Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXVII: God Has Nothing to do With This

[Glass Mouse]

I'll admit I'm enioying this a fair bit, even with the material I'm writing about. I am interested about the arcs Battle For Barthis and War in Hell. They sound interesting.
Shadow of Seigfrid looks intriguing too. But that's because I really like Siggy.

Oh. Oh, no... This isn't a train wreck in motion, this is just looking at a heartbreak waiting to happen.
Yeah. "Shadow of Siegfried" is intriguing. Let's just... leave it at that for now.

Edit:

Shadow of Seigfried is not a good arc for the Siggy-likers. Which was most of us, I think.

That was actually one of the few arcs that bothered me when I first read it (I used to be a genuine fan... y'know, before Maltak). There was just something... off about the way everything was handled. Stupid plot, characters acting weird, mood whiplash all over the place... oh yeah, and the Siggy thing didn't help. Like, at all.
I'm really looking forward to Curly's analysis

[CurlyKitGirl]

Mookie has some thing against jocks. It's kinda weird.

Great. Can I iust go and say this is self-insert fanfic. Because one of the pages I skipped over during Hello Nurse was a "No comic, I'm busy" strip in which Mookie was drawn as the Dominus. Or the DOminus was meant to represent Mookie.

Just so you know, we usually use that term for when it's a dead/dying/unconscious female.

...yeah. There are a lot of things you can tell about this comic just by what we have names for.

Back to three it is then.
Although I do have a question: what if it's when a female/male (I'm equal opportunity) is beating beaten into a bloody pulp?
Would that count?
And yeah, it's a little depressing there's enough of them to warrant it's own acknowledgement.

SoS was, at the very least, a step up from the last two IIRC. But, yeah, overall pretty solid. It's main faults, I think, were the story not ending after that, and Mookie's morality failings being big plot points that drove the arc.

Two Thief, I thought, was a brief peak amongst general badness. Much better than what surrounds it. Not much more needs to be said about the war in hell, and Class Action had so many wallbangers. And is retroactively worse because it set up Maltak more than any other arc. The bit where Iacob visited was funny, though.

See, now I'm doing it.

Give in to the analytical side. We have extra weaponry in the snark wars.
Who knows? First Dominic Deegan, then the entire sub-forum! And then, the internet!
Boohahahahahahahaha.

Edit:

Shadow of Seigfried is not a good arc for the Siggy-likers. Which was most of us, I think.

Ohsnap.
In that case, I'll enioy him while I can.

[T-O-E]

The War in Hell had some saving graces. The villains and their speeches (you can't screw up morality if your characters don't have any) and the Hell scenes (including clever and subtle scrying magic from the Dominus) were pretty good actually. I don't think Dommie used very powerful magic there, so that's a plus.
Also the basic concept of what the demons wanted.

If you take out the unnecessary band start and the orcs, it could have been good.

[TheLaughingMan]

RE: Hello Nurse: Y'know, with all that eye shadow, Pam looks a lot like a boob'd Szark. The implications are simply delightful.

And welcome back me. Sorry I was gone so long, but y'know, highschool.

EDIT: ^Don't mention either of those horrible band arcs ever again.

[Welf]

Ah, the Rise of the Jock. Here it begins. Some day you will look back and consider Taggerty a successful antagonist, because he has signs of an backstory (American Callanian Footballer Slaughterball), at least one good line and produces the desired reaction, antipathy. That and the Super Sajajin thing will undermine many future intended villains.

[averagejoe]

Back to three it is then.
Although I do have a question: what if it's when a female/male (I'm equal opportunity) is beating beaten into a bloody pulp?
Would that count?
And yeah, it's a little depressing there's enough of them to warrant it's own acknowledgement.

I don't think it happens to males in this strip, at least in my memory, so the point is probably moot. Bloody pulp probably counts. In general it's the sexualizing of women who have had violence done against them, specifically by using butt shots. The term was come up with around the time of Snowsong, I think, inspired by one of John Soloman's infamous rants on the subject. To my knowledge no one has gone back and cataloged them, we're just like, "Look, another inappropriate butt shot."

