Dominic Deegan, Mk. L: The Snark(ie) Alive - Death Actually Is Zombies

[Vinyadan]

A new idea: poet slays! Here Mookie meets Eliot (Waste Land and Hollow Men).

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[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

That's... kind of awesome actually!

[Castel]

Has anyone been following that new Star Power comic Mookie's getting started on? Any ideas on whether it'll be worthy snark material?

Terribly sorry. I have a few choice links from the War in Hell and its aftermath that I could replace it with, if that would be better.

Does... does it involve legs of love?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Has anyone been following that new Star Power comic Mookie's getting started on? Any ideas on whether it'll be worthy snark material?

Yes, some of us have

[Castel]

Yes, some of us have

Oh, geez. That's what I get for neglecting the actual webcomics forum page.

[Vinyadan]

I tried another one with Eliot, but it was hard, and the result is a bit weird.

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Also, one of the other ones was not visible anymore, so here it is:

[random11]

I did the same thing as Sunken Valley, and read DD out of sheer curiosity after reading so many appalled comments on it. They made it sound like the worst thing ever, both in writing and in concept.
Reading it with that mindset was disappointing. DD is a mediocre comic. Not a terrible one, just one that isn't great. I spent thousands of pages looking for that point where everything really gets messed up, and it never came.
Mookie had great ideas, but never clung to one long enough to develop it properly. I often recognised the thought process that lead up from one concept to the next, and found enjoyment in it.

I wouldn't say DD is the worst comic ever, there are far worse.
But the way I see it, DD is the closest thing I ever found to a manual of how not to write a comic.
Art, characters, world building, villains, conversations etc. It's like everything is done wrong.

BTW, for me, the point it got REALLY bad was after Maltak arc, but reading pages fast without waiting a day for the next page might help ignoring some of the problems that were more obvious when they were released.

[Veridis Quo]

I was surfing the net and word got to me that DD had finally ended. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about the comic as a whole. It was definitely bad through and through but as people have commented, you can see some thought process Mookie might have used to get there. But poor execution is poor execution so not much can be added.

I stopped reading DD a month or two ago because I just couldn't do it anymore. The comic is mentally and emotionally draining and I was juggling a job and college so I made the call to just let it go and wait until life loosened up a bit. Now that I've seen the end I can honestly say I don't think there was any way for Mookie to wrap this comic up in a satisfying way given the time frame he placed on himself. I wish this comic were better than it turned out, and I'm probably too tired to really pull my thoughts together at the moment.

I started reading DD about 4 years ago when a friend recommended it to me (along with Las Lindas ) having read through the series and finally seen it end all I can say is that it's liberating.

[Vinyadan]

A DD and a LICD one:

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Last one is a poem by Yeats.

[CurlyKitGirl]

. . .
It's true then.

A PM from a certain ghostly fox informed me this monster was dead, and . . . it is.

I have been asked back to finish my analyses. I know it's kind of like flogging a dead horse (and then turning it into lasagne) at this point, but I'd like to do it. Finish off the experiment that is.
If there's interest I will; but I'm only just getting over a pretty bad accident (and physio) that damaged my wrists and whatnot, and with other projects on the go, I don't know if I'll be able to do it without sufficient interest.

I'm willing enough, but anyone else?

[ThirdEmperor]

I don't there's a single poster in this thread who wouldn't want to see the completed Curly Chronicles. I know I sure would.

[Vinyadan]

The Beast has a tender heart.

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By the way, I am always interested in reading, so yeah, Curly!

[Bobikus]

I tried another one with Eliot, but it was hard, and the result is a bit weird.

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Also, one of the other ones was not visible anymore, so here it is:

Even without them directly connected to any context, the addition of good writing to the panels is still a big improvement.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I would LOVE a continued Curly analysis!

[Cen]

Woo-hoo! Curly is back! It's like christmas comming early!
Please do Curly, contuonue with your work!

[MReav]

Curly, you can gave my avatar's Mr. Scruffy doll if you'll resume it at your leisure.

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[CurlyKitGirl]

I don't there's a single poster in this thread who wouldn't want to see the completed Curly Chronicles. I know I sure would.

By the way, I am always interested in reading, so yeah, Curly!

I would LOVE a continued Curly analysis!

Woo-hoo! Curly is back! It's like christmas comming early!
Please do Curly, continue with your work!

Curly, you can gave my avatar's Mr. Scruffy doll if you'll resume it at your leisure.

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Then I'm back baby.[/austin powers]
@MReav: I'll be taking that Mr. Scruffy toy now.

Now to re-read the entire thing and/or my analyses before getting back into the thing. Or perhaps I'll finish off the infertility arc first. Not like I need, you know, a backstory or anything for it.

[MReav]

Then I'm back baby.[/austin powers]
@MReav: I'll be taking that Mr. Scruffy toy now.

I got Mini-Miko a new one (bigger, rounder eyes). Here's the old one.

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[Zaq]

Curly! Glee and jubilation! All hail!

[Welf]

Yes! So this thread will have a worthy epilogue. We all need the closure.

[Doompuppy]

Good to have you back, Curly! =)

Looking forward to the end of the Grand Experiment.

[Inane Octopus]

I tried another one with Eliot, but it was hard, and the result is a bit weird.

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Weird? Thats the best of the bunch in my opinion.

[Friv]

Then I'm back baby.[/austin powers]
@MReav: I'll be taking that Mr. Scruffy toy now.

Now to re-read the entire thing and/or my analyses before getting back into the thing. Or perhaps I'll finish off the infertility arc first. Not like I need, you know, a backstory or anything for it.

Woot! Looking forwards to it.

[CurlyKitGirl]

I'm back. Again. And in preparation I've read the entire comic up to where I left off, and the accompanying analyses. The things I do. I miss Visions of Doom so much. Why Mookie, did you continue on past The Party? They were so good. That said . . . the art has . . . improved since the beginning. Shame it stagnated around about The War in Hell.
And I found the one comment that Siggy's character destruction is based on. I feel so sorry for Siggy knowing what he was facing.
Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to not bitch about the entire comic from the beginning all over again? I swear every other panel has something wrong with it in hindsight. And let's not even discuss the fear of transvestites or - shut up Koorly. Not starting from the beginning again.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, help yourself to some popcorn, and welcome to the next episode of

