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Earvth You know, there were a lot of things I could have expected from the words "Dominic Deegan sequel". Lazily-drawn dicks was not one of them. What really gets me is that he tries to claim he's only doing so in scenes where it's natural and subtle, but it's so far been anything but(t) subtle: Snout randomly stripping down when sleeping next to an injured stranger or on a cave floor, Snout losing his pants while wading in the lake, Ink Witch losing her ink clothes while in a tractor beam. At least the good ol' fashioned Mookie traditions of sexualizing injured/unconscious/sleeping women and making Dominic the center of attention even when not on-screen are still in play Edit: Alright, fine, "subtle" was probably the wrong word because I don't think he actually said that, but it still feels out-of-place so far. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Sep 15, 2019 |
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Sep 15, 2019 00:57
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Honestly, I'm wiling to cut some slack to people doing Inktober, especially if they don't normally use ink or if they're strict about daily illustrations. It's something that can be exhausting and stressful to any artist. And it's a good time to experiment with different techniques and focuses, like that landscape. ...Inktober aside, Mookie has still let his style stagnate, to the point where I have to wonder if he's spent the past six years deliberately trying to keep his "brand". The cropped thumbnails of Dominic and Luna are more snoutlike than Snout, and the only changes seem to be a new default nose shape and the loss of flounder mouth. Granted, without having full context from where they're posted (hahaha no), I don't know if that's current art or something a bit older. I'd use Ink Witch as a better comparison, but all her profiles in the comic have either been partially obscured by hair or were extreme (but surprisingly defined) close-ups. I guess we'll see once she or another human begins appearing regularly. I'd probably forgive all that if it didn't seem like the writing was also stuck in a rut! The pacing has been pretty atrocious, and a few of the latest comics could have been condensed down; there wasn't a need for a second "Snout climbs while obliviously injuring the monster" page, and the unclear perspective gave the appearance that he had seen it and thus made the following page more confusing. Whole pages are also used solely for writing down Snout's thoughts and motivations, most of which are just recapping scenes that just happened or could be easily inferred from his actions in subsequent scenes. And, somehow, it all goes back to Dominic. Dominic Dominic Dominic. A 200-year timeskip is the perfect time to explore a changed world with a new cast. Him being simply acknowledged for saving the world would have been fine, but instead the mere mention of his name has consumed Snout's motivations. And apparently Ink Witch's, too. It feels like a waste of a timeskip to lean on him so heavily.
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Oct 8, 2019 22:37
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 Come to think of it, I wonder if it's going to be treated as a big, world-ending deal that a single page is damaged? Unless the rest of the writing is vague and disconnected, the other pages should give context for whatever the hell Dominic was trying to do. Or is this one of those situations where they need everything to be intact because magic? also: right in the snout  (yes it's late but I had this image in my mind and just didn't have the time to make it reality)
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Oct 10, 2019 18:30
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Oh, so suddenly pagefinder can't track pages in the Wild Edge, when it's convenient for drama! And I take back what I said, one destroyed page out of five is admittedly a big deal. But also, what the hell was this originally that was only five pages? A letter, maybe?
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Oct 11, 2019 01:12
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Considering the amount that thought that went into Snout's name, we'll be lucky if her name is anything better than an ink pun I get the feeling that if the page isn't just Inky herself, it's a Deegan. Maybe not the Deegan, but someone in that circle who has no business being alive 200 years later.
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Oct 18, 2019 06:36
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It's edging for when he can finally draw her in all her Inkonetta glory
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Nov 18, 2019 23:54
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How do you give a monster man the saddest, most boring dick ever And look at that placement of the tail (the back one). Seems like it was intentional that it ends in the middle of his back, rather than following the expected line of the spine.
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Nov 20, 2019 04:15
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To be fair, I also totally missed that it had already been explicitly said that was the Ink Witch (or at least Snout thinks it is)... which leads right back into how ridiculous it is that revelation was ignored beyond that single panel of text. There isn't any follow up on it, no "where are you, are you safe" or "who was piloting that ship" or even just " The past few pages have already been torn apart, but to reiterate: How the hell did Snout miss this poem by Dominic when he was first researching him trying to figure out who he was? In a semi-realistic story, yes, it's very possible that someone manually searching one book after another would miss something on first pass. The problem is, his other library trips have established that he can, on the first try, easily find books with all the relevant information he needs. Even stuff he isn't actively searching for, like the true nature of pagefinders. It just further highlights how things only happen when they're convenient to the plot. Besides, Snout's seen that poem index before. The recent callback implies as much, but... it still feels like a cop-out, because the audience isn't made aware of the connection. The titles are kept deliberately off-screen; it doesn't count as foreshadowing if the viewer doesn't even get to see the shadow. Plus, again, it establishes that Snout knew that Dominic himself wrote something. So... why didn't he follow up on that during his first research? The only explanation I can think of is that Snout wasn't researching, and he just coincidentally saw his name while he was reading for fun. By... surrounding himself in three open books at once, I guess.
