Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLI: No Morals! No Quarter! All Brutal!

[Toast1862]

Secretly??

But with a genderbent Mark Hamill voice, rather than any other genderbent Joker.

I found out about DD here, seeing what the fuss was when the monster thread (#2) was at some ridiculous size. The comic was at the infamous interrogation sequence at Oracle Hunter, so I already had the Lord Dominus vibes. When I read the archives I was surprised at how much I could still care about the characters despite any issue with the comic, at least for the first few years.

The first few bits are really not bad and I'm not ashamed that I liked it back when I did. That's what's so sad about DD. I can imagine an alternate timeline where instead of plateauing and then falling, this comic became a great one. The characters were not bad for a starting webcomic at all, and at the time they were twists on old staples. At the time, Luna really was ugly. Dominic was the grouchy seer trying to get by. It was as more of the story unfolded that they became awful, awful people.

Also, I think my younger self may have been tricked a little into thinking Mookie had any worldbuilding skills. I never really played DnD or any other tabletop game, so as far as I knew he made everything up. I now realize he was a hack, but he could have used it as a base to create something original or do like OotS and really use the DnD setting to his advantage. But no. All potential was wasted. Poof.

[Bobikus]

The signs of it being on its way to becoming a bad webcomic are there pretty early on, but no more than it is for a lot of beginner artists, but the usual increase in an artist's self-awareness and introspection is what Terracciano lacked that caused the plateau more than the stagnation of the art itself.

[colonelslime]

Hey guys, guess what I found on my way to school yesterday:

snip

Did you confirm that it was referencing DD? If it was, I'm sad now.

[Toast1862]

Sneaky link
Future link

... I really kind of want to smack Mookie especially hard right now. How damned entitled. That same old boring wedding that is probably worth more than a lot of people in that world's yearly wages. And then he ruins it for everyone else-- I mean, I like music that doesn't fit at a wedding but I don't want it AT a wedding. All he's doing is distressing the people who went there for no reason except that it's METAL.

Well played? Manipulative ****.

[Turcano]

Well played? Manipulative ****.

Did he manipulate them? Or did he just guide them?

I'll let you be the judge of that.

[TheArsenal]

Well at least this explains Smurg.

Inbreeding!

At a point in time in the future he is turned into a baby and sent back in time.

He is then found by a Elf and given a new name: Donovan.

PUM PUM PUUUUM!

[Trazoi]

Nope, definitely nothing of Mookie's personal life being inserted into this arc, nosiree.

Why the heck do Deegans stay in Callan if they hate everything about it so much?

BTW Mookie, the tradition of the white wedding dress and all that "old fashioned" wedding stuff was started in the 19th century, when everyone wanted to be like Queen Victoria. I know it's your world and you can create what traditions you like, but I'm just sayin'.

[Lord Raziere]

I'm sorry, but I'm still stuck on the fact that WHERE WERE ELVES MENTIONED BEFORE!? I don't remember this comic ever bringing up elves before this past-wedding arc at all! It just seems that elves came out of nowhere! Where were elves mentioned before this? What elves? Where did they come from? What are they like?

Elves! Why did they appear out of nowhere!?

[Trazoi]

I'm sorry, but I'm still stuck on the fact that WHERE WERE ELVES MENTIONED BEFORE!?

SUDDENLY ELVES!

Donovan was raised by elves, and he brought this up when he mentioned he didn't have a surname. Apparently for Deegans "flair and personality" is using the traditions of elves instead of nasty brutish Callanians.

And seriously Mookie, despite what your newspost says a traditional Callanian wedding is perfect for Donovan to signify he's settling down roots as a Callanian Deegan and, if he cared about this sort of thing, respecting the wishes of his new parents-in-law. Acting like an arrogant selfish elf-raised transient bard is exactly what Gramps and Granny Deegan were worried about.

[guttering flame]

How revolutionary is it to want your adoptive family's wedding traditions that have been just so for the last couple thousand of years?

But the bigger issue is Don's band. Really?? Your two best friends in the world in all probability weren't invited to the wedding? You just happened to bring them? If that's Donovan standing up for his principles my respect for him plummeted dramatically.

[random11]

Sneaky link
Future link

... I really kind of want to smack Mookie especially hard right now. How damned entitled. That same old boring wedding that is probably worth more than a lot of people in that world's yearly wages. And then he ruins it for everyone else-- I mean, I like music that doesn't fit at a wedding but I don't want it AT a wedding. All he's doing is distressing the people who went there for no reason except that it's METAL.

