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

[Traab]

I just realized how messed up this comic is. Luna shoots a powerful magic blast at Klo Tark because she is upset? How is that not evil!
It must be because, in DD, "women get manipulated into doing bad things so it is not their fault (just blame Ziggy!)." When you consider that comic also includes "Luna is all powerful and wonderful, but needs a man around in order for her to do anything." and that it includes "Acebek's principle," that one comic includes many of the problems with DD all at once. Truly, that comic is a masterpiece for snarking!

Well, considering she had just been in a life or death struggle, was just told that domonic was going to die and nothing could stop it, and that it was all her fault because blue boy had to save the weak little girl, it was clearly less an act of evil and more an act of impotent rage.

[Mr. McGician]

I just realized how messed up this comic is. Luna shoots a powerful magic blast at Klo Tark because she is upset? How is that not evil!
It must be because, in DD, "women get manipulated into doing bad things so it is not their fault (just blame Ziggy!)." When you consider that comic also includes "Luna is all powerful and wonderful, but needs a man around in order for her to do anything." and that it includes "Acebek's principle," that one comic includes many of the problems with DD all at once. Truly, that comic is a masterpiece for snarking!

Not to mention the fact that he could have just told her to cast the spell. It would have even taken less time than manipulating her.

[Myrdhale]

Not to mention the fact that he could have just told her to cast the spell. It would have even taken less time than manipulating her.

This. For some reason, in Dominion, people always opt to manipulate each other rather then just asking someone to do something. Apparently being straightforward when you need someone's help is rude.

[NEO|Phyte]

Not to mention the fact that he could have just told her to cast the spell. It would have even taken less time than manipulating her.

Wasn't the spell in question one that runs off of negative emotions? It has more oomph if you make her mad.

[Mephit]

That's probably where Mookie was going with it, but he never actually makes an effort to explain the trope he just used. Which might be just as well, I suppose.

[Frogwarrior]

I'm guessing "they're already dead" is going to mean "well, no, they're not ALREADY dead, but they're totally doomed or something."

[elros]

Well, considering she had just been in a life or death struggle, was just told that domonic was going to die and nothing could stop it, and that it was all her fault because blue boy had to save the weak little girl, it was clearly less an act of evil and more an act of impotent rage.

That exposes another problem I have in DD. Luna, like other spellcasters, can fire powerful blasts that are the equivalent to shooting a firearm in our world. Shouldn't there be restrictions to their powers? If anything, the spellcasters are more powerful than the jocks. It's just Mookie's bias that makes all non-spellcasters stupid and bigoted.
In the case of this comic, Luna's reaction is the same as someone shooting a shotgun at a crowd because they are angry. Evil act by Luna, and Evil for Klo Tark for provoking it.

[rocketpony]

That exposes another problem I have in DD. Luna, like other spellcasters, can fire powerful blasts that are the equivalent to shooting a firearm in our world. Shouldn't there be restrictions to their powers?

If wizards are outlawed then only outlaws will be wizards! Listen to you, advocating for wizard control! YOU MUST HATE FREEDOM.

It occurred to me a while ago that something concrete that DJ could do to establish that his regime's kinda crummy is restrict magic, or seer magic at least. It'd be easy to just play it like "Oh well see, we have the battlecasters so there's no need for maverick spellcasters, and really it's quite dangerous to have all these wizards running around without government sanctions, y'know?" Talk about how seers are the most dangerous, because the entire discipline is based around manipulation, blackmail, perversion, and madness. And then you could draw some parallels because other countries don't restrict magic and gosh now you've got a full-blown political parable here, and maybe somebody (Szark?) could start asking is Dominic really king-hating because the king's evil, or because he personally would benefit from a revolution and whoa I gotta sit down.

Once again, apart from sneering as his majordomo is torn apart by a lunatic, and attacking an intruder, what has the king done that has been "evil", or indicated that life in Callan is somehow suboptimal? The cast seems to enjoy a great deal of personal freedoms.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Once again, apart from sneering as his majordomo is torn apart by a lunatic, and attacking an intruder, what has the king done that has been "evil", or indicated that life in Callan is somehow suboptimal? The cast seems to enjoy a great deal of personal freedoms.

