Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXV: DJ Callan Turns the Tables

[Garland]

Guess What?
Sneaky Gate
Future Link


Ok, the little circles make me imagine a huge pause in between each conversation snippet, so it feels more like a bunch of disconnected snippets than actual dialogue...

THIS

IS

STUPID


Quilt: Quick, let's disconnect pop the bubble to escape undetected!
Luna: So we're back to where we started...
Quilt: also we didn't learn much of anything...
Luna: so I guess the last two weeks were a big waste of time huh?
Quilt: what do you mean, two weeks? we've been at this for barely a couple of minutes!
Luna: DANCE PARTY

[Darkmyst]

I'm finding it very difficult to string together sentences that appropriately express my dislike of the dialogue in this strip. There are several key points of stupidity that dovetail neatly into eachother here; trying to separate one causes the mind to collide with the others and recoil like an errant finger from a hotplate. Disconnected statements ensue.

Crystal bubbles? NO. They're not crystal. Stop calling them so.

So, L&Q are not detected because the BCers are only watching crystal balls, as opposed to things which are functionally identical to them. Righto. But the BC squad are also watching all second sight? How is this evident? How is this even possible?

The hell do you mean "OUR" plan Luna? You brought Quilt a crystal ball, made no mention of the probability that he'd be traced, and were as surprised as everyone else when Quilt pulled this bubble stunt out of his second hand rectum. Come to think of it, "plan" isn't really a sound word to use here either; this whole thing was executed in a highly off-the-cuff manner.

Pro-tip: When hiding from scriers who may be running a passive search on all uses of a particular keyword (say, for instance, the name of a highly wanted fugitive), DON'T SAY THAT WORD. Jesus tapdancing christ. Luna either did that on purpose, or has all the mental alacrity of a boiled cabbage. Or both.

[TheArsenal]

At the very least we have tension.

Yes The bubblescape is confusing and stupid....VERY VERY STUPID
Yes this makes no sense
Yes the Mages are hanging out....Hanging out......hanging out with the family having themselfs a party.
But at the very least there is a "What happens next?" kind of thing.

[Turcano]

Also, also: Stunt and Bumper are blushing pretty hard on the cover of the new book, but then I would be embarrassed too, being that badly drawn. (Seriously, look at Stunt's face... What is with those eyebrows)

I'll give it this: at least it doesn't look like it was obviously made in MS Paint.

Yes. That is how low the bar is.

Ugh, Mookie is so stalling for Friday again.

But it's ONLY MONDAY GOD DAMN IT!

[Zaq]

We almost got new info in today's strip. Almost. Unfortunately, everything we saw was really stupid, reeked of ass-pullitude, and made precious little sense.

Oh, and of all the things Mookie forgets . . . where his characters are and how they're interacting with the world is one of the worse ones. Are Luna and Quilt looking at bubbles? Jacked in to the InterScrynet with their Net Scry Navis? Inside the bubbles? Tripping balls, crystal or otherwise? Sitting on the featureless plain/plane of Maltak? Who can say?

[Trazoi]

I'll give it this: at least it doesn't look like it was obviously made in MS Paint.

Yes. That is how low the bar is.

For reference, this bar is The Battle for Barthis (this bar is Bar-this dohohohohoho*keplunk*). The new covers are stylish in comparison.

[Darkmyst]

But it's ONLY MONDAY GOD DAMN IT!

It's finally happening... the pace of DD is warping time to the extent that Tuesday is Monday...

For reference, this bar is The Battle for Barthis (this bar is Bar-this dohohohohoho*keplunk*). The new covers are stylish in comparison.

You're not serious. That can't be real. Prove to me that he actually used a cover that dismal and I still won't believe it.

[Fangly]

And the rest of the week is a giant dodgeball game, using Quilt and Luna.

But it's ONLY MONDAY GOD DAMN IT!

And yet I'm kickin' it in the front seat like it's Friday. FRIDAY FRIDAY EVERYONE GET DOWN ON FRIDAY


Adventures in archive diving!

