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Penny Arcade - Comic - Grace, Part Six

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited July 2015 in The Penny Arcade Hub

imagePenny Arcade - Comic - Grace, Part Six

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

Read the full story here


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  • Jakk FrostJakk Frost Registered User regular
    Ok, my French is rusty as hell, but shouldn't that be "Ce n'est pas ta maison"?

  • Grey PaladinGrey Paladin Registered User regular
    Jakk Frost wrote: »
    Ok, my French is rusty as hell, but shouldn't that be "Ce n'est pas ta maison"?
    Maybe she doesn't speak French either.

    "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
  • TryskelTryskel Registered User new member
    edited July 2015
    I'm French.
    It's totally correct, it's just an elision, used in a familiar language register, or a childish style

    Tryskel on
  • PAX_SkeletorPAX_Skeletor Melbourne, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    Just want to say that, outside of Automata, this is my very favourite thing the PA boys have created. Thanks for the strips, guys.

  • OrphaneOrphane rivers of red that run to seaRegistered User regular
    beautiful colors. thanks for the arc!

  • metroidkillahmetroidkillah Local Bunman Free Country, USARegistered User regular
    edited July 2015
    This has been a pretty sweet series, and we're all better for it; but I will agree with some in that I would have preferred a lot more details and world-building. I suppose the weekly strip isn't the place for that, so maybe this will get a larger feature comic like "The Lookouts" did? Or maybe a second, longer story like "Automata: Blood and Oil"?

    I need more.

    EDIT - Also, I wanted to say that I love how the trophy turned into a sort of Mjolnir at the end. Super awesome.

    metroidkillah on
    I'm not a nice guy, I just play one in real life.
  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    You might say

    She just delivered...

    The Coup de Grâce

    Spaffy on
    ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
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  • HeWhoSeesHeWhoSees Registered User regular
    Spaffy wrote: »
    You might say

    She just delivered...

    The Coup de Grâce

    YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!

  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Incidentally, Grâce means 'Mercy'.

    So I'm thinking 'C'est pas ta maison' is what Grace's mom wanted her to say in the 3rd strip.

    'Our way' means with a French accent.

    Because she wants to make sure that Grace remembers it. I think that saying it is part of a ritual that banishes these monsters - like an exorcism - and the reason her Mom wants her to say it is because Grace needs it to protect her Dad.

    And just like the Nightlight (ie the Lacrosse Trophy) each family's ritual saying is different depending on the child's bond with their parent.

    So basically they are killing these beasts with familial love and oh christ there's something in my eye.

    Spaffy on
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  • ziddersroofurryziddersroofurry Registered User regular
    I want to be Grace when I finally grow up. I'm gonna be 41 in a few weeks so I'm sure it will happen soon. Maybe.

  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    Yes, I very much enjoyed this series of strips. Consider this my seal of approval.

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  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    ROOOOOOAR

    Jam Warrior on
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  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    One last observation. Note how in both this series and the one shot (http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/198949/penny-arcade-comic-nightlight/p1) the art style changes from being simplistic in the early stages to far more ornate / detailed / colourful in the later panels? In an earlier thread I commented that I almost missed that the characters in strips one and two were the same people. I now think this was intentional on Gabe's part.

    I think this tonal shift clearly represents a "coming of age" for these characters but not necessarily the transition into becoming the nightlight. In the one-shot, it's when the man becomes a father, and therefore the Nightlight. In 'Grace', the transition of style is when the mother is on her deathbed - Grace is confronting the reality of death, and being told she needs to take on the responsibility of protecting her father.

    The art, along with these characters' lives, becomes more complex at these points. It's a nice metaphor for not necessarily becoming an adult, but confronting the responsibilities required to be one. We're seeing through their eyes, and the world looks different to them now.

    Spaffy on
    ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
    Steam: adamjnet
  • OolongOolong Registered User regular
    Never noticed the glowing bat in the first one-shot. Nice touch.

