User Friendly turns ten

I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that it's so noticeable in Penny Arcade because Mike
Krahulik was pretty inexperienced when he started drawing that comic. So what you're seeing in
Penny Arcade is the development of his personal style as much or even more than it is the
strip itself maturing. As far as I know the artists behind Boasas and User Friendly had been
drawing a lot longer than Mike when they started their comics so you can't expect such a
dramatic change/ improvement.

[The other half of the team, Jerry Holkins, has improved too, that first joke wouldn't make it
onto a comic today, the pacing is weak and the punch line doesn't punch. Friday's PA comic is,
like the User Friendly example, the same idea as the first comic, but after almost 10 years
the new joke is more subtle and better paced. Of course he couldn't have executed that
subtlety if Mike's drawing wasn't an order of magnitude better too. You still have to be a
hardcore gamer or read the accompanying explanations to get the joke, but that seems to work
out OK for them so who's to argue? ]