PvP
- For "PvP" in multiplayer computer role-playing games, see player versus player.
PvP, also known as Player Vs. Player, is among the most popular webcomics currently online. In recent years Image Comics has also began publishing a monthly print comic book collection of the strip that combines old strips with new material. Previously, Dork Storm Press printed 6 issues of original content as well as a trade paperback of online strips. The Dork Storm issues were collected into a trade paperback entitled "The Dork Ages." The monthly issues have seen two trade paperback collections. "PvP: At Large" collects the first six issues, while "PvP: Reloaded" collects the next six. The PvP series has a substantial audience, and its Texan author Scott Kurtz was recently nominated for an Eisner award for his work.
It chronicles the adventures of a fictional video game magazine company and its employees. A popular but often controversial figure in the field of online comics, Kurtz is usually willing to share his opinions about comics and gaming culture in his blog, which is hosted on the same website as his comic strips.
The humor tends to be focused around technology jokes, relationship humor, in-jokes about "nerd culture," and mocking of the generation gaps between the different characters. Kurtz occasionally comes under fire for his satire - in one subplot, Skull the Troll creates an alternative comic, Graphamaximo [1]. This series became a point of contention among many comic book artists and authors, who took offense to the implication that alternative comics were somehow inferior to more mainstream works. Graphamaximo has become, in these circles, an adjective for less-than-professional comic book efforts.
The first online strip was posted on Monday, May 4 1998 [2]. Kurtz updates the strip every day, and it should be noted that this strip has never missed an update since January 3rd, 2000. In April 2005, Kurtz changed to a Monday through Friday schedule, with Friday's strip in color. This was done in response to the mounting work he has taken on as a monthly comic at Image and associated side projects. On June 4, 2005, Scott Kurtz posted on his blog that he was returning to the daily schedule.
At the 2004 San Diego Comicon, Kurtz announced that he would offer to newspapers the entire PvP series to reprint for free [3]. Kurtz said he made this offer because of his dissatisfaction with the terms offered to cartoonists by syndicates. This project met with some success, although as of yet no major American newspaper has agreed to pick up his strip, even though it is free. It is rumored, though not confirmed, that the syndicates have threatened to pull more popular strips from the paper should Kurtz get PVP in for free.
Characters
The main characters are:
- Cole Richards [4] - the boss. A committed family man, he has a rather loose grasp of new technology and is often nostalgic for 1980's pop culture. In a newer running gag, he and Brent often jump a bridge in a forest area in a 1969 Dodge Charger a la The Dukes of Hazzard.
- Brent Sienna [5] - a surly columnist, caffeine addict and Apple Computer (and recovering Amiga) fanatic. His apathetic attitude towards everything frustrates his co-workers. In a long-running gag, he is occasionally, inexplicably, and suddenly, attacked by a giant panda (example). Recently, Brent was temporarily blinded [6], and the panda refrained from attacking him [7], suggesting that it mauls Brent for his fear and reaction, rather than for the sheer sake of mauling.
- Jade Fontaine [8] - A columnist, and Brent's off-and-on girlfriend. Sarcastic and independent, but also a bit of a sex-kitten.
- Francis Ottoman[9] - the youngest member of the staff. Easily excitable, and always eager to be on the cutting edge of fads and technology.
- Skull [10] - a lovable troll whose existence among the human cast is never fully explained. Nervous and childlike. Has an occasional girlfriend named Sonya. Originally from another web cartoon about Ultima Online by the same author, called "Samwise".
- Robbie and Jase [11] - two fat drop-outs who sit in the break room and play video games. Old friends of Cole's, they are kept employed mostly out of pity, and are only occasionally seen.
- Marcy Weisnewsky [12] - another intern. Francis's long time FPS opponent and "romantic" interest, if she can be called that.
Other recurring characters are:
- Donna Richards [13] - Cole's wife. Seldom seen in the more recent strips.
- Miranda Fontaine[14] - Jade's younger sister. She aims to seduce most of the men on the PvP staff just to irritate Jade, not necessarily because she wants the male attention.
- Sonya Powers [15] - Skull's girlfriend. She does not appear to mind that he apparently has no gender.
- Scratch Fury: Destroyer of Worlds [16] - Skull's cat. Skull accidentally zapped him with his "genius machine", granting him superhuman intelligence. Scratch is bent on global domination, but his evil plans for attaining it are often foiled by his feline foibles and proclivities [17].
- Kirby [18] - Cole's pet basset hound. Scratch Fury, feeling that he needed an archenemy of his own stature, used Skull's "genius machine" to grant him ten times the intelligence of a normal basset hound. Unfortunately, "ten times as smart as a basset hound" is still pretty stupid, but at least now he can talk.
- Max Powers [19] - archenemy and rival publisher of Cole. Here is an interesting analysis of this character. Owns and runs Powerplay magazine. Later merged with PvP to prevent PvP's certain financial ruin.
- Gwen Dawson [20] - acquaintance of Sonya's and a radio producer. Gwen had a crush on Jade and kissed her once at party. Brent had a crush on Gwen before he knew she was gay.
- Kurtz's Dad [21] - Although not a part of the offical PvP Universe, and therefore not normally seen with the other characters, Kurtz's dad, a German immigrant, makes an occasional appearance in the comic to share his takes on profanity, modern American culture, or whatever else happens to strike his fancy. Kurtz apparently bases this character on his own father, and has even gone so far as to use actual comments by his dad as the script for the strips in which he appears.
- Reggie [22] - Reggie is a black friend of Brent's. He is blind, and makes it a point that he is blind and not "visually impared". Later hired by Max Powers when he started PowerPlay. After the merger he began working at PvP. Based on a friend of Kurtz's.
- Francis Robot [23] - Originally a robotic girlfriend built by Francis, she was rebuilt and reprogrammed into a robotic clone of Francis, which took his place in front of a theater camping out for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. However, sometime between when the robot was placed at the theater and the release date for Episode III, the theater was turned into an antique store. When Francis returned for the robot, it handcuffed him to a chair and took his place at the office. It was discovered that the robot was not really Francis when it shorted out while making out with Marcy.