Creating The Ballad
In his introductions to the three 1986 Titan editions, Moore described its genesis. The story was designed from the outset to avoid the typical 2000 AD story elements: "guns, guys and gore." Moore said that he had "no inclination to unleash yet another "Tough Bitch With A Disintegrator And An Extra 'Y' Chromosome" upon the world". The idea to base the strip around an ordinary, unremarkable woman, typical of the society she lived in, was also very different for 2000 AD.
Gibson and Moore designed the world that Halo would live in with as much detail as possible. Book One may have been mildly criticised for dropping readers into a future world with no explanation of its societal structure, culture, language etc., but on closer inspection the book was designed to reveal aspects of this carefully constructed world in subtle and clever ways. The creators introduce us to 50th Century politics, social problems, diet (vegan), cults, music, futuristic slang, fashion and also an ongoing off-world war that is clearly taking place in the background.
Moore and Gibson's collaboration paid off when the go-ahead for a second series was given. Both men were excited about where the story was heading and Book Two expanded upon what they had created before. They upped the action quotient and also created some shattering emotional scenes. Moore has said that the character of "the Glyph", introduced in Book Two, clinched book's success (according to his comments in the introduction to the collected edition (Titan Books) in 1986).
Read more about this topic: The Ballad Of Halo Jones
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