Sheer Genius

I read PvP, a hilarious online webcomic set in the office of a video game magazine (see sidebar link for the genius of this). It's a comic not necessarily about video games so much as about geek culture. It's totally hilarious, if you understand the geek references. It still pretty funny even if you don't. It's part dilbert, though the boss is a sympathetic character and it's set in a small business not corporate setting, part penny-arcade , though no where near as foul. In fact, if you are at all uncomfortable with foul language and references (like me) I don't recommend clicking on the Penny Arcade link at all.

But Scott Kurtz, author of PvP, has created his own masterpiece that, though it can be compared to others, really is it's own part. In a recent comic he references to video games and how far afield his story arcs are from it (and how such references to it are so generic that they don't matter). But what people seem to forget is it's NOT a video game strip, it's a geek strip.

Geek cultures are interesting phenomenon. If you're a member of one, you will inevitably be drawn into the others, at least in periphery. So yes, video games are part of the strip, but so are movies, sci-fi shows, Dungeuns and Dragons, comics, and basically everything else. There's also a healthy dose of drama via the Cole vs. Max Powers conflict and the Brent and Jade saga(s). And yet the drama fits...in a recent story arc about the potential of a child I was actually engrossed, which is not me at all when it comes to drama. Kurtz does a very good job.

This does bring me to some of my problems with it. As a professing Christian I have some problems with his characters attitudes towards intimacy. Two of the characters are intimate and unmarried, while not a free love attitude, it is still an immoral lifestyle in my belief. There's also a strip a while back where "Jesus" made an appearance and made a remark that was rather inappropriate and made me shake my head in disgust. So take those warnings to heart before you read it, it can be a little...off-color, but a majority is very good.

Edit: I removed the link to Penny Arcade as it's very inappropriate to what I want to convey in my blog. If any of you have a desire to read it, ask in a comment or e-mail. Sorry Gabe and Tycho.