Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLIV: Stunt Bro and Hella Jayden

[Gez]

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is a terrible comic written and drawn by and for Michael "Mookie" Terracciano.

Its one redeeming feature is that it is so bad that it is vaguely fascinating. There are so many terrible things about it that the human brain cannot experience all the badness at once. But the longer you stare at it, the more it stares back at you. That is the only explanation I have to offer for why there are now 44 threads about it on this forum.

For any poor, curious soul wondering what's this all about and deciding to see for yourself, starting with the first comic in the series, know that it never improves on any point. The art becomes cleaner but lazier and overall doesn't change; the writing flails around from comedic to dramatic without understanding how either genre works, and the whole work gives you a disturbingly unfiltered look at its creator's naked id. Of all these things, Mookie is blissfully unaware.

Snark Chronology (Snarkhronology)

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Thread I - Oct 31 2006 to Aug 9 2007 - 77 pages, the first half of which actually contained praise yet. Then Snowsong came about...
Thread II - Aug 8 2007 to Jun 10 2008 - the epic one, 301 pages, OVER NINE THOUSAAAND posts. Here the foundations of Domiology - our snarky fanon - were created.
Thread III - 10 Jun 2008 to Aug 12 2008 - 63 pages of snarky goodness, first one to contain the archives in the first post.
Thread IV - Aug 12 2008 to Sept 20 2008 - 50 pages, the one that carried us through the first half of the horrid Vacation Arc and brought the first actual fans into our threads (of course, their resolve starts to falter by now )
Thread V - Sept 20 2008 to Oct 18 2008 - 50 pages, the Vacation Arc continues to our unimaginable horror.
Thread VI - Oct 18 2008 to Nov 11 2008 - 50 pages, the final part of the vacation. So much to be learnt about walls and limbs; knowledge that Mookie, unfortunately, shall never possess.
Thread VII - 10 Nov 2008 to Dec 1 2008 - 50 pages, finally the Plot Creature caught up - but what has Mookie done to Celesto and TIM?
Thread VIII - Dec 1 2008 to Dec 23 2008 - 51 pages, wherein Dex rises from the dead and we are introduced to Sn'gl'euth'u, the cutest extradimensional Lovecraftian being since Hello Cthulhu.
Thread IX - Dec 23 2008 to Feb 20 2009 - 50 pages, which taught us that orcs not only have despicable traditions, they are also completely insane.
Thread X - Feb 20 2009 to Apr 5 2009 - 50 pages, which taught us that orcs are not only completely insane, they are actually crazy enough to make Cthulhu roll Sanity checks!
Thread XI - Apr 5 2009 to May 1 2009 - 51 pages, in which the orcs are at their height of insanity (going one step beyond), Luna is the designated Messiah of Everything and that tusks make you speshul.
Thread XII - May 1 2009 to Jun 6 2009 - 50 pages, where the orcs, after reaching the height of insanity previously, find ways to fly to entirely new planes of mind-crushing madness, sufficient to warp their plain to the size of a backyard and time to freeze, as nothing interesting happens at all.
Thread XIII - Jun 6 2009 to July 9 2009 - 50 pages, where the orcs continue to plumb the bottomless depths of inanity. Oh, and insanity too. Meanwhile, Luna discovers a new Sue power: inflicting the worst monologues ever on hapless readers. Also, Jacob is evil.
Thread XIV - July 9 2009 to Aug 6 2009 - 50 pages, where we are still occupied with Orcs. Orcs. Orcs, everywhere! Oh gods, is this arc not going to end ever?! I repent, Mookie! I repent! Just make it stop! Make it stooooop!
Thread XV - Aug 6 2009 to Sept 7 2009 - 50 pages, with Orcs, who do Orc things and KILL THEM, KILL ALL THE ORCS, EXTERMINATE THEM, SO THIS HORROR CAN END!
Thread XVI - Sept 7 2009 to Sept 26 2009 - 50 pages. Do I have to tell you what it was about at this point anymore? You have three guesses. And the first two don't count.
Thread XVII - Sept 26 2009 to Oct 20 2009 - 51 pages. The Orcs are still insane, and in this thread, they managed to temporarily infect us. Among the results are a debate about relativism and many pictures of various cute, funny, and weird animals. There also was a decapitation. It was metal.
Thread XVIII - Oct 20 2009 to Nov 19 2009 - 50 pages, in which the March Through Maltak continues against logic, reason, good taste and sanity. Also including attempts at a non-lethal battle and awesome plot twists(Dominic fixes everything!)
Thread XIX - Nov 19 2009 to Dec 15 2009 - 50 pages. The Battle At the Bikta Sanctuary is trudging along, with consistency and logic being casualties.
Thread XX - Dec 15 2009 to Jan 14 2010 - 50 pages, where many lessons are learned: Never trust a bard, rain solves everything, and a stunning revelation by a necromancer so important it's the next thread title.
