Dark Horse Comics Announces Halo: Initiation Miniseries

[Earnest Cavalli]

Dark Horse Comics Announces Halo: Initiation Miniseries

The Halo franchise is once again stepping out of your Xbox and onto the printed page, courtesy Dark Horse Comics.

This morning, Dark Horse Comics (the fine, Oregon-based publishers of comic books like Hellboy and Star Wars) announced plans for Halo: Initiation, a comic book miniseries based on Microsoft's massively successful Halo franchise. Drawn by Marco Castiello and written by Brian Reed (a writer who worked on Halo 4 as well as many big-name comics for all of the big publishers), Halo: Initiation is slated to "hit newsstands" on August 14.

Notice the quotation marks? Comic books rarely reach newsstands anymore, so instead look for Halo: Initiation on your favorite Internet device - Dark Horse has a great iOS app - or at your local comic book shop.

With logistics out of the way, what should we expect from the miniseries' plot? Have a look at Dark Horse's official, super-eager synopsis:

Before she was a supersoldier defending humanity as part of the Spartan-IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper - carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines! See how she became the first Spartan-IV commander in this must-read series for fans of Halo 4 and the Halo franchise!

Alright, so while Halo: Initiation won't be focused on the familiar visor-covered face of Spartan John 117, it should be familiar to fans of the Halo franchise. We've already met other Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in Halo 3: ODST, so Ms. Palmer's story seems a good combination of familiar concepts and new plot points - exactly what you'd hope to see in a videogame adaptation.

"It's really exciting to work with Dark Horse in continuing the Halo story in comics," Reed states. "After Halo 4 and Spartan Ops, fans wanted to know more about the origins of the Spartan-IV program and Sarah Palmer in particular."

"So it's great fun to be able to grant those wishes with a partner like Dark Horse."

There you go: If you ever wanted to learn more about the origins of the Spartan-IV program, pick up Halo: Initiation. Reed's never been less than a competent author, so it should be in the upper-echelons of videogame tie-ins.

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[J Tyran]

An origin story for Sarah Palmer sounds cool but its a comic so a big meh from me, a novel would be better for me.

 

[LtFerret]

Oh boy! I can't wait to read the origin story of Sarah "trying way too hard to be Sgt. Johnson but lacking any of the charisma" Palmer!

 

[J Tyran]

An origin story for Sarah Palmer sounds cool but its a comic so a big meh from me, a novel would be better for me.

Comic sounds cool but it's Halo so a big meh from me, a Dishonored comic would be better for me.

Almost, a proper Dishonoured novel would be great. Comic not so much, a story in the style of the Knife of Dunwall would be pretty good. FYI I have nothing against comics and I know a lot of people enjoy them. They simply do not sit right and thats all, if anyone wanted to try and direct any kind of snarky antagonism towards me because they feel they must defend the medium they would really be wasting their time.

 

[RaNDM G]

Gotta agree with Tyran. It's near impossible to tell when a comic is worth flipping through. Helljumper and Fall of Reach were great stories with memorable characters, but Blood Line was just pointless action with stock characters. Maybe Dark Horse will handle Initiation differently, but Palmer had the personality of a brick wall in Halo 4. Not having high hopes for this one.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Seroiously who asked for this. I thoguht the consensus in the Halo community was that Palmer was probebly one of the most badly written character in the Halo games next to Sgt Forge.

343i you have a universe were giant parasitic aliens live Or better yet a whole race of space samurai (Before ofcoarse you turned them into space-Alquida) and you choose to focus on a subplot brought about by an author who refused to even play the halo games ?......Seriuosly?

 

[J Tyran]

Seroiously who asked for this. I thoguht the consensus in the Halo community was that Palmer was probebly one of the most badly written character in the Halo games next to Sgt Forge.

Thats what makes it irksome really, they really wasted an opportunity with Palmer. She could have been a great character, clawing her way through a brutal war as a a soldier with a short life expectancy (ODST) and then becoming the leader of the UNSCs most capable troops.

