OOTS #560 - The Discussion Thread

[Remirach]

Oh, Elan. Never change. I find his faith in Therkla's good intentions to be kind of touching and sad. I wonder what she makes of it.

Must ninjas always be evil or at least non-good aligned? I was getting the impression "she's a ninja" means "she can't possibly be good." Or was that just to deflect the "superhero" notion?

Mind, I AM now 100% satisfied THERKLA must be evil. It's her CLASS I've become a little unsure of.

[Sammich]

References were great. First comic in a while that had me amazed as I read through it.

[Renegade Paladin]

Someone needs to beat Elan with the clue bat.

[Majorman]

Can't help feeling stupid for not watching LOST. Oh, well, got all the other jokes though.

"She was bitten by a radioactive ninja." and the Cyclops reference were hilarious.

[Paragon Badger]

You know your jokes are lame when someone has to explain ALL of them. I like that you included a wikipedia link for BATMAN, though. No one has ever heard of him. He gets no mainstream recognition.

This is the worst OotS strip EVER. Don't listen to the other people in this thread.

Then again, OotS worst strip is likely better than many webcomics' best strips.

[youareworthless]

That doesn't make the worst OotS strips any better.

[youareworthless]

Just to irrefutably prove my point, consider how shabby the jokes are. If a passing joke alluding to Elan not being evil is the high point of the strip then there is something wrong. The last few panels shouldn't be something you have to think about for more than three seconds to "get" unless you're pandering to a certain niche, and although this is a RPG-centered comic, that isn't who you're pandering to with a reference to Greek mythology. Furthermore, I had no idea who the people in the last panel were supposed to be except for Cyclops because they're all indistinct stick figures. The sheep were a hint, but it still didn't click until after being explained.

Another thing, it's not like nobody has ever made an X-Men/mythology reference before.

[glowface]

About pirate-robot-monkey... I might be biased, but in Monkey Island IV's epic final duel, Guybrush, according to my memories, climbs into a giant pirate-robot-monkey to defeat the antagonist.

[Paragon Badger]

Just to irrefutably prove my point, consider how shabby the jokes are. If a passing joke alluding to Elan not being evil is the high point of the strip then there is something wrong. The last few panels shouldn't be something you have to think about for more than three seconds to "get" unless you're pandering to a certain niche, and although this is a RPG-centered comic, that isn't who you're pandering to with a reference to Greek mythology. Furthermore, I had no idea who the people in the last panel were supposed to be except for Cyclops because they're all indistinct stick figures. The sheep were a hint, but it still didn't click until after being explained.

Another thing, it's not like nobody has ever made an X-Men/mythology reference before.

Taste... is a matter of opinion.

And nothing is irrefutable except in mathematics. And even then, there are still paradoxes...

Besides, A silly pun on Cyclops and Odysseus takes more intellectual effort than half the things people pass off as comedy nowadays. I won't name names, though... Family Guy.

Point is, nobody has a monopoly on truth. That's irrefutable fact.

[H. Zee]

I have to say I'm really surprised at how many people apparently disliked this strip or didn't get it. It's up there among my faves, and is the first OOTS in a long while to make me roar with laughter at the final panel. I can't say I got the Lost references, but that is hardly enough to ruin a brilliant strip.

[Supermagle]

(Puts up a sign:)
Do not feed Trolls.

[Harmandil]

Ooooo.... hahahaha!

Just seeing the stick-figure version of cyclops made me laugh so much, no matter that it took some time to figure out the connection to Odiseus.

So there are two jokes in the last panel, one fast one and one that took some time to figure out - so I could laugh twice!

Then there is the reference in the name of the strip - Cyclops' team mate Colossus and the Colossus of Rhodes. Oooo... hahahaha!

[User Name]

Although this wasn't one of the best updates, I've read worse. The "still not evil" panel made me laugh.

[TheNovak]

Okay, this strip was just full of win.

The Lost jokes were awesome enough, but the Cyclops gag made me laugh out loud.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the Batman joke! The Batman joke rocked.

