Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire

[Clockwork_Seal]

So, I think that this last weekend of comics has made this the most disgusting arc in DD history. Yes, topping the Orc Rape. Yes, topping Snowsong.

See, I have a boring job. So I have a lot of time to mull things over, and WILL mull them over regardless of any desire to. I had some time before work this morning, though, so I saw the comic and OH's comments on it.

For background, I depsise the concept of 'feminism.' I believe in gender equality, and 'feminism' is really no better than 'masculinism.' I feel that most misogynistic interpretations are full of ****, and that the accusations for it are thrown around far too readily and without enough thought.

What I realized, though, is that this is the most misogynistic that I can remember the comic being. And the worst part about it all, and what it REALLY says about Mookie, is that he doesn't even realize this.

There is literally so much going on to make this weekend's strips an abyss of fail that it can not possibly be a coincidence. However, Mookie explicitly doesn't plan ahead in DD. He flies by the seat of his pants, which means that what we are seeing are his gut responses to things that have happened in the comic. No forethought, just whatever response comes to mind and he doesn't consider repulsive.

Mookie thinks that he is writing a story about the inner mind of bullies. That's what he WANTS to be writing. It's painfully clear from the 'I've never been strong' comment, she is insecure and weak so she makes herself feel better by picking on people. But then you see what he's ACTUALLY written.

Consider.

On Friday, OH mentioned Dommykins dredging up her most personal thoughts and fears. What thougts and fears did he dredge up? Why, liking pretty dresses, or worrying about generally feminine things. There is no interpretation to be had here. OH's greatest fear, her greatest negative trait and shame, is being a woman. This goes beyond her being aggravated when he did it. That was understandable. This is straight-up creepy.

If we want to go interpretive with that, OH was a villain then. She was irredeemable and not worth saving. Torturing her was supposed to be completely justified. And why? Because she shunned her typical gender role and tried to forge her own identity free of its constraints. I'll get back to this, and why it makes everything so very, very horrible.

So, OH is antagonistic to Dommykins. This makes sense, he's been quite the jackass. Then he comes into her soul. Her most personal space, one of the only things that is purely hers. She attempts to remove him from it, which is understandable. If nothing else, she's naked in there and he's peeping. And then everything goes to hell.

Dommykins grabs a part of her soul, transforms himself into a large, more muscular version of himself, wearing a banana hammock and an outfit 'borrowed' from 'HE-MAN.' What's more, that bit of her soul that he grabbed? It turns into a large, phallic object which he brandishes as he declares dominance.

Seriously, look at it. He took those parts of her which were giving her strength (The positive, manly attributes), turned into a more masculine version of himself, and effectively says 'Now I, as the man, am in charge.'

Faced with such an awesome display of masculinity, what choice does OH have but to submit? Suddenly, she is no longer antagonistic. When Dommykins tells her that she is weaker than him, she capitulates, admitting her weakness and going so far as to literally open her womb to him.

**** you, Terraciano. UNtil today, I never actually thought you were a misogynist.

[Monnock]

Dommykins grabs a part of her soul, transforms himself into a large, more muscular version of himself, wearing a banana hammock and an outfit 'borrowed' from 'HE-MAN.' What's more, that bit of her soul that he grabbed? It turns into a large, phallic object which he brandishes as he declares dominance.

Seriously, look at it. He took those parts of her which were giving her strength (The positive, manly attributes), turned into a more masculine version of himself, and effectively says 'Now I, as the man, am in charge.'

Faced with such an awesome display of masculinity, what choice does OH have but to submit? Suddenly, she is no longer antagonistic. When Dommykins tells her that she is weaker than him, she capitulates, admitting her weakness and going so far as to literally open her womb to him.

**** you, Terraciano. UNtil today, I never actually thought you were a misogynist.

Hahaha, BWAHAHAHA! I didn't even NOTICE the massive phallic symbol for some reason. Perhaps Dominic's massive package in my face overloaded my phallic-detection-system. It's awesome because it's totally unnecessary and just makes it look exactly how you describe it. Why did he even 'transform' it into a 'weapon?' ... It's just soooo not right.

I just love that Mookie doesn't draw nipples, as though somehow that would cross the line of being sexually explicit.

[Jayngfet]

dear god, this is so terrible I'm just giggling


MOOKIE HAS DRIVEN ME INSANE!!!

[MattR]

Mookie may be guilty of creating the comic.. but you guys are even worse.. youre promoting it. How many here spotted this thread and said to themselves 'How bad can it be?' ... before reading their way through the lengthy archive. For gods sake! stop promoting it! if there werent threads like this Deegan would have fallen into obscurity...

EDIT: My sense of innocence is giving you guys the finger from some dark dimension right now.

[Khosan]

It was well-known before this thread even began. It has enough readers that are willing to donate money (which is usually a small percentage) that Mookie can make a living off the comic, and has been doing so for a few years.

If anything, I think I'd have to attribute the comics' continued success (and I use that lightly) to Mookie's friendship with other webcomic artists (BUCKLEYYYYY) who were willing to advertise.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Thst and those people are stupid enough to say "how bad can it be?" after reading words saying how horrible it is. God. It's like a freaking drug. You know it's bad but you can't... stop.... using..... it....

[Turcano]

If anything, I think I'd have to attribute the comics' continued success (and I use that lightly) to Mookie's friendship with other webcomic artists (BUCKLEYYYYY) who were willing to advertise.

That would explain quite a lot. There are a lot of terrible webcomics out there that are inexplicably popular, so people who like one terrible comic are very likely to like another.

Oh well. It keeps Mookie off the government cheese.

[Trazoi]

Thst and those people are stupid enough to say "how bad can it be?" after reading words saying how horrible it is. God. It's like a freaking drug. You know it's bad but you can't... stop.... using..... it....

I haven't read any Dominic Deegan save for the occasional random strip cited by someone else, but I admit I'm a hairs breadth away from starting a massive archive trawl purely because I see you guys in this thread and the strip slays having so much fun with your commentary.

[Khosan]

I haven't read any Dominic Deegan save for the occasional random strip cited by someone else, but I admit I'm a hairs breadth away from starting a massive archive trawl purely because I see you guys in this thread and the strip slays having so much fun with your commentary.

