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Since every few weeks somebody comes around and asks us why, if we apparently hate the Dominic Deegan comic so much, we still keep reading it instead of deleting it from our bookmarks. This post shall serve as a collection of all our stances on the comic and why we keep reading it after all, so that we can refer the person asking to this post (or just quote it), and be done with it.
Anyone who wants his opinion mentioned here - or who wants his previous statement changed - shall tell me so, so I can edit this post.
rubakhin
Honestly? I get more entertainment out of all the snark than I would probably get from Dominic Deegan if it were a good strip.
Also, it's interesting to read as a writer. For the same reason why in writing groups you're encouraged to listen to the critiques directed at other members as well. You learn a lot whenever you see the flaws in a work of fiction being dissected like this. You get a better feel for what works, what doesn't, and why.
Winterwind
Most (all?) of us used to enjoy reading DD and, when it went bad, stayed in the hope it might recover. Meanwhile, we kept discussing the comic, which invariably ended in mocking its failings. Over time, we found that mocking the comic is far more funny and enjoyable than the comic ever was even before its great fall. I presume you did not read this thread, else you would have noticed what this thread has spawned. There were many sides long parodies of Dominic's over-manipulativeness comparing the comic to 1984. There were parodies on his Mary Sue'ness, drawing an analogy to the Inquisition. There were such things as the Encyclopaedia Dominica, or just utterly bizarre and mind-blowing stories and explanations for the comic's logical fallacies. The strip slay thread, undeniably funny, is just the other side of the same coin, where this thread is the other - more of the same parody, except now in words, not in images.
Delete it from our bookmarks? Are you freakin' kidding me? Why the hell would we want to block ourselves from the fun which is this thread?
MReav
Originally I read DD because at first it was kinda cute and funny, and the consistent updates were a welcome change from some of my more favoured webcomics at the time (namely, Captain SNES). Yeah, the preachiness was annoying, as was the constant portrayal of common people as ignorant thugs, but I could skip those comics by and large. But it got a lot worse.
Now I read DD because it's kinda like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. It's entertaining in a MST3K sort of way now, going over with fellow mockers the incredible amounts of Mary Sue-ness, the idiot plots, the poor art, the attempts at the fetishistic, the rampant anti-jock sentiment (which I really think was derived from watching college films than any real human interaction), the Deus Ex Machinas, the gobs of poorly-thought-out Fantastic Racism, and all the other entertainingly bad actions of the comic and its writer.
I won't bash Mookie too much, since I don't pay for his comic nor is anyone making me keep the bookmark, but since his comic is on the web for all to see, I'll enjoy snarking about it over here.
averagejoe
If I could appreciate this thread, and strip slays, without reading the strip, I probably would. I've tried to quit several times, but these guys keep drawing me back!
Morty
I can already say that I'm reading DD primarily out of curiosity- I want to see what will author screw up this time. But reading strips so I can see them mocked here is fun as hell too.
Oracle_Hunter
As I've said before, DD is compelling for me because of Mookie's guileless writing style. He is probably well read, and is in any case well familiar with a wide variety of Tropes, and he can even put a plot together in a Fridge Logic kind of way.
Yet, despite all this apparent sophistication, the man writes Eragon-level stuff. Vastly derivative and often very loopy... yet he is not like the average attempted webcomic writer. He occupies a twilight realm between Total Crap and Graphic Novel Writer and that makes him unique, and worthy of study.
Nobody else can do what Mookie does, for better or for worse.
CrazyFatGoblin
I personally read DD for literary ideas, for Mookie *does* have some good ideas, but really sucks at execution. Well, if he *did* have execution, it'd be awesome, but thats not the point.
I read DD to try and wonder what it would be like if such and such happened, or if Mookie was actually good at writing.
I read DD because Mookie is a *genius*, transporting his readers in a masterpiece of suffering so powerful, a few weak-willed ones do not even realize they are suffering, and ask for more. I read DD because I cannot look away, same as if a trainwreck was shown on constant loop.
I read DD because the madness that is Mookie is fascinating, like a book that cannot abide, yet still read to find out what happens in the end.
In short, I read DD because, quite simply, I desire what twisted knowledge Mookie has at his disposal to make us suffer so. What could I do with that knowledge?
Spiryt
The whole problem is that we (or at least I) don't hate that comic. I, in fact, think that it will be rather silly thing to hate damn poor internet comic.
I just recently discovered that making fun of it is good entertainment.
I however had Stoped Reading : some strips appeared so horrible to me (Sword of Centuries... Arghhh) that I literally hadn't dared to read them.
kukn
The reasons are varied. Mostly, I wouldn't call it hatred, at least not for me. The posts here are mostly an intellectual excersise in criticism and satire. Which is fun. (It can get a bit too much at times, a negative stance makes people see only the negative side of DD, often twisting neutral or even good aspects of a strip into yet more negativism.)
We can get a bit full of ourselves here, to be fair. But then, we're only human.
Johnny Blade
It all starts with the author, here, because you must think of DD not only as a webcomic that tells a story or tries to be funny, although it briefly (for the first few arcs) fell into the latter category. No, DD also serves as a means for Mookie to preach his opinionated world-view and show the greatness of his self-insertion, the namesake of this train wreck.
