This is a topic that I brought up in the Erfworld 38 thread that I thought warrented its own thread.
I'm wondering what elements of other works you've noticed in the writing (and drawing) of this comic.
My original comments were:
"This reflective piece has really driven home how similar this story is to The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. A great series about an outcast (he's literally a leper) who is magically summoned to another world where he is suddenly healthy and master of a mythical power, but since his exit from our world was in the form of a trauma he's never certain whether he is dreaming.
The biggest difference is that Thomas refuses to accept that anything is real out of fear of letting his carefully maintained guard down, a defensive mechanism that is equal parts essential safety precaution and psychological damage. Parson, in contrast, seems very comfortable. Despite his lip service to the idea that this might not be real, he is perfectly happy to play along and jumps headfirst into learning the rules of the 'game.' "
To which fangthane responded:
"To the contrary, I believe this helps contrast him with Covenant. I also think it's about the best way Rob and Jamie could've devised to get a little more plot exposition (even basic world-design exposition) to us as readers; the only thing which frustrated me more, at first, than the stupid Orly references, was the fact that we needed more information about the world and that the narrative boxes weren't providing. I'm glad they managed to work things out in a manner which doesn't occlude ever-increasing sections of artwork behind narrative boxes though.
I'll go out on a limb and say that I also don't think Rob and Jamie have quite the same sort of philosophical undercurrents running through things as did [Stephen R.] Donaldson. While superficially Covenant's struggle was all about his physical needs (and state) balanced with his perception, there was a lot more going on.
Still, I'm a hell of a lot more impressed with where the comic appears to be headed than I was when it looked more likely to be a succession of lame internet memes, puns and in-jokes."
I tend to agree with fangthane, I don't think that Erfworld is trying to make any broad social or philosophical statements. But hopefully this does mark the end to the superficial introductary narrative that we've seen so far.
