Support NeoGAF

[Lazulic]

never cared all that much, but the ones posted in this thread continue to elicit no reaction from me, so i guess im just not the crowd

i dont mind the art from the recent stuff. the ones posted from the late 2000s seems the most appealing though

 

[Phased]

I still read every update, although it has certainly plateaued after its peak in the mid to late 2000's. Jerry's art has improved as much as it has because he has experimented and pushed himself to do so. However, I can't say I'm a fan of the latest direction his style has taken. But like before, he's simply keeping things interesting for himself by trying new things, as any artist should. Some attempts as more successful than others.

This is still my favorite strip, bar none:

I still have and wear the shit out of the Hoodie they made with that speech on it, it's seriously one of my favorites. I don't read the comic or news posts much anymore, but that has more to do with me not finding the time as I get older over any of their content. Still consider myself a fan and one of these days ill start diving into the couple years of comic backlogs I've missed.

 

[Jintor]

I used to listen to their infrequent podcast, which was just them pressing record during creative sessions for the strip. It was often more funny than the actual comics. It's rare that I go read the strip nowadays, but for a time it was quite great.

Those casts were fantastic. Just them shooting the shit.

I tried the 4th Wall video stuff as well but they just weren't the same

 

[R_thanatos]

Some of my favorite strips:

The die hard one is a thing of beauty ... damn that movie was awefull.

 

[jambo]

The podcasts are back and there's a pretty cool one with the staff, for people who subscribe to Club PA.

 

[sik witted]

Didn't find any of the OPs examples remotely entertaining.

hehe yep. I read the strips in the OP before reading the text, and figured that this was going to be a thread about how NOT funny their shit is

really overrated, IMO, and when you learn more about their actual RL personalities...meh

the pax conventions are cool though

 

[UrbanRats]

I think the new art has some questionable choices (those noses don't fit the style very well and the characters look considerably younger, despite being older) however i think y'all don't give enough credit to the actual improvements.
For one, the poses are generally much more varied and complex, same for composition, something a LOT of these comic strip struggle with (characters always standing still or sitting down in the same 4 or 5 poses, always from the same 3/4 angle), and in general they are much much more expressive, like out of a Micky Mouse comicbook:

.

Perhaps some of the more "lively" poses and expressions don't fit the tone of the comic very well, but in general, he's gotten much better at handling characters in a scene, as long as he is willing to tone it down a notch or two.

 

[timetokill]

Vegetable noses, ttk.

Vegetable.

Noses.

Bunch of kids in here! Y'all are veggie haters.

 

[TheSaddestSort]

Thoroughly meh. Generally not a huge fan of the social controversies they embroil themselves in periodically and never was a fan of the comics. But hey, opinions!

 

[Mushroomer25]

As a comic, it's pretty okay. On the spectrum of "gaming webcomics", it certainly could be a hell of a lot worse.

PAX is great though. Hopefully the name gets known for that event, long after they retire the comic.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

I read Penny Arcade pretty frequently. Sometimes their humor doesn't click with me, but it often does, especially when they go in a weird absurdist direction--those are my favorite.

 

[Drac84]

I still read it every week. Makes me laugh more times than not.

Plus this week we got this Destiny gem.

 

[funkystudent]

For whatever reason I havent paid attention to PA recently.

No real reason, just havent looked at the comic in a year+. I use to check it regularly.


Dont see a lot of people reposting the comic around the internet as well which I feel like happened more back in the day.

 

[Noaloha]

Don't care so much for the comic, only in as much as the genuine laughs it produces are pretty few and far between. I still enjoy checking it out, as webcomics by their very nature are so pleasantly immediate and non-committal time-wise.

My favourite PA content is easily the stuff they do adjacent to the strip. The podcast is excellent, oftentimes extremely funny, plus it can be really interesting listening to their work process, especially when they deep-dive on a very specific wording or phrase, panel layout, etc. Both Jerry and Mike genuinely have a super sharp wit and this really comes through in the podcasts when they're in their comfort zone of just ribbing each other / talking shit with a best friend. You get an excellent sense of them as the real, normal, rounded people that they (obviously) are, which I guess has gone a long way to inuring me away from the "mike and jerry are nasty shitbags" internet general kneejerk sentiment. Watching the Q&As from their PAX shows is similarly useful (and enjoyable!).

