The Ballad of Halo Jones
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Halo jones.png The Ballad of Halo Jones was a 1980s science fiction comic strip written by Alan Moore and drawn by Ian Gibson.
Halo Jones first appeared in five-page instalments in the pages of the weekly British comic 2000 AD An overt attempt to bring a female perspective to that notoriously testosterone-fuelled publication, it was embraced by readers of both genders and is regarded as one of the high points of 2000 AD, as well as one of Moore's first significant works. The eponymous heroine is a highly sympathetic 50th-century everywoman, and the tone of the strip runs from the comic to the poignant.
The three "books" span several years of her life, and also serve as a tour of the well-realised futuristic universe which Moore and Gibson created. Originally, Halo Jones was to have run to nine books, chronicling Halo's life from adolescence through old age, however the series stopped after three because of a dispute between Moore and Fleetway, the magazine's publishers, over the intellectual property rights of the characters he and Gibson had co-created.
The three books are available in a single collection from Titan Books: The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones, ISBN 1840233427.
Synopsis
In Book One, we are introduced to the 18-year-old Halo Jones, who lives in a hellish housing estate called "The Hoop". The story takes place over one day, and follows Halo's violent, though also partly comical misadventures on a shopping trip. When Halo firstly discovers a good friend has become a "Different Drummer", a youth cult numbed by the beat of a drum in their ears, then returns to her apartment to find her flatmate and best friend Brinna murdered, she decides to leave Earth, never to return.
Book Two depicts Halo's life as a stewardess on a year-long space voyage. Halo discovers that it was her robotic dog Toby who was responsible for her flatmate's death and is forced to destroy him. It is also revealed, in a framing sequence, that Halo becomes a legendary historical figure in centuries to come.
In Book Three, the darkest part of the saga, ten years have elapsed and Halo has become a soldier serving in a Vietnam-style guerrilla interstellar war which has appeared as backstory in the previous two books, and is courted by a famous, fearsome-looking general, Luiz Cannibal. The series ends with the cessation of hostilities, after which Halo commandeers a spaceship and deserts, determined to take charge of her own fate.
References in Popular Culture
The boy band Halo James was named after the eponymous character, while the 1980s pop act Transvision Vamp released a single entitled, as a homage, "Hanging out with Halo Jones". In 2001, Andrew Ness adapted Book One of the story to the Liverpool stage.
External links
- Exit Garden - Halo Jones fan site.
- HOOPLIFE.org - Halo Jones fan site, containing resources and other info.
- Script of the Halo Jones play