Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp

Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp
Publisher:	Marvel Comics, 343 Industries
Publication date:	Issue 1: September 15, 2010 Issue 2: October 20, 2010 Issue 3: November 24, 2010 Issue 4: February 23, 2011 Hardcover collection: March 30, 2011
Writer(s):	Brian Reed
Artist(s):	Felix Ruiz (pencils, inks) Val Staples (colors) Nate Piekos (letters)
Length:	4 issues
ISBN:	078515146X

Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp is the first story arc in Halo: Fall of Reach, a comic-book adaptation of the first Halo novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach published by Marvel Comics.

Consisting of four issues, Boot Camp chronicles the childhood of future SPARTAN-II commander John-117 as he is kidnapped and thrown into the elite supersoldier program early on in the 26th century. The story arc culminates in the Spartans' first real mission, an operation to capture the rebel Colonel Robert Watts at their hidden asteroid base, Eridanus Secundus. As with the rest of the adaptation, Boot Camp largely follows the plot of the original novel, though some events have been omitted. In turn, a new subplot which further explores the Eridanus rebels and their leader, Colonel Robert Watts, has been added. For a full list of the differences, see list of changes in Halo: Fall of Reach.

Boot Camp is succeeded by two additional story arcs; Covenant and Invasion.

Issues

Issue 1

Official summary:

“

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN… Before he was Master Chief, he was John -- a boy stolen from his parents and conscripted into the SPARTAN II program on the fortress world of Reach. These are desperate times in the human colonies, with galactic civil war just a heartbeat away...and only Dr. Catherine Halsey understands the terrible price humanity must pay to keep from destroying itself.

”

Synopsis
The first issue opens with the battle over Eridanus II during Operation: TREBUCHET in 2513 and the rebels' escape from the planet. The story then jumps four years forward, as the shuttle Han arrives in the Eridanus system with Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lt. Jacob Keyes onboard. In Elysium City on Eridanus II, they observe the boy who will later become John-117. A month later, the Spartan conscripts, having each been kidnapped and brought to Reach, are rounded up as Halsey tells them of their conscription to the SPARTAN-II project. Later, Halsey is seen drinking in her apartment, when she receives a message from Vice Admiral Ysionris Jeromi, regarding the risks involved in the planned SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures.

Issue 2

Official summary:

“

Stolen from their families and conscripted by the military, John-117 and the other child SPARTAN recruits are lost in the wilderness, out-manned and outgunned! Brian Reed (SIEGE: FRONT LINE) and Felix Ruiz (THE URANIAN) take the HALO legend to new heights with this origin story of Master Chief!

”

Synopsis
The second issue focuses on the training of the SPARTAN-IIs. John and the other recruits are woken up and are put through various exercises by CPO Franklin Mendez. Afterward, they are taught of the Battle of Thermopylae by Déjà in the Reach Naval Academy. A UNSC transport vessel is then shown exiting slipspace and soon being boarded by rebels near Eridanus II. The narrative then returns to the Spartan trainees, who are dropped into the Military Wilderness Training Preserve on Reach and are given a mission to find a way to the extraction point, each on their own. The Spartans team up, and with John on the lead, seize a dropship and use it to return to the base. After the incident, John is promoted squad leader by Chief Mendez.

Issue 3

Official summary:

“

As boot camp continues for the Spartans, the stakes are raised ever higher, tasking the young soldiers in body and in mind. But when it comes time for them to undergo the painful, experimental and highly dangerous process of augmentation, the only thing they can do to win is to survive.

”

Synopsis
The third issue begins with the funeral ceremony for those who died in the SPARTAN-II augmentations, aboard the UNSC carrier Atlas. Several months later, Halsey and Mendez arrive at one of Reach's abandoned titanium mines where the Spartans are training against UNSC personnel wearing Mark I Prototype Exoskeletons. Soon after, the Spartans are assigned to their first real mission: to capture Colonel Robert Watts, who is hiding somewhere in the Eridanus asteroid belt. After being briefed onboard the UNSC Pioneer, the Spartans sneak aboard the freighter Laden and manage to get inside the rebel-controlled asteroid habitat, Eridanus Secundus. The issue ends as the Spartans assault Watts' private residence inside the base.

Issue 4

Official summary:

“

As the Spartans training is put to the ultimate test, John must overcome his greatest challenge yet to neutralize the threat of the insurrectionists to the UNSC. But even if they can survive this current onslaught, a greater, fiercer and deadlier foe is lurking¦ one which will redefine John's entire universe! Don't miss the thrilling climax of BOOTCAMP!

