One of the things I’ve long enjoyed about the fantasy stick-figure webcomic Order of the Stick is its diverse and complex storyline; in many ways OotS’s storyline is the antithesis of its artwork (which is admittedly complex for stick-figure artwork). Both protagonists and antagonists have been fleshed out and had their backstory expanded upon (with the possibly exception of Belkar, who I don’t recall having any real backstory, at least in the online portion of the comic; I’ve not yet read “On the Origin of PCs,” the print compilation of the heroes’ backstories).

However, I must admit I’d been puzzled as to the point of the most recent storyline, with Elan, Varsuvius, and Haley being captured by draconic bounty hunters who mistook Elan for his evil twin brother Nale. The “mistaken identity” card had already been played a ways back, and the remake was feeling rather inferior to its elder sibling. The last couple of comics breathed new life into what was feeling like a stale old remake. It was the introduction of the Evil General who casually managed to recapture Elan and his friends moments after they escaped their captivity that altered the very fabric of this storyline, and gave it a new dynamic.

The reveal that this casually competent and affably evil general (he did shove Haley out of a window to stop an escape attempt) is in fact Elan’s father was just icing on the cake (though if it will save a seemingly stale cake, or just hide its flaws remains to be seen). Of course, it wasn’t just (the evil general) Tarquin’s reveal that revived this storyline. It was how he pulled the reveal, paraphrasing Darth freaking Vader and then (with Elan) gleefully basking in finally being able to use that line, that helped make this update so enjoyable.