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

[BlackDragonKing]

And replacing him with sweet fruit,

Very true.

But whos with me on mookies charm wearing off? We all used to mention how he looks like a nice guy to play DD with.

While he still comes off as a nice guy he also comes off as a guy that I would not like to play DD with because he pretends to be somebody who he is not.

I dunno. He's a pretty clueless writer, but meeting him in person at cons, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy who'd probably be fun to hang out with. I don't like what he's doing with his comic, but I don't hold that against him as a person.

[Toast1862]

I dunno. He's a pretty clueless writer, but meeting him in person at cons, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy who'd probably be fun to hang out with. I don't like what he's doing with his comic, but I don't hold that against him as a person.

....Whether or not he's friendly in person, I don't think I could stop thinking about tubdead and the creepiness and misogyny in the comic itself if I met him. I would not want to talk to him at all, and I get skeeved out just thinking about it. I think he's a guy who thinks he's a nice guy, not necessarily a guy who actually is nice... he probably isn't mean, though, and I guess if you don't know anything about his thought process and fetishes he might be fine. I guess.

[TheArsenal]

They guy isn't a smug jackass or sexist pig unlike some OTHER webcomics that pop up from time to time under our scrutiny but the comic lights a very bad shadow on him and his opinions.

If his characters are just stand ins, then what about greg, Dominic, Donovan?

[Nerd-o-rama]

I dunno. He's a pretty clueless writer, but meeting him in person at cons, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy who'd probably be fun to hang out with. I don't like what he's doing with his comic, but I don't hold that against him as a person.

I dunno, after seeing some of these interviews, I'm starting to hold it against him as a person.

[TheArsenal]

As we know more of him

"I wanted to make a sexy rapist"

his charm is wearing thin.

[Glass Mouse]

Back when I read LICD, my favorite parts of the strip were ones that focused on Noel or Mick, two of Rayne's friends.

I'm not gonna go archive trawl to make sure, but AFAIK Rayne manages to worm himself into almost every strip he's not part of. Either everyone talks about him, or he pops up somewhere around the last panel to draw attention to himself. Seriously, even Noel's wedding seemed to be just "Rayne shenanigans... now with dressed-up people in the background". There was... one strip not featuring him heavily?

[raxies94]

I don't know. The feeling I get in all his interviews is "Really nice guy, but clueless writer." I could see being friends with him.

On an unrelated note, has anyone ever tried to contact Mookie and constructively criticize the comic?

[Arakune]

I don't know. The feeling I get in all his interviews is "Really nice guy, but clueless writer." I could see being friends with him.

On an unrelated note, has anyone ever tried to contact Mookie and constructively criticize the comic?

And gotten results, ie, he actually answering the criticism even if he did nothing in the comic? Not really.

[Glass Mouse]

He has, however, replied to a few people and been quite nice about it.

[Frogwarrior]

Just replace the offending elements with a banana. It's done wonders for my own anger at the latest strips. There's something very calming and therapeutic about erasing Greg from existence...

This.....

This would make his relationship with Pam a whole lot more interesting. And kind of disturbing......

Spoiler

Show

Pam has a food fetish?

[Fawkes]

I'm not gonna go archive trawl to make sure, but AFAIK Rayne manages to worm himself into almost every strip he's not part of. Either everyone talks about him, or he pops up somewhere around the last panel to draw attention to himself. Seriously, even Noel's wedding seemed to be just "Rayne shenanigans... now with dressed-up people in the background". There was... one strip not featuring him heavily?

Don't get me wrong, the strip is terrible, but on very rare occasions, there would be a strip or story arc focused on one of his friends, and those tended to be a lot more enjoyable than when Rayne is front-and-center.

Also there was one strip where Noel just straight up beat the hell out of Rayne for being a jackass. That was the best one.

