Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXIII: DeeganBallZ

[Fawkes]

Do you think dominic would be without his second sight forever?

Let's make a betting pool:

He will be without his powers for twenty-five weeks.

Ha. I give him two weeks depowered, tops.

Hell, he'll probably be re-powered tomorrow.

[T-O-E]

You do realise that Dominic's power doesn't come from his magic, it's from his friends.

Mainly, Mookie.

[SaintRidley]

You do realise that Dominic's power doesn't come from his magic, it's from his friends.

Mainly, Mookie.

Friendship is Magic Mookie?

[Traab]

Klo tark will once again swoop in to save the day. Then be killed once more.

[Kizor]

I give him until the second panel on Friday.

Hmm. That Snuggly is engaging in banter is a little disturbing. Would have had more impact if "Understand. This." had been the start of a single drawn out sentance spoken over the next few strips, and Snuggly ignored anything Dom said or did while imparting the message. While beating the mental snot out of him, of course .

Still. Even with the standard Mookie Modifier (-2 INT, -2 CHA, Each strip must pass DC 25 vs will or plot frozen for 1d6 days, no save [if you're lucky]) things are looking watchable for the time being. I'd even put up with it being filler if it adds a legitimate sense of threat back into the DD world.

Oi. I do appreciate your fine idea for an action scene, but Mookie is +1 CHA, -5 Perception. Bringing his smarts into this is low. Plus he makes a living out of selling Dominic Deegan, which is no mean feat and more respectable than a lot of the selling that goes on in our ad-ridden age.

[Welf]

I can't tell if Mookie is genuinely trying to make this funny, but either way I'm finding this to be hilarious. Most disappointing ending ever: It's just a nightmare. Actually this is surreal enough that I'm almost expecting it to happen, but it doesn't really seem like Mookie's style.

Well, if the nightmare ends with Spark interrupting and saying "Come awake Boss, a cutty customer is on cue, he's a royal knight so you can finally acquire some quality feeesh!" then I'm cool

[Garland]

Man, Snuggly is just a poor man's Shuma-Gorath now.

[Arakune]

Oi. I do appreciate your fine idea for an action scene, but Mookie is +1 CHA, -5 Perception. Bringing his smarts into this is low. Plus he makes a living out of selling Dominic Deegan, which is no mean feat and more respectable than a lot of the selling that goes on in our ad-ridden age.

To be fair, you don't really need to be smart to sell things, you just need to sell it to dumber customer base.

Like those people who bought the Endless Eight.

[mwchase]

To be fair, you don't really need to be smart to sell things, you just need to sell it to dumber customer base.

Like those people who bought the Endless Eight.

Man, hearing about that makes me feel okay about sliding into meta-fandom, which is a sequence of words that... um... I think I just committed the equivalent of blasphemy. Are the things I've been hearing true, that they basically made the same episode, de novo, eight times?

That sounds worse than the time I was archive-trawling a different webcomic, and tripped over the fact that two adjacent strips had exactly the same artwork and dialogue, and the only difference was the placement of thought-bubbles/speech lines.

Is that comic still... hmm, it is on hiatus. But the latest strips... *gesture back* *gesture back* *gesture forward* *gesture forward*. Whee! It's like a socially maladjusted electronic flipbook!

Fact: Mookie doesn't usually abuse copy-paste, and never to this extent.

Edit-Fact: Andy Weir (self-proclaimed world's laziest cartoonist) didn't abuse copy-paste to this extent. At least he varied the composition between strips.

[Thufir]

Meh, it's not like they have any foibles either.

That's why I didn't bold it in that sentence. "they don't actually have foibles, of course. It just sometimes looks like they potentially could" is perfectly applicable to the comic.

[Mr. McGician]

Man, hearing about that makes me feel okay about sliding into meta-fandom, which is a sequence of words that... um... I think I just committed the equivalent of blasphemy. Are the things I've been hearing true, that they basically made the same episode, de novo, eight times?

That sounds worse than the time I was archive-trawling a different webcomic, and tripped over the fact that two adjacent strips had exactly the same artwork and dialogue, and the only difference was the placement of thought-bubbles/speech lines.

Is that comic still... hmm, it is on hiatus. But the latest strips... *gesture back* *gesture back* *gesture forward* *gesture forward*. Whee! It's like a socially maladjusted electronic flipbook!