Thread XXI - Jan 14 2010 to Feb 25 2010 - 51 pages. Now that events have been set into motion that may affect the destiny of the entire world, we get to see Nimmel and his crazy college shenanigans!
Thread XXII - Feb 25 2010 to Mar 31 2010 - 51 pages, where Nimmel fully ascends into the First Caste, donning the Mantle of Sue that he might make us all immune to boobs.
Thread XXIII - March 31 2010 to May 9 2010 - 50 pages. After Talking to one tentacled creature about another, Mamma Deegan returns home, and Greg starts a band.
Thread XXIV - May 9, 2010 to June 9, 2010 - 50 pages. Greg's band is so meh it's un-****ing believable.
Thread XXV - June 9, 2010 to July 22, 2010 - 51 pages. The strange ecology of the Wild Edge Territory, and the stranger behavior of the Callanians living there. If there's a keyword, it's "random". Also, inappropriate names for creatures.
Thread XXVI - July 22, 2010 to Sept. 6 2010 - 50 pages. Stunt's stunts in the Wild Edge show a stunting of character and such stunted emotional capacity that he probably suffers from stunt. Also, Celesto meditates naked.
Thread XXVII - Sept. 6, 2010 to Oct. 6, 2010 - 50 pages. The comic goes to hell. Again. Siegfried returns and shouts a lot.
Thread XXVIII - Oct. 6, 2010 to Oct. 27, 2010 - 50 pages. Curly has exploded at the end of the War in Hell just like a soul. Now, on to a trial.
Thread XXVIIIS - Nov. 6, 2010 to Nov. 7, 2010 - 1 page. Wherein a true fan who has made it as far as Storm of Souls, makes a thread.
Thread XXIX - Oct. 27 2010 to Dec. 2, 2010 - 50 pages. The "trial" is just a veiled excuse to have Bulgak grow wings on his head and look into goalposts that show him important events in his past.
Thread XXX - Dec. 2, 2010 to January 1, 2011 - 51 pages. Bulgak goes boom. Filler. Then nothing happens except Curly's marathon readthrough of Maltak.
Thread XXXI - Jan. 1, 2011 to January 21, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic and Luna finally show up, and then we get an arc about plastic surgery.
Thread XXXII - Jan. 22, 2011 to Feb. 18, 2011 - 50 Pages. Luna is great. So great. Also: Snuggly joins the Loony Toons.
Thread XXXIII - Feb. 19, 2011 to Mar. 24, 2011 - 50 pages. Snuggly is allergic to shellfish. Facebath returns to sing songs about how Luna is so great.
Thread XXXIV - Mar. 24, 2011 to April 19, 2011 - 50 pages. Snuggly kills an all-powerful archmage and no one is too concerned about it. Also, we met King DJ.
Thread XXXV - April 19, 2011 to May 23, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic must find Celesto for no reason in particular. The Battlecasters are spying on all Second Sight, everywhere.
Thread XXXVI - May 24, 2011 to June 24, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic visits his old friend Szark. Together, they uncover the dark secret of two teenagers who, brace yourself, are trapped in a vicious cycle of bullying. Holy moly! The world-destroying abomination is assumed to still be relevant, but not even Dominic knows why.
Thread XXXVII - June 24, 2011 to August 7, 2011 - 50 pages. Dominic strips naked and drives a small child insane while Szark prevents anyone from helping the kid.
Thread XXXVIII - August 7, 2011 to September 14, 2011 - 51 pages. Dominic pulls out some old tricks and some new ones, we're all totally confused, and then we're smacked with a one-two punch of Smug and Great.
Thread XXXIX - September 15, 2011 to October 19, 2011 - 50 pages. Luna and Greg go to an art gallery, some stuff with battlecasters happens, somehow we manage to draw this out for fifty pages.
Thread XL - October 19, 2011 to November 22, 2011 - 50 pages. The budding love between Gregory and some battlecaster whose name nobody cares about and the union between a toast and a lizard showed us that love conquers all. A guitar will do just as well, though.
Thread XLI- 22nd November, 2011 to December 22nd, 2011 - 50 pages. Some guy grows a moustache in the finest example of character development so far. Luna blubbers away because she loves Dominic -who deigns to tolerate her display- so much, showing how far the author thinks she's come as a character. Mookie and Luna get married, the latter against her will and a tiny explosion signals the end times.
Thread XLII - 22nd December 2011 to 6th February 2012 - 50 pages. The Infernomancer is back! The King's nefarious plan is going to fruition! This cannot stand, so the plot is thwarted by instead deciding to follow Jayden's quest of redemption for the sin of having cheated on her violent, emotion-crazed beastman of a boyfriend. Because it's totally what's important.
Thread XLIII - 6th February 2012 to 20th March 2012 - 50 pages. Still on the adventures of Stunt in the desert. Uh, what? Jayden who? Who said anything about Jayden?