Their DnD podcast and occasional live show videos, Acquisitions Incorporated, are fantastic, half because they have a superb DM running things and half because it lets them all flex their comedic improv, which they have a real knack for.

I got quite into their reality series, Strip Search, too. It dragged a little in places, but some of the daily challenges were genuinely interesting (how to deal with contracts, etc.) and the elimination section with Jerry and Mike incessantly toying with the contenders was hilarious more often than not.

 

[AgeEighty]

I still read it, but I admit that the quality has gone down in both writing and art over the past few years. Nowadays it's a bell curve: a small number of groans and/or blank stares, a small number of out-loud laughs, and a lot of mild chuckles and mediocrity in the middle.

I don't like the new art style, with the bizarre red noses, snaggle teeth, and rubbery faces. It's not innately bad art; it just doesn't fit the comic. It seems to have coincided more or less with Mike doing the art on a tablet. Manga Studio is nice software, but the tools it's given him to play with have not been kind to the comic. He's lost some consistency with regard to his characters' anatomy: the sizes of eyes, noses, mouths, and even heads vary wildly from one comic to the next in a way they never used to do.

It's also just not as funny. The comic went through a painful period during 2013 when the "jokes" read just like news posts.They often consisted of just one or both characters talking to the fourth wall, preaching about something. They've scaled back on that, but their humor just doesn't have the consistent punch it once did.

All that said, I think anyone who says they've never laughed at a single strip either hasn't looked at very many or is suffering from Too Cool For The Room Syndrome.

And people still nursing a grudge over the Dickwolves controversy and Mike's other tirades need to get the fuck over it. He apologized publicly and pledged to be a better person, and for the most part he's followed through. We have to allow people room to evolve.

The strip is still overall good enough for me to continue checking out. And I'll continue to be a PAX-goer and Child's Play contributor: both strong, indelible contributions to the gaming community and the world.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

The only thing I've heard about penny arcade is apparently they had some bs kickstarter which led to another group making their own kickstarter to get the money to physically beat up the penny arcade people.

Is that true?

 

[ilikesanta]

I still check read the comic three times a week, but it seems more out of habit more then anything. Occasionally they point out a cool boardgames, book or something else that I never heard about. The art donse't bother me, tyco can get a little wordy with his post and I have no idea what he's talking about. The humor in the comics is the most disappointing thing, they talk about their dicks way to much.

 

[Regulus Tera]

...and others are still decent (8-bit)

IMO 8-Bit Theatre started very by-the-numbers (they are Final Fantasy characters and one is a murderer and the other a doofus!11!11!!) and became really good after the first hundred episodes. You can see Brian Clevinger's sense of humour develop throughout the run, and by the time he started tackling the mid-game dungeons it turned into something special.

P.S. Read Nuklear Age and Atomic Robo. They are good.

 

[Corpekata]

The only thing I've heard about penny arcade is apparently they had some bs kickstarter which led to another group making their own kickstarter to get the money to physically beat up the penny arcade people.

Is that true?

Did you not type out that last part and consider you already had the answer to your question?

 

[JordanN]

 

[Seijuro]

I used to love the comics that were about video games and recent develepments in the business, as they were often spot on, cynical, funny.
The comics about board games/ dad stuff/ serials of their own stuff (Lookouts etc) in recent years isn't really my cup of tea, but It's their life's work, If they feel like shifting their focus more power to them...

 

[Noaloha]

As someone who draws , I can see Mikes art style in an evolutionary manner - you get bored drawing the same characters the same way after so many years and want to change things up. Given that he illustrates 3 strips a week just about every week a year , the bulk of his art time is taken up drawing these strips. So why not experiment ?

I'll admit , the design choices with regards to Gabe go a little bit too far but having followed his style and the comic for quite some time , Mike goes back and forth with how much detail he feels the comic needs.

I'll admit it - the 2007-2009 era when he first started going hard with the cintiq work had a very clean and very refined look to it that , were this a corporate newspaper strip (like garfield or dilbert) - Mike would have been better off just keeping it looking like that.

But , when you're an artist that actually enjoys drawing - you want to keep improving your style and sometimes this means making decisions that people outside of your personal window (and sometimes that window is just a mirror) won't appreciate.

