The Ballad of Halo Jones

The Ballad of Halo Jones was a strip by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson which first appeared in 2000 AD. It featured the adventures of Halo Jones, a young woman from a circular floating housing estate in the 50th century. She started off exploring estate with her friends Rodice and Brinna, and later got a job on a starliner before joining the army with her new companion Toy Molto. The tone of the series became much darker as it progressed, with the war sequences heavily influenced by the Vietnam War. Halo was created to be an ordinary woman who did extraordinary things, and the universe she explored was a rich and detailed one, with Alan Moore's consistently inventive and surprising conceits lovingly brought to life by Ian Gibson's vivid, sprightly pictures. The Ballad of Halo Jones is easily one of the best strips that 2000 AD has ever produced, and one of the highlights of Alan Moore's career. The fact that it was brought to a premature end by an intellectual property rights dispute is a crying shame, but the three books we have (out of a planned nine) remain a jewel in the crown of both creators.