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You guys you guys you guys. I'm currently reading though everything I missed (in small doses, to inoculate myself) and I just started BYOB and YOU GUYS. WHITE MAGIC YOU GUYS. They are in a band and wearing make up and looking silly and I can barely contain myself. French absurdists have nothing on Mookie.

It's so lame it's wrapped around to become super awesome.

[Castel]

Adventures in archive diving!

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You guys you guys you guys. I'm currently reading though everything I missed (in small doses, to inoculate myself) and I just started BYOB and YOU GUYS. WHITE MAGIC YOU GUYS. They are in a band and wearing make up and looking silly and I can barely contain myself. French absurdists have nothing on Mookie.

It's so lame it's wrapped around to become super awesome.

I really wish we get to see The Stunts again. Maybe they can come back as the successful band that sold its soul for tons of money to the Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil corporation.

[Fangly]

I really wish we get to see The Stunts again. Maybe they can come back as the successful band that sold its soul for tons of money to the Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil corporation.

What are you talking about? The Stunts? I just started this nonsense.


...


Oh. OH. I did not think this could get better, but it CAN. An entire band, made up entirely of Stunt heads!! Oh god please be true please be true please be true, because if it's not I'm going to have a lot of slaying to do.

[T-O-E]

For reference, this bar is The Battle for Barthis (this bar is Bar-this dohohohohoho*keplunk*). The new covers are stylish in comparison.

Why does he have an eyepatch?

...Is he a pirate?

[Shogo]

Latest update. I think the funniest thing, if you can call it that, is the part where Luna and Quilt seem surprised that a Battlecaster spotted them.

They're only broadcasting their conversation across at least seven bubbles in . . . whatever the hell mindscape or sightscape they're in . . . Are apparently bigger than the Battlecasters themselves.

-------------

Really, the only good outcome would be if Quilt's scrying attempts were just as glaringly obvious as they appear, and the Battlecasters just indulged their idiotic "Can they see/hear us?" questioning to trick them.

Given who they'd be tricking, it wouldn't be hard, but whatever.

[M84]

Wasn't the whole reason Quilt is doing this instead of Dominic because he was somehow less likely to be caught?

Two weeks' worth of strips were spent explaining how Quilt would avoid being caught. And look, they were caught.

They might as well have let Dominic handle this since he at least can defend himself on the mental plane. But what else could you expect from an idea of Luna's that depended on Quilt? Was there any way this plan couldn't have failed?

[Trazoi]

What are you talking about? The Stunts? I just started this nonsense.


...


Oh. OH. I did not think this could get better, but it CAN. An entire band, made up entirely of Stunt heads!! Oh god please be true please be true please be true, because if it's not I'm going to have a lot of slaying to do.

Check out TamerBill's "Battle for Barthis 2".

[Turcano]

You're not serious. That can't be real. Prove to me that he actually used a cover that dismal and I still won't believe it.

Oh, it's not only that one; he used MS Paint covers for the first three books too.

Edit: Links: 1, 2, 3

[Fangly]

Check out TamerBill's "Battle for Barthis 2".

This... this is simply fantastic. There are no words.
Oh look here they are wordswordswordswordswords.

[rocketpony]

All second sight is being watched.

All second sight is being watched.

Never mind questions like "how could you possibly know that", maybe she just has a spider-sense or something. Mind, instead, questions like "Why wasn't she like 'Oh hey, we're using second sight, maybe we should cut the connection IMMEDIATELY instead of just hanging out on-network sending unsecured messages to each other.'?"

p.s. Luna is possibly the greatest mage of her generation.

[Khosan]

All I can think of right now is Penny Arcade.

"Sir, they're hacking our second sights!"
"Which ones?"
"All of them."

[Cen]

Oh, it's not only that one; he used MS Paint covers for the first three books too.

Edit: Links: 1, 2, 3

waitwaitwait... you mean thses are covers? like for books? you want to tell me someone is buing it? someone is PAYING MONEY to buy Dominic Deegan comics?...

...

why?

seriously it's fun to read it online, laugh for a few minutes how stupid it is and forget about it... but paying hard earned money for it?

USA surely is a strange place...