It's like a train wreck.

A train wreck that hasn't stopped since mid-2000.

[Mewtarthio]

Mookie may be guilty of creating the comic.. but you guys are even worse.. youre promoting it. How many here spotted this thread and said to themselves 'How bad can it be?' ... before reading their way through the lengthy archive. For gods sake! stop promoting it! if there werent threads like this Deegan would have fallen into obscurity...

So? If it weren't for people like us, then Plan Nine from Outer Space would have fallen into obscurity as well. So would the entire Godzilla franchise. Is that what you really want, Mister R?

[Clockwork_Seal]

Correction:

Godzilla perseveres due to nostalgia and brand recognition. It isn't a snark-charity-case.

[Twin2]

Thst and those people are stupid enough to say "how bad can it be?" after reading words saying how horrible it is. God. It's like a freaking drug. You know it's bad but you can't... stop.... using..... it....

It's like this gif really

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[Khosan]

It's like this gif really

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I can't stop staring...

[PhantomFox]

Y'know, I had an incredibly stupid idea. Or perhaps it's just plain implausible.

We all agree that the Mookster's writing is bad. We all say we could do better. I wonder what would happen if we tried... could we hijack Dominic Deegan?

Think about it. Suppose we take the basic premise of whatever arc he's working on at the moment (or had just ended, whichever) and rewrite it to our satisfaction the way the idea should have gone if the story was actually GOOD. The archives have more than enough art to piece together and clean up what we'd need, or someone could imitate it (the good bits of it, that is). Could we possibly clean this up?

I had a brief fantasy vision (next to the flying cars and creatures of myth) of actually pulling this off and stealing DD's fanbase with a better version of Mookie's own comic!


As I said, stupid idea, right? We could never pull it off.... but it would be sooo sweet if we could.

[Mewtarthio]

A) Mookie would be well within his legal rights to sue us.
B) Look at the art he's produced. Just look at it. Not one single panel of Celesto brutally murdering Luna and Gregory. How could we get anything out of that?
C) If we tried to do that, we would cease to be mockers. We would become the mockees*.

It occurs to me now that "mockee" is suprisingly similar to "Mookie."

[Clockwork_Seal]

The real issue is: Why bother? If you can write and do new art to steal someone else's comic and try to salvage it from the hole it dug for itself, why not just start your own?

[PhantomFox]

As I said, stupid idea. I just found the idea of 'correcting' his comic like a bad essay to be highly amusing.

"No, no, no. THIS is what you should have done. See? Much better."

[Thayus]

A) Mookie would be well within his legal rights to sue us.
B) Look at the art he's produced. Just look at it. Not one single panel of Celesto brutally murdering Luna and Gregory. How could we get anything out of that?
C) If we tried to do that, we would cease to be mockers. We would become the mockees*.

It occurs to me now that "mockee" is suprisingly similar to "Mookie."

Mookie is not precisely wealthy, and we're allowed a fair amount of legal latitude to create parodies.

-Thayus

[Mewtarthio]

As I said, stupid idea. I just found the idea of 'correcting' his comic like a bad essay to be highly amusing.

"No, no, no. THIS is what you should have done. See? Much better."

That's what the Strip Slays are for!

Mookie is not precisely wealthy, and we're allowed a fair amount of legal latitude to create parodies.

Mookie is the God of Madness. He doesn't need money. He can pay in paperclips, and everyone will be too busy being reduced to gibbering heaps by the horrible, horrible stripper-Dom to notice.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Y'know, I had an incredibly stupid idea. Or perhaps it's just plain implausible.

We all agree that the Mookster's writing is bad. We all say we could do better. I wonder what would happen if we tried... could we hijack Dominic Deegan?

Think about it. Suppose we take the basic premise of whatever arc he's working on at the moment (or had just ended, whichever) and rewrite it to our satisfaction the way the idea should have gone if the story was actually GOOD. The archives have more than enough art to piece together and clean up what we'd need, or someone could imitate it (the good bits of it, that is). Could we possibly clean this up?

I had a brief fantasy vision (next to the flying cars and creatures of myth) of actually pulling this off and stealing DD's fanbase with a better version of Mookie's own comic!


As I said, stupid idea, right? We could never pull it off.... but it would be sooo sweet if we could.

Oh, we have toyed with the idea on and off, but ultimately group writing is too hard, and we're all much too lazy to reboot DD.

As a brief sketch, here's how I'd do it, anyhow:

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"Oracle for Hire" through "Luna"

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Dominic Deegan is a highly talented seer who has taken up life as a "fortune teller" in a small town because he has an intense dislike for humanity, having seen the true nature of far too many of his fellow Callanians to have any faith in them. However, a chance encounter with a visiting knight (Siegfried) revealed that he was in terrible danger. However, Siegfried refused to take heed, and Dominic took it upon himself to sneak into the manor to try and prevent the future that he saw.

Within the manor, Dominic came upon Luna, the disfigured and depressed daughter of Madame Travoria that had been hidden from polite society and scorned by her sisters due to her deformity. Dominic befriends Luna and convinces her that they must save Siegfried from her mother's murderous plot. By capturing and scrying into the pasts of several of Madame Travoria's minions, the pair are able to thwart the assassination and reveal Madame Travoria's complicity in the plot.

To the shock of all, Siegfried slays Madame Travoria without a second thought, revealing a brutal streak that taints an otherwise perfect facade of chivalrous virtues. None of the surviving conspirators claim to know who ultimately called for the assassination, but Siegfried arrests them all, and promises to find out who was behind it.

"Into the Woods" through "Mob Mentality"

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Due to Madame Travoria's role in the conspiracy against a member of the nobility, the Crown confiscates all Travoria land and wealth, leaving Luna, the only member of the Travoria Family still unmarried and unsupported, completely penniless. Dominic agrees to hire her as a secretary for his small business and quickly discovers that despite her depressive exterior, she is a talented sorceress in her own right.

