343 panicked at the last moment.

I know some people ultimately blame Briad Reed, for reasons that seem a little shaky to me. The rationale is that Reed worked for Marvel, who do superheroes. The "goal" of newer fiction is to make Spartans superheroes. Ergo, we have Reed to blame for it. And on that point, I can't disagree - seeing Palmer hog jump over a Phantom is something out of Batman Begins, with the Tumbler vaulting over rooftops. But I can't find it in myself to pin the blame solely on Reed, when a comic like this requires so many other people to drop the ball - the franchise people who are in charge of keeping the characters consistent with the "theme" of the series, the editors, the artists (that Tanaka-story art was...wow) not to mention the multiple writers they've had.