”

Synopsis
The fourth issue opens with Blue Team capturing Colonel Watts and stuffing him into a sealed storage crate. The Spartans then rappel down the building and escape via a tram as more insurrectionists arrive. The team arrives at the station's docking bay, where they split up, with Samuel-034 planting explosives on the main door and Linda-058 covering the rest of the team as Kelly, John and Fred get Watts onboard a Pelican. Once everyone is aboard, Sam blows the doors open and the Spartans escape Eridanus Secundus just as the entire hangar bay is depressurized.

Several weeks later, the Spartans gather inside the secure briefing room of Reach's UNSC military complex. Vice Admiral Stanforth arrives to brief them on a new threat; a remote farming world known as Harvest has been reduced to ash by an alien hegemony that calls itself the Covenant. The issue ends with a message by the Prophet of Regret, proclaiming humanity's destruction.

Appearances

Characters Amtower (First appearance) Beowulf Catherine Halsey Déjà Franklin Mendez Michael Stanforth Jacob Keyes John-117 Kelly-087 Linda-058 Maribeau Veredi McNally (First appearance) Prophet of Regret Robert Watts Samuel-034 Unidentified captain (UNSC Dartmouth) (First appearance) Vance Welke (First appearance) Ysionris Jeromi Locations Epsilon Eridani system Reach Csodaszarvas Turul Highland Mountains Military Wilderness Training Preserve Longhorn Valley Big Horn River ONI Medical Facility Reach Military Complex Reach Naval Academy Eridanus system Eridanus II Eridanus II space docks (First appearance) Elysium City Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119 Eridanus Secundus Lambda Serpentis system Greece Sparta (Mentioned only) Events Operation: TALON Battle of Thermopylae Operation: TREBUCHET Project ASTER Organizations Insurrectionists Eridanus rebels United Nations Space Command UNSC Navy Naval Special Warfare Command SPARTAN-II program Blue Team Office of Naval Intelligence

Vehicles D20 Heron D77-TC Pelican Gateway D96-TCE Albatross Halcyon-class cruiser Vancouver-class courier Han Parabola-class freighter Laden M12 Force Application Vehicle M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle Marathon-class cruiser Orbital Defense Platform Tractor unit UNSC carrier UNSC Atlas UNSC Dartmouth (First appearance) UNSC destroyer UNSC Pioneer UNSC frigate Iliad UNSC Journeyman (Mentioned only) UNSC shield generator ship Weapons Combat knife HMG-38 heavy machine gun Humbler stun device MA2B Assault Rifle M45 Tactical Shotgun M90 Close Assault Weapon System Sniper Rifle System 99C-S2 Anti-Matériel Technology Artificial intelligence Avatar Black body suit Cryonics Cryo chamber Data pad Holography Holotank Humbler stun device MagLev train MJOLNIR Mark I prototype exoskeleton MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV Vacuum suit Other Quarter Titanium (Mentioned only) UNSC Navy uniforms

Trivia

• The shadow of John-117 in a MJOLNIR Mark VI armor seen on Issue 1's cover seems to be roughly based off of a screenshot of Halo 3 released by Bungie.
• The ancient Greek Spartan soldiers depicted in the hologram of Battle of Thermopylae|Thermopylae resemble the Spartans of the 300 comic and film series by Frank Miller, not as the heavily armored hoplites they were historically.
• In Issue 4, Linda-058's bodysuit is incorrectly labeled with the tag 059.
• In the comic, the population of Harvest is said to be three million, despite Halo: Contact Harvest listing the said population as a mere 300,000. Since Halo: The Essential Visual Guide also lists the population as three million, it can be assumed that the 300,000 number in Contact Harvest has since been ignored.
• In the series, John-117's face is fully shown only as a child. In scenes which depict him as an adolescent, his face is mostly obscured, most often by shadows or view angles. In the funeral ceremony after the SPARTAN-II augmentations in Issue #3, most of his face is covered by bandages.
• In the second issue, the captain of the UNSC Dartmouth retrieves several shotguns from a cryo chamber. In the first two panels, the shotguns appear to be M45s, though they resemble M90s in subsequent panels.

Sources

Preceded by None

Halo: Fall of Reach comic series Boot Camp

Succeeded by Covenant