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

[Zaq]

Read that sentence in panel five:

Who talks like that, seriously?
I understand what Mookie was trying to say, but not how he said it. Does he not read these things back to himself even once before uploading them?

Explaining to people that their sentences sound like that was one of my most common, and most taxing, duties when I was working as a copyeditor. I'd often phrase it as "I see what you're trying to say, but I don't understand what you actually said" or something like that. I get that feeling with Dominic Deegan ALL THE TIME.

He needs an editor so. Badly.

[T-O-E]

I do get the feeling that Noodel is going to call in TIM to slaughter the jockwolves. It makes sense in Mookie-logic.

TIM pops, up kills a few jocks in a really GOREY and METAL way. Maybe the slut (not my word) villain from A Nimmel House could get her breasts cut up, I don't know.

So Milov goes off to fight him but gets hurt and Jayden has to heal him and they stare deep into each other's foreheads.

Then TIM goes to torture Katya and asks her about the Treasure. Now this is a time for us to see how far Nimmel *cough* has come *cough* as a character. He's like "I already lost one girl to you, don't think I'm gonna lose another " but TIM is like "No, you are just a kid. Evil evil evil."

So Nimmel smiles and is all "nah, you messed with The Phoenix and here? Here I'm the Big Dog* ."

And TIM is all OH CRAP because he just messed with the wrong Mary Sue. So The Big Phoenix Dog summons up some ice and covers TIM with it and says something like "Cold enough for ya?"

TIM either gets killed anticlimatically or gets teleported away. Katya says "My Hero" and they kiss. Jayden and Milov get back together to heal the damage of of the Archipelago.

My only regret is that is not smug enough.

I don't think Mookie forgot that Nimmel regretted not expressing his feelings to that girl who was killed by TIM, so he's going to do the same thing only differently. It's like poetry, it rhymes. Otherwise the character hasn't learned from that experience.

*The big dog is his penis

EDIT: Bolded some unnecessary words, to better imitate Deegan.

Thinking back on it, this seems like the only way it can go.

[Gez]

Excellent update. The antagonists are poking in, asking the protagonist if maybe they'd like to get back on the plot now, and the protagonists are completely ignoring them.

I figure then Aldurnoodle just comes back to the King and Snuggly, with the rage comics' "okay" guy's face, saying that no, the protagonist are too busy being creepy Nice Guys(tm) to care about the plot. First the Deegans stop worrying and get married, now the second stringers indulge in dishonest relationship drama or go stalk their late mother's former lover; Rilian "died" in vain.

It's like... It's like the villains don't matter anymore. All their nefarious schemes, such as burdening mayors with paperwork, have not been enough to actually hold on the protagonists' interest. They're just feeling completely superfluous to the story and wondering if there's even really a point to them being there and vaguely planning some sort of evil plan that would be bad, I guess? Even gratuitously killing some nameless lackeys didn't register a blip on the good guys' radar. What's a bad guy to do?

[Barefoot Monkey]

So Nimmel smiles and is all "nah, you messed with The Phoenix and here? Here I'm the Big Dog* ."

And TIM is all OH CRAP because he just messed with the wrong Mary Sue. So The Big Phoenix Dog summons up some ice and covers TIM with it and says something like "Cold enough for ya?"

Or TIM rips out Nimmels magic and turns it into a shoe.

[Gez]

Or TIM rips out Nimmels magic and turns it into a shoe.

And then Nimmel creates a metal band called Snoutshower.

[Traab]

For once im glad of the authors note. I thought it was snuggly preparing his eldritch horror attack on the wolves. Its also an actually decent cliffhanagar of sorts. Not because of huge drama or "omg! What happens next?" but, its a mystery. Why is he spying? Is this archmage corrupt? have the deegan crew missed something and the archmages are trying to stop something terrible from happening? WILL WE EVER SEE SNUGGLY AGAIN?!

Oh, and yeah, I cant wait for the "epic" showdown between nimmel and TIM. We all know its going to happen. Maybe not this arc, maybe not next arc, but eventually. There will be angst, evil villian mocking of poor nimmel and his dead or damaged friends, then nimmel will see the truth TIM freeze tim in super ice, and everyone will rejoice. Bonus points for katya getting hurt by TIM at some point.

