Written by Alan Moore
Art and cover by Ian Gibson
DC Solicitation: 2000 A.D. and DC Comics are proud to present comics legend Alan Moore's and Ian Gibson's all-time classic feminist space opera... THE BALLAD OF HALO JONES!
When Halo Jones grows bored with her life in The Hoop - a futuristic world where jobs are scarce and excitement nonexistent - she sets out to see the galaxy any way she can. But can she survive the highs and lows that lie in her path, including an extended period of shipboard servitude and a tour of duty in a terrifying war that defies the physics of space and time?
On sale June 1 [2005]* o 7.375" x 10.1875" o 200 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
*delayed to August 3 2005
This volume reprints:
Book I, 10 episodes, progs 376-385 (July to Sept. 1984). Story by Alan Moore, art by Ian Gibson.
Book II, 10 episodes plus prologue, progs 405-415 (Feb. to Apr. 1985). Story by Moore, art by Gibson.
Book III, 15 episodes plus prologue, progs 451-466 (Jan. to Apr. 1986). Story by Moore, art by Gibson.
Commentary: The final book in the DC / 2000 AD graphic novel series is The Ballad of Halo Jones, and a case can surely be made that they've saved the best for last. Halo Jones perplexed many readers at the time it was published, being a slow-moving exploration into a strange future society and people's emotions – not at all the standard for the fast-paced thrillpower-packed boy's adventure comic in 1984.
In fact, I think Halo Jones is the best thing Moore's written. It helps that he's teamed with Ian Gibson, one of, if not my favorite of all comic artists, but this script could have been illustrated by Herb Trimpe on a three-day bender and it still would have knocked damn near anything else you've read into a cocked hat. And its influence is vast – you can see Halo Jones's footprints on everything from the Maggie stories in Love & Rockets to late 80s Doctor Who.
Nine books of Halo Jones were suggested, but only three were ever made. It starts in a giant community in the 51st century where unemployed citizens, mostly women, have to travel by subway for six hours to go shopping, and by the end, Halo has found work as a stewardess to get away, to a universe far more isolating than her home ever was.
Halo Jones is brilliant, it's funny, it's weird, it's haunting, it's cruel, and it's breathtakingly original. If you own any other comics, then your shelf is seriously lacking without The Ballad of Halo Jones on it.