I love the concept of this new series and want to see more.
I'm sure this has been brought up before, and at the risk of sounding too "SJW" I must ask: could we possibly get more non-white, non-male characters? I get way excited when I see a new PA series, and then I get a bit less excited when I see it's another White male with dark hair.
Lookouts and Thornwatch: all look White, all male
The Tithe: White females
Automata: White male protagonist and robots
Sand: White male protagonist
The New Kid: White male protagonist
For the Eyrewood series, you could argue that these are fantasy races and that's just what they look like. Fair enough, but if that's the case, why not throw in some Asian, Black, or Middle Eastern looking people, even though those regions don't strictly exist in the Eyrewood? The Tithe story and the Sisters are awesome, but I would love to see more strong female characters throughout, and perhaps some that don't have lily white skin.
Guys, you are making these characters up from whole cloth. You have the option of making them look like anything you want, but (consciously or not) it seems like you almost always choose to make them White. I love what you are putting out and would love it even more if you could perhaps include more depictions of other races.
I'd agree with @TheDismemberists 's comment about more diversity in your worlds. In fact, that makes my comment about the strip seem pretty irrelevant by comparison, but I suppose I'll offer it up regardless.
I love the story idea and the beginnings of the world starting to take form, but I didn't get the impression that the monsters were invisible to everyone except dad's until I read the comments from Mike. I suppose the fact that the little girl is making eye contact with dad rather than staring at the HateBeast suggests it, but I'd love a panel from the girl's perspective that just shows a sweaty, scuffed-up dad with a bat in her bedroom before the reveal of the monster.
Just a thought. Thanks for sharing this new place with us, and please consider @TheDismemberists concerns.
Jerry's news post mentions, that he would like to keep doing projects like these instead of coming up with cool ideas and abandoning for the regular Gabe and Tycho stuff. (I find it odd that Gabe is flagged for spellcheck and Tycho isn't)
I question why; would everyone abandon Penny Arcade en masse if they took a couple months and told a complete story? I have seen the complaints when they go on hiatus and do a five(at most) page story. I have to believe those are the minority. The video games, dick jokes and crazy life stories are only one part of the creators' lives. I for one would welcome them doing something of a passion project. They are very good at it.(Where is that Eyrewood book Jerry?)
I assume they have the numbers for how page views change, if at all, when they do their stories. Presumably we'll never know what those numbers are.
People certainly come here to complain every time there is a long story told.
Please continue these! It doesn't need to follow just these characters, but rather explore its world in vignettes in various situations.
The Vigil of the Coward Protecting His Son. (Horror)
The Lessons Passed from Grandfather to Father. ("Now son, these types tend to be screamers. So you don't scare your child just shove the blanket into its maw before you start beating it. Just remember to throw it into the wash afterwards, or you'll be sleeping on the couch.")
Weapons of Choice. ("At times, I'm jealous of the country folk. No one around them to call in reports of gunfire and the awkward talks with police. Still, you want something you can explain to your kids why you have it. Sports are good if you are seen playing them, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, and hockey sticks. Never try to keep a cane sword or katana on hand though, your kid will get to interested in those and either misplace them or hurt themselves with it." ... "Dad, how many times do I need to apologize about that #$%! sword?")
Recovery in the Dark. (Exploration of the Monster's side of the world, while a party of parents venture in trying to recover a single missing child.)
Insomnia. (Challenge of a single mother's day and night)
I went and resurrected my forum account just to post how awesome this is. Mike and Jerry also have a particular talent for hinting at and implying the nature of these stories when they get an idea like this, but this one is particularly choice.
that... would represent a significant opening-up of something that has so far been presented as strictly a Dad Thing, for Dads.
The idea for me is that the single mom can't see or hear the monsters, but, you know, she still has a child to protect. Just like single mothers in real life, she has to figure out how to make being a parent work and protect her children at a severe, crippling, seemingly impossible disadvantage. She has to put in superheroine levels of effort just to make it by, but she does, because that's what single moms do every day. I suppose it does spoil the Father's Day bit, though. I would see it as more of a side story, not taking too much away from the Dad focus.
This is what I love about PA's most promising long form ideas: they really aren't about Boy Scouts hunting mythical creatures or discrimination against robots. They use the fantastic setting to explore what it's like to be a person, and that's 100% what Nightlight is about for me. Committed fathers do see threats to their children that nobody else does, it's just that the things they see aren't monsters hiding in closets.
@brettxpw "We’re focusing on Dad’s specifically but honestly the role of a home’s monster hunter can fall to anyone really. I kinda want to meet that big sister." - from Mike's newspost.