Analysing Dominus Deegan

The Golden Age*

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A Frail Hope of Adequate Enjoyment
21/05/2002 - 17/07/2002 Arcs covered: Oracle for Hire, The Curse
The First Signs of Serious Psychological Issues Appear
18/07/2002 - 4/12/2002 Arcs covered: The Curse, Luna, Into the Woods
In Which Teh Great Dominus Indulges in Torture and Terrifies Me
5/12/2002 - 21/02/2003 Arcs covered: Into the Woods, Couch Forts and Crying
Dominatrix Luna. Oh, and The Dominus is More Feared Than A Necromancer
22/01/2003 - 11/03/2003 Arcs covered: Makeover!, Mob Mentality
Thing Are Looking Up
12/03/2003 - 30/04/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts One and Two
Siggy Is Iesus. Make of That What You Will
01/05/2003 -23/06/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Three and Four
The Great Dominus Is Officially A Marty Stue an It's THRILLER! THRILLER NIGHT!
24/06/2003 - 19/08/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Five and Six
Character Development! And We Conclude an Arc
20/08/2003 - 10/09/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Seven and Eight
Short Arc Is Short
11/09/2003 - 21/10/2003 Arcs covered: The Party

The Tarnished Age

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Hell Is Meaningless Filler
23/10/2003 - 20/11/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Part One
Kink + Dominus Deegan = Eye and Brain Bleach
11/11/2003 - 16/12/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Two and Three
Inflatable Boobs and Sex! Occasional Plotting Is Permitted
17/12/2003 - 30/01/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Four and Five
Enter: Deus Ex Machina! And Boobs.
31/01/2005 - 19/04/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Six and Seven
Mookie Reveals More of His Sexual Fantasies. And Noone Ever Suffers From Any Effects of A Near-Rape. Ever!
20/04/2004 -26/05/2004 Arcs covered: TEatE Parts Eight and Nine

The Silver Age

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The Corruption of Sister Pam. Iocks Are Misogynistic Idiots.
27/05/2004 - 27/08/2004 Arcs covered: Hello Nurse
All Hands On Deck! Swirly Thing Alert!
06/09/2004 - 22/10/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts One and Two
Darlings, Can't You Hear My SoS?
25/010/2004 - 28/11/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Three and Four
Attack of the Pointless Sub-Plots!
29/11/2004 - 06/01/2005 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Five and Six
Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? No! It's SuperGreg!
07/01/2005 - 24/02/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Seven and Eight
Analysing Dominus Deegan The Musical
25/02/2005 - 31/03/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Nine and Ten
Venus Gets Angry, and the Dominus Doesn't Have A Leg To Stand On
01/04/2005 - 05/06/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

The Bronze Age

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CURSE YOU RUNCIBLE SPOON! I Have Flashbacks to WoT
13/06/2005 - 09/07/2005 Arcs covered: My First Day and Interlude Versions One and Two
Contrived Coincidences and Rape Have Broken Me
11/07/2005 - 25/10/2005 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Part One
A Hug Makes Me Furious
26/10/2005 - 09/01/2006 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Parts Two and Three
A Melna Special: The Explanation
01/01/2006 - 27/01/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Part One
This Episode Erupts With Kittens! Well, It Should
30/01/2006 - 06/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Two and Three
I Dwell on the Paradox That Is Mookie
07/03/2006 - 20/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Four and Five
Time To 'Save' Szark!
21/03/2006 - 28/05/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Six and Seven[
Assassination and Moustaches
30/05/2006 - 11/07/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Eight and Nine
R.I.P. Siggy
12/07/2006 - 01/09/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Ten and Eleven and Interlude: The Best of Dominic Deegan

The Iron Age

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This Comic Is NOT Shakespeare
04/09/2006 - 16/09/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not To Thief? Part One
If I Want Mafia, I'll Watch Bugsy Malone
17/09/2009 - 14/10/2009 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Two and Three
Time To Take the Offensive
15/10/2006 - 18/11/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Four and Five
The Break Up
19/11/2006 - 10/12/2006 Arcs covered Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Six and Seven

The Ice Age

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Boobs. Nothing More. BOOBS!!
11/12/2006 - 15/01/2007 Arcs covered: Wrapped Up and Returned, Class Action Part One
Melna. Loves. Her. Rapist.
16/01/2007 - 18/03/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Two and Three
Oh. Geography.
19/03/2007 - 23/05/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight
It's Worse Than I Imagined
24/05/2007 - 21/08/2007 Arcs covered: Snowsong
I Drank Too Much
22/08/2007 - 06/12/2007 Arcs covered: Shadow of Siegfried
Short, But Not Sweet
07/12/2007 - 23/122007 Arcs covered: Endings and Annoyances
My Counters Explode. So do I. Part One and Part Two
01/01/2008 - 24/04/2008 Arcs covered: The Oracle Hunter

The Dragon Age

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. . . Meh.
25/04/2008 - 25/05/2008 Arcs covered: Oh, Snap
Dull.
26/05/2008 - 29/06/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Airship to Nagastrali
Best. Panel. Ever.
30/06/2008 - 20/10/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Olde Tucklebruck Island to end.
The Unstoppable Airman - Sorry, Wrong Comic.
21/10/2008 - 21/12/2008 Arcs covered: Built to Resist

Orc (Outr)Age

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The Maltak Marathon
05/01/2009 - 05/02/2010 Arcs covered: THE ENTIRE BLOODY THING IN ONE NIGHT!
This link goes to the collected archive for this particular arc.

The Lost Age

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Boobs, Wonderful Boobs, Marvellous Boobs, Glorious Boobs! Yeah.
08/02/2010 - 29/03/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part One and A Nimmel House
Com On Feel The Noize Just Random Noize!
30/03/2010 - 11/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Two and B.Y.O.B.
A Lack of Information
14/06/2010 - 21/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Three
Crunch Crunch Stunt.
21/06/2010 - 27/08/2010 Arcs covered: Walk the Wild Edge
Flowers And A Minor Meltdown
30/08/2010 - 06/09/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Four
They Just Lit A Rocket. Rockets Explode!
09/06/2010 - 10/12/2010 Arcs covered: The Court of Karnak
It Is A Tale . . . Full of Repetitive Exposition and Non-Jokes, Signifying Nothing
13/12/2010 - 27/12/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Five

The Death of the Age of Innocence
The Aborted Recap
03/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States
Curly's Beef Or, That's A Lot of Pictures
03/01/2011 - 11/01/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States ('part one').
Rage
12/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States

Let the experiment proceed!**

Rage
12/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States

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Ehehehehehehehe. Dominic Deegan. Infertility. Hate speech. The arc meant to be dealing with LUNA'S INFERTILITY (which, I think we all agree, is a Very Serious Issue) is warped to be all about the Dominus and his weakness because, guess what! In spite of this arc meant to be about LUNA, the disgustingly hateful, manipulative, self-centred, sociopathic psychopath masquerading as our good hero can't have anyone focus on anything else but himself.

And so Luna's own self-esteem issues and all the other problems that would arise from never being able to have children are swept under the rug to discuss the problems that a hateful - oh my giddy aunt.

Dominic Deegan is a Travoria. Luna's trapped in an abusive relationship with a callous, emotionally manipulative, crippled, former drug addict of a doctor. I mean, teacher. When did the Dominus turn into Doctor House? Or Sherlock!Sherlock? Only without the charisma, intelligence and knowledge that many of the things he did was bad. Oh, and both those characters had character development.