And our sister threads:
Strip Slays, the best thread ever
Strip Slays 2: the best thread strikes back
Strip Slays 3 - Someone Is Going To Slay For This Outrage.
Strip Slays 4: A Slay On Words.
If the madness of this thread does not suffice to bring your SAN rating down, those will. For sure.
[DD Snark]Maltak: The Unsuckening - Art by Domochevsky, Writing by Oracle_Hunter, edited by us. A parody of the longest arc done in the style of Hiimdaisy's comic strips, now with snazzy new (non-sucky) link!
Dominic Deegan - The Second Coming - the now dead Dominic Deegan rewrite, where everyone could contribute! Assuming it was still alive.

For more information, check out the Encyclopedia Dominica, our all-encompassing archive of knowledge! It's a wiki!

If you're wondering why we snark, check out Why We Snark on the wiki!

For further reading, there's The Descent of Man (into Madness and Mookie) by Johnny Blade.

And there is also the Dominic Deegan game: Punchy's Brilliant Adventure: Ley Line Scramble, courtesy of TamerBill!

MORE FUN STUFF:

Snarky Flowcharts (Flowsnarks)

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Turcano's Chart of Arc Hope
Helanna's Chart of Thread Trends

guttering_flame's Cycle of Life and Death (Spoiler: It All Leads to Maltak)

Snark Art (Snart)

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Dominic Deegan's art is garbage. However, some people may at times believe, possible after being exposed to it for way too long a time, that it's not that bad.
Well, here's something to guide the lost souls back to the light.

Domo's Beef:

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Domo's Reenvisioning (of the Melna vs Taran fight scene and Luna's entrance at the Bikta camp):

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Silverblood

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Pay close attention, you may notice a little surprise.

Garland

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BEHOLD! MUSTACHE!


SNARKSERVICE

Maltak: The Unsuckening

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8 out of Unknown parts done so far.

Domo's commentary on werewolf society:

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TamerBill's animations:

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Big Stuff
Dominic Deegan: The Animated Series
Battle For Barthis 2
Magical Nerd Lyrical Nimmeloha

Little Stuff
Power-Walking With Nimmel Fenix
Dominic Dansen: Oracle for Hire
Young Men's Chibi Association
Hell Is Other Panels

Joro's good old days:

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In an alternate universe, Dominic Deegan: Surly Jerk With a Fish on His Head is a well regarded webcomic.

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Crud, I think I drew his nose off center.

Jacob used to be somewhat cool. What happened? Curse you, Maltak.

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Glass Mouse:

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Averagejoe's One Panel (Sn)Arcs

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Curly's Dominic Deegan Analyses:

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I'm back.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, help yourself to some popcorn, and welcome to the next episode of

Analysing Dominus Deegan

The Golden Age*

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A Frail Hope of Adequate Enjoyment
21/05/2002 - 17/07/2002 Arcs covered: Oracle for Hire, The Curse
The First Signs of Serious Psychological Issues Appear
18/07/2002 - 4/12/2002 Arcs covered: The Curse, Luna, Into the Woods
In Which Teh Great Dominus Indulges in Torture and Terrifies Me
5/12/2002 - 21/02/2003 Arcs covered: Into the Woods, Couch Forts and Crying
Dominatrix Luna. Oh, and The Dominus is More Feared Than A Necromancer
22/01/2003 - 11/03/2003 Arcs covered: Makeover!, Mob Mentality
Thing Are Looking Up
12/03/2003 - 30/04/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts One and Two
Siggy Is Iesus. Make of That What You Will
01/05/2003 -23/06/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Three and Four
The Great Dominus Is Officially A Marty Stue an It's THRILLER! THRILLER NIGHT!
24/06/2003 - 19/08/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Five and Six
Character Development! And We Conclude an Arc
20/08/2003 - 10/09/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Seven and Eight
Short Arc Is Short
11/09/2003 - 21/10/2003 Arcs covered: The Party

The Tarnished Age

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Hell Is Meaningless Filler
23/10/2003 - 20/11/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Part One
Kink + Dominus Deegan = Eye and Brain Bleach
11/11/2003 - 16/12/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Two and Three
Inflatable Boobs and Sex! Occasional Plotting Is Permitted
17/12/2003 - 30/01/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Four and Five
Enter: Deus Ex Machina! And Boobs.
31/01/2005 - 19/04/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Six and Seven
Mookie Reveals More of His Sexual Fantasies. And Noone Ever Suffers From Any Effects of A Near-Rape. Ever!
20/04/2004 -26/05/2004 Arcs covered: TEatE Parts Eight and Nine

