Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLVI: A Tark of the Klones, Electric Boogaloo

[Trazoi]

Wasn't Snowsong essentially a female protagonist

She is a Mookinsert whose arc got renamed from Snowsong to SuperGreg vs. Snowsong. And Dominic turned out to be the arc's protagonist all along.

[Welf]

A female protagonist? This is going to be awesome.

Two question remains: will the new protagonist be an protagonist, or notreallydoinganythingonist like the current characters? And will she be a Mookieinsert, or a Domiinsert?

[elros]

I'm looking forward. I'm bored by DD, so it's good it ends. Also, I'm curious about what this will be exactly. Maybe there will be a promising start, before it becomes really crappy. I try to keep an open mind; you need to at least enjoy it a bit to snark it.

That's how I feel. In his newsposts, Mookie has been writing for months (maybe even over a year) that he is disappointed with superhero comics and he wants to write his own. That means that the newest comic will be the result of hours of thought and planning, and it will include collaboration with someone Mookie has selected to help him. The next comic will show us the best Mookie can create.
Plus, DD really needs to end. I think Mookie has been bored with it for several years, and that is why is has sucked so hard.

[TheLaughingMan]

Hey guys, what's up? :D

So, what's been happ-

Also, just look at the eyes here:

WAIT WHAT WHY

SCIENCE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE

[Nerd-o-rama]

Honestly, I'm actually a little surprised at how amazingly bland this comic idea seems to me. I was hoping this Friday page would give a clue as to what sort of stuff would be happening in the comic, but nope. I almost wish the "Star Power" name is a reference to the superheroine being a pop singer, because at least that's something.

A space opera where the main heroine is a pop singer whose voice has nigh-superpowerful effects on whoever the antagonists are?

It'll never work.

[random11]

That's how I feel. In his newsposts, Mookie has been writing for months (maybe even over a year) that he is disappointed with superhero comics and he wants to write his own. That means that the newest comic will be the result of hours of thought and planning, and it will include collaboration with someone Mookie has selected to help him. The next comic will show us the best Mookie can create.
Plus, DD really needs to end. I think Mookie has been bored with it for several years, and that is why is has sucked so hard.

I also agree Mookie is probably bored by now, and ready to move to something else.
But even after years of writing, Mookie doesn't have the ability of self criticism or planning.

Just because he is disappointed from superhero comics doesn't mean he has a concrete plan for a world of his own. It's more likely that his current plan consists of idea seeds and anecdotes, with all the things he wanted to see in other comics, mixed together in one world without any consistency.

I'm willing to give it a chance, and I'm also willing to give it a long time before I enter any snark thread about it.
But hope for something better? Not really.

[Lord Raziere]

Just wait, those are merely concept sketches. While Garth draws better than Mookie, he doesn't have a superior grasp on anatomy, posture, or costume design.

For example, the following two pieces were dug by people on the SA thread:
*snip*

Look at the proportions on the zombie fight picture, and of course the woman's legs which are just painful to look at. The costume design for the steampunky one speaks for itself.

Also, just look at the eyes here:
*snip*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

That is a horrid disfigurement of art! oh gods….whyyyyyyy…..I couldn't see it in Mookie's art, but in this art its freaking clear as day! agh, oh god oh god…..just…..how do you become so good…..yet…..mess up so clearly? HOW? HOW!? HOOOOOOOOOOOW!?

[T-O-E]

That means that the newest comic will be the result of hours of thought and planning,

Please note that this is not necessarily a good thing. Remember, this is the guy who, years after the War in Hell finished and receiving a ton of flak for it, defended Stonewater by saying that he wanted to make a "sexy rapist."

[Humbug]

No amount of planning is going to help if Mookie's still gonna retain some of his bigger problems which is 1) absolutely refusing to put his characters through any sort of conflict and 2) Mighty Whitey Syndrome where no character except the mains have any agency or actually accomplishing anything.

I dunno, maybe with Garth around, Mookie might actually get a second opinion to revise his ideas, but I seem to recall him fixing things in the worst way possible, if he listens at all.

[PhantomFox]

Upon thinking about it, I propose we go into this new comic when it happens with a clean slate mentality. Let's hold nothing from DD against it, and let it succeed or fail on its own merits. I don't think it'll be fair to condemn a comic before its first strip just yet. Or nitpick it to death because you EXPECT it to stink.

[Trazoi]

Despite my nitpicking this week I'm intending to give the new comic a fair go and I hope something about the combo of Mookie and Garth working to together fused to create something great. I guess I'm disappointed that these only appear to be to character and costume brainstorming images rather than anything that shows action, particularly given Mookie's "stick it to Marvel & DC" newspost.