After months of getting to know each other, Dominic gets a letter from his younger brother, then living in a little town known as Barthis, asking for him to visit. Dominic dismisses the letter, but Luna, wanting to know more about his family and thinking that a change of scenery might do him some good, eventually convinces him to go. So the pair set out on the trip. In the course of their travels they are ambushed by a pair of highway men going by the names of "Stunt" and "Bumper." After Dominic is incapacitated, Luna is forced to overcome her self-loathing and act on her own, and manages to chase off the pair.

Once in Barthis, they are told by Pam, the lay healer at the Church of Lunan who looks after Dominic's crippled brother, that Gregory vanished into the woods the other day and hasn't come back yet. After the local seer was unable to locate him (being far too weak to do more than do simple predictions and find missing housekeys), Dominic uses his own powers and sees that Gregory is lying unconscious in the lair of some monster! Dominic goes to Dex, the town's sheriff, for help, and while Dex tries to round up a posse, the town refuses to face the horrible monster Dominic describes. Nonetheless, Dex agrees to help out Dominic.

While searching for Gregory, the party is set upon by Stunt and Bumper who, furious by the humiliation they suffered at Luna's hands, came back for revenge. Luna is taken out first by a thrown knife - the sudden injury panics her and she stumbles away, shrieking. Dex quickly takes out Stunt and Bumper while Dominic goes to get Luna back.

He eventually finds her sobbing in a clearing - ashamed at having run, and disgusted by her cowardice when she had taken care of those two beforehand. Dominic consoles her, and is about to head back when he hears a sound in the brush. Gregory steps out and explains that he was taking a walk in the woods when a small man (Dirk) approached him and asked for his help in healing his friend - a wounded dryad. He followed Dirk to a cave where, try as he might, his White Magic could not heal the wounds on the dryad's body. He was going to head back towards town when they were attacked by a fiendish man of terrible powers - Timontious the Infernomancer - and that then Dirk transformed into a fearsome creature whose mere presence was enough to send Gregory into unconsciousness. Dominic nods, and says that there is always a risk when Seeing of misinterpreting what you see. When Gregory awoke, both Dirk and the dryad were gone, and Gregory was making his way back to town when he stumbled upon Dominic and Luna. Gregory heals Luna's minor wounds and the tree are about to head back to Dex when a terrible shriek and roar echoes through the forest.

Running to investigate, they see a fallen and bloodied Dirk at the feet of Timontious as he reaches over to get the Dryad. The three spring into action, Luna, emboldened by her last failure, uses powerful magics to try and stop Timontious, but it only causes him to turn his attentions to Luna. Panicked, Luna is about to flee when she is sees Gregory standing ready to receive the Infernomancer's attack. Refusing to run when a cripple would not, the two try to hold back the Infernomancer while Dominic sneaks around to take Dirk and the Dryad to safety. In a moment of desperation, Gregory calls on powerful White Magic spell to temporarily banish the Infernomancer back to Hell before clutching his leg and falling over.

Dominic explains that about Jacob and how, when they were teenagers, Jacob placed a necromantic hex of his own design on Gregory, crippling his leg and draining him of much of his life essence. Dominic confronted him, but the more powerful Jacob swatted him down. Dominic responded with a potent Seeing spell - See the Truth - which confronted Jacob with an unfocused yet complete impression of what the rest of Jacob's life would be life if he followed this path. As they were still in training, Dominic did not understand the full power of this spell, and the resulting revelation left Jacob slightly (more) unhinged. Laughing manically about his "destiny" Jacob then left the Deegan Household. A week later, when Miranda returned from her trip to find what had happened, she was astounded by the complexity of Jacob's hex and could not remove it. Attempts to find Jacob were thwarted by a potent ward - it seems that he had entered the protection of one of Callan's many secret "black arts" societies which sensibly warded all their members from the prying eyes of seers.

Ultimately, Dominic & Co. revive Dirk, who tells them to seek out the Oracle of the Forest. The Oracle repairs the wounds suffered by Dirk and the Dryad, noting that they were difficult to heal because they were infected with the Curse of Wounding - a gift that the Demon of Wounds bestowed upon his most powerful Infernomancers.

(The whole series of events of Stupid Hick Filler, Rachel, Hello Nurse! and Slaughterball are skipped entirely)

Now we're at the "good part" of the series. Sketches for "Visions," "Ecstasy," and "Storm"

"Visions"

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Upon getting back to Barthis, they meet up with Siegfried and his two new companions - Milov, a potent werewolf shaman and Ambassador to Callan from the Winter Archipelagos, and his lover, Jayden, a priestess of Luan who loves Milov despite being unable to marry him due to the constraints of the Code of the Moon. Milov received a vision from the Moon Goddess that a great and ancient evil would be unlocked in Barthis and called upon the Callanian Court for aide. Only Siegfried stepped forward to assist, on the condition that Milov would use his powers to try and discover who had ordered his assassination.

After this, "Visions" runs pretty much as written after they are all in Barthis and have met Milov. Siegfried attempts to manhandle Vilrath after Dominic fingers him as a suspect due to having the anti-seer rune and Siegfried is hit with a powerful necromantic hex. While Milov and Jayden try to track down Vilrath, Dominic tries to use more powerful Seeing spells and, after being rebuffed by potent anti-seer spells, manages to get some fragmented images. By the time he puts this all together, the Chosen have struck and the town is gripped by the Suicide Curse.

As the only two town members unaffected due to their training, Dominic recruits the hapless Red Shirt Seer to try and confront the Chosen. Red Shirt is promptly killed, but in the confusion, Dominic is able to disrupt the Suicide Curse. The Chosen are about to kill Dominic when Jayden and Milov show up - newly freed of the curse - but after a brief scuffle the Chosen take control of Jayden's mind and force her to incapacitate Milov. Then, they make her channel her Divine Powers in a foul ritual which taints her soul and grants them all tremendous power.

Jacob then reveals himself, kicks ass, and leaves. He'll be slightly crazier and babble more about "his destiny" than in the comic.

Having been unable to do more than watch, shocked and frightened, as the battle went on, the people of Barthis thank Dominic and Co. for their selfless actions and fete them as heroes. Red Shirt Seer is buried before the tree and Dominic suffers angst for having forced him to risk his life.

