#convenant

But what I WASN'T expecting to also show up inside the box of mailers was my pre-order copy of Covenant!

Apologies in advance because my photos aren't the greatest, but I wanna share some pics of it because I'm really impressed with how these books look and feel.

For starters, the actual cover designs. The front cover features stunning art and has a nice gloss cover, whereas the backside actually has a softer matte feel with gloss golden text which compliments the overall aesthetic of the book very nicely.

As for inside the book...

I was so relieved to see how well the formatting was done. Those who follow me here know I spend a lot of time bitching about webtoons-related stuff and one of my biggest gripes is how the webtoon format overall is very unfriendly to long-term publishing, as many creators don't anticipate eventually formatting for print (and Webtoons certainly hasn't helped as for years they've perpetuated the notion that print books are "dead", at least until it came to them making money 🍵) It's not an easy task to convert a vertical webtoon into a page format comic, but I'm happy to say that Lysandra's team here knocked it out of the park. The panel and text flow is smooth and easy to follow, they always take full advantage of the page space given to them, and the overall structure of every page feels very well thought out to work for the story it's trying to tell (as this is an action comic with fight scenes which can be tricky enough to pull off in page format, let alone converting from vertical format!) They've also gone out of their way to properly format the episode divides, so episodes (or as they're called in the story's stylization, "books") flow seamlessly with very little breakage, unlike what you would find in some webtoon-to-print books that often find the flow interrupted by episode title breaks every few pages. According to the credits page in the front of the book, we owe a lot of the formatting to layout designer Miranda Mundt and book designer Carey Soucy! Well done!

The print quality of the pages is also superb, printed on high-quality glossy paper which makes for stunning colors that have translated well from web to print. The darks are very dark which is necessary for a comic like Covenant which has a very earthy color palette; but when there ARE color pop moments of pink, red, and blue, they really shine. Of course, there is a downside to this, which is that the glossy paper WILL show your thumbprints in the darker areas (especially if you have particularly oily hands like I do, ech) but hey, it adds character and it's worth seeing the comic's art come to life on the glossy paper.

“Aurora.” She voiced the words subvocally. “Yes, Quinn?” the AI replied. “We’re going in, alert C&C we’ll need exfil.” She reloads the needler and walks into the flood infected compound.

Halo, Season 1 - Episode 4 “Homecoming”

Master Chief

We open with the fire team was a kid, every single SPartan we’ve seen and we’re pushed forward into the memory of John. The kids are march along singing a jody ( rhythmnic chanting during marching), and thus we see how the UNSC abducted and indoctrinated kids to make the Spartan IIs.

We jump back to the modern day as Halsey and her aide argue over what the Forerunner object is. Oh, wow, this woman is in a ride for her hell for what she’s going to unsleash. Cortana pops up and we get a bit of an overload on what’s going on, and Chief’s having anxiety. Heh, tear out a fucking emotional suppression implant and this happens.

Duh.

Eridanus looks like Madrigal in that it appears to be another craggy dirt ball, I thinkit’s just the spots they choose. Wait not, even the terraformed deciduous forest is kind of gnarly. I’m going to call that it’s some sort of fall sitch. Oh, and the forest IS terraformed, called it. Plus some nice foreshadowing where John locates the spot where his plot mcguffin paper is! YAY PLOT PAPER!

Dig it up - up oh, HOLES! Back on Eridanus, John is gophering along w00t! Out comes a box, (A MAGICAL BOX!), filled with “drawings and samples? What by the Nine is this wonderful weird shit! Welp, Foreunner tech is all kinds of mind-fuckery, so John drawing the same image plus Halo over and over again makes sense. Into the House! Cortana compiles images to provoke John’s memory. Giving us some shots of what his family home was.

Little John runs by with the dog and he hears his father speaking. This is something that really humanizes the Chief, and will make him more epic later on. A memory is unearthed, and we learn where John found the images. WHERE, he found the Forerunner tech! Baby John and big Jouhn as a scene was...adorable. And, he figures out that Halsey stole him. yup, fuck this lady.

Kai:

Wow, Kai-125, is basically experience an existential crisis, and yup, she’s gone and removed her chip. Fuck, go for you girl, just please don’t go all murdery please. I wanna see this as a woman reclaiming her agency, not as another “emotional female” soldier bullshit trope.

