Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXVII: God Has Nothing to do With This

[averagejoe]

Oh right. Rape as drama. Fun. Best part is: Lady Amelia is raping two people at once. I bet Bumper's going to get all the blame for this, even though he's under mind control.

Men getting raped is treated so casually in this comic it's not even funny in a snarky kind of way. Mookie probably didn't even think of it as rape of Bumper.

I see that "esteemed guests" means deus ex machina in the Dominiverse.

Nah, "Miranda Deegan," does. She even made a lame pun about it once.

Donovan does stay generally fun and cool, though.

But an Archmage has a grenade heart as a soul iar.

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[FoE]

OK, the first half of this comic was pretty clever.

[Turcano]

First thoughts on the update:



My mind went to a weird place.

[Coidzor]

First thoughts on the update:

My mind went to a weird place.

Not really. I imagine many of us have gone there before. I've thought something similar myself before.

...That might even be going on in Mookie's mind as well.

[guttering flame]

Obviously Karnak is bad at recognizing voices. He's already eaten 3/4 of Hell and that annoying voice calling "KARNAK" is still going strong. Who could it be that's calling his name? Who???

[Humbug]

I'm not sure what Mookie is trying to do here. Is he rehashing the page where Karnak spears the flying demon thingie when he hears Siggy screaming his name? Then the next time it happens he decides to massacre a group of Soul Eaters? What's going on with Mookie's thought process? Is it his intention that everytime Karnak hears his name he goes on a killing rampage? Is it supposed to be a joke? A dramatic moment? Huh?

[Glass Mouse]

OK, the first half of this comic was pretty clever.

Hear, hear! I actually found myself interested in knowing what Loxo saw, and when Bulgak's wound was revealed, I was all "ooh, now we'll know what happens when one dies in hell!"

...then I remembered that I'm better off not knowing, and that fatal wounds are just a minor annoyance... oh, well, I had a moment

[SlyGuyMcFly]

First thoughts on the update:



My mind went to a weird place.

That's pretty much were my mind went too.

[Fishy Fishy]

What are the odds we'll find out what Loxo saw? If we do, I'm betting on 'her abusive mother'.

Also, I'm very pleased that Loxo is so much more efficient at slaying hallucinations than Bulgak is.

[Gez]

The Goons made me realize that what's-her-face's, erm, girly bits have escalated in mass since the beatdown began. It's stuff like this that gets me weirded out.

This is a phenomenon well-known to the old timers of this thread. It has been observed many times. Boob inflation and inappropriate ass shots are the almost-inevitable consequences of violence against women in DD.

[Glass Mouse]

This is a phenomenon well-known to the old timers of this thread. It has been observed many times. Boob inflation and inappropriate ass shots are the almost-inevitable consequences of violence against women in DD.

I don't really see it in this case, though. I was actually impressed by Mookie - for once, the boobs aren't ridiculously outlined, but actually look like they're covered by a loose dress.
*sniff* Our Mookie is growing up.

[guttering flame]

Haven't noticed this before but Loxo's clothing looks like a sleeveless undershirt from the store and not the one strap side robe she had going before.

[Ignition]

It's nice to see that cunning manipulative female dogs like Loxo also put a few points into the "Shanking People With Nearby Stalagmites" skill; always important to broaden your skill-set, after all

Also, I totally thought the Snap Into A Slim Jim thing as well I'm really looking forward to seeing Karnak either eating Siggy or using bits and pieces from all the demons he's leaving lying around to craft a new mask for Siggy. In fact, I've already written the script for it!

