Unforeseen Consequences: The Bureau - Part 1

[DuskGovernmentWoman]

Lore:

• Quite sure it’s obvious, but this is starting at the intro to Episode 1; then G-Man goes back a few years to the time of HLA. Travelling through time is mundane to these guys.

• The stasis nexus corridor is pretty much endless. How does that work? Interdimensionally of course.

• G-Man is basically just using his own power to break through the Vorts’ psychic barrier.

• G-Man making a mistake or failing a mission is something he has never had happen before until this point. His ego has taken a hit.

• The Employers shown here are only a few of them; the Board is massive, there’s a reason it’s these particular three in the scene and no others.

• The boardroom shown is one of many used for less important meetings. They probably chose this one particually to further piss off G-Man.

• Yes, G-Man just summoned his briefcase.

Behind The Scenes:

• I want to thank @George_Stukas for making the dimensional doors map for me! At first we were thinking of using reflections to create the effect, but the engine couldn’t make it look endless… so George had the awesome idea to use a skybox instead. Thanks again! It will be featuring again later this chapter.

• G-Man should technically be wearing his HL2 suit in the first scene, but I wanted to use the other suit to let this chapter flow better. He’ll be wearing his H2 suit during the episode 2 scenes in the next chapter however.

• The most of the screenshots for these pages were taken a while ago before I went through a month of anxiety hell.

• I was going to have a shot of the Vorts getting killed, but wasn’t really sure how to show them getting disintegrated

• I swear it’s impossible to not make Gordon Freeman’s model look goofy… honestly if I had tried to make him look any more annoyed than that he would have looked REALLY ridiculous.

• Employer eye-glow was added today after much deliberation whether it would look stupid or not. But it is a good way to tell them apart haha.

[George_Stukas]

Glad I could help with this issue! It’s interesting seeing G-man face issues in his work as well as repercussions for his failure to complete said work.

You made the right choice to show the employers’ eyes. They stood out better that way.

And the vortigaunts’ death was a good example of something that seems antithetical to comics but is sometimes necessary as well as effective: tell, don’t show.

[The_Gobo]

Fantastic issue.
Love the intrigue of getting to see behind the curtain to Gman having to deal with his Employers pulling a bunch of skullduggery on him

[DuskGovernmentWoman]

@George_Stukas Ah good, I was worried about how the eyes would look with the Employers haha. Thanks!

@The_Gobo Thank you! Gonna use the ‘hide details’ option here to reply so others don’t accidently see HLA spoilers (won’t be in the comic anyway, but I might still write that short story);

HLA Spoilers

This would have lead to G-Man (after setting the stage for the quarantine zone) to waiting for new orders at a apartment building. This is where the Employers let the Combine imprison him; it was part of their plan for the mission but they left that detail out. They set it up so not only would he be forced to complete the mission as they want him to, but also humiliate him further and basically remind him that they are in charge of this operation.

I had an entire storyline involving G-Man in the Vault, but its been cut due to gmod limitations. Some cut characters and everything. I am still thinking of writing it as a companion piece to this chapter however. It all still happens; just the comic is going to focus on Dusk instead, and then G-Man’s return.

[infu]

I was actually very surprised throughout it all. You really gave it your best shot, and you hit the target dead center. This is probably your best work so far, and it definitely explains why it took you so long. Like Martel Halliday would say: catch a breath now, you’ve earned it.

[DuskGovernmentWoman]

Bloody hell, now I’m worried the rest of this chapter won’t be good enough. Thanks though.

[ESToomere]

Transporting Xen flora? Guess the G stands for Gardener.

[DuskGovernmentWoman]

Nooooo, it still stands for Government.