Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman is a webcomic by Christopher C. Livingston that parodies the first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. The comic is illustrated with screenshots of characters posed using Garry's Mod, a tool which allows manipulation of the Source engine used by Half-Life 2. The comic ran from May 2005 to November 2006 and had 205 issues.
While Half-Life 2 follows protagonist Gordon Freeman in a dystopian future, Concerned follows "Gordon Frohman", a dangerously clumsy character who arrives in the setting of the game a few weeks before Freeman does. The webcomic's dark humor is derived from its contrasts with the game and through references to the game's shortcomings. On several occasions in the comic, Frohman becomes the cause of various disastrous circumstances that Freeman will later encounter.
Several reviews of Concerned praised the attention to writing and presentation and the comic's humor. Livingston also reported positive reception from staff at Valve, the developer company of Half-Life 2, who were pleased to have a comic based on their game.
Background
Christopher Livingston started working on Concerned as a hobby. He had previously considered developing a webcomic that would parallel the storyline of the original 1987 Legend of Zelda, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, from start to finish. He chose the Half-Life 2 game world as the scene for his comic because he was a fan, and because the availability of Garry's Mod eliminated the need to draw by hand. He always intended the plot of the comic to end at the same point as the game.
Livingston thought a comic would be a good way to introduce humor to the game, which he has described as "mysterious, moody, [and] immersive".
Publication history
The first issue of Concerned was released on May 1, 2005, the comic completing its run on November 6, 2006 with a total of 205 issues. The characters in the comic were posed using Garry's Mod, a tool which facilitates manipulation of the Source engine used by Half-Life 2, and the comic frames were assembled using Photoshop 6.
The webcomic derives its name from one of the propaganda broadcasts by Wallace Breen in Half-Life 2, in which he is reading a letter supposedly written by a citizen, signed 'Sincerely, a concerned citizen', and begins his response with 'Thank you for writing, Concerned'. Throughout the comic the main character, Gordon Frohman, sends several similar letters to Dr. Breen, Livingston's intention being to suggest that Frohman was the author of the letter read by Breen in Half-Life 2. The name "Frohman" is derived from the last name of Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of the Half-Life series. According to the credits on the comic's website, this name was suggested to Livingston by Sam Golgert, an acquaintance of his.
Livingston also employed the assistance of other people, notably Michael Clements, founder of the Half-Life 2 comics repository PHWOnline, and author of SKETCH, another comic based on Half-Life 2. Clements aided him in enhancing the presentation of Concerned. Greg Galcik, who started and maintained the website SpinnWebe, also assisted in site maintenance, and Livingston later offered him a "guest week special", in which Galcik wrote and published three issues for Concerned. A similar set of three issues have also been published by Joe Yuska, during a week when Livingston was unavailable.
As stated by Livingston in several interviews, his relation with Valve, the developer company of Half-Life 2, was a good one, the company being pleased to have a comic based on their game. According to Livingston, Valve also intended to collaborate with him to produce printed copies of Concerned. However, this was never finalized as the resolution of the comics was too low for printing.
Livingston did not continue the comic through Half-Life 2: Episode One, the first of an episodic series following Half-Life 2, as the game "doesn't really lend itself to the type of comic [he wants] to do".