  • Ryan@Ryan@ Registered User regular
    I am now curious to see what a monster's house looks like. What happens when the nightlight falters? does the house become possessed by the demon? does it simply inhabit the place? does it leave after it's finished it's meal? will it go for the whole house, or just come back nightly until they're gone?
    is it only for children that they come? what age is "old enough" to stop?
    are they summoned by a child's fears, and they stop when the child is no longer afraid?
    what happens to this one when Grace is finished beating the crap out of it? will she have to deal with the body like the dad in the 1-shot holding the little green guy? will it disappear?

    SO MANY QUESTIONS! I WANT MORE INFO; MORE NIGHTLIGHT COMICS!!!!!

  • Ryan@Ryan@ Registered User regular
    Also, I doubt she's running "away" from the thing (unless it's about to explode), but is she perhaps running to make a circle of light around it and banish the thing?

  • OrphaneOrphane rivers of red that run to seaRegistered User regular
    Ryan@ wrote: »
    Also, I doubt she's running "away" from the thing (unless it's about to explode), but is she perhaps running to make a circle of light around it and banish the thing?



    think it's more like like the old samurai movies where they dash past each other

  • TrygylTrygyl Registered User regular
    Maybe the monster is like the Yokais from Claymore, and upon eating the Nightlight he disguises himself as such.

    Nightlights are an allegory for Sociopaths, perhaps? (Think that's getting a bit out there, but eh.)

  • arianeariane Registered User regular
    Ryan, I suspect that when the Nightlight falters, the kid gets captured/eaten/gone. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2015/06/24/ The older dad says "I remember when *my* first stopped by. Didn't get much time to spend with him. Because I didn't watch the signs. Didn't mark the wonders"

    My daughter is 3 and the imagination explosion in the last 6 months has been astounding. If the monsters are coming out based on child imagination, the beginning must be around 2.5 years old, and my last childhood nightmares were from around 11 or 12 years old and I know my 9yo nephew still goes in to his parents' room occasionally. This is an insane burden for Grace who is likely only just recently out of this range.

  • KupiKupi Registered User regular
    Orphane wrote: »
    Ryan@ wrote: »
    Also, I doubt she's running "away" from the thing (unless it's about to explode), but is she perhaps running to make a circle of light around it and banish the thing?



    think it's more like like the old samurai movies where they dash past each other

    If I'm reading it right, she's swinging the lacrosse trophy like a baseball bat.

    My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
  • MalReynoldsMalReynolds The Hunter S Thompson of incredibly mild medicines Registered User regular
    Kupi wrote: »
    Orphane wrote: »
    Ryan@ wrote: »
    Also, I doubt she's running "away" from the thing (unless it's about to explode), but is she perhaps running to make a circle of light around it and banish the thing?



    think it's more like like the old samurai movies where they dash past each other

    If I'm reading it right, she's swinging the lacrosse trophy like a baseball bat.

    I kind of saw it as her swinging a lacrosse stick.

    "A new take on the epic fantasy genre... Darkly comic, relatable characters... twisted storyline."
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  • KeroanKeroan Chicago, IllinoisRegistered User regular
    edited July 2015
    This confirms to me that Grace is a non violent shielder as opposed to a sword. Her mom raised her to be a protector and she didn't use the unfairness of her mother's death to cultivate some sort of revenge fantasy against the things that are trying to hurt her family. She doesn't use pain to beget pain.

    Brave girl. Could have been a Daughter ;)

    Keroan on
  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Love the art but I am suspecting we aren't going to get much else offered up for explanations, much like all the side stories that they have done.

    Switch SW-6182-1526-0041
  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    Pretty sure she Climhazzards it. She twirls around to dodge an attack, jabs the trophy in the monster's side, then runs along it's length to kill it.

    Also yeah, great set of comics! :D

    Oh brilliant
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Love the art but I am suspecting we aren't going to get much else offered up for explanations, much like all the side stories that they have done.

    It doesn't need any extra explanation. Read the words. Look at the pictures. It's all there.

  • some_guysome_guy Registered User new member
    edited July 2015
    some_guy was warned for this.
    this is seriously fucking stupid. i don't even know why i come to this site anymore. you guys used to be good. now the art style is all shitty, the normal strips aren't funny anymore, and then there is absolutely useless shit like this that no one cares about. what the fuck happened, guys? did you just at one point decide to say "fuck it" and stop trying?