At the end of the fete, Dominic is encouraged to take over Red Shirt Seer's old shop by the townsfolk - and he does. Jayden is tainted and must go perform cleansing rituals and meditation at Aberxast before she can use her divine powers again, but seeing that Gregory has a tremendous gift, she guides him through the ritual needed to cleanse Siegfried. Siegfried vows vengeance on Jacob, and leaves with Milov to escort Jayden to Aberxast.

Phew! "Ecstasy" and "Storm" will needed to be re-written later. Some bullet points for "future" developments.

• Siegfried's research indicates that Szark, Dominic's childhood friend, was behind the assassination. Dominic goes to Sin City to protect his friend from Siegfried's wrath, but is wrapped up in a convoluted plot involving Amaelia, similar but better planned than the actual one. Szark turns out to have been but a link in the chain, and Siegfried continues searching.
• The Storm of Souls occurs pretty much as written. Dominic is chosen as the Champion of Balance by Klo Tark and, as the combat rages Barthas is destroyed (but it's people saved by Gregory, whom everyone had always treated as a worthless cripple, aside from Pam), Siegfried duels Jacob while Luna & Co. try to stop Hexia. In the end, Klo Tark is dead for real, Celesto has been banished to an alternate dimension, and Dominic has suffered some actual sacrifice, which might be an unhealable leg.
• Battle for Barthis reveals Serk, a powerful businessman with the ear of the king. He has granted a title of nobility contingent on rebuilding Barthis - specifically a title that transforms formerly independent Barthis into his personal fief. Dominic & Co. try to raise the money to repair the town on their own, but are constantly thwarted by shady dealings and criminal sabotage. In the end, Serk is defeated, thanks to the apprehension and implication of his lieutenant "Urban Eddie" in the sabotage. Dominic gets a sense that Serk might have had something to do with the Assassination Plot, but Siegfried is restrained from killing Serk by his fellow Knights. Serk escapes, bloodied but free.

Man, that was long. Um, I'll write more the next time someone asks about it, I guess. Enjoy, if you dare?

EDIT: Yeah, so tons of people responded before I finished. I don't care, I like writing alternate plotlines. Besides, I'm actually fairly proud of my alternate script now. Too bad I can't draw even as good as Mookie and this isn't exactly parody, thus this Derivative Work would not get the Fair Use defense.

Also: Wow, I wrote for so long that the new comic came up!

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Wait... she left home because she was the Fighter in a family of Wizards? And couldn't handle her parent's disappointment? I think I've seen this somewhere else, but much less whiny. What a letdown!

[Green Bean]

See, someone really should have lent her some Batmage "action books" when she was a kid, so she'd realize that she doesn't need powers to bully people with ridiculously circuitous plans.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I've also entertained the idea of reduxing DD, as part of a group effort by us or independently. I mean, it's a really good premise, it's just that the execution has gone from So Bad Its Good to Actually Pretty Good to Maddeningly Horrifying over the course of the comic.

Oracle_Hunter's plotting is pretty damn good, but I'd probably change the early arcs less, since I enjoyed their general wackiness. Although that would probably mean I need to up the humor factor in Visions, Ecstasy, and Storm to keep the tone more consistent than Mookie did. Maybe I'll leave this to the people who've put more thought into it.

[Lenlalron]

How could this happen to Barnet?
She made her mistakes.
She's got nowhere to run
The mindcrush goes on as she's fading away
She's sick of this life
She just wants to scream
How could this happen to her?



That's pretty much all I can say. This line of reasoning is the most predictable reason you can guess. Seriously, Mookie should have stuck with the 'religious fanatacism' reason- Barnet despises the fact that people with his power 'play God', and thus sees Luna's marriage to DD an utter offense and travesty, and is trying to protect her sister.

You could include painful memories of her trying to prevent something from a vision, but failing. Sure, that's not the most original reasoning, but I feel like it'd make more sense AND closely align all the previous killings.

[Mewtarthio]

Aww, poor Barnet. It must have been awful for you, growing up in a family that didn't love you enough. With this perpective, it's easy to see why you'd turn to violent serial killing. It's okay; that's perfectly justified.

I don't really mind this backstory in and of itself. That'd be a perfectly good motivation for someone setting off on the path of evil. The problem I have is with what's going to happen next: It's going to be revealed that this has been her motivation the entire time, and she's going to be totally forgiven for all her murders because, hey, we feel bad for her.

You know, as I recall the Infernomancer also had a pretty sympathetic motivation, at least originally. He'd made a brash deal for power, and was seeking out dryad's blood as the cure to save his immortal soul. Ayup, the difference is that he's Fourth Caste and Barnet is Third.

[sihnfahl]

See, someone really should have lent her some Batmage "action books" when she was a kid, so she'd realize that she doesn't need powers to bully people with ridiculously circuitous plans.

What she really needed was a book about the fictional Plateland. And focus on the leader of one group on the Plate - Lackdoor Fisicie.

[InkEyes]

Cheer up everyone! It's April Fools Day! That means it's the one day of the year we can try to excuse the the comic for being all some sick joke Mookie cooked up. Tomorrow perhaps he'll make a laughing news post and upload the actual archive, which will show that the comic really is a masterpiece on level with Charles Dickens or Mark Twain. This won't happen, of course, but it's the one day of the year when we can almost imagine it's possible.

{Insert rant about how Freudian excuses are a cheap cop-out when used on an unsympathetic character.}

[Oracle_Hunter]

Oracle_Hunter's plotting is pretty damn good, but I'd probably change the early arcs less, since I enjoyed their general wackiness. Although that would probably mean I need to up the humor factor in Visions, Ecstasy, and Storm to keep the tone more consistent than Mookie did. Maybe I'll leave this to the people who've put more thought into it.

First of all: thank you for the complement!

Secondly: the main problem with Mookie is that he set up the world as a joke-a-day world, but later decided to make it Serious Business. But he never quite made the transition all the way, and when he tried, he did it poorly. Thus, he is stuck straddling the Comedy World of Fish Curses and Spark and the Drama World of Epic World-Saving and Angst. I think the best way to reboot the world is to pick one or the other - do the first, and you basically ignore every Arc starting with "Visions;" the second requires a tightening of those first Arcs.

