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

[Fishy Fishy]

Hey, in the hands of a competent author, wouldn't Siggy's racism and preadolescent lynching shenanigans have actually made him a better character?

He's like reverse-Szark (which means, logically, that we should now point out how very straight Siggy is at all opportunities):

Wait wait wait. Are you saying that Szark is gay?

...Looking at my earlier post about Siggy/Szark, I wonder what other comparison between nearly-identical character arcs can be drawn? I mean, there are probably a lot between 4th and 3rd caste characters. The morality may be stupider and more complicated than we think.

Stonewater? Old friend of Dominic's commits vile act, repents, is showered with forgiveness and understanding, a bad guy complains about how this is all a bit not cool but his opinion doesn't count. More reinforcement for your theory.

[averagejoe]

Wait wait wait. Are you saying that Szark is gay?

Well, you know shippers, they'll come up with anything, no matter how far fetched.

By the way, is your name a reference to Axe Cop? I can't remember if there was a villain named, "Fishy Fishy," but it seems like an Axe Cop-y name.

[Gez]

I still really like this arc [Visions of Doom].

It's one of the best, if not the best, that DD has to offer. Not perfect, it has its share of plot holes and convenient coincidences, but it's still relatively solid and pretty decent storytelling for a webcomic; which makes it leagues ahead of what DDOFH has become afterwards.

[Trazoi]

@CurlyKitGirl: I'd like to read your take on the next big arc Ecstacy(sic) and Evil, as it's the first where the big problems of later DD rear their head. The plot at its core isn't that terrible, but there's plenty of WTF moments that in retrospect mirror some of the more infamous ones that appear down the line.

Re: the recent comic, I've just noticed in the newspost that part of the reason for Siggy's unmasking is to make the "hellish slaughterfests look much better (with) teeth bared and eyes blazing". Personally I think Shieldface Siggy would have been much more menacing due to the inhumanness of having no visible emotions. Nimmel Siggy is going to look like an angry orc with an octopus on his head.

[TheLaughingMan]

It's one of the best, if not the best, that DD has to offer. Not perfect, it has its share of plot holes and convenient coincidences, but it's still relatively solid and pretty decent storytelling for a webcomic; which makes it leagues ahead of what DDOFH has become afterwards.

Bolded for sad, sad truth. Why do only so few actually try to do something great in the community?

In the past year I've witnessed:

The Lost Age of Deegan.

Ctrl-Alt-Del's pitiful wedding arc.

The slow decent of Penny Arcade into 'meh' territory.

PvP.

And the realization of many of my old, treasured webcomics are utterly trash. Case in point: The Wotch.

Sigh.

[averagejoe]

Eye Em Oh, there are some excellent webcomics out there that easily rival or surpass most print comics I've seen. A lot of them tend to be joke a day, which is somewhat more subjective, but I've seen some really solid storytelling. Maybe I'm not aware of ratio, because I pay no attention at all to webcomics I don't read, but I wouldn't call Visions of Doom good for a webcomic. Regardless of good/bad ratio, the bar has just been set too high.

[Slayn82]

So, lets review the latest developments in the thread:

the masks acting as mind control were actually foreshadowed by mookie, althought a long time ago, both in Jayden's and Scarlatti's friend instances. And Siggy's face now resembles his Jayden's nightmare version.

Siggy keeps a scar left by Jayden (someone he loved, and who was infused with Hellpower almost as much as him). And even under the mask, he was somewhat already rebelling against Karnak, as much as he could.

Of course, Karnak has reasons to not want to have a court anymore. He isnt very good at controling his minions.

And Dominic probably showed more regret from Siggy's fate than from any other action he has done. There he was, leaving aside his troubles with Siggy to wish him a final destination in the heavens... Just to have Karnak to come claim his acquaintance's soul. Miranda banished TIM to beyond the beyond... but he got better. And the war in hell, along with Maltak, show clearly a high failure record in the global scale to the Deegans.

So, are they really all that Sue, heh (interrogation mark - keyboard deffective). Well, they deal very well with the common people and background npc's, but how about the prime npc's& Gregory can't even keep his relationship with Pam...

Edit:@Laughing Man: Well, most webcomics around seem to have been accused of slow pacing - sluggy freelance, schlock mercenary, girl genius just to name the big ones. Even Order of Stick, Erfworld and Goblins, for god's sake.

Well, go read Captain Snes, or B Movie Comic, to see slow pacing.

[TheLaughingMan]

Regardless of good/bad ratio, the bar has just been set too high.

