Penny Arcade - Comic - Everything Old Is New Again

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Penny Arcade - Comic - Everything Old Is New Again

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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knitdan

Bravo, sirs

Cambiata

Tycho's write up should be fun.

Metabo

Good morning Moscow, unleash the trollbots!

Bucketman

After that get me that Freddy Fasbear my son keeps having nightmares about!
"Baron sir?"
No Eric!

Leng

Wait, really? THAT was your guys' entrance into political satire? That was your opening salvo at a presidential administration?

Goodness, its true.

"The Left can't meme."

ViRGE

Leng wrote: »

Wait, really? THAT was your guys' entrance into political satire? That was your opening salvo at a presidential administration?

Well they've done plenty of comics related to game violence before. Just never with the President of the US.

But I agree it's unfortunately lame. It neither has the heart of mocking Jack Thompson, nor the wit of skewering American Greetings.

Vulture051

Oh.
Never took you for being the pro-gun type.

Bursar

I'd be really curious to check the user logs for this thread in a few days to see how many new forum users appear just to post here once.

poipoigirl

I love to see Chucky Cheese and Freddy Fasbear in the same room.

RonTheDM

Bursar wrote: »

I'd be really curious to check the user logs for this thread in a few days to see how many new forum users appear just to post here once.

it's inevitable,

though I was once told that when you comment through the PA website without going to the forums we sometimes mistake those comments as like ... rage sign up for PA forums to post once and then leave forever types.

I like the increasing spittle as the panels go on. And the ill fitting suit. Hits all the marks for me.

Enc

It really is remarkable how quickly the trollbots get out for whatever posting occurs.

Sadgasm

RonaldoTheGypsy wrote: »

Bursar wrote: »

I'd be really curious to check the user logs for this thread in a few days to see how many new forum users appear just to post here once.

it's inevitable,

though I was once told that when you comment through the PA website without going to the forums we sometimes mistake those comments as like ... rage sign up for PA forums to post once and then leave forever types.

I like the increasing spittle as the panels go on. And the ill fitting suit. Hits all the marks for me.

To be fair, it's hard to tailor a suit for a shape like "amorphous blob", it's gonna look shoddy no matter what

Djiem

Hey, you gotta look at it from the blob's perspective; the longer you talk with people who have nothing to do with gun violence, the longer you can avoid talking with people who have something to do with gun violence.

greenboots

One of the things (among dozens) I have liked about you guys is that you stayed away from politics unlike other cartoonists (cough Kurtz cough). I read comic strips to stay away from politics. If I want this kind of garbage I'll go to r/politics.

KoopahTroopah

Bursar wrote: »

I'd be really curious to check the user logs for this thread in a few days to see how many new forum users appear just to post here once.

Could we actually have a forum admin collect a count of new accounts to post before and after today? I'm very interested to see that kind of statistic. @Tube

It's a funny comic, maybe not the best political comic, but a funny comic none the less.

Rigamaraw

I love the comments about how PA should stay away from politics, even though this relates directly to games, as if this exact topic hasn't come up ad nauseam in the past. They'll stop making comics about it around the time people stop trying to conflate virtual violence with real violence. I agree that it's old, but PA's takes on it are still fresh.

RatherDashing

If Penny Arcade didn't defend video games from politicians, we wouldn't have Child's Play. I'm guessing without Child's Play, PA as a company, with it's employees, side projects, merch, and expos, might not even exist. It would just be a webcomic.

That may be a stretch, but the first part of my post is definitely true. This line of argument is nothing new for PA and is certainly a vital part of their "message". Are people just mad because he depicted POTUS rather than a senator who limited his career to attacking games?

Djiem

If you think PA doesn't do political comics you haven't been here long.

applefat

Leng wrote: »

Wait, really? THAT was your guys' entrance into political satire? That was your opening salvo at a presidential administration?

Goodness, its true.

"The Left can't meme."

Wow! They really should have put up a trigger warning on this one!

"Your guys'" ? Why are you even here?

In truth, comic has nothing to do with "the left"; nor is even the position pertaining to "the left". Sorry, not everything can be forced into your two little abused-to-the-point-of-meaninglessness boxes. It doesn't take any particular political persuasion to know that this is just a dog and pony show. Look at the people who were invited. It's not even INTENDED to be productive.

Unfortunately, you are clearly too young to have known the video game inquisitions of the 90s. We've been here before. If they intended to get informed on a topic which they are clearly unfamiliar with, Trump Admin could have just read through any of the dozens of serious, earnest studies on the topic from the past 20 years. But gee, where's the spectacle in that? Jerry and Mike know that. Most people here know that, except you, who's apparently just randomly stumbling around the internet looking for things that offend your sensibilities.

If you still don't get it, look at the title: "Everything Old Is New Again".

