Valve Comic Book Due Out This November - Games

This comes out on my birthday [I]BIRTHDAY PRESEEEENT![/I]

I can't wait to go in to a bookstore, flip through it, take the hat claim code out of the back and go home without buying it! :v: Unless they shrink-wrap it. Damn shrink-wrap.

[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;31049924]Explain to me, how she was sexualized?[/QUOTE]Certainly. Here's a handy reference image which I'll use for the comparison: [URL=http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.jpg][IMG]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] As you can see, Portal 2 Chell was altered by Valve to have:[list][*]a shapelier, more feminine figure. Check out the length of Portal 2 Chell's legs. She's heading towards Barbie doll proportions here! [*]form-fitting clothing, particularly obvious in the legs of her jumpsuit. This in turn accentuates Portal 2 Chell's tighter glutes, aka the perky round ass as so lovingly rendered again by Valve in the OP's image. [*]less clothing above the waist, a no-brainer. Of course, there's more form-fitting attire here with a tight tank top that exposes more of her chest (compare to the modest nondescript undershirt worn by Portal 1 Chell) and is stark white to allow the shading to highlight her curves. [*]an immaculate prim and proper appearance, especially in contrast to the deliberately messy and disheveled Portal 1 look. It's quite unintuitive for Chell to become [i]cleaner[/i] over time considering the entire premise of Portal 2 is that the place deteriorates from a tidy and maintained testing facility to a broken down and decrepit wreck. Valve just wanted her to look pretty. [*]pseudo-stiletto boots. Portal 1 Chell stood on her bare tippy-toes due to the design of her fancy knee thing. Now she's literally wearing thigh-high high heel boots, a rather pronounced fashion change for no reason other than to put Chell in pseudo-stiletto boots. [*][url=http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3830/chellp1p2face.jpg]less of a man face[/url]. More no-brainer here, but if I have to point out something, I'll say that Portal 1 Chell has creepy a man jaw while Portal 2 Chell apparently found the time to apply eyeliner. However, I will admit that the hundreds of years of sleep probably would be enough to take care of the bags under Portal 1 Chell's eyes. [*][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFDPEO6vYA#t=1m7s]the gratuitous low-angle supermodel runway strut[/url]. Note that this is how Valve is advertising Chell, not how any of us are interpreting the character to our own fancies. If you're even remotely familiar with the time and effort Valve puts into their pre-rendered movies, you should realize that this wasn't unintentional.[/list] Anyway, this list is just a formality. I think the side-by-side image comparison says far more than I could convey in text. Portal 2's Chell is not the same character, and you'd have to be pretty ignorant or willfully naive to believe that Valve made these changes innocently. Obviously the intention was to go with a "sex sells" approach in selling Portal 2, but then Valve had to dial it all back and use the goofy robots acting wacky for advertising when they knocked the game down to an E-10+ rating for tiny babies.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;31051812]Text[/QUOTE] Well, at least it's nice to see someone debate with actual evidence and intelligent points.

