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

[elros]

He's not too terrible to listen to as long as you don't think about what he's saying. And AFAIK he always turns up, doesn't turn up drunk, or abuses the con staff. He's a safe booking to fill out the panel numbers.

Mookie does a lot of good things: He has daily, regular updates. He has some good ideas. My impression is that he is a friendly guy who treats people well. That is why DD is still running after all these years.
...and that is also why his shortcomings are soooo frustrating! Professional have to commit themselves to improve, and Mookie just seems to comfortable with how things are to do that. Imagine if Mookie planned story lines in advance and had them reviewed by an editor! He would avoid many of the problems that plague DD.
On the other hand, these problems make DD so great for snarking!

[Veridis Quo]

I'm not understanding Snerk's proposal here. Nimmel has never shown the capacity to be an archmage throughout the entire story. If being an archmage means being a master of reality itself then Nimmel is only touching the surface of what he would need to accomplish. Plus you have to factor in that each archmage has spent their entire lives learning new forms of magic and refining older ones to give them the broadest range of specialties. Nimmel has none of these and no drive to even achieve it.

While I hate to dig into one of his wounds, Nimmel's inability to protect his friends has been weighing him down since it happened. I don't think that Luna really convinced him of anything other than not killing himself on that bridge. Since that event Nimmel has relocated to a different culture to run away from his problems in Callan. Gone to a region that allows him to be more powerful than others without having to improve himself that much. He constantly engages in delusions of power vs his TIM snow puppets, and to be honest just punching snow doesn't prepare you for a fight to the death.

How do I into archmage??

For me to believe that Snerk's proposal is legitimate, I would have to see Nimmel taking steps to actually improving himself

[WyvernLord]

~Snip~

But how do you improve the Perfect?

[Turcano]

This is the Mookiest newspost I've ever read.

*Ctrl-F*
*No (vegan)*

I don't think so, Tim.

[random11]

Hahahahaha, oh my god, I never read this arc, ohmigod ohmigod Nimmel is such an *******!! I can't stop laughing!

How did Mookie not understand the implications!?!?!

That part of the story reminded me of a common "bar fight" scene from action movies.
You have the hero and you need to see his strength, so he will enter a bar, and there, he will have an artificial scene with an unimportant guy that usually starts along the lines of "you're sitting on my chair!" in a drunk accent.
One spinning kick later, you have that guy flying outside the window, and the hero calmly leaves after paying 5 bucks for the broken window (don't they know how much these things cost?)

Mookie tried to do the same here, but with one crucial difference: I don't know any hero that during the scene said something like "I moved to this city so I can beat the crap out of people like you instead of risking a real fight", and say it PROUDLY.

He tried to repair the damage later, but the hero asked "was it a good thing to hit the guy in the bar?" instead of the actual problem.

[colonelslime]

Sneaky Gate

Future Link

R.I.P. Snert...

I don't even understand what's going on anymore...

[AgentofOdd]

Sneaky Gate

Future Link

R.I.P. Snert...

I don't even understand what's going on anymore...

"How complete I can make your blindness?" Is he suddenly trying to parody/reference shows where you can't say die? And yea, what the hells?

[TheLaughingMan]

I don't even understand what's going on anymore...

Isn't it obvious?

Dr. Slyball here is an award winning therapist, and he's here to teach this Dominion ape how to talk to runts!

Sorry he was so late, he was just finishing up there teaching that cryptic human-shaped abomination how to stop worrying and love the bombs.

[random11]

Sneaky Gate

Future Link

R.I.P. Snert...

I don't even understand what's going on anymore...

Okay, apparently yesterday I gave DD too much credit.
It appears that Snert DID try to attack Nimmel, which means he DID have a 180 degrees mood swing in 3 panels, and also entered the list of moron villains that can't choose the right spell to kill one defenseless person.

I apologize for having hope.

Still, it's fun to guess stuff which will probably be better than the answer we get, so here is my next theory:

The wolves and Nimmel were infected by the beast some time ago, and it would have killed them in the moon ritual.
The archmage didn't attack them, but used the fastest method he had to get rid of that infection.
Since Jayden was not infected, there was no point to attack her.

Snert is working for the beast (willingly or not), and tried to take Nimmel so he won't be cured from the infection.