Give in to the analytical side. We have extra weaponry in the snark wars.
Who knows? First Dominic Deegan, then the entire sub-forum! And then, the internet!
Boohahahahahahahaha.

But I don't want to evil laugh.

I meant that I wrote, "Iacob," because that's what I've grown to think of him as.

[Ignition]

But I don't want to evil laugh.

Your ways are alien to me, sir

[CurlyKitGirl]

Ah, the Rise of the Jock. Here it begins. Some day you will look back and consider Taggerty a successful antagonist, because he has signs of an backstory (American Callanian Footballer Slaughterball), at least one good line and produces the desired reaction, antipathy. That and the Super Sajajin thing will undermine many future intended villains.

If I had to rate the villains (as designated by the comic) so far it'd be:
Iacob
Lady Amelia
Karnak
TIM
Dead Lady Travoria
The Chosen
Taggerty

I don't know what to class Szark as, but if you count him a villain he'd between TIM and Karnak.

I'll wait for the rest of the comic (five and a half years) to grade the rest.

I meant that I wrote, "Iacob," because that's what I've grown to think of him as.

>.>
<.<
Thanks to my iayless keyboard I didn't notice what you'd done until you pointed it out. I'm becoming accustomed to ayes for iays.
I fear for my spelling.

On the other hand:

The plan is succeeding.

[Trazoi]

Shadow of Seigfrid looks intriguing too. But that's because I really like Siggy.

Every arc I listed under the "Ice Age" is a long chain of headdesk moments (okay, maybe Class Action is half-headdesk, half-Runcible Spoon). Admittedly they are intriguing in the way a car crash can be.

The War in Hell had some saving graces. The villains and their speeches (you can't screw up morality if your characters don't have any) and the Hell scenes (including clever and subtle scrying magic from the Dominus) were pretty good actually. I don't think Dommie used very powerful magic there, so that's a plus.
Also the basic concept of what the demons wanted.

If you take out the unnecessary band start and the orcs, it could have been good.

War in Hell does a pretty decent job (for this comic) to thread together multiple simultaneous events to make a whole. Dominic also isn't in complete control and can make mistakes. Of course as a major dramatic arc I'm now comparing it to Maltak, against which War in Hell is a masterpiece.

[Gez]

Fantastic Four shout out. Stupid outfit. The comic loses a point for referencing a sucky comic film.
Generic athletic team is generic. And so misogynistic it makes Stunt look like a feminist. For the record, I absolutely despise people using the words "dyke" or "fag" as derogatory terms for those who prefer the other gender. Will the latter be used as well? Because I don't know the names of these two people, but they're ierkwads. I hope they get hurt. Not to mention that they focus immediately on her breasts. This isn't looking up for them.
I want Blond Spikes to suffer, painfully. By the way, we're two-for-two! Hate hate hate hate hate sexist ierkwad annoying misogynistic twits. Are they the designated villains of the arc?

Yes. So mono-dimensional. Barely even one full dimension. Mookie loves villains that are villains because they are villains. Making them racist or sexist is usually the method chosen to mark someone as irredeemably evil.

When you have progressed more in your snarking journey, you will come to embrace as heroes these characters, damned by their creator to be so over-the-top and unreasonably evil that they just become awesome. There is one, in particular, a true legend and inspiration for us all: Warlord Mustache.

[SaintRidley]

In retrospect, I do fully believe that the War in Hell was the high point of the comic.

I also think that, without changing a single ounce of the information in Shadows of Sigfried it would be possible, with a more competent storyteller, to not only make it good but also weave it in without making it seem out of character. Aside from the one big thing in Shadows, it was sort of decent in my opinion. Not good, but certainly not terrible except for how Mookie handled his big revelation. I will go into detail more when Curly gets that far.

[Mauve Shirt]

Am I the only one in here who actually liked Battle for Barthis?

