A Penny Arcade strip you like and why

[Aquarian]

Nothing in the comics as presented indicates the guy works in QA.

[Gus_Smedstad]

So your complaint is that this webcomic is fictitious and unrealistic?

Penny Arcade has always taken place in a surreal universe where the protagonists murder each other on a regular basis and then appear later on none the worse for wear. We don't know how they're employed, or if they're employed. It's irrelevant in a comic where we have Claw Shrimp and Broodax.

In contrast, "trenches" is story comic, somewhat like PVP, and it's almost entirely about the guy's employment in QA. Since that's what the comic's about, yeah, they'd better get the fucking basics right.

Nothing in the comics as presented indicates the guy works in QA.

Gabe states it is QA in his introduction to the comic.

The Trenches focuses on Isaac and his life as a game tester. As the comic goes on you’ll get introduced to his friends and the hell that can be QA.

[MonkeyPunky]

Nothing in the comics as presented indicates the guy works in QA.

I'm guessing he doesn't work in QA yet. He must have had a fancy job before but is now looking for new work.

[Quitch]

I don't mind the art. It's stylistic in a way that meshes Gabe and Scott's styles together in a perfectly understandable and not wholly unpleasing manner.

It does bother me in that in panel one it's raining on Cox in his convertable but in panel two his application, presumably written on paper, isn't ruined.

I'm guessing panel one is in the future, and the rest of the strip (and other strips) will be his memories.

[sinnick]

Isaac Cox? Nice.

I hope they don't go for the obvious jokes though.

[JoshV]

Two strips in and we know nothing other than the main character is 'over qualified' for some sort of job. Yes, eventually he'll work in QA judging from the PA guys' post, but thats about it.

I'm a bit meh on it. Art style didn't bug me, until someone pointed out the nose, now it bugs me in every panel! Thanks guys! The actual story and jokes bit is also just not doing much for me, we'll see if it picks up once it finally establishes its setting.

[JoshV]

I'm guessing panel one is in the future, and the rest of the strip (and other strips) will be his memories.

Considering the very first panel is the car, and the next panel is of an application from the car's interior, I don't think it is. Still possible I guess, but it seemed more like they were establishing shots.

[TurinTur]

Nothing in the comics as presented indicates the guy works in QA.

I think the joke being setup is here you have a rich, successful guy with a great resume that somehow wants to be a beta tester because... his passion of games?. Hence the second strip, with him having problems getting the job because he is too good.
It would make sense, you know how a part of the problem of the industry is very passionate people accepting too much crunch and work hours for little money because they love games.

[Pogo]

In contrast, "trenches" is story comic, somewhat like PVP, and it's almost entirely about the guy's employment in QA. Since that's what the comic's about, yeah, they'd better get the fucking basics right.

Wow, just... shut up.

[MattKeil]

Also, I'm not sure what car that's supposed to be, but it looks like one of those $40K or so roadsters. Very expensive for a guy applying for a QA position. Assuming he's a senior programmer or something, people like that are rarely under-employed if they don't want to be. Guys fresh out of college, sure, but once you get to the level where you're driving cars like that, this scenario does not occur.

What in the what? He clearly is not a QA tester yet, he's applying for the position and has held vastly superior jobs in the past, hence the reason he is rejected for being overqualified. That's what "overqualified" means. He either left a successful career to become a game tester or he was laid off/fired and is starting over. I'd guess the former considering he still has his car.

[delirium]

Two strips in and we know nothing other than the main character is 'over qualified' for some sort of job. Yes, eventually he'll work in QA judging from the PA guys' post, but thats about it.

I'm a bit meh on it. Art style didn't bug me, until someone pointed out the nose, now it bugs me in every panel! Thanks guys! The actual story and jokes bit is also just not doing much for me, we'll see if it picks up once it finally establishes its setting.

6 panels in and you're already judging the story and jokes?

[Hanacker]

He either left a successful career to become a game tester or he was laid off/fired and is starting over. I'd guess the former considering he still has his car.

Not that it matters, but most people aren't going to immediately sell off their car if they're recently laid off. I would guess it's the former too, though, because someone becoming a game tester when they have much more lucrative options is a funnier premise than not having many other options.