Now, if you're really ambitious, you can try to do both, and a template would be Sluggy Freelance through "Dangerous Days." Me, I prefer the dramatic potential of DD.

Spoilered for being self-congratulatory

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Plus, rebooting Serk as a competent criminal mastermind (a la Lex Luthor) just makes me giddy. Oh, and making Dominic partially responsible for Jacob's villainy? Also golden.

... I seemed to have been channeling the DC Universe last night. I wonder why?

EDIT:
Man, I just re-read the "Epic Battle" part of Storm of Souls and it really is quite good. I mean, there are continuity errors and the art is... well, as always - but Celesto had an excellent characterization there. He reacted intelligently and in character the whole time.

Did Mookie have a ghost writer for Celesto? Celesto's dialog suggests a sophistication that is at odds with Mookie's constant release of Unfortunate Implications. Somehow, Celesto seems to bring the best out of Mookie - perhaps because Celesto is the part of Mookie that actually must look at DD critically and not turn away. I can't explain it any other way.

[Johnny Blade]

Aww, poor Barnet. It must have been awful for you, growing up in a family that didn't love you enough. With this perpective, it's easy to see why you'd turn to violent serial killing. It's okay; that's perfectly justified.

I don't really mind this backstory in and of itself. That'd be a perfectly good motivation for someone setting off on the path of evil. The problem I have is with what's going to happen next: It's going to be revealed that this has been her motivation the entire time, and she's going to be totally forgiven for all her murders because, hey, we feel bad for her.

This is exactly what I thought. Although I do think Mookie may show us how she was scorned and ridiculed when she was poor tomorrow.
After all, he needs to stretch this out for a few days so we can enjoy an ass shot of a fixed Barnet on sunday.

Also, I'm curious how it will be resolved that she killed quite a few people. "Not at all" seems like a safe bet. The Caste System in action.

Although, somehow, I want the following to happen:

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The gang celebrates the salvation of Barnet's soul with coffee and cake. Suddenly, Gregory remembers something.
Gregory: "But, um, Barnet, didn't you, like, kill a lot of people and stuff?"
Barnet: "Um...yeah, you know..."
Dominic: "Gregory, please, give it a rest. We're celebrating here. And I ask you, did you know any of her victims? Do you even know the name of one of them?"
Gregory: "Uh...I think I heard about that one guy...but...well, no, I don't know any of them by name."
Dominic: "See? So why bother? You're not going to miss them, and there isn't exactly a shortage of people anyway."
Gregory: "Hey, that makes sense! You're a genius, bro!"
Dominic: "I know. Cake?"
Luna: "But Dominic, what about your friend? What about Zelda?"
Dominic: "Zelda, Zelda...uh..."
Luna: "Your old friend. Who we visited in the hospital. Because she was blinded by the virus."
Dominic: "Oh, her. Well, she's not dead, is she? And I'm sure she can still make some money working at fairs and all that."
Szark: "But, Dominic, I understand that people we don't care about aren't important, but Barnet killed my boyfriend."
Dominic: "Is that true?"
Szark: "Yes! I mean, I didn't care all that much about him, but hey, I did know his name. And she stabbed him!"
Dominic, to Barnet: "Now you must die."

You know, as I recall the Infernomancer also had a pretty sympathetic motivation, at least originally. He'd made a brash deal for power, and was seeking out dryad's blood as the cure to save his immortal soul. Ayup, the difference is that he's Fourth Caste and Barnet is Third.

Yeah, originally, he was simply afraid to die.
Well, he has been shown to enjoy killing everything in sight, but so has Szark. And Bulgak (the Orc) was corrupted by his Demon Lord, too.
Of course, the Infernomancer has been free for some time now, but I'd bet my life that he'd get a Freudian Excuse if he was female.


Re: You, Wumahn. Me, Say-vi-ooor!

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So, I think that this last weekend of comics has made this the most disgusting arc in DD history. Yes, topping the Orc Rape. Yes, topping Snowsong.

See, I have a boring job. So I have a lot of time to mull things over, and WILL mull them over regardless of any desire to. I had some time before work this morning, though, so I saw the comic and OH's comments on it.

For background, I depsise the concept of 'feminism.' I believe in gender equality, and 'feminism' is really no better than 'masculinism.' I feel that most misogynistic interpretations are full of ****, and that the accusations for it are thrown around far too readily and without enough thought.

What I realized, though, is that this is the most misogynistic that I can remember the comic being. And the worst part about it all, and what it REALLY says about Mookie, is that he doesn't even realize this.

There is literally so much going on to make this weekend's strips an abyss of fail that it can not possibly be a coincidence. However, Mookie explicitly doesn't plan ahead in DD. He flies by the seat of his pants, which means that what we are seeing are his gut responses to things that have happened in the comic. No forethought, just whatever response comes to mind and he doesn't consider repulsive.

Mookie thinks that he is writing a story about the inner mind of bullies. That's what he WANTS to be writing. It's painfully clear from the 'I've never been strong' comment, she is insecure and weak so she makes herself feel better by picking on people. But then you see what he's ACTUALLY written.

Consider.

On Friday, OH mentioned Dommykins dredging up her most personal thoughts and fears. What thougts and fears did he dredge up? Why, liking pretty dresses, or worrying about generally feminine things. There is no interpretation to be had here. OH's greatest fear, her greatest negative trait and shame, is being a woman. This goes beyond her being aggravated when he did it. That was understandable. This is straight-up creepy.

If we want to go interpretive with that, OH was a villain then. She was irredeemable and not worth saving. Torturing her was supposed to be completely justified. And why? Because she shunned her typical gender role and tried to forge her own identity free of its constraints. I'll get back to this, and why it makes everything so very, very horrible.

So, OH is antagonistic to Dommykins. This makes sense, he's been quite the jackass. Then he comes into her soul. Her most personal space, one of the only things that is purely hers. She attempts to remove him from it, which is understandable. If nothing else, she's naked in there and he's peeping. And then everything goes to hell.