Terrible waste of potential as a character really.

 

[satsugaikaze]

Eh, I liked Sarah Palmer even though she had the charisma of drywall. She's a videogame soldier, I don't expect all of the side characters to be colorful standouts or racial stereotypes.
She also became a little bit more complex during Spartan Ops, but hey, if there's an origin story there's plenty that can be improved.

Also, I guess I'm just a sucker for Jennifer Hale's voice. Not that it'll probably have any bearing on this comic.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

Well, I guess that I will try to get my hands on it no so much for Palmers story, I mean come on she's basically Briana of Tarth from the future, but more to get an illustrated account of the Spartan IV project's history but even that seems kind of boring.I mean the only difference between a Spartan IV and a Spartan II from my knowledge is that Spartan IV are taken directly from the military while Spartan II were trained at birth which was basically the only thing that made the super soldiers stand out from the five thousand other variations found in different series.

But on the plus side Yay! More official Halo art!

 

[Ruley]

I haven't cared for any Halo spinoff literature or comics since the Spartan 2 generation. Halo: Reach was the last time i truly felt invested in characters of the story. But with Halo 4, in giving everyone personality, they didn't really handle it right and seemed to go for pure cliche. the only characters i feel invested in are Halsey, Cortana, Chief and Commander of the infinity (forgotten his name). 3/4 were returning characters so just 1 of the new gang hit it off with me. compare that to all the ODST's in halo 3: ODST, all the Spartans in Reach and the supporting cast of Halo 2 and 3. 343i really dropped the ball.

I have no interest in any of the Spartan 4's, so i'll be giving this a miss!

 

[Candidus]

Who cares? The introduction of the Sp4s, who are little better than Call of Duty marine yahoos in power armour, virtually brings the human engineering and post-human identity (not to mention the obvious: exploitation) discussion to a close as far as the next and all future installments are concerned. Or even worse, presumes to answer it by convicting Halsey of war crimes.

I think this direction sucks, and the last person I want to read an extension about is the first of this breed that should never have been written.

For those who have no objections, who're looking forward to the next Call of Halo, by all means get hyped.

 

[satsugaikaze]

Or even worse, presumes to answer it by convicting Halsey of war crimes.

I think if you thought the game was presuming to answer the moral issue, then maybe the things Halsey said in the game flew over your head. I don't believe that the game was ever taking sides in the "debate" per se - in fact I found this perspective particularly new for a series of games that never fully addressed it until now (being mostly too preoccupied with how much of An Hero the Master Chief and Cortana was, and still are) unless it was in spinoff material.

I believe they introduced the "Call of Halo" element into the universe because the Master Chief was covered in virtually impenetrable plot armor and they needed characters that weren't complete cannon fodder like almost every UNSC Marine other than Sgt. Johnson. I'm not saying they succeeded with writing in the Spartan 4s; especially within the main campaign I thought they were a wasted opportunity because all of the focus on John and his not-girlfriend inside his head. But ODST felt like a step in the right direction, and with spinoffs there's usually (hopefully?) a guarantee of more effort given to make characters more believable and/or relatable.

There's plenty of potential to be had from origin stories. The only thing is whether or not it'll be wasted. We'll just have to see!

 

[Saviordd1]

Seroiously who asked for this. I thoguht the consensus in the Halo community was that Palmer was probebly one of the most badly written character in the Halo games next to Sgt Forge.

343i you have a universe were giant parasitic aliens live Or better yet a whole race of space samurai (Before ofcoarse you turned them into space-Alquida) and you choose to focus on a subplot brought about by an author who refused to even play the halo games ?......Seriuosly?

Seriously?

No, really? Seriously?

SHE was badly written? When she stands next to

THIS slab of meat? (That said he was better in 4 but not much).

Or these two?

Or this idiot?

Honestly, she's not a terrible character. She just gets outclassed when Halsey and Lasky are in the room; and that's mostly because they both have great non-game backstory and motivation.

