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[Vincent Grayson]

I read every single comic for years and years.

Nothing really happened so much as I just kind of got out of the habit of reading it. I don't really read any other webcomics either, save for every time I remember Oglaf exists.

 

[Yappadappadu]

Still follow their comic updates, but would love them to go back to their old artstyle, as seen a few days ago in their "Evolution" strip. Don't like those beaver teeth.
Also not too much a fan of their family/father strips.

 

[daveo42]

Web comics are so last decade.

I stopped reading ages ago (along with most web comics) before they had their last style change where everyone looked like pre-teens. It's just not something I find an interest in reading anymore.

 

[Rymuth]

the art style is god awful now

^

Apparently, it's supposed to invoke Ren and Stimpy

 

[Hero]

I really liked them in their early days, supported them via Paypal and bought the first strip collection book.

I think it's a combination that their success made them out to be something more than they started. It's not a bad thing and it's great that they get to do what they love, but their comics just don't have the same punch now that they're no longer "the little guys."

Sprinkle in all the controversy (mostly Gabe) over the years and eh, hard to enjoy it.

The quality declined (and tbh, was never that great to begin with)

Here is the most recent strip. You may notice there's no actual punchline.

Wow...that's terrible.

 

[Transistor]

They used to be my absolute favorite webcomic, but these days I can't stand their art and it doesn't even seem like they're trying to be funny anymore.

This is when their art looked best:

 

[timetokill]

^

Apparently, it's supposed to invoke Ren and Stimpy

Mike is definitely heavily inspired by Kricfalusi.

 

[theepicoftyler]

Does Child's Play still exist? I feel like I used to see tons of charity events for Child's Play, but now I only see things for Extra Life.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Camp Weedonwantcha is good.

 

[MMarston]

VG Cats ate their lunch

VG Cats is barely in existence anymore.

 

[Toxi]

Camp Weedonwanctha is good.

Amen to that.

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

New art style is bad, they quit being funny, Gabe IRL is kind of an asshole.

 

[timetokill]

I personally really enjoy their current art style, but whatever, that's subjective. I don't think the humor has really changed that much though. They've always had good and bad comics.

Are you really gonna tell me that would be out of place in their earlier years?

 

[Gator86]

Maybe everyone grew out of the comic.

They repeatedly and loudly put their feet in their mouths. And the art turned to shit. And they are completely irrelevant as they've slid further and further into "old men yelling at clouds" territory.

These two I'd say.

They've had some missteps over the years, but have done a lot of great stuff. Just kind of stayed where they were while the games space blew up around them and that's why they've just sort of disappeared from the conversation.

 

[InsaneTiger]

Here's one of their most recent strips. With this quality it's no wonder VG cats ate their lunch.

That ain't funny.

 

[ElFly]

dunno why Gabe obsessed with everyone having the redest noses possible

it just looks terrible

 

[FyreWulff]

They became what they rallied against other webcomics for - two guys standing in front of a background and having walls of texts be their comics.

Hot take would be:

- They got busy and are running more like a media company now.

- When they were doing PAX, it was the only "not E3" for the general public. Now multiple people that had panels at PAX now have their own entire conventions as well. Rooster Teeth has their own convention, for example. Goddamn EVERYONE has their own convention, now, and PAX is no longer special or influential in that regard, even if it's popular.

- Most gaming media is now video being watched via mobile and personality-based. The webcomic of the era of the internet as THE THING came and went, is in part responsible for them not being in the watercooler chatter anymore.

- They used to revel in being controversial and hip and new. They are no longer considered controversial, and people got tired of them doing "we're doing this, but totally different!" and then the thing was exactly the same as the other things in the field started burning people out.

- They used to go on and on and on about how they would never charge for content and so on becaus other comics and people were having premium subscriptions. They legit used to sicc their userbase on sites solely for having subscriptions. Then they held their KS to take ads off the site, then somewhat quietly transitioned over to having a premium subscription. The best part is they named it Club PA.. the exact same name they gave to the group of people that donated in their donation-funded era. They also retconned the original Club PA out of existence by giving the new subscribers "Club PA Year One" pins. They straight up George Lucas'd that shit.

