Perfect ending.

How many times do you think Vlad said "Are you tlalking to me" in the mirror to himself.

You are talkink to me?

because I am the only person I am seeink here at this time.

I am God's lonely man. SO lonely.

You fail at culture.

I believe I saw an airplane fly just nearby your head saint.

17 times.

Roseanne Barr's line of vanity soups left much to be desired.

Roseanne Barr only has one vanity soup in her line. It is a Safeway turkey floating in a vat of Christian Brothers brandy.

Few people are willing to drink an entire vat of turkey infused brandy.

Roseanne is one of those people.

Probably the best Achewood arc ever.

Oh, necessarily.

I would nod to Beef, because he is a good man and understands the Fight. So I would not burden him with words of congratulations, but give him quiet respect.

This strip makes you want to go fight someone, then go meet your friends so they can pat you on the back.

"How were the Tenmen?" is a great line to end this arc on.

i agree wholly...like, he knows what's really important here.

I cannot think of one think that I dislike about this arc. Not one thing.

That sign makes it a party.

Philippe made the sign and was standing on Lyle's shoulders to hang it. Half way through the hanging process Lyle ran out of booze and went for a refill. Philippe only regained consciousness a few seconds before Ray and Beef arrived back.

And just in case you weren't sure why a yeast infection would be embrassing for Teodor, Vlad clarifies that it "Is mainly a thing of chicks!"

yes, that is what the strip says, partially.

Roast Beef is so rude he can manage to still look badass after knowing about yeast infections from sitting in front of a computer for too long.

I never noticed Mingus in panel 4. Thats weird.

i like how when beef and ray say it, it's "dogg".

but when vlad says it, it's just "dog".

is so vlad to be gettink even most basic greeting wrong. (again he gambles, again he loses.)

English is such movink target.

All I can say is that I'm so glad I discovered Achewood after this arc had already finished. It would have wound me up no end to have to wait for it to slowly develop in the usual way rather than go back and read the whole thing in one.

No, the suspense totally made it. The Great Outdoor Fight was an event, you had to build up anticipation.

Philippe? Nah, doesn't ring a bell, sorry kid.

He never realized that those were cleverly-arranged pillows underneath Beef's blanket. He thought Beef was having a coma this entire time.

When someone you know is in a coma, the best thing to do is to not lift up the blanket to check on them. Hella disruptive.

it is so rude to ruin a good coma

I always imagined their sound as sparse, Devo-inspired, 'lectro jazz punk, with Talking Head-ish lyrics.

Today's Blogs

Teodor: Beef = new GOF think tanker?
Nice Pete: Book very close to reality.

A lot of people base their judgment by large degree on the medium being used instead of the artistic merit of the work itself. For instance, I have a friend who appreciates to the same degree Leo Tolstoy and K.A. Applegate, despite the fact that when it comes to quality it's really a wash; Ivan Ilyich goes far beyond the dubious charms of any Animorphs book.

And she doesn't argue that. The rationalization she makes when she explains it to people is to say that each are the tops of their "field", and that Tolstoy is a writer's writer and Applegate is a children's writer. While the conclusion here is arguable (Really? Animorphs is the best children's book series you can think of? Really, lady?), the point stands. Some people see art as a fragmented, compartmentalized science.

It appears you do as well. The point is that some choose to look past that. Personally, I make it a point to give little levity to novels due to their intended audience; I judge based foremost on the book's general merit and, occasionally, on the context as a general qualifier. That's how I try to read literature, comic books, webcomics, et cetera. I don't usually succeed in completely separating the two in my judgement of a book, mostly because most writers write like Cornelius and if you don't look past the audience they write to you can miss out on some truly fine literature.

But those of us who deify the Great Outdoor Fight tend to do so because it's one of those few times in which a work completely and utterly transcends the context offered it, where trying to categorize it leads to a confusion you express. The GOF is goddamn literary. It goes well beyond the rest of Achewood's archives, a generally well written and eminently referential body of work. In the GOF, Onstad no longer makes it a point to reference great writers. He becomes a great writer. There is no singular influence on the GOF. Wodehouse, Faulkner, Twain; all of them have certain impacts on Achewood, and the careful reader can see their spirit anywhere from entire arcs to singular comics. But the GOF is the only piece where Onstad literally breaks the ceiling of his medium and shows himself to be a truly epic writer.

And that's why the GOF is so great. It's badass, certainly, and some like it only because of that. But it's badass in an entirely intelligent way. It's badass in a sense that if Onstad had to leave one stack of papers behind to History to stand and express what a great master of his medium he was, this would be it. And History would understand, and give a knowing nod, and place it on its favorite bookshelf lovingly.

And that's why we like the GOF.