You Pathetic Oat-Eating Bastard

I have to hand it to Rich Burlew. He knows from funny.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I pay a visit to The Order of the Stick, a fantastic online comic that revolves around the quests and quandaries of a Dungeons & Dragons-like band of heroes.

Well. Mostly heroes. Belkar, the team’s Hobbit—I meant Halfling! Halfling! Anyway. The little guy is as surly as it gets. He’s a miniature ball of spite that is too small to ride even a pony, and must resort to a riding dog (read Dachsund). In the latest strip, he takes the time to insult and threaten a horse. The equine hero had a hoof in detaining the Order of the Stick a few strips back, and Belkar minces no words promising to get his vertically-challenged revenge.

Sweet.

Belkar’s misplaced rage strikes me as hilarious. Not only is he threatening a *horse*, but he went out of his way to threaten the animal in private. He cornered a horse. He’s that petty.

I love this strip. Each character brings something unique to the mix, be it androgynous attitude from Vaarsuvius the Elf, blissful stupidity from the Minstrel Elan, or delicious wickedness from their recurring skeletal villain Xykon. The strip is great. Great.

Burlew is very good at what he does, good enough to even make a living at it by selling trade-paperbacks. Bam, indeed. The guy rocks.

If I were Snarky, I’d award some sort of verbal token of appreciation. Which would be ripping off someone else rather poorly. So I’m not gonna.

Still. Check it out.