[Trazoi]

Am I the only one in here who actually liked Battle for Barthis?

It's one of the better arcs. Each of the individual elements is silly or stupid, but it involves a large number of the major cast in ways that advance their characters. If Dom and Luna's stupid substory was heavily toned back or dropped then it would be one of my top favourites.

[Coidzor]

I don't recall it being bad. ...I've mostly forgotten the details though....x.x

[Khosan]

SoS was, at the very least, a step up from the last two IIRC. But, yeah, overall pretty solid. It's main faults, I think, were the story not ending after that, and Mookie's morality failings being big plot points that drove the arc.

Two Thief, I thought, was a brief peak amongst general badness. Much better than what surrounds it. Not much more needs to be said about the war in hell, and Class Action had so many wallbangers. And is retroactively worse because it set up Maltak more than any other arc. The bit where Iacob visited was funny, though.

The problem, I think, with post-SoS arcs were twofold: Lack of planning and tone whiplash. We went from epic hijinx to 'Luna goes to work' and 'Dominic versus the lawyer'. To make things slightly worse, the plots took either significant jumps or really never went anywhere.

[Trazoi]

I don't recall it being bad. ...I've mostly forgotten the details though....x.x

Battle for Barthis had a benefit concert to save the town, a duel that threatens to distrupt it, the knights generally acting like jerks and the introduction of the orcs. Nearly all the major cast were involved, the plot points were intertwined and while it is all very hammy from what I remember the characters were all rather solid and evolving. Admittedly what happens in later arcs ruins a lot of this, but if you take it at the time it can be enjoyable.

...and Dominic spends this time looking at lengthy graphic visions of Luna losing her virginity dear sweet Luana whyyyyyyyyyyy

[TheLaughingMan]

...and Dominic spends this time looking at lengthy graphic visions of Luna losing her virginity dear sweet Luana whyyyyyyyyyyy

I was too distracted by electric guitars in a fantasy setting. Seriously, it was the Flintstones all over again.

[Thufir]

I'll remember to keep an eye on Venus. Perhaps he's meant to represent the actions of a normal person reacting to the activities and actions of people native to the Dominiverse.

Nah, he's a villain. So while his points may seem valid at first sight, really, he's wrong about everything because he just doesn't get it.

It starts off with the Dominus telling Mama Machina about Gregory, and bookends with Iacob and Patchwork Zombie scrying on Gregory.
I sense symbolism.
The DOminus v. Iacob.
Mama Machina v. Patchwork Zombie.
I hereby dub Patchwork Zombie as Zombie Machina.

I doubt that was deliberate. And Patchwork Zombie, as you call him, is definitely nothing like Mama Deegan.

Next up!
Swirly whirly things made of magic and Dirk the Mighty comes back. I hope his character doesn't get warped. And the swirly whirly thing resembles a Picasso painting or something cubist.

Can't help but think, "All hands on deck, swirly thing alert!"

[CurlyKitGirl]

Nah, he's a villain. So while his points may seem valid at first sight, really, he's wrong about everything because he just doesn't get it.

It's true.
Five to one he gets Redeemed if he shows up again.

I doubt that was deliberate. And Patchwork Zombie, as you call him, is definitely nothing like Mama Deegan.

Allow me some hope that Mookie is occasionally semi-competent.
Well, at least there was Iacob. Iacob makes everything better.

Can't help but think, "All hands on deck, swirly thing alert!"

Deliberately invoked.
That's going to be the title of the next analysis.

[Zaq]

It's amazing watching you comment on this, Curly, because you're right where I was when I started reading DD, way back in high school (I started reading at the wrap-up of TEatE, and thought the the strip was the coolest thing on the internet... roughly until I graduated high school. Embarassing but true.) so long ago. There's so much bad stuff in there that I missed the first time around (you know, primarily because I was uncritical enough to think of the damn thing as actually good), but I remember the occasional thing that I noticed then that you're noticing now.