    Tube on
  • CybitCybit Merch Underling RedmondRegistered User regular
    I want that last panel as a poster so bad. Make it happen. :D

  • PLAPLA The process.Registered User regular
    Swinging left while moving right?

    Meh, I think this part is the weakest of the six.

  • Soul SanctumSoul Sanctum Registered User regular
    They lose me more and more with every strip in this series. wtf is even going on? I think Tycho is dipping a bit too far into metaphor and symbolism and Gabe is dipping too much into the artsy-fartsy "too deep for you" arthouse stuff.

  • Robotic DraconianRobotic Draconian Registered User regular
    I feel like this needs another 3 strips, just for some kind of conclusion past "She defeated the monster." The preview strip they did had me super excited for this stuff, but I've kind of not cared with the six-parter that is "Grace." I hope we get something a little more comprehensible for this world in the future.

  • PikaPuffPikaPuff Registered User regular
    Well it's a six parter so it's over now.

    jCyyTSo.png
  • firepoetfirepoet Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    firepoet was warned for this.
    This was another good one, and it worked because it was more than 3 panels. Which further backs up my point that telling a story like this 3 panels at a time is crazy.

    I'll give a little review here now that its over.

    The pros: The art! Very pretty art, very well drawn. I'd love to see Mike try his hand someday at the backgrounds for a point and click adventure game.

    The cons: The writing. For me, this is a very common complaint with Penny Arcade with their drama stories. The strip was way too slow. Seriously, the first strip was Grace being hugged by her parents? That's not how you start off a story. You need to start it off with some action. Jerry writes these stories like he just assumes everyone is going to read them. I write fiction for a living and I'd never start a story this slow. Six strips, three panels each, and the first three strips are basically pointless. The whole beginning had no emotional impact because it happened to quickly. You can't introduce someone, and then kill them, and expect a reaction from the reader. Which brings up another point.

    What the hell was that? The original pitch was what if monsters do exist, but only dads can see them? Jerry took Mike's beautiful pixar idea and made it all grimdark and sappy. "What if instead, the mom dies of cancer and the dad is too depressed to raise his son, so the oldest daughter has to do it instead?" It just seems very amateruish to me. This whole comic was like a satire of Nightlight fanfiction, rather than the real thing.

    I don't think Jerry is on the same level as Mike. He never wrote anything, except newsposts, whereas Mike has been drawing his whole life. Now Mike is ready for the big time, and Jerry just isn't. He has so many problems with his writing that come from being new, that at his age I don't think he can fix them. Writing is a craft, and Jerry never practiced it. He was practicing playing with words, not writing fiction, and it shows. The only thing Jerry pulls off is interesting word play.

    I think it might be time for Mike to take his idea elsewhere. He should be collecting his oscar for best animated movie, and Jerry should be doing tech support for the local school system. Honestly, at this point, I think Mike is letting Jerry writing these things out of pity but he needs to start worrying about his own future.

    Tube on
  • Mike FehlauerMike Fehlauer Registered User regular
    Shrapnel from Spaffy's second comment somehow injured my own eye. Good work, sir.

    And yeah, it looks to me like she dodges out of the way, uses that momentum to impale the monster (keep your eye on the square base), then runs alongside to unzip its innards.

  • GabrielGabriel Registered User, ClubPA, Penny Arcade Staff, PAX Staff staff
    I like seeing all the ideas in here. Some of them are even better than what we were actually thinking when we made it:)

    For those interested I thought I would break down our take on the story. That's not to say this is the "correct" one. We like to write loose stories and my guess is that will always rub some folks the wrong way.

    In this family the Mom is the monster slayer because the Dad doesn't have the "spirit" for it. He is a sweet soul and an artist and he can't even see the monsters. In the first comic he asks for Grace's help killing a spider. This is an indicator that Grace has a strength that the Dad does not possess. This is something Mom would be very aware of.