Judge Dominus tried him and found him guilty of "election" fraud? Um, and fraternizing with a tentacle-beast with unimaginable powers from another dimension... *too lazy to find the strip with Miranda talking with the tentacle-arch-mage*

Also guilty of having a police force?
And... guilty of being in a position of authority with the blessing of the Dominus?

One can only speculate on the series of events that would lead to him being the world's first "elected" king. I doubt it'll ever be addressed, but it would only make sense if he carried out some sorta coup...

[spectralphoenix]

Aren't you all forgetting something? He makes government officials fill out paperwork! UP THE REVOLUTION!

RE: Nice guys - IIRC, the term originally came from this letter (fair warning - reading this will not make you a happier person or in any way enrich your life.)

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Aren't you all forgetting something? He makes government officials fill out paperwork! UP THE REVOLUTION!

And make you pay taxes!





*hands out pitchforks*

[Myrdhale]

Aren't you all forgetting something? He makes government officials fill out paperwork! UP THE REVOLUTION!

RE: Nice guys - IIRC, the term originally came from this letter (fair warning - reading this will not make you a happier person or in any way enrich your life.)

Ha... Hahaha... Haha.... I.. I can't tell if I'm laughing or crying...

[Veridis Quo]

I've just had a premonition of the over-arcing plot that I really think has legs: The Archmages, with the exception of Miranda but the inclusion of King DJ, are responsible for creating Snuggly. Hooks:

• He was made in the Elemecca, and only a tiny fraction of mages are capable of trans-planar transportation in order to oversee such a thing. We can think of 6 right now; one of them is Miranda, one is her predecessor King DJ and the other 4.....
• .....Were dismissive of Snuggly's power and Miranda's findings, which could be interpreted as them trying to downplay how much they knew about it in the first place.
• It was claimed that Snuggly came from the Elemecca's Garbage Dump, something where entire planes of existence are removed and destroyed. A perfect place to try and get rid of a failed experiment, perhaps? Snuggly was 'created' in the Elemecca in the same way as the Joker was 'created' by Batman.
• One of the Archmages was killed by Snuggly.... Or was he? Snuggly has been leashed by King DJ and repeatedly beaten by Dominic and Celesto, often individually. Could he really take down an Archmage single handedly? Since the murdered Archmage was one of Miranda's closest mentors, it seems more likely that he was on the verge of spilling the beans to Miranda - his "star pupil" - and the other Archmages had to stop him. Could an Archmage be killed by 3 other Archmages? That seems more plausible.
• Right now at least one of the Archmages is actively trying to prevent Deegan-allies from learning more about Snuggly, up to and including attempting to murder another extremely powerful Mage. See the previous point for precedent?

I can see this. It might also give us a hint as to why DJ stepped down from his archmage post. Maybe the beast was an experiment that went bad. Perhaps the archmages tampered with magic they did not understand or have a strong grasp in. Maybe the beast was an experiment that quite literally blew up in their faces and they managed to suppress the newly created beast and trap it in the elemecca.

If that's the case maybe DJ felt the other archmages had gone too far, or that he could no longer remain in that group so he leaves and becomes the king of Callan. But now we have to ask, why is DJ Callan making peace with the beast and actively aiding it?

[Trazoi]

Sneaky Gate
Future Link

Fake out, or is Mookie ending his comic slowly, one character at a time?
Not that I'm compaining...

[Myrdhale]

Sneaky gate

Future Spot

So I guess DJ never stepped down afterall. This litereally means the 6 most powerful beings in existence are against the Deegans and haven't been doing **** for months.

Super powerful, completly incompetent.

... works pretty well as a comic book villain?

Edit: Dammit to hell Trazoi! I was all excited that I got to link the gate today.

[random11]

If wizards are outlawed then only outlaws will be wizards! Listen to you, advocating for wizard control! YOU MUST HATE FREEDOM.

That kind of reminds me the first X-Men movie.

One of the scenes in the movie is when the politician talks in the phone with someone about why registering mutants is necessary.
While of course I understand where the movie was going for with this, in that setting and under the context it was mentioned, the bad guy did have a good point.

