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

[Trazoi]

New Comic is official up, for those ignoring the Sneaky Gate.

How does that single panel of action work? Are some of those demons cutting their own heads off?

Also, I can't remember any part of Dominion Hell that hasn't featured demons either mindlessly being slaughtered or standing around scowling. So the scene has been appropriately set.

[M84]

Heyall,

So...is this going to be the "Karnak" filler arc?

This one line from the "Inferno" section of the Divine Comedy sums up my feelings for this arc:

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Fitting that it's set in Hell too.

I do find it mildly amusing that Karnak, after spending an entire arc struggling to become King of Hell, realizes that he hates the place. Understandable since it is Hell. The Zerg Rush of demons implies that Hell hates him right back.

I just hope this isn't setting him up for a redemption plot. I'm still having a hard time accepting Jacob and Stunt becoming good guys.

[Turcano]

Since Death Dragon did the flowchart for thread activity already, here's a flowchart for responses by stages of an arc:

[Schlega]

"No! I must kill the demons" he shouted
The radio said "No, Karnak. You are the demons"
And then death was a zombie.

[SaintRidley]

Flowcharts are added
And GlassMouse broke the index
I re-calibrated.


Karnak can't possibly lead us too far down the road of fail, can he?

[Neoriceisgood]

Flowcharts are added
And GlassMouse broke the index
I re-calibrated.


Karnak can't possibly lead us too far down the road of fail, can he?

I'm calling for another arc like Celesto v.s. TIM, lots of gore and collateral damage, but everyone who dies is either a jock, demon or mean person anyway, so it's fine.

[SaintRidley]

I'm calling for another arc like Celesto v.s. TIM, lots of gore and collateral damage, but everyone who dies is either a jock, demon or mean person anyway, so it's fine.

As we're in Hell, at least everybody on that list belongs there.

[Helanna]

Death Dragon... dark grey on light grey? Shame on you.

Sorry, I was using a new program and couldn't figure out how to change text colors. I'll mess around with it more today - I was probably missing something really obvious.

[SpekterofDavid]

Sigh. Im going into hibernation. I will not read or post another thing abou DD for a month. This is just getting Realy cumbersome. I just want something to snark Goddamn it!

[Lillith]

Okay time to start speculations about how Mookie will derail Karnak. I´m thinking of some compassionate friendly acts towards his minions. After which he´ll wonder why Miranda couldn´t have chosen him as her mate. Ending the arc with Karnak crying and sobbing in his blanket.

[Ignition]

For the sake of argument, I'll fill out one of these things:

Name: Ignition
Started Reading: At the beginning
Joining GitP thread: August 2010, but I've been lurking for a lot longer
Starting Disposition: "It's goofy guys doing stupid crap in fantasy Earth, and pretending to be dramatic! How can I go wrong?"
Time to convert: I stopped reading it for awhile after Jacob killed Vilrath (and it was super effective), and came back periodically during the Battle for Barthis and Maltak just to see how much farther it could spiral downward.
Current Stance: "It's goofy guys doing stupid crap in fantasy earth, and pretending to be dramatic! And it's going horribly wrong..."

And again:

*Who has Dominic experienced the most Foe Yay with?
Pre-nerf Szark (nerf as in Mookie made his only discernable attributes be "Szark Is Gay" and "Szark Is Good With A Sword (Because He Is Gay, Get It? Hur Dur Puns!)" by virtue of being 'saved' by Dominic) and Pre-overpowered Celesto (his current incarnation as the patron saint of the Wild Edge! (tm) and closest thing to a bird The Punisher that the world has).

*Other than Stunt, who is the most morally despicable "hero?"
Luna and Greg are both pretty obnoxious for obvious reasons, but I don't have problems with them morally so much as I find them boring and/or just pathetic. Dominic was never really supposed to be a hero, but he got pushed there as the central character/author insert; he was better as a True Neutral, 'Pay Me or Get Off My Lawn' curmudgeon, than he is as this True Neutral, 'Must Angst About Maintaining The Balance' wank-fest messiah complex. I don't really think there are that many straight-up heroes/villains in DD, just characters Mookie roots for, and others he roots against. Ergo, I find them all to be trite and pedantic, with a few exceptions.

