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EspañolPENNY ARCADE (WEBCOMIC)
'''Penny Arcade''' is a webcomic and blog written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. It focuses mainly on video games, the video game industry, and gamer sub-culture.
''Penny Arcade'' is among the most popular webcomics currently online,[1] and it hosts 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 usually posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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 has been explained with some ire at one point. 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. Originally, Penny Arcade was supported solely by donations. A graph on the main page indicated how much people had donated that month. After hiring Robert Khoo as their business manager, Holkins and Krahulik switched to a different income stream based on advertising and merchandise revenue alone. According to Holkins, the website handles more than two million pageviews daily (excluding forum traffic).[3] On 2005-11-13, 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 Charity and Penny Arcade Expo websites.
Attributes of the comic strip
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 known for its surrealism: zombies, a talking alcoholic DIVX player, a robotic juicer that has sex with fruit (the Fruit Fucker 2000), 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.[5] However, the comic does occasionally expand into more serious issues; one even had Krahulik, in the guise of the character Gabe, proposing to his girlfriend of two years.
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 creators of the webcomic linking his website to their front page and declaring him their "rapper laureate" in 2002. The song appears in the dance game ''In the Groove''.
Protagonists
Main articles: List of Penny Arcade characters
; Jonathan "Gabe" 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,[5] as well as a tattoo in honor of the demise of SNK on his back.[5] He almost always wears a yellow Pac-Man shirt, and in one comic he had a glass eye.[5] 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.[5] He is a diabetic, though he continues to consume large quantities of sugar products.[5] He has an odd affinity for a cardboard tube which he had fantasies of wielding as a wandering samurai, often in ancient Japan. 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.[5][5][5][5] This theory can be supported by a recent recurrence of Gabriel's 'personal' interest in actor Patrick Swayze[15]. As a contrast to Tycho's expansive vocabulary, Gabe usually speaks using only simple, common words.
:Krahulik named his son "Gabriel", in honor of the character.[16]
; 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, large words and deflating Gabe's ego. According to himself, he erodes the very soul of humanity as a hobby[17]. 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 insensitive, he has on several occasions made reference to his scarring childhood in which his mother physically abused him[18] and blamed him for his father's leaving due to his body "swelling with evil"[19] (in fact, puberty), as well as his parents taking him on a family road trip to such places as Idaho's largest "shitfarm".[20] It has been mentioned that one of his aunts, believing him to be gay, constantly sends him homoerotic material.[21] Tycho also has a drinking problem.[22] After a dream, Tycho is seen to be host to an evil spirit, signified by his eyes glowing red when it comes to the fore;[23] 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 he calls their necks "slender."[24] 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.[25] Tycho is also the host of "Too Damn Late with Tycho Brahe."[26] Though originally co-hosted by Gabe, "Too Damn Late" appears to have been reworked because of Gabe's difficulty controlling his body near guests.[27] [28]
Podcast
Krahulik and Holkins began to record and release audio content on March 20, 2006, titled ''Downloadable Content.'' 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 stated in a May 2006 blog post[29] that they have found difficulties when trying to produce the podcasts on a regular basis. The duo planned to keep recording podcasts occasionally.
The podcast for the comic of October 20, 2006 featured Scott Kurtz, author of rival comic PvP, who was visiting Seattle.
After a nearly 6-month long hiatus, Penny Arcade Downloadable Content returned on May 2, 2007.
Video games
Main articles: Penny Arcade Adventures, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Produce Panic
'' is an upcoming episodic video game based on the strip. It is being developed by Hothead Games, and is built on a version of the Torque Game Engine. No publisher has been announced[30]. GarageGames also publishes ''Produce Panic'', a game starring the series' sentient juicing machine.
Other works
Penny Arcade Presents
★ '' - A somewhat toned-down look at a discussion between paratroopers.
★ ''Empire Earth II'' - An amusing example of the different technologies in the game.[31]
★ ''Far Cry''
★ ''Heroes of Might and Magic V'' - A brief retelling of the history of Ashan.
★ '' - A recap of the previous story and teaser for ''Myst V''.[32][33]
★ ''Painkiller'' - A comic strip based on the background story of the game, placed on the game's site in the downloads section.[34]
★ ''Rainbow Six 3'' - An illustration of a mission in the game.[35]
★ ''Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow'' - A comic strip depicting a mission in the game's new multiplayer mode, from both spies and mercenaries points of view.
