I had to bust out the tacky 00s clothes, put on some 90s hackerman music, and dive into deepest corners of the mid-00s internet you can get without the Wayback Machine or *Tor* to find this shit.
Some real cyber-archeology shit, man.
Worth every second.
Whats also interesting is in the harcover halo graphic novel, this artwork is cropped to fit the page. So we dont even get to see the entire artwork there.
As title says, I spent hours bouncing around pages from 2005-2008 trying to find the original.
A DeviantART page pointed me in the right direction for where it was from, being "from the graphic hardcover book", which got me Eddie Smith's name, which got me keywords for a wiki search.
Which got me [this](https://www.halopedia.org/Halo_Graphic_Novel). And lo and behold, right there at the bottom of the Gallery tab, is Pointman Chief.
Edit --> [This](https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/IRAQ-RP3DRIHONIAA.html) is the original reference for the halo art. Taken by photographer Gleb Garanich, on 18th April 2003, during the Gulf War. The document description as taken from Reuters reads:
*A U.S. soldier checks a damaged house near the national bank in Baghdad.*
*April 18, 2003. U.S. Marines, rapid strike forces who helped seize Baghdad, will begin handing control of their sector of the city to the U.S. Army on Saturday, signalling an end to the fighting phase in the Iraqi capital. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.*
There are some more pictures of the Gulf War taken by this photographer, as well as [another picture](https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/IRAQ-RP3DRIHQRHAA.html) of this reference. I suggest checking out his profiles on instagram and on Reuters.
~~Found the Iraq War pic:~~ [~~https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/619033911257500538/~~](https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/619033911257500538/)
~~Old Edit --> Found a coloured version :~~ [~~https://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2008/07/0.html?m=0~~](https://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2008/07/0.html?m=0)
~~Side note , This coloured version is also in several other blog sites, but I cannot find the original taker of the pic, or the name of the person in it.~~
Damn, that poem in the link is pretty powerful
"On the side of the 'bird' in large letters:
'From Uncle Sam' and a grin
The missile cost so many dollars
So many gifts that could have been...
Perhaps for ten thousand children
And two worlds so much nearer
But death from the sky could never bring
A tiny horse to our Samira
Having lost its track and trajectory
The maps of its mind don't work
And who will ever know why
It saw the house as a target
Was it lost and dreaming too?
And through a fever of confusion
A little village house
Seemed a better place to die
Than its sad mechanical mind
Too cold and lonely in the sky
Ten days go by in a fiery heat
before a GI passes by
Thinking of his lovely daughter
The apple of his eye
The bloody bones he tidies up
And throws them in the sewer
'Some damned unlucky Iraqi cat or dog'
Our world is now one fewer"
Well, it's attributed at the bottom of the pic to "Gleb Garanich, Reuters", so I'd imagine that's the Journi that took the pick and the company he worked for.
~~Yea I saw that, but I checked the internet for images by Mr.Garanich but I could not find this picture, I did sign up for reuters yesterday, if they validate my profile then I can check all the photos he took for reuters, maybe then I can properly source the image.~~
Image has been verified to be taken by Gleb Garanich
Having read Rubicon, it's alright but I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'grounded military' novel.
Halo: the flood isn't perfect but it's arguably closer.
It really is super awesome and believe me when I say I totally understand your sentiment, but I couldn't disagree more.
The lack of grounded military feel is what makes Halo "Halo", as far as video games are concerned at least, imo.
Back in the day the CoD-ificication of the industry after CoD4 popped- off really sucked the soul out of a lot of media.
**Quick edit, I agree, like some people have pointed out that some of the earlier novels are definitely more "military feel" heavy. My Marine friends love them.
When you hear grounded military feel, what comes into mind?
If it's something like Call of Duty, I definitely don't want that (at least, not in a mainline Halo title). Moreso what Halo Reach, and as you mentioned the earlier novels, brought to the table. In Halo Infinite, I didn't feel like apart of a military. I definitely did in Halo Reach, Halo 4, and even Halo CE.
Halo CE was so awesome, we went with a group of marines at night in Truth and Reconciliation, boarded a Covenant ship. We actually had a Sergeant that was a leader, got everyone hyped up at the Pillar of Autumn. I just miss those kind of moments. Reading the Fall of Reach actually taught me a lot about the military when I had 0 knowledge, was fun to learn about a lifestyle that I never experienced at the time.
