Can someone please clue me what this PVP comic and the one immediately following is referencing? It seems clear that the “office park manager” is supposed to be someone I’d recognize – I don’t – and Francis growing shades is supposed to reference this. I have no clue what Kurtz is on about. Help? Thx.
I don’t think he’s growing shades - his pupils are just dilating. However, I’m as equally befuddled as you as to who it’s supposed to be.
The way I read it the guy was a midget and reminded Francis of a hobbit or something. And he wasn’t growing sunglasses, his eyes were just bugging out at the sight of the “hobbit”. Anyway, that’s my take on it. This week should clear it up.
Yeah, it took me a few minutes to realize it, but I think the office park manager is supposed to be a midget (my initial impression was that he was sitting down, and like the OP, I thought I was supposed to recognize him). The joke is just a pun on Brent’s “somebody bigger” line.
I imagine we’re not the only ones who were confused. Seems Kurtz would do well to invest some time learning to draw feet.
Some clarifications:
The “manager” character seemed to depart from Kurtz’ drawing style quite a bit, and this lead me to think it was a caricature of an actual person – the style may be intentionally odd because it’s for a specific purpose: lampooning a well known person.
Francis’ eye-bugging happened over several panels, and seems to closely match the look of Brent’s shades when complete; why would I not think that Brent’s shades and Francis’ bugeyes were similar things?
Lastly, “Look at you!” makes no sense (to me) as a tag for that second comic. Why would someone say that, unless as a culture reference?
I really think it’s because the guy’s really short. Francis totally missed the whole conversation because he’s too busy staring at the short guy, and is now blurting nonsense.
As for the drawing style, the guy kinda looks like Peter Dinklage. I can’t imagine what dwarfism has to do with the plotline though.
A really poor layout. Once people pointed it out, I could go back and see the guy is a midget. But initially reading the strips it appeared he was just sitting in a chair or something.
I did a little poking around and I found this blog that analyzes/critiques PVP Online. (Apparently there’s a blog for everything.) Here’s the relevant quote:
Looks like it’s not supposed to be anyone in particular, just Kurtz trying to avoid drawing an offensive caricature. He totally failed to portray what he meant to portray though, I agree.
And Peter Dinklage rocks. He was awesome in Threshold.
The big, googly eyes look comes from anime (I think.) It just shows that Francis thinks the office manager is cute and cuddly looking.
Does nobody watch Spongebob Squarepants? Those are “I Think I’m In Love” eyes.
Not that I think Francis is in love with the office park manager. He’s just googly-eyed at the thought of having direct personal contact with a midget.
I do understand the Spongebob effect, but Kurtz really needs to work on his art basics if he’s going to use this effect. Francis’ eyes look like Hamptero + Brent’s shades, and he’s standing right next to Brent, and I can barely tell the difference between their eye-areas. I generally like Kurtz’ drawing quite a bit, but this is terrible workmanship.
