OotS #570 Is Up, Including Critical Interpretations of Burlew's Style & OotS Content

[TwinBahamut]

I'll throw in another round of agreement with Wolfwood.

I was practically cheering for haley in the first several panels of this comic. Things were actually happening, and the plot was finally beginning to go somewhere with some of the elements introduced so long ago. The Mark of Justice was activated, and Haley finally started treating Belkar like she should have this entire time. And then their memories were erased and it was all back to usual (other than some added barfing...).

Pretty much, the entire memory erasure thing does one of two things as far as I can tell:

1) It will delay the repercussions of Belkar activating the mark of Justice for a while, until everyone figures out what must have happened and go through all of this again.

2) It completely mitigates the repercussions of Belkar murdering the Oracle, and results in a return to the status quo.

Both of these results would be terrible writing. Possibility 1 just wastes time and leads to unneeded repetition, and Possibility 2 is essentially just a guarantee that "the status quo is god" and that the core party dynamic of Roy, Haley, Durkon, Elan, V, and evil Belkar will continue for the life of the comic with no real threat of change.

Ugh, "their memory was erased" has to be right up there alongside "it was all a dream" as an absolutely terrible plot twist. I hated the "memory erasing border" concept back when it was first introduced, but it is worse to think that the whole thing might have been set up just to pull this pathetic plot turn off.

Rich Burlew may be able to pull off some truly good moments of humor once and a while, but he is a far cry from being a skilled writer, particularly for the webcomic format. I really think he should have just kept OoTS a joke comic like it was in the beginning, and if that didn;t work out he should have just let it die and started something new. Transitioning a humor comic into a heavy plot comic is nearly impossible to pull off, and OoTS didn't have a very good foundation for that transition in the first place. It would have been a lot easier to just end OoTS early and start a new story that was serious from the beginning.

 

[wedgeski]

Rich Burlew may be able to pull off some truly good moments of humor once and a while, but he is a far cry from being a skilled writer, particularly for the webcomic format.

I simply could not disagree more with this comment. As D&D players we're lucky to have a webcomic that is written with such skill. Just go and look at the WoW webcomics for some really good examples of what OoTS *could* have been in a world without RB. One flick of the reset switch does not make him a bad writer.

 

[Vanuslux]

Rich Burlew may be able to pull off some truly good moments of humor once and a while, but he is a far cry from being a skilled writer, particularly for the webcomic format. I really think he should have just kept OoTS a joke comic like it was in the beginning, and if that didn;t work out he should have just let it die and started something new. Transitioning a humor comic into a heavy plot comic is nearly impossible to pull off, and OoTS didn't have a very good foundation for that transition in the first place. It would have been a lot easier to just end OoTS early and start a new story that was serious from the beginning.

While I agree this leg of the story has dragged on for far too long, I don't feel like one needs to insult the writer or dismiss the fact that it's had pretty good writing compared to the vast majority of other STICK FIGURE WEB COMICS. If the strip were so god awful as you're making it out to be (saying that it shouldn't even exist) people wouldn't care about the characters enough to still be reading it waiting for the plot to hurry the heck up. Rich definitely isn't at the top of his game right now, I agree...but that doesn't mean he should can the strip.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Rich definitely isn't at the top of his game right now, I agree...but that doesn't mean he should can the strip.

Yeah, plus he can do better - for example, "Start of Darkness" was great. I only think the strip suffers from being a webcomic AND a comic book right now.

Perhaps, it would've been better, if he had skipped straight to the reunion with a short flashback and filled in the gaps with another book.

Cheers, LT.

 

[SPoD]

Haley finally started treating Belkar like she should have this entire time.

This, right here, is the problem Rich faces: for every person who will never be happy until Belkar gets treated like they think an evil character should be legitimately treated, there is one who thinks Belkar is the best thing about OOTS and the comic would lose all entertainment value if he left the comic. No matter what happens, the longer the story continues, Rich loses.

With this strip, he's trying to keep everyone happy. It may be doomed to failure, but that's the obvious intent. Those who want to see Haley grow a spine and chew Belkar out get to see that yes, she can be pushed too far, and those who want Belkar to stay with the party get that, too. It's an attempt to manage a fanbase that is increasingly polarized.

For my money, I don't think Belkar is leaving the comic. Ever. I think if you're hoping for Belkar to leave, you're fooling yourself. Rich has stated in an interview that Belkar is one of his favorite characters to write jokes for, and has stated in one of the books that if Belkar was killed, the comic would follow him to the Abyss. He's not going away, and he's likely not reforming, either. Haley chewing him out was just a bone being thrown to those people who don't like him, but the end result is clear: he stays, even if Rich has to alter space and time (and memory) to make it happen.

Edit to add: Also, why do people treat reading and enjoying OOTS like its an inalienable right? If you think it sucks so much as to question whether or not it should exist, stop reading it!! No one is holding a gun to your head, you'll be a happier person and your blood pressure will go down. It's one thing to say he dropped the ball this time, but if you think has no business being a story comic at all, stop encouraging it and withdraw your support.

 

[Piratecat]

Rich Burlew may be able to pull off some truly good moments of humor once and a while, but he is a far cry from being a skilled writer, particularly for the webcomic format.

Wow, that statement is chock full of hubris, as I think experience and sales data simply proves you wrong. I'd buy it if you phrased it as "I think" or "in my opinion," but stating it as unalienable fact? Not a chance.

 

[roguerouge]

It reminds me of one the later seasons of Farscape and later season of Buffy. I stopped watching both shows for a while because nothing ever tured out well for the main characters. Every episode (I don't think I'm exaggerating) ended on a downer. I want my heroes to be happy and have a reason to keep going. There needs to be a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. If everything the heores do has no effect (or worse - a negative effect) that glimmer of hope disappears for me. Having it be gone for an episode or two is fine - but it can't be gone for weeks or months on end.

The heros need to achieve something they want (and Belkar getting a kill doesn't count).

[threadjack] I know what you mean about Buffy. Season six was a downer to watch... and you just kept waiting for the Xander episode to buck you up.... and then the horrific wedding episode happened. I never appreciated more Xander's role of boosting morale than in season six. Something to think about when we think about how "useless" the bard is in combat, no?

That having been said, I really recommend that you go back and watch season six on DVDs, the "Things Fall Apart" season. They really wear well as art and the ending of the season is epic and well worth your time. (It took my teaching a course on the series for me to really start to appreciate how important that season really is.) In addition, while season seven's not their best, you should watch the last episode. It's exactly what you're looking for, according to this post.

 

[roguerouge]

The campaign that I loved that went on for three years had massive tragedies broken up by victories. My PC lost loved ones and friends and then reclaimed a powerful weapon. He had more tragedies piled on and then managed a victory.

Watch the last episode of Buffy's season seven. They get you there.

 

[roguerouge]

I've gone through The Wheel of Time. I don't need another series to get bogged down and not advance the story for who knows how long.

Yes. Nobody wants that. If I never read another female character sniffing in irritation, I will be very glad.

 

[Particle_Man]

Re: Those of you that think that the Mark of Justice somehow has been erased.

I think the MoJ is still on Belkar, whether he realizes it or not. He is sick and will get progressively sicker until he dies. The last time they visited the Oracle the Oracle said Belkar should treasure his next birthday.

Belkar is being punished. The fact that he doesn't know why makes it a little more interesting to me, actually.

I think the strip is great. And the amnesia field is not a cop-out, as it already was an existing feature of the world of OOTS. The variable I am interested in is whether it will apply to Roy or not.