The Silver Age

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The Corruption of Sister Pam. Iocks Are Misogynistic Idiots.
27/05/2004 - 27/08/2004 Arcs covered: Hello Nurse
All Hands On Deck! Swirly Thing Alert!
06/09/2004 - 22/10/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts One and Two
Darlings, Can't You Hear My SoS?
25/010/2004 - 28/11/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Three and Four
Attack of the Pointless Sub-Plots!
29/11/2004 - 06/01/2005 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Five and Six
Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? No! It's SuperGreg!
07/01/2005 - 24/02/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Seven and Eight
Analysing Dominus Deegan The Musical
25/02/2005 - 31/03/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Nine and Ten
Venus Gets Angry, and the Dominus Doesn't Have A Leg To Stand On
01/04/2005 - 05/06/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

The Bronze Age

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CURSE YOU RUNCIBLE SPOON! I Have Flashbacks to WoT
13/06/2005 - 09/07/2005 Arcs covered: My First Day and Interlude Versions One and Two
Contrived Coincidences and Rape Have Broken Me
11/07/2005 - 25/10/2005 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Part One
A Hug Makes Me Furious
26/10/2005 - 09/01/2006 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Parts Two and Three
A Melna Special: The Explanation
01/01/2006 - 27/01/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Part One
This Episode Erupts With Kittens! Well, It Should
30/01/2006 - 06/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Two and Three
I Dwell on the Paradox That Is Mookie
07/03/2006 - 20/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Four and Five
Time To 'Save' Szark!
21/03/2006 - 28/05/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Six and Seven[
Assassination and Moustaches
30/05/2006 - 11/07/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Eight and Nine
R.I.P. Siggy
12/07/2006 - 01/09/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Ten and Eleven and Interlude: The Best of Dominic Deegan

The Iron Age

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This Comic Is NOT Shakespeare
04/09/2006 - 16/09/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not To Thief? Part One
If I Want Mafia, I'll Watch Bugsy Malone
17/09/2009 - 14/10/2009 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Two and Three
Time To Take the Offensive
15/10/2006 - 18/11/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Four and Five
The Break Up
19/11/2006 - 10/12/2006 Arcs covered Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Six and Seven

The Ice Age

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Boobs. Nothing More. BOOBS!!
11/12/2006 - 15/01/2007 Arcs covered: Wrapped Up and Returned, Class Action Part One
Melna. Loves. Her. Rapist.
16/01/2007 - 18/03/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Two and Three
Oh. Geography.
19/03/2007 - 23/05/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight
It's Worse Than I Imagined
24/05/2007 - 21/08/2007 Arcs covered: Snowsong
I Drank Too Much
22/08/2007 - 06/12/2007 Arcs covered: Shadow of Siegfried
Short, But Not Sweet
07/12/2007 - 23/122007 Arcs covered: Endings and Annoyances
My Counters Explode. So do I. Part One and Part Two
01/01/2008 - 24/04/2008 Arcs covered: The Oracle Hunter

The Dragon Age

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. . . Meh.
25/04/2008 - 25/05/2008 Arcs covered: Oh, Snap
Dull.
26/05/2008 - 29/06/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Airship to Nagastrali
Best. Panel. Ever.
30/06/2008 - 20/10/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Olde Tucklebruck Island to end.
The Unstoppable Airman - Sorry, Wrong Comic.
21/10/2008 - 21/12/2008 Arcs covered: Built to Resist

Orc (Outr)Age

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The Maltak Marathon
05/01/2009 - 05/02/2010 Arcs covered: THE ENTIRE BLOODY THING IN ONE NIGHT!
This link goes to the collected archive for this particular arc.

The Lost Age

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Boobs, Wonderful Boobs, Marvellous Boobs, Glorious Boobs! Yeah.
08/02/2010 - 29/03/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part One and A Nimmel House
Com On Feel The Noize Just Random Noize!
30/03/2010 - 11/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Two and B.Y.O.B.
A Lack of Information
14/06/2010 - 21/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Three
Crunch Crunch Stunt.
21/06/2010 - 27/08/2010 Arcs covered: Walk the Wild Edge
Flowers And A Minor Meltdown
30/08/2010 - 06/09/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Four
They Just Lit A Rocket. Rockets Explode!
09/06/2010 - 10/12/2010 Arcs covered: The Court of Karnak
It Is A Tale . . . Full of Repetitive Exposition and Non-Jokes, Signifying Nothing
13/12/2010 - 27/12/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Five

The Death of the Age of Innocence
The Aborted Recap
03/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States
Curly's Beef Or, That's A Lot of Pictures
03/01/2011 - 11/01/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States ('part one'). Still.

