Ask Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade 559
If you're a gamer or a fan of online comics, you've likely already heard of Penny Arcade. Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins have been writing and drawing their comic for almost exactly six years under the PA name and in that time they've grown into something of a representative voice for the gaming community. An honesty in dealing with the delays, hype, and frustrations of being a gamer has made their comic into a shared experience for dorks the world over. Recently they've been involved with their games-for-kids charity Child's Play, contract work for game-specific comics, and efforts to improve the grammar of forum posters. They've kindly agreed to answer our questions, so ask away. One question per comment, please. We'll send the best on to the gents and post their responses as soon as we have them.
I'll post my question anonymously: (Score:5, Funny)
Note to mods, re: parent comment (Score:5, Informative)
Dear Strong Bad (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dear Strong Bad (it's a joke guys) (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Dear Strong Bad (Score:3, Funny)
Tools (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a long-time reader and have always wondered
Alias Sketchbook Pro (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Alias Sketchbook Pro (Score:4, Informative)
Advertising (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Advertising (Score:5, Funny)
Best comic other than PA? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What do you mean, other than PA? (Score:3, Insightful)
Question One (Score:4, Interesting)
Time. (Score:4, Funny)
--saint
They're representatives, all right. (Score:5, Funny)
To say nothing of the juice machine community.
How does it feel to have your charity... (Score:4, Funny)
How come (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How come (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How come (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, Piro will just say it's because he can't draw and then try to commit seppuku.
Your Job (Score:5, Interesting)
Kickbacks? (Score:5, Interesting)
Me question is: have any game designers/publishers ever approached you and offered kickbacks for positive reviews, and if so, how do you usually deal with the situation?
Question Three... (Score:5, Interesting)
FruitFucker 2000... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:FruitFucker 2000... (Score:4, Informative)
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
Here [elfonlyinn.net]
Here [elfonlyinn.net]
Here [elfonlyinn.net]
Here [penny-arcade.com]
You may be wondering why the Elf Only Inn comics are there. On Valentine's Day of this year, PA and EOI did cross-over comics.. The EOI version was a blind date between the Fruit Fucker and one of the characters.
There is also a more recent Fruit Fucker comic but the site is too slow now to search for it. Enjoy.
The Obvious Question: The Future (Score:4, Interesting)
First gaming webcomic (Score:5, Interesting)
A Question (Score:5, Interesting)
Question Two (Score:5, Interesting)
Gabe and Tycho: (Score:5, Interesting)
The Fruit Fucker 2000 (Score:4, Interesting)
Please dont answer grass, hash, or shrooms...
Re:The Fruit Fucker 2000 (Score:3, Funny)
Domesitification ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bonus Question: What advice would you give to geeks looking to in some way ensare geek grrls?
Re:Domesitification ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be more interested to hear about how getting older has affected their views on the games themselves. I'm roughly the same age and frankly I find myself less and less tolerant of the BS that surrounds gaming, particularly in terms of online play.
I mean, there are always losers playing any online game, but the ubiquity of online gaming across both platforms and titles and innovations like the Xbox Live! headphone have lifted these guys out of their little troll caves and brought them out into the open to a degree where even a fairly unique and exciting online game like Pandora Tomorrow quickly became not worth my time. Listening to a stoned 15 year-old ramble on about his personal worldview or try to be shocking just to piss off his teammates just isn't my idea of fun anymore (hint to the 15 year olds out there: I've actually heard words like "cunt" and "jew" enough times and in enough variations that it's just not very interesting anymore. Sorry to pop your bubble).
So gaming has devolded into either being stuck playing one of the few basic offline games (Quake clones, Warcraft clones, Tekken clones, GTA clones, etc. Oh, and minesweeper) or dealing with the combined stupidity of the internet.
I know they've done comics about this sort of thing, but apparently they don't find it obnoxious enough to keep them offline for any real length of time.
Re:Domesitification ... (Score:5, Interesting)
There's nothing like kids and a mortgage to make you a more discerning game player. I swore that I'd never 'grow up' and stop playing games, but no one ever told me how much fun you can have making and growing babies. Nowadays I'm lucky if I get a couple of hour-long online gaming sessions in each week - hence my preference for the speed and ease of playing online using XBox Live.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some wife-harried, tired old fuck, it's just that interacting directly with humans seems to hold more interest for me these days. Plus molding an almost 1-year-old into a functioning individual (not to mention playing RL games with cool toys), is a heck of a lot more fun than pwning fools in Halo 2.
I'm really interested to see how the whole industry matures as 'hardcore' computer gamers hit 40, 50 and 60. Shit, I'll be looking for interesting games to play when I'm retired in 25-30 years - will there be a new peak of gamers when we all retire? Will the studios rely on tweenies to constantly fill the gap, or will they direct development at that emerging market?
The secret... (Score:3, Interesting)
I myself am a computer nerd. My fiancee is a med student. Her four best female med student friends consistently date computer nerds. Also, this isn't a case of two groups of people... none of us guys knew each other until we met through our girlfriends. Go figure.
