1) The Kary battle. From when they arrived in the Volcano to when White Mage killed Kary, that was the highpoint of the series. Spot-on character-driven humor, real tension, the culmination of the Sword-Chucks arc, and the well executed plot that gave us all the Light Warriors (minus Black Mage) working together to defeat their most powerful for yet. It might be the best work Brian's ever done. It's a bit sad that he never again followed through with other "it just got real" developments later in the comic.
2) The Lich battle. Like the Kary battle, this one also did a great job merging humor with character development and plot. It wasn't quite as well-done as the Kary battle, as it's a bit stretched out in the middle when Brian was away, but it was great seeing Red Mage and Thief at the top of their game developing and executing a plan to take down the Fiend.
3) Callbacks and foreshadowing. Brian mentioned before that he loves plot points and jokes that are set up months or years in advance before the payoff. Hence the infamous #434, the Sarda/Onion Kid revelation, and the four White Mages. This was also my favorite part of the comic. The first time I laughed at this was when Fighter remembered the Cave of No Return, which I had assumed was just a silly throw-away line from the first comic. Although Brian had his fair share of dropped plot points, I appreciated that he had the foresight to set up future events, such as using the Armoire of Invincibility against Vilbert and Fighter getting four swords years before his Sword-Chuck battle.
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