We pick up on our last installment for
TEatE with another
homoerotic moment involving the Dominus. I'm not really surprised any more. Szark's
mindscape looks like that Outer Dimension where Mama Deegan banished TIM. But with more mangled bodies.
Basically, Szark likes
killing. Karnak says so, so it must be true. Except because of the rules of "Psychoplanar physics and magic" aka Dream Logic the Dominus is now literally
God, towering over the entire world. Because a human Seer who's lived twenty-five odd years has more strength of mind and will than a Demon Lord who has held his own territory for X years
in Hell. The place where treachery and betrayal is part of your daily life.
In essence: the Dominus is mentally more powerful than the Big Bad of the entire arc, and in some ways, many of the arcs of the entire webcomic so far.
In his God-Mode, the Dominus has no eyes (p. 4) and he is so pure his clothes are all white. The implcations behind the Stronger Mind Wins means that the Dominus believes himself to be a white knight or pure. This is the same man who threatened to murder two teenagers at his mercy and routinely toys with peoples emotions for the lulz.
The God-Mode comes with a laser-eye for all your laser-y needs, an upside down mouth and hedgehog hair. The last line is lame.
Villain decay is complete. Two pages in Szark's mind and Karnak a
Demon Lord of Hell is vanquished. I was looking forward to a mildly epic battle. A close-up of the God-Mode reveals that eyes are
pentagons. Oh, and Karnak is getting felt up by Mama Machina. Because a battle of the minds can involve literal mind rape. Wouldn't that image be an illusion or enchantment though?
Because the Dominus is immune to them. THe comic says so.
Speaking of that, wouldn't Szark be mentally traumatised (or even iniured) having two very powerful magicians and demons fighting it out in his mind? Iust a wild shot in the dark here, the ramifications of this mental (and physical) trauma will never be revisited.
Yay. More sexual antics. Dom!Karnak-Szark/Sub!Nice-Szark non-con. With spiky proto-tentacles. And Karnak-Szark and Nice-Szark are fawning over each other. It's self-cest!
AAAHHH! His hand!
I need for this arc to be over! It's all sex sex sex sexsexsexsex
sexsexsexsexsexsexSEX!!!11eleventyone!.
Oh, and Szark was Evil All Along. You can tell because he had Evil Sex, was Evil and killed people, and now he has devil horns and spiky spikes. Because Evil is never subtle.
By the way, it's official: Szark has the hots for his
"precious Dominic". And is going to tentacle rape him . . . ? Or embrace him. Nakedly. And spikely.
By the way, remember about ten pages ago when the Dominus' third eye was pentagon shaped? It's now a diamond. Art consistency is not one of Mookie's strong points I fear.
Furthermore, isn't that spell the same one he used to break the Spell of Despair upon Barthis?
It is. What is it, an all-purpose spell-remover? Is it good with stains too?
Anyway, the Dominus with his anime hair and laser eye redeems Szark and forces
guilt upon him, thus purifying Szark of all ambiguities. He's also mentally traumatised again; I'll be surprised if Szark doesn't come out of this as a catatonic vegetable, or with any semblance of his former self.
Yes Szark,
lust is evil. Because Sex is Evil. Unless it's done by good people. Such as the Deegans. And they haven't had sex yet.
Oh, and it's the
Dominus suffering from brain trauma, while Szark seems to be perfectly normal. Never mind, after banishing a Demon Lord on his own - something the
deus ex machina is surprised and shocked at - aand then
balancing an entire psyche (and thus essentially rewiring a significant portion of Szark's personality) the Dominus only has a
headache and a nosebleed. But I see Lord Sideburns in p. 3 so I reioice. But the Dominus should still feel some proper repercussions.
And now Szark is
perfectl healthy - for Szark and is suffering no ramifications of the trauma that one should experience after being mind raped twice. Wait. Three times, in rapid succession.
How does Mama Machina know what the Dominus saw
in Szark's mind? Why is the Dominus surprised? Is it about Karnak being a former human? Because I guessed that pretty quickly.
Gotcha. Mama Machina was So Deeganly Desirable that even a pre-Demon Karnak wanted to sleep with her. And Mama Machina figured everthing out because she is more perfect than the Dominus. The Dominus who was able to penetrate the mental defences of a Demon Lord and read his subconscious mind.
Wow. The Dominus has out-
machina'd the
deus ex machina. Dominus Ex Machina is in effect.
Innappropriate Butt Shot Count!:
Two (both female).
While Szark still looks stoned, I give him character points for still being upset that Ladt Amelia was so
crudely murdered.
Now, at first, I was unsure whether to add this to the Innappropriate Butt Shot Count, but combined with the
vicious, cruel and harsh 'punchline' by Elanovan, I hereby announce an Innappropriate Butt Shot Count of three.
Szark is still kinky. But not as kinky as the
BDSM BrigadeErossus Knights. This entire arc is disturbing. I feel like I'm getting a glimpse into all of Mookie's sexual fantasies. I have never been this wronged by a comic so often, so quickly.
