Penny Arcade (webcomic)

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For other uses, see Penny arcade.
Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade Home Page
Author(s) Jerry Holkins
Mike Krahulik
Website http://www.penny-arcade.com/ RSS
Update schedule Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Launch date November 18, 1998
Genre Gaming, Humor

Penny Arcade is a webcomic written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik.

Penny Arcade is among the most popular webcomics currently online,[1] hosting both a children's charity (Child's Play) and a gaming convention (PAX) each year. It debuted on November 18, 1998 as a regular feature on the web site loonygames.[2] The authors launched their own site in late 1999, and new comic strips are posted every Monday, Wednesday, and most Fridays.

The strip regularly features the two authors' cartoon alter egos, Tycho Brahe and Jonathan Gabriel ("Gabe"), who represent Holkins and Krahulik respectively. Holkins and Krahulik have explained that the characters were not originally meant to represent them, thus they are not caricatures. The decision to have the characters represent the authors was made very shortly after the series began, and the fact that they didn't at all resemble them had never been considered an issue. The two characters spend much of their time playing and commenting on computer and video games, forming the basis of the humor in the strip. Another theme, albeit less common, is the use of conflicts between the two in real life. The strip also sometimes refers to other Internet subcultures, and often features in-jokes that are explained by the news posts accompanying each comic, usually written by Holkins.

Both Krahulik and Holkins make a living from Penny Arcade, placing them in a very small group of web comic artists devoted to their creations full-time. Donations were once accepted, but the site now operates on advertising and merchandise revenue alone. According to Holkins, the website handles more than two million pageviews daily (excluding forum traffic).[3] On November 13, 2005, the website was given a face lift[4] in celebration of their seventh year running and to match the designs of the Child's Play[5] and PAX[6] websites.

Contents

[edit] Attributes of the comic strip

Penny Arcade satirizies Wikipedia with a hypothetical scenario of Skeletor vandalizing the He-Man article
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Penny Arcade satirizies Wikipedia with a hypothetical scenario of Skeletor vandalizing the He-Man article

As a (primarily) topical video gaming news comic, there is little plot or general continuity in Penny Arcade strips. Any story sustained for longer than a single strip is referred to as "dreaded continuity", something of a running gag in the newsposts. A character who dies a horrible, violent death in one strip will come back in the next, perfectly whole, though occasionally these deaths have an effect on later comics. For example, often, when Gabe kills Tycho or vice versa, the killer takes a certain Pac-Man watch off the dead character, but only if he currently has the watch. Profanity and violence are common in Penny Arcade and the strip is not known for its realism: zombies, a talking DIVX player, a robotic juicer that has sex with fruit (the 'Fruit Fucker'), and Jesus, among others, are known to drop in often and for petty reasons. Other such occurrences are implied, if not shown, such as mentioning Dante from Devil May Cry living in the building next door.[7]

Some of the strips are drawn from the perspective of fictional characters within a game or movie. Occasionally, Gabe and Tycho are featured as they would be as characters or players in the game themselves, often having some sarcastic remark to make about some feature or bug in the game.

Penny Arcade has a theme song, "Penny Arcade Theme", written and performed by nerdcore artist MC Frontalot. It was written as a thank-you by Frontalot for the creaters of the webcomic linking his website to their front page and declaring him their "rapper laureate" in 2002.

