Mike Krahulik
Birth nameMichael Krahulik
Birth dateSeptember 25, 1977 (age 49)
NationalityAmerican
AliasJonathan Gabriel, Gabe
Cartoonisty
Notable worksPenny Arcade

Michael Krahulik (/krəˈhuːlɪk/; born September 25, 1977) is an American artist for the webcomic Penny Arcade and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker "Jonathan Gabriel" or "Gabe". Krahulik does not physically resemble his comic strip counterpart, as the character was not originally meant to represent him. He is from Spokane, Washington.[1][2]

Work

Mike Krahulik credits cartoonist Stephen Silver as a major influence on his drawing style. His style has dramatically changed since he began drawing Penny Arcade in 1998.[3]

Krahulik has done promotional comics for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and many other video games. He also provided the illustrations for the cover of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi.[4] In his early career he contributed artwork to the Daily Victim, a regular feature that used to run on GameSpy, totaling more than 300 illustrations. He has also designed and drawn advertisements, promotional artwork, and pre-order bonuses for several video games, including Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and others, mostly from Ubisoft. Krahulik and Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins have archived these projects and keep them within their web page.[5]

Krahulik also portrays the infamous wizard Jim Darkmagic of the Newhamp Shire Darkmagics (a location deemed much more suitable by gamemaster Chris Perkins than regular New Hampshire) in Acquisitions Incorporated, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast/live show.[6][7] Through this, he and Holkins had the opportunity to play the new release of Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition in Seattle for a day with Chris Perkins from Wizards of the Coast, Scott Kurtz of PvP, and Wil Wheaton.[8]

Publicity

In 2005, anti-video game activist Jack Thompson wrote an open letter ("A Modest Video Game Proposal") in which he said he would donate $10,000 USD if a game developer would create an ultra-violent game whose protagonist murders video game developers.[9] Krahulik responded to Thompson with an email in which he said that he and fellow gamers had raised about half a million dollars toward charity. Krahulik later said, "Jack actually just called and screamed at me for a couple minutes. He said if I email him again I will 'regret it'. What a violent man."[10] After a group of developers made such a game (2006's "I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator"), Thompson refused to make the donation, calling the game subpar and saying that his proposal was satirical, not serious. Krahulik and the Penny Arcade staff then donated $10,000 to the Entertainment Software Association with the note, "For Jack Thompson, because Jack Thompson won't".[11][12]

Along with Holkins, Krahulik was included on the 2010 Time 100[13] for their work on Penny Arcade.

In 2010, Krahulik and Penny Arcade were criticized for several comics and statements about the transgender community and rape, particularly in response to a comic featuring fictional creatures known as "dickwolves."[7][14][15][16] Krahulik and Holkins dismissed these criticisms, later selling "Team Dickwolves" T-shirts. In June 2013, Krahulik apologized and donated $20,000 to LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group The Trevor Project.[17]

In 2011, Krahulik wrote a foreword for the book The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was about the production of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic.[18]

References

  1. ^ "The Penny Arcade Story: Spokanites Create Popular Webcomic - SpokaneTalk". 2025-02-11. Archived February 11, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  2. ^ Grossman, Lev (2010-04-29). "The 2010 TIME 100 - TIME". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived April 27, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  3. ^ Maragos, Nich (November 7, 2005). "Penny Arcade". 1up.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "2005 Cover Art Gallery". Locus. Archived February 27, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "Penny Arcade Presents". Penny-Arcade.com. Archived July 9, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  6. ^ "Acquisitions Incorporated - Our Company - Staff". acq-inc.com. Archived April 21, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  7. ^ Kaszor, Daniel (June 21, 2013). "Download Code: Penny Arcade needs to fix its Krahulik problem". Financial Post. Archived November 1, 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  8. ^ Pascale, Anthony (January 21, 2009). "Wil Wheaton Talks Geeking Out At Phoenix Comic Con w/TNG Co-stars + more". TrekMovie.com. Archived July 9, 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  9. ^ Saunderson, Matt (October 10, 2005). "Attorney Proposes Violent Game". GameCube Advanced. Advanced Media Network. Archived October 30, 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ "Jack Thompson is blasted by pro-family group". Gamesindustry.biz. October 14, 2005. Archived July 14, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  11. ^ Miller, Ross (2005-10-17). "Penny Arcade donates $10,000 in Jack's name to charity". Joystiq. Archived July 14, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  12. ^ Reimer, Jeremy (October 19, 2005). "Anti-game activist Jack Thompson under investigation". Ars Technica. Archived September 5, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  13. ^ Grossman, Lev (April 29, 2010). "The 2010 Time 100: Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik". Time. Archived from the original on May 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  14. ^ Myers, Maddy (August 16, 2010). "Penny Arcade surprised to find that rape jokes offend people". The Boston Phoenix. Archived August 11, 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  15. ^ Myers, Maddy (February 3, 2011). "Gaming, rape culture, and how I stopped reading Penny Arcade: When Dickwolves attack". The Boston Phoenix. Archived October 18, 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  16. ^ Hern, Alex (September 3, 2013). "Penny Arcade reopens the "dickwolves" controversy". New Statesman. Archived July 29, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  17. ^ Edidin, Rachel (June 26, 2013). "Why Penny Arcade's Foot-in-Mouth Problem Is Bigger Than Penny Arcade". Wired.com. Archived July 25, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  18. ^ "Book Review - The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic". TORCAST.com. 2011-11-15. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011.