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delphiTeam Fortress 2 is a video game that was released by Valve in 2007. It's a team-based first-person shooter that became free to play in 2011 and remains one of the most popular online action games of all time. Jokingly referred to as America's #1 war-themed hat simulator, the game doesn't take itself seriously in the least. You play as one of nine classes of mercenary hired to fight over a New Mexico gravel mine in an alternative version of the late 1960s/early 1970s in which Australia has long ruled as the world's technological superpower thanks to its deposits of wonder-element Australium. Mostly, you strategize with your team, shoot at the opposing side, and collect funny hats.
The game is a hoot, but it didn't spawn such a passionate fandom on its own. As staff at Valve put it:
This labyrinthine story includes century-long revenge plots, secret parentage, wizard roommates, Welsh crooner Tom Jones, corporate takeovers, classic comic homages, friendship, romance, loyalty, cross-species male pregnancy, and a whole lot of naked mercenaries (occasionally slathered in honey).
Along with a series of several official animated shorts, the online comics have gone beyond supplementary material and proved to be a hit with readers who have never played the game. Because, as team handler Miss Pauling discovers while trying to get the mercenaries on board with Dungeons & Dragons one Hallowe'en, games just aren't everybody's thing.
The comics are all available for free at TeamFortress.com, and the webpage handily separates the collection into two categories. There's TF Comics, which is a plotty seven-issue miniseries (six issues published to date) in which a usurper has taken over the mercenaries' company and Miss Pauling needs to get the team back together to save the day. The other category is Update Comics, which are short one-shots released to accompany new items or events in the game.
( Nothing But Plot: The TF Comics Miniseries )
( The Scenic Route: Selected Game Update Comics )
Once again, the full collection of comics can be found online for free here, and I'm happy to field any questions about the series if your interest has been piqued or your fancy tickled.
The game is a hoot, but it didn't spawn such a passionate fandom on its own. As staff at Valve put it:
TF2 didn't start with a lot of story. There wasn't room for one. But as the updates got more ambitious, we found the perfect way to explore the mercs' world: comics. Over the years, the comics have spawned ancillary characters, then assistants to the ancillary characters. Companies mentioned in passing became global empires three generations old. The game that started as a handful of guys in a desert shooting at each other slowly blossomed into the most labyrinthine story in Valve history.
This labyrinthine story includes century-long revenge plots, secret parentage, wizard roommates, Welsh crooner Tom Jones, corporate takeovers, classic comic homages, friendship, romance, loyalty, cross-species male pregnancy, and a whole lot of naked mercenaries (occasionally slathered in honey).
Along with a series of several official animated shorts, the online comics have gone beyond supplementary material and proved to be a hit with readers who have never played the game. Because, as team handler Miss Pauling discovers while trying to get the mercenaries on board with Dungeons & Dragons one Hallowe'en, games just aren't everybody's thing.
The comics are all available for free at TeamFortress.com, and the webpage handily separates the collection into two categories. There's TF Comics, which is a plotty seven-issue miniseries (six issues published to date) in which a usurper has taken over the mercenaries' company and Miss Pauling needs to get the team back together to save the day. The other category is Update Comics, which are short one-shots released to accompany new items or events in the game.
( Nothing But Plot: The TF Comics Miniseries )
( The Scenic Route: Selected Game Update Comics )
Once again, the full collection of comics can be found online for free here, and I'm happy to field any questions about the series if your interest has been piqued or your fancy tickled.
