Halo: Bloodline #1
Walked into the comic book store yesterday, and saw the first issue of Halo: Bloodline- a new mini-series based on Bungie's Halo videogames. On the cover? Iona, an AI who is a black woman.
The basic premise sets the story before the Halo trilogy- humanity is on the losing side of a galactic war, their colonies being wiped out, one after another by the alien Covenant. Iona is in charge of a secret mission to strike deep behind enemy lines, using their best elite forces- the Spartans - soldiers upgraded through cybernetics, genetic manipulation and power armor. Naturally something goes horribly wrong, and they find themselves trapped on an alien world neither human nor Covenant, with it's own mysteries and dangers.
Granted this is the first issue, but some interesting things: First, two of the four Spartans are identifiably people of color! (Yay when United Earth Governments don't look like all white folks). Second, Iona is the most "human" of the bunch- it's seen through her eyes and she's surprised at how much the specialized training makes the Spartans act so much unlike normal people, without it being problematic.
Though the Halo games generally have done a better job of multiethnic casting of their characters, there was definite problematic points in Halo 2 & 3 with "New Mombasa" as a major city that seemed completely devoid of black people, or even locals in the defense units... So this series is already off to a good start.
For deep Halo geeks, we can assume that Iona's personality is a copy of a human brain, but it hasn't been revealed if she is the copy of a dead brain or a flash cloned brain with a living person, and/or who that person might be.
The basic premise sets the story before the Halo trilogy- humanity is on the losing side of a galactic war, their colonies being wiped out, one after another by the alien Covenant. Iona is in charge of a secret mission to strike deep behind enemy lines, using their best elite forces- the Spartans - soldiers upgraded through cybernetics, genetic manipulation and power armor. Naturally something goes horribly wrong, and they find themselves trapped on an alien world neither human nor Covenant, with it's own mysteries and dangers.
Granted this is the first issue, but some interesting things: First, two of the four Spartans are identifiably people of color! (Yay when United Earth Governments don't look like all white folks). Second, Iona is the most "human" of the bunch- it's seen through her eyes and she's surprised at how much the specialized training makes the Spartans act so much unlike normal people, without it being problematic.
Though the Halo games generally have done a better job of multiethnic casting of their characters, there was definite problematic points in Halo 2 & 3 with "New Mombasa" as a major city that seemed completely devoid of black people, or even locals in the defense units... So this series is already off to a good start.
For deep Halo geeks, we can assume that Iona's personality is a copy of a human brain, but it hasn't been revealed if she is the copy of a dead brain or a flash cloned brain with a living person, and/or who that person might be.