Halo Jones


     "The Ballard of Halo Jones" was an early Alan Moore creation (art by Ian
Gibson) and one fondly remembered 14 years after her final appearance.  Halo
Jones was intended to be a far future everywoman.  While she did remarkable
things (most of which were to be revealed in the sadly unpublished Books 4 to
10) she summed up her life as "Anyone could have done it".  In the first book
she escaped life in the dead end floating welfare state known as "The Hoop".
In the second she had a number of adventures as a stewardess about an
intergalactic luxury liner.  In the third and final book lacking other
employment options she became a soldier in the terran forces fighting the
colonists of the Tarantula Nebula.  Convinced to join up by her old friend
Toy Molto they both found they weren't prepared for the reality of military
life.  After an ambush that killed everyone in their squad except them and
left Toy badly injured Halo tried to carry her friend back to base.  While she
finally made contact with her platoon she was unable to accept that Toy had
died of her wounds during their journey and suffered a breakdown.


     Resigning from the military she found herself without marketable skills
or any hope of employment and thinking very morbid thoughts about death, guns
and just how easy it would be to give her fellow civilians a taste of war.
Becoming scared of herself she returned to the army and signed up again which
they'd been rather expecting as most dropouts returned from lack of anywhere
else to go.  Reassigned to the heavy gravity world of Moab she rose from
private, to corporal to sergeant and while not really happy with her life was
able to cope again.   When the war ended very abruptly she became involved
with General Luiz Cannibal unaware that he was a war criminal hence this
symbolic cover for the final episode of her story



     Cannibal gave himself away to her when he was accused of waging "Rat War"
on Charon, one of the nebula's planets.  Banned by galactic convention Rat War
used a hive mind "Rat King" to control the planetary rodent population using
them as vectors for disease and to attack in groups and devour humans.  As
Charon was subsequently razed by nuclear attack no evidence remained of the
Rat War so the prosecution had to release Cannibal.  But Halo had seen the
Rat King, worse she had saved it's life during her time as a stewardess.
Sabotaging Cannibal's grav-suit so the intense gravity of planet Moab would
crush him Halo stole Cannibal's spacecruiser and headed off for further
adventures.  Unfortunately writer Alan Moore was refused when he asked
Fleetway for some of the profits from his creation and walked away from 2000AD
to a lucrative career in North American comics.  Which produced a lot of great
comics such as Watchmen, Swamp Thing, Tom Strong and many others but like a
lot of eighties 2000AD fans I still daydream that he'll return to finish
Halo's story one day










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