You haven't read The Wotch.

There are some great webcomics out there, they're just few and far between. Examples:

Axe Cop

Dr. McNinja

Gunnerkrigg Court

Hark! a Vagrant

Nedroid Picture Diary

Latter half of Fanboys

And so forth. There's just a horrific good/bad ratio out there, it drains my hopes for something non-crappish.

It really exemplifies why editors are used. There's one thing I've come out with.

[Deme]

Hey, in the hands of a competent author, wouldn't Siggy's racism and preadolescent lynching shenanigans have actually made him a better character?


Wait wait wait. Are you saying that Szark is gay?


Stonewater? Old friend of Dominic's commits vile act, repents, is showered with forgiveness and understanding, a bad guy complains about how this is all a bit not cool but his opinion doesn't count. More reinforcement for your theory.

Yes, possibly. It'd have certainly been clear how Siggy had gotten such a twisted sense of right and wrong from, and why his redemption was starting from so far down.

Also, No, of course not. But the comic implies such untrue things so often, I figure that means that Siggy/nega-Szark is actually gay but is frequently implied to be straight... Then again, this is getting very silly. Maybe neither of their sexualities are very clear.

As for Stonewater... a good comparison to Szark, but not a great one to Siggy. But I think, for example, I could muck around and come up with some interesting notes on the variation and similarities between Luna and some of her tusked (pronouned it "tusk-ed," please) kin, but I'll keep a little mum on that until I can do some archive trawling and come up with some reasonable conclusions. I'll also take other suggestions.

[averagejoe]

You haven't read The Wotch.

Regardless of ratio, the good webcomics out there have defined what it means for a webcomic to be "good." I can produce a crappy drawing and say, "This is good, for a drawing," by comparing it to kid's drawings, (which, seeing that most people draw as kids, is at the least a good chunk of all drawings produced) but I should be comparing it to people who try to be good at drawing.

[Domochevsky]

...
Well, go read Captain Snes, or B Movie Comic, to see slow pacing.

The mountain, it haunts us... @_@

[Rappy]

You haven't read The Wotch.

You clearly haven't dug deep enough. There are much, much worse webcomics than the Wotch.

Also, as an aside, I'm pretty sure I don't deserve to be The Chick. I recall someone else female in the thread even before I came along.

[TheLaughingMan]

You clearly haven't dug deep enough. There are much, much worse webcomics than the Wotch.

I can only assume you're referring to Shredded Moose, Billy the Heretic, Hathor the Cow Goddess, Kit and Kay, Jack, Suicide for Hire, Morning Skwirts (sic, for various reasons), some variation of the above, or something of similar standard.

As to The Chick thing, feel free to fill me in on anything, as I wasn't around then.

[Rappy]

I'd have to go back and look to see who was the Chick first, but I'm too lazy for that.

Also, yeah, you covered most of the much worse in your list, save for the yellow elephant in the room that must not be named.

[TheLaughingMan]

Also, yeah, you covered most of the much worse in your list, save for the yellow elephant in the room that must not be named.

I am the all powerful webcomic authority! NO ONE MATCHES ME, SAVE THOSE THAT MATCH OR SURPASS ME. YOUR GOD HAS SPOKEN. *thunderclap*

EDIT: And might that elephant be Pastel Defender Heliotrope, or PikaSemeChu?

[Rappy]

Sonichu, actually. It's cliche, yes, but it is still a classic example of a bad webcomic. Personally, though, I feel Linkara hit it on the nose when he recently stated that the best way to deal with things like Sonichu are to ignore them.

Anyway, on the actual topic of Dominic Deegan, presumably since Friday's comic is the second case of mask breaking equating to freedom of mind, I guess we can presume that the masks are mind-control devices. Perhaps they are related to the clothing symbiotes that myself and others proposed and discussed a while back?

[TheLaughingMan]

Sonichu, actually. It's cliche, yes, but it is still a classic example of a bad webcomic. Personally, though, I feel Linkara hit it on the nose when he recently stated that the best way to deal with things like Sonichu are to ignore them.

Anyway, on the actual topic of Dominic Deegan, presumably since Friday's comic is the second case of mask breaking equating to freedom of mind, I guess we can presume that the masks are mind-control devices. Perhaps they are related to the clothing symbiotes that myself and others proposed and discussed a while back?

Curses. It only stings more, seeing as how I made all those Sonichu comparisons back there.

And Siegfried as Venom: Hell yeah.

[Garland]

You haven't read The Wotch.

