Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones (Titan)

REPRINT MATERIAL

Halo Jones

Ballad of Halo Jones: Book 1 10 episodes (Progs 376 to 385) 51 pages
Script: Alan Moore, Artist: Ian Gibson
Reprinted
Prion Books: 2000AD The Best of (1-5)
The Best of 2000AD 40
DC/Rebellion: Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Halo Jones
Quality: Halo Jones 01 (1-5), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 02 (6-10), Colour: Unknown
Titan: Halo Jones Book 1
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones

Ballad of Halo Jones: Book 2 10 episodes (Progs 406 to 415) 56 pages
Script: Alan Moore, Artist: Ian Gibson, Letters: Steve Potter
Reprinted
The Best of 2000AD 42
DC/Rebellion: Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Halo Jones
Quality: Halo Jones 03 (1), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 04 (2-4), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 05 (5-6), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 06 (7-8), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 07 (9-10), Colour: Unknown
Titan: Halo Jones Book 2
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones

Ballad of Halo Jones: Book 3 15 episodes (Progs 452 to 466) 80 pages
Script: Alan Moore, Artist: Ian Gibson
Reprinted
The Best of 2000AD 65
The Best of 2000AD 66
DC/Rebellion: Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Halo Jones
Quality: Halo Jones 08 (1), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 09 (2-4), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 10 (5-7), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 11 (8-11), Colour: Unknown
Quality: Halo Jones 12 (12-15), Colour: Unknown
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones Book 3

Ballad of Halo Jones: Book 2 Prologue 1 episode (Prog 405) 6 pages
Script: Alan Moore, Artist: Ian Gibson, Letters: Steve Potter
Reprinted
The Best of 2000AD 42
DC/Rebellion: Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Halo Jones
Quality: Halo Jones 03, Colour: Unknown
Titan: Halo Jones Book 2
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones

Ballad of Halo Jones: Book 3 Prologue 1 episode (Prog 451) 6 pages
Script: Alan Moore, Artist: Ian Gibson
Reprinted
The Best of 2000AD 65
DC/Rebellion: Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Halo Jones
Quality: Halo Jones 08, Colour: Unknown
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones
Titan: Halo Jones Book 3

REVIEW BY BENET SIMON

Halo Jones was a groundbreaking, landmark work for both 2000AD and its creators Alan Moore and Ian Gibson. 2000ADâ??s policy of ordinary people in extraordinary worlds (rather than vice-versa as with superhero comics) was taken to the extreme here. Unlike, say, Dredd, Halo is not just a human, sheâ??s an average human. A zero, in fact. Sheâ??s just an ordinary 25th Century girl who suffers personal loss and ups and leaves her humdrum existence on Earth, where she canâ??t get a job and a shopping trip is an almost military exercise. She drifts about the galaxy as a hostess, a soldier, and we learn from a historian from her future that she becomes a famous historical figure, not to mention a space pirate.

Slow to pick up on her as an attraction, fans couldnâ??t get enough in the end, which came with Book 3. Originally, Moore and Gibson had planned nine books for Halo and in its current state (probably the final state, despite Gibsonâ??s hint in the reprint introduction that there might be a book 4) the story has the feeling that some groundwork was laid for nothing. The ending as it is provides no real resolution, just a re-assertion that Halo is her own woman and can always just go â??Outâ? from the life she has to another. It is a good way to end Book 3, but no proper ending to the series.

The introduction by Ian Gibson and Alan Mooreâ??s collected introductions from the previous reprints make interesting, if short, reading. The joy of the Titan reprint here more than anywhere else is the level of new understanding that can be gained from Halo Jones on re-reading her story. For instance, many fans may have been a little too young to pick up the lesbian subtext with Haloâ??s best friend Toy until now, missing the full impact of its heartbreaking conclusion. In addition, it is only by reading the whole story in one go that you see the Pandoraâ??s Box (or for a more modern analogy, the Something About Mary) effect that Halo has on those around her. No one can prevent themselves from falling in love with her. Not her friend, not the most brutal man in the galaxy, not even her robot dog, Toby. She is an innocent attractor, never asking for these affections and never able to fully reciprocate.

The level of imagination in Mooreâ??s story and the bendy, curly artwork of Ian Gibson is nothing less than epic. A whole universe is brought to life on every level, from the grand, sweeping images of luxury space cruisers to details that reveal volumes about the future, as when Halo is offered eggs. â??Eggs? What, you mean from out of some animalâ??s ovaries? You mean . . . to eat?â?

Halo became quite the 80s icon. She inspired â??Hanging out with Halo Jonesâ? by Transvision Vamp, as well as the name of a lesser band, she had her own play and was hailed as â??Possibly the first feminist heroine in comicsâ? by The Observer. Although the Earth of the first book has an 80s feel to its social problems, the story as a whole was so ahead of its time that new readers may enjoy the Ballad of Halo Jones for many reprints to come.