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Dec 21, 2019 11:27
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In fairness the reveal was mostly ignored beyond Snout writing a quick note and not asking further questions, was sandwiched between other infodumps, and was not brought up again until now, so I can see how it can be missed. Christ, though. The pre-break ending of Snout quietly retreating to his cave and just sitting down had the foundation of something poignant. With a few more panels focused on his anxiety over this, like guarded body language or him sitting awake all throughout the night, it would have gotten the point across perfectly. Even the rock-throwing, silly as it is, could have been tweaked slightly to show that he's just procrastinating with distractions to put off having to make a choice. The lists are very verbose and overexplain each detail, half of which the audience can infer if they haven't forgotten the basic plot beats thus far. Yeah, it's pretty obvious that sticking his snout in this Deegan business has endangered him time and time again! Because unlike the Ink Witch reveal, the consequences have actually been shown; that's why Snout's sleeping in a cave in the first place. He also can't go one monologue without going "where's Dominic Deegan?", so it was safe to assume that's a major part of his motivations too. Pretty much the only new info this brought to the table was revealing Snout is a vegetarian/vegan. (Herbivore? I know nothing of DD species so I don't know if Snout's species are literally herbivores by nature. It just feels weird hearing a sapient person call themself that, but I'll admit that's just a personal thing.) I could buy that writing so much is Snout further procrastinating, but the writing itself feels so stilted that it feels like exposition instead.
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Jan 8, 2020 20:28
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You know, I had a gut feeling Ague Proof's edit was going to come true, but I didn't think it'd be that quick! I thought there'd at least be a couple days of meeting the townspeople before it all went wrong. On the bright side, it means the pacing has picked up!
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Jan 24, 2020 02:43
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...wait, wasn't the ship going the direction Snout was running in? Which was presumably towards Mongreltown?The Little Death posted:
TheHan posted:
Looking at the middle panel of the previous comic, I can kind of see how the ship might have been going at a slight angle, but the perspective of the comic and the lack of any depth and consistent landmarks makes it hard to figure out where anything is in relation to each other. Besides, a slight angle wouldn't put it in the exact opposite direction of Mongreltown. The only explanations I can think of are either the ship was going back and forth and it wasn't clearly communicated, and/or the art and writing isn't planned out even one comic in advance with no regard for inconsistencies. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Jan 26, 2020 |
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Jan 26, 2020 16:58
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It's not fair to pick on this because it's a very distant shot and his face is supposed to be simplified, but it caught my eye and reminded me of something...   ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ In all seriousness, the shift into ink textures is actually nice and sets the witch and her powers apart from the world as something strange and powerful. It's just unfortunate that staring at it too long reveals how awkward her pose is, especially since she's lifting her foot onto... nothing? An ink pedestal? I'm not sure what's going on there. I'm ready for tons of dialogue in this dialogue-less story
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Jan 29, 2020 05:51
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Personally I think another issue is that Mookie seems to think anything a woman wears should wrap-cling to her chest, even if it otherwise looks like a loose and flowing dress or robe. If DD's 2012/2013 art can be taken as examples, then it happens to pretty much every woman to varying degrees, which... is actually kinda worse than it being just Ink Witch. Snout's pants also look painted on at the crotch in some scenes, to say nothing of the problems with putting the waistline below his tail. So, I feel that at least some of this is just plain not knowing how to draw clothing without making it look uncomfortably tight. That's not to say Ink Witch hasn't been singled out to be sexualized, because none of that explains her ink dress disintegrating for no apparent reason while she was taken by the ship. As an aside, while looking through the early comics to make sure I didn't misremember, there's a panel of the ship communicating with what looks like the same ink-on-ground messages she used with Snout. So I'm starting to think that really was her ship, though why it would call her "The Ink Witch" instead of her proper name or title is a puzzle with a dumb answer. Was this the first human face we've seen totally unobscured in The Legacy? This is, uh. One hell of a first impression. At least Snout has the appropriate reaction. 
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Feb 1, 2020 17:18
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She uhhhhhh *shuffles papers hurriedly* read his diary using her ink magic, and that's how she found out both that he calls her the Ink Witch and that his name is Snout, because he literally wrote "Snout's Diary" on the front cover (despite no indication he lives with anyone or has any other need to label a familiar book like that). That last part isn't made up, so I could see diary-reading being the reason she's able to conveniently know so much about him and his motivations. Honestly, if the Ink Witch turned out to be a villain manipulating Snout by reading his private thoughts and giving him exactly the leads he wants, it would be a pleasant surprise... aside from the part where it would be telegraphed way too soon, considering it was an ink ship that blew his house up.
