PvP, Volume 1: PvP at Large

PvP #1

by Scott Kurtz

Office hijinks, role-playing games, teenage geeks in love, old high-school rivals, and a Troll who's run away from home: It's just another average day at PvP Magazine. Landscape format trade paperback.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Webcomic, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2004

Reviews

[Willow Redd · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Review originally published on LibraryThing on December 5, 2012)

Scott Kurtz continues to publish his fun PvP web comic, but now for Image Comics. The main difference between this book and the Dork Ages trade is that this collection is a reprint of Kurtz's web material in print form.

This was a good set of strips from Kurtz, involving the introduction of a potential love interest for Francis (who of course is a girl gamer who wipes the floor with him before he knows she's female) and Max Powers, old friend of Cole and Brent who is a threat to the way of life set up by our players.

I've always enjoyed the characters and their relationships in PvP, which is why I keep coming back to it when other web comics have lost my interest. I definitely recommend checking out this book, and this web comic.

[Jota Houses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta reseña corresponde a los 45 números que publicó la editorial IMAGE. No tengo ni tiempo ni ganas de identificar a qué corresponde este tomo. Es una serie de viñetas que satiriza el mundo friki. No pretende ser original ni tener un dibujo espectacular. Abusa del corta-pega y muchos de los chistes han envejecido mal (especialmente los más sexistas). Aún así se lee con agrado y son más las sonrisas que los ceños fruncidos.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some nostalgia value, here, and points for a non-binary troll.

[Emily Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audience: ages 13 and up

PvP, or Player vs. Player is a video game magazine with a staff full of gaming nerds. Between Nerf gun wars and Dungeons and Dragons day at the office, most of the team's time is dominated with geeky activities and discussions. With the running theme of generational differences and the progression of gaming, Kurtz is careful to jokingly mock every type of gaming nerd.

With simply drawn, cartoony characters and great attention to nuanced expression, Kurtz's artwork offers a perfect platform for the characters' outrageous treatises on everything from the new Xbox to Star Wars to the sequel to The Matrix. This collection of issues 1-6 is sure to entertain anyone who is involved in gaming culture or who knows someone who is involved in gaming culture! As the Winner of the 2006 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, this collection is recommended as an essential purchase for teen or adult collections.

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

One might expect an avid fan of Penny Arcade to be some Kurtz-hating automaton driven by nothing but righteous fury and eternal enmity towards other webcomics who play opposite them in epic battlefields. Nay. I do not have a ninja versus pirate mentality when it comes to PA vs. PVP (though I DO have a ninja versus pirate mentality when it comes to ninjas and pirates - GO NINJAS!)

I received my first PVP book as a birthday present about three years ago. I had only ever seen a few strips before that and had heard all about it from friends who frequented it, but until I received the actual book in my hand, reading did not begin in earnest. It is now a regular read, viewed alongside Penny Arcade, VG Cats and Diesel Sweeties, a part of my regular pixel diet.

Grats to Marcie and Francis on losing their virginity (ding!), though that will be in much, MUCH later editions.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've become addicted to web comics. This one is my current favorite. The jokes are a little crude sometimes, but the panda always makes me laugh.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy laughing out loud. Then you should pick this up.