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So, now that the recap is over, here we can go back to the adventures of Stunt Bro and Hella Jayden.

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This is summary of the arc, once you expunge all the head-desk parts (the many retcons of Stunt's mommy issues, the pointless diversion introducing people forgotten five strips afterwards, the absolutely nonsensical reveal of the Luanian faith). Just two people walking aimlessly in a desert and falling off cliffs.

In the latest episode, Rilian has just committed a terrible mistake: no character is less relevant to anything than Jayden. Heck, Stunt is more relevant than her. Just look at "Jayden's Pilgrimage" arc which instantly shifted to "Stunt's Introspection" arc. Nobody cares about Jayden, and especially not Mookie. Because she's a female, and therefore biologically incapable of having an actual role in a Mookie comic.

[Traab]

I think mookie noticed that some of us liked stunt. So he siggyed the bastard hard, and now is trying to convince us that we should hate him and he was never any good. Killing him and sending him to hell to be siggys squire cant be far behind.

[Dandria]

I think mookie noticed that some of us liked stunt. So he siggyed the bastard hard, and now is trying to convince us that we should hate him and he was never any good. Killing him and sending him to hell to be siggys squire cant be far behind.

I'd totally read that. Seriously, think about it. The excellent adventures of Siggy and Stunt: hanging piggarts, stabbing bitches and chewing straws since 2012. It could go on for twenty years before growing old.

[Traab]

I'd totally read that. Seriously, think about it. The excellent adventures of Siggy and Stunt: hanging piggarts, stabbing bitches and chewing straws since 2012. It could go on for twenty years before growing old.

They need catchphrases.

"Im here to kick ass and chew my fathers skull. And wouldnt you know it? Im all out of my fathers skull."

"Thats right, im the original son of a &^$%"

[elros]

As someone who has struggled with this webcomic on and off since 2005, I am thrilled that I found these threads! I am glad I am not alone experiencing the pain that comes from trying to make sense of DD. I would stop reading it for months at a time, and then I would get curious and check it out only to beat myself up afterward (Why do I punish myself? Am I a masochist?). These threads makes me realize I am not alone, and also make the entire DD experience enjoyable. Your comments are also insightful and have taught me a lot about writing, character development, and traps to avoid.

I'd like to add my 2 cents about why DD is so frustrating. At first Mookie comes across as a good guy and I admire that he cranks out a new comic daily. As Trazoi said, DD could work as a daily pulp serial. But then Mookie makes so many WTF moments! I admire his attempts at creativity, but he desperately needs an editor or someone with common sense to look at his work.

For example, I have to write about my frustration with Luna. Mookie clearly likes being someone who rescues fragile women, so he started with Luna as very weak and then took delight in watching her grow stronger. But there were some big problems with this approach:
1) the whole thing was kinda creepy,
2) Mookie couldn't stop with making Luna a well adjusted person. No, he had to make her an insanely powerful sorceress and the center of world changing events. Maltak was just the beginning. I can only imagine what the future will bring. Luna has these "special eggs" that will probably be used to revive some long-lost civilization. Luna will be the savior not only of Maltak, but of the world! She will be the greatest, most loving, most giving person of all time, and she will be revered by everyone and everything! Except for the stupid jocks, rich people, and other villains of DD. I see this coming like a freight train, ready to destroy even more of my brain cells. (bangs head against wall)

Sorry for the rant, but like many of you, I just want DD to be a better strip. But I just don't see it happening.

[Dandria]

They need catchphrases.

"Im here to kick ass and chew my fathers skull. And wouldnt you know it? Im all out of my fathers skull."

"Thats right, im the original son of a &^$%"

I can already smell the ratings!

[Gez]

1) the whole thing was kinda creepy,
2) Mookie couldn't stop with making Luna a well adjusted person. No, he had to make her an insanely powerful sorceress and the center of world changing events.

And more importantly, she's still an emotional mess who cries all the time and cannot actively do anything without male assistance. In Maltak, she was either a passive messiah (just her being here triggered things to happen miraculously, like plant growth; but it's nothing that she deliberately, actively did) or she had to be helped by Dominic.

In the hilarious "Search for Celesto", first thing she does when she says she's taking charge? Recruit Quilt and it's Quilt that does all the work. Way to take charge. And at the art exhibition thing? She manages to free herself from the weirdo dimension where she was fighting the cattle basters and Celesto; but as soon as she's back in what passes for the normal world in DD, she collapses into a singularity of uselessness as she gets Gregory to do everything. There's a male around, she can't be more than support.

Mookie seriously thinks that a misogynist is someone who knowingly hates women and uses sexist profanities like the C-word. That's why he doesn't realize that he is one.