Halo and Bungie (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Halo and Bungie (Score:3, Informative)
~D
Collaboration... (Score:5, Interesting)
Does Tycho usually come up with the text/idea for the comic, then Gabe does the art as a separate process or is it more of a collaborative venture?
Also I stronly suspect that your ideas are born of late night mescalin and tequila induced "adventures". Am I correct?
[C]
Re:Collaboration... (Score:5, Funny)
Does Tycho usually come up with the text/idea for the comic, then Gabe does the art as a separate process or is it more of a collaborative venture?
Hm, this sounds familiar.
Artist: I ink it and I m also the colorist. The guy next to me draws it. But we both came up with the characters, ...
Fan: What's that mean, you ink it?
Artist: Well. It means that Holden draws the pictures in pencil, and then he gives it to me to go over in ink.
Fan: So you just trace!
Artist: It's not tracing. I add depth and shading to give the image more definition. Only then does the drawing really take shape.
Fan: You go over what he draws with a pen--that's tracing.
Artist: Not really. Next!
Fan (to Kid): Hey man. If somebody draws something and then you draw the same thing right on top of it, not going out-side the designated original art what do call that?
Kid: I don't know. Tracing?
Now all we need is Jay and Silent Bob to come in and straighten it all out.
Rise of the Megapublishers (Score:5, Interesting)
Or is there a chance for a new wave if independent developers breaking free from the EAs of the world?
P.S. I loved the Headcrabs expression in the second panel! Brilliant!New books. (Score:5, Interesting)
Favourite console/platform? (Score:5, Interesting)
Favourite comic? (Score:5, Interesting)
Out of all the comics you've done, which one is your all time top favourite, and why?
Obviously, this is for both of you.
Life outside of games (Score:5, Interesting)
And on that note, what do you and your spouses do for fun (outside of the apartment)?
Your looks real life vs. comic (Score:4, Interesting)
Merchandising Gone Crazy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you feel the pressure to self-censor? (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you becoming too popular to maintain your riske side?
Re:Do you feel the pressure to self-censor? (Score:4, Interesting)
Response from the industry (Score:5, Interesting)
-Phixxr
Favourite (Score:5, Interesting)
Honesty vs. Staying in Business (Score:5, Interesting)
I know PA isn't journalism, but it's not Nintendo Power either. That said, how do you balance your desire to be honest with the needs of running a business?
Re:Honesty vs. Staying in Business (Score:3, Informative)
Tetris. (Score:5, Funny)
Are there any plans for the Tetris Movie [penny-arcade.com] coming out soon?
If so, do you get royalties for it?
Difficulty of making a living via online comics? (Score:5, Interesting)
At the last SAGE-AU [sage-au.org.au] conference in Brisbane we had J.D. Frazer ("Illiad") as guest of honor.
At dinner J.D. spoke of the difficulties he faced in the early years attempting to make a living from comics - the insanely difficult process of being "sydicated" into newspapers, working out a revenue model for a web-based comic when he realised syndication was too restrictive, and generally attempting to make a living doing something he loved.
With PA and UF being roughly as popular as each other these days and thus (hopefully!) both providing decent incomes, I'd like to hear how you guys coped with "the early years" and how you faced some of what seem to be the common difficulties such as the syndication process, creating a viable revenue model and dealing with early set backs.
Quitting your day jobs (Score:5, Interesting)
ROMs (Score:3, Interesting)
Nintendo are the worst example possible. (Score:4, Informative)
East Coast Disrespect? (Score:5, Interesting)
What will you do to make up for the lack of love for the east coast? If I don't like your answer I'm going to come to PAX2 with water from the Atlantic Ocean and drench both of you with it. Seriously, watch out.
Regarding Bungie (Score:5, Interesting)
So what I am curious about, is that it seems to me as if as your friendship with the developers increases, it becomes more difficult to express your true viewpoints of the games that you review. Since Microsoft and Bungie treat Penny Arcade with such high regard, it's very difficult to produce the comics of old that genuinely criticized the console and its games.
To what extent does Penny Arcade plan to take this? I realize that it would not be on any gamers to-do list to pass up a chance at exclusive happenings going on in your area... but I also know from news posts of old that Penny-Arcade does not ever wish to "sell out", and just repeat blindly the big kudos to every popular game out there. (Such as IGN or Gamespy). Is there any thought given to a situation like this?
Fruit Fucker (Score:4, Funny)
Separation of comics and web commentary? (Score:3, Interesting)
Natalie Portman (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Natalie Portman (Score:3, Informative)
High quality large format artwork? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://mail.rochester.edu/~dr002j/pics/contraband_ comic.jpg [rochester.edu]
Strawberry Shortcake?
Perhaps the best artwork ever on PA, and the best supressed non-porn artwork anywhere.
Popularity backlash (Score:3, Interesting)
~D
My question is... (Score:4, Interesting)
Making a living (Score:5, Interesting)
Where's the money coming from, certainly not just web advertisements... If you have professional careers, how has your head not exploded among it all?
