Jun 22
Screenshots for today’s comic were provided courtesy of xSOB a DooBy.
↓ Transcript
The Reclaimer examining a console.
RECLAIMER
We need to get out of here. Fellas, can you Todash us back to the Narrows?
CAVALCADE
Indeed, we can, Reclaimer. There is a sufficient power source nearby for us to open and maintain a Gate.
The Reclaimer holding a glowing plasma pistol.
RECLAIMER
Fine. Fire it up, please. It's time to get back to business.
CAVALCADE
It is already open. You will need to make your back to the other side of the installation.
TRAN
Sir, we'd best hustle. The radar array on this tether is still functional - barely - and it seems that a Flood vessel is on approach.
The Reclaimer standing at the base of a staircase.
RECLAIMER
Well, I don't plan to still be here when it docks.
TRAN
It's not assuming a docking pattern, sir. It's on a collision course.
RECLAIMER
All the more reason to make a speedy exit.
TRAN
There's something else, sir.
The Reclaimer running through a doorway.
CAVALCADE
Indeed. Reclaimer, there is communications transfer taking place aboard that vessel.
RECLAIMER
So?
CAVALCADE
The Flood communicate telepathically. They have no need for communication devices.
RECLAIMER
I see your point.
The Reclaimer running through a red-lit corridor.
RECLAIMER
Tran, can you determine who the Flood are communicating with?
TRAN
Analyzing...
TRAN
This is strange, sir. I'm picking up both human and Covenant data packets in the communication streams.
The Reclaimer continuing down the red-lit hallway.
RECLAIMER
Strange - but certainly no stranger than anything else I've seen lately.
RECLAIMER
Let's get out of here first, then figure out what the hell is going on.
TRAN
I'm certainly on board with that, sir.
CAVALCADE
Initiating Todash Protocol...
RECLAIMER
We need to get out of here. Fellas, can you Todash us back to the Narrows?
CAVALCADE
Indeed, we can, Reclaimer. There is a sufficient power source nearby for us to open and maintain a Gate.
The Reclaimer holding a glowing plasma pistol.
RECLAIMER
Fine. Fire it up, please. It's time to get back to business.
CAVALCADE
It is already open. You will need to make your back to the other side of the installation.
TRAN
Sir, we'd best hustle. The radar array on this tether is still functional - barely - and it seems that a Flood vessel is on approach.
The Reclaimer standing at the base of a staircase.
RECLAIMER
Well, I don't plan to still be here when it docks.
TRAN
It's not assuming a docking pattern, sir. It's on a collision course.
RECLAIMER
All the more reason to make a speedy exit.
TRAN
There's something else, sir.
The Reclaimer running through a doorway.
CAVALCADE
Indeed. Reclaimer, there is communications transfer taking place aboard that vessel.
RECLAIMER
So?
CAVALCADE
The Flood communicate telepathically. They have no need for communication devices.
RECLAIMER
I see your point.
The Reclaimer running through a red-lit corridor.
RECLAIMER
Tran, can you determine who the Flood are communicating with?
TRAN
Analyzing...
TRAN
This is strange, sir. I'm picking up both human and Covenant data packets in the communication streams.
The Reclaimer continuing down the red-lit hallway.
RECLAIMER
Strange - but certainly no stranger than anything else I've seen lately.
RECLAIMER
Let's get out of here first, then figure out what the hell is going on.
TRAN
I'm certainly on board with that, sir.
CAVALCADE
Initiating Todash Protocol...
[ Comments RSS ]
second panel, you left out the word "way"
other than that, very nice
Dammit you beat me to it. I saved the original one just in case Jim decided to avoid it, again…
So it would appear that the Flood are in some way communicating with people infected by the virus…. queue weird scary music!!!
Anyway nice comic Jim, really enjoying this, especially now that we're back on track. Oh and are there a few of my pictures there?
They're all your pictures this time.
All your pic are belong to us. You are on the way to Jim win. You cannot prove him wrong. Make your time. Lol Lol Lol.
You took those pictures?! I LOVED the last frame… beautiful shot. (intense debate won't log me in!!!)
Hm, I don't know why. It's working just fine for me… =/
Fixed.
Heh, so there was a problem??
I'm glad I could help but I can't remember taking the first or the fourth panel. Oh well, my memory is going at 16, I'm stuffed for 60 
I think Jim finaly changed his state of denial. Now we can use his mental sanity to conquer the world.
First Pittsburg, then the entire world!
Love the lighting in that last panel, very cool.
Can request wallpaper made of that picture? It'd be awesome.
Im going to have to agree with juesoni on that one jim
Thank you!!!!!! You love my pictures!!!! You can make it yourself if you have the time. Just go into the service tunnels on Orbital, where the light is red, and just take a screenshot
Or you could just, you know, follow the link 
if you are lazy :p
http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDeta…;
Yup, I'll see about making one at some point later today.
