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Jerry Holkins

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Jerry Holkins
Holkins in 2009
Holkins in 2009
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
GenreCartoonist
Years active1999–present
Notable worksPenny Arcade

Jerry Holkins(bornParkinson[1][better source needed];February 6, 1976[2]) is an American writer. He is the co-creator and writer of thewebcomicPenny Arcadealong with its artistMike Krahulik.Holkins sometimes uses thepseudonym"Tycho Brahe",[3]which is also the name ofa Penny Arcade characterbased on Holkins.

Holkins is a co-founder ofPAX(originally called the Penny Arcade Expo) a series of gaming festivals that began in 2004 and has been held around the world. He is also a co-founder ofChild's Play,a multimillion-dollar charity which organizes toy drives for children's hospitals.

Holkins, along with Krahulik, was included in theTime 100for 2010.[4]

Early life[edit]

Holkins was born inAuburn, Washingtonand grew up at least partly inSpokane,Washington.He met future collaboratorMike KrahulikatMead High School,Spokane in 1993 or 1994 through theschool newspaper,where they became friends.[4][2]After graduating high school, Holkins and Krahulik shared an apartment together. Holkins moved toSeattlearound 2000.[2]

Career[edit]

Penny Arcade[edit]

Main article:Penny Arcade

Holkins created the webcomicPenny Arcadein 1998 withMike Krahulik,with Holkins writing and Krahulik illustrating.[4][5]According to an oral history, the two submitted cartoons to a contest run by a magazine in 1998. The magazine did not accept them but the creators sought other places to publish them, and worked with a site called looneygames to create what would become Penny Arcade. The strip initially ran once a week. Around a year later, they created their own website for the strip. In addition to the comic, Holkins wrote accompanying blog posts. Initially, this was partly because the format of their website left blank space. Holkins says that while now the posts are a key part of the site, when they first started he would delete each post to make space for the next one so the early posts are lost.[2]These posts are oftencomputer and video gamecommentary, but also include personal reflections or rants.[citation needed]

According to Julia Swan of the Museum of History and Innovation,Penny Arcadewas one of the first, if not the first, highly successful webcomics.[2]By 2000,Penny Arcadewas profitable enough that Holkins could quit his day job. As of 2010, the strip was running three times a week and had about 3.5 million readers.[4]

Holkins is also the basis for one of the two central characters inPenny Arcade,"Tycho Brahe".Holkins and Brahe share similar interests and personalities,[6]though their appearances differ; for example, Tycho has mussed hair and sideburns, while Holkins's head is shaven.[7][8]

Child's Play[edit]

Main article:Child's Play (charity)

Holkins, along with Krahulik and their business managerRobert Khoo,founded the charity Child's Play in 2003.[4]Child's Play is acharitable organizationthat donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. The charity was founded in part to refute mainstream media's perception of gamers as violent and antisocial. As of 2017, Child's Play had processed $44,538,978 in donations since its inception.[citation needed]

PAX gaming conventions[edit]

Main article:PAX (event)

PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series ofgaming culturefestivals involvingtabletop,arcade,andvideo gaming.PAX is held annually inSeattle,Boston,Philadelphia,andSan Antonioin the United States; andMelbournein Australia.

PAX was originally created in 2004 by Holkins and Krahulik because they wanted to attend a show exclusively for gaming. Defining characteristics of the shows include an opening keynote speech from an industry insider, game-culture inspired concerts, panels on game topics, exhibitor booths from both independent and major game developers and publishers, aLAN partymultiplayer,tabletop gaming tournaments, and video game freeplay areas.

Other work[edit]

Holkins and Krahulik playedDungeons & Dragons4th editionin Seattle for a day prior to its release, with Krahulik,Chris PerkinsfromWizards of the Coast,Scott KurtzofPvP,andWil Wheaton.[9]Jerry is also featured in theDungeons & Dragons4th edition and5th editionpodcast, playing a character named Omin Dran, a Cleric of the Goddess Tymora (formerly Avandra), and CEO of an adventuring party named Acquisitions Incorporated. This has expanded into another streamed game entitled Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team. This work has led to official D&D products featuring the Acquisitions Incorporated concept and characters.[10]

Holkins wroteThe Lookouts,a comic which imagines aBoy Scouts-like group in a fantasy setting. Initial versions were written by Holkins and illustrated by Krahulik, while the final version was also co-written by Ben McCool, with art done by Robb Mommaerts and colors by Rainer Petter.[11][12]The premise has also been adapted into a short live-action film.[13]

Holkins wrote a book of poetry calledLexcalibur,featuring poems about D&D-style adventuring with illustrations by Krahulik.[14]

Holkins created a fictional fantasy series called"Epic Legends of the Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga"as a parody of generic fantasy fiction, and created awikifor others to make up lore and backstory for the series. It rapidly grew in size asPenny Arcadefans joined in expanding the parody to describe the non-existent books, spinoffs, and life of the author.[15][16][17]