[Trazoi]

It is quite amazing how Stunt's taken over the entire arc, and now Rilian is entrusting him with the Holy Grail or whatever as a test of whether he's redeemed enough not to steal it. I guess it's better than Rilian charging Jayden with getting to Aberhest without sleeping with any jocks.

Mookie couldn't stop with making Luna a well adjusted person. No, he had to make her an insanely powerful sorceress and the center of world changing events.

What gets me most is how Luna almost never uses her amazing powers to be heroic herself. Luna can fly, teleport, use powerful elemental spells, cast dark magic, and weave illusions that can disguise herself and her friends as anyone or anything. There's so much she could achieve by herself if she was actually intelligent and heroic, but all she ever does is be a victim or act support for her man. Even in the art gallery she had to power up Greg instead of deal with the cattlebasters herself.

Edit: beat. I guess it proves how much it shows.

[Oracle_Hunter]

It is quite amazing how Stunt's taken over the entire arc, and now Rilian is entrusting him with the Holy Grail or whatever as a test of whether he's redeemed enough not to steal it. I guess it's better than Rilian charging Jayden with getting to Aberhest without sleeping with any jocks.

A well-written Rillian would actually have given Stunt & Jayden a Decoy Macguffin and send them off to be smooshed by the Archray while be sneaked off with the real one. But that's not happening because Stunt is the Designated Hero of this Arc

Also: Why is the Archray having such a hard time with everything? On one hand it could be Rillian suppressing his magic (is the First (Dominion) Necromancer actually more powerful than an extraplanar Archmage?) but it is more likely that Mookie is going to use some Magibabble to justify how this latest "threat" is utterly impotent in the face of Protagonists.

[SaintRidley]

Thread XXII - Feb 25 2010 to Mar 31 2010 - 51 pages, where Nimmel fully ascends into the First Caste, donning the Mantle of Sue that he might make us all immune to boobs.

Is it bad that I'm still kind of proud of coming up with that one?

[lord_khaine]

Well, the quality of this thing really went up again after Rillean made his apperance, enough to actualy make me comment on the comic again

Also: Why is the Archray having such a hard time with everything? On one hand it could be Rillian suppressing his magic (is the First (Dominion) Necromancer actually more powerful than an extraplanar Archmage?) but it is more likely that Mookie is going to use some Magibabble to justify how this latest "threat" is utterly impotent in the face of Protagonists.

Well, i dont see a problem with this, if Rillean is casting Mind Blank on the treasurre, then the Arcmage is suddenly forced to seach though the entire dessert without magic, something i suspect its not used to.

And of course, it wont make things any easyer if it doesnt even know Rillean is hiding in the ruins, ruining its attempts at finding them.

[Myrdhale]

I fear for whatever explanation we get as to why the Archmage is now a bad guy. Does Rillian have a good reason to protect the 'lost treasure' if it could help against Snuggly?

[Zaq]

I just can't get over how convenient this all is, even for DD. Archray just HAPPENS to be in the desert at the same time as Our Heroes, and just HAPPENS to knock them into Rilian's home(?), where he just HAPPENS to be looking for a schmuck to take the Macguffin back to Aberthast, despite the fact that he explicitly stated that he gets very few visitors (ya think?).

At least they're not driving a mountain.

[Lord Seth]

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is a terrible comic written and drawn by and for Michael "Mookie" Terracciano.

Its one redeeming feature is that it is so bad that it is vaguely fascinating. There are so many terrible things about it that the human brain cannot experience all the badness at once. But the longer you stare at it, the more it stares back at you. That is the only explanation I have to offer for why there are now 44 threads about it on this forum.

For any poor, curious soul wondering what's this all about and deciding to see for yourself, starting with the first comic in the series, know that it [i]never improves on any point[/url]. The art becomes cleaner but lazier and overall doesn't change; the writing flails around from comedic to dramatic without understanding how either genre works, and the whole work gives you a disturbingly unfiltered look at its creator's naked id. Of all these things, Mookie is blissfully unaware.

Is it really necessary to go this far in bashing it in the first one? The previous topic first posts that I read were a bit more nuanced in their description.

[T-O-E]

I warned you about lairs bro.

I'm not sure why this mantaray cares about humans. The council has been described as overly logical and impersonal, right? I mean, could you tell a criminal mantaray from a virtuous mantaray? And humans only recently entered their field. Guy is also the size of a city so he shouldn't be adept at identifying humans. Given how little creativity went into their creation, you can tell they're the type of characters who make speeches about how insignificant human lives actually are.

Unless the mantaray can see souls/personalities and cares about individuals. I really like that idea for some reason.

And how many times has Jayden fallen over or gotten hurt compared to Stunt? In Mookie's world, women are weak and fragile. Stunt is some kind of safari tracker so he is supposed to be able to deal with danger. Jayden also seems to be out of Asleep or Healed spells and she can't use them properly anyway. Doesn't matter if he's a thief, the man is the logical choice, especially if a superpowerful wizard zombie threatens you.

