About

What is A Place in the West?

Half-Life: A Place in the West is a fan-made comic book set within Valve's acclaimed Half-Life universe, and is the first non-game modification to be given use of the Half-Life intellectual property.

The series will run for a total of fifteen chapters, the first of which, Following Portents, is available for free on the Steam platform - check it out!

What is it about?

At a science complex in the New Mexico desert, a teleportation experiment goes very wrong, unleashing inter-dimensional chaos on an unsuspecting Earth. The aftershocks end with the arrival of a totalitarian order called The Combine, which forces a brutal police state on the last remnants of the occupied planet.

Now, ten years later, a mysterious cosmic tower has materialised in a hidden city – a tower that may prove to be humanity’s salvation, or its doom. A team of military commandos emerge from the city, sweeping across the American wasteland kidnapping children for an unknown purpose.

In the wake of their devastation, a troubled father, an intrepid scientist, and an ancient alien warrior are each drawn to the strange city with the cosmic tower: New Franklin. Faced with warring clans, diabolical experiments, portentous dreamscapes, and the growing shadow of the Combine, they must unlock New Franklin’s mysteries before it’s too late – and the lives of everyone in the city hang in the balance.

A Place in the West weaves a compelling story with a complex cast of all-new characters, drawing on the rich mythology of the Half-Life universe to create an original adventure for the series.

Meet the Creators

A Place in the West is the brain child of Ross Joseph Gardner and Michael Pelletier, who have been writing together for more than a decade. It is pencilled and inked by Kristian Rossi, coloured by Ester Salguero, and lettered by Javier Puga.

The art team has also involved the talents of Heath Heil, Ivan Miranda, and Rachel Deering.