Think about it, under the new laws we are not allowed to carry nail clippers into an airplane, yet Wolverine, Sabretooth and most other mutants have natural weapons much more deadly than a knife. Guys like Cyclops can even activate his weapon without intention, does that sound safe?
Identification cards that we are all forced to carry are meaningless to Mystic and to mutants with psychic power.
People who can pass through walls or teleport can be the perfect thieves and assassins, and people don't even know they exist.
Last but not least, the good guys have a freaking unregistered jet plane hidden in a school!


Edit:
In today's comic, I can't really complain, at least something is happening, and it appears the others ARE at some sort of a risk.
I'll hold my complaints for later, but I do wonder why save Nimmel out of all the people there.

[Mr. McGician]

It's "because the archmage of the fifth circle wills it?" But I thought the archmage of the fifth circle was the least powerful. Why are all of the other archmages letting him call the shots? Unless he's brainwashed them all, but that would mean he's more powerful than them and still shouldn't have been the lowest ranked.

[colonelslime]

Sneaky Gate
Future Link

Fake out, or is Mookie ending his comic slowly, one character at a time?
Not that I'm compaining...

I'm sure it's total coincidence that the priestess with the healing powers isn't being hit with the ameoba bombs.

I'll believe it when I see them all dead, asses thrust upwards.

Edit: Also, I hope this means Nimmel has been made really tiny. I want to see Mookie's take on Fantatic Voyage. Maybe we'll finally get to see what Deegan anatomy looks like on the inside.

It's "because the archmage of the fifth circle wills it?" But I thought the archmage of the fifth circle was the least powerful. Why are all of the other archmages letting him call the shots? Unless he's brainwashed them all, but that would mean he's more powerful than them and still shouldn't have been the lowest ranked.

From the SA thread:

Now that Alduraithel of the Fourth made his play, let's look at this page again.

You know what's great about this page?

Those circles they stand in. That's where they get their titles from. It's not dimensions or different realities, because the giant birdie is from the same one as humans. It's just based on the other of the circle they stand in at meetings. It's like being the fifth chair viola. But with a circle.

I think this is as good an explanation as any.

[Toast1862]

It's "because the archmage of the fifth circle wills it?" But I thought the archmage of the fifth circle was the least powerful. Why are all of the other archmages letting him call the shots? Unless he's brainwashed them all, but that would mean he's more powerful than them and still shouldn't have been the lowest ranked.

I wasn't aware they were ranked? I thought that referred to the areas they controlled or something. Maybe I read it wrong to begin with though.

[TheLaughingMan]

Sneaky Gate
Future Link

Fake out, or is Mookie ending his comic slowly, one character at a time?
Not that I'm compaining...

Just stabbing someone is women or carnivore material.

[Squark]

From the SA thread:

Spoiler

Show

I think this is as good an explanation as any.

(Image spoiled due to screen stretchiness)

My guess is that each circle is for a different plane, although how they determined who got to be the first circle we'll never know.

I'm sure it's total coincidence that the priestess with the healing powers isn't being hit with the ameoba bombs.

I'll believe it when I see them all dead, asses thrust upwards.

Even if Jaiden hadn't been conveniently left unharmed, I can't help but be unconvinced that those wounds could be considered lethal (by Mookie standards, that is).

Alternatively, this development has been brought on by Mookie finally trying to adress our concerns about the Beast not being a credible threat... But the beast still isn't doing explitive, and why can't DJ lead the attack himself? What, one of the greatest mages ever can't find away to dispose of someone quickly and quietly? Come on, even Eragon pointed out that triggering a Brain Aneurism should be child's play to a magician with fine telekinetic control.

[Mewtarthio]

I don't really have any complaints. Today's update is simply awesome. Sure, I know it's going to get rewound or healed or something, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the image of a superpowered bacterium slaughtering everyone.

[Voice of Reason]

Even if Jaiden hadn't been conveniently left unharmed, I can't help but be unconvinced that those wounds could be considered lethal (by Mookie standards, that is).

I don't know...if you look closely, you'll see that Katya gets her right arm literally blown off at the elbow. That's pretty debilitating right there, and the combination of shock and loss of blood is going to kill you pretty quickly. The good news is that Jayden appears to be unharmed for the moment. I wonder if we're going to see a true renewal of her super-awesome-amazing healing powers because she's finally come to terms with what she did wrong what Siggy did, or if I'm going to have to be annoyed as we watch the Luanian healing pendant basically bring them all back to life [again...] after the archmage finishes slaughtering them.

