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[Mr. Nice_Guy]

I read it for a while. At the time it felt like a good way to hear about what's going on the gaming world. However I wasn't very fond of the humor. I called it "Penis Arcade" because you were only ever a few strips away from a punchline that was penis-related. The whole comic banked too much on cheap shock value and wiener jokes.

What REALLY bugged me was Tycho's news posts. It felt like he was overcompensating for Gabe being the "talented artist", so he used overly-flowery language. It always felt like he was talking down to me in his posts as I stumbled through his smug purple prose. I wanted to just skip the news post, but too often the day's strip relied on it for context, which drove me nuts. Eventually I gave up on the comic. It wasn't making me laugh and there were better ways to find out what's happening in the gaming world.

Yeah I agree here. I minored in writing in college and have always had a pretty expansive vocabulary but he regularly used words in his posts that I had rarely to never heard; and he's writing to a crowd reading comics with penis as the punch line more often than not. I usually liked what he had to say, but he needed to ease back on the prose quite a bit.

Read them daily for years, fell out about the same time most people here did, around 2011-12. Still check it occasionally. Art is different but doesn't bother me. I find the change from dick jokes to more parental humor interesting since it mirrors their lives. So in that regard it's kind of cool to watch that evolution.

 

[Moofers]

I'm not seeing enough people pointing out that Gabe's new art style is pretty much lifted from John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy fame.

I will always appreciate what the PA guys did for gaming. PAX is an awesome event and I hope it only flourishes and gets better each year. May it never turn into the jaded mess that is comic-con, although it sort of feels like it's headed that way at least with how ticket sales are handled.

I thought the comic was also really good up until around 2008 or so. Whenever they had their kids and started doing more and more strips about D&D and then pet projects like The Lookouts and all that stuff. No thanks to all of that. I also thought their game was supremely un-funny.

But hey, they had a great run and we got PAX so God bless 'em.

 

[bengraven]

I really really liked their Lookouts comics.

I would be perfectly okay if this was all they ever did.

 

[Yeef]

I'm not seeing enough people pointing out that Gabe's new art style is pretty much lifted from John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy fame.

His art style before that was heavily influenced by Stephen Silver
.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

Unfunny since day one, IMO.

 

[Glendemonium]

All I remember from the comic other than once in a while game jokes, is that Gabe used to swear, like a lot. Kind of turned me a way but I check back once in a while.

 

[Arkeband]

Someone mentioned 8-bit theater on the other page - one of the craziest things Brian did was there was a point where (I think it was Thief's Ninja form?) had a color scheme change, and they all stopped and were like "Wait why the hell are you <X color>?" and he's like "I don't know what you're talking about, I've always been this way."

And Brian had went through and retroactively edited all of the comics where he had appeared, mindfucking the reader. I thought I was going crazy until I found a cached version of the unchanged character in my temp files. Good times.

I can't praise Nuklear Age enough, one of the only books I've ever broke down and cried because it had ended. I've never been more affected by a book, not about what it was but what the book represented - a coming-of-age male power fantasy, written over the course of something like eight years, involving a slow evolution of writing style, attitudes, and ideas. I felt like when I closed the book, I had grown up too.

As far as other great webcomics, I was partial to MacHall and subsequently ThreePanelSoul, and Qwantz/Dinosaur Comics I feel is still within this same nerdy category.

 

[glaurung]

I'll take this chance to post some of my all time favorite PA strips.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

I've maybe been amused once or twice by Penny Arcade. Not enough to recall exact details on what it was though. Most of what I've seen is pretty dull.

 

[Toxi]

I'm not seeing enough people pointing out that Gabe's new art style is pretty much lifted from John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy fame.

John Kricfalusi's art is influential for a reason: It's fucking incredible. It's the modern equivalent of Tex Avery cartoons. Kricfalusi's art is lively, fluid, memorable, able to be as funny on its own as it is with the words accompanying it... It's a pity that Kricfalusi kinda disappeared up his own asshole, because I feel he was one of the biggest innovators in animation in decades.

The problem with Penny Arcade imitating Kricfalusi's style is that his style is insane and Penny Arcade is too pedestrian and talky to really incorporate it on a normal basis.

 

[thebloo]

Yeah I agree here. I minored in writing in college and have always had a pretty expansive vocabulary but he regularly used words in his posts that I had rarely to never heard; and he's writing to a crowd reading comics with penis as the punch line more often than not. I usually liked what he had to say, but he needed to ease back on the prose quite a bit.

Read them daily for years, fell out about the same time most people here did, around 2011-12. Still check it occasionally. Art is different but doesn't bother me. I find the change from dick jokes to more parental humor interesting since it mirrors their lives. So in that regard it's kind of cool to watch that evolution.

I adored his style. As English is not my first language, it was fascinating. Also, motherfucker used "ululating" in a gaming post.

