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

[Johnny Blade]

So a few hours ago I took the train to downtown to go to the gym. Now, a train ride not being the most interesting thing, I just kind of zoned out listening to music, and since it was completely dark outside I couldn't really see where I was. At one point, the weird idea that I had been in this train way too long (I had no watch or cell phone with me, too, so I couldn't check). I was fully aware that not much time had actually passed, simply because I was still on the fourth song of the album I was listening to, but I had a feeling like I had just slept through half an hour or something.
It kind of reminded me of what it's like to read the current arc.

Then, at the gym, at the counter to be precise, I saw a man next to me that had just poured endless amounts of this disgusting flavored sirupy stuff that's supposedly full of minerals and carnitine and stuff that is totally great, but is mainly notable for tasting like the cheapest sweets you ever had. His bottle was half full and he just wouldn't let got of the button, and so I had to watch in horror as his bottle sloooowly filled.
The thought of having to drink this gooey crap that leaves the taste of artificial sweeteners and chemical aromas in your mouth for at least half an hour even if you mix it with water made me feel a bit what are you doing you crazy little man!? and, again, reminded me of the experience of reading the current arc.



So, yeah, I'm haunted by a comic. Well, at least this thread usually makes it a kind of fun if still somewhat special experience.

[Trazoi]

The impression I get of the current Dominic Deegan's arcs are that they're being narrated by Father Austin Purcell, except nowhere near as good.

[Fawkes]

It's hard to be mad at Grandpa Deegan for mind shenanigans when we don't see any of them, he doesn't actually have any actual motive for doing them and there are no consequences for anything. It's just like 'oh by the way mind shenanigans okay next comic WEDDINGS'.

[averagejoe]

To be fair, THIS is the one bit of the last arc that has made sense to me, and that I didn't mind.

Granpa Deegan is a professional Illusionist who - in some form or another - messes with people's minds for a living. And clearly, he likes to bring his work home with him because he's not against messing around with his future Son-in-Law in private.

Him entering a tit-for-tat pranking contest with a young, rambunctious Bard should be a fun game to him, leading to a Beat You At Your Own Game moment where Donovan earns (grudging?) respect from Granpa Deegan by proving that he's as bright and imaginitive as he is.

The only gripe I have is that it should be Granpa Deegan conceding a well played game. One expert prankster to another, not the Ice Queen Granma Deegan who only knows the rigid, calculated side of Sorcery suddenly thawing out in a trice.

Except Donovan doesn't know that the entire wedding has been an illusion!

[Traab]

It's hard to be mad at Grandpa Deegan for mind shenanigans when we don't see any of them, he doesn't actually have any actual motive for doing them and there are no consequences for anything. It's just like 'oh by the way mind shenanigans okay next comic WEDDINGS'.

What? SWORD SNAKE!

[Trazoi]

Except Donovan doesn't know that the entire wedding has been an illusion!

That's going to be the end of comic reveal. Donovan has been locked in the Deegan's cellar for decades and every single thing in the comic has been his own personal delusion.

[Arakune]

That's going to be the end of comic reveal. Donovan has been locked in the Deegan's cellar for decades and every single thing in the comic has been his own personal delusion.

An 8-bit theater style false ending? I like it.

[Johnny Blade]

The impression I get of the current Dominic Deegan's arcs are that they're being narrated by Father Austin Purcell, except nowhere near as good.

This is pretty much the voice I've always had in mind for Dominic, actually.

It also caused my mind to wander a bit, and I must say that the last years of the comic are written quite a bit like Sterne's Tristram Shandy, although that is perhaps not entirely intentional.

[Shogo]

Man. I really need to poke my head into this thread earlier than I do.

It's hard to get motivated for a post detailing my problems with an update when everyone else has already said it first. Greedy bastards. Stealing all that premium snark.

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

That all said . . . A Deegan being a massive tool? I'm shocked! Shocked I say! Clearly it is time to switch to Diet Shock.

[Analytica]

This is fascinating. Several pages of heated discussion, with strong feelings on all sides, concerning a fairly pathetic filler-within-a-filler-within-a-filler. Could this be a win for Mookie, in a sense?

On the matter of the wedding etc, though; since the Deeganverse is so sketchy, it's difficult to determine what the actions of the characters mean in this context. Is there a political, social, economic, religious or philosophical context? Is this modern-day America, medieval Europe, or Final Fantasy? I have no idea, so I can't really judge anyone's behaviour. I do think I get what the author was going for, though, and I can see an angle from which it would make sense, but like so often, the execution doesn't match up.