    In comic 2 we cut forward in time to the family returning from the Mom's funeral. Now Grace has a little brother Clancy and seeing Dad overcome with grief she decides to take over the bedtime responsibilities.

    comic 3 goes back in time. Mom is now in the hospital. She has cancer and knows she doesn't have long. She needs Grace to accept her role as family protector but is hesitant to describe the very real very scary details of the job because Grace is still so young. She has been teaching Grace a secret phrase in french that is in reality a sort of spell but Grace doesn't know that. Rather than talk about monsters Mom tells Grace that Dad will need help with the "spiders". She is not talking about spiders.

    comic 4 goes back to the night of the funeral and Grace has to put Clancy to bed. She opens the door and sees the monster. She is older now and when she sees the monster she realizes what her mother was talking about. Her Mom is gone, her Dad is a mess and she knows she has to go in that room.

    In comic 5 Grace sees her lacrosse trophy and notices the monster seems to be repelled by it. I think she probably feels a special power from it as well. Nightlights need a totem, something that they draw courage/strength from. In the very first comic the Dad had a baseball bat. For Grace it is her trophy. As she picks it up it begins to glow.

    In the last comic Grace stares down the monster. It lunges at her but she spins out of the way and jams the trophy into it's side. She then runs along the beast opening it up like a zipper and destroying the darkness with her light. I did my best on this one but action scenes are not my strong suit and this was pretty hard for me. Some people got it though so that makes me happy.

    again these are the thoughts that Tycho and I had. Some of the ideas on here are just as valid. We like to make things and leave room for interpretation. I think our take on it is just one of many possible reads of this comic. I hope you liked it. Monday is a Witcher strip:)



  • ashketchum64ashketchum64 Registered User regular
    I hate to say it but I agree with FirePoet.

    A lot of the newer stuff just doesn't impact me very well from the writing side. The art is amazing but the story behind it just doesn't do it for me. The one line pitch from Mike's blog post had my own imagination racing and the idea behind it is amazing.

    Jerry may have written small stories apart from the blog posts but he isn't quite on the same level as Mike. I'd like to see a full Nightlight comic done exclusively by Mike with his ideas in it.

  • Mike FehlauerMike Fehlauer Registered User regular
    I just think this is great:

    "I'd never start a story this slow... The whole beginning had no emotional impact because it happened to quickly."

  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    Gabriel wrote: »

    In the last comic Grace stares down the monster. It lunges at her but she spins out of the way and jams the trophy into it's side. She then runs along the beast opening it up like a zipper and destroying the darkness with her light. I did my best on this one but action scenes are not my strong suit and this was pretty hard for me. Some people got it though so that makes me happy.

    I'm a big fan of that last panel! One of those cool images that could only work in a comic.

    Oh brilliant
  • ashketchum64ashketchum64 Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    I just think this is great:

    "I'd never start a story this slow... The whole beginning had no emotional impact because it happened to quickly."

    Mike,
    You are taking this quote out of context. The first panel was very slow. The only information we got was that the parents loved their Grace. It wasn't until we got the other parts of the story did we realize that the dad was not the nightlight and it was the mom.

    ashketchum64 on
  • WhelmedWhelmed Registered User regular
    The only thing I never would have suspected from the calm way that Grace took the monster (and that she'd already exhorted her brother to brush for the whole ABCs, even though I know that's common) was that this was her first monster she'd ever seen. The story makes a little more sense to me if she's been building up to this moment in some other way besides just a vague warning from her mom. Everything else tracks pretty well.

    I completely disagree with the guy who says that Jerry doesn't have the talent to write fiction. I'm sure he does. But most people aren't insane enough to try to write an entire world and emotional arc in a total of like, 21 panels of still pictures and maybe a couple of hundred words. Or in the case of some of the Eyrewood ones, even less. Mike draws really, really well, and in this one in particular he communicated a lot of the emotional payload that there wasn't room for in the words, but good lord. I might say that Jerry doesn't seem particularly well suited to microfiction, but that's hardly a failing.

    Also this was by far the most comprehensible short work they've ever done outside of Automata, so it's weird that this is the one that gets the big rant.

  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Yes, Mike and Jerry should definitely split up and go their own separate ways. It's not like they're lifelong besties, or hugely successful business and brand owners, or anything.

    ...

    What

    Rius on
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