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Feb 4, 2020 02:16
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Oh, Milov. I remember that name! Wasn't that the guy who destroyed a human church and mauled his girlfriend's face off all because she cheated on him, but it's okay because actually it was just a magical clone (even though he didn't know that) and the real Jayden is fine? And then her story of atoning via religion was hijacked by another dude who kept changing his story about why he killed his own mother? I actually wonder how Mookie would handle the same plotlines today, or if he'd even do them at all. I want to give the benefit of the doubt and hope he's improved in some way, and at the very least he won't write anything like the Stonewater and Melna arc again. I want to hope that there is even a spark of self-awareness and he wouldn't stoop that low again. But I'm not hopeful that Legacy won't have some other bullshit that's more on the level of Jayden's storylines. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Feb 7, 2020 |
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Feb 7, 2020 19:34
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I do think there's going to some kind of self-insertion or self-indulgence happening soon, if there isn't already, but speculating on if his family will be involved is going down a bad road. Anyway, tell me if I've missed something here. The Ink Witch wants those pages about Dominic. It's not exactly clear why she wants them beyond wanting to find "the truth", but clearly she cares enough to endanger herself and a stranger trying to collect the pages. When Snout lost the pages, she suddenly cut off contact with him; the natural read to this is that she was upset about the turn of events and possibly at Snout himself. It's not stated what she's been doing since then. No explanation for why her ship was in the area and why it crashed, unless we're supposed to guess she was trying to find Snout for some reason. There is also the question of if she's still being chased, or if she's going to try again to steal the pages. As for Snout himself, he's gone through one dangerous task after another trying to solve the mysteries before him. His home has been destroyed. The closest thing he has to an ally has withheld information from him at various points, then tried to bear hug him out of the blue, something he clearly wasn't comfortable with. So, what I'm left asking is... Why does Ink Witch completely forget her motivations less than one page later and go "what now?" Why does Snout decide to invite her to town with him, why does she agree to it, and why are they just happily walking off as if there hasn't been any exploding houses or murderous trees or angry orcs in their lives the past few days? Almost everything about both the narrative and their motivations was ignored for this detour. I'm sure they'll be back soon, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around why they're both just shrugging off all that's happened. The only explanation that makes sense to me is if Snout really is that trusting, and if the Ink Witch is exploiting that and trying to befriend him so she can use him later. Granted, with how much Mookie seems to adore Ink Witch, even if that was the case she probably wouldn't be the villain, and the entire narrative will bend around her to show why she's actually justified meddling with strangers' lives like this. It's happened before with Dominic and the other Deegans, and... and oh god. What if Ink Witch is a Deegan, too? The ending of DD revealed Dominic and Luna had kids. (Presumably adopted ones, but when actually asked Mookie went  and suggested that they could've been biological. Doesn't really matter in this context.) Or, if not her, then maybe some other character they'll meet who could be the real Legacy of Dominic Deegan. It's a baseless theory that has no foundation whatsoever, but it's the kind of twist I could see happening.
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Feb 12, 2020 23:35
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Ohh, I get it! Snout's an outcast of Mongeltown not because he sometimes doesn't wear pants, but because he sometimes does! Jesus loving Christ what thought process went behind this? My partner thinks it might be a take on a scene from Critical Role with a similar set-up, but as I haven't listened to it myself I don't know if that's just coincidence or not. Regardless of if it is or isn't, I'm stunned trying to wrap my mind around what possible narrative direction this can take, either in terms of plot, worldbuilding, or character development.
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Mar 9, 2020 03:30
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Mookie @ [url posted:https://www.dominic-deegan.com/nudity-in-the-legacy/[/url]] There's nothing about this that feels natural. Yeah, I can buy that they both prefer sleeping nude, loads of people feel more comfortable that way. But there's nothing particularly subtle about this and it emphasizes how contrived the writing can get. How did both of them managed to stay dressed the previous night? Including Snout, who at every other opportunity has slept naked even when it isn't appropriate? Which brings me to my next point: There's also the issue that Ink Witch has had little agency in the times she's slept next to a naked Snout. The first time, they were total strangers and she was injured and unconscious at that moment, which is pretty much the worst time to sleep dick-out next to someone. Here, she presumably knew about and was fine with Snout being nude. But apparently that wasn't enough for the narrative because now she's suddenly sleep-stripping herself. Their shared dreams, painful as it is to say, have been the closest they've gotten to having a nude scene that feels consensual and maybe even halfway natural. Y'know what? gently caress it, I wanna see where this trainwreck of a story goes. I'm still expecting the "legacy" to be a Deegan descendant and/or Ink Witch herself.
