Jerry Holkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keith Gerald "Jerry" Holkins (born February 6, 1976) is the writer of the popular webcomic Penny Arcade. Holkins goes by the allonym "Tycho Brahe" online. This is also the name of one of the two main characters of Penny Arcade, who is generally considered to be a self-insertion of Holkins. However, as the character of Tycho was not originally meant to represent Holkins, the two have few physical similarities; they are primarily similar in their various interests and attitudes.^[1]

Holkins writes long news posts or rants which accompany each comic. He writes in a distinct style which interjects verbose, baroque phrasings into otherwise conversational dialogue and monologue. He also makes frequent use of wordplay and obscure cultural references in the midst of his computer and video game commentary. Beneath most posts is a lyrical reference to a song followed by Holkins "signing out" with the customary -in the videogame world- (CW)TB out. (CW) represents a former clan tag, Clan Walrus, and TB obviously stands for Tycho Brahe.

His style contrasts with that of Penny Arcade artist Mike Krahulik, with Holkins assuming the role of the "smart one" and Krahulik the insufferable sidekick. However, it has been mutually agreed between the two that Penny Arcade wouldn't exist with just one of them. The two have been said to give an indication of the diversity of thought and opinion among gamers, with Krahulik representing action gamers and Holkins representing the more cerebral RPG players.^[2]

Holkins lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Brenna. Their son, Elliot Jacob Holkins, was born around November 22, 2005, and Jerry announced the birth of his son on the Penny Arcade news post three days later.

When not working on their comic, Holkins and Krahulik enjoy playing video games and attending gaming conferences and events.

Holkins' less well-known exploits include being a lead singer/guitarist in a band called The Fine Print, whose works are freely available over the Internet.

[edit] Bibliography

• Penny Arcade: Attack of the Bacon Robots (with Mike Krahulik) (Dark Horse, 2006)
• Penny Arcade: Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings (with Mike Krahulik) (Dark Horse, 2006)

[edit] References

1. ^ Searles, Brad (2006-01-19). Penny Arcade vs MIT. Bradley's Almanac. Retrieved on 2006-11-24.
2. ^ Brahe, Tycho (2005-10-07). We Were Playing The Second Digital Devil Saga (JPEG). Penny Arcade. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.