The webcomic PvP is among my favorite webcomics, alongside Sinfest, Sluggy Freelance, Sexy Losers and new addition to my webcomic reading list, Something Positive. (That’s a lot of s’s there. Never thought of that, really.) However, I can’t help but feel there’s something amiss there. Maybe I’m just biased against scroll bars, but it hasn’t felt as good ever since the format change about a month-and-a-half ago.
I fail to see how a comic strip in which one of the main characters is a troll can jump the shark very easily.
It has leapfrogged with the shark for some time now. I read it to pass the time daily but if I miss a comic I don’t go searching back through the archives to find out what I missed. I have felt that way about it for about a year, long before it changed from the box to the panel. I think Scott Kurtz has been running low on ideas for about that long and when he comes up with an idea that gains him notoriety (like dissing all the other webcomics) he plays it off poorly and just manages to look like a jerk. Even with that said, I still read it.
Yes.
Where are the IT Ninja and the WebMonkey?
Skull is funny, but he’s no ninja.
[hijack]My interpretation of ‘jump the shark’ is a singular event, with rare reverse jumps. A poor storyline, followed up by a decent storyline (or episodes in a TV series) does not, IMNSHO, constitute ‘jumping the shark’. Jumping the shark is not something determined in real-time. It only becomes apparent over time[/hijack]
No, it has not. Even though Scott Kurtz obviously (and rightly so) devotes more time to his comic book and other paying PVP endeavors, he still produces a good, free daily comic strip.
broccoli!, you’ll find ninja’s and web monkeys at Angst Technology, but I’m pretty sure that is what you were referring to anyway.
Overall I think PvP is still a damn good webcomic. Kurtz has identified his target audience well (us twenty-to-thirtysomething gamer geeks and pop culture fanatics) and he makes me laugh pretty consistently. That being said, I’m not a big fan of the current storyline (Skull turning into an ubergenius) and I’m just waiting for the next one to start. It’s like any entertainment product; there are good episodes and bad episodes. But on the whole, the good so far outweighs the bad.
Correct.
I just think more comics need ninja (ninjii?) and monkies.
I think he’s in a slump, but han’t jumped the monkey. I think Nodwick, who he’s linked to, is funnier.
PvP is okay, but it hasn’t been super-laugh-out-loud funny for me in a long time. And that’s even after I ignore Kurtz’s oft-reported ego problems.
Dork Tower, by John Kovalic, now that’s funny! 
It’s still light years ahead of Penny Arcade, which even to a gaming nerd like me seems beyond obscure and unfunny 99.9% of the time. At least PvP has some heart to it.
It jumped back when he redesigned Jade and Francis, IMHO.
Wow, I can’t believe it, I’m not the only geek who doesn’t like Penny Arcade? My brother!
PvP has bored me lately too, but I still want to give it a chance. I wish it’d focus less on Skull, since he’s my least favorite character. Angst Technology is a little dull too right now, but not so much. It still makes me laugh off and on.
I didn’t know PvP before I read this thread, and now that I’ve read some of it I have to say I liked it. It’s crazy, but not so out there that it becomes unfunny (as, indeed PennyArcade sometimes is), it’s fabulously well drawn, and you just gotta love that troll. It may not be equally funny all of the time, but can you think of a webcomic that is? I mean, mine sure isn’t. 
Is it wrong to think Marcy (post-redesign) is hot? I’d totally dig her, except for the purple hair.
(Says the guy who singlehandedly got his GF to buy a PS2 and later beat Vice City 100%)
PvP is internet comic’s Garfield.
Well, Short Guy, I just read Ur Kult, and had a few laugh out loud moments. I’ll be adding it to my daily webcomic perusal list.
I’d very much like to see another episode of “Mutant Powers We’d Like To Have.” Funny stuff, that.
As to PVP… at least it hasn’t fallen as far as Sluggy lately. Man, I remember when Sluggy used to be funny.
Wow. Thanks, MrVisible. It’s comments like that which make it all worthwile. Just like to note that it’s not a “daily” comic per se, it’s basically updated whenever I have the time. But more mutant powers may be coming up :).