If Makani's artwork gets into that I will buy it in a heartbeat.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;31051812]Certainly. Here's a handy reference image which I'll use for the comparison: [URL=http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.jpg][IMG]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] As you can see, Portal 2 Chell was altered by Valve to have:[list][*]a shapelier, more feminine figure. Check out the length of Portal 2 Chell's legs. She's heading towards Barbie doll proportions here! [b]I don't see much of a difference in the size of legs. She was dressed with a new jump suit that wasn't as baggy in the crotch area.[/b] [*]form-fitting clothing, particularly obvious in the legs of her jumpsuit. This in turn accentuates Portal 2 Chell's tighter glutes, aka the perky round ass as so lovingly rendered again by Valve in the OP's image. [b]The ass looks perky because of the T pose posture. Posture is the reason of the perkiness of her ass.[/b] [*]less clothing above the waist, a no-brainer. Of course, there's more form-fitting attire here with a tight tank top that exposes more of her chest (compare to the modest nondescript undershirt worn by Portal 1 Chell) and is stark white to allow the shading to highlight her curves. [b]Well she did get a new jump suit and could have tied the top half to her waist to not get too hot. There is nothing sexual about a tank top.[/b] [*]an immaculate prim and proper appearance, especially in contrast to the deliberately messy and disheveled Portal 1 look. It's quite unintuitive for Chell to become [i]cleaner[/i] over time considering the entire premise of Portal 2 is that the place deteriorates from a tidy and maintained testing facility to a broken down and decrepit wreck. Valve just wanted her to look pretty. [b]Can't really argue with that. Other than the fact that she has a low quality texture.[/b] [*]pseudo-stiletto boots. Portal 1 Chell stood on her bare tippy-toes due to the design of her fancy knee thing. Now she's literally wearing thigh-high high heel boots, a rather pronounced fashion change for no reason other than to put Chell in pseudo-stiletto boots. [b]The new boots look to make more sense than an ankle strap. What I mean that as in, inside the boot could be mechanisms that help break the fall.[/b] [*][url=http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3830/chellp1p2face.jpg]less of a man face[/url]. More no-brainer here, but if I have to point out something, I'll say that Portal 1 Chell has creepy a man jaw while Portal 2 Chell apparently found the time to apply eyeliner. However, I will admit that the hundreds of years of sleep probably would be enough to take care of the bags under Portal 1 Chell's eyes. [b]The original looks like a man because if the low quality texture. The current chell face looks almost exactly like that except chubbier faced and paler.[/b] [*][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFDPEO6vYA#t=1m7s]the gratuitous low-angle supermodel runway strut[/url]. Note that this is how Valve is advertising Chell, not how any of us are interpreting the character to our own fancies. If you're even remotely familiar with the time and effort Valve puts into their pre-rendered movies, you should realize that this wasn't unintentional. [b]Tbh when I first saw it I though of it as a show of. Making the whole thing seem like it was a jiff.[/b] [/list] Anyway, this list is just a formality. I think the side-by-side image comparison says far more than I could convey in text. Portal 2's Chell is not the same character, and you'd have to be pretty ignorant or willfully naive to believe that Valve made these changes innocently. Obviously the intention was to go with a "sex sells" approach in selling Portal 2, but then Valve had to dial it all back and use the goofy robots acting wacky for advertising when they knocked the game down to an E-10+ rating for tiny babies.[/QUOTE] My point is that sure Valve did make her a bit prettier but did not try to sexualize her. If they wanted her sexualized they would have make the breasts bigger, have cleavage, ect. The comic however I can't explain though.

Whelp. I will be getting this.

[QUOTE=Smasher 006;31044587]That picture of Chell was from a piece of concept art for the cover. [img]http://valvearg.com/w/images/3/3f/48.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] They should of made this the cover (of course with Chell in-game model) as the final. Would of made more sense. A gamer new to portal would of thought you would play as robot in SP.

[QUOTE=GFreeman515;31055984]They should of made this the cover (of course with Chell in-game model) as the final. Would of made more sense. A gamer new to portal would of thought you would play as robot in SP.[/QUOTE] But in-game Chell isn't supposed to be commonly seen. The only time you see it in-game is when looking through portals. While the robots can be seen all the time by looking at each other + taunting.

they better sell this in Britain, because everything else has an expensive shipping fee.

[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;31054217]My point is that sure Valve did make her a bit prettier but did not try to sexualize her. If they wanted her sexualized they would have make the breasts bigger, have cleavage, ect. The comic however I can't explain though.[/QUOTE] Afaik VALVe hired external people to do the art for most of their comics.

Good, I've never been bothered to finish a comic on the web.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;31051812]Certainly. Here's a handy reference image which I'll use for the comparison: [URL=http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.jpg][IMG]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/193/chellp1p2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] As you can see, Portal 2 Chell was altered by Valve to have:[list][*]a shapelier, more feminine figure. Check out the length of Portal 2 Chell's legs. She's heading towards Barbie doll proportions here! [*]form-fitting clothing, particularly obvious in the legs of her jumpsuit. This in turn accentuates Portal 2 Chell's tighter glutes, aka the perky round ass as so lovingly rendered again by Valve in the OP's image. [*]less clothing above the waist, a no-brainer. Of course, there's more form-fitting attire here with a tight tank top that exposes more of her chest (compare to the modest nondescript undershirt worn by Portal 1 Chell) and is stark white to allow the shading to highlight her curves. [*]an immaculate prim and proper appearance, especially in contrast to the deliberately messy and disheveled Portal 1 look. It's quite unintuitive for Chell to become [i]cleaner[/i] over time considering the entire premise of Portal 2 is that the place deteriorates from a tidy and maintained testing facility to a broken down and decrepit wreck. Valve just wanted her to look pretty. [*]pseudo-stiletto boots. Portal 1 Chell stood on her bare tippy-toes due to the design of her fancy knee thing. Now she's literally wearing thigh-high high heel boots, a rather pronounced fashion change for no reason other than to put Chell in pseudo-stiletto boots. [*][url=http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3830/chellp1p2face.jpg]less of a man face[/url]. More no-brainer here, but if I have to point out something, I'll say that Portal 1 Chell has creepy a man jaw while Portal 2 Chell apparently found the time to apply eyeliner. However, I will admit that the hundreds of years of sleep probably would be enough to take care of the bags under Portal 1 Chell's eyes. [*][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFDPEO6vYA#t=1m7s]the gratuitous low-angle supermodel runway strut[/url]. Note that this is how Valve is advertising Chell, not how any of us are interpreting the character to our own fancies. If you're even remotely familiar with the time and effort Valve puts into their pre-rendered movies, you should realize that this wasn't unintentional.[/list] Anyway, this list is just a formality. I think the side-by-side image comparison says far more than I could convey in text. Portal 2's Chell is not the same character, and you'd have to be pretty ignorant or willfully naive to believe that Valve made these changes innocently. Obviously the intention was to go with a "sex sells" approach in selling Portal 2, but then Valve had to dial it all back and use the goofy robots acting wacky for advertising when they knocked the game down to an E-10+ rating for tiny babies.[/QUOTE] More attractive =/= Sexualized. She's not prancing around in her underwear with double D's bouncing up and down. They made her more attractive because to be honest, she was really ugly in Portal 1. I don't think anybody wanted to look at her through portals because she was ugly to look at. In Portal 2, whenever I catch a glimpse of her through a portal, I sometimes take a second to look at the new Chell.