Clearly it's exasperating for anyone who didn't just start paying attention to politics in 2016, like you did. Next we'll be talking about how listening to Eminem's lyrics turns you into a wife-beater, and our time-warp back to 1995 will be complete.

Kagera

Anything to defend the absurd proliferation of guns in America I guess

zepherin

This quite a nuanced comic. It didn't have a heavy handed point, but it was subtle and enjoyable, also the art on the Donald (especially his spitty mouth) is top notch. *chef kiss*

TychoCelchuuu

I'm not sure what's funnier, the people who think Penny Arcade is suddenly getting political even after all the Jack Thompson stuff, or the fact that people think a video game comic going after people going after video games is somehow stepping out of its boundaries.

dennis

I'm torn between hoping they have an upcoming strip with Crazy Jack in it, given that he's actively working on trying to penetrate these talks to insert his brand of greasy argumentation, and wanting them to pretend he doesn't exist anymore in the hopes that everyone else will play along.

donavannj

Leng wrote: »

Wait, really? THAT was your guys' entrance into political satire? That was your opening salvo at a presidential administration?

Goodness, its true.

"The Left can't meme."

This literally has nothing to do with "The Left", though. This has everything to do with video games being under fire again as the blamed media by some very public figures, something most gamers thought we were done dealing with at a national level around 10 years ago.

warhawk

As a member of the NRA and a very pro second amendment supporter, I just want to say this comic is BRILLIANT. I'm sorry, Cruz had a host of problems, and law enforcement clearly dropped the ball with him, but I haven't seen a solitary thing pointing to video games with him other than Trump. It is far too easy to flail around and look to point the finger at someone or something, Cruz is responsible for his actions, various law enforcement agencies are responsible for not following up on credible information that this guy was a problem, but that is where the buck stops. The AR-15 he used didn't mind control him into picking it up and murdering kids, whatever video game he played (if any) didn't convince him to do it either.

Kaitensatsuma

I believe this is a gross overestimation of the POTUS' ability to speak at length without making up words, or combining two words nonsensically.

rhylith

Petition to change the preview image on the front page from panel 1 trumpface to panel 3 trumpface.

zaitcev

Meh.

Golden Yak

So I only learned this the other day, but did you guys know that Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, is on the board of directors for ZeniMax Media, who publish games like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Fallout? Some of the most violent-est of all the violent video games out there?

That was neat to find out. Wonder if that fact will get talked about much.

Keitrig

Man, did anyone else see the move Eve Online made with Omega Clone's? So disillusioned now.

V1m

Keitrig wrote: »

Man, did anyone else see the move Eve Online made with Omega Clone's? So disillusioned now.

Why?

LieutenantDan

Some very sensitive chaps here, hey?

This is not a political cartoon, boyos. For literally decades they have lampooned anybody who blames video games for actual murders. If Mother Theresa came out and blamed video games for real violence (which would be amazing since she would be Zombie Mother Theresa) she would get a comic too.

It just so happens that Trumpty Dumpty joined the fray, so he gets to make a PA appearance.

Junkman

This is totally political. It's the president. Why are you all scared to delve into politics? All great cartoonists deal with politics. Cause politics=social issues.

Also our president is a moron.

I look forward to some indie dev making a game about this presidency in the future. "Falling Up" they will call it.

Twenty Sided

I think it says something about Trump when PA has to finally wind up taking a shot at him.

Gabe has done more unflattering and funny caricatures though. The Youtube one was better.

Preacher

Well violent video games cause violence has been the gong PA has beat again for literally decades, and to say the president is a moron is insulting to morons. His lack of education on literally anything is shocking even for america.

Junkman

Oh no! Penny-Arcade has become a Social Justice Warrior.

Time to back the bags ya'll. We're moving to Tumblr.

Preacher

Junkman wrote: »

Oh no! Penny-Arcade has become a Social Justice Warrior.

Time to back the bags ya'll. We're moving to Tumblr.

But but I don't like tide pods and anus bleaching? Oh god do you combine those two things? I'M SO OLD!

Preacher

News post is about where I'd imagine it should be. They don't consider this political, and like a lot of people thought; that video games were in the conversation instead of literally any other thing just shows how little the current american leadership wants to do about this issue.

l_g

Gabe and Tycho had to deal with this "video games cause violence" thing 20+ years ago, and now they have to deal with it again.
The comic is literally titled "Everything Old is New Again".
PA has been around long enough that creators of it are now in fact dads that can honestly say, "not this shit again".

Bremen

Preacher wrote: »

News post is about where I'd imagine it should be. They don't consider this political, and like a lot of people thought; that video games were in the conversation instead of literally any other thing just shows how little the current american leadership wants to do about this issue.

I don't really consider it political either. If Obama had said the same thing I could see them doing pretty much the same comic with him.

The fact that Trump is already widely mocked for incompetence is hardly their fault.