Well, That Didn’t Take Long

Hey now. That only looks hypocritical and unfunny because you cut off the last panel!

In the real last panel, the skinny dude in sunglasses follows up with, “You said that ‘swinging’ would save your marriage! Do you mean I humped your hedgehog of a wife for nothing?”

Funnies!

It’s actually rampant irony.

Really.

Um… maybe?

I’m very glad I stopped reading PvP several years ago. Kurtz seems to have decided that his ultimate ambition is to be just as bland and inoffensive as a “real” (i.e. newspaper) comic strip.

Also, when I heard the man trashing Achewood (Achewood!) I knew he had no soul.

I must admit though, I am curious: When the fuck did Brent’s mouth migrate 6 inches upward?

When did Kurtz bash Achewood?

Have you ever noticed that Cole’s head is shaped like the top of a Smurf house?

Hey now, this will all lead up to Cole making a deal with the Devil to erase his upcoming divorce! And the company merger with Max. And Brent getting engaged. And Robbie (or Jason I forget which) being a millionaire. Putting PvP back to the relatable webcomic it once was…

I also quit reading PvP a few years ago, and Brent’s amazing higher mouth makes him look like a much huger tool.
So kudos to Kurtz. You know, if that was the intention.

I wanted to get a pic of Joe Q. and Scott Kurtz, and slap on a caption that said ‘Separated at Birth?’ . . . but Kurtz is a gigantic fatty (at least, one the first page of google image search; and like, not sorta fat like John Dores, or jolly fat, like the guy on King of Queens, but like legally handicapped obese) who looks nothing like Joe Q. :/

Am i the only one who still likes PvP? it still makes me laugh a lot, and its one of the highlights of the day. i mean, yes, you all can bitch about it, but i find it funny. and you’ve got to have better insults than the fact that he draws the comic differently now. its like bitching at jim davis for drawing garfield differently than he did when he first started writing it.

so screw you, ex-fanboys, go get out of your parent’s basement.

“PvP finally fell out of my bookmarks a couple of months ago. I’m glad I haven’t missed anything.”

Me too.

Achewood ain’t untouchable. It’s still one of the best webcomics, but it’s been pretty spotty since that whole Outdoor Fight started. We get, Ray is Onstad’s id, Beef is the ego, and when he remembers he has other characters, Teodor is the super-ego. Give us more Lie Bot and Lyle, please.

I never really read PvP, so my first reaction to the 2004 strip was that I had read that same gag done by dozens of other cartoonists. The print funnies are an easy target.

Also, For Better or Worse was always a secret favorite as a kid. It was endearing, not a gag-a-minute. Remember when they did the coming out story arc? Probably one of the most touching and tastefully handled storylines ever attempted in a four-panel medium.

Print comics get a lot of bullshit, and a lot of them do suck (I’m staring at you, Pearls before Swine), but they serve a different purpose. Sometimes one needs a bit of Fawlty Towers, sometimes one needs to sit back and watch wrestling. So while the Lockhorns won’t ever offer insight like Calvin and Hobbes did, I always get a kick out of it.

Mr. Bird seems like a Perry Bible Fellowship sort of webcomic reader.

I believe the point is that Kurtz has, in the past, discussed the mediocrity of newspaper funnies as a bad thing, and now, years later, has seemingly aspired to that same brand of flavorless mediocrity.

Give us more Lie Bot and Lyle, please.

Hell no. Those are the weakest characters in the comic.

I read Achewood because of what Onstad does with language, and Ray, Beef, and Cornelius are the best-suited to that. If he never ran another strip with Phillippe, Lyle, or Lie Bot, I’d never miss them.

I’m fairly sure Brent isn’t meant to be a mouthpiece character in the first comic. He doesn’t represent The Truth. I think Cole usually fills that role, while Brent delivers the gag. So the first comic might not be seen as genuine criticism of the comics, but more an observation that people are complaining about them.

Or not. Either way, Brent’s viewpoint doesn’t seem to have changed much. He’s not showing a lot of empathy so far.

[...] under: Webcomic Discussion — mrmyth @ 6:37 pm So, I was somewhat startled by a post over at MightyGodKing wherein he calls PvP to task for the hypocrisy of indulging in a drama-laden storyline after [...]

PS Funkula –

Kurtz has gone on record saying he likes Achewood, i think you misunderstood what he said before.

Found PvP a few years back, liked it then, love it now. I agree with Salmo above; even if it’s regarding a more serious topic, at least Kurtz delivers a punchline, unlike so ‘For Better or for Worse” and many others. And in the event that it actually has no punchline (talking theoretically, since I can’t recall a PvP strip without one) I can rest assured that the next day’s or previous day’s strip would have a laugh.

Also, I’m all for Brent’s current mouth. No one should have to go through life with a mutated Verti-Mouth! Though I will say I miss Francis’s old hair. He doesn’t look dorky enough. How am I supposed to relate!?

If you want to bash a webcomic for deteriorating into suckage, one need not look any further than MegaTokyo.

To try to say PvP is hypocritical is at best a stretch and at worst an outright lie.

Kurtz has his reasons for what he’s doing and it should be fairly obvious. As usual, he’s providing a fine story arc presented across several strips while still providing a laugh with every strip. (I haven’t laughed at anything in MT for a looooooong time…) Arguing over his artistic decisions is silly, as every artist evolves his/her technique (MacHall/3PS? RealLife? MT? None of them look like they did in the beginning…).

Ya either like it or ya don’t, but don’t get all riled up and try to bash it for being something it’s not. Don’t get worked up because the comic isn’t a constant and “pure” stream of gamer and nerd jokes. If you’re still stuck in that mindset TEN YEARS LATER, there’s some issues there. PvP is more than that just as any person should be more than that.

Chill out. PvP has been true to itself through it all. Definitely more than I can say about some other webcomics…

“Am i the only one who still likes PvP? it still makes me laugh a lot, and its one of the highlights of the day. i mean, yes, you all can bitch about it, but i find it funny. and you’ve got to have better insults than the fact that he draws the comic differently now. its like bitching at jim davis for drawing garfield differently than he did when he first started writing it.

so screw you, ex-fanboys, go get out of your parent’s basement.”

John:
I don’t actually care about Kurtz’ art, or where Brent’s mouth is. I just don’t find it funny. It could be said that we simply have different senses of humour. It looks like we also have different senses of indignation, if you read “I stopped reading PvP… I’m glad I didn’t miss anything” as “Clearly Kurtz is the worst artist in the world, and his comic is shit, and people who read it are shit.

I only meant that I didn’t like it. Nothing more, though I could understand current fanboys seeing it as an insult to the “highlights of the day”.

Here’s the thing: All of you who are bashing PvP? Just stop reading it. Kurtz doesn’t owe you anything, right? It’s a big world out there and you can find something you like. If any of you were qualified for deep, meaningful comic criticism, but this is just flamage for the sake of flamage.

Kurtz’s only problem is he is an arrogant @$$ due to him having a successful web comic. I don’t find PvP funny anymore by and large but since I get a chuckle every so often I still read it. And just because something is big and popular doesn’t make it “good.” People care about what Paris Hilton does but that doesn’t change the fact that the girl is dirtier than a landfill. If you don’t like the comic or not, it matters little. His numbers make one, ten or a hundred people irrelevant. Just ignore it.