Jerry Holkins

Jerry Holkins is the writer and co-creator of the Penny Arcade web comic, which follows the misadventures of video game enthusiasts Tycho Brahe and Jonathan Gabriel. Mike Krahulik, his co-creator, does the art. They started Penny Arcade in 1998, and by 2000 they were both able to work on it full-time. The comic updates three times a week and has approximately 3.5 million readers. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984940_1985513,00.html Game manufacturers sometimes ask them to create promotional material for them, which is published under the heading Penny Arcade Presents. http://www.penny-arcade.com/presents/

In addition to his work on Penny Arcade, Holkins was a singer and guitarist for The Fine Print, whose work is still freely available. http://www.ilike.com/artist/The+Fine+Print He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Brenna, and their son, Elliot.http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/11/25/

Holkins' work on Penny Arcade has expanded beyond the comic itself. In 2004 he and Krahulik founded the Penny Arcade Expo, also known as PAX, a gaming convention held in Washington state. http://www.penny-arcade.com/2004/4/12/ It has since expanded to include two conventions: the original PAX and PAX East, held in Boston. http://www.paxsite.com/paxeast/index.php 2008 saw the release of a Penny Arcade computer game, Penny Arcade Adventures On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness. http://www.rainslick.com/news.htm In 2009 Holkins and Krahulik began Penny Arcade: The Series, a weekly documentary of their work lives. The show airs in 8-10 minute segments every Friday, and season one is available on DVD. http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/faq/

In 2003, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik created Child's Play, a charity devoted to sending video games, toys and movies to hospitalized children during the winter holiday season. Holkins and Krahulik arranged for their readers to donate games to the Seattle Children's Hospital through Amazon. Since then, Child's Play has expanded to include over 60 hospitals across America and internationally. http://www.childsplaycharity.org/about.php

Almost all of the strip is autobiographical but it's not literal in its interpretation. Sometimes, simply for convenience's sake, we need to present a position that is ridiculous and we have to choose someone to be wrong. But most of the time, it's some story or experience that we've had or a product that we've tried out and we represent it in a way that's ridiculous but it has a factual core. — Jerry Holkins http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20399517/

• 2001: Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2006: Penny Arcade, Volume 1: Attack of the Bacon Robots (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2006: Penny Arcade, Volume 2: Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2007: Penny Arcade, Volume 3: The Warsun Prophecies (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2007: Penny Arcade, Volume 4: Birds are Weird (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2008: Penny Arcade, Volume 5: The Case of the Mummy's Gold (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2010: The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2010: Penny Arcade, Volume 6: The Halls Below (with Mike Krahulik)
• 2011: Penny Arcade, Volume 7: Be Good, Little Puppy (with Mike Krahulik) http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?ATH=Jerry+Holkins