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Mar 30, 2020 08:32
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Don't forget the part where before her pilgrimage to the Desert To Die, Jayden went on a vow of silence that lasted for years. She broke the vow to give marriage rites to her friends, which would have been a significant moment of symbolism if not for the fact that Greg began talking over her to steal the show. It's also worth noting that the desert arc quickly swerved away from being about Jayden's feelings at all and instead focused primarily about a guy who tagged along with her, and his angst over Meanwhile I can't remember if Milov faced any consequence at all for destroying a human house of worship and banishing all of them from his territory, all because of Jayden. I think he lost face in his pack? But I'm pretty sure didn't take on vows of atonement for attempted murder of his girlfriend. V Oh, how wonderful! MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Apr 10, 2020 |
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Apr 10, 2020 00:44
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My eyes completely glazed over the Patreon announcement and I didn't realize Mookie was revisiting that character. What the hell?  I won't comment on the story. But I'll confess this much: This entire time I had been giving Mookie the benefit of the doubt and believing that he'd actually learned from the past and realized in hindsight how low his writing went. I was giving the benefit of the doubt that he wouldn't do something like that again and would just make it the plotline he never talks about anymore, if only to avoid the backlash. I've seen other writers and artists go through an epiphany where they realize they used trauma as cheap plot twists, denounce their old stories, and try to be a better person in the present. And I think it's a good thing for writers to be given room to do that, if they genuinely want to improve themself! But to instead revisit that character in a positive context all these years later is honestly dumbfounding me. So how about those loving cubes, huh. I'm really not sure what to make of this group dynamic now, mostly because I'm not sure if the orc and the witch are simply arguing or if they genuinely want to harm each other. I do not know if this confusion is intentional. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Apr 25, 2020 |
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Apr 25, 2020 18:59
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First of all, has he given a single ounce of credit to the other artist(s) whose work he's used? He could get away with it for something so recognizable like the Nighthawks because most people will, even if they don't remember the name of the painting or the painter, at least know enough to search something like "famous diner painting". I kind of suspect the reason he's even saying anything is that it's so recognizable that someone would inevitably bring it up if he didn't say it first. But what about art done by people who don't have the benefit of being well-known? For example, in that traced image of the park, how many people are going to know first that it was traced at all, and then know that the original photo was taken by Jake Tobin Garrett, a guest writer who took photos for a city design project? Which also makes it doubly lovely that Mookie hasn't even acknowledged he's using photos that were taken for a specific organization and specific reason. Instead he just talks about how much pride he has in having drawn that page. And that's just what traces are known. What other background shots are traced? Who knows, he's sure not telling anyone! And without credit, the original artists and photographers are completely lost if an image isn't immediately recognizable or easy to find in a search. Second, from what I can tell from the video he's citing, the illustrator isn't talking about grabbing uncredited images off of Google Search. He's a professional movie poster creator, talking about working with major film releases and using their resources (presumably with permission) to create said posters. So, while it makes sense why Mookie might want to do it for portraits of real people, assuming the commissioners know that their photos will be used that way, it starts to fall apart when for his comic he grabs the first thing he sees off Google and covers it in tree brush paint. There's also the question of if he's actually doing anything transformative or making a meaningful allusion, or if he's only using Nighthawks because he wanted a diner scene. But I feel like that's subjective territory and I am not nearly smart enough to talk capital-A Art. Tracing can be a valid tool if used with proper care, and used to learn about specific aspects such as, for example, the way lights and shadows fall upon a scene. However, there's a huge different between using tracing as a personal learning tool and not publishing the work, and publishing it anyway and not even having the bare minimum courtesy to acknowledge the original photographer. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Jun 1, 2020 |
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Jun 1, 2020 09:12
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Yeah, this 100% feels like he's read criticism about how their relationship's been handled and is trying to whip up some in-story justifications for why actually it's all cool and good. Admittedly, it was foreshadowed with the paper exploding in ink constantly, but it's still lovely that it's taken her this long to mention it to Snout and that she, knowing that her magic is uncontrollable, still sneaks into his bed naked and makes zero attempt to mitigate the issue! In fact, there was no indication she was going to admit anything to him, which suggests she would have been fine letting this happen indefinitely had Snout not called her out on it. All that, plus her dialogue directly addresses all the criticism people had about her behavior. It's the same kind of slapdash justifications used to vindicate Stonewater and vilify Siegfried when the readers weren't reacting to them the way Mookie thought they would. As much as he's pissed away any benefit of the doubt, I can't shake the feeling part of his problem is that whatever image of the characters he has while he's planning completely fails to show in writing. So maybe for whatever little outlining he's done for the story, Snout and Inky really are meant to become close companions who trust each other enough with unprompted and unspoken intimacy... but he lets that conclusion influence his writing without actually taking time to get them to that point. And that's how he ends up having to backtrack when the audience points out that it's incredibly sketchy that people keep lying down naked next to sleeping strangers. Not that this erases all the other issues going on with this subplot. Best case scenario narratively is if Inky's deflection is deliberately written to be another manipulation tactic and she's playing the long con. I feel like with the latest page though the intention is supposed to be "the Ink Witch can't control it, outside forces are making her look worse than she actually is", which is... not a plotline I trust from the guy who gave us Stonewater. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Jun 30, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2020 19:03
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I'd have a smidge of respect if only because it means he'd have a villain that isn't an overblown cliche like some of his older ones. If this was another writer, I'd be more willing to wait and see before making a snap judgment on this, because if Ink Witch is gaslighting Snout then it's likely the big reveal won't happen for a long time. And it could make for a good story to turn all the usual adventure and love interest narratives on their head by having the character driving the plot forward turn out to have been manipulating everyone around her! But, again, Mookie hasn't earned the goodwill needed for that, or more accurately he's burned it all up in DD by portraying abusive relationships in a good light, and by straight up retconning and stealth-editing Stunt's early comments about his mother's death to make him look better. So I'm not as patient about waiting to see if this is intentional.
