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





Doug Rattmann, also known as "the Ratman," is the person who wrote all those "the cake is a lie" warnings in the first game. He is the only survivor (excluding the frozen test subjects) of GLaDOS's initial mass murder at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center; as GLaDOS locked the facility down, he couldn't escape, so he has been hiding from her and leaving clues for Chell, the playable character of the games.





Yes, that's a Companion Cube. When Rattmann is off his medication, he can hear the CC speak as if it was sentient. The CC actually gives him good advice.

Even so, Rattmann figures that he'll have better chances of survival if he has a clear head when the time comes to take out GLaDOS. So, he has saved the last of his medication until now.



Now, flashback time!



Back to the present, Chell has defeated GLaDOS!





This is where Portal ends, with Chell captured and dragged back to the facility.





Rattmann to the rescue!

I really love him. He has gone through a mass murder and spent a long time (months?) locked in a dark and cold prison, without his medication and with the sole company of an inanimate object, running away from a murderous AI and countless death-traps. Then, he finally, finally gets away and sees the sun, sweet freedom awaiting him... and he chooses to go back to save Chell!

He is not an action hero or anything. He has no military training, no equipment. But he is a genuinely kind guy, and he wants to help.







Flashback again! Right after GLaDOS' flooding of the Enrichment Center with neurotoxin.










You can read the conclusion, as well as all the pages I cut, here:

http://www.thinkwithportals.com/comic/#1

Comments

[stolisomancer]

If it'd help the tags any, I'm pretty sure Michael Avon Oeming does all the line art for the Valve comics.

For "Lab Rat" in particular, though, I don't know if he actually got David Mack in there to do some work or if he was just doing his best David Mack impression. That first page looks like something out of Kabuki.

[janegray]

I honestly have no clue.

But I (vaguely) thought it was a woman who drew Valve comics? At least, I heard that some official TF2 comics were drawn by an artist who got noticed by Valve for drawing Heavy/Medic fanart. I'm not sure if it's true or just a rumor.

[rainspirit]

"Never gives up. Ever."

I loved this series.

[janegray]

Yep, Chell is awesome :)

And I desperately cling to the hope that Rattmann could be rescued. I mean, we never actually see him die, do we? It's just implied. He could have survived after he got into the cryo-chamber. And...


*Spoilers for Portal 2 co-op*


...I think GLaDOS would have mentioned it if Rattmann had been one of the thousands frozen humans her two robots found and she later killed. So, what if Rattmann is still alive somewhere, frozen in a hidden chamber?

I really, really, really want a Portal 3 with Rattman as either main character or ally!

Much as I love Chell, she earned her freedom, and I think it would be pretty depressing if she were dragged back again. Let her enjoy her much-deserved happy ending, and get a new protagonist.

[mrstatham]

There are a couple of different artists for some of the Valve comics, I think. But Oeming is the most prominent one - he's done a boatload of the TF2 comics. Amazon even has him marked up as the artist for the collected edition of the Valve Comics from Dark Horse.

[mrstatham]

Well, rumour has it we'll either see Chell in Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or something along those lines, but really, I have to agree - to put her in Portal 3 would really not work after GLaDOS basically expels her from Aperture Science for being too difficult to kill.

Along the same lines, I wouldn't really want Wheatley back, either.

[damar148]

The other scientist was hilarious in his typical Aperture to everything.

"Just put your hand past all those gears to activate the machine, and preferably use the hand you would miss the least."

[janegray]

Well, rumour has it we'll either see Chell in Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or something along those lines

I seriously doubt it. Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after Half-Life 2.

Along the same lines, I wouldn't really want Wheatley back, either.

Sorry, but on this I COMPLETELY disagree ^^

Chell's story has been told: she fought hard and got her happy ending.

But Wheatley is in Limbo. He is not dead, but he is restless because he feels genuine guilt and regret over his evil actions, and wishes to apologize and atone. As an ending for the character himself (as opposed to the whole game's ending, which I LOVED), imo that's extremely unsatisfactory: it's not even sad, in and of itself, it just feels incomplete to me.

