Mike Krahulik
Mike Krahulik (born 1977-09-25) is the artist who draws the popular webcomic Penny Arcade. He goes by the online moniker "John(athan) Gabriel" or "Gabe". He does not physically resemble his comic strip counterpart, as the character was not originally meant to represent him.
Work
Krahulik credits cartoonist Stephen Silver as a major influence on his drawing style. His style has become dramatically more stylised since he began drawing Penny Arcade in 1998. Many older comics have a visibly different style from the strips of today.
Krahulik's unique drawing style can also be recognized in promotional comics he has created for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and many other video games. In addition to the artwork on the comic strip and for video game promotions, Krahulik also provided the illustrations for the cover of the book Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi [1]. Early on he also contributed artwork to the Daily Victim, a regular feature that used to run on GameSpy.com, totalling more than 300 illustrations before he stopped.
Publicity
Krahulik has been in press online, thanks to hostile phone calls from Jack Thompson regarding an email Krahulik had sent. The email was in response to an offer Thompson had made to video game creators, about creating an ultra-violent game based on a man whose son was murdered by a supposedly video game influenced teen. Thompson offered them $10,000 towards charity. Krahulik, in the email, said that he and fellow gamers had raised about half a million dollars towards charity. According to Krahulik, "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."[2]
Mike Krahulik, along with the rest of the Penny Arcade staff, later opted to 'step in' for Jack Thompson. Thompson refused to donate his mentioned $10,000 to charity since he considered the game put forth to meet his challenge was sub-par (it was in fact a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mod). He also claimed that his proposal was sarcastic and more of a joke than a serious offer. Penny Arcade donated the money in his stead with a check reading "For Jack Thompson because Jack Thompson won't." as a note[3] [4].
