For many of you who listen to podcasts and read web comics, The Order of the Stick or OOTS, as we affectionately call it, is a staple of everything that is right in this genre and medium of web entertainment. It is for this reason that I decided to write a review of the series – though it is currently on #859, perhaps there are some people out there reading this review that have not yet read the comic, and this will help inspire them to do so.
The Good
OOTS follows an adventuring group of the same name through their various, and almost always humorous quests, all of which revolve around trying to defeat the evil Lich, Xykon, his evil force of Goblin-Fodder (and a creature in the darkness!), and the group’s evil antithesis, the Linear Guild (an almost mirror-image of The Order of the Stick, but evil). The strip pokes fun at the D&D world right from the start, encompassing things such as changes in edition, and conflicts within the alignment system (one of the characters in the group is a Chaotic Neutral-to-Evil Halfling Ranger, who’s two purposes in life are 1. Taking care of Mr. Scruffy (his cat), and 2. Delving out death and destruction to all that oppose him (and some that do not!) though he is companions with a “Good” party).
All in all, this comic is a very easy read, and is quite funny. It is also well drawn, in its own simple stick-figure 2d style. There is no wonder that it has been well received by the online community.
The Bad
There is no consistency in the posting of new strips. When it first came out, a new comic was posted 3 set days per week…this changed to 3 days per week, with no set days, to one or two new comics per week, to now it’s sometimes one new comic per week…sometimes not.
I know that this has been a result of both Rich Burlew’s health, and at times getting burned out on writing the strip, so I don’t complain at all…I just look forward to reading the next one, and continuously check back for it! It does, however, drop my rating from 5 out of 5 to 4.5 out of 5.
Overall
You should definitely give this comic a read! Not only will you find yourself laughing throughout, but the characters are very likeable (even the evil ones!), and mesh well together within the series.
Nice Job, Rich Burlew!
Rating: ★★★★½
