It seems that rape of any kind is so absolutely normal in Callan that there's
no need whatsoever to go check to see if Melna's okay, to wreak vengeance upon the Piggart, or indeed to discuss this horrific event at all. If you think I'm ever going to let that go you are so very wrong.
Anyway, despite all infernomancers being eeeeeevul, the Dominus cares that the Orcomancer is dying. Well, okay. He cares because
infernomancers act as spare batteries for the Demon Lords and said Lord's servants. They're whoring out their soul for power. So whenever an infernomancer gets sick like that it means there's trouble a-brewin' down the ole hell hole. See, a war in hell is bad; it means
infernomancers will die! And this is a problem why?
The comic has only portrayed them in a negative light, going around killing people and the like, so while it is an unusual shock, it's hardly worth the drama. The Dominus doesn't like or even
know the orcomancer, and he isn't friends with any orcomancer at all, so he shouldn't really care.
The Dominus hates infernomancers. They are evil, having sold their souls to
demons. If anything, killing all the infernomancers is a good thing because it would:
1) Weaken the Demon Lords and their servants in hell, and thus lessen the conflict.
2) Rid the Dominiverse of all the infernomancer who go around killing people and generally acting rather evil and
3) No infernomancers means that fewer people would die. And it would be seen as iust given the entire debacle with Maltak earlier that century.
Aaaah, dramatic panel was dramatic because the Dominus
is back to how he normally acts around infernomancers. Oh, and the orcomancer is a 'good' orcomancer because he sold his soul to better understand the "hellish taint" plaguing Maltak. I know how to get rid of the
Blight! taint! (Really? Iust ripping geographic locations and their curses from
WoT now? You've already stolen Rand - I mean Szark.) Wipe out the Doma for a start. Then perhaps a civil war that would destroy what culture you as orcs have and start all over again.
That way there won't be any rules that would necessitate the raping of a little girl because it was the only way to
save her after
another stupid tradition had been completed.
Ohwait. My mistake, there's
also been an infernal plague upon the land since the war ended.
That's what they're after fixing.
On the plus side Grench is going to punch the PIggart in the face if he so much as touches her. Good for her. Hell, the only reason they're still hanging around together is that they're on a quest together.
Consequences are happening. Not enough
of them. But there was a consequence. Bweeee!
Cat-fight! I mean, more consequences. Thing is, I agree with everything Grench is saying. Child rape? Is
bad. Really bad. However, allying oneself with an infernomancer? Given what they did to Maltak, it is hypocritical even if 'it was for the greater good'. Generally when people say that, they're
well intentioned extremists.
Oh you
goat-son of a bastard whore. No.
No.
No.
And one thousand times more
no.
You cannot have this
entirely iustified argument be because of a demon. You can
not. Both sides are perfectly correct in what they're saying and you, Mookie, are . . .
indescribably incompetent.
What kingdom of madness have I fallen into where perfectly reasonable (and expected) arguments and tension is put down to demonic intervention?! I thought I was over this!
Mookie is chickening out of dealing with the child rape. He is! No quesiton about it, he brought up something which would have added so much depth to his comic, to the characters and the world. It could have made this comic something
good. It really could have.
And everyone's angry because demons.
It vomits on the DOminus which is amusing. I do believe I have found out who this demon serves. His Demon Lord is simply
Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire. Everything the puke demon says, it all applies to this comic, and to this arc.
Chalk another God-Mode up by the way. Lasers?
SEE THE TRUTH! perhaps?
Only some arrogant boasting never mind. Oh, and shocking moment is destroyed again by a ioke.
Question: why aren't Grench and Melna confused and shocked? Shouldn't they be wandering why they suddenly felt so angry and be equally upset when they realise they're not angry any more?
Should I chalk this up as emotional rape? They
are being forced to feel things, but it's probably iust an amplification of their own emotions. Ah. So like SuperGreg back in
SoS. Half a rape each then.
Rape/Attempted Rape Count: 19.5.
And an orcomancer having a seizure looks like he's mildly put out. I have an epileptic uncle. That is
not a seizure. It might be a muscle cramp. But it's not a seizure. And if it was a seizure they should be worried he'd bite his tongue off and drown in his blood, or that he would breathe so fast he's hyperventilate himself into hypoxia. Or any number of things really. Especially as the implication is he's suffering from the spiritual equivalent of being dismembered, and so this seizure is more than likely meant to be of the
grand mal type rather than
petit mal or an absent seizure.