The same goes for the Chief, the only reason true Halo fans like the Chief is because of the books and backstory.

I'd like to see Sarah's backstory too.

Who cares? The introduction of the Sp4s, who are little better than Call of Duty marine yahoos in power armour, virtually brings the human engineering and post-human identity (not to mention the obvious: exploitation) discussion to a close as far as the next and all future installments are concerned. Or even worse, presumes to answer it by convicting Halsey of war crimes.

I think this direction sucks, and the last person I want to read an extension about is the first of this breed that should never have been written.

For those who have no objections, who're looking forward to the next Call of Halo, by all means get hyped.

"Call of Duty Yahoos" You mean every marine in every story...ever?

Also, yes, the post human thing was great and all but if you sit on one theme for too long with a serious your dooming yourself to stagnation. They've spent more than TEN YEARS on the subject, good to move on a bit.

Also, the war crimes thing? Read the book "Glasslands" and you'll realize its not really trying to answer the question, in fact...

Spoiler

Admiral Parangosky basically says that the UNSC and ONI in particular are putting on the blame on Halsey to get the blame off of their head. See now that the war is effectively over civilians are gonna wanna know how their gods in armor are made, and they won't like the answer. If you show Halsey as the criminal it makes the UNSC look better than if the civilian population found out the whole truth.

This is what we call politics children

Also, if you think Halo is now Call of Duty then your deluding yourself extremely, or you're jumping on a bandwagon.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Alright First silent protagonist ,the Master chief has always been a mix between a silent and non-silent protagonist so its really isnt a matter of he was written badly more like people would have definately liked him to express himself better.

I already mentioned sgt forge but the arbiter from Halo wars pretty much acts like Jul'mdama so either way it sort of damns 343i's writing. The scientist was bland and forgettable not badly written.Palmer on the other hand literally was unbearable everytime she spoke ..."egghead".

In regards to your other reply, I think theres a good reason why Bungie nor Greg never delved too much into politics and Halo 4 Spartan Ops shows us why. If badly written the plot it runs the risk of being boring and hard to follow(see spartan ops) .Its not like games which have heavy political themes havent been successfull (see Mass effect, Deus Ex) but that has never been Halo's strenght and it shows.
Regardless of your feelings of the Kilo-5 trilogy or Halo 4 , I think there's a good reason why her novels are typically considered the weakest of the HALO novels.

Also Im sorry to say but he's kinda right, the eites in both Halo 4 were characterised as pretty much any modern warfare vilain which is a huge step back given their backstories in Halo 2 and 3. Seriously all they need now are ties to the Russians and then we'll probably have cross over Microsoft always dreamed of.
Also 343i actually admitted that most they waned to torn down the scifi elements to attarct a broader audience (hence the re-skined human weapons as promethian weapons.Not to mention some of the weird elements in mulltiplayer.

 

[Saviordd1]

Alright First silent protagonist ,the Master chief has always been a mix between a silent and non-silent protagonist so its really isnt a matter of he was written badly more like people would have definately liked him to express himself better.

Being a silent protagonist is a binary thing, they are or aren't. And he wasn't, that made him a bad character.

I already mentioned sgt forge but the arbiter from Halo wars pretty much acts like Jul'mdama

Yeah minus the idiocy, bond-levels of villainy and horrible death scene. Yeah, they aren't anything alike. (They aren't even the same rank)

so either way it sort of damns 343i's writing.

Um, how? Presuming you were right on the last point 343 didn't write the Arbiter from Halo Wars, nor Jul'Mdama in the books, and his appearances in the game are so short you can't really say much about them. (Though some ex-Bungie guys are in 343 so maybe that's what your saying?) Overall this is a nonsensical sentence.

The scientist was bland and forgettable not badly written.

"Bland and Forgettable" is pretty much as badly written as you get besides maybe a racist one.

Palmer on the other hand literally was unbearable everytime she spoke ..."egghead".

