Jerry Holkins

Holkins created the webcomic Penny Arcade in 1998 with Mike Krahulik, with Holkins writing and Krahulik illustrating.[4][5] According to an oral history, the two submitted cartoons to a contest run by a magazine in 1998. The magazine did not accept them but the creators sought other places to publish them, and worked with a site called looneygames.com to create what would become Penny Arcade. The strip initially ran once a week. Around a year later, they created their own website for the strip. In addition to the comic, Holkins wrote accompanying blog posts. Initially, this was partly because the format of their website left blank space. Holkins says that while now the posts are a key part of the site, when they first started he would delete each post to make space for the next one so the early posts are lost.[2] These posts are often computer and video game commentary, but also include personal reflections or rants.

According to Julia Swan of the Museum of History and Innovation, Penny Arcade was one of the first, if not the first, highly successful webcomics.[2] By 2000, Penny Arcade was profitable enough that Holkins could quit his day job. As of 2010, the strip was running three times a week and had about 3.5 million readers.[4]

Holkins is also the basis for one of the two central characters in Penny Arcade, "Tycho Brahe". Holkins and Brahe share similar interests and personalities,[6] though their appearances differ; for example, Tycho has mussed hair and sideburns, while Holkins's head is shaven.[7][8]

Holkins, along with Krahulik and their business manager Robert Khoo, founded the charity Child's Play in 2003.[4] Child's Play is a charitable organization that donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. The charity was founded in part to refute mainstream media's perception of gamers as violent and antisocial. As of 2017, Child's Play had processed $44,538,978 in donations since its inception.

PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Antonio in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia.

PAX was originally created in 2004 by Holkins and Krahulik because they wanted to attend a show exclusively for gaming. Defining characteristics of the shows include an opening keynote speech from an industry insider, game-culture inspired concerts, panels on game topics, exhibitor booths from both independent and major game developers and publishers, a LAN party multiplayer, tabletop gaming tournaments, and video game freeplay areas.

Holkins and Krahulik played Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition in Seattle for a day prior to its release, with Krahulik, Chris Perkins from Wizards of the Coast, Scott Kurtz of PvP, and Wil Wheaton.[9] Jerry is also featured in the Dungeons and Dragons 4E and 5E podcast, playing a character named Omin Dran, a Cleric of the Goddess Tymora (formerly Avandra), and CEO of an adventuring party named Acquisitions Incorporated. This has expanded into another streamed game entitled Acquistitions Incorporated: The "C" Team. This work has led to official D&D products featuring the Acquisitions Incorporated concept and characters.[10]

Holkins wrote The Lookouts, a comic which imagines a Boy Scouts-like group in a fantasy setting. Initial versions were written by Holkins and illustrated by Krahulik, while the final version was also co-written by Ben McCool, with art done by Robb Mommaerts and colors by Rainer Petter.[11][12] The premise has also been adapted into a short live-action film.[13]

Holkins wrote a book of poetry called Lexcalibur, featuring poems about D&D-style adventuring with illustrations by Krahulik.[14]

Holkins created a fictional fantasy series called "Epic Legends of the Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga" as a parody of generic fantasy fiction, and created a wiki for others to make up lore and backstory for the series. It rapidly grew in size as Penny Arcade fans joined in expanding the parody to describe the non-existent books, spinoffs, and life of the author.[15][16][17]