I’m back from ChicagoLANd 3.0, and what a weekend it was! Best time playing Halo I’ve ever had. Tune in to the official TTL Blog for a full writeup in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Reclaimer resumes its regular schedule, and we find out a little of Viper’s motivations.
so are the viper actually bad…
will they start a new conflict between the humans and covenant making reclaimers job even more difficult…
the viper aren’t perfect!! good comic….great writing
So the vipers are more like well-intentioned extremists? taking down what they see as the threat of the covenant.
Also, just one guy on guard outside? that’s just asking for trouble
“you, stand guard out here on your own while the rest of us go into the next room. keep an eye out for the mysterious evil that’s infiltrating out base.”
”...aahh crap…”
Seams like the leader of the Vipers for a brief second gets the “I can have all power” moment? “Let go of your feelings, and join the Darkside”...
Well written Jim, can’t wait to see whats next.
@ Larrykan – I think it’ll become somewhat clear that Viper’s intentions are not entirely good once some more of the Reclaimerverse backstory comes to light.
@ PikminGod – Thanks! High praise coming from one of my most vocal critics.
@ Rosco128 – I think ‘well-intentioned’ might be giving them too much credit. And thanks for pointing out the ‘one guard outside’ as that made me realize I had a major continuity error I had to fix. The comic should still read fine after the correction.
@ spillits – Yeah, basically. These guys are ultra-powerful, rebellious, with a lot of resources at their disposal. That’ll mess with anyone’s head.
@ Rosco 128 – I think you mean ‘’two guys’’ on the outside. First it showed all 7 members outside, now it shows 5 of ‘em inside.
@ Amer then00b – That was the continuity error I was talking about. Today’s comic originally had all seven of Beta squad inside, when the last comic had clearly left two outside. Today’s also originally had six going in to power down with one standing aside. Major problem with continuity there, which is what I had to go back and fix before someone called me out on it.
Good to have you back Jim.
It’s like a pre-emptive strike on the Covenant. Might as well take them down before they turn on us. Funny, those plans never quite work out well.
Actually i think you will find in world history that happens a lot, and if done correctly can work very well indeed.
Jim props on the good story scripting and the little hints here and there of what is happening
Excellent work, as usual, Jim.
But something doesn’t quite strike me as natural about the scene. It’s something to do with the purple Covenant weapon holders that stand out as foreign from the Forerunner achitecture… and the fact that some override switches are on the floor. Not really in keeping with Forerunner style.
I personally would say to go with the cores in Guardian, as they look more like futuristic switches. The ones in a corner adjacent to the room with a few fusion cores, and a ramp leading down to the grav lift room.
The floor switches bothered me too, probably would have been worthwhile to float them on the walls. Regardless, good work as usual, Jim. Can’t wait for Friday!
love the third panel
i think the switches are the where they are because its not supposed to be something that is easily shut down…and there are no forerunner objects in forge, so some things just can’t be done so you have to just have a slight disconnect with reality in some situations…forge is great but you cant do everything
do all the leaders of each viper squad have special helmets or just this one guy? is he about to be the main viper character?
@ PikminGod – Exactly so. There are limitations to what one can do in Forge. I can’t count the number of times I’ve wished for the ability to make custom objects just for the comic.
You also have to remember that the vast majority of Covenant technology is ‘borrowed’ from Forerunner tech. The Covenant don’t really innovate.
As for the placement, my ideal situation would have been to suspend a handful of holographic control panels, but again, not really an option in Forge. We work with the tools we have.
Well, the knowledge that this is a “Meanwhile…” comic renders my previous question moot. I was looking at your recent screenshots before the comic went online, and I was thinking that you would need to shade the area a lot to keep up the continuity.
This works much better than painting everything black.
Hmmm, still hearing the Jaws theme….....
@silver fox- stop cheating and looking at his recent shots you just ruin it for yourself
I cant help it…but I will stop commenting on it.
Hey, I’ve no problems if someone wants to peruse my screenshot gallery for previews of coming pages. Eventually, it’s probably gonna bite you in the butt by giving something away, but if you don’t mind spoilers, then go for it.
I may just have to start seeding it with misleading images, though, just for the heck of it. 
Is it just me, or are there TWO pages for comic no.82?
What browser are you using and what are you seeing? I only see the one page.
Microsoft Internet Explorer. What else? And by the way, now I see just the one page. “Problem” solved. Sorry for bothering you.
@ Amer then00b – Dude, we have GOT to wean you off that crap.
Firefox is better than IE, hands-down. Heck, even the new Google Chrome is better. 
And yeah, I fixed the problem. When I replaced the image for the comic, for some reason WordPress wanted to create another post.
I’ve got to agree. Google Chrome sucks badly, but even that is better than MS IE.
I seriously think Microsoft came up with the idea while at the world’s worst stag party.
Jim, just got a new car, “must have” a reclaimer decal can’t drive it unless I do!!!
And cannot wait much longer to find who the 3rd and 5th members are of the Cavalcades, please ease the suffering…j/k but seriously I can’t wait till they are introduced.
My crystal ball predicts this time a new war between UNSC and the Covies,with Ferial pulling all of the strings,very much like the emporer in star wars,and reclaimer is gonna be stuck in the middle.
BTW,Firefox is IEs…you know what I mean.Its way to complex.Just friggen get me to the internet…plain and simple.
Firefox isn’t complicated at all, and just about everything works for it as opposed to IE which refuses to display things correctly/at all half the time…
I have a feeling that Viper’s plan isn’t exactly going to work as…well, as planned.
Oh, and if there is a war with the Covenant, you should probly hold back on that part of the story until Assembly (i.e. Purple Reign) comes out. (That map is going to be sweet: it’s a Scarab factory)
@ kr8tos187 – Hm, window decals. I’ll look into it.
@ mysterioso2006 – Firefox is as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. Straight out of the box, it’s basic and easy to use. But if you really want Firefox to be working for you, then the power of the add-ons is where it’s at. And that’s the last comment I’m going to make on the subject. Back on topic people!
@ the silver fox – Does it ever?
And I’ll spoil this much – there will not be a war with the Covenant, at least not in this story arc. I may go back later and use that subject as a prequel to the current storyline, though.