Mike's style used to feel like it was trapped in a generic webcomic pit - it's very clear that since then he has employed the techniques used by many of the more prominent artists working on cartoons at Nicktoons these days as well as classic styles like Stephen Silver and John Krikafalusi.

Given how long the "vegetable nose" look has been going on now , I wouldn't be at all surprised if, in another year ,it changes again to something different. PA strips are Mikes experimental art time and the theme strips such as Lookouts or Ex Machina are like the real projects where techniques he's practiced are put to a real test.

If it wasn't apparent from that large rant - I personally feel like Mike is always getting better but for the average PA reader I can also see how the strange look the strip has these days can be off putting. It also stands to reason that after 15 years of writing strips, Jerry is unintentionally recycling old material just like simpsons does.

I don't LOVE the comic like I used to , I'm more fond of other things PA is involved with like PAX and even Strip Search Winner Katie's strip "Camp Weedonwantcha".

But then, I'm 32 years old now , so obviously when the type of humor doesn't change it eventually stops resonating at the same frequency , I've grown deaf to the dick jokes I guess.

Yeah, if I was a betting man, I'd put good money on Mike's current 'exaggerated' art style owing a lot to him working in an office adjacent to Katie Rice. I'm pretty certain he's mentioned how much of an influence her work (and work attitude) has had on him.

I personally have no problem with the silly faces and turned-up-to-eleven mannerisms. It works for the ridiculous pieces of dialog, and they still stick to deadpan faces for deadpan lines. My main critique of his recent work is an overuse of that 'bloom' effect. I think it's way too overbearing, but you get the impression that Mike is really playing around with his inking/colouring in general of late.

 

[Yagharek]

I can't find it any more, but I loved the strip about the AT&T Customer Service Droid.

It still applies to modern gaming trends and the quality of customer "service" most companies employ.

edit: found it

 

[Beelzebufo]

I don't remember ever laughing at one of their comics, and I especially hate the design of the two main characters, but I like the larger stuff they do like PAX. That stuff is neat, I just can't believe that much spawned out of those comics.

Edit: I take it back the robot one above me is great lol. All of the ones without those two dudes seem better.

Re-edit: Never mind, only the robot and Islam one are funny

 

[Orca]

Went and flipped through the early years...some really brought back memories

I think that was from 1999...think about that. Game came out in what, 2011?

Long time favourite - not even sure why:

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Still their best:

Oh yes, that's my #1 favourite. Both mocking the girl's ridiculous outfit and the angry generic male protag tropes in one go. "I smoulder with generic rage" never gets old.

Aside from the great "I smolder with generic rage" line, I find this to be an example of the kind of humor they use that I don't like. Far too over the top and crudely sexual.

But it's really fully deserved. I mean look at this shit. Look at it! xD

Some of my favorite strips:

Haha that was one of their best indeed.

Really hate the art on this one, but the "Sandwich! I trusted you!" does crack me up for some reason.

 

[Cosmozone]

Just another bad and unfunny web comic, I'm afraid.

 

[Opinionatedfish]

You know what I really want? Season 2 of Strip Search

This scene from Season 1 might also be the funniest thing they've ever done:
https://youtu.be/Vf_aB1q103s?t=18m41s

I need a Season 2 of Strip Search.

I loved that show. Best "reality TV" show I'd seen in a while. Although I do like "Behind the Mask" and some of those shows where complete idiots flip houses/junk they buy from garage sales/storage lockers.

 

[spekkeh]

Everytime I wanted to like them and they went on these weeks long story diversions that were neither interesting nor very well drawn and I would stop caring again for months on end. Now I just check out their strips on E3 and that's it for the year.

 

[Moss]

Gabe's technique has improved so much over the years. But as he's succeeded in removing his limitations he hasn't learnt the restraint necessary to complement his strengths. I think it is because of this that he makes a lot of questionable stylistic choices.

That said, the new stuff is much more interesting to look at than the old, even if it does sometimes get in the way of communicating the joke.

 

[Zolbrod]

I used to be really into PA several years ago, but, like many here, I don't like the new art direction (never was a huge fan of Mike's art to begin with) and the humor just isn't there anymore, although I still like Tycho's ramblings (I'd love to see Jerry write a novel, in any genre).