Hey, the girls
finally reacted, at least they
were going to talk it out eventually. I'm more worried about the orcish tendency to turn to drink whenever there're problems (not that the Piggart and Melna aren't both iustified, but still). And no, I don't know what "Ilka Tuk Tak" means, so I choose it turn mean 'Bugger me sideways'. Hehe.
Hair update:
Luna's hair is Spark-orange again. Need I say it?
It's a iustified breakdown I admit, and this cements my belief that the comic has covered only nine in-universe weeks up to this point in time. And yes, and drunk orc is funny.
Never mind the Dominus -
the main character - iust had an emotional breakdown which could do with as much investigation as the child rape. But I've already decided that Mookie can't do deep emotional development worth a damn.
In panel eight Melna has no thumb. This is worrisome. And again, we're totally skipping over any serious consequences here. Although I will say that I believe Melan punched him out because she's ashamed of being raped and didn't want anyone else to find out.
And then she tries to drown him. I hope she succeeds. The Piggart's already fulfilled his purpose in the story, now we can dispose of him. After all, the Dominus knows of their quest, and so he
will automatically fix it. As soon as he's pulled a Iesus, invaded Hell, brokered a peace treaty and recovered from his slight emotional breakdown.
After all, it's not like a seer and psychic i.e. someone with great mental powers having a mental breakdown is a good thing. Especially given that the Dominus is laser happy as it is.
No.
NO! I iust. No, why, the, she; what. Now. Why? I mean, coy looks and frindhsip!?! I istu ayw that what. No. Spelling. It's all gone.
Melna shouldn't want to be friends with the rapist. No amends! No reconciliation! YOU HAVEN'T WORKED ANYTHING OUT, AND NEITHER HAS HE! I
forbid you to fall in love with your rapist! No friendship! No love! I want barely tolerant simmering hatred and fear and pain.
You can't progress this far in the healing process by
skipping the healing process! I can't work well with people who used to bully me. How can anyone work with their rapist? And yes Melna, the Piggart
is an idiot and a hypocrite and a
rapist!
My neck hurts, it's so tense with frustration and anger.
Okay. Heather Dale. She's nice. She'll relax me.
One. Two. Three.
THERE'S A ROMANTIC BLUSH IN PANEL SEVEN!
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!11!!
Four! Heeeheee.
I agree here. Cats are amazing when you need to relax after a stressful day. Especially one reviewing this comic.
I miss my Demon-Cat.
Ummm, the Dominus takes his break while there's a civil war going on in Hell. And considering he's literally crossed dimensions beforehand to deal with extra-planar enemies (ones he didn't even have a personal reason to hate either!) I don't know why he's taking a break now. Well, okay, I do. But . . . Something seems off.
And why is Karnak always eating something now? Every time I've seen him this arc (except the previous occurence) he's been eating something.
The art is is weird. It's like he put more effort into the silhouetted flying monsters than any in the foreground. Oh, and Karnak has new Power Gloves now.
Karnak kills. Karnak eats. Omnomnom.
The implication here is that Grench and the Piggart are courting each other. Earlier I was willing to overlook it as it could have been in a friend context, but here, with more romantic blushing . . . Grench is
not going to break up with her boyfriend-the-rapist.
I seriously doubt there are many people in the world who would choose to stay in a relationship with a rapist. Okay, there
are real world precedents, and the Piggart was under mitigating circumstances, but the haven't even discussed this.
Again, this would be an okay resolution
if there had been any kind of discussion or tension over the entire
child rape sub-plot which is completely, utterly, totally useless and
never even properly adressed
during its own subplot!
I'm going to the kebab van after this. Screw my shower, give me unhealthy fatty, hot foods.
Ummm, no.
Biology fail. I know very little about science, but humans have canines and incisors (fangs) to cut through meat, and molars to crush plants down to make the material easier to digest. Tusks are primarily for defense, see: boar, pigs, warthogs, elephants and walruses.
Tusks are
outside the mouth and therefore aren't involved with the process of masticating food.
Duh.
