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[PA Comic] Monday, November 11, 2013 - Chemical Agent

GethGeth LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
edited November 2013 in The Penny Arcade Hub
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    ComradebotComradebot Lord of Dinosaurs Houston, TXRegistered User regular
    Would give a disagree if I could. First two episodes were bad, thats been about it.

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    BobbleBobble Registered User regular
    Is one of the speech bubbles in panel one supposed to be coming from Tycho, or am I crazy?

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    GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Bobble wrote: »
    Is one of the speech bubbles in panel one supposed to be coming from Tycho, or am I crazy?

    It's definitely supposed to be, looks like the upper one.

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    Jake CappsJake Capps Patrick Space Force Base, FloridaRegistered User regular
    I am now convinced that Mike doesn't draw the strip anymore...or it's that tablet thing jacking everything up. The word ballon placement in the first panel is confusing.

    X4hAlPn.png

    My Pinny Pal's Lanyard

    "Players are artists who create their own reality within the game." - Shigeru Miyamoto
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    InXplotchInXplotch Registered User regular
    The first speech bubble of the first panel is pointing the wrong way.

    the uh, image also looks a little lower res than usual.

    As for the topic, all I've heard of it was that the first episode was suuuper bad and/or really good, and that's all I've heard since. I haven't bothered watching it myself.

    PSN: InXplotch
    ... My, what a boring Signature.
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    NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    I love Penny Arcade. But lately you get occasional strips that are just... not Penny Arcade. This kind of thing isn't what made and still makes the comic great.

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    CenoCeno pizza time Registered User regular
    Wrong speech bubble and a typcho in the second panel.

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    miaAusamiaAusa GOD Gamer Of Daters ValhallaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2013
    The show has gone from horrible to somewhat horrible, lol, I never watch new TV though, its kinda funnier this way too though tycho is looking at gab weird as he talks to himself, much better actually : D

    miaAusa on
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    GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    I've seen about...two episodes?...of this show in bits and pieces. And it's left me with no desire to see any more. Agent Coulson, beloved as he may be in a recurrent supporting role in the movies, cannot carry a series as a lead and the rest of the main cast are non-entities.

    Meanwhile the adventures and threats they encounter from week to week seem like Scooby Doo-level stuff in comparison to the films. To do a show like this and not have it be overshadowed and seem totally lame you would need to essentially make Secret Warriors: The Series...which would be mind-blowing but would also probably require a feature film-level budget.

    Gaslight on
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    metaphistmetaphist FLRegistered User regular
    I love Penny Arcade. But lately you get occasional strips that are just... not Penny Arcade. This kind of thing isn't what made and still makes the comic great.

    I'd have to agree. The first thing I though when I read this was that it didn't seem at all like a PA style comic.

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    LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    They need Maria Hill to carry the show. I believe Cobie Smulders would make a great lead agent, and she has enough charisma and screen presence to make it work. Too bad they are wasting her talents on the dreadful final season of HIMYM.

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    TubeTube Registered User admin
    The wrong version of the comic was uploaded, and Geth has preserved this mistake FOREVAR.

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    TubeTube Registered User admin
    Jake Capps wrote: »
    I am now convinced that Mike doesn't draw the strip anymore.

    Yeah well you're wrong.

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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Agents of S.H.I.T

    Ha ha, amirite?
    I haven't seen the show, but that was stuck in my brain and I had to get it out...

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    ComradebotComradebot Lord of Dinosaurs Houston, TXRegistered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    They need Maria Hill to carry the show. I believe Cobie Smulders would make a great lead agent, and she has enough charisma and screen presence to make it work. Too bad they are wasting her talents on the dreadful final season of HIMYM.

    Whaaaaaaaat? The final season of HIMYM has been one of the most magnificent, ambitious things I've ever seen from a comedy of that shows age.