- Literally more people will read a comic posted on Reddit than people's own websites. Everyone uses metafeeds to get content on the internet now, not specific author sites. It is how it is, but a lot more content creators and a lot of high quality content is now available on the internet.

- Mike kept using the PA community as his own personal army. It finally backfired with dickwolves.

- The cult of personality somewhat faded with them. People used to post long diatribes of feeling betrayed when PA started posting video content on their website that didn't have Mike or Jerry in it. Doesn't happen as much anymore. I think they've also said as much that they sometimes wish PAX had a different name when it started because it really isn't about Penny Arcade as more as it is about games in general, which they are fine with, but makes the "PA" in the name more of a vestigial organ than the reason people come there.

 

[ultron87]

PAX is pretty cool, and I enjoy their D&D games.

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

I read every single comic for years and years.

Nothing really happened so much as I just kind of got out of the habit of reading it. I don't really read any other webcomics either, save for every time I remember Oglaf exists.

I check the one with the chubby Ronnie guy from time to time.

I quit reading PvP even before I quit reading PA.

 

[AaronMT86]

Are "Web Comics" in general, as popular as ever these days? I don't think so.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I thought they always had charm, but their jokes didn't really make me laugh. It felt a lot like Red vs Blue. I never got their jokes either.

The only Penny Arcade joke I ever laughed at was their one about Final Fantasy XII's Gambit system.

 

[-Mutsukki-]

Honestly I made the jump as soon as I discovered Awkward Zombie, Katie has this simple, goofy and wholesome sense of humor that I just love.

 

[Ferrio]

That ain't funny.

Oh course it isn't, it's VGcats.

 

[Naythan]

Their sense of humor declined and the art style got weird. Bound to happen to any comic strip (or really any piece of media) that's around that long.

The PAX brand is their main thing now and that's fine. I would have no qualms with them dropping the comic altogether because at this point it hurts my hearts more than modern day Simpsons.

 

[sonicmj1]

The comic fell off, but they've diversified what they're doing enough that it doesn't really matter. They still have enough of an audience to be able to do whatever they want.

They had some truly appalling PR disasters some years back where Mike would lash out at critics on Twitter and say awful things (the dickwolves incident being the biggest example), but ever since his more sincere apology three years ago, it seems like he's actually managed to stop being shit. Good for him.

One side effect of not causing controversies is that you don't wind up on the news as much.

 

[commish]

The quality declined (and tbh, was never that great to begin with)

Here is the most recent strip. You may notice there's no actual punchline.

That's just not funny. Not even in a "well, I can see how some might find it amusing but I don't" way.

 

[xxracerxx]

They're still pretty great and their empire is as big as ever. They're busy running multiple conventions, making board games, doing streams of games, hosting other comics, and so on. They've become a lot more than just their strip and Tycho's news posts.

Also, this thread is funny, especially the art criticisms, considering a recent comic they did:

The fuck is up with that hair?

 

[psyfi]

Gaming audiences are slowly maturing and becoming more thoughtful, and PA is persistently childish and irresponsible. I'm excited to see them grow irrelevant.

 

[Beartruck]

Didn't Robert Khoo suddenly quit PA with 0 explanation awhile back? Did they ever say why? From the sounds of it nobody saw it coming.

 

[Anne]

I liked them back when I was a dumbass high schooler. Then I had my growing up moments about the time Dickwolves happened and I just realized they're kinda shitty people. I started to tune out while just checking the occasional strip or looking for Extra Credits, but Gabe making a public ass out of himself every other week was when I was 100% out. Them being "neutral" to Gamergate at the time was when they entered actual joke territory.

 

[moltonasty]

Here's one of their most recent strips. With this quality it's no wonder VG cats ate their lunch.

yikes.

if this is "quality" maybe I should stay far away from these "VG CATS"

 

[Atilac]

PAX is pretty cool, and I enjoy their D&D games.