We just had a long neat chat about it at lunch, and the world is so cool. Single moms, grandparents, siblings - whomever is the protector of the house is the one who can see the monsters and fight them. I'll let the guys share other details as they want, but it's not exclusive to dads.
Can we get like an actual 60+ page graphic novel for this? Because I'm seriously invested in following this right now.
There is no way they could do a whole graphic novel on top on the current work. I would take ages. They would really have to do it like Lookouts and let somebody else make it.
I love the concept of monsters that only dads can see. It's both a brilliant fantasy world, and a tremendous metaphor for fatherhood. I wonder, though, could I see the monsters? I have no biological children, but thousands of people call me 'father,' and many of them bring me monsters they struggle to defeat, searching for guidance and assistance in the good fight. It makes for interesting pondering...
I don't know what it is, but between this and that last Automata comic, this was actually hard to follow. I don't think I'm stupid per se, but they seem to be leaving out some details in favor of size and the old dude hitched to Jerry's weird way of crypto-speak that never works quite right.
Jerry's news post mentions, that he would like to keep doing projects like these instead of coming up with cool ideas and abandoning for the regular Gabe and Tycho stuff. (I find it odd that Gabe is flagged for spellcheck and Tycho isn't)
I question why; would everyone abandon Penny Arcade en masse if they took a couple months and told a complete story? I have seen the complaints when they go on hiatus and do a five(at most) page story. I have to believe those are the minority. The video games, dick jokes and crazy life stories are only one part of the creators' lives. I for one would welcome them doing something of a passion project. They are very good at it.(Where is that Eyrewood book Jerry?)
I assume they have the numbers for how page views change, if at all, when they do their stories. Presumably we'll never know what those numbers are.
People certainly come here to complain every time there is a long story told.
I'm not seeing any of that in this thread so far. I've seen it in the past, and the response is usually that Mike and Jerry should write what they want to write based on what they know. There's some pushback against that idea in this thread, but otherwise no complaints.
The originator of the tales of the "Monster under the bed" is the Bogeyman and there are many tales, since say, the 17th century, about such monsters. Sometimes parents are heroes, fighting off the creature to save the children or it's a warning from parents to their children be obedient like not staying up late or being naughty. Otherwise the bogeyman will come drag them away or some other hideously gruesome fate. The question really is what particular tale or variant are you interested in?
Like if you want to find examples you can go to wikipedia and knock yourself out looking up tales around these things. Where again, there are hundreds of variants. There are even movies where people get together to trick and beat up monsters that live under the bed, which is from 1989. Hogfather was released in 1996. I could find more, but honestly, it's not hard and if you have any idea of the origin of these tales you wouldn't be asking smarmy questions like this in the first place.
Returning to the comic: This was awesome. I hope there is more of this to come.
How about a Titan Souls type game, you go about your daily life, choosing career paths and your wife's career paths. At night, you train and get the children ready for bed. How well they get ready determines your buffs, enemy buffs, and skills.
Moody children that don't brush their teeth, spikes and claws, much faster.
Sick little boys and girls that eat all their vegetables: Hard shells verses your expanded HP.
Quid. That is almost 10 years post Hogfather. Also, it's being played differently.
Try again.
You understand that the youtube upload date is not the date that movie was made yes? Cause that's the only way I can figure out that you think Major Payne came out ten years after Hogfather.
Major Payne was released in 1995. Hogfather was released in 1996. And, I would wager, with the creators completely unaware of each other's work. Because as many people have pointed out with many examples far better than my own the concept of beating up the monster under the bed is not unique to Sir Pratchett's stories.
I'm kind of torn-I love the longer stuff but also love the three panel pieces. I do think Mike's been knocking it out of the park art-wise. It's because of him I ended up getting Frenden's brushes for Manga Studio 5. Awesome, awesome brushes-thanks, Mike.
Jerry's news post mentions, that he would like to keep doing projects like these instead of coming up with cool ideas and abandoning for the regular Gabe and Tycho stuff. (I find it odd that Gabe is flagged for spellcheck and Tycho isn't)
I question why; would everyone abandon Penny Arcade en masse if they took a couple months and told a complete story? I have seen the complaints when they go on hiatus and do a five(at most) page story. I have to believe those are the minority. The video games, dick jokes and crazy life stories are only one part of the creators' lives. I for one would welcome them doing something of a passion project. They are very good at it.(Where is that Eyrewood book Jerry?)
I assume they have the numbers for how page views change, if at all, when they do their stories. Presumably we'll never know what those numbers are.
People certainly come here to complain every time there is a long story told.
I'm not seeing any of that in this thread so far. I've seen it in the past, and the response is usually that Mike and Jerry should write what they want to write based on what they know. There's some pushback against that idea in this thread, but otherwise no complaints.