Well, I guess it’s unnecessary to discuss why a blatant Mary-Sue who knows everything about the setting, is always right, served as the chosen savior of the world and can solve almost every problem with his convoluted, logically questionable plans is not a sign of good writing.
So on to Mookie whoring out his opinions. First, it is done in a totally obvious way – the villains seldom let a chance to say how racist/sexist/homophobic they are pass, and don’t get me started on the “Nerds always get their revenge.” thing.
Second, it gets creepy from time to time. Well, often. Examples include Mookie using Celesto, one of the Third Caste (arguably) villains, to brutally kill Brett Taggerty as punishment for being a jock (by the way, there’s only one jock who isn’t stereotyped) and Mookie using Jacob, another Third Caste member, to torture Neilen as punishment for being a womanizer trying to get into Luna’s pants.
Third, Mookie is a pseudo-liberal hypocrite, though I don’t even know if he’s truly aware of this. Yes, racism is bad, but the cultures besides the United States of Wapan/Callan that he has shown us consist of noble savages oppressing their women and living in barbarism or bipolar nudist werewolves who are racists themselves. And yes, homophobia is bad, but yet Szark-who-is-gay’s sexuality is played for laughs where nobody else’s is (exception: Gregory, who now has a girl) and he is apparently unable to have any romantic feelings besides those for Dominic, shown by his reaction to Alseltio’s death. And yes, sexism is bad, too, but even though Mookie seems to be careful here, just take a look at Luna. A wonderful, intelligent, caring and whatnot woman, blah blah. Yet she obsesses about a (minor) physical detail and needs Dominic to save her from herself. Granted, this type of female character is an archetype in and of itself, but it really is a sort of damsel in distress who had the dragon holding her captive replaced by society and a bad childhood.
Fourth, Mookie likes to bash the United States in a way resembling Michael Moore. Callan is full of idiots, tries to invade another country every now and then and is run by an evil government of some sort. The Encyclopedia lists this as the Invisible King, but I guess it really is a president who came into office through election fraud by devising a system that didn’t count the votes of all Orcs in the country.
Then, there’s Mookie’s inconsistent world-building. Not only does it seem to be a really small world, given how at least Dominic apparently has friends everywhere. No, it’s also full of anachronisms which aren’t explained anywhere. It is generally assumed magic does the trick here, although we interestingly don’t get to see too many wizards besides the protagonists and the populace of Lynn’s Brook (GAH!) were quite easily scared by magic.
This leads to another point: magic in general and illusions in particular can solve everything. Everything, I tell you. Drive away an angry mob, trick extremely powerful enemies even if they know about magic, fake your death (to calm down loved ones in a frenzy, for example) and whatever else it is you want – illusions can do it.
Add in horrible writing, best shown by the recent proposal: So, we have Luna, who actively helped Dominic manipulate everyone back during the Snowsong arc, even if it meant risking the life of Greg and the rest of Barthis. And then there is Dominic, who as always been really patient when it comes to Luna being the emo crybaby she often was. But all of a sudden, Luna is pissed off by Dominic’s puppet-mastery and Dominic finds Luna’s emotional problems annoying, although they weren’t actually significant as of late – all we had was Luna running around babbling about how she feels inferior, which probably was done by Mookie to signify she still has these problems. Great. So they tell each other how annoying they are, bicker around a little, don’t resolve their problems at all, and then…marry! Yay!
I won’t even comment on the Snowsong arc with its downright bizarre jump-the-shark moments and yet another instance of Dominic saving the day with an overly complicated scheme.
Mookie’s laughable art also has been mocked to an overdue death and I wholeheartedly recommend reading the Encyclopedia entries on Balloon Boobs, Glasswood, Snout and Trees on this subject.
Actually, one Encyclopedia Dominica article is enough to prove why Dominic Deegan is bad, so I’ll just stop here. I forgot what I was going to write, anyway. Hopefully, more will come later, though.
But you shouldn’t think I hate Dominic Deegan. Most of those who post here don’t. I actually find it one of the most entertaining webcomics around, because no one can do what Mookie does. Yes, there are other webcomics which are so bad they’re funny, but Dominic Deegan actually has a setting created for it, relatively complex arcs, an extensive cast etc., yet it is a horrible train wreck that just keeps going on and on. Like Ed Wood producing comics with the subtlety of Ayn Rand’s works instead of movies.
Seriously, just look at a random DD strip, sit back, and think about it for two minutes. It may drive you insane, but it will make you giggle in a fashion implying you are in any case.
Oh, and this wonderful thread here is a great reason to love Mookie’s stillborn brainchild, too.
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Not exactly part of our declarations why we keep reading the comic, but, as I feel, an important message to newcomers into this thread nevertheless:
Jerthanis
If you like the strip, don't read this thread. I'm serious and am not being a jerk... this thread will indoctrinate you if you're not careful. You'll come to realize things about the writing, characters, art and so on that you would have never noticed, but once you see them, you can't stop thinking about them.
Basically, if you enjoy the comic, please continue enjoying it and don't let us ruin your fun. If, at some point, you find yourself scratching your head, dry heaving, or the like, remember that lambasting it here is still a way to enjoy it still. The sad fact is that while it would be nice to have an alternate opinion around these boards, we've all been burned by the comic, and to varying degrees we're all stubborn about our reasons for not liking it. Either way, good luck.
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Listen to Jerthanis here, for his words are distilled truth.
Re: Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXIII: DeeganBallZ