Yes, there are holes in the theory, but is still makes more sense than what we usually get.

[Myrdhale]

My thoughts on today's strip:

..... ....
..... ....
..... ....

Edit: Wasn't Snert smaller than noodle originally?

[Humbug]

Alright, so Snerk was attacking Nimmel. The 360' mood change was still pretty wtf and Mookie could have worded it better. However, I think Mookie kept it as vague as possible so he can switch the plot on the fly if he sees people complaining about it too much. It's why he always draws on the day he updates, and it also explains the really disjointed narrative.

And another huge problem with Mookie's writing. The villain having the ability to immediately kill the protagonists but leaves them nearly dead instead. Coz for some reason they are convinced that the protagonists will eventually die by bleeding out. That is extremely inefficient and is no guarantee that they actually will die. Wouldn't the villain want to doubly make sure?

Noodly Archmage could have easily made the Spellwolves' hearts or brains explode and yet all he does is target non-vital areas. Mookie, this makes your villains ineffectual and stupid. You want us to take your villains seriously don't you?

[Rappy]

Edit: Wasn't Snert smaller than noodle originally?

To use a quote at its most apt...

"Space is warped and time is bendable!"

[Voice of Reason]

Edit: Wasn't Snert smaller than noodle originally?

Yes, and "noodle" was also bigger than Miranda. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest size-altering magical powers. Yep. I know, it's just logical enough to be completely overlooked in the following comic's cliffhanger and "explanation" the following week.

[slayerx]

If we had to get a sudden mood change i think i would have preferred something more subdued. For instance, instead of this high and mighty aggressive tone, I think i would have preferred is Snert was much more apologetic; he apologizes to nimmel but explains that if he is going to stand against his master then he will have to die, but he really does not want to kill him... That would have atleast had the effect of less of a mood whip-lash... though i would have preferred Snert simply keeping nimmel uninvolved so that he would not be killed, and trying best to stick to convincing Nimmel to join them as opposed to jumping to the "join us or die" mentality

[Zaq]

Dammit, Mookie. This is not how writing works.

[Ganurath]

So, the Archmicromage is really a good guy, but doesn't want his fellows to know what's going on. In the matter of loyalty to the King of Callan, the category of "his fellows" includes Snert. I'm guessing that Snert's abduction provides a pretext to kill the little traitor, and Nimmel's infernal wound provides an excuse to keep him alive. Or something.

[M84]

Perhaps the Archmage decided that Nimmel would be a better host/servant than Snert and killed Snert to save him. Then he'll try to convince Nimmel to join him, possibly sweetening the deal by offering to fix his eye.

[T-O-E]

Ok, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. Was Snert the guy killing Milov and Katya? Is he evil and Noodel is the good one?

[Humbug]

Ok, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. Was Snert the guy killing Milov and Katya? Is he evil and Noodel is the good one?

The way I see it, both Snert and Noodly are evil, or at least, in cahoots with/mindcontrolled by DJ. Both attacked the protagonists with the intention to kill them. And by Mookie logic, that automatically makes them the bad guys. It is Noodly who is making the Spellwolves go explodey, because we see him do the same thing to Snert later and he is supposed to be germ based species? Now, Snert spirits Nimmel away because he saw the Mary Sue in Nimmel and wants him to join DJ. Of course Nimmel refuses, so Snert does a 180 and tries to kill him instead. Apparently, Noodly does not like this, because Nimmel's Mary Sueness is too great to waste, so he kills his little aide. And now Noodly wants to make the exact same deal with Nimmel again? ...Eh? Well, why else would he want Nimmel alive?

[elros]

Mookie must think the random explosions and blood splatter is cool, so he throws a few of them in to make this week more interesting. But I don't think he figured out who is a villain and what their motivation might be. It is like a DM that throws a few random monsters at a group, and then decides that one of them should be an ally or something. It is one thing to have surprises, it is another to have no idea what is happening.

The only things that I know for certain in this arc are:

1. Nimmel will end up being a hero,
2. Milov and Katya will not die,
3. I really don't care about any of it!

[Dandria]

Eh, I don't know: I still like to think that this entire week is the best thing Mookie has done in ages. Is it good? Not really. Does it make any sense? Oh God no! Is it keeping me interested? Yes. Somewhat.

