Yeah, I know it keeps coming up. It’s just dumb.
My point was that it wasn’t just a running joke, but had real consequences in their battles.
One doesn’t change the other. Those events only happened so Burlew could go “Boy, Durkon and trees, eh? Ain’t it funny? Eh? Am I right here?”
I hope you all realize that the MitD is a tree, and Durkon is going to learn a lesson about prejudice.
Makes sense. “Escape” is just another way of saying “Leaves”
I trust that joke was pre-groaned. 
O’Chul’s hits the hardest, Lien’s charms the most.
Plug!
Here’s the TOC and ad-copy from Good Deeds Go Unpunished.
[INDENT] That’s the Spirit: Kazumi and Daigo find a lost soul in need of their help on their new island home.
Scruff and Tumble: Surviving alone behind enemy lines, Mr. Scruffy searches for food.
Spoiler Alert: Therkla is tasked to retrieve a priceless artifact, but she’s not even supposed to be here today.
Pier Pressure: Young Lien comes face to face with a sinister choice.
How the Paladin Got His Scar: Before he joined the Sapphire Guard, Captain O-Chul lead a ragtag team to stop a bloody war of retribution.[/INDENT]
Spoiler Alert and How the Paladin Got His Scar were originally Kickstarter bonus stories; the others are new. Both are solid. That’s the Spirit is charming. Teen Lien stars in Pier Pressure.
Scruffy encounters a non-speaking friend in Scruff and Tumble, but I couldn’t tell what exact D&D specie it is.
Something called a carbuncle (thank you, GitP). Apparently some sourcebooks give it a teleporting ability.
Although it obviously isn’t what happened, I’m still going to say that Burlew lampshaded the tree thing on my account.
So much for my treehugger guess.
I love this bit between Thor and Durkon:
The bariaur reference was nifty too. I had no idea that such things were in D&D’s Asgard. Mazel Tov was a little strange to hear a Norse god say, but roll with it. Like I’m rolling with Thor’s dithering before getting to the point.
Considerate of Thor to see if Durkon actually wanted to go back before springing a request upon him.
And now my headcanon is that the gods are aware of the passage of time in the real world.
HA! I hadn’t thought of that!
That’s pretty great.
How long has it actually been since Burlew wrote the “Durkon Croaks” comic?
Edit: Holy crap, it actually HAS been nearly five and a half years!
This isn’t the first time a call out to real world time has been in the strip. for example, Wrecan does it here (last panel of the first page).
Of course, Wreccan himself is a real-world call-out.
Gray Ghost, what’s a bauriar?
Back to the current strip, Thor’s not dealing straight with Durkon. It was nearly a full strip between when Durkon said that he was planning on going back, and when Thor revealed himself. That’s not what Thor was waiting for. When he actually interrupted was right when Durkon mentioned the Snarl.
Obviously Thor’s mission for Durkon involves the Snarl, but I’m guessing that he’s not allowed to tell him that. Or, well, pretty much anything else.
Centaur but goat instead of horse. Chaotic good denizen of Ysgard.
So Thor doesn’t really believe that fighting a tree is brave enough to get you into Valhalla, he’s just saying that to keep the dwarves out of Hel?
I thought of you when I read the punchline.
Would a bariaur have rectangular pupils (like a goat has)?