I'd LOVE to see a continuation of his story where he is retrieved from Space and helps out the protagonist of Portal 3 as a way to make up for his betrayal of Chell.

Wheatley's Redemption Arch. I want to play that with every fiber of my being.

[janegray]

Hey, if he had even a twinkle of common sense, he wouldn't work for Aperture ;)

Cave Johnson: science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired.

[mrstatham]

Well, that's just the common rumour going around when it comes to Chell and Half-Life, given some of the stuff for Half-Life now actively involves Aperture Science. Plus, we don't exactly know how long Chell was under, given the timer malfunctions and Wheatley never specifies how long it's been - just that it's longer than anticipated, I think?

As for Wheatley, I think he was a great character, but I don't know, I just felt that he got what he deserved, really. I just don't feel like there's an incredible amount to explore with him, now, and I think the joke of having the rather intelligent Stephen Merchant back to play the total idiot again would be kind of stale. I think the series - if it's going to continue - should just have GLaDOS as a constant. That said, I would love to be proven wrong, and if anyone could do it, Valve could.

[drexer]

Here's the thing though, Wheatley's arc as a character was linked intrisecally to the Chell-GladOS relationship, and he was a storyline element in it which helped create and extend the character arcs to their full conclusion. His insertion in any future game would be past the role for which he exists and be stale and non-complex.

Personally, I disbelief that we'll see any kind of Portal 3 at least for a very long time. We've already gotten a lot of mechanics and tools inserted into it with Portal 2, and with the release of the map creator I find it very improbable that the employees at Valve at the current time have any interest in it. I believe they might translate elements of it into future games(Not episode 3 personally, as I do believe they understand the drastic difference between the gameplay of the two series), but I'm not seeing any sequel coming in the next years. Even less so a thematic sequel which explroes the same issues and character arcs.

Of course, all of this also comes from my viewpoint of Portal 2 as plainly a feminist mother-daughter story, with the only male presences of Cave Johson, Wheatley and Ratman as secondary characters in that story. So I see no point in exploring it further with those characters which were very secondary to the underlying story dynamic.

[janegray]

His insertion in any future game would be past the role for which he exists and be stale and non-complex.

I very strongly disagree. Just because Wheatley had one role in Portal 2, it doesn't mean that he couldn't outgrow that role in a sequel.

GLaDOS was a shallow, if hilarious, villain in Portal. But in Portal 2 she becomes MUCH more complex, and develops a sort of love-hate relationship with Chell, to the point where "you are too hard to kill" sounds like a blatant excuse to justify the fact that GLaDOS simply didn't want to harm Chell anymore (seriously, how hard would it have been for GLaDOS to simply have her turrets shoot at Chell when she was unarmed and trapped in the elevator? Instead, GLaDOS has them sing "my dear beautiful child, I respect you, goodbye," brings Chell back to the surface, and even gives her back the original CC. It's obvious that at least some part of her has grown to care for Chell).

but I'm not seeing any sequel coming in the next years

Me neither. But TF2 was in development for over 10 years, so I do hope think that we might get a Portal 3 eventually :)

Of course, all of this also comes from my viewpoint of Portal 2 as plainly a feminist mother-daughter story, with the only male presences of Cave Johson, Wheatley and Ratman as secondary characters in that story. So I see no point in exploring it further with those characters which were very secondary to the underlying story dynamic.

I agree that the story of Portal 2 was about the GLaDOS-Chell relationship, which is why I LOVE its overall ending to bits. As far as GLaDOS and Chell are concerned, the ending of the game was sheer perfection in every way.

However, the fact that Rattmann and Wheatley were secondary characters in the story of one game doesn't mean that they couldn't have a more important role in the story of its sequel. Similarly, the fact that the story of one game is about a feminist mother-daughter relationship doesn't mean that the story of its sequel couldn't have a different theme.

[glprime]

Major love for Portal.

It's one of my all-time favorites; fun concept with FPS-playform-puzzle solving, great world-building & storyline, and one of the most truly inspired HORROR games I've ever played (games that use jump scares and say "boo!" could learn something). Seriously, how messed up and torturous and just damn tragic everything is in Aperture really gets to you (and I fully believe Chell's last name is Johnson).