★ ''Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory'' - A humorous training manual for new operatives, ostensibly a classified document.[36]
★ ''World of Warcraft'' - Various humorous illustrations in the official strategy guide, as well as the strategy guide for the '' expansion.[37]
★ '' - Three strips featured in the official strategy guide, including a look at the downsides of turn-based combat.
A partial, official list can be found on the Penny Arcade website.[38]
On 2005-08-08 Krahulik announced that ''Penny Arcade'', in partnership with Sabertooth Games, would be producing a collectible card game based on the ''Penny Arcade'' franchise[39] 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 '' (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".[40] 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 are 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.[41] 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.
Krahulik and Holkins created a comic strip which compares the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the Wii that appears in the December 2006 issue of ''Wired'' magazine[42].
''Penny Arcade'' events
Main articles: Child's Play (charity), 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]
Legal troubles
American Greetings
The censored parody
Krahulik and Holkins 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.[45] Afterwards, a comic portraying American Greetings as Nazis was released without legal repercussion.[46]
Jack Thompson
On 2005-10-17 Krahulik and Holkins donated $10,000 to the ESA foundation in the name of Jack Thompson.[47] Earlier, Thompson himself had promised to donate $10,000 if a video game was created meeting certain criteria (''See: A Modest Video Game Proposal''), Jack Thompson is blasted by pro-family group 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 2005-10-18 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 2005-10-21 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]
Thompson 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 had at the time sold an "I hate Jack Thompson" T-shirt, claiming that every living creature, including Thompson's own mother, hates Jack Thompson.
On 2007-03-21 Thompson filed a countersuit to the lawsuit brought against him by Take Two Interactive claiming that they are at the center of a RICO conspiracy. ''Penny Arcade'' was named as one of the conspiracy members[57][58]. At Sakura-Con 2007, Krahulik announced that the charges had been dropped.[59]
Collected editions
★ ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Limited Edition) — ISBN 1-931195-07-2
★ ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Soft Cover) — ISBN 1-931195-11-0
★ ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Hard Cover) — ISBN 1-931195-12-9
★ ''Penny Arcade: Volume 1 Attack of the Bacon Robots'' — ISBN 1-59307-444-1
★ ''Penny Arcade Limited Edition Signed - Attack Of The Bacon Robots'' — ISBN 1-59307-650-9
★ ''Penny Arcade: Volume 2 Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings'' — ISBN 1-59307-541-3
★ ''Penny Arcade: Volume 3 The Warsun Prophecies'' — ISBN 1-59307-635-5
★ ''Penny Arcade: Volume 4 Birds Are Weird'' — ISBN 1-59307-773-4 (June 13, 2007) [2]
Online forum
As of August 2006 the forum had 26 moderators and over 36,000 registered users.[60] 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 a board 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.
In February 2007, the Penny Arcade forums were changed from phpBB to vBulletin due to a hacker attack.
Analysis
On December 13, 2006, Next Generation Magazine rated Krahulik and Holkins among their "Top 25 People of the Year"[61]. Also appearing on the list were Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime and Xbox King Peter Moore. Krahulik made a post about the honor, in which he explained that Penny Arcade was created only because Next-Gen rejected the duo's entry to a comic contest many years before.[62] ''Entertainment Weekly'' listed ''Penny Arcade'' on their "100 Sites to Bookmark Now," calling it "a hilarious and smart webcomic for gamers."[63] 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."[64]
1UP.com described it as "the One True Gaming Webcomic." ''Penny Arcade'' was used along with ''American Elf'', ''Fetus-X'' and ''Questionable Content'' as an example of comics using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud's 2006 book ''Making Comics'' [65]
References
1. Will Strip for Games
2. A few thoughts about Loonygames on its fifth anniversary. loonyboi productions
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15. The Time Of His Life Holkins, Krahulik
16. Undisclosed Propensities, Part 2 Holkins, Krahulik
17. The Predicament Holkins, Krahulik
18. Sweet and Sour Holkins, Krahulik
19. Cha Cha Cha Changes Holkins, Krahulik
20. Summer Road Epic, Part One Holkins, Krahulik
21. You Know How It Is Holkins, Krahulik
22. Just When I Get Out Holkins, Krahulik
23. Perchance to Dream Holkins, Krahulik
24. Savannah Heat Holkins, Krahulik
25. Advertising In The Future Holkins, Krahulik
26. Tonight, on "Too Damn Late" Holkins, Krahulik
27. Ba Dum Bum Psh Holkins, Krahulik
28. Son Of Too Damn Late Holkins, Krahulik
29. A Failure to Plan Holkins, Krahulik
30. Penny Arcade: Now a videogame from 1UP.com
31. Penny Arcade Presents: Empire II Earth
32. Myst V comic I
33. Myst V comic II
34. Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4
35. http://www.rainbowsix3.com/us/comic.php
36. http://splintercell.uk.ubi.com/pennyarcades.php
37. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/pa-comics.html
38. Penny Arcade Presents Holkins, Krahulik
39.