[Rappy]

I don't know...if you look closely, you'll see that Katya gets her right arm literally blown off at the elbow. That's pretty debilitating right there, and the combination of shock and loss of blood is going to kill you pretty quickly.

People lose their arms in Bleach all the time, and we've already established that Mookie is pretty much a mirror universe Tite Kubo. Thus, it stands to reason that this arm loss will mean nothing.

[M84]

Props to Mookie for creating a suitably unnerving enemy. A microscopic supermage capable of tearing people apart from inside their own bodies? Awesome. And the reveal that King DJ never actually gave up his position, and that the other Archmages don't consider Miranda to be the real Archmage of her dimension? Also pretty good.

I wonder if Mookie was inspired by Green Lantern foe Despotellis (the living virus armed with a Sinestro corp yellow power ring) when he created his own microscopic supervillain.

[T-O-E]

Props to Mookie if this is actually happening and will have lasting repercussions. I know there aren't much chances of that happening, but still. Come on, the comic'll end soon.

The fifth circle shock is above average for this comic.

Although I would imagine such a powerful being would be able to kill them quickly, but what do I know? If Katya survives, she better only have one hand.

It's "because the archmage of the fifth circle wills it?" But I thought the archmage of the fifth circle was the least powerful. Why are all of the other archmages letting him call the shots? Unless he's brainwashed them all, but that would mean he's more powerful than them and still shouldn't have been the lowest ranked.

It's probably because he has the Beast in his power. And they called him MAD when he tried to use it! MAD! But he showed them! Starting with that crotchety old squid!

They're probably racist against humans and bullied DJ at work :(

Oh, and the only reason Snert is helping is because Dominic gave him a cookie. Unless Noodel is stalling so Nimmel can intervene without him looking disobedient.

[engineer-errant]

Props to Mookie for creating a suitably unnerving enemy. A microscopic supermage capable of tearing people apart from inside their own bodies? Awesome.

It feels wasted here though. Unless Mookie is really going to kill off Milov and Katya, Noodel is going to come off as ineffective when he should be a terrifying killing machine.

And the reveal that King DJ never actually gave up his position, and that the other Archmages don't consider Miranda to be the real Archmage of her dimension? Also pretty good.

I don't know. Why did they need the charade of Miranda being an Archmage in the first place, if they were just going to run bog standard evil overlord hijinks in the end? Why let Dom and Miranda poke their noses into things? If all the archmages were evil, they could have wiped out the rebellion in one swoop when Miranda, Dom, and Luna went visiting.

As a reveal, it would have been more effective if during the archmage visit, Mookie established why Miranda was an archmage, and that some of the archmages were unhappy about that. It could have been something as simple as Murray's faction forcing King DJ to step down from his position for some reason: conflict of interest, abuse of power, poor attendance, etc.

I wonder if Mookie was inspired by Green Lantern foe Despotellis (the living virus armed with a Sinestro corp yellow power ring) when he created his own microscopic supervillain.

That's pretty likely given his comic book reading habits. Wasn't he complaining about the main character in the Green Lantern reboot a few months ago?

Edit: Mookie, TMI in today's newspost. Things like that are not endearing.

[Zaq]

A brief moment of decent tension. If we were ignorant of Mookie's track record, this would actually be kind of engaging. Unfortunately, Mookie's reputation works against him, so we default to "no tension unless proven otherwise," but hey, if this isn't immediately fixed, at least something's friggin' happening.

[guttering flame]

Wasn't this little-league mage supposed to be a bacteria? Viruses aren't really living creatures and we never saw him inhabiting any host until now.

And even if he can create gigantic explosions from his side of the scale, they're still not very impressive from our viewpoint. An invisible swordman could do more than him.

[Shogo]

Well, it's painfully convenient that Jayden has been left untouched. Because . . . . I don't know.

I also don't get the point of this Archmage's method of attack. Looking at some of the wounds it's dishing out, it looks like at least some of those explosions originated inside of their bodies.

Why bother blowing off hands or ears when you could just make their heart or their brain explode? Just let those skulls burst open and they're dead right NOW.

It's current strategy is foolishness. And almost certainly set up just so Jayden can miraculously discover the ability to heal people faster than a bloody Archmage can hurt them.