[JasonDoomsblade]

Cyclops. Lol.

[Kgw]

I loved it!
(superhero reader since the 80's)

[funkyhomosapien]

i didn't think it was very funny but with all the references i guess it is kinda

[Jabberwocky]

Well, Giant, I'm a classicist and ... well ... I just keep laughing and laughing and laughing. The last panel is hilarious :-D

[Holammer]

Since are people who don't get the references, try these links:

Panel 1: The logo is that of the Dharma Initiative from the TV series Lost, which takes place on an island very much like this one.

I recognized the symbol as a bagua. But I've never seen the tv-series so I was kinda shafted there ^^

[Takver]

As Haley would say: Tee-hee! Huge Lost fan here.


Funny strip, but I am getting impatient. Let's see some progress made on getting the Order back together!

[Evil DM Mark3]

Not as funny for me as some others. Mostly because I only got three of the gags (the spiderman and batman origins and the final panel) but still funny. Also was that possibly a tvtropes referance? I do hope so.

[Dragor]

Haha! I howled with laughter at the last bit.

I haven't laughed out loud for an OOTS in a while. Good stuff!

[Steven the Lich]

Need I say anything... The comic was AWESOME!
I especially loved the Cyclops bit. That was truly an inventive joke that is on the top ten list of Rich's top jokes.

Keep at it Richard Burlew, keep making those outrageously funny jokes.

[Beholder1995]

Actually, I don't get the whole 'still not evil' bit. Is that just to ward off anyone who might've thought Elan was going over to the dark side, or is it foreshadowing for some great evil act on Elan's part?...

[Roderick_BR]

The return of the paladin's eye-beams
If people were bored with the earlier strips, you can say we had an injection of Elan-flavored humor today

[Jimorian]

Man, the references were coming hard and fast in that one, making me pine for the good ol' days of MST3K.

Best Brains motto: "The RIGHT people will get it."

[eyekwah]

Just to irrefutably prove my point, consider how shabby the jokes are. If a passing joke alluding to Elan not being evil is the high point of the strip then there is something wrong. The last few panels shouldn't be something you have to think about for more than three seconds to "get" unless you're pandering to a certain niche, and although this is a RPG-centered comic, that isn't who you're pandering to with a reference to Greek mythology. Furthermore, I had no idea who the people in the last panel were supposed to be except for Cyclops because they're all indistinct stick figures. The sheep were a hint, but it still didn't click until after being explained.

Another thing, it's not like nobody has ever made an X-Men/mythology reference before.

Well I found the references funny. If you didn't, it doesn't mean the comic should be dumbed down to humor you'd think was funny. Perhaps this isn't the type of humor in a web comic that is funny for you.

I personally enjoy indirect humor, the kind in which nobody in the strip would think was funny but the reader would think is hilarious for the reference. I suppose he could have just drawn Elan slipping and falling on a banana peel on the ground, but that would have been irrelevant to the plot and not really all that funny.. but hey, at least anybody could get that joke, right?

The worst thing that could happen to this comic is for the humor to be dumbed down. The humor is smart and actually quite sophisticated despite what people might presume from a web comic of stick figures. If you can't appreciate that, there are other web comics on the net...

[Shatteredtower]

Actually, I don't get the whole 'still not evil' bit. Is that just to ward off anyone who might've thought Elan was going over to the dark side, or is it foreshadowing for some great evil act on Elan's part?...

I'd gotten the impression it meant that Lien's used this ability to scan Elan an awful lot -- probably every time he's done something that's created trouble, in fact. The source of her information sounds like it's getting tired of answering the same question over and over.

[Ravensabre]

Awesome Lost reference!!

[Eran of Arcadia]

I agree, love the Lost reference. Especially after last night.

Also (in response to a comment on the first page) in KoL it's a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot, not the other way around. (I named mine O-Chul.) Although combining stuff like that (or clowns, or monkeys) is a fairly common trope.