[edit] Protagonists

Main article: List of Penny Arcade characters
Some of the main cast from Penny Arcade
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Some of the main cast from Penny Arcade
Jonathan Gabriel
Mike Krahulik's comic alter ego is energetic and free-spirited, but has a propensity to become extremely angry. He has a Pac-Man tattoo on his right biceps,[8] as well as a tattoo in honor of the demise of SNK on his back.[9] He almost always wears a yellow Pac-Man shirt, and apparently has a glass eye.[10] He has a fascination with unicorns, a secret love of Barbies and is a dedicated fan of Spider-Man and Star Wars. He practices line dancing with the Kansas City Hotsteppers.[11] He is a Diabetic, though he continues to consume large quantities of sugar products.[12] He has an odd affinity for a cardboard tube which he had fantasies of wielding as a wandering samurai, often in ancient Japan (see Cardboard Tube Samurai below). He was for a short time addicted to Tribes but soon grew out of it. He also has an obsession with his own genitalia and possible latent homosexual tendencies.[13][14][15][16]
Krahulik eventually named his son "Gabriel", in honor of the character.[17]
Tycho Brahe
Jerry Holkins' comic alter ego (named after the astronomer Tycho Brahe) is bitter and sarcastic. Almost invariably clad in a blue-striped sweater, Tycho enjoys books, RPGs, unnecessarily large words and deflating Gabe's ego. According to Tycho, "Some people play tennis, I erode the human soul."[18] He is a rabid fan of Harry Potter. He also often plays Dungeons & Dragons (the website's banner illustrates him holding a 20-sided die). Though extremely intelligent, he has on several occasions made reference to his scarring childhood in which his mother physically abused him[19] and blamed him for his father's leaving due to his body "swelling with evil"[20] (in fact, puberty), as well as his parents taking him on a family road trip to such places as Idaho's largest shitfarm.[21] It has been mentioned that one of his aunts, believing him to be gay, constantly sends him homoerotic material.[22] Tycho also has a drinking problem.[23] After a dream, Tycho is seen to possess dark powers, signified by his eyes glowing red;[24] this theme is repeated over the course of the strip. Recent strips have also revealed that he may have an unhealthy sexual obession with long animal necks: at one point, he believes that his wife has found giraffe pornography on his computer, and calls their necks "slender."[25] A more recent comic, a commentary on alleged spyware in Battlefield 2142, depicts players being shown ads relevant to the content of their computers. Gabe's ad is for a Martha Stewart product, while Tycho's is for badboysbigbirds.com - "Big Heads in Deep Holes" - and depicts an ostrich with its head buried in a hole.[26] Tycho is also the host of "Too Damn Late with Tycho Brahe."[27] Though originally co-hosted by Gabe, "Too Damn Late" appears to have been reworked[28] because of Gabe's difficulty controlling his body near guests.[29]

[edit] Podcast

Krahulik and Holkins began to record and release audio content on March 20, 2006. The podcasts specifically capture the creative process that goes into the creation of a Penny Arcade comic, usually starting with a perusal of recent gaming news, with conversational tangents and digressions to follow. As well as being a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Penny Arcade, Krahulik and Holkins discuss possible subjects for the comic.

The format of the show is mostly "fly-on-the-wall" style, in that the hosts rarely acknowledge the existence of the microphone. There is no theme music (not even the aforementioned "Penny Arcade Theme"), intro, or outro. The podcasts are of varying lengths, beginning abruptly and ending with the idea for the current comic.

Although the shows were initially published weekly, Holkins has stated in a recent post[30] that lately they have found difficulties when trying to produce the podcasts on a regular basis. Although the duo plans to keep recording podcasts, they admit they will do so only occasionally.

The podcast for the comic of October 20, 2006 featured Scott Kurtz, author of friendly rival comic PvP, who was apparently visiting Seattle.

[edit] The Video Game

Main article: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an upcoming episodic video game based on the strip. It is being developed by Hothead Games. No publisher has been announced.[31]

[edit] Other works

Penny Arcade Presents
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Penny Arcade Presents

Under the banner of 'Penny Arcade Presents', Krahulik and Holkins are sometimes commissioned to create promotional artwork/comic strips for new video games, with their signature artistic style and humor. They are usually credited simply as 'Penny Arcade' rather than by their actual names. Some of these works have been included with the distribution of the game, and others have appeared on pre-launch official websites, such as:

A partial, official list can be found on the Penny Arcade website.[39]

On August 8, 2005 Krahulik announced that Penny Arcade, in partnership with Sabertooth Games, would be producing a collectible card game based on the Penny Arcade franchise[40] The resulting Penny Arcade "battle box" was released in February 2006 as part of the Universal Fighting System.

There are also a few spinoffs from the main comic that have gained independent existences. The most recent example is "Epic Legends Of The Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga" (ELOTH:TES), a parody of the written-by-committee fantasy fiction used as back-story for a wide variety of games: originally a one-off gag in the Penny Arcade comic, in late 2005 this was expanded into a complete fantasy universe, documented on a hoax "fan-wiki".[41] ELOTH:TES first appeared in the webcomic of February 2, 2005, and has subsequently been featured in the comics of November 7, 2005 and November 30, 2005. Several elements of the ELOTH:TES universe will also be featured on the cover of their second comics collection, Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings.