Hey, long time reader, first time poster.
Great comic, as always.
So, if i understand this…
the flood are communicating with the UNSC and the Covenant, who, if memory serves, are also infected by Ferial's virus.
Sounds like Ferial'f Plan is starting to come together. Hurry up, RC.
Hurry up, indeed.
My thoughts exactly. What ever the Ferials are up to, it's bigger than Jim is letting on.
And he's let on heaps hasn't he :p And yes that was sarcasm.
I'm glad you pointed out that you were being sarcastic because if you didn't I wouldn't have noticed and would have made a fool of myself.
And no, I am not being sarcastic.
The communications going on is most likely the virus. Too bad Reclaimer is leaving, was hoping to finally see how the virus fairs against the Flood (and vice versa).
But maybe the Flood and the virus is linked… and RC cant fight the flood, Jim's not that good
He can't get RC into campaign to fight the flood because you only have the MC armor. It sucks 
It'd be interesting to see RC fight the Flood for once…
It'd require some very clever Photoshopping, something I may yet attempt at some point.
Or you could just take a shot of the flood being shot and another one of the reclaimer shooting and use two separate panels. Isolation would work for this. Come on Jim, you have a more creative mind than I do.
Hey fair enough. If you would like I can see what I can do with getting RC to blast a few flood. My Photoshops skills aren't any where near yours, but it'd be an interesting challenge for sure! And it couldn't be Isolation following the current story line because that is the location of that Calvacada….
Don't say that, you've only seen Jim add filters and make a few site logos so far. You might be amazing at photoshop.
Me on the other hand…
Indirectly, anyway… :p
That would ruin the scary zombie nature of the flood. I wanted to see rc cornered by a few like in deadspace, then pwn n00bs.
Loving the lighting on RC at the end. Great stuff
Those service corridors on Orbital provide great settings for images. Kudos to xSOB a DooBy for grabbing these for me.
Your running short on maps Jim. Good luck.
The choice of a light colored armor didn't appeal to me at first but it really helps the atmosphere by absorbing the lighting better than darker colors.
I guess reflecting is the proper word but you get my point.
Am I the only one who finds it bothering that Jim names his locations after the maps in the game.
If you're referring to in panel 1 where he says the Narrows, then it makes sense because that is what that particular part of that forerunner installation (I don't remember which one it is) is called
I think so. It just makes it easier to remember, though like someone said, locations are running short
I take it Jim is waiting for the new mythic maps :p Though I suppose you are right, Guardian, Standoff, Narrow, he hasn't actually called this one Orbital though… Hey Jim, you haven't used the Legendary maps a lot that can be a good backup if you start running out. Though I supposed you used a little bit of Avalanche and Blackout, there is still Ghost town, rats nest, and Foundry that you haven't really explored…
I know, its just fun to use similar maps for similar puposes. Like Standoff and Highground might actually be the same base and the inside could be rats nest, just for example. You could do things like that. I don't know, its just bothering me that they are named Human words. I personally believe that the forunners have a different system of communicating, because all space faring species having vocal chords capable of the same pitches and mouths forming the same sounds is dumb, like Spaceballs. Make any sense?
Maybe they communicate by lights like the Hanar or maybe in body language like the Elcor.
I know, its just fun to use similar maps for similar puposes. Like Standoff and Highground might actually be the same base and the inside could be rats nest, just for example. You could do things like that. I don't know, its just bothering me that they are named Human words. I personally believe that the forunners have a different system of communicating, because all space faring species having vocal chords capable of the same pitches and mouths forming the same sounds is dumb, like Spaceballs. Make any sense?
Maybe they communicate by lights like the Hanar or maybe in body language like the Elcor.
As a result, naming them is inacurate.
Any and all Forerunner names are translated into human speech. At this point, it's assumed.
But you've noticed that the names are general feelings rather than nouns. Guilty Spark, Mendicant Bias (which by the way would be great to see in reclaimer since he still hasn't left the keyship). We don't know the proper name of any locations because they were all named by the human or covenant (seriously, Halo was named so by the alien dudes) but it's safe to assume that all their real names correspond with emotions.
"Initiating Todash Protocol"... I need a t-shirt that says that…
Hm, I'll look into a limited run of shirts for this one.
If only the first run of shirts actually sold… :p
I might buy one if I actually felt like supporting Jim, but he needs to suffer for his art.
So glad I can count on your support. eyeroll
Do you have any shirts up on jinx.com? Bunch-a-geeks made a bunch of gaming and whathaveyou jokes and printed them on shirts to ship around the world. Bet the reclaimer would make a great addition to their stock.
I don't, and I won't. I appreciate the suggestion, but I prefer to maintain control of my own stock. I can usually provide a better shirt price than I can get through a third-party vendor.
... BRILLIANT!
Yes I am.
Please don't flatter yourself. You can't wear those clothes.
