Portal 2: Lab Rat Comic Unveiled

[Hectic Glenn]

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As Erik Wolpaw mentioned a while back, Valve have been working on a way to bridge the gap between Portal 1 and Portal 2. IGN comics have had a first look at Portal 2: Lab Rat which will do exactly that. Michael Avon Oeming is leading a team including Andrea Wicklund, Ted Kosmatka, Erik Wolpaw, Jay Pinkerton, and Chet Faliszek.

All we want to say is that it fills the gap between the first and second game, while introducing a much-rumored yet never seen character. It's truly expanding the Portal world and narrative. I think we managed to touch on both the humor and subtle darkness of the game.

From checking out the early images of the comic here, we can see a character 'Doug', presumably Doug Rattmann (a name from the Portal 2 ARG responsible for the chamber graffiti in Portal 1).[br]The entire comic is being produced in-house so we can expect the usual Valve quality finish. We will post an update from IGN Comics on Friday for Part 1 of the comic. [br]

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[ríomhaire]

Wow the art style is gorgeous. Looking forward to the rest. A lot.

 

[-smash-]

**** this is going to be awesome.

 

[YouKnow]

Wow, I hope this gets the same treatment as the L4D comic. Some of the pages would make great wallpapers.

EDIT: See look, I already stole my avatar from it.

 

[Sneaki]

Can't wait for this. I'm guessing part 2 will be out next Friday?

I'm wondering how Rattman made markings on the walls. In the second picture it looks like he's holding a pen at the bottom, but I can also see him scratching at the wall with his fingers? I guess we'll find out pretty soon anyway.

 

[uNCLEsAM098]

http://comics.ign.com/dor/articles/...-valves-portal-2-comic-20110406032420011.html

PILLS HERE!

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Some crazy lookin character art.

 

[Overwatch Sector]

Well, it looks like Ratman was alive after all during Portal.

 

[blackout]

Am I the first one to realise the word 'metastatized' in the last page scan?? kinda funny in light of the fact that Adam Foster is now involved, no??

 

[Cyber$nake]

I don't know why, but that guy REALLY reminds me of Thom Yorke. Weird.

 

[Barnz]

Suddenly, Chell is a beauty queen.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Has this to do with the ARG, or is it a seperate announcement?

 

[Mess]

so has ratman been alive for the 100 years between portal and portal 2? i am confuse

 

[Barnz]

No, the comic is obviously showing the scenes from the first game and prior to it.

 

[Omnomnick]

Suddenly, Chell is a beauty queen.

They've had a lot of practice with realistic player skins since Portal 1, see L4D and L4D2 which frankly have amazing models and animations. Also, we haven't seen Chell move in-game yet, but from what we've seen from P-Body and Atlas, I imagine she will look a lot more realistic and move a lot more fluently.

Rather than that spaz jump she does in the first game.

On another note. This is awesome. The more Portal the better!

 

[Dipso]

They've had a lot of practice with realistic player skins since Portal 1, see L4D and L4D2 which frankly have amazing models and animations. Also, we haven't seen Chell move in-game yet, but from what we've seen from P-Body and Atlas, I imagine she will look a lot more realistic and move a lot more fluently.

Rather than that spaz jump she does in the first game.

On another note. This is awesome. The more Portal the better!

Also Portal 1 was produced with a very small team, and that is one of the reasons it used a lot of HL2 textures etc.. Portal 2 has a full production team, so that should up the quality on all assets in the game i would assume.

 

[Plissken]

Suddenly, Chell is a beauty queen.

I think we should also keep in mind that a lot of this appears to be happening from Rattman's perspective, so things are twisted and bent and toward his state of mind. Hence the surreal artwork and the talking companion cube following him suggest as much. Here he seems to believe Chell is some sort of Messiah or Savior.

 

[Barnz]

They actually changed her look.

 

[Plissken]

They actually changed her look.

Oh, they did? Oh. Any pics of the new character model?

 

[Barnz]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Portal2-chell.jpg

 

[<RJMC>]

this will be a free online comic like the l4d ones?

 

[YouKnow]

Probably. Valve intends to help increase Portal 2's popularity with this, and charging for it would make that a lot less effective.

 

[Paulaner]

this will be a free online comic like the l4d ones?

There is no way I'm paying for an online comic.

 

[Sheepo]

I love their art so much in these comics. This one looks like a blend of Arkham Asylum's chaotic and surreal imagery mixed with Hellboy's art style.

 

[MJ12]

"Hellboy's art style", are you a heathen? Please, this is not Mike Mignola at all. *Smokes pipe*

The art is very Ben Templesmith. Which for some reason is an increasingly popular style in Comic adaptations of video games these days. He did illustrate the Dead Space Comics. The Portal Comics use colors a lot better than him though, in my opinion. I like their work more.

[URL=http://img822.imageshack.us/i/fellwarrenellisbentempl.jpg/]
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[JUL3]

Incredible, Valve's really pulling out all the limitations on this one. Love the artistic style in the comics too, looking forward to them.

Only thing that I'm disappointed about is Ratman, I loved the idea of this unknown being living, well, like a rat in the facility (in fact I even had a dream about him). But now he's losing his mystery and subtlety.
Still, small complaint, the more Portal the better, in any shape or form.