On May 31, 2006 Krahulik announced a new advertising campaign for the Entertainment Software Rating Board.[42] According to Krahulik, the ESRB "wanted a campaign that would communicate to gamers why the ESRB is important even if they don't think it directly affects them." Among the reasons he listed for Penny-Arcade's accepting the job was that he and Holkins are both fathers and are concerned about the games their children might play. He also stated his belief that the alternative to the ESRB would be governmental regulation of the video games industry. (The ESRB is a voluntary self-regulatory organization made up of video game publishers and developers.) The ad campaign will feature one character drawn by Krahulik to represent each of the ESRB ratings.

For the December 2006 edition of Wired magazine, Penny Arcade has written a comic strip that compares the three game consoles in the market - XBox 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii.

[edit] Penny Arcade events

Main Article: Child's Play (charity)
Main article: Penny Arcade Expo

Every Christmas since 2003, Penny Arcade hosts a charity called Child's Play to buy new toys for children's hospitals. They also sponsor a three-day gaming festival called the Penny Arcade Expo every August since 2004.

On September 16, 2005, Krahulik and Holkins gave a special lecture at MIT. A transcript of the talk has been made available.[43]

[edit] Legal troubles

[edit] American Greetings

The censored parody
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The censored parody

After a strip titled "Tart as a Double Entendre" mocking the works of American McGee, such as Alice, was published on April 14, 2003, American Greetings sent a cease-and-desist letter to Penny Arcade, claiming infringement on their intellectual property, Strawberry Shortcake. They chose not to enter into a legal fight over whether or not the strip was a protected form of parody, and complied with the cease-and-desist by replacing it with an image directing their audience to send a letter to a lawyer for American Greetings.[44] Afterwards, a comic portraying American Greetings as Nazis was released without legal repercussion.[45]

[edit] Jack Thompson

On October 17, 2005 Krahulik and Holkins donated $10,000 to charity in the name of Jack Thompson.[46] Earlier, Thompson himself had promised to donate $10,000 if a video game was created meeting certain criteria,[47] but after a vaguely similar (in spirit) mod to the game Grand Theft Auto was pointed out to already exist, Thompson called his challenge satire and refused to donate the money,[48] despite the fact that he had explicitly stated that the offer was genuine in a follow-up interview. His refusal was met with disdain, given that multiple games were created or in the process of being created under Thompson's criteria. Krahulik and Holkins donated the money in his place, with a check containing the memo: "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't".

Thompson proceeded to phone Krahulik, as related by Holkins in the corresponding news post.[49]

On October 18, 2005 it was reported that Jack Thompson had faxed a letter to Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske claiming that Penny Arcade "employs certain personnel who have decided to commence and orchestrate criminal harassment of me by various means".[50][51] Holkins defended the site by saying that the harassment Thompson referred to was simply "the natural result of a public figure making statements that people disagree with, and letting him know their thoughts on the matter via his publicly available contact information".

On October 21, 2005 Thompson claimed to have sent a letter to John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, in an attempt to get the FBI involved. Thompson re-iterated his claims of "extortion" and accused Penny Arcade of using "their Internet site and various other means to encourage and solicit criminal harassment".[52] Penny Arcade denied the charge of "extortion", noting that they paid the $10,000 to charity, and are asking nothing in return.[53]

So far, Thompson has not clarified what he considers "extortion", but he claimed the harassment of him is a direct result of Mike Krahulik's posts, which listed links to The Florida Bar Association. Thompson accused Penny Arcade of soliciting complaints to the Bar against him, even though Krahulik actually posted the opposite, asking fans to cease sending letters to the Bar, as the Bar acknowledged that it is aware of Thompson's actions, thanks to previous letters.[54]

The Seattle PD eventually acknowledged receiving a complaint from Thompson, but have commented that they believe the issue to be a civil, rather than criminal, matter. They noted that this was from initial impressions of the letter they received, and their criminal investigations bureau is reviewing the letter to make sure that there were not any criminal matters that they missed.[55]

On the same day, Scott Kurtz, creator of the webcomic PvP and a longtime friend of Krahulik and Holkins, used the image of the letter Thompson sent to the Seattle PD to create a parody letter in which Jack attempts to enlist the aid of the Justice League of America by claiming Gabe and Tycho to be villains of some description.[56]

The Penny Arcade shop now sells a shirt that says "I hate Jack Thompson," claiming that every living creature, including Thompson's own mother, hates Jack Thompson.

