I’ve got to say – this is not exactly the direction I expected today’s comic to go. But once I started writing, it kind of took on a mind of its own, revealing a substantive part of Viper’s master plan. I hope you like it, and if you look back in the archives, I think you’ll start to find some common links to other recent events.
*Edit: It should also be noted that The Catfish has submitted another eight comic pages and can be viewed in his comic gallery.
First?
I love the whole “Evil mastermind reveals master plan to captured foe before killing him” now we can only hope that it the Rant gives RC just enough time to escape…i hope we get to see one of the cavalcades other “special powers”
I love how you used Recon here, Jim. I wasn’t even aware you had it (though I’m not surprised). I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a recon-clad character that was not a “good guy”.
Oh, and nice reference to Harry Potter. =P
Thumbs up for the 102th time! Let’s not forget that tomorrow’s the 1st anniversary. Thanks, Jim, for creating this awesome comic. And thanks to everyone else who supported him. You guys have been great!
Sorry to break it to you, but Jim does not have Recon. He did this with some of his TTL buddies.
And is this the same Jenkins from the Haloverse or someone completely different?
@ PikminGod – Who says that Viper wants to kill the Reclaimer, hm?
@ Sangheilioz – Fox is correct. I do not have Recon. I “borrowed” a handful of my fellow Gunslingers last night for a quick video/photo shoot. We’ve a few members with Recon, and this seemed like a good opportunity to bring Recon into the mix – as an evil character.
And the Harry Potter reference is completely unintentional.
@ Amer then00b – I’m going to try – operative word being ‘try’ – to have something a little extra special to go along with Friday’s anniversary comic.
@ the silver fox – Someone’s been going through my game history.
And good eye. That would be one and the same. 
It’s going to be interesting to see how RC gets out of this one, hm…
As far as Recon goes, come on Bungie, Jim as made an impact with your game and rightfully deserves it. So I say give it to him…Great comic…
Reprogramming human minds, eh? I’m guessing that’s where Archimede’s nano-neaural-net-thingie comes in.
Re Sangheilioz: Digitalph33r’s Deus Ex Machina had a bad guy with Recon. Personally, I don’t like the recon helmet, so I think it makes a good bad guy XD. Scout helmet FTW!
Didn’t Jenkins become a flood combat form on the first Halo?
Actually he didn't. He was in Halo 3 still
I'm not sure, but I think you might be mistaken on that one.
I wanted to note, for those of you who’ve already ready today’s post, that I’ve updated The Catfish’s comic gallery with eight more pages he’s submitted, so feel free to step over there and enjoy.
@ spillits – Indeed, it will be. The Reclaimer is definitely in a bit of a rough spot at the moment.
@ Rosco128 – Hehe, we’ll get to see what Viper intends to do with Archimedes soon enough.
I am still curious as to how the change in font for Viper is being affected. Now 3 different Vipers have shown it.
I am an avid Harry Potter Fan, and know all the books very well, i still don’t get the harry potter reference. Unless you are talking about how one person is trying to change humanity to his own way of perfection. But if that is the case… that is not very new in history.
@ Bearded Phantom – The font change is important, but you’ll have to wait to see the why of it. And the HP allusion that Sanghelioz mentions is in reference to when Dumbledore tells Harry that the time is coming when people must choose between what is easy and what is right – or at least, that’s what I thought of when he mentioned it.
I'm positive. As, the Chief finds Jenkin's helmet in the middle of the room where all the Infection forms rush you, I'm pretty sure, I could be wrong though. I do know for a fact that in the book, they have Jenkins in confinement, already transforming into the flood.
Look it up on the Halopedia, it neither states that the marine in the entrance or the dead one you find is Jenkins, but I know the one in the entrance is missing his helmet. Coincidence? Possibly.
The insane marine is NOT Jenkins, they have different voices.
@Jim: That particular line was in the movies, I can't recall if it was in the books or not.
I see teh Recon armour!
I think he needs to visit an anger management specialist.
@ Shu Sam Chen (HSAR) – Ah, but it’s not mine. I just happen to have friends who have Recon.
‘He’ who? If you’re referring to Viper-1, he’s actually quite calm.
@taterific: No, Jenkins was the one that, when you enter the building, starts shooting at you. He’s slumped agaisnt the side. That is, if you’re going by game only. In the book, he did get infected. I accidently killed them the first time I went through there >>
@Jim: Very nice. No doubt, you’ve got some insidious plot beneath Viper’s plan. And, would the ‘voice’ (font) have anything to do with that virus that took over that one Viper soldier when they were shutting down the array?
