Penny Arcade is a web comic written by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. The strip features their cartoon alter egos John Gabriel (a.k.a. Gabe) and Tycho Brahe, respectively, who spend much of their time time playing computer 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). Penny Arcade regularly features profanity and violence, and can easily be considered offensive to those unused 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 continuity on Penny Arcade, 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.
Both Krahulik and Holkins make a living from Penny Arcade, placing them in a very small cadre of web comic arists devoted to their creations full-time. The website sees tens of thousands of visitors every day, making it one of the most popular sites on the Internet.
Recurring Characters
- John Gabriel - Mike Krahulik's comic alter ego
- Tycho Brahe - Jerry Holkins's comic alter ego
- Kara - Gabe's wife
- Brenna - Tycho's wife
- Div - a drunken talking DIVX player with a mean-spirited additude
- Gabe's cat - a cat with computer skills
- Frank - a Software Etc manager who is somewhat mentally unstable
- Charles - a somewhat fanatical Mac user who underwent a drastic makeover around the same time as the OS X release (Specifically, the June 23, 2000 strip)
- Fruit Fucker 2000 - a juicer with an unhealthy sexual obsession for fruit