Dommykins grabs a part of her soul, transforms himself into a large, more muscular version of himself, wearing a banana hammock and an outfit 'borrowed' from 'HE-MAN.' What's more, that bit of her soul that he grabbed? It turns into a large, phallic object which he brandishes as he declares dominance.

Seriously, look at it. He took those parts of her which were giving her strength (The positive, manly attributes), turned into a more masculine version of himself, and effectively says 'Now I, as the man, am in charge.'

Faced with such an awesome display of masculinity, what choice does OH have but to submit? Suddenly, she is no longer antagonistic. When Dommykins tells her that she is weaker than him, she capitulates, admitting her weakness and going so far as to literally open her womb to him.

**** you, Terraciano. UNtil today, I never actually thought you were a misogynist.

Although I think you may exaggerate a little bit with the "positive, manly attributes".
In general, though, I agree.
I'm more or less convinced that Mookie doesn't even differentiate between biological sex and constructed gender.
It seems that for Mookie, there is an essence of being a woman (or gay), and tolerance means accepting this nature.
(By the way, I'm surprised you didn't comment on "I need a man who loves me so I can have a reason to live."-Luna, the emo in distress.)

Re: The Dominion Ape

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I think my "magic chemical" theory holds ground, the wherewolves in their seemingly more chemical heavy enviroment, resulting in partial in"humanity"

my theory is that the origional mookiai appeared, as they began diverging a small number or early orcs(no doubt the smaller less agressive ones or a close ancestor), diverged upon finding a large series of caverns, my belief is that these caverns, as well as water, plants and fungus around them were chemicly enriched, the caves were no doubt full off rocky levels and maby a magicly irridated form of fungus(a plant is unlikley due to the cell wall that flails about when attacked, the diet of exclusivly magic foods must've created rapid and extreme evolution, allowing the homo-serphentus as I call them to constrict their "prey" and climb from level to level) this also gave them a penchant for magic, allowing them to use primitive light spells(similar to the kind given off by the magus gregory after mating)

however I believe that eventually nagsta learned to use metals and gems effeciently, hollowing out tunnels to accomidate increasing population, eventually this led to the nagsta tunnels collapsing(presumably over a distance near barathis or come other dominion ape settlement, due to the apperance of several highly powerful magus, and possibly a small dominion ape subspecies descended from magus designed to mimic carnacaputa's size and make them invulnerable to magus's defenses, allowing them to rule over magus, however they appear to be an endangered species, I propose that many more became "advanced magus's than faux carnacaputs's, and the few seem to be breeding with magus more than each other, causing their own extinction, dex is sadly one of a race breeding to extinction, I propose that stunt is a rare faux/real carnacaputa hybrid, due to his smaller stature, seemingly unnatural physical endurance versus spells, while the specimin celesto is a magus/faux carnacaputa hybrid, due to his seeming inability to be killed with magic and ability to not be seen by scrying until he's close or suitably distracted.


I propose that there are few nagstas due to the cave in, as well as a certan nagsta metal being rare and valuble due to vast quantities of it being lost in the collapsed tunnels, as well as its seemingly magic nature.

Well, magic has to be involved somewhere. I think it may come from the moon, too, and have strange results on the werewolves.
Also, what supports the theory is the magic the Orcs practice. They seem to lend themselves to a magic known as Ecomancy (or whatever it was ) and feast solely on vegetable food. There may just be a connection here.

This rests on the assumption that these species are actually native to the Dominion. Most of these species bear undeniable relationships to species from other planes. The connections suggest that these species originate from specimens introduced unwillingly from other planes.

There is incontrovertible evidence that the Dominion is inhabited (and possibly created) by an pseudo-supernatural entity known as "Mookie;" Mookie bears a very close resemblance to an similar entity on another plane known as "Q," especially in near omnipotence on their respective home planes and their childish tendency to use sentient beings as playthings. It is clear that Mookie either collected specimens from other planes and introduced them to his home plane or subjected a native species to radical amounts of genetic experimentation using genetic templates from these sources. The former is more likely, as specimens appear at different times instead of showing a clear divergence from one another (recent additions to Mookie's collection include specimens of Zora hyrulensis and an unidentified hobgoblin species). Extensive genome mapping would need to be done in order to make any conclusive statements on the origins of these species, as well as to determine the extent of Mookie's tampering (if any).

I actually think it was the other way around. Seeing how the different species seem capable of interbreeding and share some characteristics (especially the tolerance towards blows to the head), I still assume they have a shared ancestor.
I think you are right about the tampering of the entity we know as Mookie, though. To me, it seems that it has been breeding species to mimic races it found in other worlds, using the original Dominion Ape, wherever this species may have originated, as a starting point.

Mookie also seems to be the source of many arbitrarily granted magical powers, a point I will reflect upon in the future. My initial suspection is that it may in fact be this being that caused the ongoing segregation of S. mookiei magus and S. mookiei carnacaputa (vulgaris?) by endowing the former with their powers, possibly out of spite for the latter.
Mookie, the vengeful god?


(By the way, both posts deserve longer answers, but I don't have the time right now. I plan to post a detailed article on the nature of the Dominion Ape, comprising all theories, once we reach page 250, however.)

Other stuff:

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The original meaning of sodomy in Christianity was any intercourse which was not for the purpose of reproduction. This meant that just having sex for pleasure was a form of sodomy. Eventually it's meaning was adapted into just 'doggy style,' which is assumed to be the style of choice by homosexuals.

So calling it sodomy would be correct in the original meaning of the word, since it would be impossible for Jayden and Sigfried to conceive, and even if they did it would likely be sterile.

Hm, that's interesting. And makes a lot of sense when you consider the morals back then.
However, I somehow ask myself just why it is primarily used as a insulting term for homosexuality in the USA (and probably Britain) nowadays, while it's used for bestiality in German.
I hope it was just because the languages needed words for certain things, but somehow I can't free myself of the thought that at some point, bestiality was more common than homosexuality in Germany.

Anyway, I was just saying it so no one would wonder. Sorry if I sounded snotty there, by the way, it's just that I learned it the embarassing way.

Oh, we have toyed with the idea on and off, but ultimately group writing is too hard, and we're all much too lazy to reboot DD.