And the thing is, House makes for a compelling protagonist because his massive character flaws are discussed openly and the ramifications are noted as being good, but also very bad in the long run.

I think this is the major - okay, one of the major issues with Dominic Deegan: it would be amazing if all these issues and flaws were taken seriously. That random soup wenches would see this relationship, call it out as abusive and have Luna say "No, it's fine, he just needs me and I deserve this. We all do, we shouldn't doubt him, he's such a powerful Seer," and so on and so forth. That Jacob and Siggy and all of those other characters I loved so much could see this desperate cycle of abuse and hurt and try to get help all these people escape the manipulations of this psychopath and -

Just, wouldn't that be wonderful? Absolutely horrifying at points yes, but wonderful. The Dominus manipulating all the events so that the entire nation of . . . Deeganland is completely dependent on him for everything, and if they displease him he just . . . removes them. So yeah, our fanon interpretation. We honestly wouldn't have to do much to the actual comic either.

But back to infertility and alterists. By the way, did you know I inadvertently predicted alterists back when I started these reviews? Of course, back then, Luna kissing someone meant the recipient was left with puncture wounds so retcon?

But comic. Panel seven is just a gift isn't it? And, oddly, this page isn't so bad. I mean, I do wonder what exactly Dr. Caledonia means by enhancements, implants and full transplants though. Enhancements are easy enough I suppose - to magically increase the fertility/production of eggs/sperm/stuff, but implants? Like getting a new womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries? Or new male stuff? Look, I did sex ed. back in Y8/9 and very little of it stuck okay? But how would that work? Your sperm and eggs would basically be donors - but wouldn't that essentially be transplanting?

Logic does not work in Deeganland. Think not for your brain will hurt.

Okay, fine, the Dominus has avalid reason to fear alterism, but I hardly think it's irreversible. Didn't Smug Greg get his hair done with alterism? And that's hardly irreversible now is it? It wasn't! Here he hates the alterism hair cuts, so he uses magic to change his hair. And surely alterism can fix alterism? It is just a plastic surgery/reconstructive surgery analogue, and you most certainly can fix many types of plastic surgery with plastic surgery.

Still, while I do think the Dominus is overreacting in his open and outright condemnation of alterism, that is what a phobia is. A(n irriational) fear of something. I also wonder is it's a coincidence that the Dominus had his lower lip/jaw flesh ripped out in a vision, and that's exactly what Jacob showed him in a vision eight or so years later. Given it's Jacob who, in canon (what little chronology they give anyone), would have been around then, I think this is deliberate. More points to you Jacob.

And another point to the Dominus, he even knows he's acting irrationally. At this rate, he'll start acting like a human being in a few strips! And also, points to Mookie for having a trans character whose character isn't based on being transgender. However, the wording in that last panel, "I used to be a man" . . . I'm honestly not well-read on LGBTQetc. terminology and whatnot, but the whole point about being transgender is your gender and your sex (mental and physical) are not the same. Still, I suppose saying, "I was born in a male body" is also awkward and probably not exact either.

Frankly, I think this is actually quite a respectful way of introducing a trans character without making the trans . . . ness the whole point of the character, rather it influenced how the character reacted first - hence the rant about 'selfish aterists'. And honestly, when films made around the same time (The Hangover Part II (look, I was with a friend and the film was awful)) use transgender characters as a cheap punchline and lead into a homophobic joke, Mookie comes off as being extremely respectful and relatively understated.

Christ, even the reason this fact is revealed makes sense in context: Doctor Caledonia is trying to allay the DOminus' fears by explaining that there are many people who honestly benefit from alterism; she is in fact, one of them.

What happened to the things that made me rage quit two years in a row? Somewhat amusingly, the {{Newspost}} has Mookie think people would rage about Doctor Caledonia's status as mtf and, while I think it could have been handled better, it was still very well done given the rigid structure of the strip. By that I mean, it still shouldn't have been a punchline, but it was rather well done nonetheless.

Eleanor Roane? Ha. I thought that was Mama Deegan. Aside from that: Luna's demonstrating a perfect Stoned Gassy Toddler Face; the Dominus has no lips in p. 6 - 8; all females now blush one hundred percent of the time and yes, I did noticed the blatant copy paste in the last three panels. Oh, and again, Luna's dress is missing her neckline meaning that, once more, I thought Luna was topless. Plotwise: clearly Luna knows Doctor Roane somehow, why lse would she instantly acquiesce despite having doubts herself?

Aside from actually being a relatively reasonable person who would like to be able to decide whether or not to have children. {{Newspost: I was right about Doctor Caledonia. And Mookie, you shouldn't gloat about Doctor Roane never having been mentioned before. Foreshadowing: use it. It doesn't even have to be her name, just 'I've read about this alterist [blah'. But then that would be me expecting things from you.

I'm just going to coast on my pleasant surprise for a while, so I won't complain too much.}}

Christ on a bike. I predicted this back in September 2010! That said, why is Doctor Roane a brunette when examining Luna and a blonde when mentoring Doctor Caledonia even though these two events probably occurred at the same time given the relatively youthful appearance of both Doctor Caledonia and Luna?

But most disconcertingly is Luna . . . okay? I don't mean grammar, she looks about five (although looking at p. 2 makes me think she's ten), so I'm excusing that. But the content. "I'm a orc princess!" I don't even.

Right. We'll ignore the abuse, because p. 8 clearly implies that no matter what Luna did her mother refused to let her see another alterist. But let's discuss the history of Deeganland. Or rather, the racism of Deeganland, which really is the same thing.

Roughly at the time of Luna's birth Callan was at war with Maltak. A genocidal war. And this hatred has been around for a good century right? The general populace of Callan hates orcs. I mean, back in Lynne's Brook there was a lynch mob. And Siggy (even pre-character assassination) thought orcs were inherently ugly because they had tusks. So being raised as a young noblewoman near Lynne's Brook Luna would have received a double dosing of conditioning regarding the evil, savage orcs.

As someone who has looked after children, I can say categorically that they are very cruel, and often take their parents words as gospel; they don't mean to be insensitive, they just are. So this situation is roughly akin to . . .

Okay, incoming racial slurs, but to explain why this situation is so stupid. When my mother was five (early 1960s) she collected Golliwog dolls and one of her favourite shows as a preteen was Love Thy Neighbour. And then you have that episode with the Major reminiscing about cricket trotting out both the n-word and wog without a care. When you're raised on . . . let's say casual racism you absorb it. You don't necessarily wish anything bad would happen, but you don't want to be it. If you know what I'm saying.

And when orcs and Callanians are actively at war (or have just ended that war as the victors) this kind of thing just wouldn't happen. And while we can all cite examples are children innocently smacking down their parent's racism/homophobia/transphobia/etc. this is because they are surrounded by many, many examples of people (even admirable people) saying that all those things are wrong. Here, in a country where thinking orcs are people is very rare even a quarter of a century post-war, this kinf of anti-orc propaganda is going to stick. Luna simply shouldn't be saying this.