[BlackDragonKing]

A well-written Rillian would actually have given Stunt & Jayden a Decoy Macguffin and send them off to be smooshed by the Archray while be sneaked off with the real one. But that's not happening because Stunt is the Designated Hero of this Arc

No, I think it's in character for Rilian to at least try a plan that won't result in the people involved dying. Rilian shoots the dog when necessary and forces himself to be cold to the cost saving the world has to himself and others, but he'd be out of character if he just went straight for saccing a pair of pawns to get the MacGuffin out of harm's way when he had the chance to do so without casualties. Rilian is not a nice man, but sacrificing lives is something he prefers to do when the situation requires it, not when it's simply convenient. That's Celesto's job, when Celesto's not so hopped up on insanity he goes OUT OF HIS WAY to sacrifice lives for his plans, derailing them in the process.

Also: Why is the Archray having such a hard time with everything? On one hand it could be Rillian suppressing his magic (is the First (Dominion) Necromancer actually more powerful than an extraplanar Archmage?) but it is more likely that Mookie is going to use some Magibabble to justify how this latest "threat" is utterly impotent in the face of Protagonists.

I could believe an extraplanar being has difficulty doing things on an unfamiliar plane of existence; Miranda's usually tended to go to the other archmages rather than letting them come to her, so Archray might not be very used to trying to find something without magic on a plane that might have entirely different laws of physics than his own. And Rilian is eons old and predates most of the world's gods, from what we know of him, so I could buy him accumulating that kind of power. We know Rilian is an extremely powerful psychic in addition to the most powerful necromancer there is, so his capacity to hide what he doesn't want found seems plausible.

[BlackDragonKing]

A well-written Rillian would actually have given Stunt & Jayden a Decoy Macguffin and send them off to be smooshed by the Archray while be sneaked off with the real one. But that's not happening because Stunt is the Designated Hero of this Arc

No, I think it's in character for Rilian to at least try a plan that won't result in the people involved dying. Rilian shoots the dog when necessary and forces himself to be cold to the cost saving the world has to himself and others, but he'd be out of character if he just went straight for saccing a pair of pawns to get the MacGuffin out of harm's way when he had the chance to do so without casualties. Rilian is not a nice man, but sacrificing lives is something he prefers to do when the situation requires it, not when it's simply convenient. That's Celesto's job, when Celesto's not so hopped up on insanity he goes OUT OF HIS WAY to sacrifice lives for his plans, derailing them in the process.

Also: Why is the Archray having such a hard time with everything? On one hand it could be Rillian suppressing his magic (is the First (Dominion) Necromancer actually more powerful than an extraplanar Archmage?) but it is more likely that Mookie is going to use some Magibabble to justify how this latest "threat" is utterly impotent in the face of Protagonists.

I could believe an extraplanar being has difficulty doing things on an unfamiliar plane of existence; Miranda's usually tended to go to the other archmages rather than letting them come to her, so Archray might not be very used to trying to find something without magic on a plane that might have entirely different laws of physics than his own. And Rilian is eons old and predates most of the world's gods, from what we know of him, so I could buy him accumulating that kind of power. We know Rilian is an extremely powerful psychic in addition to the most powerful necromancer there is, so his capacity to hide what he doesn't want found seems plausible.

[Glass Mouse]

So.... why did Archray lead them to Rilian?

It's either:

a) Because Mookie couldn't find a better reason for them to meet Rilian.

b) Because Archray has a plan with leading them there, making Rilian an utter tool for using them. "Oh hey, the guy I'm hiding something incredibly valuable from just sent a pair of smucks my way - maybe I should give them the incredibly valuable thing!"

[T-O-E]

So uh, Dominic Deegan beat Achewood in that comicmix poll, by quite a few votes. I know it's just a popularity contest and means nothing, but I am still insulted.

I know Achewood is notoriously reader unfriendly and almost impossible to get into, but it still seems wrong.

[Domochevsky]

Gez, you might wanna correct the "[i]never improves on any point[/url]" in the first post.

[Lord Seth]

Gez, you might wanna correct the "[i]never improves on any point[/url]" in the first post.

I agree. Those words really should be removed.

[Mauve Shirt]

Luana is Luna from the future past and the treasure is Luna's supereggs that will bring life to a lost civilization.

[ninja_penguin]

So wait, in the course of three panels we establish that cattleblasters are at Aberwhatsit, want to exploit the treasure, and then Jayden offers to take it back to Aberwhatsit?

...*paf*

[Trazoi]

So wait, in the course of three panels we establish that cattleblasters are at Aberwhatsit, want to exploit the treasure, and then Jayden offers to take it back to Aberwhatsit?