Well played? Manipulative ****.

I was invited once to a "special" wedding, with a new age hippy crap style.
Everyone had to wear white, it was in a park or something, pillows instead of chairs, wedding included meditation sessions and did I mention the food was vegan?
So while I do not consider myself a conservative, there is a good reason why weddings follow more or less the same pattern.

Anyway, it's hard to say who acts more dickerish in this story.
Conservative or not, I would expect Donoven and Miranda to have SOME choice about their own freaking wedding.
On the other hand, ruining a band schedule simply because you don't like it, is also like a ****, especially since you can play yourself AFTER the band is done, or even ask them politely to let you play (they will gladly take a payed break)

EDIT: Oh, and the "well played"?
Why not just say something like "we approve deception and trickery instead of discussions and compromises in this family"?

[M84]

Why the heck do Deegans stay in Callan if they hate everything about it so much?

TBF, they might complain a lot, but they still think Callan is a good place to live, warts and all. There's no indication that the rest of the world is any better.

And if living with the elves was so great, why did Donovan decide to leave?

I'm conflicted on the wedding issue. Yeah, it's the soon-to-be-wedded couple's special day and their wishes should come first. But it doesn't hurt to be considerate of the needs and wishes of their guests and family.

Speaking of family, did anyone from Donovan's adopted elven family appear at the wedding? Does he even have one anymore? And if so, why doesn't he ever see them?

[Lord Raziere]

and did we ever see an elf in comic? they are mentioned….but I don't think I ever saw an elf in this comic.

maybe. I'm not willing to read the comic's archives again.

[Zaq]

and did we ever see an elf in comic? they are mentioned….but I don't think I ever saw an elf in this comic.

maybe. I'm not willing to read the comic's archives again.

There were a few during the Storm of Souls, and then they were part of The First Endless Arc the vacation arc, when Dom and Luna went to Elfland. Oh, and I think one of the Facebathians is an elf. Or a half-elf. Or something.

[Lord Raziere]

one…..two….three…

three elf appearances and I don't remember a single one? Wow. Just Wow.

this comic is really dull if I can't remember any elves showing up in it, despite it happening at least three times.

[T-O-E]

He's an illusionist. He can let Donovan and Miranda have their perfect wedding and then mind trip everyone else into thinking it was a traditional affair. Or the opposite and we could see how the couple react to being tricked. Conflict. Practical use of magic. Come on.

Who wants to bet that they find out they like metal and we get another sonic blast? Facebath is the first metal band in the world because Greg invented it but who cares about that.

[Trazoi]

For us to know who is being the most dickish we need to know what the standard is for Callanian weddings two or three decades before the modern era. For all we know it might be the tradition that the bride's parents arranges everything and for the groom to suggest otherwise is the height of rudeness. Except we all know that the traditions are exactly the same as they are for Mookie because that's what everything in society is in the Deeganverse.

What's bugging me is whether Mookie is going somewhere with this little arc diversion, because I'm dreading that this going towards the lesson that it's all about Dom and Luna's wishes and they should get married here and now how they wish, damn everyone else. Maybe Dom can dress up as a necromancer and Luna as a proud orc.

[TheArsenal]

Before anyone sends me any angry emails about this, let me go on the record to say that I don't think everyone who has a traditional wedding has had a boring, sad day and that the only type of wedding that's really joyous or meaningful is one that's really crazy or full of outrageous flair. I've been to plenty of traditional weddings that had a lot of personality and were a lot of fun, but there are some people for whom that sort of thing isn't right... like Donovan and Miranda.

Well their your puppets. Insert whatever stupid personality that makes your ego go "Yipee" iside as much as you like.

I don't get you mookie. Your like a secret enigma inside a riddle inside a box.

[Neoriceisgood]

Maybe Dom can dress up as a necromancer and Luna as a proud orc.

But that'd be super similar to Mookie's real life wedding! Surely Mookie wouldn't take his own views on how he'd want a marriage to go and impose it on his characters, it's not like Dominic's meant to be him!

[Trazoi]

But that'd be super similar to Mookie's real life wedding! Surely Mookie wouldn't take his own views on how he'd want a marriage to go and impose it on his characters, it's not like Dominic's meant to be him!

Hey, Mookie thinks traditional weddings can be fine for certain people. Just not interesting Deegans.

Honestly the most annoying this about the arc is that I don't want to make parallels to Mookie's wedding but I'm being forced to because as far as I can see there's no other point to this mini-arc.