And I honestly can't say whether I admire Doctor Roane for saying her dental malformation isn't serious, or condemn her knowing full well what kind of reactions she would receive from almost every other person in the country.

Still, babby!Luna is cute. *squints sideways at {{Newspost}}* Mookie, are you trying to mock me? You don't have to say all those things. Hell, you know what? Without that stupid {{Newspost}} of yours this strip explains all of it aside from question five. And also question two (because that was hinted at in the previous strip). And question four was explained about half-a-dozen strips after this arc started.

It's just a shame Mookie can't draw faces. Luna's Stoned Gassy Toddler Face (SGTF) makes her look surprised when she should be looking sad. After all, you don't endure some fifteen years of emotional, mental and psychological abuse (with the intent of killing her daughter) without feeling sad after having started coming to terms with it.

Mookie, I've repeatedly lamented the way you skirt wonderful concepts, great characters, great development and so on and so forth, this is another occasion where your art and your facetious {{Newspost}} ruins what could easily have been an understated melancholic backstory. GG. And for God's sake, Luna's dress has a neckline. DRAW IT.

At least this is better. Almost heartwarming in fact. Plus Mama Travoria's bitchiness in p 3 is fantastic. Oh, she's still an abusive cow, but that's a wonderful panel. And how could a well-known alterist just disappear off the face of the earth like that? Especially when there's a School of Alterism. My best guess: Mama Travoria had her murderlised.

And p. 5 is just baffling. It shows Mookie can draw actual noses, but he persists with the pointy profile noses of pain. He's just mocking us now. And those boobs would give some serious lower back pain.

But this is still a good strip. Please bear in mind I read the entire backlog and my analyses in one shot, so when I say good strip I mean for DD. It sticks with continuity without an info-dump, it's wistful and melancholic and, for Mookie, the art is above average even if Luna's facial expressions in p. 2 and 4 are questionable. But overall, it's a fairly accurate description about how easy it is to become depressed and suicidal; one can only press on for so long until it becomes to much and . . . you just have to end it.

As for the review in the {{Newspost}}, eh. It's okay. Ish. It skims over a lot of issues, but I can't help but think the introductory paragraphs before talking directly about DD are just a stealthy condemnation of many of DD's flaws considering every single thing mentioned is a catalyst for a major story arc/piece of character development. Let's not discuss the review itself as we could be here a while.

Hey Mookie. Hey. Hey. Heeeeey. In an arc decrying the objectification of women and people who are obsessed with their physical form, you shouldn't have gratuitous nudity of your 'perfect' female character. And why did I specify women and people in general? Because all three alterists I remember seeing were women, the secretary early was female, and so were all but three customers. Yes, while I understand that at least partial nudity is required for some medical scans, you don't stand in such an awkward fashion. Holding your arms in that position for more than a few minutes is going to be painful. You know Mookie, it would actually be a lot more respectful to both the female form and magimedical practices if you just had her standing up or lying down without any of those stupid poses.

Also, the spank material (as I understand it is sometimes called) in the sample room isn't exactly conducive to masturbation. It's just boobs and butts; doesn't an alteration clinic have anything more . . . avant garde? Is that really all you get in porno mags? Boobs and butts? Well, and genitalia I suppose. But it's all so vanilla. And remember, these alterists can do anything as long as you pay, and there's nothing interesting. Mookie, you don't even have to show a picture, just a title. Wings and Things, Tongue Pleasures, Crack That Whip. I see racier things on the top shelf of my local shop!

I know from the {{Newspost}} the last couple of panels are meant to be humorous - 'oh look at Dominic, he's so funny', but those mags are so tame it's actually quite sad. While yes, the boobs are clearly implants, the butt just looks normal. So what I actually see is a man so sexually repressed and afraid of the naked female form that he actually cowers from it. This is . . . this is . . . I've seen a little over a dozen episodes of The Big Bang Theory, so don't quote me on this, but Sheldon Cooper is more comfortable with his and others sexuality, nudity and body than Dominic 'the Dominus' Deegan. And I'm fairly sure Sheldon is on the spectrum.

Yes, I understand and accept that there are some people who find nudity of any sort very uncomfortable, particularly that of the female form; but I don't think they'd run and hide from it. The ladies on the front cover are even clothed!

I just spent ten minutes discussing porno mags in Dominic Deegan. I've missed the insanity this webcomic brings into my work. And just ignoring that, the Dominus knew he was going to have to provide a sample so couldn't he (or the clinic for that matter) provide some Very Vanilla Mags for those who aren't into body modding?

So going in to help is fine. What I find creepy is the suggestion that one of the staff would go in, pose as someone and . . . assist. And in the case of those in a relationship . . . would the male unable to ejaculate know a stranger was 'assisting' him? At best the illusionist would be watching you. I think it's safe to say that most people would have even more difficulty producing a sample knowing the stranger in the room is watching.

What if you thought you partner was assisting you and then you end up saying "Thanks for the help in the sample room," and they have no idea what you were talking about?! Wouldn't that be rape of some sort?! Or sex under false pretences?

Either way, for a webcomic (presumably aimed mostly at older teenagers and over) that's afraid to show anything more racy than some women in swimwear on porno mags to then have the main characters partner go in and give an off-panel hand job is not sticking to its self-imposed rating. What's worse: a couple of porn mags or openly having your two main characters engage in sex just off-panel while someone's listening?

And as for the double fold-out, Mookie, it's your webcomic. You should have some sort of idea of what was on it when you drew it. Your imagination when it comes to sex is awful; you're clearly implying it's just a double double polaroid (and those photos are exactly what's implied) in-comic and {{Newspost}}. No orgies? A good orgy could be a double fold-out easily. How about a very tall person lying down - no. No. I don't want to be told off by a mod.

Oh what. I called the {{Newspost}} before it happened. And what self-respecting internet hasn't at least heard of Red Dwarf (many)? So Mookie unwittingly ripped off Red Dwarf. Or, to put it another way: the punchline for the last strip was done better twenty-five years ago. And the thing is, right, the thing is the double polaroid was funny because the set up around it made sense and built up to the joke. And it had an additional punchline only thirty seconds later.

Plot? Eh, Luna's worried because she wants a chance to conceive children naturally. Because what if fixing it meant the children are unnatural? Because trying to fix a medical problem that actually has several forms of healing/circumvention is wrong. At least, that's what p. 3 is suggesting.

'Oh no, I can't naturally conceive children, and even though are possible solutions to this, it would be unnatural to try and fix something irreparable so I won't bother. After all, it's not as if I might actually want to conceive children with my beloved later on in life.' Just because Crystal Dragon Prophet Dragon made you infertile doesn't mean you have to obey what the Crystal Dragon Prophet Dragon said. Or are you seriously trying to say that if you can't naturally conceive children because some ~mystical force~ says you can't it is to be obeyed without question.

