Huh, that’s funny, it works for me now. My favorite part was where I prepared Explosive Runes this morning, just for Enderw24
Oh, how I’ve missed that little phrase!
Oh hey guys! You know what I just thought? OK, so you know how Sir Scraggly is chasing Mr. Scruffy, right? So if Belkar sees it and starts yelling “wolf! Wolf! WOLF!” to his friends, do you think anyone would believe him?
Oh and on a completely different topic altogether? 795’s not up yet. kthxbye.
What was that rule about wishing death on a fellow poster? Ah, yes. Don’t. Okay. I suppose I won’t. 
my belief in the kindness of strangers just failed it’s saving throw!
Not up yet huh? Well, I guess we’ll have to find some other way to entertain ourselves.
I have a project in mind. Anyone got a dull knife and some salt?
I’ve now come to expect every week the informative and reliable posting of Enderw24 and the warm reception of fellow Dopers. It gives me something to look forward to as I wait out this unexpected OOTS drought. 
Oooh ooh ooh, I’ll bring the salt and the rabid weasel, if you bring the knife, the staple gun, and the accordion.
Y’know, if none of us reply to him, then when we see the thread bumped, but the last reply being by Enderw24, then we’ll know that it isn’t really bumped.
But since it’s bumped now anyway with someone else’s name on it, something that just occurred to me this morning: Does Elan know that Belkar is evil? I mean, we saw his reaction when it finally sunk in to him that his dad was evil. Does he just tolerate Belkar because he’s helping the good guys win, or is he totally oblivious, and the rest of the party hasn’t seen any need to disabuse him?
He won’t be able to regenerate fire or acid damage. (Or it will deactivate his Fast Healing, depending on edition) I’m not suggesting we SHOULD take advantage of that. I’m just pointing out we COULD. I’m just sayin’.
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Poision will work too, but only in Baldur’s Gate.
But this is ridiculous. 794 came out on June 8, and it’s now July 6. I understand that Burlew’s having a hard time getting this book published, bound and shipped. And I get that he has debilitating health issues. But why he doesn’t have a few strips put together in advance to release over his dry periods, or why he hasn’t put up a “OOTS will return in 8 weeks” sort of message by now, I don’t know. You know, like every other professional cartoonist manages to do.
This is the sort of thing that, if I haven’t already spent the time following these characters and story, would cause me to not come back to this strip.
And I have read the explanations for why he can’t do strips in advance, E.g:
I still think this is unprofessional for someone who is a full-time cartoonist. All he needed to do was put out a simple hiatus announcement that the strip would be off-line for however long he felt he needed to get better/caught up, what have you. If he got better faster than he anticipated, then I guess have used the time to build up his “buffer”.
Just frustrated, I suppose.
To be fair, he’s NOT a full time cartoonist. He’s a writer/game designer and a part time cartoonist.
Yeah, the NERVE of that guy.
You should totally demand your money back.
The consensus in this thread at his site was that OOTS was his full-time occupation now. And this post in a different thread from Burlew himself was used to support that statement.
While Burlew hasn’t yet come into that thread to clarify matters, he’s usually quick with the banhammer for threads that delve too much into his personal life. (Or that bitch about the update rate of the strip.) ‘Supporting his family on OOTS’ probably includes developing/marketing the game based on it, as well as the other stuff at his site; still, I’ve no problem calling him a professional cartoonist, based on the above.
I’m thinking, if Belkar can convince (for a time at least) a *paladin *that he’s totally not evil, Elan’s a cinch. Even if said paladin was only Miko “herp derp” Miyazaki.
Hell, Belkar can convince half the readers he’s not evil. I’m serious - Burlew had to draw a couple of “helloooo ? Of course he’s fucking evil, you idiots !” strips over the course of the comic, just because he was getting annoyed that there was even a debate about it on the OOTS forums.
I’m not interested in returning the books of his that I’ve already purchased. I am patiently waiting for his latest book to come out, which I will probably purchase too.
Look, I’m a fan of his too, or I wouldn’t be bothering to post in this thread. (Or shell out the $25+ for each book) And if OOTS was a lark that he did for shits and giggles, then who really cares how he manages his comic? But he has the self-stated goal of supporting his family through this work; he has the occupation (at least part time) of a professional cartoonist. And professionals don’t treat their audience this way, not when it would be so easy to fix.
When did he do that? Miko thought he was evil from first to last. Nearest he got was Hinjo, who saw in him the potential for improvement. Even then, Hinjo knew that Belkar is a bad guy.
As for the question, Elan is willing to tolerate Belkar’s wickedness, as long as it is directed against the bad guys. He would try to stop Belkar if Belkar regularly hurt innocent people, and Elan knew about it.
The point is, though, that he DOESN’T KNOW how long he’s gonna be out of commission. Some diseases and conditions are like that. Apparently he works as fast as he can, when he’s able to work at all. He’s doing all that he can. He can’t do anything more (at least, according to him).
It’s not being professional that gives an artist obligations; it’s being paid. We’re all getting no less than we paid for. Well, unless you pre-ordered the new book; in that case you do have a right to complain. But there, the blame probably falls more on the publisher than on Burlew.