*What do you consider the high point of DD?
Anything involving Donovan Deegan that does not also involve Maltak or Miranda Deegan. Also, anything involving Jacob where his informed intelligence is not nerfed into the ground by virtue of being a villain; when he's being not only evil, but successful, he's awesome, but he never is allowed to be both evil and sucessful these days.

*How about low point?
Anything involving magic as the core plot device, as exemplified in Maltak, but pretty much everything that isn't the high points listed above.

*Who's the best villain?
Jacob is my personal favorite, but only because he is both ruthless and clever; the problem with both is that his ruthlessness is always a hinderance in the face of Stupid Moralizing, and his cleverness is never used because that would make the plot not go in favor of Dominic. The other villains range from absurdly powerful forces of nature that destroy themselves more often than not, or are such non-entities/non-challenges in the face of plot armor and Stupid Moralizing.

[Morty]

New comic... in which Mookie still can't draw a decent fight scene. Or any fight scene really, a single awkward panel hardly qualifies as a scene.
On another topic that's less complainy and more snarky: who wants to bet that Karnak will be redeemed?

[Ignition]

New comic... in which Mookie still can't draw a decent fight scene. Or any fight scene really, a single awkward panel hardly qualifies as a scene.
On another topic that's less complainy and more snarky: who wants to bet that Karnak will be redeemed?

Don't you mean Saved? I haven't seen Stonewater in awhile, maybe he's gettin' the itch again

[Oracle_Hunter]

On another topic that's less complainy and more snarky: who wants to bet that Karnak will be redeemed?

Unlikely.

If Karnak gets any further character development (also unlikely) it will probably be in the form of RetConns to his backstory. Either he will become more sympathetic (Love Makes You Evil) or less (Kick The Dog) but he's one of the comic's last remaining Designated Villains so he can't get redeemed.

I mean, if Karnak is gone then we're left with TIM and Snuggly - and they're less villains than forces of nature. At that point, Mookie's "villains workshop" will reach its apex of irony.

[Ignition]

I mean, if Karnak is gone then we're left with TIM and Snuggly - and they're less villains than forces of nature. At that point, Mookie's "villains workshop" will reach its apex of irony.

Which is why I stated the following in my bio :

I don't really think there are that many straight-up heroes/villains in DD, just characters Mookie roots for, and others he roots against.

We have an impartial author/narrator here, and it's pretty transparent, too (see Siegfried

Spoiler

Show

's dead

, Stunt's so-called antagonists, that lawyer guy, etc.). As a result, we've got a winning side and a losing side, rather than actual, meaningful conflict.

[T-O-E]

Is Karnak the only mildly interesting and threatening villain who hasn't been completely derailed yet left? He was pretty cool in the War in Hell, especially the end (take that, Dominic!)

[Morty]

To be honest, what prompted me to ask the question was Karnak thinking "I hate this place". Also:

Either he will become more sympathetic (Love Makes You Evil) or less (Kick The Dog) but he's one of the comic's last remaining Designated Villains so he can't get redeemed.
I mean, if Karnak is gone then we're left with TIM and Snuggly - and they're less villains than forces of nature. At that point, Mookie's "villains workshop" will reach its apex of irony.

Just because something is a bad idea from a literary standpoint doesn't mean it won't happen in Dominic Deegan.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

On another topic that's less complainy and more snarky: who wants to bet that Karnak will be redeemed?

To be honest, what prompted me to ask the question was Karnak thinking "I hate this place"

I'll bet against you, with five words:

Spoiler

Show

Karnak's Krazy Hijinks In Hell

[Palmer]

Is Karnak the only mildly interesting and threatening villain who hasn't been completely derailed yet left? He was pretty cool in the War in Hell, especially the end (take that, Dominic!)

Considering the all the other villains were destroyed completely and utterly, yes.

...Which got me thinking, what if Karnak's court is composed of all the villains Dom's Killed defeated over the years? I'm talking giant head in the middle of a swamp and everything.

[T-O-E]

Siegfried
Neilen
Brett Taggerty
Mama Travoria
Jaxon
Urban Eddie
That evil lawyer
The despicable critic of Greg's band (probably justice killed by Celesto)
Spirit Father Oh wait he's a weed now. Too bad, his name shares an acronym with Shield Face.