Writing style[edit]

A review ofPenny Arcadein1Upsaid of Holkins, "Language itself, whether dirty or clean, is increasingly a focus [of the comic] as Holkins stretches himself to work his favored baroque dialogue and unusual words into the script."[5]

Personal life[edit]

Jerry Holkins, his wife Brenna, and their daughter Samantha at PAX 2006.
Jerry Holkins, his wife Brenna, and their daughter Samantha atPAX2006

Holkins is married to his wife Brenna. They have two daughters, Samantha and Ronia.[18][19]In atweet,Holkins said that his surname "is a combination of Holcomb (hers) and Parkinson (mine)."[1]Old versions of the Penny Arcade site credit the work to "Mike Krahulik and Jerry Parkinson".[20]

Holkins said in his Penny Arcade Podcast that he sings andplays guitarin thebandThe Fine Print, and that his band once opened for the bandAnal Cunt.[21]

Bibliography[edit]

  • with Krahulik, Mike (2001).Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective.KiwE Publishing, Ltd.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2006).Penny Arcade: Attack of the Bacon Robots.Dark Horse.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2006).Penny Arcade: Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings.Dark Horse.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2007).Penny Arcade: The Warsun Prophecies.Dark Horse.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2007).Penny Arcade: Birds Are Weird.Dark Horse.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2008).Penny Arcade: The Case of the Mummy's Gold.Dark Horse.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2010).Penny Arcade: The Halls Below.Del Rey.ISBN9780345512260.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2010).The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11½th Anniversary Edition.Del Rey.ISBN9780345512260.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2011).Penny Arcade: Be Good Little Puppy.Del Rey.ISBN9780345512260.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2017).Lexcalibur.Del Rey.ISBN9780997161915.
  • with Krahulik, Mike (2022).Lexcalibur II.Del Rey.ISBN9780997161939.

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"Holkins is a combination of Holcomb (hers) and Parkinson (mine)."https://twitter /TychoBrahe/status/12073336701
  2. ^abcdeSwan, Julia (April 10, 2013)."Oral history interview with Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (transcript)".digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu.Museum of History and Industry.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  3. ^"Tycho Brahe weighs in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness".Engadget.Retrieved2020-11-13.
  4. ^abcdeGrossman, Lev (2010-04-29)."The 2010 TIME 100: Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik".Time.ISSN0040-781X.Retrieved2020-11-12.
  5. ^ab"Will Strip for Gags".1UP.Archived fromthe originalon 2006-06-28.Retrieved2020-11-12.
  6. ^Searles, Brad (2006-01-19)."Penny Arcade vs MIT".Bradley's Almanac. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-03-10.Retrieved2015-03-10.
  7. ^Baker, Chris (21 August 2007)."The Dorks Behind Penny Arcade, an Obscure Webcomic Turned Vidgame Empire".Wired Magazine.Retrieved7 December2011.
  8. ^Khoo, Robert (31 December 2011)."I'm Robert Khoo. The guy that runs the business side of Penny Arcade".reddit.Retrieved31 December2011.
  9. ^Pascale, Anthony (January 21, 2009)."Wil Wheaton Talks Geeking Out At Phoenix Comic Con w/TNG Co-stars + more".TrekMovie.Retrieved2009-11-25.
  10. ^"Acquisitions Incorporated | Dungeons & Dragons".dnd.wizards.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  11. ^"Lookouts Finally Appears in Comic Book Form".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  12. ^"Why you should be reading 'Lookouts'".CBR.2013-03-14.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  13. ^"LOOKOUTS™ SHORT FILM".LOOKOUTS™ SHORT FILM.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  14. ^Sheehan, Gavin (2018-05-31)."Review - Lexcalibur: Useful Poetry for Adventurers Above and Below the World".Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.Retrieved2020-11-18.
  15. ^ELotH:TES
  16. ^"Penny Arcade - Comic - ELotHTES: Prologue".Penny Arcade.Retrieved2020-11-13.
  17. ^"The Saga of The Saga".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved2020-11-13.
  18. ^Brahe, Tycho (Jan 1, 2022)."You never know how pronoun and gender conversations are gonna go with the grandparents, but for our Eldest - that is to say, Samantha - it went as well as it possibly could".Twitter.Retrieved2022-01-02.
  19. ^ESRB Conversations - Jerry & Ronia: What's This? (30s),archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-12,retrieved2021-02-23
  20. ^"Penny Arcade".Archived from the original on 1999-10-04.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  21. ^"Penny Arcade, Downloadable Content 05/04/2007," The Broodax Imperiate. "(Podcast)".2007-05-04. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-09.Retrieved2007-05-07.Alt URL

External links[edit]

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