[T-O-E]

I like how everyone's forgotten that the Mantarch Mageray is evil and probably the whole council too re: rule of cliche.

For once im glad of the authors note. I thought it was snuggly preparing his eldritch horror attack on the wolves. Its also an actually decent cliffhanagar of sorts. Not because of huge drama or "omg! What happens next?" but, its a mystery. Why is he spying? Is this archmage corrupt? have the deegan crew missed something and the archmages are trying to stop something terrible from happening? WILL WE EVER SEE SNUGGLY AGAIN?!

Oh, and yeah, I cant wait for the "epic" showdown between nimmel and TIM. We all know its going to happen. Maybe not this arc, maybe not next arc, but eventually. There will be angst, evil villian mocking of poor nimmel and his dead or damaged friends, then nimmel will see the truth TIM freeze tim in super ice, and everyone will rejoice. Bonus points for katya getting hurt by TIM at some point.

FORESHADOWING.

And reading through the archive looking for that: I tried to rip out your throat. I guess we're both not as strong as we thought we were. ???

I thought Katya couldn't control her impulses? It's shocking bad taste to send your runt to kill your ex and then have her deliver a letter, after she's already beaten the crap out of her

And he's done it before. That strip is awful. He even actually calls himself "the Phoenix". I was joking.

[Traab]

I like how everyone's forgotten that the Mantarch Mageray is evil and probably the whole council too re: rule of cliche.



FORESHADOWING.

And reading through the archive looking for that: I tried to rip out your throat. I guess we're both not as strong as we thought we were. ???

I thought Katya couldn't control her impulses? It's shocking bad taste to send your runt to kill your ex and then have her deliver a letter, after she's already beaten the crap out of her

And he's done it before. That strip is awful. He even actually calls himself "the Phoenix". I was joking.

The Phoenix is a nickname that he has been trying to get attached to himself since before he went away to wolfschool.

Its possible that noone bothered to tell milov that katya attacked jayden. It was just her, jayden, and luna. Plus, she is an official representative, doing some sort of official duty. She isnt likely to try anything with a dozen witnesses. Most of which might even start pushing for an execution since "the runt" lost control and maimed someone against milovs wishes.

The not as strong as we thought we were made sense to me. Milov is feeling horrid guilt for lashing out at jayden like that. He swore he would never hurt her, then he goes for tearing out her throat. She is a cheating whore. Neither could exactly claim strength of character at that point.

Possibly. Id like to see that happen to timmy. Not that its likely to take anymore than the last 3-4 times he has been killed.

[BlackDragonKing]

"HEY GUYS! I'M NOT INTERRUPTING ANYTHING, AM I?"

Oh, snuggly, you so polite.

Panels like this do make me wonder sometimes if Mookie's just toying with us. It would explain so much...

[T-O-E]

Edit:

Spoiler

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I couldn't not do this.

And then Nimmel creates a metal band called Snoutshower.

Nah, it has to be offensive and insensitive to your friends' plight. How about RuntRage?

[M84]

Edit:

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I couldn't not do this.



Nah, it has to be offensive and insensitive to your friends' plight. How about RuntRage?

So the bad guys are as sick of the glacial pace of the "plot" as we are.

[Myrdhale]

So I leave for a week to work on assignments and come back and now all of my favorite characters in DD are evil? Typical Mookie :(

I don't get why he announces in the news post that this is to darken the mood. Noodlemage was always really whimsical and funny kinda of guy as I recall. Why are all the Magicmen bad now? They were the good guys once upon a time.

That noone has questioned why these interdimensional superheroes have all started popping up in this plane and looking for an artifact is a bit strange. I liked the Archmages, it was one of the few times Mookie's character's were unique in a design and not D&D clichés.

Guess they were getting to popular too (since they weren't actively generating hate for themselves like the main characters who get screen time.)

[random11]

The peeking eyes will work great with the halfling-human scene from the last story. It will probably fit many other strips as well.
Anyone with a decent talent?

Anyway, I usually don't complain about the art.
While I enjoy good drawing, I find it less important than the focus on the story or characters. This is also why I usually don't make fun of things like the snoutface, I just don't care.
However, there are times when art is critical to the story.
In the art, you need to understand what you are looking at, who you are looking at, and in most cases what do they feel even without words.