There's nothing wrong with trying. What about surrogacy? Sperm/egg donations? Trying all the magimedical ways possible?

Adoption?

Personally Luna, speaking as someone whose chances of naturally conceiving are significantly less than average, and whose chances of miscarriage are much higher than average, I would love to be able to decide for myself whether I have a child, and be able to carry it to term. You shouldn't go around thinking 'oh this was meant to be, so I'll never try'. What kind of limp-wristed twit wouldn't even try?!

At least if you try all the magimedical ways of trying to conceive a children, and they're all fruitless (pardon my pun) you can adopt.

And what is with these impossibly vague time skips? 'Days later' indeed; is there anything that actually rests on this being so non-specific. Couldn't you just say 'a week later'? No?

Oh hey look, IVF and surrogacy. Also, I have a medical bone to pick with this. Ignoring ectopic pregnancies, the uterine wall must be healthy and able to sustain the embryo after it has implanted itself into the uterine lining; if the lining isn't thick or healthy enough the embyro either fails to attach or spontaneously aborts. This is, of course, massively simplified, and after a certain time period the foetus receives its nutrients from the placenta via umbilical cord. So what Doctor Caledonia is saying is that the uterine wall isn't strong enough to accept embryogenesis properly.

Oh God, I'm applying real world science to magical trauma. Either way, what Doctor Caledonia is suggesting is basically IVF. Which I had assumed earlier actually existed in this world, whereas he it's heavily suggested to be a revolutionary thing.

Egg and sperm donations really aren't that rare are they? Also, the science as is explained here suggests Luna herself wouldn't be able to carry the child because the egg would go back to 'sleep', so no donor eggs/IVF for her.

But seriously, IVF doesn't exist in this world even though the 'enhancements', 'transplants' and 'implants' spiel from earlier would suggest it would be. What.

And I've given up on the blushing. They're all blushing all the time. And for once, Luna's SGTF is actually appropriate. See, because even her eggs
are ~speshul snowflakes~ she'll be able to help others who can't have children. Not anyone else. Just her. And how would you decide who gets one of these miracle eggs with only a limited amount? Money? Need? Nobility?

Either way, Luna's eggs ain't going to be fertilised by the Dominus' sperm. His infertility is genetic, and Doctor Caledonia was certainly right when she said she doubted he'd want to undergo alterism to fix it. At least there's a sign he's willing to try to overcome his phobia for Luna.

But you know what would be funny? Male smokers have a 30% higher odds of infertility than non-smokers. Remember all those jokes way back in the beginning about how he should give up smoking? What if they came back to bit the Dominus in the rear? Another wasted chance to use continuity, and bring less well-known information to a wider audience.

And why are the panel gaps so wide in this strip? It looks like he couldn't be bothered to even draw what little he normally does.

It is IVF. That's all it is. Just IVF. And Luna actually looks somewhat pretty in the last panel, shame about the bird-noses and STGFs in p. 4. And again, pointless 'cliffhanger'; she's going to do it. An - hey! ALL EGGS ARE DORMANT IN THE OVARIES. And Mookie just told me to {{Rock on and geek out}}. This makes me angrier.

Donating all of them? At birth an ovary contains around one million oocytes and only five hundred ovulate. Let's say then, that Luna's 'small number' of eggs is fifty. Yeah, ten percent. So why not ovarian tissue cryopreservation? Or . . . I just can't get over how IVF doesn't exist.

But Luna's decision. Argh. And her reasoning is just appalling. What? Did your Crystal Dragon Dragon do this to rub it in your face? (Probably) But what the Hell Luna? Not only did you make a unilateral decision on the spur of the moment you didn't discuss it with your partner who also has a stake in the decision about whether to have children or not.

I can understand donating eggs. I can understand choosing as a family to donate all your eggs (which is actually impossible as oocytes mature on a staggered basis) for the good of others. I can understand choosing not to have children by any means. Oh wait, the {{Newspost}} wants to clarify that only a few of her eggs are 'dormant' which is actually balls. Wait, does this mean Luna doesn't have periods? Because the only reason biological females bleed and leak massive blood clots and fleshy strings of dead tissue is because of the biological imperative. If, as Mookie says, all but a small number of her eggs are effectively dead, then the removal of these dormant eggs would mean Luna is post-menopausal.

GG Luna! No more period pains, mood swings, weight gain, water retention, and bleeding from the genitals for a quarter of the year!

I don't understand her reasoning. This reminds me of Maltak so I can't use this gift even though I'm barren. I'll give it to others! It's a good sentiment, the donating, but the reasoning is stupid. Perhaps it was a gift from Maltak to her. So she could have children.

And why didn't the Dominus get an opinion? This kind of thing can destroy a relationship! I'm guessing the Dominus never really wanted children if he could say that so fast. I'm still not blocking out fostering or adoption, but usually you know, not wanting children is kind of a deal breaker in a relationship isn't it?

I'd want some time myself no matter which side I was on. What if I decided later on that I wanted to have children that were at least partially biologically mine/my partners? I know it's not everything, but it'd be nice to have the chance if I changed my mind in a few years.

Repeat an eight-year-old joke Mookie that's classy. I'm also pretty sure that boobs that big would cause more than lower back problems. The connective tissue holding the mammary tissues onto the torso would be under severe strain all the time (even with a proper reinforced bra), cleaning underneath them would be difficult, and neglecting to do so properly could cause infections and stop thinking about this.

There really isn't much to say is there? Except for that while a doctor who wore a cape would be cool, wearing a cape in an OR or for any kind of actual open surgery or non-consulting doctor thing would be terrible. It's an infection risk for one thing, it's bulky and cumbersome and could likely damage equipment or knock it onto the floor and decontaminate it. While these things likely aren't as big a problem in a world where magic exists, it's still stupid.

I think this joke or a variation upon it has appeared at least once a week for this arc. Stale material is stale, especially when reused so frequently. And fr no reason. But that last panel is strip slay gold. Just cut out the DOminus and then paste it over everything.

And the hypocritical Dominus strikes back. 'This really changed my views on alteration - not. Suckers!'

I'm going to miss Doctor Caledonia. She was a wonderful character, and probably one of the few immune to the Deegandrug. Plus her being LGBTQAetc. isn't the only facet of her character. Unlike Szark. He's gay you know. I think it was hinted at once or twice.

Does this mean Mookie's progressed as a writer? Or only that he was aware that treating trans . . .ness (is there a better word for this?) in such a way would get him killed. Metaphorically of course.

Luna, "we don't even know if we want kids" isn't 'we know for certain we don't want to have biological children'. Still, at least there's adoption. I just wish someone had brought it up in-comic. And yes, weddings are big, expensive things.