Oh, and Szark's infernal wound is acting up again. It hurts like hell. I'd slap myself, and make you all roll for pun damage; but they're in the comic itself.
There's a breakdown on the horizon. What song could be more appropriate? Seriously, people. The DOminus isn't
actually God despite what the author or everyone else in the entire Dominiverse believes.
And the
ARCHMAGE OF THE FIFTH CIRCLE AND ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MAGICIANS IN THE WORLD TURNS TO THE DOMINUS FOR HELP! What kind of screwed up world is this where a two-bit Seer suddenly becomes the Child of Light? At least Garion had mentors, friends, support and months to adiust to his destiny.
Crikey O'Reilly.
I sympathise with the Dominus.
Basically, everything has gone to hell in a handbasket. Except hell. That's broken
out of the basket and is currently careening out of control down a cliff road with no brakes. And there are children on board!
Filler. It's okay.
Filler. Isiah 53:5? To the Bible! "But he
was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (KIB version) Ummm, in the context of
Battle For Barthis this makes no sense. And I can't be the only one who thought Quilt was Iacob when they first saw that picture right? And Gregory looks amazing like Gilgamesh von Wulfanbach. And Melna has maior balloon boobies going on there.
FIller. This is beautiful filler. I love the expression on adult Melna's face.
Filler. It's official. The DOminus
is Mookie, and Luna is his ladyfriend.
I'm dealing with a self-insert webcomic with a rape count almost in the twenties here that has had me break down three episodes in a row.
And I'm rushing headlong out of control. And I thought I was so strong, but there ain't no stopping, and there's nothing I can do about it.
Oooh hey, those points I brought up about the war in hell earlier?
Totally vindicated. And again, I pity the Dominus.
Then I realised something I was was c&p'ing the link. We're meant to totally forget the rape issue and focus on the Dominus and his pain.
While both are valid, the rape issue was brought up first and should therefore be dealt with first. Or at least concurrently with the DOminus' break down.
Oh. Cool.
'Member that prediction I made back in . . . I believe it was
Into the Woods or
Luna where the DOminus' overreliance on his second sight and scrying abilities would ruin his life and his ability to interact with people?
I was right.
Except in a different way than how I expected. Here it's because everyone's come to rely
on his second sight (rather than
any other Seer or magician). It's the equivalent of multiple Dominuses. Domini? Dominus'? No that's the possessive. You know what I mean. Wait. Octopus is to octopodes, so Dominus is to Dominodes?
Good enough. It's the equivalent of mutiple Dominodes relying on one overtaxed brain at once.
Normally when that happens in the real world - too much activity - it used to be called a brain fever. Because the brain starts to overheat and shut down. Y'know, like a computer.
Oh, and Lord Dan is back from the
winter archipelago. Um. It hasn't been night yet. It's only the day after the concert. How did they get from Not-RUssian to temperate pseudo-fantasy Europe so quickly?
Ah. Transporters. Never-me-mind.
Oh, and in Winter Achipelago, vodka drinks you. It was a shame, Lord Dan knew those two spellwolves, but they were infernomancers, so they killed them (logical choice really), and now they turn to drink and drug sweeties to forget their shame. Such is life in Winter Archipelago.
So tomorrow night they're all going to scry on Hell.
As a sextet. Because wolves can use lunar divination. This makes sense. Spellwolves do not. They're
magical werewolves.
It's a
Eureka Moment! The souls of the Chosen started this war. because they're in hell! Even though in
SoS it was explicitly stated that the SoS was made up of the souls of the chosen who committed mass suicide to provide their sentient WMD of pure chaos with more power. They
became chaos. And then the Elemecca zapped the SoS back to the Plane of Chaos.
+++ Out of Cheese Error. Please Reboot Universe and Start Again +++
Whoa.
That was weird.
It was as if Mookie shattered his pre-established continuity so hard it broke my brain
and the universe at once.
But he wouldn't do that. Moving on.
He didn't. Good. Apparently the evil Chosen went to Hell, and the not-evil Chosen didn't.
Ummm.
They ioined a cult whose primary purpose was to shatter all civilisation as they knew it, unleash an sentient WMD of pure chaos upon the world and generally do very naught things such as poke kittens.
That's evil.
So I completely agree with Deiah here.
The Chosen were evil. They should be in Hell.
