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

[Nerd-o-rama]

So the true purpose of the comic is revealed! DD is more than just a terrible fantasy webcomic. Mookie has spent nearly ten years cultivating this: His garden of power. He seeded the Dominion with Mary Sues: Creatures of impossible power and perfection, and as the comic progressed, their power only grew and their flaws faded away to nothing. Now that he has his master race, he will reabsorb them all into himself, thus attaining incomparable power in our world as well as theirs!

This needs to happen in a postmodern fanfic review or something. Or maybe AT4W.

[Traab]

This is what annoys me so much about how Mookie writes Dominic; Dom's got genuine flaws that counter his seer powers and could make a good story, but Mookie doesn't see them.

Dominic's weaknesses are:

• He's frail, not just physically but magically - Dom doesn't do fireball spells, just divining and mental realm stuff. Pam could take him out one-on-one.
• He's an arrogant, prideful jerk who rarely admits that he's wrong.

Combine the two, and you've got the situation where Dominic doesn't get on well with other people, but he needs them because he can't defend himself on his own.

There's so much Mookie could do with this, but he never does because no-one ever threatens Dominic except in his one area of strength, and Mookie idea of a character flaw is Dominic's lost teeth.

I agree with alot of this, but one thing I wanted to point out is that Dominic rarely IS wrong. Its a part of his mary sueishness, but 9 times out of 10, he is right. His plan will work, his deduction is right on the money, he solves the mystery in time, whatever, the vast majority of the time he is right. More problems crop up by people NOT listening to him than by him being wrong. Best example is the war in hell with those dominic voodoo dolls everyone was supposed to wear. Another good one is the sword scrying. Chance's parents refused to listen to him so he enarly got exploded by fake mini snugs.

His plans may be annoying to those he manipulates, they may be dangerous to try, but when everyone listens to him and does as he says, they pretty much always work. Honestly, his biggest "failure" was the whole siggy dying thing, and that was because he was busy being in 5 places at once mentally and trying to save everyone while making up plans by the seat of his pants. And hoo boy did karnak grind that into his ugly face.

But aside from that and his ignoring of the ring that would have saved and rebuilt barthas without 53 weeks worth of comics, dom rarely ever has to admit that he was wrong because he rarely ever is.

[Rappy]

This needs to happen in a postmodern fanfic review or something. Or maybe AT4W.

Sadly, Linkara has stated that he refuses to review webcomics. So postmodern fanfic review it is!

...Who do we go to for that?

[Myrdhale]

Well, what else is there for him to examine at this stage of the vision? Stunt? He is in a vision and all that is there is a wall with some runes on it. Runes that just got translated in front of him. Thats all there is in this vision so far. Maybe next comic he will see something else, after all, it IS going to be time for the "cliffhangar" that has to be in every stinking friday comic.

Those Friday cliffhangers have gotten really tiresome.

Part of me thinks it's a way for Mookie to stall for time when he's out of ideas.

A very cynical part of me of course.

[Trazoi]

But aside from that and his ignoring of the ring that would have saved and rebuilt barthas without 53 weeks worth of comics, dom rarely ever has to admit that he was wrong because he rarely ever is.

Dominic is frequently, dangerously wrong. However because the comic is penned by Mookie it never admits it.

The entirety of Maltak is due to Dominic. If Dom had listened to Outrage Chief and let the orcs solve their own problems, the arc would have been over just as it began. The Shintula were about to march on the Bikta when had to stop because Outrage Chief detected high amounts of incoming Sue. So they waited and let Dominic orchestrate his plan to plunge all of Maltak into a single bloody war that ended up being settled by Shintula vs. Bikta anyway. Every orc that died in that battle was due to Dominic.

More recently, Dominic let Celesto go mad because he was too lazy and arrogant to do anything about the Beast. Dom's goal at the start of 2011 was to contact Celesto and learn how to bypass the wards on the king's castle, but that all flew out the window because Dom needed to prove he's the best and then waste more time getting married. Anyone who dies this year can be attributed to Dominic's hubris.

For years there's been a screaming need for an arc where Dominic's ego finally burns him good, Dom learns a painful lesson and rebuilds himself (or goes full mindbreak and ends up the comic's final villain if DD went the dark path). But instead, Dom keeps making egotistic moves that should burn him, but instead the comic falls over itself to praise him for his dickish laziness. It's so infuriating - there's a character arc right there that Mookie's never going to take because it involves admitting that there's a significant horrible side to Dominic.

[Traab]

Those Friday cliffhangers have gotten really tiresome.

Part of me thinks it's a way for Mookie to stall for time when he's out of ideas.

A very cynical part of me of course.