I have no idea how you figure that, her voice wasn't that bad. And her character wasn't any worse than your average marine commander. Unless you mean everytime she used the phrase "Egghead" in which case that makes even less sense.

What the hell are you saying?

In regards to your other reply, I think theres a good reason why Bungie nor Greg never delved too much into politics

Have you read Cryptum or what? Because there was sort of a political conspiracy going on there...

Also "Fall of Reach" had a fair amount military politics.

So did Ghosts of Onyx

and Halo 4 Spartan Ops shows us why.

How? Spartan Ops didn't have politics in it at all beyond someone telling Lasky to kill Halsey.

If badly written the plot it runs the risk of being boring and hard to follow(see spartan ops) .

Again, where was the large amount of politics in Spartan Ops?

Its not like games which have heavy political themes havent been successfull (see Mass effect, Deus Ex)

Agreed.

but that has never been Halo's strenght

Agreed again (At least in terms of the games), good thing they didn't have political themes in Halo 4.

and it shows.

Oh dear lord.

WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THIS IDEA
Unless I missed the part of Halo 4 where it suddenly shifted to Earth for a bunch of backroom talking there was little to no politics in Halo 4. The closest you get is, as I said, the admiral telling Lasky to kill Halsey.

Regardless of your feelings of the Kilo-5 trilogy or Halo 4 , I think there's a good reason why her novels are typically considered the weakest of the HALO novels.

Your forgetting "The Flood"
That said, that's not saying much since all of the Halo books have been pretty solid to great.
Also from what I've read (and agree with) the weakest part of the Kilo-5 Trilogy is some of the characters (That entire squad of forgettable marines) and how she sissified the Spartans (this one I don't see). The whole "Halsey getting falsely accused" thing isn't really a big complaint for most.

Also Im sorry to say but he's kinda right, the eites in both Halo 4 were characterised as pretty much any modern warfare vilain which is a huge step back given their backstories in Halo 2 and 3.

Umm, how?
Ignoring the fact that this isn't THE Elite government we saw in the first 4 games these separatists still operate mostly how they always did, get technology, kill humans, worship prophets.

So how did they become COD rip offs?

Oh wait, they didn't.

Seriously all they need now are ties to the Russians and then we'll probably have cross over Microsoft always dreamed of.

Yeah, that's totally not an asspull argument based on a bandwagon or anything.

Also 343i actually admitted that most they waned to torn down the scifi elements to attarct a broader audience (hence the re-skined human weapons as promethian weapons.Not to mention some of the weird elements in mulltiplayer.

[Citation Needed]

Basically I remember them saying that they wanted to make sure that the people who only play the games didn't need to read the books to understand what's going on.

Unless you find me a credible source saying exactly what you say 343 said I'm gonna call bullshit and say your just saying things to make your argument more valid.

Also the Promethean weapons haven nothing to do with "sci fi" elements, that's gameplay.

Same for multiplayer.

Also, while I managed to respond anyway it always helps if you know how to pace your arguments and don't make elementary level spelling mistakes, much harder to take you seriously as anything more than a band-wagoner otherwise.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Being a silent protagonist is a binary thing, they are or aren't. And he wasn't, that made him a bad character.

Badly written for me insinuates that part of his dialog doesn't match his character or that there are moments in the campaign were I would have him say something else. Thinking back from Halo CE to Halo 3 there really aren't any moments were I would say "He should have said something/something else" because being a quiet, psychologically damaged , antisocial, stoic solder is his character .
In fact during their interviews, Frankie touched on this subject and said that's why they wont have him talk too much in Halo 4.