i'm fucking there. and ill buy a copy or two for some friends or my brother. he's a life long half-life fan.

So, nothing new in the comic? Just old stuff on print?

[QUOTE=WhipperSnapper;31083149]So, nothing new in the comic? Just old stuff on print?[/QUOTE] Yeah, what'd you expect?

[QUOTE=CakeMaster7;31083365]Yeah, what'd you expect?[/QUOTE] I expected alteast 1 exclusive Garfield sized strip. Not worth buying for old content, tbh. And the valve comics arent exactly great on story, too short, I would rather buy the next volume of Kick-Ass.

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;31051812]:words:[/QUOTE]Sexualized is more like making her look like a slut drawn by Ryu-Gi, wearing a thong then making her look like a fairly attractive woman who'd I'd rather look at then the man-woman demon that was Chell from Portal 1 [editline]12th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=WhipperSnapper;31083394]I expected alteast 1 exclusive Garfield sized strip. Not worth buying for old content, tbh. And the valve comics arent exactly great on story, too short, I would rather buy the next volume of Kick-Ass.[/QUOTE]I'll see if I can get valve to put in GLaDOS's new Garfield strip about Jon installing neurotoxin in his house to make Garfield feel remorse into the book.

I love how seriously everyone is taking Marphy's post when Marphy has more or less never made an unironic post here on FP or anywhere else that I have ever seen him post. I'd call him a really good "troll" if that term hadn't already lost all meaning whatsoever around the time when it was being used more as a pathetic attempt to insult people who attempt to give constructive criticism to egotistical idiots than it was to describe someone who posts ironically mostly for the sake of getting a rise out of people who can't tell that they are posting ironically. But I digress. I doubt I'll pick this up, considering it's more or less just a compilation of Valve's comics that I can already read online anyways. I can see the appeal, though, mostly from a collector's point of view, but since I'm not a collector myself, I see no real point.

[QUOTE=Sharp_Shooter;31083012]More attractive =/= Sexualized. [/quote]Seems you want to argue semantics. However, there is quite a difference between making an existing individual more attractive and creating an entirely new character, explicitly accentuating the new figure's femininity along with attiring her in fewer yet more revealing articles of clothing while making her strut around like a runway supermodel. This is the very definition of sexualizing. The fact that they toyed with the far more modest [url=http://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/6/66/Chell_model_views_portal_2.jpg]poop flap suit Chell[/url] for some time yet [i]so completely[/i] diverged from that direction attests to this idea. Maybe your mindset is stuck on Alyx and Valve's design choices behind that character. However, that was eight years ago. Get with the times. Things change, and so have Valve. They wanted to put Chell on the cover, but Portal 1's man-woman demon wasn't about to launch copies off the shelves. Hence, they threw out the old model and replaced it with a pretty face (and body) that the men could gawk over. You don't have to look far to find [url=http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=4iFDPEO6vYA]such sentiments[/url]. Why, I bet you could even find similar responses right on Facepunch. [QUOTE=Conro101;31083425]a fairly attractive woman who'd I'd rather look at then the man-woman demon that was Chell from Portal 1[/QUOTE]See? Perfect example right here. Valve succeeded at [u]sexualizing[/u] Chell, and that's my entire point. Go ahead and label it with the far more conservative "they just made her more attractive" schtick if you want, but you're only masking the reality of the situation.