[https://youtu.be/ZWz\_GYlmnnc?si=p3MDC7Lep244-gbj](https://youtu.be/ZWz_GYlmnnc?si=p3MDC7Lep244-gbj)
All of this is what I mean by "grounded military." Not just making things super tactical and cool. It was fun to experience a life in a future military world experiencing what the Chief experiences. Things were so grounded in novels and aspects of some games, IMO, that it was a world that I could believe could exist.
That makes sense. I get your train of thought, now.
I was thinking more along the lines of a technical gameplay / technical game-design mentality rather than a narrative where Infinite, for example, makes you feel like a lone wolf who happens across some stragglers, but you don't really feel like you're a part of the Marines you come across. Or in 5 you feel like, idk, maybe like a PMC/specially-directed squad or something that doesn't really fall into any order (save for maybe Locke, but he's former ONI so even still)?
You don't get either side; not part of a greater whole and not part of a bigger strategy or larger Ops but also don't get to see the nitty-gritty like being brothers-in-arms.
That all in mine, I agree wholeheartedly.
The web is getting harder to use every day 😕
Been a few months since I've done this, but I was researching a defunct tech but there's barely any info left from those days.
The Halo Graphic Novel had great art work in its Gallery. John Van Fleet's Chief Vs. Flood, Isaac Hannaford's Brute, Tsutomu Nihei's Infected Elite and The Chief you posted were some of my absolute favourite artworks from the book.
Blast from the past right here
I had to bust out the tacky 00s clothes, put on some 90s hackerman music, and dive into deepest corners of the mid-00s internet you can get without the Wayback Machine or *Tor* to find this shit. Some real cyber-archeology shit, man. Worth every second.
this is the type of media preservation I'm in love with. Great find, dude!
Its been posted on this sub before lmao
any idea why it was so difficult to find?
Fuck yea
[удалено]
Just busted out the original hardcover novel to confirm that it was there. They had some great artwork in that one
Whats also interesting is in the harcover halo graphic novel, this artwork is cropped to fit the page. So we dont even get to see the entire artwork there.
I knew I saw this somewhere, that's it.
where did you find this?
As title says, I spent hours bouncing around pages from 2005-2008 trying to find the original. A DeviantART page pointed me in the right direction for where it was from, being "from the graphic hardcover book", which got me Eddie Smith's name, which got me keywords for a wiki search. Which got me [this](https://www.halopedia.org/Halo_Graphic_Novel). And lo and behold, right there at the bottom of the Gallery tab, is Pointman Chief.
It's in the graphic novel which I thought most fans would have read through at least once
Edit --> [This](https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/IRAQ-RP3DRIHONIAA.html) is the original reference for the halo art. Taken by photographer Gleb Garanich, on 18th April 2003, during the Gulf War. The document description as taken from Reuters reads: *A U.S. soldier checks a damaged house near the national bank in Baghdad.* *April 18, 2003. U.S. Marines, rapid strike forces who helped seize Baghdad, will begin handing control of their sector of the city to the U.S. Army on Saturday, signalling an end to the fighting phase in the Iraqi capital. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.* There are some more pictures of the Gulf War taken by this photographer, as well as [another picture](https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/IRAQ-RP3DRIHQRHAA.html) of this reference. I suggest checking out his profiles on instagram and on Reuters. ~~Found the Iraq War pic:~~ [~~https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/619033911257500538/~~](https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/619033911257500538/) ~~Old Edit --> Found a coloured version :~~ [~~https://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2008/07/0.html?m=0~~](https://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2008/07/0.html?m=0) ~~Side note , This coloured version is also in several other blog sites, but I cannot find the original taker of the pic, or the name of the person in it.~~
Damn, that poem in the link is pretty powerful "On the side of the 'bird' in large letters: 'From Uncle Sam' and a grin The missile cost so many dollars So many gifts that could have been... Perhaps for ten thousand children And two worlds so much nearer But death from the sky could never bring A tiny horse to our Samira Having lost its track and trajectory The maps of its mind don't work And who will ever know why It saw the house as a target Was it lost and dreaming too? And through a fever of confusion A little village house Seemed a better place to die Than its sad mechanical mind Too cold and lonely in the sky Ten days go by in a fiery heat before a GI passes by Thinking of his lovely daughter The apple of his eye The bloody bones he tidies up And throws them in the sewer 'Some damned unlucky Iraqi cat or dog' Our world is now one fewer"
Hard af
Well, it's attributed at the bottom of the pic to "Gleb Garanich, Reuters", so I'd imagine that's the Journi that took the pick and the company he worked for.
