Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories Volume 1 [Hardcover]

Valve (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2011 | Series: Valve Presents

For fifteen years, Valve Corporation has defined the cutting edge of video games. Now, Valve joins with Dark Horse to bring three critically acclaimed, fan-favorite series to print, with a hardcover collection of comics from the worlds of Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, and Portal. With over 300-pages of story, Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories is a must-read for fans looking to further explore the games they love, or comics readers interested in dipping their toes into new mythos!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (November 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595828699
• ISBN-13: 978-1595828699
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing collection, but nothing new November 21, 2011

By Scorpian

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a collection of every comic and comic-like-thing that Valve produced up through around August. For Left 4 Dead, it contains The Sacrifice (duh?). For Team Fortress 2, it has everything through the comic for the replay update. For Portal 2, it has the entire Lab Rat comic. In addition to all of the above, there are few pieces of artwork, mainly postcards and various other random things (such as some of the Saxton Hale magazine covers). All of this is collected in a full-color, hardback collection that's a lot bigger than I thought it would be (it's kinda hard to understand just how massive the book is from the dimensions that are given).

So yeah, it contains a lot of good stuff. However, it lacks anything new. I expected this, but didn't quite plan for it. Everything in this book is available for free online. When the package arrived, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I immediately ripped it open and flipped through it. Then... nothing. As soon as it dawned on me that I'd already extracted just about all of the entertainment I could get from this book several months earlier, there really wasn't anything left I could enjoy. Plus, half of this book (The Sacrifice comic) was designed for a digital widescreen display. Each digital "page" is printed two per physical page, so there are plenty of gaps. That kind of kills the traditional comic book feel and gives the impression that it works a lot better on screen than on paper. Even if I were to reread this in the book, I'd still feel like it would be been better to read it online, which is free.

Don't get me wrong. These are all ridiculously entertaining comics. I got plenty of enjoyment out of 'em when I read them through at release online.... But, the only thing I gained from purchasing this book was having them in paper instead of digitally. At the end of the day, this is nothing more than a collector's item. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For People who Skimmed through the online version of the Comics November 26, 2011

By Jeromy Shald

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Whenever Valve releases one of these comics online I would skim through it on my portable laptop at school or at home I enjoyed them and had a good laugh but afterwards most of the time quite honestly forgot about them shortly after. but viewing the comics again in a big hardcover book makes a world of difference and you can appreciate the work a lot more, especially if you are a fan of valve and of the characters in this game.

If you meticulously read every single comic multiple times and payed great attention to it, you might be disappointed with this product since there is nothing new to see.

But if you are a Valve fan like me and enjoy the games and or reading comics and graphic novels and didn't read them multiple times then I recommend this product.

Funny Comics, Good Art, Valve Canon Back-story

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fans of the Game Will Love it February 14, 2012

By Mother/Gamer/Writer

Format:Hardcover

Originally Reviewed at:Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating:5 out of 5 controllers
Review Source:NetGalley
Reviewer:Me

Louis, Francis, Zoey, and Bill are up to their eyeballs in zombies in The Sacrifice. In this installment, we follow our four survivors in an attempt to get to a safe zone (flashbacks to the game anyone?). But even when it looks as if rescue is a breath away, things - as we know from the game - are not always as they seem. And this outbreak is NOT the Flu.

The Sacrifice is broken up into four parts, and with each section readers are given the back-story of each character. Can I just tell you how BLOODY MIND-BLOWING this story was? The entire time I was huddled over my computer screaming at the pages as if I was playing Left 4 Dead (if you have NOT PLAYED this game, you must do so NOW) on the console. It gave me the same exact adrenaline rush I got while playing the game. You never know whether someone will live or die, and the overwhelming feeling of death looms over you, page after page. It was exciting to say the least. Bill is still one of my favorite characters. He is a nutty over-the-top character with a death wish. He's even better to read than to watch fumble around with his grenade loving, cigarette throwing self. Similarly, Francis is a funny character to read. He is so nonchalant I was dying with laughter from his smart-alecky remarks to Louis.

Zoe and Louis are also great additions. Louis is the type of character who would probably get you killed if there really was a zombie apocalypse. He tries to see the best in every situation without seeing the facts. But his banter back and forth with Francis kept me laughing and the whole time I was saying to myself, "better Francis than me".... And what would the story be without an a** kicking female character? Zoe, the character I always played in the game, was not as entertaining as the rest of the crew but she still had her moments and I was happy to read them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the back-stories. Each one brought some humor to the table, ordinary lives turned upside down in the blink of an eye. From their flashbacks you can see why our characters act the way they do. Louis was so worried about his job he was almost bitten while on the toilet. Zoe lost more than she could handle. Francis, well you will just have to read his story. And of course Bill, I just love Bill he is made of pure AWESOME! The art style is comparable horror wise to a graphic novel I reviewed in November, Crawl to Me. It's gruesome, with tons and tons of blood and gore. Horror fans and adrenaline junkies will love it.

Overall, Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice is gritty, overly bloody, and told with the same humorous one-liners that you expected in the game. I am head over heels in L-O-V-E with The Sacrifice. That statement might be a little fan-girl bias, but I promise, even if you have never played the game and you are just a fan of zombies, you will not be disappointed. I can't wait to get my hands on the full graphic novel so I can dive into the other stories. Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent gift for your homes TF2 fan May 12, 2013

By L. Durham

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

My son was delighted to receive this as a gift. The quality of this comic collection is impressive (print and paper quality, page sizes, hardcover). It was kind of interesting to learn that there's actually some sort of story behind the video game Team Fortress 2.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice quality, I'd pay more, but i didn't need to! April 22, 2013

By Ari' Shok Glaciga

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's in beautiful hard-cover and you can kill a man with it on it's weight. But it's more fun to read (Or weight lift) it contains many satisfying and well illustrated comics. Any Valve fan will love it, and even people otherwise. Worth the wait (which was short) and I wouldn't mind seeing another Valve comic collection.

5.0 out of 5 stars Valve presents the sacrifice and other steam powered stories February 18, 2013

By Paul Hemstreet

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

When you go play a video game, you either leave it feeling one of two things : that you wasted the entire afternoon, or that you just took part in a wonderful story. But a VALVe game? A VALVe game? You know you'll be pleased by that. And now you can enjoy it even more with this book. Explaining scenes that you did not see in the game, and doing it in a comic book format, this amazingly done collection of strips and cartoons is a great read for everyone(except for young kids.there is a small bit of swearing) ! Now, I know the price seems like a lot,but trust me, you won't regret it. Not one bit.