OotS Has Transcended Its Roots

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I am quite impressed at how much The Order of the Stick has improved. It started as a pretty funny joke-a-day D&D parody, and his evolved into a genuinely interesting story. I care about the lives of a large cast of stick figures in a silly D&D-based world that regularly breaks the fourth wall - something I wouldn't have guessed was possible.

The art style has improved with the writing, and I think its strength lies in its economy of motion. Every line serves a purpose. It is clean, efficient, and full of wit and energy. One can parse it at a glance, and it almost blends into the background, so only the story remains.

The way the comic weaves the story so enjoyably and seamlessly into dialogue is also great. I find myself more engaged than I am by most fantasy novels.

If I take an issue with the comic, it is that side characters tend to overshadow the main ones. I find the relationship between Elan and Tarquin much more interesting than the one between Roy and Xycon, or even Xycon and Redcloak. Tarquin might be one of my favorite villains in anything. He is so wonderfully, enjoyably creepy and threatening. On the surface is a decent person and loving father who happens to be a villain. Beneath lies a mad, delusional psychopath who is unpredictable and unhinged, but clever and competent enough to be a genuine threat.

Here's to The Giant!

[ChristianSt]

I hope that Xykon doesn't find you - is is pretty pissed at people not pronouncing his name correctly sometimes (which is extremely odd if you think about it, since he doesn't even care to remember names :smallwink:)

But anyway: I really like how much action/stuff Rich can pack in a few panels.

I have read some other webcomics, which feature more realistic graphics (I wouldn't really say better - first it is hard to say some art is better than another, and also Rich's art is pretty awesome in the first place), but some have really killed it for me how little content each update contains.

From a image-size comparison they feature the same amount of comic - but the art style uses so much space, that an update only contains an amount of 2-3 panels of OotS-style content, which makes it imo really hard to follow the comic as a whole. (Best thing would be to only check the other comics every other month or so, but until then I simple forget about it)

And I personally can't share your issues with overshadowing side characters - I think first it is more awesome if the side characters are as strong as the main characters and can pull their own weight.
I think the most awesome relation is by far Xykon vs. Redcloak - I'm not that big fan of Tarquin anyway. But that are only matters of taste, and it is imo only plus if there are enough interesting and awesome characters to have a hard time to choose from.

[rewinn]

OOTS is a good example of graphic novels or webcomics becoming literature.

Whatever the heck literature may be.

[aldeayeah]

Totally worth it, just for the thread title.