I meant long as in "multiple days of story. Not long-form as in the comic has more than 3 panels. Nobody seems to mind 1 excursion, but as they pile one it start to pop up. There was a year where something like 15% of all PA strips were side projects. There was much wailing and lamenting.
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ceresWhen the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderatormod
I want more of this so badly right now.
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
Precursor for the drama of that last panel
Introduction to a whole mythos
Character development, for both characters, new father and old warrior
It obscured what was actually happening right up until that last panel
Despite all of that, it actually revealed a lot about what was going when read a second time.
Terribly well written, and all with such an economy of words. Five panels.
I assume the young man is taking juice to his wife, who is in labour. He doesn't know what sex his child will be, hence his surprise at the pronoun, "she". Leap ahead a few years and an older, more experienced father knows what the old man in the waiting room was talking about.
If all of that wasn't enough, that sixth panel may just be my favourite of anything Mike has ever done.
So, is it implied that upon the birth of a child, someone in that child's life is appointed the protector? And only that person can see the monsters?
I will repeat myself here: I would love if they took a couple months off from Gabe and Tycho and just finished one of these side projects. They are excellent.
Quid. That is almost 10 years post Hogfather. Also, it's being played differently.
Try again.
You understand that the youtube upload date is not the date that movie was made yes? Cause that's the only way I can figure out that you think Major Payne came out ten years after Hogfather.
Major Payne was released in 1995. Hogfather was released in 1996. And, I would wager, with the creators completely unaware of each other's work. Because as many people have pointed out with many examples far better than my own the concept of beating up the monster under the bed is not unique to Sir Pratchett's stories.
So.. are we saying it's possible that this person assumed that was a vignette produced by a YouTuber and did not recognize Damon Wayans?
Because that does not seem impossible.
Annarchy getting married is one thing, the possibility of a cultural divide like that really makes me feel old.
Oblig: Love the side stuff, desire more, please look into cross-dimensional outsourcing, etc.
I was thinking about this some more, and came to the realization that you can't really think about it too much. Because it's fantasy, of a sort, and like all fantasy, it relies on magical thinking. If you poke at the logic too hard, it falls apart under its own weight.
In a world like this, monsters under the bed would not be a secret, only revealed to new parents and caretakers; we would not build beds, or houses, or raise children, the way we do now. These creatures would be every much a fact of life as wolves or big cats; and as we have with every other species (besides ourselves) that once predated on humans in significant numbers, we would hunt them down and destroy them. Things coming out of closets would be pinned by spotlights and razor wire and shot or stabbed to death - some by children who have been taught the use of weapons for their own self-defense as soon as they were able to hold them properly.
At the core, we're talking about something as simple, basic, and primal as the survival of the species. That's why we worry, even now that we've eliminated most such threats (again, other than ourselves); our imagination, our alertness, is still tuned to a world when things that wanted to eat us really did lurk outside the cave or beyond the fire's light. We don't live in that world now because we ended it - faced it, and changed it - so that it couldn't end us. But deep-buried parts of our brains still haven't gotten that memo, and dare not relax their vigil... just in case.
While that is true(and ruins most fantasy stories), there are still plenty of things in the world that will kill and eat humans.(Like most of Australia)
Posts
I'm sure this has been brought up before, and at the risk of sounding too "SJW" I must ask: could we possibly get more non-white, non-male characters? I get way excited when I see a new PA series, and then I get a bit less excited when I see it's another White male with dark hair.
Lookouts and Thornwatch: all look White, all male
The Tithe: White females
Automata: White male protagonist and robots
Sand: White male protagonist
The New Kid: White male protagonist
For the Eyrewood series, you could argue that these are fantasy races and that's just what they look like. Fair enough, but if that's the case, why not throw in some Asian, Black, or Middle Eastern looking people, even though those regions don't strictly exist in the Eyrewood? The Tithe story and the Sisters are awesome, but I would love to see more strong female characters throughout, and perhaps some that don't have lily white skin.
Guys, you are making these characters up from whole cloth. You have the option of making them look like anything you want, but (consciously or not) it seems like you almost always choose to make them White. I love what you are putting out and would love it even more if you could perhaps include more depictions of other races.
Thank you
I love the story idea and the beginnings of the world starting to take form, but I didn't get the impression that the monsters were invisible to everyone except dad's until I read the comments from Mike. I suppose the fact that the little girl is making eye contact with dad rather than staring at the HateBeast suggests it, but I'd love a panel from the girl's perspective that just shows a sweaty, scuffed-up dad with a bat in her bedroom before the reveal of the monster.
Just a thought. Thanks for sharing this new place with us, and please consider @TheDismemberists concerns.
People certainly come here to complain every time there is a long story told.
