OOTS, Great Art and You

[rosebud]

[NOTE: This thread is not a discussion of politics or religion. So please keep within forum rules. Also, this does not ask what interpretations we have, but why the work is so engaging. Thanks.]

Background:

OOTS is a great work of art. And I don't just mean the drawing.

OOTS is compelling in a way most webcomics are not. There are few works where one can regularly discuss culture, literature, art, and philosophy.

With #409, I realized:

1. OOTS is ripe for literary and historical (mis)interpretation.
2. Someone will write a dissertation on webcomics and include OOTS. I found that thought amusing.

My question becomes: Why is OOTS so entertaining?

Also: Is OOTS great art? To what extent do we see ourselves in interpreting it?

Lastly, do we all have too much free time or too great a need to procrastinate via this forum?

[PaladinFreak]

I for one think OOTS is entertaining because it somehow manages to be both lighthearted and serious at the same time. It can have serious things happening, and serious people, but still laughs at itself enough, and keeps a constant aura of joviality going, so that it doesn't come off as either too ridiculous or to serious.

I think that being drawn in stick figures helps too.

[Andiamo]

Yes to the last bit. For example, I'm supposed to be doing homework right now, but here I am, discussing whether or not a webcomic is art.

Why is it so entertaining? Well... it is like the Firefly of webcomics. Think about the heroes. Except for some people randomly hating Roy, pretty much everybody loves all the characters. I think that is one of the main things. The characters. They're great, and after 400 strips, we really care about them (who wasn't scared for Haley when Nale showed up and asked her on that date?). The progress this strip has made is another great thing about it. It started out making fairly obvious jokes about the rules, and look where we are now... It's beautiful. It is art.

[Jawajoey]

Frankly, I consider "art" to be an insult to everything I value, so I hesitate to call it that.

But Order of the Stick is indeed amazing. It has plot advancement, character development, depth, and storytelling that surpasses basically everything else on the internet.

[Planewalker]

From my own perspective as a writer, OOTS is without a doubt a work of art. It has a compelling story line that seems only to grow more intricate as time progresses, it has a cast that most everyone loves, and its simplistic stick figures are very detailed at a second glance. Maybe not when OOTS was first starting out, but it has definitely evolved into Great Art now. Go Giant!

[Haruki-kun]

To me, whatever is art cannot get any better. I think this is art, being a writer myself.