And of course, like the rest of us, it's a very interesting experience to know exactly what is coming and watch someone slowly and meticulously experience it for the first time. I just hope we don't spoil too much for you.

Anyway, about today's strip... how would tusks help, actually? They're way too pointy to be any good at grinding down difficult plant matter, or at chewing in general for that matter. Orc tusks really don't serve any functional purpose aside from letting you know that the bearer is Good And Chosen (mostly by virtue of being an orc, or by being Luna).

Someone should keep a count of how many strips in this arc feature Maltak. I'd like to see a percentage.

[ericgrau]

I for one have never met a root so tough that I couldn't chew it. Some take practice, but this guy had a life time. Animal tusks are for just about everything except eating. You need good flat back teeth to chew plant matter. Pointy teeth like what fills the Mookie orcs mouth entirely are for chewing meat. Thus carnivores have all pointy teeth and herbivores should have all flat teeth. Humans have both. As it stands there's no way the Mookieverse orcs can eat roots and they should all starve to death or at least get explosive diarrhea from all the root fragments they were able to chop up but not grind into pulp with their teeth.

[M84]

Heyall,

I for one have never met a root so tough that I couldn't chew it. Some take practice, but this guy had a life time. Animal tusks are for just about everything except eating. You need good flat back teeth to chew plant matter. Pointy teeth like what fills the Mookie orcs mouth entirely are for chewing meat. Thus carnivores have all pointy teeth and herbivores should have all flat teeth. Humans have both. As it stands there's no way the Mookieverse orcs can eat roots and they should all starve to death or at least get explosive diarrhea from all the root fragments they were able to chop up but not grind into pulp with their teeth.

I remember bringing this up during -- shudder -- Maltak.

Plants in DD must have the consistency of meat. That's the only explanation I can think of for a race of vegetarians to have fang filled maws and tusks. It's just another example of Mookie believing that Rule of Cool is more important than anything else. See: Hammer decapitation and inappropriate arrow volleys.

[ThirdEmperor]

A question: If none of you like DD, why did you make three massive threads about it. I mean, I have my problems with it (characters suddenly switching moralities, Gregories existence, period.) but I still like it overall, you guys appear to outright hate it, so why read it?

[Domochevsky]

A question: If none of you like DD, why did you make three massive threads about it. I mean, I have my problems with it (characters suddenly switching moralities, Gregories existence, period.) but I still like it overall, you guys appear to outright hate it, so why read it?

Anwer: Read the first set of posts in every thread. Especially the "Why we snark" part.

Make no misconceptions: This is not a hate thread. This is snark.

[rocketpony]

Sneak sneak
Future link

Oh hey so that's why Karnak's so attached to the inverted chevron. Doomed clan backstory &c &c.
And the court of Karnak like the Tienchak is made up of dudes from all over, like Siggy, and...
Karnak was pretty excited about building a court not too long (relatively speaking ago). What happened to that energy buddy?

[Palmer]

Those Callanians really took the blitzkrieg tactic to heart, Orcs never saw it coming.

[Lillith]

Soooo.... are we supposed to feel sorry for him now? Cause I do, just not for the reasons the comic wants me to.

[Turcano]

A question: If none of you like DD, why did you make three massive threads about it.

Hey, that's 27 massive threads, mister.

[Khosan]

SYMBOLISM!

Also, kind of wondering why they'd burn down tents. They're tents. Not even particularly large tents, just your standard three sticks and a cover from the looks of it. It's either that or I'm vastly misinterpreting the source of those wiggly lines in the back.

Panel 6 feels like a good beat panel for slays though.

[Rappy]

Hey, that's 27 massive threads, mister.

Indeed. And speaking of massive threads, it looks like we are nearing "that time" again. Anyone have a suggestion for the naming of the next thread?

Also, Khosan: sometimes, when you're Callanian, you just have an urge to burn something. That or one of the torch holders fell into line with the pitchfork legion and accidentally set fire to the plains when stabbing tents to check for orcs.