And somehow Stunt's perfectly inconspicuous for smuggling it back to the cathedral, despite them being in a desert where simply being there makes you a candidate and the archmages being able to scry.

[Gez]

Luana is Luna from the future past and the treasure is Luna's supereggs that will bring life to a lost civilization.

Wait... I see it.

The Beast plans on going back to the past; to an era less well protected. Dominic and Luna follows it in the temporal vortex to stop it, but are separated and arrive long after. When Dominic arrives, the Beast has already ravaged the Eldariat of old, turning it into a magical wasteland. With the help of Brian, however, he manages to defeat the manxome foe; then leave to find a way back home to his own time.

Luna arrives later. The surviving humans of Eldariat have been greatly affected by the magical radiations and are degenerating into hideous monsters -- the mongrelfolks. That's where she uses her ~~~magical eggs~~~ and Acibek's Principle to restore the race's purity (yay unfortunate implications), and leads the scattered survivors to the promised land: Callan.

Centuries later, Dominic and Luna are born and go on to live their wonderful adventures.

... Nah.

[Welf]

She will be the greatest, most loving, most giving person of all time, and she will be revered by everyone and everything!

This is the right place for you

A well-written Rillian would actually have given Stunt & Jayden a Decoy Macguffin and send them off to be smooshed by the Archray while be sneaked off with the real one. But that's not happening because Stunt is the Designated Hero of this Arc

Who else should be the hero? Luna 'I can't be without a man' Travoria? Dominic 'Planing wedding while apocalypse looms' Deegan? Stunt is the best man available for the job.

It's a pity about TheArsenal. He had a lot of growing up to do, but he recognized that, and seemed willing to work at it. I respect that.

So I guess he is the Siggy of the thread?

So uh, Dominic Deegan beat Achewood in that comicmix poll, by quite a few votes. I know it's just a popularity contest and means nothing, but I am still insulted.

I know Achewood is notoriously reader unfriendly and almost impossible to get into, but it still seems wrong.

I once tried to read Achewood, but it was so incomprehensible I gave up.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Wait, so let me get this straight. They were attacked by a flying manta ray, then they fell into a lost city, met a floating light who's also an archmage or something, who lead them to the guy who he's trying to find, then MAGICALLY DISAPPEARS, as the guy who he was trying to find goes on immediately to talk about his plans to foil the guy who just rbought these guys to see him?

WHAT IS GOING ON. I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT IS HAPPENING.

[rocketpony]

The kicker is, this is how seer plans would work, properly realized.
Rilian just kind of passed on knowledge to the Chosen, to get them all excited about gaining the powers of darkness - think about how ludicrously specific the "prophecy" was! So they needed to get a priestess to speak the HERESY OF HELL. But it couldn't be just any priestess. It needed to be a specific priestess, one who'd feel really bad about this forever, and then think about oh hey - I should go to the desert! TO DIE. And have the kind of absurdly trusting soul that she'd just pick up some sort of idiot clown decoy along the way. Then, convince an archmage that there's something he wants, having him swoop all over the place, uncovering ruins, and snorkeling these two pinheads up. And everything just
falls into place

just
so.

Too bad we know that real seer schemes involve manifesting powers never seen before or since, and turning into swords or something I don't know.

[Trazoi]

Isn't everyone involved in the main plot a seer? There's Dominic, King DJ, Celesto, Rilian and the archmages.

If they actually acted like seers, all five groups should be engaging in an insane dance of bluffs and triple bluffs. Like Lord of the Rings, everyone is trying to deceive everyone else to their true intentions and creating immense distractions as their plans could be foiled if a seer just happens to look right there.

But instead, being a "seer" is basically the hint system from Metroid Prime. Boop boop Dominic you look lost - incoming message, snuglet activity detected in the infernal power core.

Then Dominic ignores it and spends another year hunting missle expansions.

[Traab]

Isn't everyone involved in the main plot a seer? There's Dominic, King DJ, Celesto, Rilian and the archmages.

If they actually acted like seers, all five groups should be engaging in an insane dance of bluffs and triple bluffs. Like Lord of the Rings, everyone is trying to deceive everyone else to their true intentions and creating immense distractions as their plans could be foiled if a seer just happens to look right there.

But instead, being a "seer" is basically the hint system from Metroid Prime. Boop boop Dominic you look lost - incoming message, snuglet activity detected in the infernal power core.

Then Dominic ignores it and spends another year hunting missle expansions.

Yeah it sucks that the best case of seer versus seer was like 8 years ago when dom was first dealing with celesto. "Oh, I saw that you would send goons to knock me out so I came prepared with a tangleroot spell." "Oh I knew you would see it, thats why I did it, so you wouldnt look further and see that my real plan was to grab luna from your room while I kept you busy gabbing out here." That type of thing.