Siggy: (Upon seeing Karnak stride up in true Haters Gonna Hate fashion) "KARRRRNAAAA-"
Karnak: "Yeah yeah, 'Karnak', I know what my name is. Now come here so I can enslave you again."
Siggy: (lunges at Karnak, is grabbed in a choke-hold) "KARNAK?"
Karnak: "What are you, a pokemon? Learn a new word. Anyway, I made a new mask for you. Open wide, bigot."
Siggy: "KARNAK! KAR-" (stifled mumbling)
Karnak: "Maybe I should find a way of doing this *puts on shades* en-mask."
Siggy: (is now inexplicably wearing a top-hat and monocle over his mask) "Cheerio, pip pip good sir! Crumpets!"
Karnak: "I think I preferred him the other way."
(GRATUITOUS NAKED FEMALE BUM)

~fin~

[SpekterofDavid]

Call Me CRaaaaazyyyy But I actauly like this strip. I felt like it wasnt filler...but if mookie follows up with redempion this will suck.

[colonelslime]

I'm finding it harder and harder to comment on DD. It's just getting so stupid.
What exactly is Siggy doing screaming Karnak's name over and over at the top of his lungs? Is he the demonic equivalent of a two-year-old calling for their Daddy? Is he calling his jilted lover back so they can make up? He's certainly not going on a bloody rampage like I expected with his KHAAAANNN moment.

[SaintRidley]

I have a feeling Mookie is trying to imply that this is contemporaneous with Siggy's loss of his mask therefore making this the same scream.

He's failing spectacularly at that, though.

[M84]

Heyall,

Did Karnak absorb the Demon of Gluttony too? Cuz then his desire to eat every demon in Hell would actually make sense.

Overall, today's strip isn't bad. It's not great by any stretch, but it's not so awful that it's physically torturous to see. That's probably the best thing I've ever said about DD in the past few months.

[averagejoe]

Obviously Karnak is bad at recognizing voices. He's already eaten 3/4 of Hell and that annoying voice calling "KARNAK" is still going strong. Who could it be that's calling his name? Who???

I'm finding it harder and harder to comment on DD. It's just getting so stupid.
What exactly is Siggy doing screaming Karnak's name over and over at the top of his lungs? Is he the demonic equivalent of a two-year-old calling for their Daddy? Is he calling his jilted lover back so they can make up? He's certainly not going on a bloody rampage like I expected with his KHAAAANNN moment.

I've mostly been commenting on CurlyKitGirl's thoughts on the older arcs for just that reason. Ecstasy and Evil is still way more interesting than this one.

[Jahkaivah]

Yeah gonna have to agree that the first four panels were funny.

[Helanna]

I have a feeling Mookie is trying to imply that this is contemporaneous with Siggy's loss of his mask therefore making this the same scream.

He's failing spectacularly at that, though.

Yeah . . . normally I don't think much about how I would draw/arrange the comic if I could, because I can't draw at all, but this arc is kind of forcing me to. There's so much interesting stuff he could be doing, that even I can see, and he's still stuck in the 4x2 panel structure, not actually experimenting at all . . . arggghh.

Although in this case, the first 4 panels did amuse me quite a bit. So, at least there's that.

[M84]

Heyall,

Loxo is quickly proving to be the most interesting and entertaining character in this arc. Granted, the competition isn't very stiff.

Maybe that's why the first four panels of this strip were actually pretty good. She got us out of Maltak flashback territory and stabbed a whiny Orc in the chest.

The side characters of each arc tend to be the saving graces of DD. Outrage Chief, Katya, Pam, Dex, Vaskez, and now Loxo. At least until they inevitably become the sycophants and cheerleaders of the main characters that Mookie wants us to like. Loxo might escape this fate since we aren't actually supposed to like anybody in this arc.

[Lillith]

Maybe Siggy is running through hell, mass murdering anybody who might happen to cross his path, screaming Karnak´s name as an attempt to lure him in? Since if you scream a persons name a couple of times, they'll notice and come towards you. It's how momma's find their young.

[Morty]

Aaand we're back to silliness. I wonder if the srs business/silly ratio will keep up.

[colonelslime]

I have a feeling Mookie is trying to imply that this is contemporaneous with Siggy's loss of his mask therefore making this the same scream.

He's failing spectacularly at that, though.

I'd agree, except Karnak has heard the scream at least once before. HE was pretty pissed about it then, too.