However when I think of Palmer I think of a lot of dialogue pieces which were straight up corny, abrasiveness and generally unlikable and the truth is she could have been so much better.I literally caught myself asking outlout "Who wrote this??"
It sort of seems like she was written to be this bad ass Spartan character but most of their attempts come off flat

Yeah minus the idiocy, bond-levels of villainy and horrible death scene. Yeah, they aren't anything alike. (They aren't even the same rank)

Bond level villainy-Cut scenes which have Jul'mdama show him either scheming, shouting or scheming
Idiocity-allows scientist to escape from him and gets tricked by hasley only to save her again later
Horrible death scene- I admit you have me there

Um, how? Presuming you were right on the last point 343 didn't write the Arbiter from Halo Wars, nor Jul'Mdama in the books, and his appearances in the game are so short you can't really say much about them. (Though some ex-Bungie guys are in 343 so maybe that's what your saying?) Overall this is a nonsensical sentence.

Nor did I say they did, I made that point because I likened Jul'mdama to the arbitor .The point was that both pretty much act identically so if you consider the arbitor to be badly written then by some extention you have to consider Jul'mdama to be poorly written as well.

I have no idea how you figure that, her voice wasn't that bad. And her character wasn't any worse than your average marine commander. Unless you mean everytime she used the phrase "Egghead" in which case that makes even less sense.

True but then again how many marine commander's outhere besides a select few are considered well written.
Come to think of it the best military commanders (Besides Cpt Keyes) in the Halo franchise for me anyway are the ones which distance themselves from the serious bad ass military leader image and have their own quirky character.(See Buck and Sgt Johnson) But that may be more to do with the voice actors than the actual writers

Have you read Cryptum or what? Because there was sort of a political conspiracy going on there...

Also "Fall of Reach" had a fair amount military politics.

So did Ghosts of Onyx

And I also think in its how each author decides to bring the political narrative, For example in Fall of Reach and Ghost of Onyx the military politics always had a central subject/theme. In FOR it was the Spartan 2 programme and in GOO it was the Spartan 3 programme (Ofcoarse there was the whole elites vs Brutes thing going on there) but you get what Im saying. Greg delved into politics but it never ditracted from the main narrative.

I see you mean though about spartan ops and I think Im making alot of these political connections because I Know the situations from the novels and how those political situations play a role in the narrative of Spartan Ops (Jul'mdama , Hasley Hate) .I think thats why while most of the criticism of Halo 4's Spartan Ops comes from the fan base.

Or maybe I just find Nyulunds and Greggs writting styles better , who knows.

Umm, how?
Ignoring the fact that this isn't THE Elite government we saw in the first 4 games these separatists still operate mostly how they always did, get technology, kill humans, worship prophets.

So how did they become COD rip offs?

Oh wait, they didn't.

Ignoring the fact that the game never really formally acknowledged this in the campaign (cept for a few lines here and there which in my first 2 playthroughs I never got)
And ignoring the fact that inorder to get this information you needed to be familiar with the books or/and have played Spartan Ops (a gold membership required mode I might add)
From were Im standing you could critisize this from 2 perpectives. You could either critisize 343i for using the elites as faceless ,nameless soldiers with no real explanation in the campaign or you critisize them on how even though the elites werent the focus of Halo 4 ,they still had to fall back on them for both the combat and the story.

Yeah, that's totally not an asspull argument based on a bandwagon or anything.

This was made in joking ,I would have expected you to get that

Basically I remember them saying that they wanted to make sure that the people who only play the games didn't need to read the books to understand what's going on.


Also, while I managed to respond anyway it always helps if you know how to pace your arguments and don't make elementary level spelling mistakes, much harder to take you seriously as anything more than a band-wagoner otherwise.

Well it was a comment made in passing during one of the designer interviews during Halo 4's hype phase(which I got caught up in) so I cannot confirm it but as soon as I find a quote you'll be the first to know.
Kinda wrote my two previous responses on my phone while at work so forgive me if I dont have the common decency to spell check, however I would also recommend that you try and avoid using the word "bandwagon" as it paints yourself as a fervent fanboy k ?

