Article content continued

Krahulik has said that he sees himself as just the art guy on some stupid webcomic. Both he and the other half of the Penny Arcade comic team — writer Jerry Holkins — have often expressed befuddlement at their brand’s success, seeing themselves as just a couple of guys who write a sometimes offensive online comic strip that somehow spawned an impressive gaming empire around them.

Of course, the problem is that, whether they like it or not, Penny Arcade is more than that.

Krahulik and Holkins are the public faces of a company, and make a point of being in front of everything it does. They emcee several aspects of the massive Penny Arcade Expos. They host the auction dinner for their still growing gaming charity Child’s Play. They provide the characters for their yearly Dungeons & Dragons podcast with Wil Wheaton.

Sure, a lot (most) of the work putting these events together belongs to their team, led by their Business Development Guru Robert Khoo, but both the Penny Arcade creators put their personal stamps on everything associated with the brand.

Whether they like it or not, they are both inextricably tied to Penny Arcade.

Krahulik and Holkins are the public faces of a company, and make a point of being in front of everything it does

This means that every time they say something stupid it hurts not just them, but the entire empire they’ve built, an empire based around community and inclusiveness.

PAX was, and still is, a success because the Penny Arcade team sold it as an event built for the community — for gamers — and people embraced that at least partially because of good will they felt towards Penny Arcade.