[edit] Collected editions

Cover of PA's first official book
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Cover of PA's first official book

[edit] Online forum

The Penny Arcade website is also home to one of the largest and most active forums on the internet. According to Big-Boards.com, which tracks nearly 2,000 popular online discussion boards and ranks them according to specific criteria of activity, Penny Arcade's forum is among the top 30 boards in terms of average number of users online and average number of page views daily. As of August 2006 the forum had 26 moderators and over 36,000 registered users.[57] It is divided into several subforums devoted to a broad range of topics, including but not limited to art and video games.

The forum is also home to two boards devoted to specific online games (City of Heroes/Villains and World of Warcraft) as well as one devoted entirely to the PAX (Penny Arcade eXpo). The game boards often contain information about informal PA groups, such as Power's Allegory or Power's Affliction for City of Heroes and City of Villains, respectively, or the numerous World of Warcraft guilds.

[edit] Critical reaction

Entertainment Weekly listed Penny Arcade on their "100 Sites to Bookmark Now," calling it "a hilarious and smart webcomic for gamers.".[58] MTV Online named Holkins and Krahulik two of the world's most influential gamers, saying "they have become the closest the medium has to leaders of a gamers' movement."[59] 1UP.com described it as "the One True Gaming Webcomic."[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Will Strip for Games, 1UP.com
  2. ^ http://www.loonygames.com/
  3. ^ Holkins, Jerry (2006-03-13). The Gambler, Part Three. Penny Arcade!. Retrieved on 2006-07-06.
  4. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/11/14
  5. ^ http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
  6. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/pax/
  7. ^ Holkins, Jerry; Mike Krahulik (2001-10-19). An Honest Mistake. Penny Arcade!. Retrieved on 2006-07-06.
  8. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/04/23
  9. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/05
  10. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/10
  11. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/09/08
  12. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/04/07
  13. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/05/06
  14. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/08/22
  15. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/02/10
  16. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/03/29
  17. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2004/09/10
  18. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/02/28
  19. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/01/13
  20. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/17
  21. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/30
  22. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/01/01
  23. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/08/01
  24. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/08/06
  25. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/01/18
  26. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/19
  27. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/05/01
  28. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/01
  29. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/08/04
  30. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2006/05/03
  31. ^ Penny Arcade: Now a videogame from 1UP.com
  32. ^ http://www.empireearth2.com/images/pennyarcade.jpg
  33. ^ http://www.farcrygame.com/us/community_pennyarcades.php
  34. ^ http://mystworlds.ubi.com/us/pennyarcade.php
  35. ^ http://www.painkillergame.com/pc_site/media/pennystrip/penny1.html Part 1],Part 2,Part 3,Part 4
  36. ^ http://www.rainbowsix3.com/us/comic.php
  37. ^ http://splintercell.uk.ubi.com/pennyarcades.php
  38. ^ http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/pa-comics.html
  39. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/presents
  40. ^ Sabertooth Games (August 8, 2005). Penny Arcade Press Release. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  41. ^ http://elothtes.pbwiki.com/
  42. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2006/05/31
  43. ^ http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/2006/01/penny-arcade-vs-mit.htm
  44. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/04/14
  45. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/04/27
  46. ^ Score, Avery (October 17, 2005). Penny Arcade donates in Thompson's stead. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  47. ^ Jack Thompson is blasted by pro-family group. GamesIndustry.biz (October 14, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  48. ^ Gibson, Ellie (October 18, 2005). Thompson refuses to keep 10k promise. GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  49. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/10/14
  50. ^ http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/110152.html?mode=reply
  51. ^ Sinclair, Brendan and Curt Brendan (October 18, 2005). Thompson attacks Penny Arcade; seeks arrests. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  52. ^ http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/112527.html
  53. ^ http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/10/21
  54. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (October 21, 2005). Thompson goes federal with Penny Arcade feud. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  55. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (October 27, 2005). Seattle police pass on Penny Arcade flap. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2006-04-25.
  56. ^ http://www.pvponline.com/images/news/letter.gif
  57. ^ http://www.big-boards.com/highlight/630/
  58. ^ Kohn, Eric; J.P. Mangalindan (June 23, 2006). "100 Sites to Bookmark Now". Entertainment Weekly, Pg. 38
  59. ^ http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games/news/story.jhtml?id=1534641#/games/video_games/news/story.jhtml?id=1534641

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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