The fact that we didn't know if we're looking at the beast or the archmage without help from the author comments, just shows how crappy the situation is.

[T-O-E]

So I leave for a week to work on assignments and come back and now all of my favorite characters in DD are evil? Typical Mookie :(

I don't get why he announces in the news post that this is to darken the mood. Noodlemage was always really whimsical and funny kinda of guy as I recall. Why are all the Magicmen bad now? They were the good guys once upon a time.

That noone has questioned why these interdimensional superheroes have all started popping up in this plane and looking for an artifact is a bit strange. I liked the Archmages, it was one of the few times Mookie's character's were unique in a design and not D&D clichés.

Guess they were getting to popular too (since they weren't actively generating hate for themselves like the main characters who get screen time.)

You should have realised it the moment they didn't want to help and called Dominic a cripple. That's the worst thing you can do in this comic, morally speaking.

[Mewtarthio]

Dominikudigan:

Spoiler

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Translation Party recognizes a "Nice Guy" when it sees one.

[Mr. McGician]

Blah. This arc bores me so much I skipped a bunch of strips because I didn't feel like reading them.

I do like the fact that Mookie continues to imply that the Omniscient Council of Vagueness is up to no good. Could this lead to actual suspense? Although I'm not getting my hopes up yet, as there are two anticlimactic possibilities that I know Mookie isn't above carrying out:

1. The "shocking twist" will be that the OCV is really doing all this suspicious stuff for good purposes and this is yet another instance where Mookie creates the possibility of conflict but instantly nullifies it before any real suspense occurs.

2. The OCV is evil, but Team Deegan kicks their butts in a few strips flat without suffering so much as a scratch on their faces.

[Doompuppy]

2. The OCV is evil, but Team Deegan kicks their butts in a few strips flat without suffering so much as a scratch on their faces.

Well of course, Team Deegan will all each get one of Momma Deegan's Household Artifacts (tm) and split off into Epic Duels one-on-one with the various arch-magi, beating them in a totally VegaMetal display of Beam Spam and stupid one-liners.

[Welf]

EDIT: Bolded some unnecessary words, to better imitate Deegan.

You did that a little too good. *shudder*.

I don't get why he announces in the news post that this is to darken the mood. Noodlemage was always really whimsical and funny kinda of guy as I recall. Why are all the Magicmen bad now? They were the good guys once upon a time.

Maybe he forgot that this is an archmage and not Snuggly? I forgot, too.

[Mr. McGician]

Maybe he forgot that this is an archmage and not Snuggly? I forgot, too.

Yeah, I thought it was Snuggly until I read the newspost. Mookie needs to get better at creating distinctive monsters.

[Gez]

Yeah, I thought it was Snuggly until I read the newspost. Mookie needs to get better at creating distinctive monsters.

The difference is simple: Aldunoodle has tiny eyeballs at the tip of its tentacles. Snugglebeast has a single big eyeball at the core of its tentacle mass.

Yeah, that's about all.

[T-O-E]

@^ They're both from the Plane of Pasta. The Beast has more spaghetti strands than Noodel but less meatballs.

You did that a little too good. *shudder*.

I pride myself on being terrible.

[BlackDragonKing]

Translation Party recognizes a "Nice Guy" when it sees one.

This term has always kind of confused me when used as an insult. Could somebody explain it beyond someone the girl is expected to fall for due to being "nice"?

And evidence for my "Snuggly indoctrinated the entire council of archmages from the beginning" theory piles up. I just really hope that Mookie thought of that BEFORE he was playing Mass Effect, if that's where he's going with this.

[T-O-E]

The gist of it is males who worship women and expect sexual favours or a relationship in exchange for being nice to them. They're too shy to actually initiate with the woman or treat her like a human being though so they just wait for her to ask, and when they actually date someone the nice guy justifies it as girls liking jerks.

It's a pretty common thing. Being nice or shy isn't being criticised here, it's the belief that doing things for a woman gives her an obligation to have sex with you and if she doesn't you can insult her, so you're doing it for purely selfish reasons.

[Welf]

Yeah, I thought it was Snuggly until I read the newspost. Mookie needs to get better at creating distinctive monsters.