(troll) Is it just corporate knockbacks? (/troll)
Strawberry Shortcake (Score:5, Interesting)
American Greetings got called Nazis, but American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake is still missing from the PA archives.
What are the reprecussions of the Strawberry Shortcake debacle? If you had it to do over again, either the strip, or your interactions with American Greetings, would you have done anything different?
Penny-Arcade Imitators. (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, and on a totally separate note, there have been some jabs thrown between you guys and Scott Kurtz. Is it all in good fun, or is is there actually some sort of animocity going on?
Question for Gabe (Score:4, Interesting)
What ever happened to The Bench? (Score:5, Interesting)
What was the motivation to change to the now familiar format of Gabe vs Tycho at home and at play? Was it art imitating life, or just a natural progression from simple strips to more complex storylines (the dreaded Continuity!)?
Re:What ever happened to The Bench? (Score:3, Informative)
Trends? (Score:5, Interesting)
Are there any trends you hope take hold in the future.
Replies (Score:5, Interesting)
Relations with other comic creators (Score:5, Interesting)
Serious question (Score:5, Interesting)
What's it take to get you to look at my indie / small design team game? I've always enjoyed your "game round up" posts and wondered how the little guy gets in, or is this an invitation only kind of event? And I'm not trying to infer that you would make a dishonest review with this following question, only that I understand your time is probably stretched thin, so... What kind of bribe is required to ensure coverage? Bottles of liquor, prostitutes, free hardware?
PAX 2? (Score:4, Interesting)
And if so, do you have any powers? Do you use them for good, or for awesome?
Webcomic success? (Score:3, Interesting)
1. What do you feel are the key elements to having a successful web comic?
2. Do you feel that the barrier to entry is higher, lower or about the same today as they were when you started?
Alter-ego names? (Score:5, Interesting)
Although there are probably a million better questions that could be asked, I'm pretty interested by this little bit of trivia, so I would like to know: How did you come up with these names, and why?
Question for Tycho (Score:5, Interesting)
On a related note, what kind of offers have you received from mainstream (and not-so-mainstream) publications?
will you make fun of us? (Score:3, Interesting)
The Ladies... (Score:3, Interesting)
A Question on Advertising and Standards (Score:4, Interesting)
On making it big - (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no question that you guys are funny and talented, however I'm sure that there are lots of other comics out there that you've seen that have been in your leaque in terms of quality and content, yet never seem to reach the same popularity.
What would be the most important thing - outside of actual comic and newspost quality - to creating a popular web comic? Were there any specific promotional avenues you took that made Penny Arcade into the success that it is?
Who are you? (Score:5, Interesting)
For that matter - how significant is the difference between them?
An Animated Penny Arcade (Score:5, Interesting)
As an animation student myself, I of course have no particular stake in the matter
Bubble? (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you see what you're doing now as something which can be sustained for a long time? Do you have any contingency plans?
Returning the worship (Score:5, Interesting)
Penny Arcade and Child's Play (Score:3, Interesting)
Final question, I swear (Score:5, Interesting)
What now? (Score:3, Interesting)
What is next? Write a book? Columns in a major magazine? A Penny Arcade cartoon?
btw, Props to you for keeping politics off your site. It has turned me away from so many others. I come to PA to read about games, and you understand that. Thanks.
Phantom (Score:4, Funny)
How much money do you guys make from PA? (Score:5, Interesting)
But you guys are living what is essentially the dream life of a gamer - using your writing talents and artistic talents to make a living talking about games. Millions of schlubs all over the world run websites; but you guys managed to produce a website that's better than 99.9999% or more of them and make money doing it. It's not an understatement to say that you're quite an inspiration to those of us who would love to make a living doing that sort of thing. So I can't help but be a little curious about exactly what kinds of financial success it's brought.
(And whether you answer the question or not... I wish you more success in the future both with loved ones and your business)
Rivalries (Score:5, Interesting)
Despite having nearly gotten into virtual fisticuffs with Scott Kurtz, amongst other artists, you guys still seem to maintain quite a bit of respect for each other. Do you view the little rivalries as "side quests" for your bigger endeavors, as serious competition, or as just a way to use some of those great insults you've been sitting around thinking about?
The more humorous version:
How many different other webcomics and/or their artists can you insult in a single sentence?
Re:slashdot screwed up!! (Score:3, Informative)
but... looks like penny arcade is slowing to a crawl, I can see the smoke already billowing up!
The Slashdot Effect (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Uh Oh (Score:4, Funny)
(I hope this gets modded up enough to get submitted to Tycho and Gabe; yes, it's offtopic, but every question that's been modded up so far is something they've already answered, and as far as I'm concerned, that's even worse).
Re:Uh Oh (Score:3, Informative)
And, before Crisis, they were able to travel to other dimensions, and contact each other, so they are theorically, faster than Superman (by applying divide and conquer).
Also, no comic buff will take the Superman movies as canon, no matter how cool they are.
Re:Not so much a question as a thankyou (Score:3, Insightful)
If I know parents (and being one, I tend to), he's had to supress this urge many, many times.