 

[LosDaddie]

Enjoyable here & there

 

[DeviantBoi]

I used to read them, but then I started feeling their strong bias against PlayStation and that kinda ruined them for me. And Ben Kuchera with that article defending MS' DRM - published on the PA website (now deleted, by the way), was the nail on the coffin in that regards.

Then Mike (or Jerry or whatever their real names are) started talking shit and there was a big controversy and I discovered that they are not the kind of human beings that I like or care for, so I stopped going there altogether.

 

[Forkball]

I still check it once every week or so. I agree with all the criticisms with the art style. Sometimes it looks good in the off-shoots or promo work, but in the actual comic it can leave a bad taste. I also think their strips are stronger when they are talking about games and what not instead of just random stuff.

 

[Beelzebufo]

John Kricfalusi's art is influential for a reason: It's fucking incredible. It's the modern equivalent of Tex Avery cartoons. Kricfalusi's art is lively, fluid, memorable, able to be as funny on its own as it is with the words accompanying it... It's a pity that Kricfalusi kinda disappeared up his own asshole, because I feel he was one of the biggest innovators in animation in decades.

The problem with Penny Arcade imitating Kricfalusi's style is that his style is insane and Penny Arcade is too pedestrian and talky to really incorporate it on a normal basis.

Yeah, I think that's fair. There's enough R&S gifs out there to show that his art is funny without any context. PA can't even manage to be funny with (or maybe because of) all that "witty" dialogue they cram in there.

But nevertheless, the problem with it isn't the art style (which if not great, certainly isn't bad), it's that all of the comics are aggressively not funny. It's hard to explain, but it makes me think of the kind of "insightful" jokes a nerdy high schooler might say all the time before he wonders why he has no friends. The delivery is so bad. It's mostly jokes that could be funny if told in another way, but they always seem to go for the least funny way possible. Some times it works though, like with that AT&T robot lol. I'm surprised they didn't ruin that one with an additional panel where two guys say "But I don't want to be raped by a robot!" "Well that's how we do it at AT&T!"

"EA is the worst because they just want our money!!"

 

[Cruxist]

Big fan of Penny Arcade.

I like the evolution of the news posts and art style. It's really cool seeing these guys go from slacker gamers, to successful internet people, to breakout internet celebs, to fully functioning adults.

The controversies surrounding them (Mike) are also super interesting to me. These guys are making mistakes and doing things poorly, but they're also always trying to do things better. They really don't think of themselves as public figures and the recent attempt to be more inclusive is great.

PAX is a great conference, really trying to make a difference with inclusivity. Yeah, still stumbling and still trying to remain profitable, but watching their whole journey has been immensely satisfying.

I hope they keep it up. Can't wait for the Thornwatch board game, and I'll definitely give the Lookouts book a shot, but Jerry seems to be emulating Patrick Rothfuss and that gives me pause.

 

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

I used to read them, but then I started feeling their strong bias against PlayStation and that kinda ruined them for me. And Ben Kuchera with that article defending MS' DRM - published on the PA website (now deleted, by the way), was the nail on the coffin in that regards.

Then Mike (or Jerry or whatever their real names are) started talking shit and there was a big controversy and I discovered that they are not the kind of human beings that I like or care for, so I stopped going there altogether.

Mike. Jerry is the more reasonable one. And while the PS bias was there, it was during the PS3, when Sony was acting Microsoft Xbox One levels of stupid.

The controversies surrounding them (Mike) are also super interesting to me. These guys are making mistakes and doing things poorly, but they're also always trying to do things better.

Mike distancing himself from the public side is a big help. Last time I saw him get out in front he made some big "Sure, I was an asshole, but other people are assholes to me" non apology.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

The blog posts are smart and well-written. The comics are just icing on the cake.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Chalk me up as another person who used to read the comic on a regular basis but kind of fell out around 2011 or so because of the changes in content and the shit direction Krahulik took his art.

 

[Bio-Frost]

Used to read a ton, then they started having kids and ruined the comics.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

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"

Camp Weedonwantcha is great. More people should read it.

 

[timetokill]

I used to read them, but then I started feeling their strong bias against PlayStation and that kinda ruined them for me. And Ben Kuchera with that article defending MS' DRM - published on the PA website (now deleted, by the way), was the nail on the coffin in that regards.

Then Mike (or Jerry or whatever their real names are) started talking shit and there was a big controversy and I discovered that they are not the kind of human beings that I like or care for, so I stopped going there altogether.

Penny Arcade didn't have anything to do with the Kuchera stuff. That falls on Kuchera. The fact that it's deleted is because they closed down that entire department.

the claims of "bias against PlayStation" are equally ludicrous.

 

[Violet_0]

I think the art kept improving up until around 2003 - 2004 when it slowly started to get worse. Example -

2003

2015

Just... ugh.

please tell me that is a joke post

I haven't followed the comic since I switched from PA forums to Neogaf but Mike has grown quite a bit as an artist. While the newer style might not be for everyone (I don't know why they insist on those odd colored noses, but okay, Broken Age does that too) it's still a huge improvement to most of their older works, and I like the expressive faces. For the longest time the art was quite bad, honestly.

