I was going to post a
scathing diatribe on racism in webcomics, but certain chuckleheads have been
rabble-rousing over the fact that I am not falling into line with liking Order of the Stick and xkcd.
Order of the Stick:
If I had to describe it, it would a D&D sprite comic.
Bland stick-figure art. Minimalist stick figure art is not bad on it's own. However, stiff, bland, and inexpressive stickfigure art that is copy-pasted from Adobe Illustrator templates for 20 or so panels is a bad idea. And really doesn't help sell the expressiveness of the characters in the comic, if the don't have any expressions. Of course, you could tell that about the art if you could actually see it.
Comics are a visual medium. Yet, the average OOTS strip is crowded with text to the point where the art is covered up by text. The strip I posted was a slightly exaggerated example, but the average strip is still way to fucking wordy. And there isn't even a discrete punchline in any strip. Burlew is so afraid that a joke will not work that he needlessly shoehorns a dozen mediocre jokes into the comic a hopes one will stick. Bland, bland, bland. Order of the Stick is just so bland and lukewarm, I don't know how anybody can like it.
xkcd:
Next stop, stalkerville. Aside from jumping onto old memes and catchphrases after they have lost their luster, Randall Munroe intentionally or unintentionally reveals some really creepy things in xkcd.
Here is one example:
Oh but this is just one isolated example you ask? Why no, nearly every time that the name of a female is mentioned in xkcd, it is always the same name, Megan. Let's look:
Next stop, stalkerville! Of course, you may think that these are just the characters, and that Munroe isn't that creepy. Of course with stick figure art, and nothing distinctive to say otherwise. However, the stick figure with no hat has stood in as the author surrogate before, and there is no clear indication what is man with no hat and Munroe. There are several comics where the bald stick figure is doing something, and the caption is referring to him in the first person.
One last thing, this is a comic drawn by a grown man with a ball-pit in his home. Let that sink in for a minute.
