Halo Jones: "The Ballad of Halo Jones"

by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson

Halo Jones (Book 3 era), [Pic by Ian Gibson]Halo Jones (Book 1 era), [Pic by Ian Gibson]

Although The Ballad of Halo Jones was not especially well received by many readers at first, the strip proved to be one of the one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed ever to have appeared in 2000Ad. Spanning just 37 episodes, divided into three books, the series gained such a keen following that it soon became a "cultural event" in itself. The first two books were adapted for the stage in 1988 and Halo Jones herself was the inspiration for an album track by Transvision Vamp and even the name of another pop group! ( Oh.. and while surfing on net, I found a Halo Jones EP by Huckleberry on Copper records. )

five star rating 

First      2000 AD Prog 376
Appearance  (7th July 1984)
writer:    Alan Moore
Artist:    Ian Gibson


Halo's World

Halo Jones was born in the 50th Century on a giant floating Hoop, joined to the tip of Manhattan. The Hoop was where the Allied Municipalities of America dumped its unemployed, dubbing them "Increased Leisure Citizens" and allowing them a meagre existence thanks to a state-provided credit card system. Crime ran riot on the Hoop and the local police force, the Rumblejacks, a shambolic group of lobotomised ex-convicts, did very little to project ordinary citizens like Halo. Racial conflicts also raged, as a large number of aliens immigrants from Proxima and Alpha Centauri ended up there, too. For those who became too depressed by life on the Hoop, euthanasia was freely available. When Halo Jones decided to get out, however, she chose to work her passage into space as a hostess on the space liner, the Clara Pandy.

Series History

When Alan Moore was to create a series for 2000AD from scratch for the first time, he deliberately avoided the ingredients that made up a typical boys' adventure strip. Alan wanted to plug a gap in the comic and produce a story that would complement rather than in any way series like Judge Dredd or Robo-Hunter. It was, however, Ian Gibson, The artist responsible for Robo-Hunter, who would contribute so much to the world of Halo Jones in terms of art,design and ideas. Moore set out to create a female character who was very ordinary, but lived in an oppressive far future environment. Halo was to be neither a lightweight bimbo, nor a gun wielding Amazon, and her adventures could involve something as apparently simple as going shopping! At the end of the first book, she left the Hoop in search of a better life. A number of subplots had already been planned at this stage, in particular talk of a war in the Tarantula Nebula. While serving as a hostess on the Clara Pandy in Book Two. Halo encountered the dolphins, who would eventually run the Earth, and the King Rat, which turned out be akin to an "ultimate weapon"! The plot threads were finally tied up when Halo enlisted in the Earth army in Book Three and was sent to fight on Moab, right at the heart of the warzone. Books 9

The above is from the Halo Jones MegaScan which also included a Large Poster and a reprint of the first episode
Halo Jones, on the Unofficial 2000AD Web-site or stored locally

Halo Jones Cover of Book 3 408x983x256, 274 KB.

The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson
Book 1, Prog 376-385, 51 pages, reprinted Best of 2000AD monthly 40
Book 2, Prog 406-415, 56 pages, reprinted Best of 2000AD monthly 42
Book 3, Prog 451-466, 80 pages, reprinted Best of 2000AD monthly 65,66 (first 3 parts in #65)
Also reprinted for the USA/Canada market by Quality Comics in 32page, coloured, smaller sized issues. (There were twelve of these comics)m

Graphic Novels by Titan books
Book 1 1987 ISBN 0 907610-63-3
Book 2 1987 ISBN 0-907610-64-1
Book 3 1986 ISBN 0-907610-68-4
Also reprinted in one graphic novel by Titan Books, Complete Halo Jones 192 pages paperback july 2001 by ISBN 18402433427

Halo Jones has been translated into many languages, below is the covers of the finnish versions of Halo Jones book 2 & 3.

finnish cover for 'Ballad of Halo Jones Book2'
Extract from the intro to the Book 3 graphic novel, written by Alan Moore
"while there are currently no plans to continue the series,due to external circumstances and considerations. I think it's fair to say that were these circumstances to alter,both Ian and myself would be only too pleased to resume The Ballad & continue to relate the history of a character to whom we have both grown very attached over the couple of years that we've worked with her. You know how it is... we've been out with her a couple of times & the chances are that if she's free,one day we might go out with her again. Who knows? Maybe we'll let you come along too."

'OK, since Halo Jones Book 4 has never appeared and Alan Moore now running his own publishing company, more Halo Jones is extremely unlikely. The last time Alan Moore and Ian Gibson created a strip with Halo Jones was the 2000AD prog 500 special "Thargshead revisited". (The planned pin-up in Prog 2000 made it's appearance a year later in prog 2001, but Halo did beat Hap Hazzard and Finn before getting blown away by the Missonary Man in the Prog 2000 Deathmatch.)

The long promised reprinting of Halo Jones was annonced again in Prog 1234, it was a Titan Graphic Novel published in July 2001, although my one didn't arrive from amazon until November 2001. It has a new introduction by Ian Gibson and orginal sketches. Back to main page

You can reach me by e-mail at: tom_allen@altavista.net
This page was written by Tom Allen August 1997. Last updated May 2002
Halo Jones and related images copyright of Fleetway Editions and now Egmont Foundation.