As a brief sketch, here's how I'd do it, anyhow:

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"Oracle for Hire" through "Luna"

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Dominic Deegan is a highly talented seer who has taken up life as a "fortune teller" in a small town because he has an intense dislike for humanity, having seen the true nature of far too many of his fellow Callanians to have any faith in them. However, a chance encounter with a visiting knight (Siegfried) revealed that he was in terrible danger. However, Siegfried refused to take heed, and Dominic took it upon himself to sneak into the manor to try and prevent the future that he saw.

Within the manor, Dominic came upon Luna, the disfigured and depressed daughter of Madame Travoria that had been hidden from polite society and scorned by her sisters due to her deformity. Dominic befriends Luna and convinces her that they must save Siegfried from her mother's murderous plot. By capturing and scrying into the pasts of several of Madame Travoria's minions, the pair are able to thwart the assassination and reveal Madame Travoria's complicity in the plot.

To the shock of all, Siegfried slays Madame Travoria without a second thought, revealing a brutal streak that taints an otherwise perfect facade of chivalrous virtues. None of the surviving conspirators claim to know who ultimately called for the assassination, but Siegfried arrests them all, and promises to find out who was behind it.

"Into the Woods" through "Mob Mentality"

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Due to Madame Travoria's role in the conspiracy against a member of the nobility, the Crown confiscates all Travoria land and wealth, leaving Luna, the only member of the Travoria Family still unmarried and unsupported, completely penniless. Dominic agrees to hire her as a secretary for his small business and quickly discovers that despite her depressive exterior, she is a talented sorceress in her own right.

After months of getting to know each other, Dominic gets a letter from his younger brother, then living in a little town known as Barthis, asking for him to visit. Dominic dismisses the letter, but Luna, wanting to know more about his family and thinking that a change of scenery might do him some good, eventually convinces him to go. So the pair set out on the trip. In the course of their travels they are ambushed by a pair of highway men going by the names of "Stunt" and "Bumper." After Dominic is incapacitated, Luna is forced to overcome her self-loathing and act on her own, and manages to chase off the pair.

Once in Barthis, they are told by Pam, the lay healer at the Church of Lunan who looks after Dominic's crippled brother, that Gregory vanished into the woods the other day and hasn't come back yet. After the local seer was unable to locate him (being far too weak to do more than do simple predictions and find missing housekeys), Dominic uses his own powers and sees that Gregory is lying unconscious in the lair of some monster! Dominic goes to Dex, the town's sheriff, for help, and while Dex tries to round up a posse, the town refuses to face the horrible monster Dominic describes. Nonetheless, Dex agrees to help out Dominic.

While searching for Gregory, the party is set upon by Stunt and Bumper who, furious by the humiliation they suffered at Luna's hands, came back for revenge. Luna is taken out first by a thrown knife - the sudden injury panics her and she stumbles away, shrieking. Dex quickly takes out Stunt and Bumper while Dominic goes to get Luna back.

He eventually finds her sobbing in a clearing - ashamed at having run, and disgusted by her cowardice when she had taken care of those two beforehand. Dominic consoles her, and is about to head back when he hears a sound in the brush. Gregory steps out and explains that he was taking a walk in the woods when a small man (Dirk) approached him and asked for his help in healing his friend - a wounded dryad. He followed Dirk to a cave where, try as he might, his White Magic could not heal the wounds on the dryad's body. He was going to head back towards town when they were attacked by a fiendish man of terrible powers - Timontious the Infernomancer - and that then Dirk transformed into a fearsome creature whose mere presence was enough to send Gregory into unconsciousness. Dominic nods, and says that there is always a risk when Seeing of misinterpreting what you see. When Gregory awoke, both Dirk and the dryad were gone, and Gregory was making his way back to town when he stumbled upon Dominic and Luna. Gregory heals Luna's minor wounds and the tree are about to head back to Dex when a terrible shriek and roar echoes through the forest.

Running to investigate, they see a fallen and bloodied Dirk at the feet of Timontious as he reaches over to get the Dryad. The three spring into action, Luna, emboldened by her last failure, uses powerful magics to try and stop Timontious, but it only causes him to turn his attentions to Luna. Panicked, Luna is about to flee when she is sees Gregory standing ready to receive the Infernomancer's attack. Refusing to run when a cripple would not, the two try to hold back the Infernomancer while Dominic sneaks around to take Dirk and the Dryad to safety. In a moment of desperation, Gregory calls on powerful White Magic spell to temporarily banish the Infernomancer back to Hell before clutching his leg and falling over.

Dominic explains that about Jacob and how, when they were teenagers, Jacob placed a necromantic hex of his own design on Gregory, crippling his leg and draining him of much of his life essence. Dominic confronted him, but the more powerful Jacob swatted him down. Dominic responded with a potent Seeing spell - See the Truth - which confronted Jacob with an unfocused yet complete impression of what the rest of Jacob's life would be life if he followed this path. As they were still in training, Dominic did not understand the full power of this spell, and the resulting revelation left Jacob slightly (more) unhinged. Laughing manically about his "destiny" Jacob then left the Deegan Household. A week later, when Miranda returned from her trip to find what had happened, she was astounded by the complexity of Jacob's hex and could not remove it. Attempts to find Jacob were thwarted by a potent ward - it seems that he had entered the protection of one of Callan's many secret "black arts" societies which sensibly warded all their members from the prying eyes of seers.

Ultimately, Dominic & Co. revive Dirk, who tells them to seek out the Oracle of the Forest. The Oracle repairs the wounds suffered by Dirk and the Dryad, noting that they were difficult to heal because they were infected with the Curse of Wounding - a gift that the Demon of Wounds bestowed upon his most powerful Infernomancers.

(The whole series of events of Stupid Hick Filler, Rachel, Hello Nurse! and Slaughterball are skipped entirely)

Now we're at the "good part" of the series. Sketches for "Visions," "Ecstasy," and "Storm"

"Visions"

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Upon getting back to Barthis, they meet up with Siegfried and his two new companions - Milov, a potent werewolf shaman and Ambassador to Callan from the Winter Archipelagos, and his lover, Jayden, a priestess of Luan who loves Milov despite being unable to marry him due to the constraints of the Code of the Moon. Milov received a vision from the Moon Goddess that a great and ancient evil would be unlocked in Barthis and called upon the Callanian Court for aide. Only Siegfried stepped forward to assist, on the condition that Milov would use his powers to try and discover who had ordered his assassination.

