Thursday is the day that I’ve chosen to use for reviewing reading material. Books, if you will. This might come as a shock to those of you who know me better, as I’m not known as the most avid reader around. I’m almost going to be late on my deadline here too, so let’s get this bitch movin’!
Ha ha ha. Oh Ryan, you so cheap! Yeah, I know, it’s not really reading material, but it’s in the form of a book, so it counts! And this is pretty much the kind of thing you’re going to see when I review books, so get useded to it.
Moving on, I’m touting the Penny Arcade books not because of the comics inside. No, if that was all I was after, I’d just read the website. It’s not like they’ve got a bunch of book-only strips or anything, so it’s all good. No, the real gold here is the extra commentary that goes along with every comic. They’re usually hilarious, and surprisingly often more funny than the comic strip it’s describing. I’ve had a hard time not lawling while reading these books, and that says a lot. And I only have the first two volumes!
The other extra material -namely the forewords and bonus art galleries- are also totally worth buying the books for. If you’re into that kind of thing, I mean. There’s some really spectacular artwork hidden in the backs of these volumes, and while it’s sometimes hard to appreciate for the common man, someone who spends a good amount of his time doodling (like myself) will truly enjoy it. I guess there isn’t much else to say about that then. If you don’t like PA (you monster), then you most likely won’t like the for-monies editions. The commentaries might strike a chord that the comics don’t, I don’t know. The bottom line here would be that if you like dick jokes, buy these.