[engineer-errant]

Honestly the most annoying this about the arc is that I don't want to make parallels to Mookie's wedding but I'm being forced to because as far as I can see there's no other point to this mini-arc.

It doesn't help that Mookie keeps insisting that it isn't what it looks like, while not attempting any more drama than that caused by a strawman of suburban passive-aggressive conflict.

[Mr. McGician]

My main problem with this strip was how horribly telegraphed the punchline was. We could all see what the joke was on panel 5, but the strip kept painfully dragging it out anyway. This comic gets more CAD-like everyday.

[Tectonic Robot]

Well, after careful consideration I have decided against reading the comment. I would still stay here and talk to you guys, but it's pretty dishonest to snark about a webcomic without actually having read it.

Also, this thread moves pretty quickly. Hard to keep up with, you know?

[Feddlefew]

If this arc gets any soapier the Deegans will look like they have rabies.

It's not even real soap, it's that chalky stuff that doesn't clean very well and smells funny from across the room.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Sneaky link
Future link

... I really kind of want to smack Mookie especially hard right now. How damned entitled. That same old boring wedding that is probably worth more than a lot of people in that world's yearly wages. And then he ruins it for everyone else-- I mean, I like music that doesn't fit at a wedding but I don't want it AT a wedding. All he's doing is distressing the people who went there for no reason except that it's METAL.

Well played? Manipulative ****.

I heartily agree with the sense of entitlement, my own wedding having put me in debt, but really, they're Deegans. If they weren't having constant games of mental one-upsmanship with each other, they'd be taking it out on hapless peasants.

[TheArsenal]

If this arc gets any soapier the Deegans will look like they have rabies.

It's not even real soap, it's that chalky stuff that doesn't clean very well and smells funny from across the room.

You a newcomer? Awesome. Toast, Fedd, who else will join our crusade to scream loud enough for mookie to get out of his coma and learn to write and draw.

[Toast1862]

....After a whole night I'm still mad about this. What an entitled brat. The wedding isn't just about you, you know, and you aren't the only one that has to be happy about it. My parents got married in normal clothes at a courthouse when I was a year old, so maybe I'm missing something? But how is a big, expensive wedding paid for entirely by your wife's parents NOT GOOD ENOUGH for you? I mean ****, if someone were paying for it all for me, I'd probably wear the ugliest dress ever. Especially if it were someone my potential spouse loved and respected like her parents. Let them have their Callanian ceremony, let the old people be happy! Maybe have a less traditional ceremony with some friends later, just let your in-laws have their fun! Don't RUIN it with your childish sabotage! Don't ruin the entire plan!

I would be so happy if everyone hated the music and just shook their heads at him and left miserably. And then he's left embarrassed, having ruined the wedding. Finally, he goes and apologizes to her parents, and they decide to have another ceremony and this time weave a few little non-traditional elements in for Donovan but keep the bulk of the ceremony for everyone else. Compromise through discussion.

This will never happen.

And you know what? I honestly would have thought these two would prefer a traditional wedding. Donovan was raised by elves, he'd be used to non-Callanian weddings. You'd think he'd want to give it a try. Miranda seems pretty conventional herself, from an old money family apparently. I'd think she'd be more comfortable making her family and friends happy.

No, wait, I forgot that everyone's metal.

[Feddlefew]

I'm a long-time lurker. My first exposure to DD was a long, long time ago when a close friend recommended it to me. I made it about halfway through... Hmm... the arc after Luna was introduced, I think. I found Gunnerkrigg Court and Irregular Webcomic and stopped reading it. I believe I started lurking on this thread in the last week of the March across Maltak.

[TheArsenal]

I'm a long-time lurker. My first exposure to DD was a long, long time ago when a close friend recommended it to me. I made it about halfway through... Hmm... the arc after Luna was introduced, I think. I found Gunnerkrigg Court and Irregular Webcomic and stopped reading it. I believe I started lurking on this thread in the last week of the March across Maltak.

Welcome to the show. Mookie needs to wake up from his earcloging stupor.

[Feddlefew]

Thanks.

On the wedding thing-

Yes. **** move, Donovan. He knows that he still needs to interact with them occasionally after the wedding, right? And what about Marinda's relationship with her parents?

Personally, I only really care about one detail of my wedding: I will be married under the T-Rex foot at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, even if I have to do two ceremonies to do it.

I would rather have a small, short ceremony in the lobby and a big(er) ceremony in a church then alienate a large portion of my family.