Worst legion of doom ever.

EDIT: Oh and sister Travoria who was killed by Bumper.

[TheLaughingMan]

Siegfried
Neilen
Brett Taggerty
Mama Travoria
Jaxon
Urban Eddie
That evil lawyer
The despicable critic of Greg's band (probably justice killed by Celesto)
Spirit Father Oh wait he's a weed now. Too bad, his name shares an acronym with Shield Face.

Worst legion of doom ever.

Are you kidding? It's a nightmare for smug pasty white guys everywhere!

[Thanqol]

Goddamn it, when flowcharts can successfully predict my reactions I feel superflous to the whole snarking process. Goddamn it awesome flowcharts.

[Rockbird]

Maybe i should read the comic more often if i'm this sensitive, but the pacing of this page causes me physical discomfort. Or rather it doesn't, because it's not there.

[Domochevsky]

...whu? What kind of action sequence is this?

I don't

How

Wha




Excuse me for a moment, while i indulge my Beef with this.

Spoiler

Show

Again, i am amazed. Just amazed. Good action sequences are important. You can't just slap a single panel with questionable physics into this and call it a day. Sh*t needs space.

[SaintRidley]

I was thinking it had been so long since Domo gave us any beef and that this was a perfect opportunity. I mean, seriously, the way I understood Karnak's attack was this:

He has his right arm pulled back as if he intends to stab and his left arm cocked for a stab with the trident.

He follows through with the expected with the trident, but his sword arm is what does the amazing stuff. He stabs forward, then pulls back in a backhanded slashing motion.

There can't be any force in that slash at all.

And that's aside from the fact that Mookie still doesn't know how to draw a sword. I mean, he's got the tapering part going in the right direction for the sword to make sense (it's an uncurved scimitar, but at least it tapers in the right direction) but I think he managed it by total accident this time.

Also, what happened to the background stuff he included in the last panel yesterday? Inappropriate Hell-Formations joining the Inappropriate Walls and Inappropriate Mountains now?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Actually, I think it can be justified:

Panel 3: Left foot forward, weapons ready. This is a feint, because:
Between Panels: Spin on left foot, slashing with sword
Panel 4: Step right foot forward, stab with trident.
Panel 5: Look cool.

[Wraith]

What the heck has happened to Karnak's left hand in the 4th panel? It appears to have turned into a blobby V-shape of flesh like some hideous, boneless pincer.

Where are the knuckles? Where are the ridges created by the metacarpals? Why does he appear to have a lump growing out of his wrist? And how does his trident keep shrinking and growing like that?

...Oh, wait: Dominic Deegan. Forget I asked.

[Trazoi]

On another topic that's less complainy and more snarky: who wants to bet that Karnak will be redeemed?

He was raised by orcs, and the nicest orcs at that, so he has got all the hallmarks of a potential Third Caste ascended villain.

Karnak is currently the only remaining villain with a personality. Going by the track record, either he will lose the personality and become pure blarghblarghevil, or he will be redeemed. No alternatives.

And there's a chance he will be the sole protagonist in this arc. That suggests a strong possibility of a shift towards the hero side. The protagonists have to be on the side of right in DD.

Basically on the outset "Court of Karnak" looks like it's a repeat of "Walk the Wild Edge". Villain turned protagonist faces off against weird monstrosities with loads of gory violence. I'm really starting to miss Dominic now.

[Turcano]

Siegfried
Neilen
Brett Taggerty
Mama Travoria
Jaxon
Urban Eddie
That evil lawyer
The despicable critic of Greg's band (probably justice killed by Celesto)
Spirit Father Oh wait he's a weed now. Too bad, his name shares an acronym with Shield Face.

Worst legion of doom ever.

EDIT: Oh and sister Travoria who was killed by Bumper.

I still can't believe Mookie used to do a convention panel on "Creating Unique Heroes and Memorable Villains."

[TheLaughingMan]

Is it just me, or does Karnak look... more bishy than when we last saw him?

I'm getting the horrible feeling that this might coincide with him becoming good a smug *******.