No Marphy, that's retarded. It's not semantics, it is acknowledging there isn't a dichotomy between pig woman and bimbo supermodel, in fact the only people I can think of that associate all kinds of attractiveness with oversexualisation are religious extremists and feminazis. She's been made more attractive, but she was pretty damn ugly in the first one and this is a lot closer to how women actually look, making her closer to relatable rather than sexualised. By western culture and especially in video games, a tank top and baggy orange pants are certainly not stripper clothes so I can't see how she's been reduced to something to stick your dick in. There is a lot they changed about her, it's called character development. Adopted, resilient and defiant, developed a strange bond with Glados, nothing on anything sexual or characteristics commonly associated with femininity though. Aside from just being normal now and not Chernobyl baby, she hasn't got any characteristics you would call sexualised.

[QUOTE=Devodiere;31085102][b]over[/b]sexualisation[/quote]Ah, I see you're bringing new terminology into this, but I see a fault there: that's not what I said. I didn't even introduce the term to this thread. You're exaggerating what I've stated. Not a nice thing to do, if I say so myself. But since you've brought up the concept of "over" sexualization, I suppose we're to assume there's some sort of scale at work here: there's making a character attractive, there's sexualizing the character, and then there's [i]over[/i]sexualizing the character. However, this scale seems rather binary in nature. Apply some makeup? Attractive. Less clothes? Attractive. Expose more skin? Attractive. Tighten the suit? Attractive. Walk like a supermodel does down a cat walk? Attractive. Entirely abandon the original design to replace it with something that has mass market sexual allure to the male crowd? Attractive. Increase bust size? Oh no, that's where the line is crossed into sexualization! But wait, not only is this scale binary, it's also completely [i]arbitrary[/i] since it seems the steps taken to make Chell more attractive are the very same steps needed to sexualize her appearance! You might even say [i]they're the exact same thing[/i] and you're simply arguing semantics! [quote]By western culture and especially in video games, a tank top and baggy orange pants are certainly not stripper clothes so I can't see how she's been reduced to something to stick your dick in.[/quote]You must not be very familiar with Western society, because Valve literally went with the [i]one[/i] outfit that makes Chell look like a [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Hooters_Calendar_Girl_Melissa_Poe.jpg]Hooters girl[/url]. They even got the color scheme right. But hey, it [i]could[/i] be a coincidence. Valve doesn't spend much time with art direction, right? The current state of TF2 is testament to that. [quote]it's called character development[/QUOTE]Chell is not Alyx. She's not Zoey. She's not even Rochelle (technically a step up from Zoey, but I digress). Chell is a mute puppet controlled by the player in a puzzle game primarily about cake/space/lemon memes. The truth is, it doesn't matter in the slightest who the protagonist is or what she looks like, and Valve proved this by literally erasing the previous character and replacing her outright. This change was known about for quite some time and nobody cared. Since nobody cared, Valve took the opportunity to add in some sex appeal. This was a calculated move, and by all accounts, they were successful. You'd need to be looking through a particularly puritanical veil to not see that.

Goodbye money.

[img]http://gyazo.com/8a1cf41d53cd7c29123e82211bbf04ec.png[/img] And people think Chell is hot...

