Penny Arcade
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by SpencerD
Being the huge nerd that I am, I love web-comics. It’s pretty brilliant having someone out there making these comics a couple of times a week that consist entirely of obscure pop culture references. The best example of this is the Penny Arcade series, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. While initially these comics seem little more than a constant stream of lewd, obscure jokes, Penny Arcade is actually much, much more than.
For over ten years, these two nerds with something to say and impressive computer skills have been posting comics like the one above three times a week, accompanied by a blog detailing what they’re going on about. Initially they didn’t really achieve anything, but now, through a combination of advertising and merchandise, they are two of the very few people who actually make a living off web comics. Essentially, this seems to me to be making money from pretty much nothing.
It’s gotten to the point where these guys are basically celebrities too. Every year they throw the Penny Arcade Expo, a huge convention full of all things nerdy that is attended by over 60,000 people. Plus, they do a yearly charity drive called Child’s Play, in which they raise money to buy toys and games for children’s hospitals around the world.
Being rich and famous for doing something awesome is one thing, but what I find really interesting is how these two guys have become like crusaders working against the stereotypes of nerds and violent videogames. The reason Child’s Play was started in the first place was to combat the idea that video games rot children’s minds, and now they’ve raised over five million dollars for sick kids. Then there was the ‘Modest Video Game’ proposal in 2005, in which famed anti-video game lobbyist Jack Thompson said he’d pay $10,000 to a charity if anyone would design a game that feature a main character whose goal was to find and kill the creators and designers of the game. Of course, about 10 various software developers did and Thompson refused to pay anyone. Penny Arcade stepped in for him and donated $10,000.