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Jun 30, 2020 19:47
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I can assure you it's not me because if I wanted to touch the poop, I would have done it over the traces long before this point  I do feel like it's someone aware of the thread, because I have no idea where Mookie's audience even is besides this thread and Twitter. And a very basic search on the latter hasn't immediately uncovered large reader conversations, good or bad. Is... Is there a third readerbase I just don't know about? Patreon? But anyway no, Mookie, if you wanted to show ambiguity in a character's actions you probably shouldn't show them doing unquestionably reprehensible things like initiating sexual contact with a sleeping person, knowing that their magic is uncontrollable and will invade their privacy further, while also not informing said sleeping person of any of this and not outwardly showing any intention of ever informing them. And the proper response to someone pointing out that this is super creepy isn't to plug your ears and dismiss them as just arguing! If he had just stuck to his first "I'm glad people have mixed opinions, we'll see how it turns out  " response, I'd believe there was a chance that he really did intend to make her look morally ambiguous. But no, they push the matter by pointing out that some of Ink Witch's actions are unambiguously horrible, and he vaguetweets them to paint them as unreasonable and gets a few dozen likes to reassure him that he's right.gently caress off, Mookie, you really didn't learn a thing in the past 10? 15? years since the last time you were called out for trying to portray an abusive character as a hero. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Jul 2, 2020 15:35
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I think she said something about there being Other Ink Witches who messed with Arudak, but it was in the dense text wall that even Snout didn't read I'm just waiting to see all of the criticism aimed at Ink Witch Prime be transferred over to one or both of these newcomers in the most blatantly villainous way possible, so that we can be shown what a "real" manipulator looks like and have Ink Prime be vindicated by their very existence.
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Jul 7, 2020 23:16
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You know, as stupid as Mookie's "Species has X gimmick!" thing is, in the context of the world he's built he's had his heroes just casually make a bunch of racist jokes about someone who's supposed to be their friend. He literally wrote down "ficklefeet" as one of the slurs used against the Not-Asari, and listed their love of dancing as a reason the word is used. Mocking her affinity for dance and her "twinkly-toes" is no different from any of that. It just really makes me wonder if Mookie even understands that racism is more than just saying one of three forbidden words. I'm very reluctant to actually equate anything in Star Power to real-world racism (aside from the part where he uses, y'know, an actual loving slur in the human section, but it doesn't occur to him he did so because he's thinking solely from a white perspective). But I am saying that, within the confines of the worldbuilding he's done, Danica and Grex (who's already previously used a Forbidden Word) are loving assholes. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Aug 7, 2020 |
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Aug 7, 2020 05:48
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My impression of Mookie has been that he understands on a surface level when a broad action is wrong, but he's not willing to understand why and how it harms people, or how it can be expressed in a subtle but no less damaging way, or how it can be so insidious that someone can absorb those beliefs without even realizing the damage they're doing. So, for example, he knows racism is bad. But he can only seem to grapple it in extreme ways, like having orc genocide or a planet wrapped up in wars. It doesn't blip on his radar that there's something weird about dedicating pages of worldbuilding just for listing off fantasy slurs (nor does it blip that at least one of them actually is used in real life). It doesn't blip that his heroes are making what would in-universe be classified as a racist joke about their friend. It doesn't blip that he's essentially gone "Both Sides!" at a war that involved internment camps, and that the only way he could make sure the readers didn't sympathize with either side was by having them both punch down at mixed families. This same reaction of his, by the way, can also be seen with the space mafia (transphobia) and Siegfried (more fantasy racism). Or, let's tie it in with both the DD reread and Legacy's previous arc. Mookie understands abuse is bad. But he can only ever seem to show it as a blatant, grandiose way where the abuser is very aware they are the villain and in fact openly revels in how evil and cruel they are, as Luna's mother shows. He can't seem to grasp more subtle forms of abuse, like Ink Witch's complete