That part of you is wrong. Mookie uses the entire WEEK to stall when he is out of ideas. Fridays being cliffhangers is just a lazy way to organize events in his comic. It gives him a structure and pattern to follow. The downside of it is, because every friday MUST be a cliffhanger, we end up with frequent weeks where very little happens because he has to save the interesting stuff for friday/monday. At the best of times, the next two days are spent following through on the "dramatic reveal" then the next 2 days build up to the next cliffhanger to come.

[Humbug]

Which makes me think DD would be paced a a whole lot better if Mookie updated 3 times a week. He'd still have his Friday cliffhanger, and he doesn't need to spend 4 pages building up to it.

[Myrdhale]

Which makes me think DD would be paced a a whole lot better if Mookie updated 3 times a week. He'd still have his Friday cliffhanger, and he doesn't need to spend 4 pages building up to it.

Resolution ---> Buildup -----> Cliffhanger?

That could actually work. Would certainly streamline the whole process.

[Trazoi]

DD was better back when it was on the 7 updates a week schedule. Mookie still worked towards the Super Sunday Splash Spectacular Strip, but that usually only affected Friday and Saturday in worst cases.

Edit: If DD went to three updates a week, it would break the "check the comic daily" routine. Updating daily is the main drawcard DD has.

[Trazoi]

Five Dominics!
Future Link

You know how some schlocky fantasy books and JRPGs have the heroes visit every single town on the provided map? Dominic Deegan's like that, except with people.

[Myrdhale]

Five Dominics!
Future Link

You know how some schlocky fantasy books and JRPGs have the heroes visit every single town on the provided map? Dominic Deegan's like that, except with people.

Ugggh he just knows ****, 'of course, the prophet, who else could it be' god damn it this doesn't make sense you can't introduce a super 'meaningful' quote from an ancient prophet randomly near the apex of the story an glargleblarghagerega *incoherent narrative rage*

Also, it's a bit odd that the ancient city of Eldriat was aparently affiliated with Luana, when she made a pilgrimage through the desert that covered it, right? so Eldriat would have to predate luana for this to be possible, or Luana's pilgrimage involved her going through a super mega awesome city, which somehow seems much less solemn.

[Trazoi]

Also, it's a bit odd that the ancient city of Eldriat was aparently affiliated with Luana, when she made a pilgrimage through the desert that covered it, right? so Eldriat would have to predate luana for this to be possible, or Luana's pilgrimage involved her going through a super mega awesome city, which somehow seems much less solemn.

I think the Luanians might not know the whole story. After all, they've based a religion with a principle of frugal modesty on a prophet who dresses like that.

Next week is going to be great for the continuing adventures of the hubris of Dominic, as he's going to have a conversation with one of his universe's most holy figures. Let's see how much respect is given: the way Dom says "Of course" suggests Dom's going to go into this as a talk among equals.

[Myrdhale]

I think the Luanians might not know the whole story. After all, they've based a religion with a principle of frugal modesty on a prophet who dresses like that.

Next week is going to be great for the continuing adventures of the hubris of Dominic, as he's going to have a conversation with one of his universe's most holy figures. Let's see how much respect is given: the way Dom says "Of course" suggests Dom's going to go into this as a talk among equals.

I wonder if Mookie is going to pull a MSPA inception loop and have dom mentally travel back to give Luana a vision of himself, inspiring her to found her faith to begin with.

And Dom had a vision of Luana seeing him in a vision so he knew he was going to do this.

And DJ Callan is really just trying to free the world from the nigh infinite tyranny of the Deegan.

With extra dimnesional adgents, since there is no other way to get around the seer's bull**** powers and the predestination paradox Deegan will set up.

I've been reading too much MSPA.

*reads more MSPA*

[Gez]

So the true purpose of the comic is revealed! DD is more than just a terrible fantasy webcomic. Mookie has spent nearly ten years cultivating this: His garden of power. He seeded the Dominion with Mary Sues: Creatures of impossible power and perfection, and as the comic progressed, their power only grew and their flaws faded away to nothing. Now that he has his master race, he will reabsorb them all into himself, thus attaining incomparable power in our world as well as theirs!

Unfortunately, the perfection of his Mary Sues is limited by their absolute ineptness and ineptitude. They only succeed out of their universe's bias in making them succeed (for example, by preventing the villains from taking any initiative against them despite years of free time and all the necessary manpower and firepower).