The "clean slate" thing is a double-edge sword though, because the only reason I'll be reading the first arc in Star Power is because of DD's legacy. Without that, I doubt I would click on a link to a generic looking superhero webcomic called "Star Power". They really need a hook in their comic concept - and if they do have one, I wish they would hint at it.

[Johnny Blade]

I'll be making fun of this from day one and silently fade away from the forum if it defies all reasonable expectations and turns out to actually be good. Which it won't.

So...

So I'm the only one looking forward to this then?

No.



I'll have to say, though, I looked at Garth's comic (Finder's Keepers), and I don't think the sketches Mookie posted and those two drawings crossposted from SA really do the man justice. He can draw, although I share Trazoi's opinion. There's often something just slightly off about his characters. Often, his characters make pretty weird B-movie faces (exaggerated and empty at the same time), sometimes they look remarkably unenergetic during action scenes, and overall there seems to be a certain lack of personality. This got better over time, though. I've looked at stuff from 2009 and this year, I think, and the new stuff is pretty nice.
Still, while he can draw very well and all, I can't really say I consider him an actually good artist.

[Domochevsky]

...
Still, while he can draw very well and all, I can't really say I consider him an actually good artist.

Jeez... then who do you consider a good artist (and why am i not on that list). >_>

[random11]

Regarding the "fresh start", I'm willing to give the new project a chance, but it will take an AMAZING project and a very long time to make me forget he is a bad author.

Let's say you buy a series of books.
Like many other series, it starts okay, then turns bad. After a while it turns really bad, and consistently gets worse every book.
After you finally manage to finish the series, when the same author will talk about his next project, will you be in line to buy his books?

Sure, I'm not paying anything for a webcomic, but the principle is the same.
It will be nearly impossible to judge Mookie's new project while ignoring years of his work.
I do not think I will be able to give the new comic similar chance like I give comics from an unknown author, and I also don't think it's unfair of me to do so.
It's called experience.

[Mr. McGician]

I'm not optimistic at all about this new endeavor of Mookie's, but if I find myself on a forum discussing it I will attempt to refrain from nitpicking and look for the positives, until I'm certain that it's as bad as DD and will never get any better. Which is what I think will happen, but I wouldn't say there's a 100% chance of it at this point.

[random11]

Sneaky

Got to love his face on panel 3
Other than that, it really depends on tomorrow, regarding what David will ask them. I hope he doesn't expect creatures from a different galaxy to be concerned about a specific country.

Also, this is a classic situation where world building is important.
If we knew how much Callan depends on magic, we'd understand from the context if this scene is supposed to make David look genuinely concerned or already power crazy.

[SaintRidley]

Flashback week? Flashback week.

At least it's almost interesting.

[Humbug]

Man, does DJ suck in all the evil around him? Coz I'm surprised that the former king and queen are such noble hearted people, you'd think Mookie would follow the Corrupt Authority route. Not that there's anything wrong with making the king and queen good people, but this is just Mookie's Black and White mentality showing through again and has to show how super duper Ebol DJ actually is.

Hell, we could have the King and Queen still be good people, but make it so that if magic is the foundation of their system, they would still be concerned about preserving it for the people. Then again, that's a gray area and Mookie hates that.

[Rappy]

I'm probably a horrible person for this, but...

I find King DJ's "I just looked into the Heart of Magic" face amusing. It's not really shocking or startling or even creepy, it's just too cheeky and jovial.

[random11]

Man, does DJ suck in all the evil around him? Coz I'm surprised that the former king and queen are such noble hearted people, you'd think Mookie would follow the Corrupt Authority route. Not that there's anything wrong with making the king and queen good people, but this is just Mookie's Black and White mentality showing through again and has to show how super duper Ebol DJ actually is.

Hell, we could have the King and Queen still be good people, but make it so that if magic is the foundation of their system, they would still be concerned about preserving it for the people. Then again, that's a gray area and Mookie hates that.

This conversation was wrong from the start.
David tried to go for the "we are supreme" card instead of calmly explaining what it would mean to lose magic in the next few decades.

And I know this is a fast forward flashback, but the king and queen didn't even bother to ask what will it take to preserve magic.
I can't really consider them to be good people, if they don't make any actual moral choice. They just ignored the problem and left it to their son or grandson.

[Trazoi]

I love having the same first name as the king.

I guess we're about to see how evil DJ stole the kingdom from the rightful rulers through the diabolical process of "elections". And didn't the elves lose their dominance through losing a bloody war of conquest in the first Storm of Souls? (can't be bothered to scour the archives to check).

I had forgotten that Mookie was into astronomy these days which explains both all the talk of orbits and transitions now and why his superhero idea stars* Orion Girl. That might work in the latter case but it's very tacked on in DD where magic used to just be magic and not controlled by comets.