Wasn't Mookie planning his own wedding around this time? Because this is what I'm imagining happened in Casa del Mookie at the time. Stupid self-insert situations, but at least it's a common enough reaction. But as for paying for their wedding, why are they freaking out? It's common enough for families to pitch in right?

And Mama Machina runs a very well thought of magical academy. And Elanovan is an extremely famous bard (aka rock star), and let us not forget Smug Greg and his Facebook band. And surely the Dominus can extort money out of people, he's a world-famous Seer and saviour of the world.

And Luna (and the Dominus) are/were both tenured professors at said internationally famous magical academy, have both published lots of research; Luna's family is extremely rich, and although she was left nothing in her mother's will she still has sisters. Some of whom or dead or in prison meaning she has control of their wealth. And they were all insanely rich/very good at stealing things.

Where's the worry exactly?

And if you are that concerned with money just have the Callanian equivalent of a registry office wedding, and have a really good reception. Get your father/brother/their mates to do the music for cheap; get the cooks at your mother's university to do the catering on the cheap; hold the reception in one of the enormous halls at your mother's university and there you do.

Oh God Spark! I haven't seen you in literal in-comic years. That or I binged so fast I forgot. Nice to see your alive and able to mock your master's pain. As for the {{Newspost}} all wizards are squishy, some are just squishier than most. Especially your theoreticians and your Seers/Diviners.

Ooh! Oooh! Oooh! I remember this strip! This is that really, really controversial one where Mookie implied that your children are only truly yours if they carry your genetic material! After all, fostering, adoption, surrogacy and the like don't give you real children. For someone who's been a writer for almost a decade you should know how to proofread. That's not saying there aren't actual published writers and script writers who don't also make big cock-ups, but still.

At least you went back and changed it. Although . . . oocytes/eggs don't work that way. Or rather, they do, but it's never results in a successful pregnancy in humans. They're called molar pregnancies. The complete molar (where the egg contains no genetic material) and the partial molar both create abnormal foetuses which often require an operation to remove the molar tissue. But the molar tissue can continue to grow for up to five months.

And only five eggs? Okay, that one time. But eggs, as I've said before, mature in stages (which is why females have periods), so there should be more eggs like that in a month or two unless Luna's now perfectly post-menopausal. And really five. You don't decide that sort of thing. You just don't.

'Hey, infertile couples of Callan, guess what, we have five eggs that would carry your genetic material and not a donor's. Who wants a miracle child?' Bloodbath. The appeal process for this would take literal decades. How do you decide this? How much money? Who needs it most? Why? Why does Couple A deserves it more than Couple B? Who is more capable of raising a child? Why did Luna's eggs have to be special (also did they mention this miracle property to Luna and the Dominus? No. So this is also ethically dubious. 'We're just going to take this tissue sample which contains really rare things and not tell you the truth kthxbai.') at all? Couldn't she just have these 'dormant eggs' without the fill-in-your-genetic-material-here property?

Overall thoughts?

Mostly rage and frustration. I do like Doctor Caledonia, but so much of this arc is so stupid. Decisions were made too fast; the ~speshul snowflake~ properties of the eggs shouldn't have existed; let's not even get into the whole 'Let's Talk About Luna's Infertility and How It - PSYCH! It NEVER MATTERED IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE THE DOMINUS IS SHOOTING BLANKS!'

It's nice that male infertility was addressed because it so seldom is in other forms of media, but when your arc is about LUNA'S INFERTILITY you don't automatically degrade it to talk about her partner's infertility making her problems null and void! YOU DON'T!

This arc sucked, which is a shame because there honestly are some good moments (and even art) and characters. I suppose the Serious Issues brought up here were treated more respectfully than usual, and Doctor Caledonia is by far one of the nicest characters in the comic, but that makes the idiocy stand out all the more.

Next up: the plot returns! Anyone else remember the impending Doom of Snugglythulu? No? Don't worry, I didn't either.

*Ages as defined by Trazoi here. Remember, all dates use the dd/mm/yyyy format!
**Avvie designed by ninja_penguin, many thanks for letting me use it.

EDIT:

@Vinyaden: the poet slays were very interesting, and I agree with Inane Octopus about The Waste Land I, l. 19 - 30 fitting that strip far better than the original dialogue. Could only better better if Necro!Orc was cut out and a random human was inserted, but you can't have everything.
You should try to fit l. 44 - 59 in somewhere. It is after all about a Seer. It'd be a cut and paste panels from different strips together though unless you find something particularly apt.

[MReav]

Unlike Szark. He's gay you know. I think it was hinted at once or twice.

Wait, Szark is gay?

[CurlyKitGirl]

Wait, Szark is gay?

It was very subtle, only mentioned in a panel or two years ago and never outright. He flirted with the Dominus and winked at him suggestively.
You really have to admire Mookie's subtlety when it comes to characterisation.

[SaintRidley]

Ah, Curly's back!

And now I need to look into Red Dwarf, because that's completely new to me.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, help yourself to some popcorn, and welcome to the next episode of

Analysing Dominus Deegan

The Golden Age*

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A Frail Hope of Adequate Enjoyment
21/05/2002 - 17/07/2002 Arcs covered: Oracle for Hire, The Curse
The First Signs of Serious Psychological Issues Appear
18/07/2002 - 4/12/2002 Arcs covered: The Curse, Luna, Into the Woods
In Which Teh Great Dominus Indulges in Torture and Terrifies Me
5/12/2002 - 21/02/2003 Arcs covered: Into the Woods, Couch Forts and Crying
Dominatrix Luna. Oh, and The Dominus is More Feared Than A Necromancer
22/01/2003 - 11/03/2003 Arcs covered: Makeover!, Mob Mentality
Thing Are Looking Up
12/03/2003 - 30/04/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts One and Two
Siggy Is Iesus. Make of That What You Will
01/05/2003 -23/06/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Three and Four
The Great Dominus Is Officially A Marty Stue an It's THRILLER! THRILLER NIGHT!
24/06/2003 - 19/08/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Five and Six
Character Development! And We Conclude an Arc
20/08/2003 - 10/09/2003 Arcs covered: Visions of Doom Parts Seven and Eight
Short Arc Is Short
11/09/2003 - 21/10/2003 Arcs covered: The Party

The Tarnished Age

Spoiler

Show

Hell Is Meaningless Filler
23/10/2003 - 20/11/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Part One
Kink + Dominus Deegan = Eye and Brain Bleach
11/11/2003 - 16/12/2003 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Two and Three
Inflatable Boobs and Sex! Occasional Plotting Is Permitted
17/12/2003 - 30/01/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Four and Five
Enter: Deus Ex Machina! And Boobs.
31/01/2005 - 19/04/2004 Arcs covered: The Ecstasy and the Evil Parts Six and Seven
Mookie Reveals More of His Sexual Fantasies. And Noone Ever Suffers From Any Effects of A Near-Rape. Ever!
20/04/2004 -26/05/2004 Arcs covered: TEatE Parts Eight and Nine