disregard for boundaries or for Snout's well-being. Even obvious red flags (like how Milov murdered and mutilated an illusion of Jayden without a hint of hesitation, and without any prior knowledge that she wasn't the real thing) slip by because only villains abuse people, and how can his precious Milov and Stonewater and Ink Witch abuse someone if they aren't gloating about how evil they are every five minutes? I assume Mookie wants to be a good person that supports others, because few people would say they don't. And, honestly? Had he actually taken the time to learn from his past and accepted that he has blind spots, and accepted that there may be subjects he can't handle with tact and that he should try to avoid covering them in depth or at all, I don't think people would be giving as much poo poo about Legacy as they are now. There are other webcomic artists out there who started off by farting slurs and violence onto their site and calling it edgy humor. Most of them have mellowed out and either pay careful attention to what they're writing and how, or have slipped into obscurity to avoid association with their old shame. I want to give the benefit of the doubt to people who were assholes online back in the 00s, because I want to be able to believe that even people in their 20s, 30s, and older can still learn something new and take it to heart. But in 18 years he hasn't learned a single thing from the criticism about his DD storylines, and in fact doubles down as soon as someone suggests his story's love interest is a massive creep and warps the story to make her look better. And that is the true legacy of Dominic Deegan. Yes, I want fries with my order. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Aug 26, 2020 |
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Aug 26, 2020 08:58
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Zereth posted:Because one person made a joke attributing Minecraft to Hatsune Miku Even the person who popularized the joke in the first place disavowed it when people tried to apply it Harry Potter this past summer when JKR's transphobic screeds were a daily occurrence. It just doesn't work when a series' creator is still directly benefiting from book/movie sales. Mikumiku_ebooks retired shortly after that, in part because they realized their influence had grown out of control and it was better for everyone if they stopped while the memories were still good, rather than let it keep dragging into a downward spiral. And for that reason I respect someone who ran a parody Twitter account much more than I do Mookie I'm late to the talk about Luna, but I agree that as a character, consciously written to have a place in the narrative, she is a bad character because she primarily exists as a plot device for angst, or an accessory for Dominic to obsess over. Often both at once, resulting in emphasis being put on how something affects Dominic more than her. I think there might've been one instance where something bad happened to Luna, just for the story to go "oh but it also happened to Dominic too! Woe is he!", but I've only heard about that third-hand and I'd rather just wait for it to come up in the recap than have it confirmed or denied. The suspense(?) is better that way.
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Aug 28, 2020 23:55
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Eh, honestly? He's pretty open that these are just self-indulgent pieces and not something he's doing commercially, and that the photos he used as references are made by himself. If that's the case, it's no worse than someone who takes a picture of their own hand or has a poseable model figure (either in real life or as a 3D program). And for all the issues with how he's let his art stagnate, he's not wrong about how other artists also reference other work or use models, whether they've been drawing for one month or one decade. Taken solely in this context, I don't see anything wrong with him using references, as long as he isn't dishonest about it like he was when tracing urban landscape photos. In a broader context of how he tends to give up after making mistakes, though... I keep thinking about that time he changed how he drew people in profile for a few strips, then went back to snoutfaces because he was more comfortable that way. I'm more amused that he keeps insisting that he's drawing something more meaningful than intimate than porn and that he wants to normalize sexuality in media the way violence is normalized. Come on, dude, it isn't that deep, especially not if you're gonna call it saucy playtime. It is okay to draw smut for the sake of smut! Intimacy between partners doesn't always have to involve sexuality, and it's his own deliberate decision to draw them in only sexual situations thus far. It doesn't need to be justified with a deeper meaning.
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Sep 4, 2020 20:23
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Okay yeah you're right, I focused too much on the technical details and blocked the implications of the modeling out of mind. I do not like these implications.