Still, have to give them major props for coining terms like "bullshot" and the Greater Internet Dickwad theory.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Honestly, I've never seen the appeal or thought it was ever good.

But we did get PAX out of it.

 

[Diablohead]

I like a few of their comics but I started reading them a long time ago for a little while, the heavy use of repeating the same pose I. every panel was annoying, they don't really do that now.

 

[synce]

I honestly forgot this comic existed. I was an occasional reader until they redesigned the characters. Didn't feel the same

 

[FyreWulff]

good in past, not anymore

tumblr red nose + wall of text and talking heads syndrome + too much real life stuff = zzzz

and tycho's writing is grating. always sounded like one of those kids at school that constantly use 17 dollar words to pretend to sound complex


I used to read Real Life Comics and ironically, that comic also had it's downturn when he started basically using the comic to blog about actual real life.

 

[SPCTRE]

I never understood how people can follow a web comic.

I always read a strip, chuckle a bit (or not), then proceed to completely forget that comic exists until someone talks about it or links to it.

 

[Joni]

The artsy storyline strips are boring, while at the same time becoming more prominent. Stopped reading it, only looking at The Trenches now.

 

[Cindres]

The one comic I stuck with through all the years. I still think they have some good hitters, at least one a week is still pretty good imo. Agree I prefer the old art style but I don't think that the new one is bad.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

I guess I fall into the category of loving them in the mid to late 2000s. My interests trailed off and then when they started defending "dick wolves", I grew a dislike for them.

 

[jim2point0]

I really enjoyed this destiny one. Tells a more interesting tale than the game itself.

Sometimes... the art is gorgeous. But when they do their "daily Tycho and Gabe" stuff, it doesn't feel as inspired.

I still appreciate the jokes every now and then.

Personally, I don't get caught up in the political nonsense. I don't follow a lot of internet celebrities on twitter for exactly that reason. I like entertainment. I wish I never knew that Adam Baldwin had anything to do with Gamergate, for example.... sigh.

But yeah. I like Penny Arcade. And I think PAX is one of the best gaming conventions in existence. And that wouldn't exist without Penny Arcade. Then there's their Child's Play charity. People can hate on these guys all they want for shit they say on Twitter, but it's pretty freakin awesome what they do with Child's Play.

Oh, and I guess I'll post one of my faves.

 

[FyreWulff]

Eh. I've slowly fallen out of favor with Child's Play. I mean, helping kids is great, but they also actively try to ignore other gamer charities from working in their "territories", and they only allow you to donate to buy new games - meaning a large portion of big donations made by video game companies go directly back to the video game company making the donation. That's a little too iffy for me anymore.

In addition, unless you're a super popular entity like Humble Bundle, they DO NOT allow you to have a donation drive where Child's Play gets a share of the proceeds. It has to be 100% proceeds or none at all.

Idea is nice, the execution needs work. If they drop the pretense of being "us or nobody", I could get behind them again.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Been reading it since damn near the beginning, and it's still the only webcomic that I read religiously.

I've loved watching these guys grow up, try new art styles, and in many ways, change the face of gaming significantly with the inception of PAX. Their occasional foibles aside, I think they're one of the best things to happen to the gaming community.

 

[TheSlySoul]

I like Jerry, but I hate Mike.
So neutral I guess?

 

[Percy]

Pretty terrible, but then video game based web comics usually are.

 

[joeygreco1985]

Tycho's (Is that Jerry or Mike?) blog posts make my head hurt. I don't follow the comic regularly like I used to but I've been following it since college, love their stuff

 

[Anoregon]

Dickwolves was hilarious and the whole situation surrounding is it when I started to hate the internet.

 

[glaurung]

I used to love Penny Arcade. I own all eight or nine (?) of their collected strip books as well.

It was a marvel seeing Gabe's artwork mature over the years, now I think the regular strips have gotten a bit too fancy. But the old stuff is gold.

Even though I always wanted to go to some PAX, I never managed to do so. Going there from where I live is fucked-up expensive.

 

[benicillin]

I used to be a huge fan of Penny-Arcade. Less so now, but I still read it occasionally. Some of the art work they do outside of the comic strip is cool.

 

[Übermatik]

 

[Clearos]

I was a big fan and would read daily, then it became weekly, daily and not sparingly. Just does not have the same humor as before.