Meh. Although cool, it really didn’t add much to anything. We already knew it was an illusion from 886, so this seemed to me to be more of an indulgent art-piece for Burlew to make.
I know I sound petulant for saying so, but if the strips are coming in 10-day intervals, I’d have preferred something that moved the story along. I’d have a different opinion if I were a new reader rather than a “subscriber”, I guess.
Yeah, it’s doesn’t really tell anything new but let’s be more grounded: this is just a single page. A blip when you consider the entire work, instead of judging as an individual piece.
I love it, personally. When you read the collected strips, it’s pages like these that really stand out as special. When updates are infrequent, as Tin mentioned, it’s easy to focus on a desire for plot advancement, but the Giant’s pacing is superb and that’s something that really only shows up when you read 100 or so at one sitting.
And one other thing: the panel of Mr. and Mrs. Banjo alone was worth the price of admission. There’s a LOT of detail in that strip.
I recognize that and agree. It’s just that with so much awesome waiting in the wings to be shown, I’m dismayed at having to wait another week or two without any real update on the story.
Elan riding a dinosaur.
There’s really nothing else to say.
I don’t know if the pacing is superb. It may well just be my poor memory, but I feel like the pacing is so slow that I really have lost complete track of what they are even doing now (and why they are doing it). Basically, I remember something about an illusionist and some pyramid, and that they are wandering around in it for some reason connected to one of the scars.
I’m sure it would all make more sense if I went back and reread them from the start at one-time. But having only read them when they come out (and not rereading them from time to time), it’s confusing as hell to me.
Like I said, try reading 100 or so strips at once. You’ll change your mind. I always suggest this to fans who are getting impatient. Take a break for a year, then catch up in one big blast. Pretend it’s a series of novels, not a webcomic.
Yeah, its the delay that makes this all the more poignant; its the happy ending that we (and by that I mean me) would like to see, along with a great coda. That we know this is an illusion and they all are just standing there drooling and then we don’t have any movement on the story for weeks makes this a massive downer. It really makes it seem like he is just sh*tting on the characters rather than the long, challenging under-arcs that Burlew has been in love with since 2007.
I think that page might have another purpose. It’s been noticed that none of the damage taken from the illusions actually affected anyone in real life. Yet they stand there mesmerized, seeing their happy endings. My suspicion is that the nature of the illusion is to keep them there, enthralled, until they all starve to death, or some patrolling monster comes along and eats them. That montage looks like a lot of time passing. How long will they be stuck there before something breaks them free?
I can’t decide if I like the star trek clip or this better, honestly. They’re both so tasty.
MikeJ
4734
There must be some time distortion, or they already would have starved. Probably time passes in the enchantment just like in a dream, skipping over the boring bits.
My guess is V knocks them out of it. Wizards have high Will saving throws to start with, and elves have a bonus against enchantment. V has at least a shot at dispelling the effect. Though probably this will happen only when they are on the verge of getting killed.
New One is Up.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0888.html
There are still in dreamland, but a certain character’s appearance on the last panel all the way to the left makes it totally worth it.
On a non-plot related, personal note: that upper-right rendering of V might just be the first time s/he has really registered as “androgynous”. HARD concept to get thru with what amounts to bare basics character representation, but then Burlew has proven to be a deft hand at that sort of thing. Guess all I’m really saying is, once again, ‘I’m impressed’.
He’s doing so much with this illusion sequence that I can’t help but wonder how much of it will carryover into reality, if any. Foreshadowing or fakeout? Who knows?
I suppose they are trapped in the illusion (it was a defensive magic trap), and the comic still stop being inside it until Roy or whatever breaks it noticing something is wrong.
I wonder what Belkar’s illusion is like. But I suppose it’s best if we never learn that…
This being Burlew, I’m pretty sure that there is some foreshadowing going on here that won’t make sense for another 50 - 100 strips. And, of course, lots of teasing.