 

[so1337]

I haven't read it in years but I have to say I really love the art style of those newer strips. Observing the evolution of artists that really push themselves to become better is oddly fascinating and enjoyable to me.

The guy that does CAD wishes he was as good as Gabe.

 

[Deified Data]

I've found PA consistently amusing for years.

 

[IndieJones]

I thought they were just amusing enough to visit for several years on a sporadic basis, until they fucked with Jesse Thorn.

No one fucks with Jesse Thorn.

 

[Muffdraul]

I loved it for years, almost since the beginning. I remember this was the current comic when someone first linked to their site in a thread at the rpgamer.com forums:

Not a great comic to be sure, it just happened to be current one at the time. Once they hit the top of their game they stayed there for many years and anyone who says they were never funny can go kiss a duck on the butthole. But IMO they jumped the shark a couple years ago. Mike declared war on the human face and it's been annoying to look at ever since. Some of the facial expressions he does these days, and his obsession with the 3/4 angle view... I dunno, sometimes it just makes me want to punch my fist through the monitor.

 

[Puruzi]

The new artstyle is fantastic.

 

[mantis23]

I have always been very fond of the PA community. been a forum member there since the late 90s. I've been amused here and there by the strips, moreso back in the day than the modern stuff. I can't say I've ever been a big fan of Mike or Jerry though. They almost always rub me the wrong way.

 

[Sunnington]

I love Penny-Arcade. They're always right on point with their analysis.

 

[Mesoian]

I use to love it. It was my go to webcomic.

I've since stopped reading it. No real reason, I just think there's wittier stuff out there now. It's still a fine comic.

And I will always go to PAX.

 

[Kyou]

Gabe's current art style is disgusting.

 

[EGM1966]

Some nice art, deeply unfunny and obvious and I'm afraid mediocre commentary and "humour" though. I've never found a one I've read remotely funny or cute or clever I'm afraid.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Been reading Penny Arcade since the beginning, and I've loved it consistently.

 

[RMI]

I used to be a bigger fan of their work, but Mike's online shenanigans kind of pushed me away from their site. My friends sometime send me links to a strip here or there and I enjoy them, but I don't follow them on a daily basis anymore.

 

[Yasawas]

It's abysmal and always has been as far as I'm aware. Isn't at least one of the people behind it a colossal manchild arsehole too? It takes all sorts I suppose.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

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:

Yes, best strip they have ever released!

 

[Ralemont]

Consistently amusing and often straight-up funny.

"Gamers across the world stood up in protest, then sat down again, breathing heavily."

 

[Sesuadra]

Love the comics and the two behind PA

 

[Corronchilejano]

I love the fact that Mike keeps changing the style. It keeps the thing alive for me, even if not all their comics make me chuckle anymore.

Jerry's writing is often a hit and miss though. I love the concepts they come up with but you can notice when he decides to just bail from reality and make everyone talk like their stepfather was Yoda or something.

EDIT: Also, their comics have such a wide variety of humor and intrinsic storylines... I love the whole "Gabe is a dick to Pokemon"

 

[Manu]

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?

They even referenced their old comics when it came out:

 

[¡HarlequinPanic!]

mike's grown a lot as an artist but my favorite era of the comic was when he used big black lines and usually had dim bulb fat execs and shit drawn a lot, something about the style was fun to me and it was also news I kept up with a lot more in that gen so the jokes usually hit their mark for me.

everyone had that elbow swirl too, hah.

 

[Omegasquash]

Not sure how I feel about how the style has evolved, but I don't dislike it. I think I just prefer the older style. The writing is still goddamn sharp, and they make quality stuff. Been a fan for a loooooooong time. Hipster long.

 

[lordxar]

My all time favorite:

 

[Diablohead]

The art style currently has a habbit of giving everyone a huge open mouth, especially gabe.

The best style IMO was the stuff over the last few years, stopping in mid 2014.

 

[PixelPeZ]

What, people DON'T like the new, way more dynamic and expressive art style Gabe got going these past few years? I think if anything, the writing's been a bit bland, but the art is constantly great.

 

[Javier]

Another one of my favorites

 

[SirUltimos]

I've been a huge fan of Penny-Arcade for years, although that's mostly the result of their forums. I've been a member there for over a decade, although I haven't posted much at all over the past year and a half.

I used to love the comics (and I have most of their books) but I fade in and out of reading them. I originally stopped reading the strips when it seemed like every single comic and newspost was focused on Wow, then picked it up again after they toned it down.

I stopped reading again around the same time I stopped posting on the forums. The new artstyle has really turned me off. I understand that it's technically more proficient, and I like how Gabe grows and experiments - but I just really, really dislike this current style.

 

[Akronis]

Penny Arcade used to be my go-to web comic for gaming stuff, but I discovered Awkward Zombie and will never go back.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

My all time favorite:

Oh man, yes. This might possibly be my favorite, too.