This should really be added as an update to today’s Comic Roundup, but it’s a bit different than most comics, and it showed up much later than the other stuff on the list… chromeratt let us know that the first half (or so) of his project, ‘Halo: Legendary, Volume 3, Issue 1, Arrival‘, is now online. This project follows ‘Crashdown’, last August – it’s a totally different story, but is built in a similar style. It’s chromeratt’s way of interpreting the Halo 3 story without picking up a controller. It’s moving much more slowly than chromeratt had anticipated, so he’s releasing what he has now in order that it not gather more dust – check out the 14 pages that are up now! (They take you through Arrival, and up until the first real encounter in the game.) Fantastic work.(Louis Wu 15:55:20 UTC)

Nexus got his first tattoo last week – check it out.(Louis Wu 14:07:23 UTC)

We’ve mentioned Eddie Smith a number of times in the past few years – he’s a Bungie illustrator/concept artist that has done some amazing work on Halo games. Over at NeoGAF, DcLevartho pointed out that he’d stumbled across Eddie’s portfolio site… and MAN there’s some incredible work in there, lots of which I’ve never seen before. (Some pieces have been released, others showed up in collections like the Zune Halo 3 edition or the Art of Halo 3 book or in Bungie’s published publications… some are nowhere else online.) Go browse!(Louis Wu 13:50:38 UTC)

wwm0nkey1 played a lot of the night-versioned Firefight map at E3 – enough that he felt he could create a decent model of map layout for those who weren’t there. He used Google’s SketchUp – a free download, for which he’s provided a link – and he’s made the model available. If you want to get an idea of what you’d be looking at, here’s a screenshot (35k).(Louis Wu 13:32:53 UTC)

ElusiveEagle519 has put together a text transcript of the Halo: Reach trailer released at E3 – swing by and see if you missed anything! (Louis Wu 13:13:20 UTC)

ManKitten was clearing his yard, and found a whole bunch of old wagon wheel rims. He decided to create a Halo array on his wall… and then added a recognizable character on top. Great work! (Louis Wu 13:11:28 UTC)

Just a couple of comics to tell you about – Bloogyo let us know about Rat’s Nest 18 4, and Reclaimer is back with Episode 194 – Tran (Thanks, TTL Demag0gue). Something bad’s about to happen…(Louis Wu 13:10:45 UTC)

Free Weights was the first to notice a post on Hawty McBloggy’s site – it’s called ‘Where People Teabag You in Halo 3’, and it should make most folks who’ve spent any time in Matchmaking grin a little. (Louis Wu 13:05:28 UTC)

Wow… you guys blew an easy chance at $20. We mentioned an Action Shot contest at The Social a couple of weeks ago – free MS Points to the winning shot. In this particular case, only ONE SHOT was submitted – congrats to Kamikaze8 on his win, and shame on the rest of you for not turning in an entry! Thanks to XMixMasterX for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 16:08:23 UTC)

Leviathan continues his graphic novel, “A Sangheili’s War Is Never Over” – Part 7 is now live on our forum. These seem to be growing in technical reach with every episode – layout, pacing, and artwork are all top-notch. Check it out!(Louis Wu 13:51:25 UTC)

TWENTY4pack told us about a new name generator – this one builds Grunt names (and ranks). It’s reminiscent of Stuntmutt and BOLL’s Elite Namelizer – but for Grunts.(Louis Wu 13:45:02 UTC)

CaLL Me ZeNy stopped in with word of a speed painting of ODSTs, done by Orkimede – it’s up on his DeviantART site, but you can find sharper versions at HaloDestiny – screen res (717×800) and high res (2248×2507). 5 hours in Photoshop – it’s fantastic! (Roscoe-128 added a link to this image to the thread – it’s not speed art, and it’s not by Orkimede (it’s by wiredgear), but it IS pretty cool ODST art.) (Louis Wu 13:43:34 UTC)

Bungie’s got another weekend Recon contest going – create a cool landscape pic, win Recon for use in Halo 3 multiplayer. Go read the details! (Louis Wu 18:26:04 UTC)

Nathan Moeller sent word that Competitive Video Games is running a 4v4 MLG Prize tourney next weekend, 3pm CST over LIVE. Go visit for full details.(Louis Wu 18:23:41 UTC)