I have been a fan of Rich Burlew's webcomic Order of the Stick (OOTS) for many years. I have noticed over the past few years that I am waiting longer, on the average, between installments.

Knowing that Burlew has health problems, I decided to make this graph, which shows the counts of all installments having the same copyright year. I correlated bars on the graph with public announcements Burlew has made about his health.

The comic started out as a series of gags involving meta-humor about the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, but has evolved into an epic story with a rather intricate plot and diverse cast of characters. It is clearly approaching a climactic conclusion but still has a way to go.

I cannot say that the recent decline in productivity is a direct result of declining health, because Burlew's notifications over the past few years indicate that he has branched out into several other projects, mostly dealing with OOTS merchandise, so it may be that his health has deteriorated to a stable level and he now devotes less attention to the webcomic due to other activities going on.

Sources: (Source)

• https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots.html (examining the links for copyright dates)
• https://archive.org to examine prior versions of the https://giantitp comments page.

Tools used: (Tool) Web browser to gather data, Google Sheets to tabulate data and make graph, Google Slides to add callout labels to the graph.

When I saw “hand injury” I thought of at least 2 other webcomics!

Also a huge fan. My wife and I dressed up as Roy and Celia one Halloween. These past few years, I only check the site one-two times a year now, just to get a few pages at a time.

Wait I wanna know if they match up with mine. Questionable Content and Paranatural?

I'm curious which ones.

I can see the clothes and the wings for a costume, but can't quite picture actual humans with the OOTS body style and faces (with no noses)!

I am also amazed that the story arc has gone on for TWENTY years!

QC and Something Positive! Though now I’m thinking SP’s Randy had other physical issues? Or needed a mental rest?

Questionable Content and Something Positive, though I could add Wapsi Square in there as another loooong running author who’s taken an extended break for personal reasons. Has Least I Could Do ever done that?

But if you take the output in the year they said it would take 4 more years, and multiply that by 4, it's less than the number of issues that have actually come out since then.

...?

Tower of God is the first thing that comes to mind. Wrist problems, neck problems, back problems, and alcohol problems

Yes, I suspect he has extended the storyline signficantly. He has said that there's an ending, but he's taking his time getting there. And that's fine. It makes for a deeper and more nuanced story.