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    WolframAlucardWolframAlucard Registered User new member
    I've almost had my head bitten off by some people for criticizing it. I think everybody was hoping for "Alias" in the Marvel Universe, but it hasn't turned out that way. Then you get people that just gush about how "it's a Whedon production" which almost seems it should be a free pass for some reason, which then evolves into the above comic "if it gets into it's second season, it will be good", well hopefully. By that time you better have some stuff that you can reincorporate into plot lines. The recent one where the cute English girl almost dies was really the first episode where I felt vested in what was going on. But that's only because I like cute English girls.

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    mjrusso45mjrusso45 Registered User regular
    Seemed like a quickie strip. Maybe they're too busy working on Thornwatch, which looks pretty cool, btw.

    I guess they all can't be works of art.

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    TubeTube Registered User admin
    I haven't been watching it, but it's not unusual for a Whedon show to spend a lot of time finding its feet. Dollhouse was pretty great by the end of the first season

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    Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    I haven't been watching it, but it's not unusual for a Whedon show to spend a lot of time finding its feet. Dollhouse was pretty great by the end of the first season

    I weep for the TV series we could have had if it had been severely studio exec meddled with. Almost the entirety of the good bits of the first season of Doll House were contained in the unaired pilot. Instead we were saddled with a painfully slow reveal of interesting information combined with "hooker-of-the-week".

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
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    ragnarok628ragnarok628 Registered User regular
    Dollhouse started a little slow, got great, then nosedived into terrible. BUT! It got me to invest in it enough to actually watch all of it, which is something.

    Currently have all episodes of agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. on my DVR. haven't watched a one yet.

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    Maz-Maz- 飛べ Registered User regular
    The show is continuously getting better. You just have to approach it with the right mindset - it's no Breaking Bad and it can get pretty Whedon-esque at times, but it's definitely enjoyable for what it is.

    Add me on Switch: 7795-5541-4699
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    PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    Part of me's still sad that the resources going towards it aren't going towards a NEXTWAVE movie or TV series instead.

    Granted, I say that about all Marvel projects...

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    RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    I like Shield quite a bit. It took some time to get momentum, and no it's not The Avengers or Firefly, but it's a fun hour on a Tuesday evening. Then again, I get bored with main characters that are irredeemably horrible bastards, so I guess 99% of television just isn't marketed at me.

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    Finnish_LineFinnish_Line Registered User regular
    With no PVP Thursday or Friday and then this today, I'm a little disappointed in the big webcomics at the moment.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    I was under the impression that people like this show. I mean, I haven't watched it myself, but still.
    Tube wrote: »
    I haven't been watching it, but it's not unusual for a Whedon show to spend a lot of time finding its feet. Dollhouse was pretty great by the end of the first season

    I sorta agree? I think it's more accurate to say that when a Whedon show has a bad start, he's smart enough to adapt and change it until it gets its bearings.

    Also, the first two episodes being bad doesn't surprise me. All TV shows have bad pilot episodes.

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    LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    This comic pretty much nailed my opinion of AoS, it's getting better, and it can be pretty fun sometimes, but it's still little more than a background show.
    With no PVP Thursday or Friday and then this today, I'm a little disappointed in the big webcomics at the moment.

    Give camp weedonwantcha a read, it's by Katie Rice (the winner of strip search) and will give you the laugh you need.

    LostNinja on
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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    All TV shows have bad pilot episodes.

    Disagree.

    There is not one of the 63(65?) episodes of Breaking Bad that are bad. Including the pilot. :P

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    PedroAsaniPedroAsani Brotherhood of the Squirrel [Prime]Registered User regular
    Fitz/Simmons is so very comic book cliché that I go all the way from sigh back round to liking it again. And the "mission of the week" is as good a hook to hang this show on, just as Buffy/Angel had Monster of the Week and Firefly had Job of the Week.

    Coulson showing more range and emotion is actually working against the character. We like him because nothing phases him, and his "seen it, done it, shot it in the face" even keel from the movies is being eroded when he gets angry or nervous. He is supposed to be a government-issue Winston Wolf. That's why his fangirl moments with Captain America are so awesome, and his new "more human" personality isn't as appealing.