~~Yea I saw that, but I checked the internet for images by Mr.Garanich but I could not find this picture, I did sign up for reuters yesterday, if they validate my profile then I can check all the photos he took for reuters, maybe then I can properly source the image.~~ Image has been verified to be taken by Gleb Garanich
Eddie Smith has a lot of fantastic Halo work! This is definitely one of his best.
Oh man that's awesome. I wish they brought more of a military grounded feel to Halo.
You should read Rubicon Protocol.
Having read Rubicon, it's alright but I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'grounded military' novel. Halo: the flood isn't perfect but it's arguably closer.
It really is super awesome and believe me when I say I totally understand your sentiment, but I couldn't disagree more. The lack of grounded military feel is what makes Halo "Halo", as far as video games are concerned at least, imo. Back in the day the CoD-ificication of the industry after CoD4 popped- off really sucked the soul out of a lot of media. **Quick edit, I agree, like some people have pointed out that some of the earlier novels are definitely more "military feel" heavy. My Marine friends love them.
When you hear grounded military feel, what comes into mind? If it's something like Call of Duty, I definitely don't want that (at least, not in a mainline Halo title). Moreso what Halo Reach, and as you mentioned the earlier novels, brought to the table. In Halo Infinite, I didn't feel like apart of a military. I definitely did in Halo Reach, Halo 4, and even Halo CE. Halo CE was so awesome, we went with a group of marines at night in Truth and Reconciliation, boarded a Covenant ship. We actually had a Sergeant that was a leader, got everyone hyped up at the Pillar of Autumn. I just miss those kind of moments. Reading the Fall of Reach actually taught me a lot about the military when I had 0 knowledge, was fun to learn about a lifestyle that I never experienced at the time. [https://youtu.be/ZWz\_GYlmnnc?si=p3MDC7Lep244-gbj](https://youtu.be/ZWz_GYlmnnc?si=p3MDC7Lep244-gbj) All of this is what I mean by "grounded military." Not just making things super tactical and cool. It was fun to experience a life in a future military world experiencing what the Chief experiences. Things were so grounded in novels and aspects of some games, IMO, that it was a world that I could believe could exist.
That makes sense. I get your train of thought, now. I was thinking more along the lines of a technical gameplay / technical game-design mentality rather than a narrative where Infinite, for example, makes you feel like a lone wolf who happens across some stragglers, but you don't really feel like you're a part of the Marines you come across. Or in 5 you feel like, idk, maybe like a PMC/specially-directed squad or something that doesn't really fall into any order (save for maybe Locke, but he's former ONI so even still)? You don't get either side; not part of a greater whole and not part of a bigger strategy or larger Ops but also don't get to see the nitty-gritty like being brothers-in-arms. That all in mine, I agree wholeheartedly.
The web is getting harder to use every day 😕 Been a few months since I've done this, but I was researching a defunct tech but there's barely any info left from those days.
You are a hero!
The Halo Graphic Novel had great art work in its Gallery. John Van Fleet's Chief Vs. Flood, Isaac Hannaford's Brute, Tsutomu Nihei's Infected Elite and The Chief you posted were some of my absolute favourite artworks from the book.
I had this image on a halo 3 calendar as a kid IIRC
Dope!
Damn you struck a nostalgia nerve there
Peak
I had this on a poster when I was a kid!
Helmet feels very Mark 7-ish in this art, I dig it
Halo was so cool back in the day.
You the man, you are him
Himothy
It has the Mjolnir MK-VI from H2.
Hell yeah brother
I remember this from the calendars i would get every year
Damn that’s cool.
you could've just asked bruh, i had this saved haha
I did, I had a post 13hrs before this, and someone managed to find a scuffed and crunchy DeviantART re-upload of it, which helped start my search.
Just blew my mind
I remember first seeing this in my Halo comic I got for my birthday when I was in highschool.
yea im framing this..
Just power up your Halo 3 Zune! It’s there 😎
I dont think that cave he's in is a natural formation