A Familiar Conclusion

[Zeitgeist]

The title of the latest comic seems to imply the conclusion is something... well, familiar to many people.

But it's not familiar to me. What is the comic a rip-off/homage/reference to?

[Mad Mask]

It's a pun on the fact that Blackwing is Vaarsurvius' familiar, nothing more.

[BatRobin]

Not only that, but it's pretty much right-before Xykon's battle in Dorukan's Dungeon, but on a boat. Durkon and Roy are talking strategy, Elan and Haley and just talking, Belkar is being lazy and solitary again, and V...ok, V changed from then.

[Morgan Wick]

Not only that, but it's pretty much right-before Xykon's battle in Dorukan's Dungeon, but on a boat. Durkon and Roy are talking strategy, Elan and Haley and just talking, Belkar is being lazy and solitary again, and V...ok, V changed from then.

Right before Dorukan's dungeon? As I recall, Haley was a little too indisposed (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0100.html) for most of that leadup to be talking with Elan... this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0098.html) is the closest that description gets to being accurate.

[Zevox]

Also, the conclusion of this story arch, with Rich announcing a hiatus for the comic, is familiar to us from strip #484 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0484.html), which ended War and Xps' story and announced a similar hiatus.

Zevox

[Katana_Geldar]

We were kind of all expecting a splash page from 720 onwards.

[NerfTW]

I didn't notice the "familiar"/wizard's "familiar" conclusion pun, but I thought it was referring to V's statement that they did not know all they needed to about their task, a familiar conclusion, given Eugene, Roy, and then Shinjo's manipulation of them.

(Eugene as the Avatar of Justice, Roy manipulating them into helping him on the Star metal quest, and Shinjo's not telling Miko the real reason he wanted them brought in, resulting in unnecessary violence.)

[Optimystik]

Zevox nailed it. The pun is:

1) "familiar conclusion" - the logical conclusion reached by V and his familiar, Blackwing;

2) This ending ("conclusion" again) is "familiar" to us as readers because OotS has ended a book on a hiatus before.

There are a few other possibilities, but this one makes the most sense.

[Zeitgeist]

I was really hoping it was a reference to a movie or game... because it looked somewhat familiar to me and I couldn't figure out what from.

[Herald Alberich]

Zevox nailed it. The pun is:

1) "familiar conclusion" - the logical conclusion reached by V and his familiar, Blackwing;

2) This ending ("conclusion" again) is "familiar" to us as readers because OotS has ended a book on a hiatus before.

There are a few other possibilities, but this one makes the most sense.

In addition, I see a third pun: the conclusion of V's familiar as a running-gag class feature, and the start of Blackwing's story as a character in his own right.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

[BatRobin]

We were kind of all expecting a splash page from 720 onwards.

...


720?

[Zeta Kai]

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

I know who I want to take me home...