There are some great webcomics out there, they're just few and far between. Examples:

Axe Cop

Dr. McNinja

Gunnerkrigg Court

Hark! a Vagrant

Nedroid Picture Diary

Latter half of Fanboys

And so forth. There's just a horrific good/bad ratio out there, it drains my hopes for something non-crappish.

It really exemplifies why editors are used. There's one thing I've come out with.

Oh, I thought Nedroid wasn't very well known. I think it's hilarious. I also like Awkward Zombie, maybe part of the appeal on that one is on the author though (a quirky girl)... I think that makes me a bit sexist? I'm a Deeganverse irredeemable supervillain now.

[Palmer]

Oh, I thought Nedroid wasn't very well known. I think it's hilarious. I also like Awkward Zombie, maybe part of the appeal on that one is on the author though (a quirky girl)... I think that makes me a bit sexist? I'm a Deeganverse irredeemable supervillain now.

Only if you were sexist against women, men are fair game.

[averagejoe]

Oh, I thought Nedroid wasn't very well known.

Dunno how well known it is, but it's been among my favorites for a long time.

[Domochevsky]

Awkward Zombie... that one has a couple good strips occasionally. Quirky is a fitting word for the author.

[Joro]

With things like Nedroid and Hark! a Vagrant, I personally think of them less as 'webcomics' and more as 'art blogs which generally feature sequential art' though I'm not sure why. Probably because I watch them through their livejournal RSSs. Regardless, their quality is uncontested as far as I'm concerned. Really, I find there's enough good webcomics (or at least passable webcomics with a bit that interests me enough to ignore the rest) that once something stops making me care I can drop it and there's always something worthwhile to fill the hole with. I still need to get around to reading Gunnerkrigg; I stopped caring about LFG a while back so perhaps it's time for something new.

[Lord Seth]

And the realization of many of my old, treasured webcomics are utterly trash. Case in point: The Wotch.

The Wotch is certainly far from being a perfect comic, but I wouldn't call it "utterly trash". It's true it has relentless transformation fanservice, poor pacing in the overall plot (compounded with its bad update schedule), and art that's rather lacking (though it has gotten somewhat better), but the characters are for the most part likable if not particularly deep, the humor is pretty funny, and the overarching story is interesting whenever they bother to actually focus on it.

[T-O-E]

Why do only so few actually try to do something great in the community?

Have you read Hitmen for Destiny? It is definitely something else, and certainly worth it if you can stomach the bad art, typos, slow/confusing start and cliche title*. It is honestly the best webcomic I have read and consistently so.

*Its imagination makes up for this. It actually uses destiny well and is my main inspiration.

[Fawkes]

Have you read Hitmen for Destiny? It is definitely something else, and certainly worth it if you can stomach the bad art, typos, slow/confusing start and cliche title*. It is honestly the best webcomic I have read and consistently so.

*Its imagination makes up for this. It actually uses destiny well and is my main inspiration.

*googles*

Oh my god what is wrong with their heads.

[Phase]

While we're throwing out good webcomics, lemme just say that MSPaint Adventures wins all the awards.

All of them.

[T-O-E]

*googles*

Oh my god what is wrong with their heads.

I didn't read it for the art. It's offputting and ugly.
But it is functional and he can do complex scenes (ones that I previously would not have thought were possible with comics) pretty well with everything being pretty easy to follow.

[SaintRidley]

For anyone who loves jokes about academia, PhD comics is right for you.

Also, I'll add the snark rangers and the newest snark index entries at some point later today.

[TheLaughingMan]

While we're throwing out good webcomics, lemme just say that MSPaint Adventures wins all the awards.

All of them.

I knew I forgot something.

What an interesting week this has been, eh? We've almost managed to involve DD in any of our conversations.

This has been happening a lot recently, hasn't it? There's always this calm before the storm, and by "storm" I mean first-degree murder/saving. You can always count on Mookie.

[colonelslime]

Just on the topic of webcomics, I don't think the good/bad ratio is all that different than most other mediums. Print comics and manga suffer just as much from terrible entries, as do television, video-games, music, ect.

And, in all these cases, there are people who like the terrible ones, in spite of my pleas to the see the folly of their ways (see one of my friends and twilight).

Heck, have you checked out the archive at project Gutenberg. Among all the classic philosophical texts and great works of literature is some of the most unreadable crap ever to grace a printing press.

I think it's always a wheat/chaff situation; webcomics show it more because we have instant access to all the bad ones.