40. http://elothtes.pbwiki.com/
41. Tycho Ever-Listening Holkins, Krahulik
42. I Come in Peace, With Console Advice, , , , Wired, 2006
43. http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/2006/01/penny-arcade-vs-mit.htm
44. American McGee's Alice
45. Tart As A Double Entendre Holkins, Krahulik
46. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/04/27
47. Penny Arcade donates in Thompson's stead Score, Avery
48. Thompson refuses to keep 10k promise Gibson, Ellie
49. And All Of It True Tycho
50. http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/110152.html?mode=reply
51. Thompson attacks Penny Arcade; seeks arrests Sinclair, Brendan and Curt Brendan
52. http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/112527.html
53. Soul Glow Tycho
54. Thompson goes federal with Penny Arcade feud Sinclair, Brendan
55. Seattle police pass on Penny Arcade flap Sinclair, Brendan
56. Letter to the Justice League
57. In Countersuit, Thompson Claims Take Two at Center of Vast RICO Conspiracy
58.
59. Thompson drops racketeering allegations in lawsuit against Take-Two
60. http://www.big-boards.com/highlight/630/
61. Next-Gen's Top 25 People of the Year
62. Seriously, Though, For Real Tycho
63. Kohn, Eric; J.P. Mangalindan (June 23 2006). "100 Sites to Bookmark Now". ''Entertainment Weekly'', Pg. 38
64. Playa Rater: The 10 Most Influential Video Gamers Of All Time
65. McCloud, Scott (2006). ''Making Comics'', New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-078094-0. Pg. 227
See also
★ List of comic strips
★ List of web comics
★ Child's Play
External links
★ ''Penny Arcade''
★ Child's Play Charity
★ ''Penny Arcade'' Expo - (PAX)
★ ''Penny Arcade'' Cult - Now Shut Down
★ The ''Penny Arcade'' Fanlisting
★ ''Epic Legends of the Hierarchs'' An open Wiki project describing a parody fantasy universe, created by Tycho.
★ The ''Penny Arcade'' Remix Project
★ A Dry Penance allows users to build their own Penny Arcade strips by replacing the text with their own words.
★ Slashdot | Tycho and Gabe Respond to Your Questions
★ New York Times | A Comic Strip Takes Video Games Seriously (Almost)
★ The Knights of Arcadia and The Fancy Lads A ''Penny Arcade''-run ''World of Warcraft'' guild comprised of PA fans, mortal enemies of Panda Attack, Djork, and Face on Fire, ''PvP''-run webcomic-run guilds.
★ ''Penny Arcade Writes About Wikipedia''
★ ''Birth and Evolution of an Illustrated Character: Penny Arcade'' An exploration of the timeline of Penny Arcade and the evolution of the Tycho and Gabe characters.
★ PAwiki: The Penny Arcade wiki that anyone can edit.
★ JIVE magazine Penny Arcade Interview.
★ Digital Strips: Audio interview
★ Pennypacker: a Firefox/Greasemonkey extension for Penny Arcade supporting tags and favourites.
★ PRrag.com: Penny for Your Thoughts? A look at Penny-arcade.com A website review and public relations piece by John Guilfoil
★ The Weekly Geek Tycho as a guest commentator on the podcast The Weekly Geek.
★ Produce Panic: a free game featuring Fruit Fucker 2000.
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psst.. try this: add to faves