[Helanna]

Ok fine, there are examples of skilled writers who are capable of taking a silent character and running with it. Now explain to me how MOOKIE would be able to do a character arc for someone who cant speak? Maybe have Dom scry her life story then talking head us to death as he explains everything that made her who she is today? Have jayden turn to pantomime as we try to decipher what she is trying to say? Nah, this upcoming arc is going to be jayden heavy now that she is talking, and we will learn more about her, besides, "Had sex with a werewolf, cheated on a werewolf, can be mind controlled into losing her powers, looks sexy in blackguard style armor, and doesnt like to talk anymore."

Well, the most obvious solution is to be a skilled writer. Seriously, if we just gave Mookie a pass on awful writing because he's not skilled, well . . . well actually that's kind of the point of awful writing, is that he's not skilled. The other solution, however, is "if you're a hack writer, don't include plot elements way out of your skill level".

Seriously, why did he even include Jayden's silence? What purpose did it serve? Why was it there? "Oh hey look, she's really sad and won't talk OKAY NOW SHE'S TALKING AGAIN 'cause it's a wedding and all significant and super-important!"

We'll probably get some talking heads about how Jayden realized that it was True Love and she should stop moping, but that won't fix it. The dramatic part is already over, the climax has already happened. The structure of a story arc goes "climbing action, then resolution" for a reason - the climbing action is there to build tension that is then brought to a satisfactory and cathartic solution. You can't really do that retroactively (or at least, Mookie can't). So he just shouldn't have included it at all.

[Arakune]

"Oh hey look, she's really sad and won't talk OKAY NOW SHE'S TALKING AGAIN 'cause it's a wedding and all significant and super-important!"

The bane of fanfics everywere, when the author suddenly pops that up not on his profile (bad enough) or the summary (ARGH!) or even the author's notes first thing in the chapter (why? WHY???), but right in the middle of the chapter (kill! kill it with FIRE!!!)

[Gez]

....Whether or not he's friendly in person, I don't think I could stop thinking about tubdead and the creepiness and misogyny in the comic itself if I met him. I would not want to talk to him at all, and I get skeeved out just thinking about it. I think he's a guy who thinks he's a nice guy, not necessarily a guy who actually is nice... he probably isn't mean, though, and I guess if you don't know anything about his thought process and fetishes he might be fine. I guess.

Pretty much that. The guy is friendly, enthusiastic and polite. When criticized he either ignore the provocation or reply along the lines of "sorry, but that's just how I do stuff" rather than lash out viciously like certain other authors of crappy webcomics. B^U B^U B^U

But he is creepy and disturbing. He's probably not aware of it, because he's really not an introspective kind of guy. He's probably genuine when he thinks of himself as a progressive person, and blissfully unaware of the terribly sexist things ingrained in his psyche that transpires from his work. If he actually listened to criticism and questioned his production, he'd probably be quite shocked. But he doesn't turn his brain on when working on his comic.

[Trazoi]

Seriously, why did he even include Jayden's silence? What purpose did it serve? Why was it there? "Oh hey look, she's really sad and won't talk OKAY NOW SHE'S TALKING AGAIN 'cause it's a wedding and all significant and super-important!"

I suspect Mookie made the decision to marry Dom and Luna very early in the year, hence the wedding preparation stuff in that awful alterist arc, but being horrible at pacing he then blew the entire year on the Celesto nonsense. So he had to shoehorn in an unplanned wedding, which requires a priest/ess, and Jayden's the obvious go to.

But he hadn't resolved Jayden's state from the Shadows of Siggy arc, and because he can't write female characters at all he couldn't bother with a proper character arc. So he felt he had to introduce her not speaking and end with her speaking, hey instant dramatic moment that's metal.

I don't think he considered that Jayden might have been over most of it already; she had to be exactly as she was the last time we saw her. There's no object permanence in this comic; characters don't exist if a Deegan isn't nearby.

[Arakune]

Mookie, your readers aren't babies.

... right? He isn't trying to write for babies, is he? TELL ME HE ISN'T!

