Fourth-ed on the part about making arcane magic scientific. I think I might have seen that idea somewhere else...but since I can't remember from where, it's obviously not one of the stock tropes for this genre. Either way, I've seen a lot of works where magic is considered too vague and belief-based to be studied scientifically. It's nice to read something fresh like this.

I also think your "Detect Evil = Detect my Deity's Enemies" idea is interesting. Just make sure to include it in the comic so all the people who don't follow the thread posts will learn about it.