Also:
Holy shit, RobertLie.
All prior examples are inferior!
The idea for me is that the single mom can't see or hear the monsters, but, you know, she still has a child to protect. Just like single mothers in real life, she has to figure out how to make being a parent work and protect her children at a severe, crippling, seemingly impossible disadvantage. She has to put in superheroine levels of effort just to make it by, but she does, because that's what single moms do every day. I suppose it does spoil the Father's Day bit, though. I would see it as more of a side story, not taking too much away from the Dad focus.
This is what I love about PA's most promising long form ideas: they really aren't about Boy Scouts hunting mythical creatures or discrimination against robots. They use the fantastic setting to explore what it's like to be a person, and that's 100% what Nightlight is about for me. Committed fathers do see threats to their children that nobody else does, it's just that the things they see aren't monsters hiding in closets.
Two, I agree with others that that character was introduced a surprisingly long time ago, considering that she's getting married now.
Three, OLD
We just had a long neat chat about it at lunch, and the world is so cool. Single moms, grandparents, siblings - whomever is the protector of the house is the one who can see the monsters and fight them. I'll let the guys share other details as they want, but it's not exclusive to dads.
I know it'll never happen, but every time we get a little insight to some universe they've created I really wish we could see more of it.
I wish Mike and Jerry were allowed to spend the time to colonise these worlds of theirs, rather than having to meet the 3 days a week joke quota.
I'm not seeing any of that in this thread so far. I've seen it in the past, and the response is usually that Mike and Jerry should write what they want to write based on what they know. There's some pushback against that idea in this thread, but otherwise no complaints.
Try again.
How about the previous page?
Moody children that don't brush their teeth, spikes and claws, much faster.
Sick little boys and girls that eat all their vegetables: Hard shells verses your expanded HP.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
You understand that the youtube upload date is not the date that movie was made yes? Cause that's the only way I can figure out that you think Major Payne came out ten years after Hogfather.
Major Payne was released in 1995. Hogfather was released in 1996. And, I would wager, with the creators completely unaware of each other's work. Because as many people have pointed out with many examples far better than my own the concept of beating up the monster under the bed is not unique to Sir Pratchett's stories.
I'm kind of torn-I love the longer stuff but also love the three panel pieces. I do think Mike's been knocking it out of the park art-wise. It's because of him I ended up getting Frenden's brushes for Manga Studio 5. Awesome, awesome brushes-thanks, Mike.
I meant long as in "multiple days of story. Not long-form as in the comic has more than 3 panels. Nobody seems to mind 1 excursion, but as they pile one it start to pop up. There was a year where something like 15% of all PA strips were side projects. There was much wailing and lamenting.
...others are swords."
Chills. More of this. i want to own the issue of which this is the first page and the rest of the series.
Seriously, I rarely post, but this is good.
Precursor for the drama of that last panel
Introduction to a whole mythos
Character development, for both characters, new father and old warrior
It obscured what was actually happening right up until that last panel
Despite all of that, it actually revealed a lot about what was going when read a second time.
Terribly well written, and all with such an economy of words. Five panels.
I assume the young man is taking juice to his wife, who is in labour. He doesn't know what sex his child will be, hence his surprise at the pronoun, "she". Leap ahead a few years and an older, more experienced father knows what the old man in the waiting room was talking about.
If all of that wasn't enough, that sixth panel may just be my favourite of anything Mike has ever done.
I will repeat myself here: I would love if they took a couple months off from Gabe and Tycho and just finished one of these side projects. They are excellent.
Because that does not seem impossible.
Annarchy getting married is one thing, the possibility of a cultural divide like that really makes me feel old.
Oblig: Love the side stuff, desire more, please look into cross-dimensional outsourcing, etc.
My father in particular taught me to be afraid of ants, and to poison them.
In a world like this, monsters under the bed would not be a secret, only revealed to new parents and caretakers; we would not build beds, or houses, or raise children, the way we do now. These creatures would be every much a fact of life as wolves or big cats; and as we have with every other species (besides ourselves) that once predated on humans in significant numbers, we would hunt them down and destroy them. Things coming out of closets would be pinned by spotlights and razor wire and shot or stabbed to death - some by children who have been taught the use of weapons for their own self-defense as soon as they were able to hold them properly.
At the core, we're talking about something as simple, basic, and primal as the survival of the species. That's why we worry, even now that we've eliminated most such threats (again, other than ourselves); our imagination, our alertness, is still tuned to a world when things that wanted to eat us really did lurk outside the cave or beyond the fire's light. We don't live in that world now because we ended it - faced it, and changed it - so that it couldn't end us. But deep-buried parts of our brains still haven't gotten that memo, and dare not relax their vigil... just in case.