[rocketpony]

So, I guess Snert isn't going to give me that explanation I was jonesin' for.



It's up to you, Noodleman, who's too small to be seen. Especially since you found Snert and Nimmel immediately.
Right now, my understanding is this:

• Nimmel was always the target. The wolves were literally inconsequential.
• Snert, secretly in love with the archmage who has never reciprocated his emotional intimacy with physical intimacy.
• Snert diverts Nimmel off-plane, the equivalent of down into a dark alley, to tell him a lot of lies about Noodles to get him mad so he won't want Noodles, and then murder him so Noodles won't have him.
• Noodles shows up, fails to see Nimmel, vents rage by exploding werewolves in a move that future historians will characterize as "completely reasonable." Ports over to Snert, sees what the deal is.
• The whole chestbursting thing is how Noodles gets places, which makes it downright confusing why his mode of attack wasn't "Go to Milov"

Well that's all from me.
Rock on.

[Traab]

New theory! The tiny archmage wasnt trying to kill them, he was trying to WARN them! The problem is, he is an alien trying to figure out human biology, so he keeps picking the wrong spots to try and interface with them in order to be able to communicate. By using nimmels bad eye he is able to connect to him without destroying a body part that was working just fine earlier today, and he will hopefully be able to deliver his warning.

[random11]

Eh, I don't know: I still like to think that this entire week is the best thing Mookie has done in ages. Is it good? Not really. Does it make any sense? Oh God no! Is it keeping me interested? Yes. Somewhat.

That's what I feel too.

I also believe it's the result of REALLY low expectations.

[Veridis Quo]

I just don't know...there are so many things wrong with the pacing of the last 2 weeks. It feels like Mookie just put the petal to the metal and we're all speeding along this plot at reckless speeds.

Buckle up everyone, we have a friday cliffhanger bearing down on us.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Important Newspost Announcement!

The comic will update tomorrow normally, but there may be filler on Monday. I'll see if I can convince my fellow guest and weekend roommate Dirk Tiede to help me put together something cool for the likely Monday filler.

Bolded for awesomeness.

While I am never surprised to hear that Mookie is going to use random filler, it is surprising that a bona fide artist might be willing to make it for him. For those who don't know, Dirk Tiede does Paradigm Shift -- a middling, but solid, webcomic in my estimation -- and makes pages that look like this.

He also did some sweet fan arts for Narbonic back in the day.

This is literally the best thing I've heard about Dominic Deegan in years

[Mr. McGician]

Where is Nimmel, anyway? I don't think it was ever stated what kind of psycho dimension thing he was brought into. And you know what, this happened in the art gallery arc as well. Luna went through the painting into a psycho dimension thing, but it was never explained where she was. Mookie isn't even trying to make his world make sense anymore; he just has his characters get sucked into bizarre background worlds without bothering to explain anything.

[Gez]

Dirk Tiede

Tiède means "tepid" in French. It's funny because it's Mookie who is tepid writer.

[Myrdhale]

I just noticed little noodle there that globs on to nimmel has only 1 eyeball. Maybe Noodle mitosised or something, and his main body is under evil control but his good mind is in the little germ?

Makes about as much sense as anything else.

[Welf]

Admittedly that is why I want to see his superhero comic. It's going to be a big game of Guess-Which-Comic-This-Is-Ripped-Straight-Out-Of.

So it's like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Mookie is the Alan more of webcomics?

Sneaky Gate

Future Link

R.I.P. Snert...

I don't even understand what's going on anymore...

It's pretty obvious. Remember: "In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king". This means both Nimmel and noodles are royals, and king DJ is an imposter. (Nimmel is obviously the rightful heir to the throne of Callan and the evil king DJ cheated him out of it.) And since both Nimmel and Noodles are of royal blood, they can easily fuse without repercussions from transplantation reject. And now they have two eyes, which means they are emperors now.

Also: Am I the only one who doesn't have a problem with Snert trying to kill Nimmel? If the later can be a powerful ally, he obviously can be a powerful foe. Who now had critical intel. It's rather logical to instantly kill him, especially since he showed absolutely no interest in joining team Archmage. And Snert didn't seem to be the emotional and talky kind of guy.