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Sep 5, 2020 03:03
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You know, the whole "Dominic dives into Luna's life without her permission" thing makes an interesting comparison against the Snout/Ink Witch interactions. In the broadest sense, Inky does the same thing Dominic does by dipping into Snout's personal and mental space and only acknowledging it after the breach of privacy has been done. It even has the hallmarks of Mookie trying to cover up afterwards by talking about how they didn't actually mean to do all of that, and normally they're actually really good people who support consent and boundaries, and Luna/Snout forgives them for their accidental trespass. If it had just been one or two isolated incidents, I'd write it off as Mookie not thinking through the implications very well and not knowing how to write his way out of it without just going "it was out of Dominic/Inky's control and they aren't supposed to be bad people". But as part of a larger pattern that he pointedly doubles down on, it jumps that slim distinction from "bad writing" to "bad writer". Related to that, I kinda wonder why Mookie keeps drawing such onesided nighttime snuggling scenes in Legacy.* It's never just about two characters, clothed or otherwise, mutually deciding to sleep together for intimacy and comfort. It's always about one character already lying down, often asleep and oblivious, and the other getting in close without ever checking in for permission. Often this involves stripping off their own clothes for no clear reason. It'd be one thing if they were already established couples whom readers can reasonably assume have already hashed out this kind of unspoken trust offscreen, but this instead keeps happening between strangers who've met mere days ago and know little to nothing about each other. Even in the very beginning, there was Snout sleeping naked next to the injured, unconscious stranger in his room and Mookie commenting on it as if this is a normal thing people do. It's like he wants to get to the end result, a warm and intimate domestic scene, but forgets all the steps to actually build up to it and gives everyone a sludge of raw milk and eggs instead. And on top of that, here he is slipping right back into the same mistakes as what got Ink Witch forced out of focus! Why is the woman still naked, anyway? Snout's already proven himself to be a tailor who can make a shirt with very few resources, before they left he could have probably turned the blanket-leaves into a simple no-sew wrap or cloak. As it stands her nudity highlights how she's framed as a wild but naive being that the good man must teach. It's the intersection of two or three uncomfortable archetypes at once, and the unwanted sleep-glomping bodes poorly for where it might go in the future. * If I had to take a wild and likely incorrect guess, I feel like it's cribbing on harem genre tropes. Snout is the bland everyman and Ink Witch and the cabin survivor are both potential interests who get into compromising situations with him. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 23:21
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Oh, that's a pleasant surprise (the mildest, most flacid pleasure). At this point I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I could see a pivot to Arudak and Corpse Person as the main companions working. Before the update I had written all this, though, and I feel some points still stand The Little Death posted:Chapter 14 the Battle for Barthis Part 1 [Part 3] I wanna highlight these comics in particular, because what the gently caress. What is Dominic even going on about, "you're smarter than this, show me how strong you are"? Is he implying that people who are coerced into sex are stupid and weak because of it? Are they less worthy of the respect of Dominic Deegan, Nice Guy For Hire? I don't know if Mookie consciously was making a statement like that, but that's sure what it sounded like. Something that disappoints me is that Mookie does, to some degree, seem more comfortable with sexuality. If Legacy was original-flavor DD, then Evil Ink Witch would've been dressed in a bikini and been more blatantly sexual to mark her as villainous, while Good Ink Witch and New Companion would have been naked a lot less, if at all (and the latter's sexuality would've likely been filtered through trauma). There has yet to be any overt slut-shaming, though I would not be surprised if any appeared down the line. The thing is, just because he's more comfortable depicting sex doesn't mean he actually understands sex positivity. One important tenant of it is emphasizing healthy attitudes towards boundaries and consent. Everything about the dynamics of Snout and his companions has stepped all over the concept, though. I mean, I'm trying to think of any number of other reactions Mookie could have had to the Ink Witch callout: * He could've apologized, said he didn't mean it, and spent a week or two redrawing and retconning old comics to better reflect the intended characterization * He could've apologized, said he didn't mean it, and change his plans for the comic by leaning into Ink Witch being an antagonist * He could've apologized, said he didn't mean it, and do his usual bullshit of saying forces outside his heroes' control made them do bad things * He could've ignored the comment entirely and pretended Twitter didn't give him notifications All of these are imperfect solutions, the third carries heavy baggage (hello, orcs), and the last one is just being an rear end. But even that would've been better than what he did: Do his usual bullshit, then call attention to it not by apologizing but by vaguetweeting about the criticism and dismissing them as a troll. It's not just being ignorant, it's deliberately refusing to learn! Factor in that he has a history of this and it's... honestly, I'm not even outraged. I'm just frustrated that someone actively rejects the chance to improve themself. I hope this does pivot into Ink Witch as an antagonist and Arudak as the new exposition machine. That would be a very good development by DD standards. Still, given Mookie's reaction to the callout, I doubt something like that would've been planned all along
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Oct 29, 2020 19:40