I was lucky enough when I decided to first do the co-op DLC to get a really good partner, and we had a fun couple of hours running through the maps all night, gelling as a duo like Atlas and P-Body, and then the payoff. It was great. I started downloading player made maps, and that was awesome, but a bit cumbersome at times. This new feature could make that fun again. I also like that the backstory opened up a whole new element with parallel-earth outsourcing.

[janegray]

Personally, I much prefer to believe that Chell is NOT Cave's daughter, just like I much prefer to believe that RED Spy is NOT BLU Scout's father.

For entirely subjective reasons, I LOATHE the "Luke, I am your father!" trope. I really can't stand it. IMO, it reinforces the idea that biological bonds are the only ones that truly matter :/

If Cave is Chell's father, that would make Caroline Chell's mother. And IMO the Chell-GLaDOS relationship would be immensely cheapened if it turned out that GLaDOS grew to care for Chell not out of respect for Chell's strength and determination and out of appreciation for their partnership, but just because they share the same blood.

[thatnickguy]

I'm pretty sure everybody and their dog knows where the "cake is a lie" meme came from.

[janegray]

I didn't, and neither did a couple of my friends.

We all had heard "the cake is a lie" a million times, but an out-of-context line can't tell you where it's from, and we never went out of our way to investigate its origin. So, until I got the game 5 months ago, we had no idea that the meme came from it.

[espanolbot]

As much as I love Portal and Portal 2... I'm honestly not sure if I'd want another sequel to be honest. I mean, if there was one I'd definately play it, but really the entire thing seems to have played out. Though that's just my opinion.

Can't get enough GLaDos though,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&src_vid=NyW78XIHjxg&annotation_id=annotation_135454&v=dE0zP5QNoRk

[janegray]

If it were any other company, I'd agree with you. But so far Valve has never disappointed me (well, almost... I'm annoyed that they have made the Strange Sapper so ridiculously difficult to obtain), if it's them I'm sure they could make Portal 3 a great game :)

[nezchan]

There's an interesting idea, since this has been established as the same continuity as the Half-Life games, we know there are technologically capable aliens out there. Add Wheatley to the mix and stir vigorously, could be interesting.

[mrstatham]

I do think it would be a little too convenient if Cave was Chell's father. There'd be no reason for it, given Cave Johnson doesn't even seem like the sort to have a family and we know he appointed Caroline (with her brain in a computer) as his successor for Aperture in the event of his death, rather than any family member. I don't think there's any need for that sort of link to be made between Cave and Chell nor GLaDOS and Chell, really. I think it cheapens Cave's role as this weirdly enigmatic but really quite powerful Howard Hughes-esque presence throughout the second game to just have him be the protagonist's father, because.. Well, I like the idea that Chell is just this really fucking smart person trapped in a massive problem someone else made.

And the only trait Cave and Chell have in common that I can see is determination. Cave and his insane pushing science forward to the ends of making... Shower rails.. And Chell being Chell. I don't see that many links between the two otherwise.

[mrstatham]

Random note, but anyone who liked Portal 2's gorgeous design sense might like to know Dark Horse are publishing an 'Art of' volume for the game come this October.

[janegray]

Plus, Cave and Caroline are white, and Chell isn't.

[mrstatham]

Well, that too.

[stolisomancer]

Chell is played by Alesia Glidewell, who's half Brazilian and half Japanese. If you operate on the assumption that Chell the character has a similar if not identical ethnicity, the only character in the entirety of Half-Life or Portal that you could realistically say she was related to is Azian Vance, Alyx's mother.

[mrstatham]

Well, based on her appearance in Portal, at least, Chell definitely seems to share her performer's nationality, I think. But there is some debate as to where Portal fits into Half Life's timeline that had led people to speculate exactly where Chell could fit into any prospective Half Life appearances, given GLaDOS references the Combine invasion and yet I find it difficult to believe after Portal 2 that GLaDOS would basically turf Chell out into a Combine-controlled world where she could die.

So, it's a tough one.