The Silver Age

Spoiler

Show

The Corruption of Sister Pam. Iocks Are Misogynistic Idiots.
27/05/2004 - 27/08/2004 Arcs covered: Hello Nurse
All Hands On Deck! Swirly Thing Alert!
06/09/2004 - 22/10/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts One and Two
Darlings, Can't You Hear My SoS?
25/010/2004 - 28/11/2004 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Three and Four
Attack of the Pointless Sub-Plots!
29/11/2004 - 06/01/2005 Arcs covered: The Storm of Souls Parts Five and Six
Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? No! It's SuperGreg!
07/01/2005 - 24/02/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Seven and Eight
Analysing Dominus Deegan The Musical
25/02/2005 - 31/03/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Nine and Ten
Venus Gets Angry, and the Dominus Doesn't Have A Leg To Stand On
01/04/2005 - 05/06/2005 Arcs covered: TSoS Parts Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

The Bronze Age

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Show

CURSE YOU RUNCIBLE SPOON! I Have Flashbacks to WoT
13/06/2005 - 09/07/2005 Arcs covered: My First Day and Interlude Versions One and Two
Contrived Coincidences and Rape Have Broken Me
11/07/2005 - 25/10/2005 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Part One
A Hug Makes Me Furious
26/10/2005 - 09/01/2006 Arcs covered: The Battle For Barthis Parts Two and Three
A Melna Special: The Explanation
01/01/2006 - 27/01/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Part One
This Episode Erupts With Kittens! Well, It Should
30/01/2006 - 06/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Two and Three
I Dwell on the Paradox That Is Mookie
07/03/2006 - 20/03/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Four and Five
Time To 'Save' Szark!
21/03/2006 - 28/05/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Six and Seven[
Assassination and Moustaches
30/05/2006 - 11/07/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Eight and Nine
R.I.P. Siggy
12/07/2006 - 01/09/2006 Arcs covered: The War In Hell Parts Ten and Eleven and Interlude: The Best of Dominic Deegan

The Iron Age

Spoiler

Show

This Comic Is NOT Shakespeare
04/09/2006 - 16/09/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not To Thief? Part One
If I Want Mafia, I'll Watch Bugsy Malone
17/09/2009 - 14/10/2009 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Two and Three
Time To Take the Offensive
15/10/2006 - 18/11/2006 Arcs covered: Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Four and Five
The Break Up
19/11/2006 - 10/12/2006 Arcs covered Two Thief Or Not Two Thief? Parts Six and Seven

The Ice Age

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Show

Boobs. Nothing More. BOOBS!!
11/12/2006 - 15/01/2007 Arcs covered: Wrapped Up and Returned, Class Action Part One
Melna. Loves. Her. Rapist.
16/01/2007 - 18/03/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Two and Three
Oh. Geography.
19/03/2007 - 23/05/2007 Arcs covered: Class Action Parts Four, Five, Six, Seven and Eight
It's Worse Than I Imagined
24/05/2007 - 21/08/2007 Arcs covered: Snowsong
I Drank Too Much
22/08/2007 - 06/12/2007 Arcs covered: Shadow of Siegfried
Short, But Not Sweet
07/12/2007 - 23/122007 Arcs covered: Endings and Annoyances
My Counters Explode. So do I. Part One and Part Two
01/01/2008 - 24/04/2008 Arcs covered: The Oracle Hunter

The Dragon Age

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. . . Meh.
25/04/2008 - 25/05/2008 Arcs covered: Oh, Snap
Dull.
26/05/2008 - 29/06/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Airship to Nagastrali
Best. Panel. Ever.
30/06/2008 - 20/10/2008 Arcs covered: Around the World Olde Tucklebruck Island to end.
The Unstoppable Airman - Sorry, Wrong Comic.
21/10/2008 - 21/12/2008 Arcs covered: Built to Resist

Orc (Outr)Age

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The Maltak Marathon
05/01/2009 - 05/02/2010 Arcs covered: THE ENTIRE BLOODY THING IN ONE NIGHT!
This link goes to the collected archive for this particular arc.

The Lost Age

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Boobs, Wonderful Boobs, Marvellous Boobs, Glorious Boobs! Yeah.
08/02/2010 - 29/03/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part One and A Nimmel House
Com On Feel The Noize Just Random Noize!
30/03/2010 - 11/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Two and B.Y.O.B.
A Lack of Information
14/06/2010 - 21/06/2010 Arcs covered: The Beast, Part Three
Crunch Crunch Stunt.
21/06/2010 - 27/08/2010 Arcs covered: Walk the Wild Edge
Flowers And A Minor Meltdown
30/08/2010 - 06/09/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Four
They Just Lit A Rocket. Rockets Explode!
09/06/2010 - 10/12/2010 Arcs covered: The Court of Karnak
It Is A Tale . . . Full of Repetitive Exposition and Non-Jokes, Signifying Nothing
13/12/2010 - 27/12/2010 Arcs covered: THE BEAST! Part Five

The Death of the Age of Innocence
The Aborted Recap
03/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States
Curly's Beef Or, That's A Lot of Pictures
03/01/2011 - 11/01/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States ('part one').
Rage
12/01/2011 - 04/02/2011 Arcs covered: Altered States
Lovecraftian Horror: Surprisingly Dull
07/02/2011 - 24/02/2011 Arcs covered: Symphony of Destruction

Let the experiment proceed!**

Lovecraftian Horror: Surprisingly Dull
07/02/2011 - 24/02/2011 Arcs covered: Symphony of Destruction

Spoiler

Show

Okay, that's an awesome chapter title, even if it sounds more like the title of a metal/symphonic metal song. And why are all the actual plot arcs so short?

Surprisingly enough, Symphony of Destruction takes place on the Plane of Destruction, and I don't know whether or not to mock the fact that the Dominus has to stress it's a metaphysical plane. After all, it's not like this was covered in Storm of Souls, The War in Hell and one or two of the arcs based in Mama Machina's school. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure there's a literal Plane of Destruction somewhere in D&D and other tabletop games.

But this is fairly promising; the plot's come back, and these out-of-body experiences do tend to have more interesting artwork than usual. Aaaand interesting artwork is provided! I particularly like how the explosions are shattering the panels representing the Dominus' mind. That said, eruption ring? Really. Really. And, well, I think I've seen this before. I honestly do. Deja vu. I do feel somewhat let down by Mookie's literal interpretation of destruction though, it's just giant frickin' laser beams. They not even attached to sharks. Wouldn't it be so much cooler if the plane of destruction was eternally devouring itself, and the energy sparked from this interaction creates more matter to be devoured?

