Halo Jones Publication History

First appearance of Halo Jones: 2000 AD Prog 376 – via Wikipedia

The Ballad of Halo Jones first appeared in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD, in issue 376 released on 7 July 1984.

There is a thorough publication history list on the Halo Jones Wikipedia page, which this site has built from. That page lists numerous HJ cameos, which are not included here. Included below (not on Wikipedia) are many cover images, plus additional notes on the extras that have appeared in various publications.

Note any “complete” Halo Jones collection is a bit misleading as the series was never completed. Moore intended nine volumes, but stopped after the third volume, due to copyright disagreements.

For better and for worse, Halo Jones (like many Moore works that he does not own the rights to) gets reprinted, repackaged, recolored, etc. every few years.

Halo Jones was initially serialized in 2000 AD:

• 1984 – Book One ran in 2000 AD Progs 376–385 (July-September)
• 1985 – Book Two ran in 2000 AD Progs 405–415 (February-April)
• 1986 – Book Three ran in 2000 AD Progs 451–466 (January–April)

The Ballad of Halo Jones was initially collected in three trade paperbacks by Titan Books.

• 1986 – The Ballad of Halo Jones, Book One – includes ‘Guns, Guys and Gore’ introduction by Moore, Hooplife 1-pager, minimal spot illustrations by Gibson

• 

  1986 Halo Jones Book Two cover – by Ian Gibson

  1986 – The Ballad of Halo Jones, Book Two – includes three page introduction by Moore, and early character sketches and Glyph pin-up by Gibson.

• 1986 – The Ballad of Halo Jones, Book Three – includes three page introduction by Moore, and early character sketches by Gibson.

In 1987-88, Quality Comics reprinted Halo Jones in a 12-issue comics (floppies) series. The print quality wasn’t great, and the artwork was stretched (to better fit the U.S. comics format) and colored.

Each issue includes several Progs, though the titles and Prog number have been omitted. Early issues have more Progs (Book One is completed in issue 2), and then later issues have fewer Progs and more filler. (For what it’s worth, Book Two runs in issues 3-7, and Book Three in issues 8-12.)

Quality Comics Halo Jones number 6

New cover artwork largely failed to be true to Gibson and Moore’s world-building and tone. Some of the covers are overly sexualized/cheesecake in ways that Moore and Gibson had avoided.

Best of 2000 AD Monthly issue 66 – via Wow Comics

In 1989 and 1991, Jones was reprinted in The Best of 2000AD Monthly. Issue 40 reprinted Book One. Issue 42 reprinted Book Two. Issues 65-66 reprinted Book 3, with new Gibson art on the cover of issue 66.

First Complete Ballad of Halo Jones, 1991 (reuses Gibson art from original Book 3 collection)

In 1991, Titan published the first The Complete Ballad Of Halo Jones, which includes short excerpts from Moore’s three earlier introductions.

2001 Complete Halo Jones – with new cover by Gibson – via mycomicshop

In 2001, Titan published a new edition of  The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones  featuring a new one-page introduction by Gibson.

2003 Halo Jones deluxe hardback

In 2003, Titan published a deluxe hardback version with the same extras, though with slightly different formatting.

This appears to be the 2005 Halo Jones cover (though this annotator was unable to confirm)

2006 new Halo Jones cover by Gibson

In 2005, Rebellion reprinted a single volume TBOHJ. In 2006, the second edition included new Gibson cover artwork.

2010 Ian Gibson Halo Jones cover

In 2010, Rebellion came out with a new single volume TBOHJ. While most collected/complete editions had few extras, this one includes seven 2000 AD covers, and (apparently appearing in print for the first time) a five-page Moore script covering the first three pages of Book Three, Prog 2.

2013 The Ballad of Halo Jones cover by Simon Parr

In 2013, Rebellion reprinted TBOHJ with new cover art Simon Parr, a new introduction by Lauren Beukes, and (the same?) Alan Moore script pages. There’s some kind of alternate Parr cover art at Digital Spy.

In 2017, TBOHJ was reprinted in 2000AD: The Ultimate Collection #46 with a new introduction by Matt Smith, and an essay by Stephen Jewell.

The [2018 colorized] Ballad of Halo Jones Volume 2

Then, in 2018, TBOHJ got colorized – its second color version after the substandard ’80s Quality Comics issues.

Halo Jones color comparison. The 2018 Nosenso color edition (left) is printed at higher resolution. The Quality Comics version is lower resolution and vertically stretched to fit the U.S. comics page.

The 2018 color editions are called volumes 1-3, in slight contrast to books 1-3 in all previous collections. The coloring was done by Barbara Nosenzo. The volumes contain the following extras:

• Volume 1 – Moore Book One intro (1986 ‘Guns, guys and gore’), Gibson complete intro (2003 ‘Girls, rockets and monsters’), Hooplife, HJ coming soon 1-page ad, and four earlier covers.
• Volume 2 – Prog 473 cover
• Volume 3 – four 2000 AD covers, and Moore script excerpt (same as 2010 collection).

2021 Halo Jones audiobook cover

In 2021, Penguin released a three-hour TBOHJ audiobook. The “immersive listening experience” audio production uses TBOHJ nearly entirely verbatim, but moves Book Two’s 6427 A.D. framing sequence to the beginning. The excellent recording features Sheila Atim as Halo Jones, alongside voice actors Ellie Kendrick, Kemah Bob, Michael Fenton Stevens and Yaz Zadeh.

TBOHJ Full Colour Omnibus Edition – due 2023

A new TBOHJ Full Colour Omnibus Edition was recently announced, expected to hit the stands in January 2023.

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