@ DeathGrunty – Are you sure about that? I’m pretty sure that when the Chief plugged into the video feed to get an idea of what happened, it was from Private Jenkins’ perspective. I assumed that Jenkins was the guy who fell out of the door when the Chief opened it. I thought the other guy was simply a different (and nameless) Marine who went insane after seeing the mind-blowing horror that is the Flood.
Font? Virus? Linked? I don’t know what you’re talking about…
Actually, the Harry Potter reference I was referring to was “there is no right and wrong, only power”. thanks for playing, though, kids!
Re Rosco128: I don’t remember seeing Recon used in Deus Ex, but I’m also drastically behind on that storyline… I’ll have to refresh myself later. For the record, I think Jim deserves Recon more than DigitalPh33r does… Ph33r isn’t bad, but Jim is a friggin’ genius, and an artist.
@ DeathGrunty – Oh, man, I’m gonna have to watch that cutscene again. I always thought he took the helmet from the body he caught. I guess I never noticed that he picked a random one up from the floor. I do know that Jenkins struggled all the way through to the end as something not completely a combat form, but I for some reason thought that whole sequence took place after the Chief busted out of the quarantine habitats and started fighting the Flood for the first time.
@ Sangheilioz – Crap. I don’t remember that line, but then again, it’s been awhile since I’ve read through the series, and I’ve covered a whole lot of books since then. I’m a little fogged up on all the HP specifics.
@ Sangheilioz – It would actually make some sense that he’s not Jenkins, since we know that Jenkins was a combat form pretty quickly after being infected and the insane Marine isn’t even showing early stages of infection.
@Jim: Yeah, I can guarantee that the insane marine isn’t Jenkins, the games and the books are not in canonical conflict, so far as I know (with the exception of Johnson and the Elite hugging at the end of Halo: CE, that particular scene was just an easter egg).
@Roscoe: I thought the dead marine had a hat on though? I could be mistaken on that, but I’m fairly sure…
typical, villain monologues to try sleep the hero to death, then, when its over, the villain gets punched in the face. End of story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DcDH-Nsts
There’s the cutscene, but it’s really dark and kind of pixely. I just watched a run through the first part, and they sound exetremely similar, to me.
Woohoo a mention =]
But yeah I like the monologuing…..gives a more cinematic feel to the storyline.
@Sangheilioz “the Harry Potter reference I was referring to was “there is no right and wrong, only power”
It is truly a sad tale of the Human race that this line has been repeated over and over throughout history, if not word for word then in deed.
Also Monologuing, how often has this been used and abused, Pixar to Austin Powers, and yet how many times we see it. The enemy captain must feel vindicated to show and explain what he is doing. Truly foolish and prideful on his part, i think we can see more of this kind of behavior from Viper-1
Put a somewhat literal twist on Neitzche’s idea of the ubermensch, doesn’t it?
This is NOT a double post; it’s been like four hours.
That reminds me of what Ferial said a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago: “The will cannot be excised, only manipulated.” I believe that I have figured out part of Ferial’s end goal (that is probably a bit overambitious of a statement, but hey, things are starting to come together): Use the virus to manipulate the will of every sentient being to having only the will to serve him. Ferial gets his little empire, and peace is everywhere; He has all power, he can do as he wishes, and he will believe he has saved the universe. Which is basically what the flood wanted to do, except by killing, possessing, and consuming all sentient beings and eventually all biomass in a galaxy before moving on to the next, driven by an insatiable hunger. That is probably why it is a “failed experiment”: it could not be controlled properly, and did more than just act as “mind control”.
But as of right now, what has happened to the UNSC and the C0ven4nt (sorry, filtered computer)? Are they victims of the virus too? Only time (and Jim) will tell…
And naturally, Jim won’t say anytime soon. Of course, we’ve been wrong on that before too…
Before I ramble on any further, 442 OUT.
@ Bearded Phantom – An egomaniac isn’t happy unless he has someone to crow in front of.
Then maybe we might see some similar behavior from Ferial?
Wait…what this needs is a good ol’ fashioned evil laugh. I think it’s only appropriate I provide one for you:
“BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!”
Great comic! I love the story that’s coming out, and especially love the font use for Jenkins!
Will the reclaimer be brainwashed?
@ Bearded Phantom – We sort of have already.
@ TTL OboeCrazy – I love that font, and I love finding excuses to use it.
@ Someguy – Well, that’s certainly one possibility.
If viper doesn’t know about the Cavalcade that RC is carrying then they may try and infect him with the virus without knowing that it won’t work.
If that is the case I foresee an interesting game of cat and mouse with RC pretending to be infected while trying to find out more of what is going on.
Just a thought.
@ Distefant, really good observation, I wonder what the calvacade might be able to do damage wise to vipers systems if Viper allows access, such as to attempt to archimedes RC