Fact: Mookie doesn't usually abuse copy-paste, and never to this extent.

Edit-Fact: Andy Weir (self-proclaimed world's laziest cartoonist) didn't abuse copy-paste to this extent. At least he varied the composition between strips.

Hey, abusing copy-paste can sometimes work!

[mwchase]

Hey, abusing copy-paste can sometimes work!

There's a difference between setting out, acknowledging, and working with self-imposed limitations, and doing "good enough" things that squander basically competent artwork on thoughtless composition. I mean, having the same characters stand in the same places, with the same art, for days on end (with no backgrounds)... what are the odds that that's always the right choice to make for a strip with an ongoing storyline?

Like, imagine if Dinosaur Comics had some kind of nominal day-to-day continuity, where it just happened that the logical thing for T-Rex to be doing in the third panel is always crushing the same cabin, while Dromiceiomimus looks on. The idea is so ridiculous that your mind won't accept it, right? But what I'm describing is a situation roughly equivalent to this absurd hypothetical. (The art does change more, but I maintain that it doesn't change enough.)

[Mr. McGician]

There's a difference between setting out, acknowledging, and working with self-imposed limitations, and doing "good enough" things that squander basically competent artwork on thoughtless composition. I mean, having the same characters stand in the same places, with the same art, for days on end (with no backgrounds)... what are the odds that that's always the right choice to make for a strip with an ongoing storyline?

Like, imagine if Dinosaur Comics had some kind of nominal day-to-day continuity, where it just happened that the logical thing for T-Rex to be doing in the third panel is always crushing the same cabin, while Dromiceiomimus looks on. The idea is so ridiculous that your mind won't accept it, right? But what I'm describing is a situation roughly equivalent to this absurd hypothetical. (The art does change more, but I maintain that it doesn't change enough.)

Well, I can see your point; if people aren't expecting copy-paste it's going to be grating when it happens for no reason.

[Seerow]

Do you think dominic would be without his second sight forever?

Let's make a betting pool:

He will be without his powers for twenty-five weeks.

Bet taken. Dominic maintains 100% of his second site, is only mildly inconvenienced and possibly marginally depowered in astral combat for the duration of this fight. By next week he will be back to normal and be smug about how he didn't lose his magic while Greg lost his.

[rocketpony]

Sneaky Gate!
Future link

So uh, this seems like a card that really would have been handy to play earlier! I wonder why it wasn't? Is that a plot point?
Anyway Dom is getting busted up hooray :D Lookit dem brittle bones go.

p.s. Snuggly NO don't spit him out KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM NOW
YOU CAN GLOAT WHEN HE'S DEAD.

p.p.s. New thread names?
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Hrgp!

[Castel]

Meh. I miss Silent Snuggly. He isn't as cute now.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Sneaky Gate!
Future link

So uh, this seems like a card that really would have been handy to play earlier! I wonder why it wasn't? Is that a plot point?
Anyway Dom is getting busted up hooray :D Lookit dem brittle bones go.

p.s. Snuggly NO don't spit him out KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM NOW
YOU CAN GLOAT WHEN HE'S DEAD.

p.p.s. New thread names?
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Hrgp!

Oh no! Dominic is facing his greatest threat - an enemy with the same powers as his!

...no, not Visions or Second Sight. When was the last time Dominic used those to actually fix something? I'm talking about the ability to invent New Powers As The Plot Demands. Truly, which will be the greater Sue

[PhantomFox]

Okay, Snuggly now looks like the Cookie Monster.

[Trazoi]

I'm ignoring the words. My canon is that Snuggly used the Dominus Himself to physically shatter the Fourth Wall and escape, so he is now free to devour the comic strip itself.

Snuggly is the best.

[Darkmyst]

Oi. I do appreciate your fine idea for an action scene, but Mookie is +1 CHA, -5 Perception. Bringing his smarts into this is low. Plus he makes a living out of selling Dominic Deegan, which is no mean feat and more respectable than a lot of the selling that goes on in our ad-ridden age.

The "Mookie Modifier" was meant to imply the traits a strip crafted by Mookie posesses, rather than any attributes of the man himself (To wit, a concept in DD generally appears less intelligent, less likable and more prone to bogging the plot down purely by dint of its source). Apologies for the ambiguity; I'm not exactly very good at separating criticism of creator and creation.

