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Title: PVP: At Large
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents will want to preview this book before letting kids read it. While "PVP" is an overall fun series to read, with lots of humor and a fun cast to be found within the pages, several of the characters have disrespectful attitudes, there's some colorful language sprinkled throughout the book, some crude humor, and some comical storylines revolving around very adult situations. This series is in no way "South Park," but it's pretty obvious that young kids are not the target audience for this series. |
Scott Kurtz's popular online web comic "PVP: Player Vs. Player" is, in every single possible way, brilliant. I know I've said it before, but I don't mind saying it again. It's just hard to not fall in love with the nutty characters that make "PVP" such a fun read. To the nerdy boss Cole, to the coffie/sex addicted Brent, to female gamer Jade, to the lovable troll Skull, "PVP" has one of the most diverse and fun cast of characters to grace the newspapers (all five of them). As you all know, I am a huge "PVP" fan. But you also know that the first printed "PVP" collection, "PVP: The Dork Ages," really didn't live up to my expectations. It's not that my expectations were very high, it's just that I felt most of the book was a waste of time and fell flat trying to be something it wasn't. We got a couple of poorly reprinted archival stories and a couple of issues that had very little (if anything) to do with "PVP" at all. Luckly for us, "PVP: At Large" fixes all the problems "PVP: The Dork Ages" had and then some.
"PVP: At Large" is a compilation of the Image Comics publications, with an extra feature here and there. "So what does that mean" you ask? Is this a compilation of previously published comics? Is it a bunch of new comics made exclusively for the comic book formatt? Or are these George Lucas type "special edition" versions of old comics? Well, this book contains all three actually. When it comes to webcomic compilations, the "PVP" collections have been mixed bags with the fact that, at the moment, there is really no "complete" collection of the comics. For example, none of the original online comics from before 2003 make it into this collection. If you want to read comics that were published online from 1998 to 2003 you have to go online to get them. With that said, someone had the smarts to realize that the printed "PVP" comics were going to be an introduction to "PVP" for many people, and that they couldn't just jump in the middle of the story or they would lose people. For this reason, the story arcs that introduce Max Powers and Marcy Wisniewsky are included in this collection, but they are now redrawn and updated to match up with the current "PVP" style. Some hardcore fans may not like these updated versions (Marcy's character design is different, a "Sailor Moon" joke is changed to a "Pokemon" joke, and so forth), but newcomers aren't likely to care about such changes, and will love the comics as they are now.
Other comics that are ported straight from the website include Skull starting his carrear as an underground comics artist who all underground readers love until he gets an official contract with a major comic book company. This was one of Scott's more contrversial storylines, as he basically went out and made a statement that all underground comics suck. Or maybe he's just making fun of how overzealious underground comic fans can be. No ones really quite sure at this point. Never-the-less, Scott's writing is clever enough that even his controversial jokes manage to make you chuckle before you get offended by them. Of course the highlight of the whole "PVP" experience is actually the perfect blend of humor and storytelling. Much like Lynn Johnson's hugely popular "For Better or For Worse," "PVP" opperates on the "gag-a-day" style of humor while developing three dimential storylines that mimmick graphic novels. This sort of storytelling is not easy, but when done right can extremely satisfying. Despite all the things "PVP: At Large" has going for it, there are going to be some hard-core "PVP" fans that will not only be disapointed that this isn't the complete collection they were hoping for, but that several classic strips have been comepletely redrawn, and in some cases rewritten as well.
Some comics that you remember on the website...
...may not be completely as you remember it in this book.
I can understand this frustration. Regardless how aged the original cut of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" was, I still prefer it over the new special edition that has some nifty new CGI effects added to the movie to make it look more modern. The new CGI effects aren't bad, and the movie is still the same thing, but there's just something about the original version that stands out above the new version. Same thing can be said with these redrawn comics. There is nothing wrong with the new versions of the strips, but the originals will always remain in the fans hearts as the real versions of these comics. With all that said, "PVP: At Large" is an excellent edition to your collection whether you be a new or old fan. There is tons of laughs, great storylines, and the books are less then $10 each. And really, how can you go wrong with a deal like that?
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -