I think it's safe to say that Penny Arcade is the most popular and successful webcomic, and has been for some time. We've become so used to the fact that they've always been there, ready to satirize, decry, rage against, and lampoon videogames, and other assorted nerd-ity, that it's hard to remember a time when Penny Arcade wasn't always around, least of all not being on top of the world.
The first collection of PA strips--like all the others, it bears a title and cover that has nothing to do with the contents--let's us go back to this bygone era, when Gabe and Tycho were brand new. Attack of the Bacon Robots! contains every strip from the very first (November 18, 1998, for those playing along at home) til the end of 2000. While this may seem like a lot of content, a full two years of Penny Arcade strips, the webcomic didn't achieve its now immovable Monday/Wednesday/Friday update schedule until most of the way through 2000, so you're effectively getting as many comics as you do in the other three collections that have been released.
The main question is, why would you pay $13 for this, when the comics are still available for free online?? Well, there's the "support your heroes" argument. I've read Penny Arcade, more or less, since the beginning, and until I bought these collections, I hadn't given them a cent of my money. Another argument in their favor is ease of use. The sad truth is that Penny Arcade's archive is woefully inadequate and prone to error, frequently sending me to wrong strips or sending me to the same one over and over. Then there's the fact that it's just convenient to have the strips in book form. They look nice in print form, plus the extras you can't get anywhere else.
Speaking of which...Along with the aforementioned two years of Penny Arcade, you get an introduction written by Bill Amend (of Foxtrot fame), two introductions by Jerry Holkins (a.k.a. Tycho) as well as commentary on every strip from him, a sketchbook of Mike Krahulik's (a.k.a. Gabe) from those years, and a webcomic's manifesto written by Jerry. The second volume of the Penny Arcade collections easily has the most and best extras, but they're really just bonuses anyway. If you aren't buying these expressly for the strips, then there's something wrong with you.
The main critical thing I can say about the strips themselves is that they aren't nearly as archaic and awkward as you might fear. Assuming you haven't gone back through the first two years of strips lately, you'll be shocked to see how far Penny Arcade has come both in terms of artwork and writing. Mike has come quite a ways in his drawing, perfecting a unique style with slight alterations made over time. About halfway through the book you'll start to "see" the Penny Arcade you know and love. As for Jerry, well, his writing is the not-so-secret weapon of Penny Arcade. You don't get the full bloom of his writing until later volumes, which re-print classic blogposts from him, but his commentary on each comic is genius and, sometimes, funnier than the strips themselves. That said, Penny Arcade--as a whole--was never really bad per se. Some of the strips from '98/'99 are clunky and embarrassing, but you'll likely be shocked at how well most of it holds up.
As a critic I want to fall into the lazy and evil (lazevil??) trap of referring to a certain year as "the best" or "the year where it all finally came together", but unlike many webcomics that look and read like crap until a year or two in, Penny Arcade was already in its prime by mid-1999. The tone and style have remained largely unchanged even as the comics have, perhaps, become more refined--that is to say, they look and read better. Anyway, if you're a fan, you owe it to yourself--and to Jerry and Mike--to pick this up.
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