As for the comic... NO. No spitting him out Snuggly! You will eat your seer and like it, or there'll be no desert for you young man! And stop talking with your mouth full!

(Also, going to the trouble of teling Dom how insignificant he is shows that you think him significant enough to warrant such attention. Way to undermine your only point, spaghetti-maw )

[Fawkes]

Okay, Snuggly now looks like the Cookie Monster.

Dominic is a sometimes food.

[TheLaughingMan]

p.p.s. New thread names?
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Hrgp!

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Snuggly's My Brony

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Shadow out of The Fourth Wall

[Zaq]

I do approve of the fact that Snuggly's chewing on the panels instead of on Dominic himself. That's a nice touch and I genuinely give Mookie a bit of credit for it.

Yes, Snuggly learning to talk is still a godawful idea, but credit where credit is due. Let it never be said that we don't recognize the tiny bits of good with the bad.

Anyway, I liked this particular strip better before I noticed the stupid eyeball that Snuggly has. Yup, it's up top. Nope, you can't unsee it. Sucks to be us.

For the thread title, I propose Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Om Nom Dom. (Or, if you prefer, Dom Nom Nom, but I like Om Nom Dom better.)

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Shadow out of The Fourth Wall

If we're going for Lovecraft parodies, we could go for The Thing on the Derpstep, The Music of Facebath Zahn, The Doom That Came to KARNAK! (a bit late on that one), The Shadow Over Lynn's Brook, or The Snarked House.

[Oracle_Hunter]

For the thread title, I propose Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk XXXIV: Om Nom Dom.

Seconded!

...I'd give him credit for the "chewing on panels" idea except I'm pretty sure he's used that same damn thing in a Mindsoulscape already. In fact, back in Storm of Souls he used the technique extensively. Now, it is probably as close as we're going to get to seeing some honest-to-god Style out of the man but I can't help but feel like it is used more as an excuse to draw Dominic in a single perspective more than anything else.

[Johnny Blade]

So many tentacles, and he doesn't make a single twirlable mustache out of them.


For shame.

[Palmer]

We so have to go with Om Nom Dom.



On the actual comic...so, Mookie, you really wanna go with that look for the beast? He looks more like the Flying spaghetti monster with each passing day. Sure you don't just wanna erase that and try again? It'd be pretty easy since balls of tentacles don't conform to those confusing things like "human anatomy" and "proportion".

[Zaq]

I just noticed that "you are powerless because I will it to be so" rather directly contradicts the established concept that Snuggly's mere presence distorts and blocks magic and/or reality.

Does he even qualify as an eldritch abomination anymore? Like, in any way? If it doesn't look like a duck, and it doesn't quack like a duck . . .

[Oracle_Hunter]

If it doesn't look like a duck, and it doesn't quack like a duck . . .

...it may still be a duck, horribly twisted by MAD SCIENCE!!!

...Mookie makes "eldritch abomination" lose all meaning. Honestly, when the phrase "penguin-fringed abyss" is more terrifying than the sum total of "Lovecraftian Horror" you've produced, you're doing it wrong.

[Castel]

Well, Mookie says Snuggly looks like the black beast of Arrrggghhh... I'm not seeing it, though. I guess the mouth does kinda resemble it.

It reminds me more of the Malboros from Final Fantasy...

[Trazoi]

Does he even qualify as an eldritch abomination anymore? Like, in any way? If it doesn't look like a duck, and it doesn't quack like a duck . . .

He does have an entry over on the TV Tropes page:

In Dominic Deegan, it's revealed that the Infernomancer has become one...

... but is nothing compared to his master, dubbed the Beast. Appearing as a gigantic eye, tentacles, and many, many teeth, its nature is so alien that it is effectively invisible to Dominic's Second Sight. Dominic, one of the most powerful seers alive and a master of mental combat, further empowered by Luna's Black Magic, was barely able to fight off a tiny fragment of the Beast that tried to claim Celesto Morgan's soul.

I'm guessing this was all before the Crawdad Cop.

(The actual answer to your question is: no. Celesto and the Storm of Souls were acting more eldritch than Audrey II is here.)