 

[Ruley]

Just to add some more food for thought to this based on posts above:

Chief isn't badly written per say, he just wasn't written much in early games and i think the same is said in Halo 4. Sure he speaks and its bland but he seems to only exist for plot and objective confirmation rather than the development of that. Cortana is always the one moving things forward, Chief only ever gives reactions. More of a bad focus of character, indecisiveness of giving him any opinions in case of losing peoples support. I haven't played halo 4 since before Christmas but i haven't come away with many strong memories of the dialogue. But i will say that Lasky stood strong in my mind in both Spartan Ops and the Campaign.

In terms of politics in Halo, it best shines through in the novels. its there alright and there are some interesting themes but we have yet to see them truly cross over to the games. There are hints of politics in Halo 4 but not a lot. reference to Halsey as a War Criminal and her Spartan II research along side other minor references but the issue is never tackled head on. disappointing to say the least given the fleshing out its been given in the novels.

agreed. the flood was a mess. mainly i feel because it was so heavily tied to the game. other novels benefited from creative freedom and it shows.

Agreed on citation needed but i'll stick my neck out and agree. i followed promotional material a lot and i remember this being stated. if asked to point to one specific area in reference, the loadout system in multiplayer. But from that they said they were taking the opportunity of a new trilogy to widen the games appeal. (something i believe they failed at because of the badly handled plot with respect to new players).

As for the comment on the Promethean weapons, yes mechanically, that's gameplay. aesthetically, that's sci fi. The guns look and feel like something from the future. I admit i didn't fully understand the original point made about the reskinning of the weapons but i feel the dismissal of the link between gameplay and aesthetics needed addressing.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Just to add some more food for thought to this based on posts above:

Chief isn't badly written per say, he just wasn't written much in early games and i think the same is said in Halo 4. Sure he speaks and its bland but he seems to only exist for plot and objective confirmation rather than the development of that. Cortana is always the one moving things forward, Chief only ever gives reactions. More of a bad focus of character, indecisiveness of giving him any opinions in case of losing peoples support. I haven't played halo 4 since before Christmas but i haven't come away with many strong memories of the dialogue. But i will say that Lasky stood strong in my mind in both Spartan Ops and the Campaign.

Thanks I forgot to mention that, the chief was supposed to be a "conduit" for the player so in Bungie's line of thought he needed to be neutral or reaction based. In my reply I mentioned how his reactionary persona actually matched his back story so I would really call him badly written.

 

[Vrex360]

I just don't get why they'd pick Palmer of all people to do a comic about. With respects to Jennifer Hale (she deserved a better character to work with, I certainly don't blame her) Palmer is just an awful character. She has like one emotional level which is snappy grumpiness the whole way through, of all the things in the Halo universe that could be explored in a comic I'm amazed that they would go for a backstory of a character a lot of people aren't interested in?
Though after Kilo 5 pretty much robbed the Arbiter and the elites of any dignity I guess I can't expect much more from Halo in the future beyond more 'look how cool our spartans are, kill moar evil alienz!!!'

Frankly all the Spartan 4's just shit me, they really are just dudebros with big guns right now. I think the problem is that now, somehow, humanity is the top dog in the galaxy even though four years ago it was supposed to be on the brink of destruction and it now has the most high tech weapons and skills and Spartan 4s are the new generation of Spartans that didn't have to go through the suffering or moral ambiguity of the past.
See all the 'Spartans are awesome' crap was at least tolerable in the prior Halo games because it was clear from the outset that humanity was losing the war, that no matter how powerful Spartans may have been it still wasn't enough. Humans were still the under dog and still losing and thus there was a degree of catharsis in the small victories and the celebration of the strength of the Spartans as a shining symbol of hope. In addition the obnoxious tough guy postering of the spartans was at least balanced by the fact that they had been through a lot of horror and suffering as children to get to that point. They were sympathetic as well as badass and their mission at least was unambiguously defensive.
Now though humans are at the top with all the best technology and ONI is actively scheming against the Arbiter, Sangheili and all the other races in the galaxy in order to maintain humans are the superior race including NAZI-esque tactics like poisoning food supplies. The Spartans can now get mass produced and with no real ethical mess in the process or even any kind of sacrifice that we've seen so far to counter the self righteous macho postuering that is still there in full force.
As a result they come across as obnoxious and downright unlikeable, I don't feel concern for them because Jul M'dama's forces are at such a disadvantage that it's downright comical and now their macho tough guy attitudes and smug jokes aren't the result of trying to maintain morale in a dire situation but just a bunch of smug guys eager to show off their physical and technical superiority to primitive bad guys (an example of this being the constant spouting of the racial slur 'Hinge head' which isn't even a good insult!)

