Many people think Penny Arcade is rubbish - or that it used to be good and has turned to shit.
This is your thread (and is the goatee-stroking mirror-world version of this one, in case you didn’t know) - post a strip and say what you hate about it.
I think a lot of Penny Arcade strips are average to bad, but once in a while they release some really great ones, and usually I find it’s worth going through the bad ones.
A recent example:
There’s nothing special about it. I guess it’s to be expected from a webcomic that has three strips a week. The only consistently good comic I’ve seen is PBF, and they only made a few of those.
I think the final panel is the first ever instance of red nose in pa but overall gabe’s style is still consistent, nothing like those awful scrunchy faces in the strip belgerog posted
And just 10 days earlier we have gabe in a newspost talking about how jon kricfalusi would probably hate PA for being a derivative piece of shit but nevertheless gabe’s been closely following his blog for months and thinks jon k is on “another level.” uh oh :(
http://penny-arcade.com/2006/04/07
I think you may have pinpointed the Beginning Of The End.
Hahaha, seriously? Tartakovsky is thoroughly out of John K’s league, in my book. Also the whole Cartoon Network approach is a direct result of Spumco’s stuff, so he has only himself to blame.
I have absolutely no idea what he could be referring to here in world that contains Pixar and Studio Ghibli. I’m sure it would be hilarious to hear him name them, though.
It’s offensive and unfunny.
Offensive and funny is the best combination, but when you’re unfunny instead it just seems lazy.
There are a lot of good strips still, though:
The offensive part being that it spells “raccoon” wrong. Twice.
Mmmm, nope.
Specifically, stupid and pointless little yellow callout box in panel 1.
And the rest of it, too.
Man, who’d be a PA guest artist.
Every time someone complains of PA’s art I will post this horrible, horrible thing.
I used to read Kricfalusi’s blog regularly until I figured out where he was coming from. My summary of his position is that this is a guy who believes – really, really believes, deep inside – that the ONLY REASON to draw (or watch) cartoons is because you want to make (or see) wacky, funny Tex Avery stuff. So if someone makes a cartoon that doesn’t have exaggerated poses and slapstick humor – Princess Mononoke, let’s say – it’s not because the artist made a deliberate esthetic decision, it’s because they’re a talentless, misguided, deluded fuckup.
So yeah, he may be a great cartoonist but his advice on this stuff isn’t very convincing to me. Unless you’re TRYING to do Ren and Stimpy style cartoons, in which case I’m sure it’s fine.
Kricfalusi’s not exactly a big fan of Pixar or anime in general. He thinks Pixar character design is bland and uninspired and the animation in anime is cold and mechanical.
I <3 this thread!
Here’s the strip I hate
:D
Uh, it may be bog-standard cartoon art, but the expressions convey the emotions, the proportions are correct and you would believe that the artist could actually draw a metal bikini clad fantasy model without turning it into a horrible defilement of the human form.
The proportions are way off. Nobody’s eyes are as big as that guy’s in the second panel, that bowl of ice cream is enormous and where did it come from anyway. Also, who talks like the guy in the first panel? Does he just walk around narrating his own life?
Oh, wait, someone’s just now telling me that sometimes in humorous comic strips and cartoons some concessions and exaggerations are made when representing reality. Nevermind! Concerns invalidated!
The guy’s hands change sizes in every panel, and in the last panel he’s drawn the wrist incorrectly. The girl’s hands change sizes, too, and in the second panel they aren’t even consistent within the same panel (the hand she’s holding in the air is a weirdly enormous man-hand, whereas the hand in her lap looks more normal).
Would have been a better strip if he’s frozen her in carbonite.
Would have been a better strip if I had realized at some point that she was his daughter, not his oddly miniaturized wife
That is not a child, and why don’t you have a seat over there
Edit: Hilariously, I just counted her saying “daddy” in 5/6 of her lines.
DADDY DADDY DADDY DADDY DADDY DADDY
And even so it’s still funnier than 9/10 of PA.
And better drawn.
And its knees aren’t as sharp.
Haha, that’s hilarious man. You should have your own webcomic.
Ha.
He’s certifiably insane on the first point and probably 90% correct on the second. But movies like My Neighbor Totoro justify all the crap anime that could possibly be produced, ever. I have no idea how someone into animation could watch that and not be moved by the extreme care and detail put into it. Oh well, maybe if Miyazaki had more close-ups of zit-covered asses.
The main problem with it is that the punchline is stolen from XKCD. I suppose you could say that it’s the daughter using another thing her father has presumably shown her to get her way, but I feel that’s giving it a bit too much credit.