[extarbags]

The actual story and jokes bit is also just not doing much for me, we'll see if it picks up once it finally establishes its setting.

Jokes?

[JoshV]

Jokes?

Exactly. =)

[JoshV]

I think the joke being setup is here you have a rich, successful guy with a great resume that somehow wants to be a beta tester because... his passion of games?. Hence the second strip, with him having problems getting the job because he is too good.
It would make sense, you know how a part of the problem of the industry is very passionate people accepting too much crunch and work hours for little money because they love games.

Except that the game industry never turns people away for being overqualified . John Carmack could apply as a tester at EA, and they'd hire him in a heartbeat. Sure they'd be hoping he'd get bored of testing and move up the chain, but they'd still hire him.

[JoshV]

6 panels in and you're already judging the story and jokes?

Yes, their other comics established settings in far less time, and were far more compelling. For example, the one with the robot detective, or the kid going to his first day of school. Both hooked me much sooner. I also hated the lookouts pretty early, though I couldn't give you a panel count.

But like I said, "we'll see if it picks up once it finally establishes its setting." -- that sorta implied that I haven't made up my mind yet, and will give it more time.

[malkav11]

Except that the game industry never turns people away for being overqualified . John Carmack could apply as a tester at EA, and they'd hire him in a heartbeat. Sure they'd be hoping he'd get bored of testing and move up the chain, but they'd still hire him.

I'm pretty sure that's where they're going with this. Note that all three rejection panels have different backgrounds and almost certainly represent different potential employers. Pretty sure the sixth panel is him going in to apply for the QA job.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I gave up on PvP, did Kurtz ever learn how to produce it on time? Have his time management skills improved so drastically that he thought adding another comic to his workload was a good idea?

[sinnick]

I gave up on PVP long ago also, but I recently looked at it again and found the art almost unrecognizable:

[jeansberg]

He looks like he got punched in the stomach in the second frame.

[TurinTur]

I gave up on PvP, did Kurtz ever learn how to produce it on time? Have his time management skills improved so drastically that he thought adding another comic to his workload was a good idea?

Wait, 25-30 strips per month is not enough now?

[Aquarian]

Kurtz's strips are frequently later than his goal of posting in the morning, but he reliably posts a strip a day on the weekdays. He's also been putting a lot of work into improving his art, both by upping his game on pen and ink but by adding color and studying the actual artistry behind the panel. There are times (such as his recent Lolbat retro series*) where the art is downright impressive. Of course, there are also times where his desire to be like his buddy Frank Cho really shows through.

That said, he's not gotten any funnier. Same old dick and fart gags with the occasional 'serious' storyline, and even those serious storylines aren't blowing the world away. Hell, he's had three separate characters have their love interests ditch them in the past year.

If he and Gabe are going to be doing the art on The Trenches, I wish they'd only give writing duties on the first two panels to Tycho and then give writing on the last panel to Kris Straub.

*Not to be understood as an endorsement of the Lolbat character.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Kurtz' art has definitely improved a lot, and I like the changes he's made. It wasn't that he was missing a day occasionally, it's that he was missing whole blocks of days too often for a while there. He'd post that he was really making some progress on working ahead and having a buffer of strips. Then two weeks later, he'd go to a convention or something on a weekend, and then there wouldn't be any comics or updates the next week until he'd make a post on Wednesday saying how wiped he was and that he'd be out the rest of the week. That felt like it was happening almost once a month for a while.

It's not really rational to let that bother me, but it got on my nerves anyway. Combined with some weak stories, that was enough to make me give up in reading regularly.

[extarbags]

He looks like he got punched in the stomach in the second frame.

Yeah. PA and PvP are a great candidate for a collaboration, because they both love randomly-generated facial expressions.

[Jamie Madigan]

It was his Lolbat strips that made me care a lot less about the strip. It's ONE joke. That said, his art is gratly improved.

[salwon]

[JoshV]

Are they supposed to represent anger? fists would have been better? Or a fist smashing into his open palm. Unless he's just creeped out?

[Tin Wisdom]

I think he's supposed to be completely skeeved-out and puckering-up.

[Omniscia]

It looks like he's angry and turning into Plastic Man.

[OrfBC]

Ew, what is up with this new site design? When did this happen? Too busy looking for my taste.