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Eric: The first shoe drops.
(From PvP. Click on the thumbnail for full sized recriminations!)
I can't claim that I called this, because I have no evidence. But I've strongly suspected for some time that we would get to a plotline like the one we seem to be moving into, and I'm excited now that we see it actually happening.
Let me explain.
PvP began on May 4, 1998. (Good Christ, it's been almost seven years.) This was in the heart of the Dot Com boom, when traditional media was being challenged by new media left and right, and at the same time traditional magazines on technology-friendly subjects were living high. Player vs. Player magazine could easily fit into that world, and do well. It also made sense that eventually a competing magazine, run by Max Powers, would move in next door.
But times change. And paradoxically, the combination of the dot com bust and the decline of traditional media game magazines makes it a tight market in real life. Penny Arcade covered this in good fashion, back in 2003. Things get tight.
And one of the core differences between Cole and Max Powers is Max Powers focuses on producing his magazine, and Cole... well, doesn't. He plays games, he grumbles, he gets involved in hijinks. He pays for outings. And, to be honest, he lets his staff get away with murder.
It was inevitable that we would have a sequence where Cole began to see the writing on the wall, and had to fight to save his magazine. We know he'll have to begin enforcing responsibility on his staff, and they in turn will resist. We know that it will eventually come out that they're in trouble, and they'll have to work extra hard... and we know that'll give everyone some trouble.
And we know it'll be funny.
I have to wonder if, as Max's magazine continues to do all right at least, and PvP flounders (why do I think that'll happen -- because it'll be funnier), if we'll have to deal with a merger, or shared staff...
...or a buyout. What will happen if PvP becomes a "sister publication," with Max imposing discipline from above?
What'll happen is it'll be funny, and probably a little poignant. And even if these predictions are dead wrong, I'm looking forward to what happens next.
Posted by Eric Burns-White at March 9, 2005 9:15 PM
Comments
Comment from: Theogrin posted at March 10, 2005 12:58 AM
Well, that's certainly an interesting hypothesis, but then what would happen with the 'doubles' over at Max's magazine? If you'll recall, he also has a team very similar to PvP -- the stereotypical geek, the style-obsessed mac user, the general-purpose intern. That said, one might expect 'evil twin' jokes out the window, much like the shirt storyline a day or two ago.
Comment from: Brian posted at March 10, 2005 1:37 AM
I was gearing up to write a whole counterpoint about how Cole's predicament was no more "inevitable" than Hagar's finally catching a life-threatening disease from his infrequent bathing...
...but then I realized that really good strips do deal with the inevitable. And "PvP" is a really good strip.
Peppermint Patty couldn't go through her entire life thinking that Snoopy was a funny-looking kid with a big nose. Farley couldn't stay a part of the "For Better or For Worse" cast forever. "Li'l Abner" and "Cathy" got married (not to each other...I mean, the mind boggles at the prospect.)
So, yeah, you're right -- as good a strip as "PvP" is, this day had to come sooner or later. However, I reserve the right to revoke this praise if Cole comes crawling to Max for the money he needs, and Max tells him that he'd be worth more dead than alive, and Cole is ready to throw himself off a bridge until an angel shows him what the world would be like if he'd never been born...
Crud. That actually sounds kinda promising, too.
Comment from: Alexis Christoforides posted at March 10, 2005 1:54 AM
Now that I think about it, this storyline has the potential to be a gigantic "nyah-nyah" to the traditional media. Wiley made a comic; Kurtz is doing a storyline, showing the decline of the traditional media, the switch to internet-based content, and the process of making the business profitable once more.
Or maybe not. I don't know, I'm sleepy.
Comment from: Tangent posted at March 10, 2005 3:42 AM
Actually, consider the fact that Max has been nosing around Cole lately, asking how things are and so forth... what if Max's magazine isn't the success he makes it to be? What if... Max is also struggling?
What if Max's magazine... goes under first? Unexpectedly... right when Cole is about to knuckle down and ask Max about buying PvP....
Robert A. Howard
Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at March 10, 2005 6:32 PM
You know, as someone who helps run a video game review site, I'm paying *very* close attention to this storyline.
In the video game media, there's a huge clash between the "old guard" (GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and their ilk) and the new upstarts (go onto GameTab and look at us all). The former take the latter to be hacks who couldn't cut it professionally, and the latter see the former as sell-outs to the advertising dollars of the industry they cover.
And, lest my thoughts be taken too seriously, I admit that I am one of the latter and do feel the magazines are just shills for whoever bought the most advertising this month.
Of course, each side is jealous, too. The magazines want the kind of respect and credibility that seem to come naturally to an indie site. And the web denizens want the industry attention and the salaries of the magazines.
This leads into a nasty cycle where each takes swipes at the other, and each loudly trumpets their victories and tries to hush their failures. Both sides are hurting, but the web sites are, for the most part, able to weather the storm (it helps that Netjak isn't my day job, even if I do dump over 40 hours per week into it).
If Kurtz is going to mirror the industry, watch and see that Max Powers isn't doing so hot either. But just as Cole wouldn't want Max seeing his misery, I bet Max is the same way. I could easily see the two merging and attempting to become specialty magazines (perhaps PvP devoted to computer gaming and Max's magazine focusing on consoles).
Kurtz doesn't usually actually look at the video game industry, and I think it's for the comic's benefit. But of course you can't avoid those plots forever... I'm really interested to see where it goes.
Comment from: Prodigal posted at March 11, 2005 1:03 PM
You've long ago established that Max Powers is a much better person than pretty much everybody except Skull. I can easily see him either buying PvP and letting them keep publishing, or floating them a loan in order to stay afloat.
Either way, Cole Will Not Cope.
Comment from: Ray Radlein posted at March 12, 2005 7:13 AM
"Li'l Abner" and "Cathy" got married (not to each other...I mean, the mind boggles at the prospect.)
Thank you. I will treasure that image forever.
(Daisy Mae and Irving? Not in a million years.)
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