[TheLaughingMan]

Mookie, your readers aren't babies.

... right? He isn't trying to write for babies, is he? TELL ME HE ISN'T!

Mookie only knows how to write for his own demographic. So yes.

[TheArsenal]

Pretty much that. The guy is friendly, enthusiastic and polite. When criticized he either ignore the provocation or reply along the lines of "sorry, but that's just how I do stuff" rather than lash out viciously like certain other authors of crappy webcomics. B^U B^U B^U

But he is creepy and disturbing. He's probably not aware of it, because he's really not an introspective kind of guy. He's probably genuine when he thinks of himself as a progressive person, and blissfully unaware of the terribly sexist things ingrained in his psyche that transpires from his work. If he actually listened to criticism and questioned his production, he'd probably be quite shocked. But he doesn't turn his brain on when working on his comic.

Which makes DD even the more interesting. Most crappy comics you notice the tendencies of in about 7 updates. But with mookie, his creepyness is revealed over 10 years...

10 freaking years! THIS IS WHAT 10 YEARS MAKES!

TEN YEARS!


Heck even one of my favourite wanime (western anime) Oban was produced in less time! And the guy wrote each script himself!

[Bobikus]

Pretty much that. The guy is friendly, enthusiastic and polite. When criticized he either ignore the provocation or reply along the lines of "sorry, but that's just how I do stuff" rather than lash out viciously like certain other authors of crappy webcomics. B^U B^U B^U

But he is creepy and disturbing. He's probably not aware of it, because he's really not an introspective kind of guy. He's probably genuine when he thinks of himself as a progressive person, and blissfully unaware of the terribly sexist things ingrained in his psyche that transpires from his work. If he actually listened to criticism and questioned his production, he'd probably be quite shocked. But he doesn't turn his brain on when working on his comic.

He's more of a "nice guy" than an openly dickish guy like Buckley or Sohmer.

[Trazoi]

He's more of a "nice guy" than an openly dickish guy like Buckley or Sohmer.

He's one of the few webcomic creators to be friendly with Buckley, when about 90% of them seem to dislike him with a burning passion. I wouldn't see Mookie drawing Buckley with ham hands.

[Shogo]

A bit delayed but . . . I don't think I've ever really hated Greg as much as I do now. I mean, he has so many moments to choose from as far as hate goes, but this is a whole new level.

But what truly bothers me is that everyone else just went with it. They're all like "This is super romantic, we better kiss like that tool screeched."

Maybe they'll not let it bother them until after the kiss. (Fat chance.) But seriously, between Dominic, Luna, and Jayden . . . Someone needs to yell at Greg. Just be all "What the **** is your problem?!"

I mean damn. I'm pretty sure no one else in the main caste actually gives a **** about whatever the hell it is Mike, I mean Greg, thinks is "metal".

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

I am quite fond of my brother, but if I was to get married and he did what Greg did? I'd punch him in the mouth. Twice.

[Traab]

He's more of a "nice guy" than an openly dickish guy like Buckley or Sohmer.

The guy who writes gucomics is a **** irl. He was my guild leader in WoW, you would think a comic writer would have a sense of humor, but no. He would randomly boot people from the guild, let them "stew" then reinvite, (generally had one of his officers do the reinvite) insulted people aside from his relatively small group of "in crowd" and got half his comics by taking random guild chat comments and pasting his images over it. I only stuck around as long as I did because the rest of the guild was genuinely cool, even his inner circle were good guys, he was just an ass.

[Trazoi]

A bit delayed but . . . I don't think I've ever really hated Greg as much as I do now. I mean, he has so many moments to choose from as far as hate goes, but this is a whole new level.

But what truly bothers me is that everyone else just went with it. They're all like "This is super romantic, we better kiss like that tool screeched."

Maybe they'll not let it bother them until after the kiss. (Fat chance.) But seriously, between Dominic, Luna, and Jayden . . . Someone needs to yell at Greg. Just be all "What the **** is your problem?!"