D&D games? like made modules or actual play podcasts?

 

[talkingood]

I'm surprised by how many people say they hate the artstyle, considering how much it's improved over the years...

Personally, I think the John K. Animation inspired look works for the strip.

I don't read it regularly, but sometimes I'll still check it out and it gives me a laugh.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Every since he got influenced by more fairy tale story telling art, his style got really loose and frankly I don't find it appealing to look at.

 

[NullPointer]

Some classics:

 

[Septimus Prime]

Strictly in terms of just their comic, they're kind of like The Simpsons: they pioneered the media, and now they're still around, having more misses and hits.

 

[Game Guru]

Also, this thread is funny, especially the art criticisms, considering a recent comic they did:

The artstyle people want is the artstyle that existed between those two in the time period after the artist learned to draw more than just talking heads but before the artist stopped giving a shit about the comic. People want Penny Arcade's Middle Period in terms of artstyle, not the first or the current.

 

[Oxymoron]

Beyond the dickwolves thing, there was also Gabe's transphobic comments, and the hilarously terrible job posting in which they basically say "you have to do four full time jobs, travel 30% of the time, and also by the way we pay like shit". They burned through a lot of goodwill real fast in the early 2010s.

 

[Bulzeeb]

Some classics:

I miss the art style of this period or whatever I dont like the new one, so yeah I a ging to side with the art part

 

[Sushi Nao]

I feel like they just have more fun making the strips, than they actually are funny. The podcasts recorded during the process are amazing, even if the result is lame.

 

[excelsiorlef]

They made a rape joke, and when they got called out on it they shit all over the floor and rolled in the shit and ate it and told everyone how good the shit was when really a simple 'my bad' would have sufficed.

And tried to sell merch of it

 

[TheMan]

Just stopped caring. I will say that I had a rather bad experience on their forums- some of those people are just nasty and take out their real world problems on strangers.

 

[FyreWulff]

Beyond the dickwolves thing, there was also Gabe's transphobic comments, and the hilarously terrible job posting in which they basically say "you have to do four full time jobs, travel 30% of the time, and also by the way we pay like shit". They burned through a lot of goodwill real fast in the early 2010s.

Oh yeah, they had built up a goddamn Mt Everest of hubris at one point. Another one was setting their later Kickstarter to a 1$ goal so it'd be guaranteed to succeed.

Just stopped caring. I will say that I had a rather bad experience on their forums- some of those people are just nasty and take out their real world problems on strangers.

Their forums are.. um.. yeah.

 

[Diablohead]

Seeing the art evolve over the years has been nice but I really dislike their current style.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Gabe's most direct influence is Stephen Silver, not John K. (although it's clear Gabe has read a lot of what John has written).

I quit reading PvP even before I quit reading PA.

LOLBat was the end of my interest in PvPOnline. Yeesh.

 

[Kyuur]

For me: just fell out of it. Not really linked to anything in particular. It happens.

New art style is pretty cute, I like it. Very expressive. The earlier comics being posted in here look horrible by comparison.

Also always good to see the GAF gaming humour police out in full force. Gotta make sure all web comics adhere to their strict joke format policies!

 

[Gator86]

Some classics:

This was the apex period of PA really.

 

[Peroroncino]

The quality declined (and tbh, was never that great to begin with)

Here is the most recent strip. You may notice there's no actual punchline.

Yeah... I don't know why but I have this urge to punch the screen when I'm looking at those faces, the middle one is especially egregious.

 

[Version 3.0]

I read it for years but eventually I just felt like I had my fill and stopped.

Pretty much the same for me. Or, more specifically, their comic made me hit my lifetime tolerance limit on dick jokes.

edit: LOL, dick joke in the comic in the post above mine.

 

[Rembrandt]

Are any video game webcomics just as popular or more popular than they were years ago? Was a huge PA fan. Still have a book of strips around here somewhere, but I outgrew them. Along with all the other ones I used to read or see on kotaku.