After this, "Visions" runs pretty much as written after they are all in Barthis and have met Milov. Siegfried attempts to manhandle Vilrath after Dominic fingers him as a suspect due to having the anti-seer rune and Siegfried is hit with a powerful necromantic hex. While Milov and Jayden try to track down Vilrath, Dominic tries to use more powerful Seeing spells and, after being rebuffed by potent anti-seer spells, manages to get some fragmented images. By the time he puts this all together, the Chosen have struck and the town is gripped by the Suicide Curse.

As the only two town members unaffected due to their training, Dominic recruits the hapless Red Shirt Seer to try and confront the Chosen. Red Shirt is promptly killed, but in the confusion, Dominic is able to disrupt the Suicide Curse. The Chosen are about to kill Dominic when Jayden and Milov show up - newly freed of the curse - but after a brief scuffle the Chosen take control of Jayden's mind and force her to incapacitate Milov. Then, they make her channel her Divine Powers in a foul ritual which taints her soul and grants them all tremendous power.

Jacob then reveals himself, kicks ass, and leaves. He'll be slightly crazier and babble more about "his destiny" than in the comic.

Having been unable to do more than watch, shocked and frightened, as the battle went on, the people of Barthis thank Dominic and Co. for their selfless actions and fete them as heroes. Red Shirt Seer is buried before the tree and Dominic suffers angst for having forced him to risk his life.

At the end of the fete, Dominic is encouraged to take over Red Shirt Seer's old shop by the townsfolk - and he does. Jayden is tainted and must go perform cleansing rituals and meditation at Aberxast before she can use her divine powers again, but seeing that Gregory has a tremendous gift, she guides him through the ritual needed to cleanse Siegfried. Siegfried vows vengeance on Jacob, and leaves with Milov to escort Jayden to Aberxast.

Phew! "Ecstasy" and "Storm" will needed to be re-written later. Some bullet points for "future" developments.

• Siegfried's research indicates that Szark, Dominic's childhood friend, was behind the assassination. Dominic goes to Sin City to protect his friend from Siegfried's wrath, but is wrapped up in a convoluted plot involving Amaelia, similar but better planned than the actual one. Szark turns out to have been but a link in the chain, and Siegfried continues searching.
• The Storm of Souls occurs pretty much as written. Dominic is chosen as the Champion of Balance by Klo Tark and, as the combat rages Barthas is destroyed (but it's people saved by Gregory, whom everyone had always treated as a worthless cripple, aside from Pam), Siegfried duels Jacob while Luna & Co. try to stop Hexia. In the end, Klo Tark is dead for real, Celesto has been banished to an alternate dimension, and Dominic has suffered some actual sacrifice, which might be an unhealable leg.
• Battle for Barthis reveals Serk, a powerful businessman with the ear of the king. He has granted a title of nobility contingent on rebuilding Barthis - specifically a title that transforms formerly independent Barthis into his personal fief. Dominic & Co. try to raise the money to repair the town on their own, but are constantly thwarted by shady dealings and criminal sabotage. In the end, Serk is defeated, thanks to the apprehension and implication of his lieutenant "Urban Eddie" in the sabotage. Dominic gets a sense that Serk might have had something to do with the Assassination Plot, but Siegfried is restrained from killing Serk by his fellow Knights. Serk escapes, bloodied but free.

Man, that was long. Um, I'll write more the next time someone asks about it, I guess. Enjoy, if you dare?

I do like it, and, for the record, think changing the first arcs would be a good idea, since DD really should focus on (not be limited to) either drama or humor.
Not that Mookie has any talent for the former, but this wouldn't be written by Mookie, would it?
(EDIT: You seem to think the same.)

Also: Brief sketch, eh?

(However, I don't see where DD is a good premise or anything like that. I mean, it's not even slightly consistent, and all the main characters would have to be rewritten, if only to avert the derailment suffered by many of them.)

[ElfLad]

Actually, I think this comic shows a completely reasonable motive for Barnet.

[Oracle_Hunter]

However, I don't see where DD is a good premise or anything like that. I mean, it's not even slightly consistent, and all the main characters would have to be rewritten, if only to avert the derailment suffered by many of them.

The premise was a simple one, originally: wouldn't it suck to be able to see the future, and yet nobody asked you about what was really important for them to know. Also - isn't it funny that people try to steal from a guy who can always see it coming?

You actually can see this around the edges, at the beginning - Dominic is annoyed that people are "stupid" and they ask really inane questions. My tweak of Dominic's character is thus but a small one; I provided a reason why Dominic is so embittered, and it ties nicely into his being a Seer.

Later, Mookie came up with potentially interesting characters - the Deegan brothers which included a healer who could not heal himself and the slightly unhinged Jacob whose early trauma caused him to worship that which Dominic found so horrifying. Even Siggy, a man of honor, but also a man of incredible violence, could have become so much more. Yet, over the course of many, many Arcs, each became twisted and weak, a shadow of their former potential. I think this is mainly because Mookie didn't want to make any of his Third+ Caste characters actually flawed, which is why he was forced to boot Siggy to the Fourth Caste posthumously.

Really, Mookie's main failing is in the implementation. He never allows his creations to really strut their stuff - he locks them away in Theme Park versions of themselves. This is what drives me mad sometimes.

@Elflad

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I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Partially, this is because Barnet's explanation is a fine explanation for her actions as a child, even up to leaving home and being forced to take up a life as a mercenary when she was penniless and starving. The problem here, like with all Freudian Excuses, is that it becomes strained when, decades later, it's the only thing motivating any of your actions.

Snowsong, at least, was constantly harassed by The Man and then became brainwashed by a cult. Barnet had better have at least one major life event that caused her to cross the line from mere thuggery to sociopathy. I don't think we'll see it, and if we do, it'll be lame.