Now I get why these guys would want to be powerful, I even understand (to an extent) some of ONI's goals regarding the Sangheili and why they would do that, though I still want to push them all into a woodchipper for doing it. I understand that after 30 something years of war and genocide humans would not be forgiving of elites and racism and xenophobia would be high, hell I even get why some elites would not want to make peace with humans (I grudgingly admit, Jul did have some sound logic). I get why humans would use their newfound technological advantage to assert dominance and make sure they can never be weakened again, it does make sense.
But what it also doesn't do is create characters that are particularly likeable or even engaging. I don't want to watch some cybernetically enhanced super due bros shouting racial slurs and shooting evil aliens. I want the post war universe of Halo to seriously be studied, human and elite relations looked at in ways other than just the shooting of 'evul alien terrorists!!111' by 'supa aweomse spartins11!!!'. It was mentioned there were Sangheili asylum seekers living on Earth now in a passing comment and fuck that could practically be a novel in and of itself.
Is Thel Vadam still around? How did the visit to the Infinity go? Is he going to make a historic speech like Germany did after World War 2 to apologize for all that their country had done? Can we maybe see humans and elites, even in just rare cases, actually start to get along (We saw a story like that before in the Mona Lisa)?
My point is so much potential for interesting stories existed in that iconic scene of Thel Vadam and Lord Hood shaking hands on the memorial at Voi and so far none of it is explored. Now the only popular image of the elites is their corpses being stood on by our super cool heroes.
Which brings me back to the Spartan 4s.

It's a general rule that no matter how powerful and skilled your heroes become, the villains still need to have some clear advantage to keep up the tension. But the UNSC Infinity is the most absurdly overpowered spaceship I've seen in a long time (the point where it rams into a cruiser and sustains no damage by doing so pushed it beyond the point of mockery), the Storm (I refuse to call them 'Covenant') are so primitive and unskilled in battles that you almost have to wonder why the UNSC is concerned about them. There is a reason why Loki ended up being so beloved in the Avengers and I think it was because he was so totally at a disadvantage that even though he was the villain people felt sorry for him.

The thing is it is possible all this is intentional and 343 is working the angle of humans slowly becoming the destructive oppressors and needing to re-evaluate itself. There are subtle hints here and there that this is the case but again for that to be the case, Covenant races would need to start having a role beyond just generic evil villains again and if 'Spartan Assault' and this comic are any indication that's not happening any time soon.

Also Im sorry to say but he's kinda right, the eites in both Halo 4 were characterised as pretty much any modern warfare vilain which is a huge step back given their backstories in Halo 2 and 3. Seriously all they need now are ties to the Russians and then we'll probably have cross over Microsoft always dreamed of.
Also 343i actually admitted that most they waned to torn down the scifi elements to attarct a broader audience (hence the re-skined human weapons as promethian weapons.Not to mention some of the weird elements in mulltiplayer.

Totally agree. Worse still is that the Elites aren't even pleasing to the eye anymore. They look like Gears of War Locust, lamphrey eels and the Uruk Hai from Lord of the Rings all got into a horrifying orgy and this is what was born out of it. It's annoying enough to make them enemies again after the Arbiter and all that effort to humanize them but the fact that they aren't even given any dignity as enemies just makes it downright insulting.

I just keep thinking that Halo 3 ended with this image of the elites:

And Halo 4, the direct sequel begins with this: (skip to 2:07)

They really don't fit together do they?