    As for the others, they need more development, so less than 10 episodes in I am willing to give it a chance. I gave The Walking Dead far more time than I should have, and recently cut it from the watch list. So I'll let AoS stay on there for a time, but it isn't where everyone wants it yet. In part that's because it has only one character we already know, so it's still doing the "meet and greet" stage. Part of the problem is that they all have to have "competent agent" as part of the build, which doesn't give much room for anything else.

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    Fleur de AlysFleur de Alys Biohacker Registered User regular
    Strip continues the pattern of Mike & Jerry demonstrating a hilarious lack of taste in media that they don't create themselves.

    Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
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    Finnish_LineFinnish_Line Registered User regular
    LostNinja wrote: »
    Give camp weedonwantcha a read, it's by Katie Rice (the winner of strip search) and will give you the laugh you need.

    First thing I check every Mon and Thurs.

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    GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    We are one week (ish) away from the 15 year anniversary of PA, so Gabe re-drew the very first PA comic.

    1998:

    214584757_tSa5c-L-2.jpg

    2013:

    i-WtQs9Wz-XL.jpg

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    CandymancerCandymancer Registered User regular
    Comradebot wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    They need Maria Hill to carry the show. I believe Cobie Smulders would make a great lead agent, and she has enough charisma and screen presence to make it work. Too bad they are wasting her talents on the dreadful final season of HIMYM.

    Whaaaaaaaat? The final season of HIMYM has been one of the most magnificent, ambitious things I've ever seen from a comedy of that shows age.

    It might be ambitious to have the entire season take place over just a few days, but that doesn't really mean much when the whole thing is stalling because they don't actually have enough plot for 24-26 episodes. It's pretty bad.

    ...and I'm going to watch the whole thing anyway because I'm in love with Alyson Hannigan...

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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    I was just coming here to post that. Love. Gabe is so much more skilled now it's like it's not even the same artist.

    I especially love how the original uses a lot of obvious "cheats" for people who have trouble drawing a lot of things (hiding behind the boxy monitor for example), and how Gabe deliberately changes perspective on the new version because, of course, he doesn't have to do that any more.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Also I'm fairly certain that Gabe and Tycho are the same age as me, and in 1998 I was in my second year of college, not birthing a monolith.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    NitsuaNitsua Gloucester, VARegistered User regular
    Is anyone else having trouble looking at anything older than today on the comic site? I was just catching up on the comics I've missed since last year when everything from September 2012 onward gave an error and now even Friday's comic won't show up - nor the post from that day.

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    GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Always thought it was pretty smart of Gabe to knit Tycho a sweater exactly like the one he already wears all the time. No risk of him not liking it.

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    TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Cambiata wrote: »
    Also I'm fairly certain that Gabe and Tycho are the same age as me, and in 1998 I was in my second year of college, not birthing a monolith.
    In 1998 I was in my first year of high school and didn't have internet. It wasn't until the next year, when my family got internet (dial-up) that my best friend in high school introduced me to PA. I have fond memories of staying over at his house one weekend and catching up on comics and both of us reading the clawshrimp one for the first time at 3 in the morning, trying to laugh our asses off without waking his parents.

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    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    All TV shows have bad pilot episodes.

    Disagree.

    There is not one of the 63(65?) episodes of Breaking Bad that are bad. Including the pilot. :P

    The first season was kinda of all over the place, tone-wise (is it drama? suspense? comedy?) but it found its footing.

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    ffaristocratffaristocrat Registered User regular
    Whedon-fanboy here - my gf and I watched the first three episodes. They're light and fun enough but it hasn't been anything that I've felt like I missed. If it picks up later in the season, we'll probably go back and catch up.

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    spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User regular
    it picks up!

    This strip does not earn my Awesome. I like the show!

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