[QUOTE=Marphy Black;31086096]Ah, I see you're bringing new terminology into this, but I see a fault there: that's not what I said. I didn't even introduce the term to this thread. You're exaggerating what I've stated. Not a nice thing to do, if I say so myself. But since you've brought up the concept of "over" sexualization, I suppose we're to assume there's some sort of scale at work here: there's making a character attractive, there's sexualizing the character, and then there's [i]over[/i]sexualizing the character. However, this scale seems rather binary in nature. Apply some makeup? Attractive. Less clothes? Attractive. Expose more skin? Attractive. Tighten the suit? Attractive. Walk like a supermodel does down a cat walk? Attractive. Entirely abandon the original design to replace it with something that has mass market sexual allure to the male crowd? Attractive. Increase bust size? Oh no, that's where the line is crossed into sexualization! But wait, not only is this scale binary, it's also completely [i]arbitrary[/i] since it seems the steps taken to make Chell more attractive are the very same steps needed to sexualize her appearance! You might even say [i]they're the exact same thing[/i] and you're simply arguing semantics! You must not be very familiar with Western society, because Valve literally went with the [i]one[/i] outfit that makes Chell look like a [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Hooters_Calendar_Girl_Melissa_Poe.jpg]Hooters girl[/url]. They even got the color scheme right. But hey, it [i]could[/i] be a coincidence. Valve doesn't spend much time with art direction, right? The current state of TF2 is testament to that. Chell is not Alyx. She's not Zoey. She's not even Rochelle (technically a step up from Zoey, but I digress). Chell is a mute puppet controlled by the player in a puzzle game primarily about cake/space/lemon memes. The truth is, it doesn't matter in the slightest who the protagonist is or what she looks like, and Valve proved this by literally erasing the previous character and replacing her outright. This change was known about for quite some time and nobody cared. Since nobody cared, Valve took the opportunity to add in some sex appeal. This was a calculated move, and by all accounts, they were successful. You'd need to be looking through a particularly puritanical veil to not see that.[/QUOTE] Your binaries are in themselves, not absolute. There's using makeup and there's plastering it on. There's less clothing and there's running around in your underwear. I wouldn't say she walks like a supermodel either so I don't even know what you're talking about there. There is a line and it's when a character becomes nothing more than something to be ogled, a line which they certainly haven't crossed. Chell being seen as attractive by so many people is simply a testament to how a normal looking girl can be more attractive than the bikini babes from a fighting game. You really think they were going for a Hooters girl and not just a normal girl wearing a tank top? They are kinda common you know, and the orange is a carry over from the first game. Still, your point about them taking a lot of care in art direction is true, which makes it off that if they were trying to sexualise someone, they did such a poor job of it. Only when compared to the abomination she was before is she even considered feminine. How about this as an explanation for it, built from the Dev commentary in the game. In the first game, Chell was a mute, problem solving lab rat who just so happened to get out. The orange jump suit fits, the ragged appearance fits, it works for that character. Then in Portal 2, she's grown a bit. She's showed to be confident and determined (LAB RAT comic), she's becoming more than just a lab rat to solve puzzles and rebels several times. Now is a standard issue organge jumpsuit fitting for that kind of character? She has little choice in wearing it but she can do a little bit, wrap the top around her waist, a few subconscious grooming actions to fix herself up and buff her confidence, how is this not fitting?

for fucks sake nobody cares about your nerde opinions about how Chell has been oversexualized, every single time I see someone moan about that in a thread that has [B]nothing[/B] to do with it I wish they'd get a dick put in their mouth

[QUOTE=WhipperSnapper;31083149]So, nothing new in the comic? Just old stuff on print?[/QUOTE] maybe they'll add the francis garfield comic strip "i hate mondays" [editline]13th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Marphy Black;31086096] You must not be very familiar with Western society, because Valve literally went with the [i]one[/i] outfit that makes Chell look like a [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Hooters_Calendar_Girl_Melissa_Poe.jpg]Hooters girl[/url]. They even got the color scheme right. But hey, it [i]could[/i] be a coincidence. Valve doesn't spend much time with art direction, right? The current state of TF2 is testament to that.[/QUOTE] A Hooter girl Chell for Portal 2? New reskin much?

[quote]A Hooter girl Chell for Portal 2? New reskin much?[/quote] I did not want to get involved with this, but I thought at most Hooters anyway, their skirt is a lot shorter and more revealing. I don't remember that being completely the case in Portal 2. My rage lies more on the box art. I honestly do not understand why their marketing direction went all P-Body. That's great, but just looking at that box art, I also do not associate that with CoOp, judging the game by its cover art. It would of made sense to use Chell in that situation. If they wanted to promote the CoOp, they could of done better then that, and you have to consider the use of double the portals. Now, about the comics. I don't know about you, but I am familiar with Dark Horse's comics, especially HellBoy. So unless Dark Horse does not already sell in UK, I see no reason why Valve comics would not at least sell over there. However, I would think they would promote more physical comic reading by doing originally published comics not (yet) on the internet. Then again, if said Dark Horse copies are not available in all regions, then that seems like quite a set back, and I don't like region restricted promos either. Why should there be new comics? Considering Lab Rat had a good amount of explanation to the Portal story, there would have to be a story about what happened to the Borealis, and why it is vitrified. The situation of the missing experiment could be deemed as an Episodic related comic. For some reason, I can just see so many Valve written comics regarding back stories in Half-Life 2. I am curious about how Dr Breen surrendered, if he was all dramatic and held hostage, or ran right up to them and was all a kiss-ass suck up to the Combine.

I want copies of the Left 4 Dead comics they made but I guess this will do.

So this is all the TF2 comics, The Sacrifice, and Lab Rat? Instant buy, collector's item. Will probably be worth a lot in some time, like the few remaining copies of Raising the Bar.