The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume 1 - Moé for Solarpunk Books

eBook

English language

Published May 15, 2018 by 2000 AD.

(1 review)

A masterpiece of British comics, Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s space-opera, now in stunning colour from Barbara Nosenzo, tells the story of Halo Jones, from her humble beginnings to her galaxy-spanning adventure. This volume collects book one of the series.

Where did she go? Out. What did she do? Everything...

When Halo Jones grows bored with her life in The Hoop — a futuristic slum where jobs are scarce and excitement is non-existent — she yearns to escape and see the galaxy. But in a city where dangerous riots happen at the slightest provocation and even going to the shops is an ordeal requiring careful planning and a handful of zen-inducing-grenades, the price of freedom might prove to be more than she bargained for!

1 edition

Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Ballad of Halo Jones, Volume 1 by Alan Moore

The start of something interesting

3 stars

The first book that collects the initial stories in the Ballad of Halo Jones. It starts off by throwing readers straight into the world inhabited by Halo Jones with little introduction, which may confuse readers at first until they get their heads around the slang and mannerisms and way of dressing of the people of The Hoop, the place where the story takes place.

Into this world steps Halo Jones, a down-and-out inhabitant of The Hoop who lives with her friends and a robot dog that belongs to a friend. Halo lives out her life, yearning to get away from the Hoop and hoping that one of her friends, who is a member of a band, may also have a chance to live a life away from The Hoop.

Then, disaster strikes when they run out of food and have to make a 'terrible' shopping trip to get new supplies. …

The first book that collects the initial stories in the Ballad of Halo Jones. It starts off by throwing readers straight into the world inhabited by Halo Jones with little introduction, which may confuse readers at first until they get their heads around the slang and mannerisms and way of dressing of the people of The Hoop, the place where the story takes place.

Into this world steps Halo Jones, a down-and-out inhabitant of The Hoop who lives with her friends and a robot dog that belongs to a friend. Halo lives out her life, yearning to get away from the Hoop and hoping that one of her friends, who is a member of a band, may also have a chance to live a life away from The Hoop.

Then, disaster strikes when they run out of food and have to make a 'terrible' shopping trip to get new supplies. Their best plans go awry, and they have to brave a journey outside The Hoop (one of Halo's friends has severe agoraphobia, or fear of open places). But they survive the shopping expedition.

But they return to discover that tragedy struck while they were away. Now, with their lives turned upside down, Halo decides that enough is enough and leaves The Hoop by joining a space liner that is leaving.

Unlike many other comics and graphic novels, Halo Jones is 'just' an ordinary person without special abilities or superpowers, trying to live the life she wants while surviving in a world that does not really care for people like her. An interesting start to the Halo Jones stories.