And how can one See on another Plane? A metaphysical one at that. See, metaphysics of the philosophical type (as opposed to the religious/supernatural type) is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world right? There's a specific form of metaphysics called ontology which is about the nature of being, becoming and reality in general, with a specific focus on categories. So 'this apple is red', but what is 'red', how is 'red' defined?', 'why?'

So in the Deeganverse everything is made up of Creation, Law, Order, Balance, Chaos, Disharmony, Destruction and a few others. Additionally, the planes themselves sound very alike to actual esoteric planes. More specifically, these metaphysical planes seem to be strongly related to emanationism with the Universe Factory being the First Principle from which all others are derived. In some ways being somewhat reminiscent of the Four Worlds of the Sephirot, although very basically.

This then arguably leads into esoteric cosmology as well as, for this 'verse, physical cosmology as these planes actually do exist as separate physical dimensions as well as mental ones. However, being that the Dominus is expressly visiting the metaphysical manifestation of Destruction (which would possibly involve entropy as well), how can he predict things? Sight, second or otherwise, involves looking into another time frame, as opposed to scrying which is usually focused on the present, but in another physical location.

And a metaphysical plane (or an esoteric one) does not appear to have a temporal sense. What happens happens. So can one See on a metaphysical plane? I highly doubt that.

. . . Wow. I just did that didn't I? And I still can't find a link showing the Universe Factory. Probably because I binged the whole thing and everything got blended together so I ended up reading about Jacob being awesome and figuring out the Nakta instead. I miss Jacob. Found it. I put waaaay too much thought and effort into this.

Point is, is I don't think the Sight would work in a metaphysical plane like that. And Mookie {{your Newspost made it so very obvious the Dominus won't "be as slick" as he was there throughout the rest of this arc}}

AAAAAaaaaggghhh! What is wrong with the Dominus' face?! That's just hideous. Snugglethulu looks even more adorable as a result, oh, I do hope he finds Venus soon. And do I even want to talk about the {Newspost}} where he confesses to enjoying taking photographs of 'drowned' women floating arse up in a pool? Or the one next to it demonstrating either an extreme anorexic or a woman dead from starvation.

What do you know, eldritch abominations can learn from past experiences. Although it does somewhat lessen the 'threat' Snugglethulu poses by anthropomorphising it and giving it armour! Because an eldritch abomination truly has something to fear from one weak human. Sometimes I just wish Snugglethulu would go all tabletop on them and force them to roll for SAN damage for every encounter vaguely related to it. Not that going completely mental would be noticeable in this 'verse, but still.

No. Just no. That art is terrible. The perspective is lazy and such thick bold lines around the right hand show just how terrible at drawing hands Mookie is. Same old art, nothing really all that interesting. And look, I know enough metaphysics and 'metaphysics' to know that one cannot perform the opposite of that plane's purpose. Even though destruction creates energy in order to create more destruction. It's markedly less creation than destruction, true, but something is still created even if only energy.

But the song linked in the {{Newspost}} is very nice indeed, even if I did flashback to Epic Rap Battles of History a bit there.

N'aawwww teddy bear. And, le sigh, not only am I told to {{Rock on}}, but that he did indeed create a teddy bear for a purpose and isn't completely insane. Well, any more unhinged than usual. And how can Mookie make eldritch abominations dull to look at? Blah, blah, blah two opposites can never meet, blah blah blah. Oh look, Mookie has a twitter and he just told me to {{Rock on and geek out}}. Here Mookie, have a metaphysical punch to the face. That's just not cool.

Looking at his twitter, it's been more than two years since he linked his twitter and he only has two and a half thousand followers. And he's still giving a panel on writing unique heroes and memorable villains. Well, at least some of his villains are memorable.

Oh right. Artwork. The Dominus doesn't have pupils in his eyes and the teddy bear's ears are mismatched and the poor bear lacks any facial features except I've found the DOminus' missing pupils.

Insect-lobster. At least the perspective here gives us a good view of the scale of the thing. And yet again, we have proof that when Mookie actually puts effort into his art it can actually be decent. The Destroyer is nicely detailed and has a unique design, so when you compare it to the DOminus' exceptionally ugly looking face in this strip it just shows how half-hearted Mookie actually is when it comes to his eight year long epic work. It's a shame really. And I can't believe that ploy worked. And of course the Dominus didn't think about the size of the thing first either.

And the scale's been ruined. The previous comic the Dominus was tiny, but you could still make out his legs, torso and even head even when the 'camera' was pulled far back enough to actually show the entire Destroyer, but in the close up of just its head the Dominus is even tinier than he was beforehand!

And by the way, it would be a mental projection and a physical manifestation, get your terminology right. You cannot a physical form unless it is being thrown. That or it's a part extending outwards beyond a prevailing boundary.

Oh hey look, it's a Predator. Woo. Creativity. I don't even think a mental projection would have an effect on a physical form either. Given, you know, the DOminus' previous mental form was dismembered, and he still has all his limbs, so why should shattered mental ear drums be carried over into the physical ones? Obvious joke is obvious and makes no sense because your dismembered mental limbs were also caused by the Destroyer but you still have your physical limbs. And I really can't stop thinking of Thor whenever I type the word Destroyer. I don't even. I just don't even.

Oh hey look, the chapter title is/will be a song title. For Facebath. In all fairness it does sound pretty epic. In theory. And oh look, called it. The Place of Entropy and Annihilation.

Overall thoughts?
If you didn't already guess, the ideas are intriguing, but so poorly constructed that they tend to fall apart if you put too much thought into them. Or, in my case, if you've read enough esoteric, arcane or obscure literature. But even if you don't think about world design and so forth, how do you make a titanic clash between a Lovecraftian horror and a mere human (no matter how powerful) on a plane of Destruction dull, slow and lacking in action. There was more suspense felt when (SPOILERS) we found out the Order of the Stick was under an illusion spell! I've been less invested in a fight, yes, but usually because it was a Michael Bay film (it was Battleship and I knew it would suck. Don't look at me like that!) and couldn't make out what was happening anyway.

And why are the actual arcs that move the actual plot forward so short! This next arc is about FACEBATH and it lasts three weeks. FACEBATH PEOPLE.

Next up: oh Christ on a bike. Z-lister characters in Smug Greg's metal band. Do they even have names?

*Ages as defined by Trazoi here. Remember, all dates use the dd/mm/yyyy format!
**Avvie designed by ninja_penguin, many thanks for letting me use it.

[Coidzor]

Then I'm back baby.[/austin powers]
@MReav: I'll be taking that Mr. Scruffy toy now.

Now to re-read the entire thing and/or my analyses before getting back into the thing. Or perhaps I'll finish off the infertility arc first. Not like I need, you know, a backstory or anything for it.

YESSSSSSSSS

[SaintRidley]

Fun fact: Symphony of Destruction is a Megadeth song (happens to have been covered by Arch Enemy - I much prefer the cover, in no small part thanks to just disliking Megadeth).

So yes, it is a metal song.