Interesting new development in this comic. Also, I find it interesting to see how many armor types Reclaimer has gone through: Hayabusa, EOD, Mark V1…
Interesting new development in this comic. Also, I find it interesting to see how many armor types Reclaimer has gone through: Hayabusa, EOD, Mark VI…
Helmet hasn't changed.
Shoulders haven't changed.
Chest has changed once.
I guess that since you didn't make today's screenshots that we shouldn't count Mark VI, you're right
I guess that since you didn't make today's screenshots that we shouldn't count Mark VI, you're right, and I only meant the chest
Damn sorry, I didn't really look for the chest sorry. I guessed wrong, I wasn't actually sure what it was. I had to review a few comics to get a good shot to see his shoulders and chest and I couldn't see the armor properly. Sorry Jim…
Not a big deal. Really.
Speaking of armor change, reclaimer should get a metroid style armor upgrade in the series where he lights up and when the lights dim his shoulders are suddenly massive and he can turn into a ball.
Maybe not that but you know what I mean. His suit should still not be able to hold that many AI.
Speaking of AI. I refuse to believe that human processors can support any forunner construct, or four for that matter. And if they could carry along thier own processors, then they wouldn't really need the space in his suit that Tran asked for in the first place. Care to enlighten me or have you no idea either?
hmm, that is true….
I'm going to take Jim's silence as a slip up on his part. Thanks for not over thinking things Jim. Now I get to falsify everything supporting my "Reclaimer is skitzo" theory.
sssssshhhh
SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, it was too funny.
The Cavalcade require a vessel of some sort in order to have movement. In their early days, it was usually a large space vessel or a planet-side computer system (if they were in a static position). In this case, the Reclaimer's armor is their vessel.
They also pulled back to make room for Tran because they were currently using every available bit of storage in the suit in order to facilitate communication with the Reclaimer and to interact more thoroughly with the environment. By pulling back, they now function somewhat less efficiently, though the difference is certainly not noticeable to anyone but themselves. The pull-back process was a combination of efficient compression processes and transferal of other processes back to Slipspace operations. Most of their operations take place there, anyway.
Gosh I love how you can just explain everything in such a flawless way using only a quick post.
"I've got a bad feeling about this"
Really, the thought of zombies and mind control radio viruses bing a sense of glee…
Maybe I am a nerd.
Or possibly just a sadist.
actually i think he just described resident evil
Interesting development here….^^
The Calvacade should say "Initiating suspense protocol."
I liked the cliffhanger.exe joke more. I should build a program that launches Chrome and brings it to this page and name it that.
Wait…
Is it possible to request web pages through external apps?
Hehe, it got lost in translation.
Dun dun dun… Gar. It's a testament to your writing that you can really instill suspense in our readers.
Ironically, I didn't write this one with the intent to be suspenseful.
But they all end up being that way don't they.
Jim, don't try to mess with the laws of physics. Newtons 97th law goes as follows.
"All episodic content revealed in a linear chronological fashion will be suspenseful until there can be no further release of content."
You may wish to keep Murphy's laws in mind too.
As Gordon Freeman once said as he left the test chamber alive "Murphy's laws can suck it!"
Little did he know that things were about to go really wrong.
Oh I figured you must. I know that most authors have all this extra information about their characters that they never get to reveal.
Finally got on IntenseDebate.
I've been following for quite a long time now.
I'd like to compliment you on this amazing series you have going on here.
-Maxdoggy
BTW, good job on the shots today Dooby.
Really nice last shot.
You're right, I am trying too hard.
Ah, but I've done a LOT more Photoshopping than just filters and logos. You just haven't noticed—which is the way it ought to be.
For some reason…
that last part of your post, "which is the way it ought to be", seems to have an underlying message that sounds kinda evil. You might want to do the high five test with anybody next to you Jim. Just to be sure…
I think you're trying too hard to make it a rigid system.
Believe it or not, I do give quite a bit of thought to the backstory, whether you, the reader, ever see that explicitly.
It seriously what I believe. I thought of that a few years back during the good old halo 2 days. It's what you get when you read a lot of science fiction. Your do the same thing. You couldn't make a deep involving story without the ability to analyze every little detail.
Just look at what they did in the first halo game. I recommend you read the Science chapter of the book "Halo Effect". It's amazing the amount of detail in the game.
For example, in Halo 1, during the second level when you cross the bridge at the beginning, look at the waterfall. The water falls about a foot or so to the left of where it started to compensate for the ring turning to generate gravity.
Further supporting my previous argument about making a big deal of little details.
But thanks for finally clearing that up. I always assumed their interaction with the Reclaimers armor didn't involve actually using it's storage banks.
Okay honestly, it's just because I don't have the money to spare. I'm trying to work my way towards a trip to Costa Rica for my third year of Spanish so every penny counts. I'm already two payments behind.
Besides, your products page is empty.
Did they actually sell?