The result in a world without this bias is a failing manchild of a webcartoonist who thinks applying Acibek's Principle to his drawings (that is to say, using "it's ~*my style*~ :3" as a defense against improvement while drawing flounderfaces for over a decade) makes his comic somehow endearing; and that he can experiment with themes such as rape (with a rape victim falling in love with her sexy rapist!), matricide (horribly abusive mom accident caused by mom's flighty lesbian lover), infertility (but Dom is more infertile, hah!), etc. in a comic about talking pet sidekicks, bad puns, kamehameha beams, slut-shaming, jock-bashing, inappropriate ass shots, danger-sensitive boobs, and gratuitous gorn everywhere.

No, Mookie, you cannot.

Also, it's a bit odd that the ancient city of Eldriat was aparently affiliated with Luana, when she made a pilgrimage through the desert that covered it, right? so Eldriat would have to predate luana for this to be possible, or Luana's pilgrimage involved her going through a super mega awesome city, which somehow seems much less solemn.

Alternatively, her "pilgrimage" was actually a ruin-looting expedition, and the words of wisdom and divine knowledge was less "inspiration" and more "according to my comprehend languages spells, the Ancient Eldariates used to think this".

Because nobody has heard of Indiana Jones in the Domivverse, however, her PR department thought that she would be better remembered as a prophet than as a scholar/archaeologist.

[T-O-E]

Sadly, Linkara has stated that he refuses to review webcomics. So postmodern fanfic review it is!

...Who do we go to for that?

Doesn't Linkara make an equally terrible webcomic? Lightbringer?

Anyone who dies this year can be attributed to Dominic's hubris.

So, the King's servant?

[Trazoi]

So, the King's servant?

1. That was last year.
2. I still blame Dominic.

[Rappy]

Doesn't Linkara make an equally terrible webcomic? Lightbringer?

I'm not sure if it's still terrible, or even Deegan-level terrible, but he has owned up to it as an old shame, yes.

His reason for not reviewing webcomics is on the standpoint of professional comicers vs. webcomicers that are usually not professional paid comic book writers, though.

[rocketpony]

Ugggh he just knows ****, 'of course, the prophet, who else could it be'

Well, Luana presumably left some kind of writings or anecdotes behind that the religion was founded upon, right? So this is kind of like, say, you're in a peyote haze, and you see the walls bleed the words "TO BE OR NOT TO BE" and you're like "Those words... could they be?" and you turn dramatically and as through a mirror darkly, you see the cover of one of your textbooks, and that's enough to knock the dust out and you say "Ah, yes. Shakespeare."

BONUS NOTE: God is us, we are god. The face of god is the heart of magic. You know what else is magic? Friendship. You know who's friends? Us.
Gentlemen, I have had a terrible premonition of where this is heading.

[random11]

Wednesday: The necklace triggered a vision.
Thursday: Translated a sentence.
Friday: Found who wrote it.

Since the actions took no real effort or time, and since the discovery doesn't have any meaning yet, was it really necessary to drag it for 3 days?

[Mr. McGician]

Next week is going to be great for the continuing adventures of the hubris of Dominic, as he's going to have a conversation with one of his universe's most holy figures. Let's see how much respect is given: the way Dom says "Of course" suggests Dom's going to go into this as a talk among equals.

Yes, this is going to be hilarious. It's going to be even more hilarious if they get into a disagreement and then Dominic starts acting patronizing to her. And then she admits that she's wrong.

[Traab]

Next week is going to be great for the continuing adventures of the hubris of Dominic, as he's going to have a conversation with one of his universe's most holy figures. Let's see how much respect is given: the way Dom says "Of course" suggests Dom's going to go into this as a talk among equals.

Pfft, of course they are at the least equals. Luana had a vision of god and started a religion, dominic has been peering into hell and every plane of existence for years now and is the gorram champion of balance! If anything, that crazy wench with the necklace worth more money than the gnp of three major nations is the lesser being here!

On another note, we could have a few other options. Dom "sees" something important that she did or said as part of his vision, so no interaction at all. Option 2, luana outclasses dom so much that this is her leaving a message in a vision she knew would happen that she predicted so well that she knows what he is going to ask or say and is able to respond to it, despite the fact that from her view she is standing there on her own. Option 3, this is a message of warning. Luana forsaw the upcoming battle and setup a vision that would be triggered when the chosen one touches the necklace.

[elros]

If DD went to three updates a week, it would break the "check the comic daily" routine. Updating daily is the main drawcard DD has.

Absolute correct. The sad part is that people would tune if if the comic was better written and edited comic, even if it only updated once a week (just look at OOTS).

As for this arc, it is heading nowhere good. Dom is going to unlock the "mystery" of Luana (whose name is way to similar to Luna) and gain ultimate knowledge over everything! And it will probably show that every friend of Deegan will be saved, and every else will be made to grovel before them.

[T-O-E]

I'm not sure if it's still terrible, or even Deegan-level terrible, but he has owned up to it as an old shame, yes.

