Today’s Penny Arcade is a near perfect commentary on the Unity debacle.
Whole comic linked above, but here’s the one-panel that is perfect.
Today’s Penny Arcade is a near perfect commentary on the Unity debacle.
Whole comic linked above, but here’s the one-panel that is perfect.
Oh yikes. I mean I agree that the first panel is solid but the other two reminded me why I stopped reading PA. So often the “punch line” is just edgelord violence or insults.
Reminds me of the Hbomberguy video that really dissects “gamer comics”.
The way this CEO operates is absolutely worthy of condemnation and viewing him through the lens of unfeeling cosmic horror is, if anything, a nicer take. But it’s fair to say that people operating at that level of wealth have become detached from and profoundly alien to normal folk.
I don’t think you’re parsing this comic fairly or engaging with its content by labeling it “edgelord violence or insults.”
Pretty much ALL of Hbomb’s substantive examples from the video are from CTRL-ALT-DEL which is like … the worst example imaginable. There’s screenshots of PA’s art, but beyond the one dumb gag about “stake me bro” he never really gets into PA’s writing. ODD, THAT. Because if you actually read Jerry Holkin’s posts, you’ll find a level of writing that puts the lie to the notion that these are idiots making cheap, derivative work. Setting aside the fact that they’ve been doing this so long that they basically defined the genre.
And as an aside, really Harris, web comic artists as targets? You’ve done it, you’ve achieved the epitome of punching down. These and other extremely sane takes from the guy that brought you an almost 2 hour long video on the goddamn Roblox “oof” sound effect.
Because it’s a video specifically about CAD (that’s why the video is literally titled “Ctrl + Alt + Del”) not webcomics in general. There are some references to other gaming comics and what they generally don’t do well but it’s preamble for why CAD is the worst. The whole point of this video is to be about Ctrl + Alt + Del and the guy behind it.
No, it’s specifically about the CAD guy. He doesn’t talk about the other webcomic artists.
I’m curious what other “takes” you think he has if you didn’t even realize why the video called CAD primarily talks about CAD.
So from the game developer side, hbomber’s video nails exactly why those comics exist. He gets into why the culture is draw to them and how it’s a reflection of them. I was shown this from another dev and I’ve shown it to others. Everyone has come to the same opinion. Yeah, hbomber is absolutely right about gaming culture and gamers. It’s really reflective in why the term hardcore gamer exists and why you jump so hard to defend the culture your are apart of.
Also hbomber isn’t punching down, he’s creating an informative video to help the culture around gaming grow. His channel is literally him doing that to several cultures. Including YouTubers.
You should give him a chance. Entirely watch the video and a few others. I’d give recommendations for some but I’m on Mobile in my way to bed. If you really want some though I can gladly give you some in the morning. Try to see them more as video essays rather than purely entertainment because that really doesn’t give it a fair shake.
They’ve done the cosmic horror joke many times. I found it funny in my 20s.
Gabe’s art has gradually deformed and is just horrible now.
The art is approaching cosmic horror on its own, or at least existential dread.
They’re the “political cartoon” of gamers.
To be fair, that’s not all the strips. That’s the one the OP chose to show.
Like I’d say going through 20-30 strips only 2-3 were like that.
edit: here’s a strip that I thought was pretty decent but isn’t like the one in the OP
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2023/06/09/conveniente
Well that one made me snicker lol. Maybe I am being too harsh. Idk, I used to read PA daily when I was in high school but at this point a few decades later, it’s just something that I’ve grown out of so it seems pretty juvenile in retrospect.
This might be more of a “me” thing instead of “penny arcade” thing. 🤷
I found Jerry’s writing to be exactly as it was. I no longer have a taste for it.
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