Portal 2

[janegray]

Five days ago, the videogame Company Valve released free Portal 2 downloadable content titled "Perpetual Testing Initiative." Basically, it's a free in-game map editor, which allows players to create and share maps with other player.

Everybody knows the "the cake is a lie" meme, but not everybody knows where it's from. Well, the answer is Portal.

The new maps reminded me that I really, really, really love the Portal games. So I've decided it's about time I shared my love for them by posting some scans from the comic "Lab Rat."

I love the art in this comic. The main character suffers from schizophrenia, and the art reflects his state of mind: when he is off his medication, it's all sketchy, but in flashbacks the pictures are clear.

16 pages out of a free 27-pages comic. At the end of this post you can find the link to the full comic.


WARNING: Lab Rat takes place between Portal and Portal 2, and as such is full of spoilers for the first game.

Of course, Portal is a 5-year-old game, so you might say that anybody who wanted to play it already has. But I got it 5 months ago, so I think it's always best to put spoiler warnings :P


( Meet Doug Rattmann, the most adorkable scientist ever! )

Slayers vs. Vampires--Street Football Edition!

[skjam]

One of the recurring themes in the early years of 2000 AD was the future sports story. These carried over most of the tropes of regular sports comics, but with more violence and death, because that's what sports were going to be like in the future. I thought you might enjoy a storyline from "The Mean Arena."



It is the year 2025, and the up-and-coming sport is "street footbal". So called because instead of a nice open field, it's played by cordoning off a few city blocks along a street and using the buildings and terrain therein. (Though several teams have remade their hometown strips into more exotic obstacle courses.) Weapons are allowed, though the lethal ones are supposed to be used only on nonliving objects such as "droid" decoys.

The protagonist is Matt Tallon, who went off and did well in the American league, while his brother Paul became a star in Britain. Recently, Paul died during a game, which most write off to the unfortunate accidents that plague the sport. But Matt smells a rat in just how fast Paul went from all-star to a personal and professional tailspin. To investigate, he joins Paul's last team, the struggling Slater's Slayers. Sure enough, it turns out Paul was killed by a small group calling themselves the Hexa Gang, apparently just to see if they could.

At this point in the story, Matt's already disposed of Jaws Jensen (the player who inflicted the injuries that actually killed Paul) and Dr. Simon Jessup (the medic who declared Paul fit to play despite previous injuries.) In his last game, Matt learned that one of the Hexa Gang is a woman....

( Are you ready for some football? )

Hope you enjoyed this football game!

Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!