I can definitely see how the conventional wedding, in some take on the setting, would be a powerful symbol of whatever goes for conservative values in Callan, and depending on what those are, and what kind of relationships they might implicitly enforce, I can see how a pair of young rebels wanting to build a new type of society might want to create new social constructions outside it. In some contexts, it could mean a lot to them on a symbolic level, in choosing an identity and a place in the world, not so much in what the ceremony would include as in what it wouldn't...

... but if so, if they couldn't get their parents to willingly help them do it, I think the upright choice to make would have been to do their own thing under their own power, and stand by the consequences of their choices. From a perspective of marriage as a transition to adulthood, if you're not in a position to make independent choices under your own power if necessary, perhaps you are in fact not yet ready to take that step. Going along but subverting things seems more like a something a child does. And of course, the above scenario isn't what the comic depicts, regardless of what the intent may have been.

The reactions in this thread, I think, have also made me realize that weddings mean very different things to people in different parts of the world, even when we speak the same language.

(I guess my reaction is also partly influenced by my own recent pseudo-wedding to Science, where it meant much to me on a symbolic level, with respect to identity and the place I choose in the world, to be able to toe the line between traditional and hippie counterculture. If my family would have been unwilling to help me in the way I wanted, the only 'honest and ugly' choices would have been either to compromise, arrange things on my own, or cave in.)

Sorry about the rambling.

[Mr. McGician]

Several pages ago people were asking how Strado was able to make a living on illusions. Well, I think I just realized how this is going to end. It will turn out that Strado was a homeless bum who performed illusions on the street for money, and he only became rich when he married into Miranda's mother's family. What a tweest! After Strado admits this he and Donovan become bestest friends. The end.

[Trazoi]

Wedding talk's over, time for:
Sneaky Gate
Future Link

You're not fooling anyone, you know.

[mwchase]

They should go to a fertility clinic. Or does that count as "thinking about the Beast", now? Maybe they can go hang out in Facebath's mosh pit. Evidently that kind of thing constitutes thinking about the plane-devouring threat to reality. (Give me one solid reason why they wouldn't have a mosh pit.) (Also, wait, hold on, if Snuggly feeds on fear, what was it drawing out of Hell? I kind of feel like an eternity of torture... eventually, any ability to feel fear should be burned out, replaced by resignation. Or, you know, other, non-fear emotions.)

Dominic should go leer at some more ten-year-olds. Maybe this time, it really will be the Beast coincidentally planning to snuggle-splode them.

[random11]

Wedding talk's over, time for:
Sneaky Gate
Future Link

You're not fooling anyone, you know.

"with everything we've been through"

...
...
...

BEEN through?!
As in "it's over"?
The king and beast are still there, only now they know who you are, and if you really somehow foiled their plans that makes them even MORE dangerous.

Sign...
Never mind, let's just forget the last arc ever happened and that's it. Maybe it's for the best.

[colonelslime]

Let me preface this by saying that, yes, I know Luna's parents were horrible to her.

Even given that, I still think that "happiest orphan ever" line is one of the creepiest things Mookie has ever written. It's just so matter-of-fact, for something related to unbelievable emotional trauma. Especially combined with Luna's angry face.

Also, to echo Trazoi and mwchase, Dominic and Luna aren't fooling anyone by claiming the beast is actually worrying them in the slightest. Actually, given the way their expressions change in the last two panels, maybe this is the first time they've realized what it is that they're dealing with.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Wedding talk's over, time for:
Sneaky Gate
Future Link

Then what in the italicized, capitalized ASTERISKS were you doing for the last week?

[random11]

Let me preface this by saying that, yes, I know Luna's parents were horrible to her.

Even given that, I still think that "happiest orphan ever" line is one of the creepiest things Mookie has ever written. It's just so matter-of-fact, for something related to unbelievable emotional trauma. Especially combined with Luna's angry face.

It's creepy, but it's Luna who said it.
Since it was related to her emotional trauma, I can forgive such remarks coming from Luna.
As long as Dominic does not say he agrees with her, I guess it's acceptable.

[Zaq]

Let me preface this by saying that, yes, I know Luna's parents were horrible to her.

Even given that, I still think that "happiest orphan ever" line is one of the creepiest things Mookie has ever written. It's just so matter-of-fact, for something related to unbelievable emotional trauma. Especially combined with Luna's angry face.

Huh, I dunno. I think a decent writer could make it flow. I don't hate it on the face of it.

And I agree with Trazoi. This is Mookie's half-hearted attempt to show that Snuggly still matters, but it's too little, too late.

At least our old friend the Inappropriate Wall is back!