[SaintRidley]

I'd agree, except Karnak has heard the scream at least once before. HE was pretty pissed about it then, too.

Even then, I'd er on the side of Mookie thinking he's conveying that Karnak is still hearing the scream. Largely because of the amount of fail it would require and the novelty of it.

[guttering flame]

Maybe we're supposed to link the weird stalagmite mountains in the background with the repeated "Karnak" shouts and understand that New Hell is an excellent echo-chamber? Either that or it's a bad Twilight Zone episode ala the GroundsHog Day?

[Palmer]

So Sneaky Gate came up, and wasn't I surprised when I saw a flashback not recapping something we already know? Shame Mookie forgot this was his "Everybody's a bad guy" arc and started handing out tragic pasts left and right though.


Future Link

[CurlyKitGirl]

Analysing Dominus Deegan

The Golden Age*

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A Frail Hope of Adequate Enjoyment
21/05/2002 - 17/07/2002 Arcs covered: Oracle for Hire, The Curse
The First Signs of Serious Psychological Issues Appear
18/07/2002 - 4/12/2002 Arcs covered: The Curse, Luna, Into the Woods
In Which Teh Great Dominus Indulges in Torture and Terrifies Me
5/12/2002 - 21/02/2003 Arcs covered: Into the Woods, Couch Forts and Crying
Dominatrix Luna. Oh, and The Dominus is More Feared Than A Necromancer
22/01/2003 - 11/03/2003 Arcs covered: Makeover!, Mob Mentality
Thing Are Looking Up
12/03/2003 - 30/04/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts One and Two
Siggy Is Iesus. Make of That What You Will
01/05/2003 -23/06/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Three and Four
The Great Dominus Is Officially A Marty Stue an It's THRILLER! THRILLER NIGHT!
24/06/2003 - 19/08/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Five and Six
Character Development! And We Conclude an Arc
20/08/2003 - 10/09/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Seven and Eight
Short Arc Is Short
11/09/2003 - 21/10/2003 Arcs covered: The Party

The Tarnished Age

Hell Is Meaningless Filler
23/10/2003 - 20/11/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Part One
Kink + Dominus Deegan = Eye and Brain Bleach
11/11/2003 - 16/12/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Two and Three
Inflatable Boobs and Sex! Occasional Plotting Is Permitted
17/12/2003 - 30/01/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Four and Five
Enter: Deus Ex Machina! And Boobs.
31/01/2005 - 19/04/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Six and Seven

Mookie Reveals More of His Sexual Fantasies. And Noone Ever Suffers From Any Effects of A Near-Rape. Ever!
20/04/2004 -26/05/2004 Arcs covered: TEatE: Parts Eight and Nine

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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 sexsexsexsexsexsexsexsexsexsexSEX!!!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.

*Ages as defined by Trazoi here.

Next up!
The Dominus tells his Mama about the nun who's crushing on Gregory. Even though nun's are meant to take vows of chastity.
And yes, while I recognise that 'sister' was (and still may be) a viable term of address for a matron or nurse at a hospital; Sister Pam explicitly says she was ordained by the Luanian Church.
ANd given that her outfit is a nun's outfit, but all white, and the title and the ordaining, Sister Pam should have a vow of chastity. Especially considering Luania sounds and looks too much like 'lunar' to be a coincidence. And classically, the lunar goddess is one of chastity.
So Sister Pam is being corrupted by Gregory.

[averagejoe]

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.

So Sister Pam is being corrupted by Gregory.

Oh man. It's like watching a train wreck. You just have no idea.

[Deme]

I love reading these Analyses: every five lines I think "I love the smell of impending dissapointment"

Also, can we add to the Dominionology that not only is Rape a fine way to save a life, it is almost certainly nothing to be at all concerned about. No need to get upset in the slightest if it happens or nearly happens to you, or blame or punish the people that do it. Rape, physical or mental, is never performed (or even almost performed) by anyone below the 3rd caste: perhaps that is what gives its powers of salvation.