- This article is about Penny Arcade, the web comic. For the performance artist, see Penny Arcade (performer).
Penny Arcade is a web comic written and illustrated by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. It is among the most popular webcomics currently online. It debuted on November 18, 1998.
The strip features the two authors' cartoon alter egos Jonathan Gabriel (a.k.a. Gabe) and Tycho Brahe, respectively, who spend much of their time playing computer and video games and commenting on them. A good deal of the humour of this strip revolves around Internet subculture and video games, and often features in-jokes that are explained by the news posts that accompany each comic. One of the most popular aspects of this strip is the signature drawing style of the artist, Mike Krahulik (Gabe), a style that is now widely emulated among many other webcartoonists.
Penny Arcade regularly features profanity and violence, and can easily be considered offensive to those unaccustomed to such elements. The first comic strip appeared on November 18, 1998, making it one of the oldest web comics still receiving regular updates.
There is little plot or general continuity in Penny Arcade strips, owing to the writers' dislike for the concept. They have been quoted as describing it as the "dreaded continuity." A character who dies a horrible, violent death in one strip will come back the next perfectly whole. There is also little realism in Penny Arcade. All manner of creatures have been known to drop in, from zombies to a talking DIVX player, and all manner of strange events have been known to take place. Just about the only thing that can be counted upon is the appearance of a new comic every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with almost no exceptions.
Some of the strips are drawn from the perspective of characters within a game[1] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-02-13) or movie[2] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-06-09), often bearing some resemblance to Gabe and Tycho, and usually having some sarcastic remark to make about some feature or bug in the game.
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 revenue alone. The website sees tens of thousands of visitors every day, making it one of the most popular sites on the Internet.
On November 24, 2003 the authors of Penny Arcade announced their plans for a children's charity, Child's Play, which aimed to organize large scale donations for their local Seattle Children's Hospital. In their first year they donated over $250,000 in cash and toys and expanded their operations in 2004 to partner with additional hospitals in Oakland, San Diego, Houston and Washington DC. During the holiday 2004 season they raised around $310,000 for the hospitals. The creators of the comic appeared of the G4techtv television show Xplay talking about the comic and the charity.
Recurring characters
As mentioned, Penny Arcade is not a comic with a great deal of continuity. The strip largely centers around conversations between Tycho and Gabe, but occasionally other minor characters make an appearance.
- Jonathan Gabriel - Mike Krahulik's comic alter ego, hyper and free-spirited; almost always wears a Pac-Man t-shirt
- Tycho Brahe (named after the astronomer Tycho Brahe) - Jerry Holkins' comic alter ego, bitter and sarcastic
- Kara - Gabe's wife [3] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-08-23&res=l)
- Brenna - Tycho's wife [4] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-04-30&res=l)
- Div - a drunken talking DIVX player with a mean-spirited attitude [5] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-07-16&res=l)
- Thomas Kemper a.k.a. The cat - a cat with computer skills, including (possibly) an MCSE. Thomas is named after the Thomas Kemper brand of soft drinks. [6] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-05-03&res=l)
- Frank - a Software Etc (or possibly Electronics Boutique, he has been referred to as working at both places in different strips) manager and Vietnam War veteran who is somewhat mentally unstable, frequently comparing the sale of video games to patrol in the jungles of South East Asia [7] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001-10-24) [8] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-04-19&res=l)
- Charles (formerly known as Chuck) - a somewhat fanatical Mac user who underwent a drastic makeover around the same time as the Mac OS X release (Specifically, the June 23, 2000 strip [9] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-06-21&res=l)[10] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-6-23&res=l))
- Fruit Fucker 2000 - a juicer with an unhealthy sexual obsession for fruit [11] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-06-04) [12] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-02-11&res=l)
- Twisp and Catsby - an anthropomorphic cat and a devil (counter to what one might think, Catsby is the devil, not the cat) who are featured only in completely isolated strips/storylines. The frames featuring them are sepia toned. Everything about the characters and their strips is completely bizarre (for example, Twisp gives nonsensical answers to otherwise standard questions), because these characters are "not for critics".[13] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-03-24&res=l) [14] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-04-07&res=l) [15] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-11-24&res-l)
- Randy Pinkwood - Shows up on television news shows, usually trying to get a date.[16] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-12-08&res=l)
- Mr. Tails - A rather violent top hat wearing monkey, He is usually seen biting various characters. He also once donated blood to Tycho.[17] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-01-07&res=l)[18] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-12-29)
- Cardboard Tube Samurai - An alter ego of Gabe, who uses a cardboard tube as if he were a samurai wielding a katana.[19] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-10-30&res=l)[20] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-03-03)[21] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-07-14)[22] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-07-28&res=l)
- Mr. Period - Your helpful guide to the English language. [23] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-10-11)[24] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-07-07)[25] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-11-03)
- Jesus Christ - The Lord and Saviour of the Christian faith. Also a big fan of FPS and Fighting Games. [26] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-11-19&res=l)[27] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-09-11&res=l)[28] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-08-04)[29] (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2005-01-28)
See also
External links
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