* Not gonna bold it. DD isn't going to own me.

[Oracle_Hunter]

This conversation was wrong from the start.
David tried to go for the "we are supreme" card instead of calmly explaining what it would mean to lose magic in the next few decades.

And I know this is a fast forward flashback, but the king and queen didn't even bother to ask what will it take to preserve magic.
I can't really consider them to be good people, if they don't make any actual moral choice. They just ignored the problem and left it to their son or grandson.

Ha, that's a very good point.

Spoiler

Show

DJ: "The wealth and power of your kingdom is dependent on magic. If we don't take steps soon, we will lose this vital natural resource."

King: "Nah, we'll just go gently into that good night."

DJ: "...you haven't even heard what we would need to do to keep your nation from going into decline and you've already decided to just give in?"

Queen: "Yeah, doing something is a lot more work than doing nothing. I mean, look at the Elves -- they didn't do jack and look at them now."

DJ: "What do you mean? How are the Elves doing?"

K&Q: "We have no clue."

This actually causes DJ's "election" to royalty make a lot more sense.

Spoiler

Show

DJ: "People of Callan, your current monarchs don't care about your welfare! They are content to let you slip into decline even though it is within their power to stop it. They care nothing for you, your livelihoods, or your families."

Peasants: "Rabblerabblerabblerabble"

DJ: "With your support, we can topple this apathetic government and replace it with a new ruler who cares about his people! The struggle will be long and bloody but in the end..."

King: "Seems like a lot of work. How about you just take over and we'll go do something else."

DJ: "Wait... really?"

Queen: "Of course. I mean, why should we care what happens to anyone?"

DJ: "Well, that was easy."

[Humbug]

Haha, that's awesome, Oracle Hunter. Apathic King and Queen is canon to me now. :P

Also, when I saw the first 3 panels, I was like "DJ used to be fat?" Or maybe the Heart of Magic gave him such a walloping his face swelled like a balloon. And he seems to be packing a bit of a pot belly in the first panel. >_>

[Zaq]

The thing that stuck out to me is that the Queen isn't speaking PrOpeR ElViSh. (That hurt to type.)

Based on panel 8, is his blindfold also tying back his hair? If that's intentional and not just a lazy art mishmash (ha!), I can't decide if that's interesting or just stupid. If I had long hair, I'd probably fiddle with a handkerchief for a few minutes to see if it's actually possible, but I haven't had hair long enough to do that since I enjoyed DD unironically. Which was quite some time ago.

Did he shave his beard somewhere in the middle of the strip?

[T-O-E]

Panel 3 is beautiful. That is the face of a man who has looked upon the wonder of the universe.

[Wraith]

I'm probably a horrible person for this, but...

I find King DJ's "I just looked into the Heart of Magic" face amusing. It's not really shocking or startling or even creepy, it's just too cheeky and jovial.

I think it has great potential for Slay material. I mean, which of our 'favourite' scenes won't it work with?

SuperGreg? Bleeding from the eyes.
Orc rape? Bleeding from the eyes.
Non-euclidean Danovich? Bleeding from the eyes.
Dislocated spines granting post-mortem ass-shots? Bleeding from the eyes.

...Dominic being punched in the nuts? "It's so.... beautiful...."

[elros]

Do you think there is a chance that defeating DJ will deprive the Deegans of their precious magic? That would be a twist I would respect.

Panel 3 is beautiful. That is the face of a man who has looked upon the wonder of the universe.

Which is why I find myself cheering for him.

[Trazoi]

Do you think there is a chance that defeating DJ will deprive the Deegans of their precious magic? That would be a twist I would respect.

More than a chance - this is the ending that I expect. Dominic kills all magic to stop the Beast as the ultimate "self"-sacrifice, with only a hand wave as to how it completely destroys Callan's magic based society and crushes the hopes and dreams of most of the characters in the comic.

Credible variant - oracles somehow retain their powers, only regular mages like Luna turn into Muggles.

[Gez]

Most probable ending: all filthy Callanian jock mages lose their magic, but the Deegan and Deegan-touched get to keep their power, presumably augmented with a big boost. Dominic, Miranda, and Nimmel, because they were directly exposed to the Heart of Magic, extraplanar archmages, etc. Luna, because she a orc messiah, remember? Jacob because death is not zombies.

Celesto, however, will lose all powers and that'll miraculously cure him of his madness and he'll thank Dominic profusely for having been right all along.

[Mr. McGician]

What sort of political office was DJ in at the time of this flashback? Do we know? I don't suppose it matters too much, but it feels like pretty lazy writing and worldbuilding to just say "well, he has some sort of political power mumble mumble whatever."