Also, can someone explain the background to panel 5? There's a vertical line near Dominic, indicating a wall or something, and then there's . . . stripes? I don't get it. Neither does Mookie.

[TheArsenal]

To late mookie. I even forgot this comic even contained other things.

You comic is driving me insane mookie.

[averagejoe]

BEEN through?!
As in "it's over"?

No. As in it's in the past.

Does anyone remember if there was anything ever said about Luna's father? Because, "Was awful," is kind of weak.

[TheArsenal]

Strength, scrapped stories and scarves. December 8, 2011 Posted by Mister allergic to tension

If this comic was written a few years ago, Luna would have spent a few panels in sorrow, regret and tears as she dwelt upon her dysfunctional and dangerous family. Now it's just a bitter stare into the distance, a snide remark, and moving on to happier subjects... or at least trying to, what with The Beast on her mind. Luna's gotten much stronger over the course of the comic's history.

Luna's father has only been mentioned once, and a long time ago in the comic's history. He was going to be the center of a story called An Unlikely Visitor, but I ultimately scrapped that story. A bit of Dominic Deegan Trivia for you there.

What is my name? Is its dod? I dont even remember anymore. I like jiuce. What is dice. IM MELTING!

[Trazoi]

And I agree with Trazoi. This is Mookie's half-hearted attempt to show that Snuggly still matters, but it's too little, too late.

It's classic Mookie. Whenever the comic shows the protagonists doing something ignoble, have a sequence of talking heads claiming they've been noble all along. It's like sleight of hand, except Mookie is yelling "PAY NO ATTENTION TO WHAT MY LEFT HAND IS DOING" while it rifles through your pockets.

Ha, the newspost is up:

If this comic was written a few years ago, Luna would have spent a few panels in sorrow, regret and tears as she dwelt upon her dysfunctional and dangerous family. Now it's just a bitter stare into the distance, a snide remark, and moving on to happier subjects... or at least trying to, what with The Beast on her mind. Luna's gotten much stronger over the course of the comic's history.

What are the odds that Mookie will forget that Luna actually has a sister at Alberhest Cathedral? But hey, at least she's "stronger" now, right?

[TheArsenal]

Im running out of energy to even get angry at mookie.

I think this arc was so irrelevant the pacing actually STOPED.

Thats amazing.

Its like watching the trainwreck break down into cinders.

[Trazoi]

I think this arc was so irrelevant the pacing actually STOPED.

That's an improvement. Around this comic the plot was moving backwards. So... progress?

[TheArsenal]

It went backwards and then went forwards again.

This is a downgrade.

[BlackDragonKing]

Aaaaaaand back on the rails, baby!

For some reason Snuggly's thought bubble just makes me laugh. Something about the way Mookie drew it looks like it's not so much roaring and being evil as it is poking its head in and saying "Sup?" For some reason, now I can't look at that panel without imagining Snuggly interrupting the brainstorming to be a wiseass more than being a threat on Dom's mind.

[TheArsenal]

You know what? Ive had a good run. I have a future to worry about. I just don't have time for DD. Not because im so busy all the time but because it makes me feel old. It drains joy from my heart.

So Goodby. See you in a week...maybe.

[Trazoi]

For some reason Snuggly's thought bubble just makes me laugh. Something about the way Mookie drew it looks like it's not so much roaring and being evil as it is poking its head in and saying "Sup?" For some reason, now I can't look at that panel without imagining Snuggly interrupting the brainstorming to be a wiseass more than being a threat on Dom's mind.

The update on the SA thread pretended this edit was the real comic:

Spoiler

Show

The first few replies were in shock that Mookie could tell a joke.

You know what? Ive had a good run. I have a future to worry about. I just don't have time for DD. Not because im so busy all the time but because it makes me feel old. It drains joy from my heart.

So Goodby. See you in a week...maybe.

Aww.

I'm going to review whether to keep up with the comic when it goes on the New Year break. I've got to admit though that I like this update from a snark sense. It's so Mookie. And it promises at pretending to have plot over the next couple of weeks.

[Johnny Blade]

It's really amazing how strong Luna has become. So strong, so great.

[T-O-E]

I'm the happiest orphan ever.

Several pages ago people were asking how Strado was able to make a living on illusions. Well, I think I just realized how this is going to end. It will turn out that Strado was a homeless bum who performed illusions on the street for money, and he only became rich when he married into Miranda's mother's family. What a tweest! After Strado admits this he and Donovan become bestest friends. The end.

Strado is actually a slime monster with a glamour.

---

Maybe a masquerade themed wedding? Crab masks for everyone!