Time to tie up our last morally ambiguous character;
Venus de Seer is made even more morally ambiguous and sympathetic. I think I like him. He's a ierk, but he did love Lady Amelia. And even Lady Amelia had her good side. And he has a perfecly valid point: the Dominus redeemed Szark and he gets away scot-free despite the dozen or more murders (pre-meditated) he was involved in; because Szark is worthy of the Deegan's benevolence. Venus on the other hand is involved in one small (but good) plot to murder Szark, Luna, Stunt and probably Bumper by proxy, and he gets arrested.
Luna has her regularly scheduled
crying fit. She's had one at the end of every single damnable arc so far. It's iustified here, so let's see how we start to deal with the mental scars.
Iarring colour! And it's poor too. Szark looks hideous in the unintended fahsion, and Luna is now a redhead, even though in the Attempted Rape comic it was brown. It's also an impossible human shade is it's the exact same colour as Spark's fur.
Redemmed Szark is going to be redeemed. Lord Sideburns is grey and has a warm moment hugging his son.
But, rather than hand his properties back to his father so they may be given to another member of the family, it all gets given away and Szark goes on a redemption quest. And the comic ends with another romantic Szark/Dominus moment.
Because every Deegan has sexual magnetism.
Landmark! Two years of
Dominus Deegan done. Six more to go . . . I weep.
Gag comic about summarising the arc and iellybabies. Mildly sweet moment between Luna and Mama Machina. Note how in
p. 1 their only facial differences are tusks and slightly spikier hair for Luna. And then Mama Machina finds out that TIM killed her students.
END OF ARC!
Wow.
This arc is so obsessed with sex, and Evil Sex for Evil People that I think the arc could be summed up in perhaps five parts.
It was unplesant with all the sex iokes, innuendo,
horrific implications and the fact that I suspect much of this to be part of Mookie's sexual fantasies.
Counting posession and mind rape we have: four male rapes - all successful (Bumper was brainwashed; Szark physically and mentally posessed and raped by Karnak; then the Dominus rapes Szark twice by invading Szark's mind, and then essentially
rewriting at least half of Szark's personality making him Good. because you can't be Good with the intervention of a Deegan.
The attempted date-raping of Luna is actually given some screentime in the 'how do I wake her up' sense, but not in the "the love of my life was nearly raped, and it was set up by her sister, how do I make this better?" sense. Luna doesn't really seem all that bothered by anything either. She had
one page (or three panels) of reaction to the entire ordeal.
This. Is. Wrong.
YOU DON'T GLOSS OVER RAPE! OF ANY SORT!
And Mookie
did! Five times!
Hell, the
only reason Lady Amelia got any sort of comeuppance was because the secondary characters (who are morally ambiguous and three kinds of awesom) followed her
when the primary protagonists and their family let her go scot-free after freeing an Infernomancer!! And why did Bumper kill Lady AMelia? For making him condemn his best friend (and unrequited (so far) love inerest) and making him try to rape an unconscious Luna!
He even points out the racial insensitivity of getting a dark skinned man to rape a noble, rich white woman. Granted, it's the same kind of 'wow! That's insensitive' reaction in- and out-universe, but still.
Not to mention the blatant, and unsexy fanservice and poor art with balloon boobs and innappropriate butt shots.
But I'm so offended over the rampant, unnecessary sexual imagery. Realistically, this could have been put in any maior city in Callan and the outcome would have been
exactly the same except there'd be much less bare flesh prancing out in barely there clothing.
On the other hand, the constant near-rapes and almost-instant dismissals of such are worse. Hell, even the
deus ex machina aren't too bad in comparison. Still bad, but not in comparison.
So while all the near-rape victims are perfectly fine, Szark is 100% redeemed in the eyes of the Dominus and is therefore absolved of all involvement in the murders of some dozen or so rich men and nobles of Not-At-All Erotic City because the almighty God Dominus says so.
Have I mentioned how angry I am yet about the near-rapes being treated as nothing more than an annoying fly, to be batted away with no care or attention? Or how the effects of a mental battle inside a mind, which is fully implied to be entirely cognisant of the battle within? Because these infuriate me.
Even so, Stunt, BUmper and Szark are far and away my favourite characters as they actually have character. Then Elanovan. He's funny. The former three have several awesome moments, especially the fact that these two muggle thieves too out magicians who are far more powerful than they are, with nary a thought for their own safety.
Mama Machina had a few cool moments, even if one is so ripped from the Discworld and
Good Omens in art form that it made me want to go read those instead.
I am so very glad that arc is over.
It was evil.
The ecstasy comes from finishing it.
The next arc will be better than this. No sexual fetishes. *sigh*
The arc is
Hello Nurse. I take it back. Only one sexual fetish. Involving a nun. But it can't be as bad as
TEatE.