[Kizor]

Monitoring second sight is still a cool idea, though. I didn't expect anything of the sort, but it makes sense that DJ Callan would do it.

[Glass Mouse]

Monitoring second sight is still a cool idea, though. I didn't expect anything of the sort, but it makes sense that DJ Callan would do it.

Agreed.

It does raise the question, though, why they didn't pick up Celesto's scry into hell.

[Kizor]

How long ago was that? Maybe there was no pressing need to watch the watchers until the king caught one trying to peer into his Evil Plan.

[Thufir]

Actually, if there is a way to monitor all use of second sight, the question begging to be asked is why doesn't DJ Callan do this all the time?
I mean, you're ruling a magically-inclined country, sooner or later someone will scry to try and covertly gather information for their own purposes. Surely it would be helpful to know when that is happening?

It's not cool, it's just stupid.

[TheArsenal]

How long ago was that? Maybe there was no pressing need to watch the watchers until the king caught one trying to peer into his Evil Plan.

How about the one that escaped?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Actually, if there is a way to monitor all use of second sight, the question begging to be asked is why doesn't DJ Callan do this all the time?
I mean, you're ruling a magically-inclined country, sooner or later someone will scry to try and covertly gather information for their own purposes. Surely it would be helpful to know when that is happening?

It's not cool, it's just stupid.

It could be a question of resources, or of PR.

In the first case, it could take a substantial number (possibly all) of the Battlecasters to make all Second Sight belong to them. Either because there is just so much Second Sight to monitor, or because they need to operate in shifts to keep fatigue at bay. Since DJ Callan decided to start looking for Celesto only after tipping off Dominic, it could be that he realizes he's short on time.

In the second case, if a screwball like Quilt can notice Battlecasters hanging out in the Dynamic Filler Dimension then competent Seers probably could as well. They'd probably take it poorly, and would at least be interested in figuring out what it is that DJ Callan is up to.

[Welf]

bubble/panel 5 contains the smartest thing Luna ever said. "I don't think [...]". Yeah, I know it's lame.

Since I couldn't sleep last night, here some fanon why Alterists are "creepy" (if I don't write it down it just keeps on bugging me):

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Reason 1: The Luanian church doesn't like them. The church emphasis that one should accept his destiny and how God made him. A broad stream considers using magic to control one's destiny unnatural. Very few dismiss very kind of magic, some fortune telling, and many Alterism. Since the church is the primary source of broad education this influences the popular opinion.

Reason 2: There are a lot of rumours about unethical behaviour. A common one is that Alterists steal the soul of their patients, or body parts for magic spells, while they are unconscious. Stealing of body parts actually does happen. Having a part of ones body increases the efficiency of spells enormously and often is the only way to assassinate a powerful magician. The legend about the stealing of souls is based on phantom pain that oftern appears after a operation. Many patients feel disconnected from their own body when a part of it is removed or enhanced. The feeling usually disappears after a few days or weeks. However, in some rare cases this leads to schizophrenia and must be threated, usually in Aberthats cathedral.
Another legend is that Alterists kill their patients sometimes and replace them with someone else. This also happens in some rare cases, usually as a scheme of identity theft. Replacing someone and assuming his appearance is also one of the standard procedures for spies and assassins. Since many people suffer from phantom pain and behave slightly different after an operation this rumour always finds support.

[Domochevsky]

Well, at least DJ Callan is doing something. I appreciate his Not-Sitting-On-His-Ass'ness.

[Skaven]

How can you watch/monitor all second sight.

Its not the internet. Its not TV. Its not radio.

This makes no sense.

This does not make sense.

[BlackDragonKing]

Wait a damn second. Weren't a lot of you saying earlier in the week that if DJ Callan was smart, he'd start going after all possible seers? Isn't this pretty much that?

What, so it's stupid now because it actually happened, or am I missing something?

[Glass Mouse]

What, so it's stupid now because it actually happened, or am I missing something?

DJ Callan is perfectly smart (provided he only started when Dom popped in, or Celesto is incredibly awesome).

It's Luna who's as airheaded as a soap bubble.

And great.

So great.