I mean damn. I'm pretty sure no one else in the main caste actually gives a **** about whatever the hell it is Mike, I mean Greg, thinks is "metal".

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

I am quite fond of my brother, but if I was to get married and he did what Greg did? I'd punch him in the mouth. Twice.

I know we've all discussed Greg in Thursday's comic, but this can't be underlined enough. I know Mookie threw that in there to be """""funny""""" (insert infinite more quotation marks), but it's staggering how blind he is to how he makes his characters look by doing stupid crap like that. Did he really want to depict Greg as that unbelievably selfish and socially stunted?

Welp, at least Dom and Luna got the wedding Mookie Greg wanted, and that's all that matters.

Geez I still can't get over how Mookie has sabotaged what should have been a main climax for the comic. Are we still sure this isn't some elaborate troll?

[Traab]

I know we've all discussed Greg in Thursday's comic, but this can't be underlined enough. I know Mookie threw that in there to be """""funny""""" (insert infinite more quotation marks), but it's staggering how blind he is to how he makes his characters look by doing stupid crap like that. Did he really want to depict Greg as that unbelievably selfish and socially stunted?

Welp, at least Dom and Luna got the wedding Mookie Greg wanted, and that's all that matters.

Geez I still can't get over how Mookie has sabotaged what should have been a main climax for the comic. Are we still sure this isn't some elaborate troll?

I just got this mental image of the comic coming to an end, with a final splash panel that consists of this.

"lol I cant believe you all fell for it for so long! Did you REALLY think this was the real comic? Go to the link at www.mookiesrealwork.com and enjoy the actual comic folks."

Then we click on the link and see 10 years worth of amazing work, with drawings that actually improve over time, a consistent magic system and well built world, and arcs that actually make sense! Turns out he spent those 8 hours per strip writing out the troll comic AND the real one.

[Mr. McGician]

I know we've all discussed Greg in Thursday's comic, but this can't be underlined enough. I know Mookie threw that in there to be """""funny""""" (insert infinite more quotation marks), but it's staggering how blind he is to how he makes his characters look by doing stupid crap like that. Did he really want to depict Greg as that unbelievably selfish and socially stunted?

Welp, at least Dom and Luna got the wedding Mookie Greg wanted, and that's all that matters.

This is what I mean by Greg turning into Ethan from CAD. They're almost exactly the same at this point. They fulfill the author's wish of being "wacky" and breaking all rules of decency while suffering no consequences whatsoever.

[Trazoi]

This is what I mean by Greg turning into Ethan from CAD. They're almost exactly the same at this point. They fulfill the author's wish of being "wacky" and breaking all rules of decency while suffering no consequences whatsoever.

Pretty much. SmugGreg is Mookie. I can't see him any other way. Mookie suddenly walked into his own comic and married his main characters. Rock on.

[Fawkes]

wanime (western anime)

*wince*

Huh. I think you found some sort of code phrase. Turns out that is the exact sequence of letters required to give me a headache.

[Welf]

Pretty much. SmugGreg is Mookie. I can't see him any other way. Mookie suddenly walked into his own comic and married his main characters. Rock on.

I remember the time when Mookie's (official) self-insert was Donovan. (Back then) a grown up with a sense of humour and decency. Not the self-instert is a wacky man-child. Somethings gone wrong in the last years.
(The comic is so full of self-inserts that I separate between different ylcasses of self-inserts. Dominic counts as wish fulfilment self-insert, Madame Sansibar is a cameo self-insert, Donovan/Smug-Greg are permanent real life self-inserts)

[Bobikus]

wanime (western anime)

You mean a cartoon?

[Traab]

You mean a cartoon?

I couldnt help but laugh when I read that. I dunno, give him some credit, maybe he meant it was an american company trying to create a cartoon along the anime style? I think we can all agree that normally there is a big difference between a cartoon and an anime, so maybe they wanted to try their hands at an anime style?