Just out curiosity: has anybody read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969? Noodles'n'Eyes mage reminds me a bit of Oliver Haddo in his astral form. At least a part of him.

[BlackDragonKing]

The gist of it is males who worship women and expect sexual favours or a relationship in exchange for being nice to them. They're too shy to actually initiate with the woman or treat her like a human being though so they just wait for her to ask, and when they actually date someone the nice guy justifies it as girls liking jerks.

It's a pretty common thing. Being nice or shy isn't being criticised here, it's the belief that doing things for a woman gives her an obligation to have sex with you and if she doesn't you can insult her, so you're doing it for purely selfish reasons.

Ah. I'd understood that to be "White Knighting", but I might have my internet slang confused.

I'm not sure if that's the case with Nimmel, though. I mean he's very clearly demonstrating the typical "friend zone" archetype guy, but I don't think that his interaction with Katya really qualifies as expecting her to be in a relationship with him just because he's nice to her. Yes, his situation is a total stereotype of the guy in school who has feelings for his best/only friend who does not see him that way at the moment, but I don't feel Nimmel's actions at the moment count as White Knighting.

[Veridis Quo]

Ah. I'd understood that to be "White Knighting", but I might have my internet slang confused.

I'm not sure if that's the case with Nimmel, though. I mean he's very clearly demonstrating the typical "friend zone" archetype guy, but I don't think that his interaction with Katya really qualifies as expecting her to be in a relationship with him just because he's nice to her. Yes, his situation is a total stereotype of the guy in school who has feelings for his best/only friend who does not see him that way at the moment, but I don't feel Nimmel's actions at the moment count as White Knighting.

The two words are similar but carry a different connotation. A "nice guy" when used as an insult is someone who is nice to women with the expectation that their behavior will produce some response. Nice guys are seen as someone who studies women in order to understand which behavior they exhibit will get the best response. (although in reflection, the same can be said of most people) They are generally seen as manipulative because of this.

A "white Knight" is someone who comes to the defense of someone for the sake of defending someone. White knighting on the internet is common on forums and image boards.

In Nimmel's case, calling him nice guy refers to several recent events.
1) Him reading a book on how to approach someone from a different species.
- I can't say he is completely wrong about this, I see it as no different than reading a book about a particular medical condition your friend has to better understand how to deal with it. However, today's page kind of cements the nice guy image for Nimmel.

2)Rather than admit his own feelings for Katya he decides to default to the supportive friend.

Spoiler

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- This is more a problem with the script than with Nimmel's character. Mookie didn't need to have Nimmel make this statement. By doing so it gives the appearance that Nimmel is defaulting from one position to another simply because the situation is not in his favor. We can see that he still has strong feelings for Katya so it seems suspicious that he just now decides to be just friends with her.

- It was also stated earlier in the story by Kayta herself that she only sees Nimmel as a friend. This makes it even creepier that he is going through some effort behind her back to understand her when someone who is just a friend should have less a problem talking to her about her condition.

In the end I see Nimmel being called a "nice guy" as a failing on Mookie's part to write a healthy relationship as well as not making his characters seem to be creepers.

[elros]

Can Jayden go a week without hugging someone? And not just hugging, but full body, full contact, face buried in the guy's chest hugging?

And regarding the friend issue, this sums it up nicely.

[MReav]

EDIT: Bolded some unnecessary words, to better imitate Deegan.

Hmm, why do I suddenly want to see Dominic Deegan done to the lines from WARRIOR.

[Lord Raziere]

The gist of it is males who worship women and expect sexual favours or a relationship in exchange for being nice to them. They're too shy to actually initiate with the woman or treat her like a human being though so they just wait for her to ask, and when they actually date someone the nice guy justifies it as girls liking jerks.

It's a pretty common thing. Being nice or shy isn't being criticised here, it's the belief that doing things for a woman gives her an obligation to have sex with you and if she doesn't you can insult her, so you're doing it for purely selfish reasons.

…I…..wha..…. This just made me facepalm…..yet another example of humanity's stupidity in general that always edges me a little closer to cynicism, because I cannot comprehend the stupidity at work here...

[Zaq]

Hmm, why do I suddenly want to see Dominic Deegan done to the lines from WARRIOR.

My first slay, back from the tail end of 2010.