His reason for not reviewing webcomics is on the standpoint of professional comicers vs. webcomicers that are usually not professional paid comic book writers, though.

Just checked the site and the latest comic was posted last January. Not exactly "old."

[Myrdhale]

Well, Luana presumably left some kind of writings or anecdotes behind that the religion was founded upon, right? So this is kind of like, say, you're in a peyote haze, and you see the walls bleed the words "TO BE OR NOT TO BE" and you're like "Those words... could they be?" and you turn dramatically and as through a mirror darkly, you see the cover of one of your textbooks, and that's enough to knock the dust out and you say "Ah, yes. Shakespeare."

BONUS NOTE: God is us, we are god. The face of god is the heart of magic. You know what else is magic? Friendship. You know who's friends? Us.
Gentlemen, I have had a terrible premonition of where this is heading.

I still think the timeline is totally ****ed if Luana was somehow a prophet to the people of Eldriat and did her pilgrimage through the desert that replaced it, but sure, whatever. Guess the religion could just be full of lies and half truths.

Just like real ones, hahahahahaha not really that amusing

Also, RE: Bonus: god I hope that actually happens. If Mookie does that, it wouldn't be good writing, but it would be a glorious way to cap the nonsense that is Dominic Deegan.

[Welf]

And yeah, the fact that its been god only knows how many years since snuggly showed up, and then king david, and we STILL dont know what the hell is going on! What is the big scheme? What the hell are these bad guys after? Power? David rules an entire nation! He is widely accepted as pretty much THE strongest human archmage ever, unless he is going for some god ritual, or a world domination plan, I dont really see what he could want that he doesnt already have.

I hope for the "become a god" thing. Would at least make some sense, and I think there has been some indications so far? DJ controls beast, beast infects all planes and magic, magic is the heart of god?

Sometimes magic is just the face of God. Who has nothing to do with this.

I think we have the next tread title.

Those Friday cliffhangers have gotten really tiresome.

Part of me thinks it's a way for Mookie to stall for time when he's out of ideas.

A very cynical part of me of course.

Cynical and wrong. He never has run out of ideas; in fact, he pretty much has another idea every week, completely different from the on last week.

Wednesday: The necklace triggered a vision.
Thursday: Translated a sentence.
Friday: Found who wrote it.

Since the actions took no real effort or time, and since the discovery doesn't have any meaning yet, was it really necessary to drag it for 3 days?

Well, that way we had more opportunity to enjoy Mookie's art? Comics are a visual medium after all.

[Gez]

Okay, so whatever long ago, the Prophet Luana saw a vision of God and created a whole religion centered on it.

Dominic is having a time-traveling vision of Luana on that fateful day.

Now here is something that happened in this comic in November 2004:

Spoiler

Show

I'm calling that the vision of God that Luana will have is sighting the gloriousness that is Dominic. Maybe he'll even tell her, "God is us, the First Caste Deegans" and she didn't get what the latter half of the sentence meant.

[Mr. McGician]

Cynical and wrong. He never has run out of ideas; in fact, he pretty much has another idea every week, completely different from the on last week.

An idea that he once read in a comic book but no longer remembers why it worked there but not in his own comic.

I still think the timeline is totally ****ed if Luana was somehow a prophet to the people of Eldriat and did her pilgrimage through the desert that replaced it, but sure, whatever. Guess the religion could just be full of lies and half truths.

Couldn't people just scry back in time to see how their own religion was founded? Never mind, people never think to use the absurdly useful technique of scrying, anyway.

[Trazoi]

I'm calling that the vision of God that Luana will have is sighting the gloriousness that is Dominic. Maybe he'll even tell her, "God is us, the First Caste Deegans" and she didn't get what the latter half of the sentence meant.

First Rule of Dominic Deegan: That sounds too stupid even for this comic, so what will happen will be even stupider.

[TheLaughingMan]

Five Dominics!
Future Link

Oh hi God, you're just in time! I've been needing someone to sing praises to me for hours now, would you mind?

a failing manchild of a webcartoonist

Now, let's not stoop to that level. I don't care how out of touch with reality he is, he is still a human being and deserves at least the little respect entitled to one. Say what you will about his art and his writing, but let us not hurl stones at him for acts we have not seen. I can say with all certainty that there is much more to me than what I post here, so how much more is there to Mookie past the short-sighted choices and lack of social skills?

He is a terrible cartoonist, yes. A terrible person? I'm not sure if that's up to us to decide.

[Turcano]

Oh hi God, you're just in time! I've been needing someone to sing praises to me for hours now, would you mind?

Is it bad that I read that first sentence in Tommy Wiseau's voice?