Puns and alliteration. Funny? Well, it's cute. The next page brings us the
return of Siggy! This arc is looking up, I'll even excuse the Great Dominus' pity fest, he has his reasons. Wait. Lynne's Brook? Brook Lynne. Inexcusable! I bet Mookie lives in Brooklyn. Oh, and would this message be about the
evil seer who threatened death, doom and destruction for a relatively small slight?
Oh, okay, Gregory and Luna: evil wizards.
Congratulations, one of the Royal Knights of Callan believes two of the three to be evil. Lord Dan and Lady Iayden look fun. Especially Lord Dan, he has a beard. Well, soul patch. And a pony tail. And a flowery mandarin-collared shirt? Camp or metrosexual? But they all three look like good friends.
Hell, they're an adventuring party. Off to slay the wizards, the evil wizards of Lynne's Brook.
Okay, this is
cute, it's a sweet interaction between them, showing that the Great Dominus doesn't believe Luna's ugly, and that she should stop hating herself; she makes him happy. Alternatively, you could argue that he's only smiling because he shut her up and can finally rest in peace. But given the next page, I choose cute and sweet moment. Please note also that the romantic/sexual attraction blush is present.
Art criticism time!
The fingers in the first panel are massively bloated, and I truly believe the Great Dominus looks better without glasses. This is because the Great Dominus is 'perfect' and anything that hints at imperfection is Wrong in the Sight of the Great Dominus. And there's creepy vision. Again, with questionable art. Is that melty thing an arm? How is it attached to his shoulder? And there is no way a wrist can bend like that. Where's his elbow?
What is wrong with Iacob's left arm?!
Not to mention that the Vision Sight has changed again from glassy silver eyes to completely blank circles.
And Iacob's right(?) hand has
three fingers. And then
Siggy! How strong does he have to be to thrust his hand (open palmed!) through a door and then
pull the Great Dominus through it? Answer: very. Siggy's opinion
here is valid for an outsider with a mostly neutral opinion of the Great DOminus. Then again, so is the Great Dominus' point of view in the next comic. It's also a punchline that made me smile.
However,
Siggy's actions are overreactive and too brutal for a simple arrest. I am referring to Gregory's assault as the Great Dominus' arrest was swift and relatively painless. Even Lady Iayden believes Siggy's gone too far. Taking into account Siggy's initial appearance in the comic, it's safe to say he has rage issues.
And yet he's taken out with one magical attack, so competency with hand-to-hand and the sword, but he's easily taken by surprise. He also knows from the report that Luna is a capable wizard, so he's arrogant too. This is perfectly in keeping with his character so far, although his beating up of Gregory is a little much. I'm undecided as to whether this was a deliberate start down the slippery slope of villainy to make Siggy a complex character, or if Mookie simply doesn't like Siggy.
Speaking of complexity. Luna uses
black magic powered by rage and hatred. Given that we know white is healing, and black is harmful, and the
typical connotations of black magic, Luna has iust used an evil spell. Lord Dan has also pointed out the unusual swiftness of the casting, making the reader see that Luna holds in her anger and hate. On the one hand, the use of the spell is iustified, on the other hand it's a little worrying.
Lord Dan is a werewolf. He's also honourable and lawful, as seen by his dialogue. And is a wizard. As is Iayden. Who also knew Luna. I'll allow this coincidence.
And the Great Dominus has a vision in his unconsciousness of . . .
Stunt hanging people? It
is Stunt, but with different hair from
earlier. Stunt's a mass murderer now? Or simply poor art. Now, from previous appearances Stunt's willing to kill, but he's a knife nut, and this ominous hooded lurking doesn't seem typical of Stunt, so I call poor art. However, if it is Stunt I'll be pleasantly surprised as it would explain why he and Bumper kept trying to rob a seer.
But it's Iacob. A
blond Iacob. When all previous appearances show him to have black hair. And don't get me started on the genetic improbabilities of three male siblings have black, brown and blond hair. Unless Iacob went Goth and dyed his hair. Also: why does Lord Dan have a sixpack in werewolf form?
Oddly, it takes almost all of
VoD 1 for the Great Dominus to display
anti-social, ierkiness and
idiocy. So far this arc he's been reasonable and nice. In the last two comics linked the Great Dominus is deliberately antagonising someone who less than half an hour ago knocked him unconscious in one punch and beat his little brother senseless. Oh, and does anyone else have the unsettling feeling that you could turn the Great Dominus into Lady Iayden if you made his hair longer and took away his glasses? Because you could. And
another nice moment. Not as sweet as the earlier one, but still nice.
VoD 2 is a mere nine pages long. I don't really know why.
The Great Dominus once more displays his
hatred of humanity in a manner which leaves Luna stunned speechless. Note too how he refers to the people he's lived with for years as "morons" and "idiots".
Oh, and zombies.
Gregory displays common sense and stops the Great Dominus in his tracks, pointing out that, although he is Great, he isn't a great magician despite his deep-seated belief that he's better than everyone else in the world. I will say though that the Great Dominus may wish to protect Gregory from Iacob by not letting him come though, as I doubt he would go up against an evil necromancer without any backup. For his own safety if nothing else. So we get white magic to kill zombies, and offensive magic to kill everything else. And another
cute moment. That's three in two months of comic.
But the typical personality of the Great Dominus comes back with his
"going away present" to his village. It's raining books. This would cause heavy structural damage to buildings, and potential concussions or skull fractures or worse. And what about the children of the village? Granted, they're probbaly inside
now, but at the beginning of the rain, they would have been outside. With their fragile, still-forming bones.
Vindictive much Great Dominus? Iust because your customers weren't exactly smart, and there was one mob, on whom you already took your vengeance, doesn't mean you can inflict actual bodily harm on them again. And not to mention you do have some friends in that village. Well, you did before you assaulted them.
And here ends the arc.
Overall, the characterisation is consistent, especially for the secondary characters of Siggy, Dan and Iayden. Gregory's more teenaged here, and you can see him develop a crush on Iayden.
Luna is, oddly, the most evil of the primary trio in these two parts, although in all fairness, it was only one outburst (and it is the emotions behind it which worry me), but it's nice to see she's willing to fight to save her family. The timeline though is apparently
one week according to the Great Dominus, so we'll say that the entire comic so far has spanned two weeks maximum. And Luna claims the Great Dominus and Gregory - the latter she has known for no more than three days - as family. Luna is clingy, but given what they've gone through, I'll allow it to pass.
The Great Dominus is oddly personable and caring so far. Perhaps the shocking visions and close companionship would allow him to actually understand normality and compassion. He still displays evidence of his usual sociopathic and anti-social self; but he seems to be growing as a person. Especially in regards to Luna.
This arc is very promising, the tension between Siggy's group and the Great Dominus' group is promising, and it looks like they'll meet up again soon. The Iacob threat is tantalising, and given the reaction of the Great Dominus it should make for a good confrontation.
I am actually looking forward to this arc. Things are moving at a fast pace, events are occuring rapidly and promise good things to come.
I have a feeling that I'll miss this arc the further I progress into this webcomic.