Unfortunately, when the explanation turns toward character motivations, Thompson's typically crisp and engaging writing can feel stiff and forced. There is even a series of panels that simply show thought bubbles from all four of the characters in the scene, establishing why each of them is playing Mages and Monsters. Thompson uses this sort of over-explanation throughout, and it frequently pulled me out of the story.

Nevertheless, Thompson is hardly shy with his use of references, despite the necessity for covering up names like Dungeons and Dragons and Pokémon with similar constructions like "Mages and Monsters" and "Gothemon." Aided by some of Hao's great visual nods to anime, manga, and video games, Thompson makes allusions to everything from Death Note to Final Fantasy to Taxi Driver to Monopoly, and even throws in what I believe is a very subtle reference to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Victor Hao reaches his best moments when his art stays within his own wacky-looking cartoon style. Many of the characters, most notably Shesh and Theo, are frequently portrayed with little dot eyes and gaping mouths, an American comic strip look that really seems to fit the story and allow for a number of surprisingly funny visual gags. However, the characters that are drawn in manga-style (typically women) end up looking like grotesque, poorly proportioned aliens. Such is the trap that most OEL manga artists fall into when attempting imitate a broadly defined cultural style rather than focus on their own unique aesthetic. To make matters worse, the comic seems to be a victim of a tragic screen tone explosion, leaving some of the pages cluttered and hard to understand on a first reading.

Despite some of its artistic shortcomings, King of RPGs really is a fantastic read. To be honest, I read this during a car ride with my family, and they were all very annoyed that I was laughing out loud literally every minute or so of the ride. That's about as good of a recommendation as any comedy can get.

great.

In June of of 2002, Piro announced that Largo had officially left Megatokyo. His final strip, contained in Megatokyo volume 2, was published to the site on February 4th, 2002. Citing major creative differences, Fred and Rodney decided that it was "better for Megatokyo" for them to split and leave Piro in charge of everything. Largo was given money in exchange for him selling all rights to the property to Piro.

For a time, Fred Gallagher is able to keep up the momentum created together by himself and Rodney Caston. Through the second volume through most of the third one, we are kept entertained by Largo's insane antics. Piro's story becomes much more separated from Largo's, both in terms of distance and literary difference. Piro goes through a long line of emotional troubles, while Largo barely sees him during long bouts of fighting zombies and such. Early in this process, Fred keeps a very good balance between serious and humorous comics, so that readers of many types can still enjoy it. Nevertheless, after a while, he almost completely moves into emotional ground, even turning one of the characters into a love interest for Largo. This type of story can be enjoyable for fans of romantic dramas, but is often just sappy and whiney, due to its focus on nerds.

Of course, Shirt Guy Dom, Leave it to Seraphim, and other random in-between strips remain. These, especially the SGD ones, are usually the funniest things in the comic. I still check back with "the new MT" just to see if I can catch a new Dom strip.

As one would expect, Fred Gallagher's art becomes better and better the further the comics move. However, I would pinpoint his peak around the end of volume 2/volume 3. At this point, he reaches an equilibrium where his art looks like manga, but is not a blatant copy. It is also much better drawn and shaded than his earlier comics, but keeps the simplicity and cleanness that made the older comics so much fun to read. Eventually, his style progesses even more. While his ability to draw clothing and architecture gets even better the ore he draws, Fred also finds himself drawing bigger and more watery-looking eyes, making him look like just another anime rip-off.

The "Piro Era" of Megatokyo is a complicated time for fans of the comic. When Largo left, many fans stayed around just to see if Fred could keep up the original stuff the two created together. Eventually, many fans of the original joke-a-day style left, only checking back occasionally to see what's up with their once-favorite webcomic. Still others stayed, enjoying Fred's new, serious style. It boils down to a question of preference. While I enjoy the combined Largo-Piro style, and I do not like romantic stories, Fred does do some things better. Megatokyo finally focuses on one demographic, instead of scrambling for many of them at the same time. However, I feel that Fred still has not been able to make his romantic storyline as engaging as the humorous one from the early days. The "Piro Era" falls short compared to its predeccessor, but is still an interesting buy for fans of the series, and the 3rd volume will still entertain Lergo fans.

Art:		3.5		Average: (3 stars)
Plot:		3.0
Overall:		2.5

Megatokyo begins as a typical webcomic. Here you have your lazy and drunk gamer who speaks in l33t, your wimpy otaku, and a bunch of insane Japanese cultural points and things like anime and games to be the blunt of the jokes. However, the series works well with what it is given, and creates a quite enjoyable webcomic from it.

While the plot may seem rather cliched for a webcomic, the writers pull off gaming jokes that you expect Tycho and Gabe would have done to death really well. You can practically see the clashing ideas of Fred and Rodney as their characters go through their crazy adventures. Largo does or says something stupid, while Piro acts as his foil and makes us laugh at it. Occasionally, the roles are switched, but the jokes generally stay in predictable territory. Even though the jokes never go beyond any realms we haven't seen before, their delivery and inside perspective make this a joy for otaku and gamers. Of course, as the comic progresses, we begin to find mor original comics. Instead of following the story all of the time, we are treated to random (and often comical) looks into the lives of the writers. In addition, things like a rather amusing Penny Arcade parody sneak in there as well. Then, of course, there is "Shirt Guy Dom." Dom Nguyen is a friend of Piro and Largo who helps out with Megatokyo and occasionally...draws stick comics with a trackball when Piro can't draw something that day. While Fred, Rodney, the general readership, and even Dom himself considers these to be the most powerful image of evil in the universe, these comics are undoubtedly some of the funniest in all of Megatokyo. Dom simply writes about events in his life, but his blatant self-parody makes the horrible artwork that much more amusing.

As for art, there is a single major difference in Megatokyo from most other webcomics. Fred draws his comics in pencil, traces them in pencil, and then scans them into the computer where he fixes them up. So, his final drawings end up as pencil drawings, a quite unusual approach for a comic. Nevertheless, his art has a very clear and expressive style. In addition, his experience as an architect allows for him to create very realistic-looking buildings and such. The panel layout begins with a simple yet effective 4-panel square layout, but moves to a harder-to-read, but more expressive manga one later on. Fred creates a pseudo-manga that does not look like an imitation. The influence is there, but almost never overwhelms the reader. There are some problems with his art, though. As good as he is with architecture, Gallagher still has trouble with human anatomy and facial structure. Luckily, his skills progress quickly throughout the comic.

Megatokyo is a very simple webcomic at the "Largo Era" stage. Piro's art is gaining skill, while the two work together well to make jokes that are both absurd and clever. This can make mainstream viewers laugh, while true nerds will find the workings of Piro and Largo's world to be even funnier. Megatokyo volumes 1 and 2 are a great buy for fans of webcomics, and extras like commentary on the bottoms of all of the 4-panel strips make it even more enjoyable.

Art:		2.5		Average: (3.167 stars)
Plot:		3.5
Overall:		3.5