They are really placing up subtle bits of how the Spartans don’t feel, and how they explore their awakened emotions in this story. Kai, spreads blood in her hair, and I’m, not sure, how I feel on this. I think the dying of hair with you’re own blood is interesting, and it shows a small level of psychosis as well. I mean its’ her fucking blood! She’s also a literal murder machine, so I guess this is okay as well.

The doc staring Kai after the hair, and Kai calls out her bullshit. Wow, please please just don’t go all murdery. I just wana Kai to not go down that route! Okay, she’s a kid, cuz you know they were stolen kids. Keyes getting some more knowledge drop as the Spartans talk like a bunch of 10 year olds discussing Halo Weapons (like when the game first dropped) was - pretty cute. Makes sense, it would be Kai who helped Keyes break Sanghelii. I’m shipping these girls now, deal!

Keyes drops some reasons why she doesn’t like Spartans II. Wow, Spartan II pets was...fucked up. Keyes really gives an idea of how shitty their children. Hooyay, your mom supported Child Abuse! Kai and Keyes are back working on things yeah, shipping this shit. Kaiyes ftw. Heh, Kai coin’s Halo, call it.

Kwan:

Our girl is off with kill-daddy Soren on Madrigal so she can spark the blood insurrection about Vinsher the Butcher. Soren relates on how he felt as an early escapee of the child soldier abuse system *COUGH* Spartan II program! Yup, and he killed his dad, wow that’s not at all surprising. Ship design in this series is nice as it really does fit how things felt in the games.

The capital of Madrigal being carved from a mesa is pretty bad ass. And, I do like how it’s obviously this Colony is Korean founded. We see Hangul everywhere, plus, it emphasizes how much the colonies are evolving. There is also a definite Middle Asia and perhaps even Indian feel. Kwa runs into a contact, and I think this bitch is gonna betray her. Yup, betrayal runs on his face hardcore.

Oh Kwan has a bounty, looks to be about 100,000 bells!

The Folk gathering for Jin’s memorial is righteaously a mix of different rituals! A Madrigali (is it wrong I want to rename the planet Casita?) gather. Will Kwan find the generals? I mean, general in the we’re a bunch of bad ass hero commandos ala fantasy movie! Not, actual serious ranking army figures! I say this, because this is a fucking militia, genral doesn’t mean the same thing!

Kwan welp, our girl, get’s reality dropped on her. Called it! Vinsher’s actions have quelled the rebellion, and Kwan isn’t living in reality. Yup, in come riding the strongmen, and Soren’ kicks some serious ass, and saves our delusion girl. I mean, yeah, this delusion makes sense, but damn, hope she gets a kick of grounding.

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Vinsher.

Kwan is...just stuck on this road, she’s lying to Soren, I can see it. This is going to end bad. We split to Vinsher planning her death like a fucking Mafia Don. (Yup, fuck this guy he ain’t getting his own POV section). At least he’s sending an assassin, and hopefully, they’ll realize how fucking dangerous an ex-Spartan is. Vinsher is wow, he’s like a slightly less imposing Baron Harkonnen, and not as smart.

Ah Soren, being a fucking Pirate! Kwan, girl, y ou need to stop hoisting this unrealistic dream. How her father basically got a prophecy for his family. Kwan, I think is starting to realize her actions has consequences,and that in a world of fucking colonists you need to think things out.

Hottakes:

Yup, he keeps taking off that fucking helmet, I’ll just have to accept this Inferior Chief I guess. Lucky the actor isn’t shit, and I actually like him.

Lol, the side quest feel of this episode was...fucking great. I love that they are hunting for a literal piece of PLOT PAPER!

Seriously Kwa, you better deliver girl, or you’re world is going to shatter.

Kai please don’t go unhinged and get some agency BEFORE ALL THE SPARTANS DIE!

Vinsher and his bunch in pristine black as night costumes where as everyone else is in shades of grey, and orange and yellow is pretty great.

Lol, the exaggerate Spartan stompiness is...funny.

Kai dropping all the creds on Dr Keyes was...satisfying. I like Keyes, but she’s also a bit on her high horse.

Master Boof (that white shepheard of kid John), is the best fucking boy!

Kwan is...just as disconnected as one could assume.

SNERK, the assassin’s name is Franco...best ever.

GO JOHN! Calling out his kidnapping shitt abusive mother figure!

I bet you Kwan has a link to Forunner tech, calling it.

More Halsey being shitty, yup yup, stripping kids of their humanity. Cuz we can’t have a woman with severe empathy repression feel uncomfortabl when her hens come back to roost.