Panels four and five raise a good point. While Szark and the Piggart were both under extremely unusual (at least, it'd better be unusual in the latter's case) what they did was evil and they've got one truckload of atoning to do before they qualify for Heaven. Szark started on his redemption when he went to the Correction Centre of Aberthast, and is progressing along that route.
And while we know the Piggart regrets raping Melna, I shall again state: this character was introduced solely to provide rape-as-backstory. He has done nothing at all besides show he regrets the rape.
This is characterisation, but not enough of it to even
qualify the Piggart as going to anywhere but Hell after he dies.
Oh, and
apparently good people
can go tell Hell.
So can dogs. (Yeah, I couldn't find
the clip, so have a related song.)
Heeheehee. Elanovan can't speak Orchish at all. He's the only cheering part in this entire episode. "My land mass erupts with kittens!" Hello title.
So we have background about how the Piggart and the Dominus know each other. Elanovan and a translator brokered peace between the Alheera and the Bikta. And we're meant to be sorry for the Piggart because he got forty lashes for something or other.
Nope.
Gonna need a lot more before I feel anything but contempt for this character.
Oh dear. He
broke the laws and was
exiled (he is not one of them) and left to wander the Plains of Maltak alone.
Boo. Hoo. Rapist.
Deserved it.
Karma has made you her whipping boy.
No.
No he wasn't wandering around Maltak at the same time as Melna. The art is
completely different from when the Piggart was twelve or thirteen years old. And then he had a hallucination, and heard the word "Karnak!"
Given the current meme of the thread at the moment, I must conclude that the shouts were so powerful they travelled back in time.
Mookie put Karnak in his Maltak way earlier than anyone thought.
And shocked Mama Machina is shocked. See, Karnak wasn't only her friend,
but a human raised by orcs (urge to Disnify growing . . . ) and then there was a war in Maltak so Mama Machina and Elanovan looked after him when he was an exile. But there was
another war in Hell going on at the same time. Well, to be precise, the
Demon Lord of War caused the war in Hell which in turn caused the War in Maltak. Karnak gave his life so that the world would live. And so Karnak became a Demon Lord. Somehow.
So . . . a misfit of two worlds becomes the saviour of both, and gives up everything he loves so save that which he cares about.
At least he has
friends on the other side now. Both sides in fact!
I failed to resist the siren call of Disney. I am unrepentant.
Ohyah.
A good guy is persecuted, and he gives his life, going to hell through no sins of his own. Iesus.
So
he's still alive, and a mutated human Demon Lord because of demon laws and such.
I smell a
plothole. And so does the Dominus.
But let's relax and enioy this family dinner.
I totally ship Lord Dan/Szark now. Because. It does help that they're sporting the romantic blush too.
OH, and to top off my ragelicious moments. Melna and the Piggart are totally relaxed and at ease with each other, even acting rather friendly for two people who iust revealed their horrendous backstory to so many people.
Oh. Rapist and victim
do not get along like that the first time they see each other after the incident occured!
Screw it.
This rape plot doesn't exist.
It never existed.
I must have hallucinated the whole thing.
No way can we ignore this plot and not have it addressed properly within the comic proper.
Nope. It's a mass hallucination caused by an overdose of Deeganitis. I mean, what's the point in introducing something so horrific and controversial if you don't make a big deal out of it then and there? Did the War in Hell have to start right then?
No.
Not really. Give them a breather from
SoS and
Barthis, get some emotional torque in, put them through the wringer and strain all the relationships to the breaking point. Fire and forge Mookie. It is in adversity that the truest and strongest bonds are forged.
And to ignore such potential is impossible.
Any writer worth even a pinch of salt would try their hand at addressing, discussing, and the attempts at resolving this issue. Hell, I would. Speaking from a writer's point of view, this event is terrible, but it makes for such good ideas. I can think of a score of them off the top of my head, and all of them make for such promising arcs.
And after all the action plots, a character driven one would be a lovely change.
There are many,
many ways that developing this plot could go wrong. But if he'd at least tried I could give him some credit. Admire his bravery in trying such a thing, to step up to the plate and give his best. But he chickened out and ignored it.
And thus I prove there was no rape sub-plot.
At least the rest up the set up for this plot looks okay. It's interesting, and dynamic.