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I want to hope that even Mookie is smart enough to know now that "feral, violent, and must be taught language and life skills by a more rational character" would be a terrible arc to give to a character of color. But then again, he gave us Bumper and thought it made him an ally.* I'm... going to tentatively hope that he's just given no thought at all to her appearance besides "wow it's easy to scribble with an ink brush" and is so self-absorbed that he's not thinking out the implications. Realistically, I'm prepared for the worst.** ( * And while the topic's moved on from it, I do wanna say: The OfH rereads are very insightful, as they give context to much of his present writing and establish how certain points are patterns that persist even now.) Come to think of it, has he ever drawn the Legacy cast in color? For some reason I want to say Ink Witch is a redhead, except I cannot remember any drawing that actually suggests that and I may just be pulling colors out of my rear end. Coincidentally, rear end-pulls are a vital part of the DD creative process. I'm not totally sure what he's even going for with this subplot. Either the only way he can characterize Corpselady is by making her do the opposite of Ink Witch ("instead of hugging Snount suddenly, she punches him suddenly! "), or he's trying to set up Snout as a martyr who forgives all wrongs done to him and is a kind and pure soul who's worthy of... whatever plot device he'll come up with eventually.** Edit: Peeked into the archives just to double-check something and realized how slim and... neat? that Snout's face structure now compares to how broadly animal-like it was at the beginning. Also yeah, looking at Corpselady's face again I'm starting to think Mookie is making a deliberate choice and does know what he's suggesting. Goddammit. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Nov 4, 2020 |
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Nov 4, 2020 13:27
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You know, I've wondered if maybe the events of this arc had been distorted over the years. Surely stuff like "a demon is responsible for literally every negative emotion for Stonewater" was hyperbole, right? Surely Mookie made some half-assed token effort to say "well maybe Melna's right to feel hurt but she's gotta be  about it", right? But no, it literally is all outside influence that's making these womenfolk so goddang hysterical, and as soon as the demon's gone they instantly go apologize to him and minimize all of their own feelings.There really isn't anything I can say about this or even about Legacy that hasn't already been said. This is the essence of DD, and everything either builds up to this point or calls back to it. The basic building blocks of the Right characters and the Wrong ones remain the same, the actual story about them is just different players of paint. I recall it being pointed out in an old thread that Stonewater raping Melna did nothing to get her out of there. His ultimate goal was to bring her to his homeland, but instead she smashed his face in, ran away, and was never seen again by either tribe until now. The exact same thing would have been accomplished had he taken her to the tent to ask her how they could fake this and make their escape (make a deal with the orc matrons to help them escape too? Or else hit them when they enter and run while everyone's distracted?), and she understandably still believes he's trying to hurt her, smashes his face in, and runs away. How does she avoid being seen and shot on sight by the other orcs? I don't know, how does she avoid being seen and shot on sight in the original story? I suppose the difference is that she had the cover of night, which just makes "it was daytime and everyone was outside waiting" another contrivance to force the story. In short, PoptartsNinja posted:This is Mookie and the audience: I also recall someone in this thread noting that as recently as spring this year Mookie posted a preview of a Patreon epilogue story about Stonewater and... Grench? Raising a child together? Which suppose is better than Stonewater and Melna raising a child, in the same sense that it would be better if my non-dominant hand was smashed by a door. Anyway, the point I'm getting at is, he might understand on the surface that this story went over badly with audiences and that he shouldn't write something like it again... but doesn't seem to understand why it invoked such a viscerally angry response and how independent elements of it can either apply to other characters and dynamic, or be potentially upsetting or even triggering in its own right. And that's how we end up with poo poo like Ink Witch being a huge creep and Stonewater being dredged up in 20-loving-20 to get an undeserved happy ending. Anyway Legacy bad, but with the way it's spinning its wheels I really don't have anything of worth to say here anymore. The dick dreams were unintentionally funny I guess
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Dec 20, 2020 01:58
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I genuinely don't remember most things I posted years ago and I don't think I started reading until the desert arc, and I can't say more because I don't remember specific conversations and posts, but it's safe to assume I was an rear end in a top hat regardless of what I said and didn't say. I had my own experiences I was still coping with in mixed ways at that time but that does not justify or excuse any of it impacting other people. I'm sorry that I contributed to that environment.
MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Dec 20, 2020 |
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Dec 20, 2020 04:14
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Bringing up spoilers from Friday's comic since it's relevant: Post-bath it's clear that yes her hair is afro-textured, and yes of course it's good ol Snout who has to teach her how to properly style her own hair and dress herself up and ughhhhh I can almost see where Mookie might have somehow have not thought this through. Maybe "feral necromancy horror" and "diverse cast" began as separate thoughts until he decided that since both called for new characters he should just combine the two concepts. But even if, if that was the case the fact that he apparently at no point has realized how this hits almost every box on the "terrible savage caricatures" checklist is very telling on the amount of thought put into the story. Double given the societal environment of the past decade and especially past year, triple given that he's well aware of the backlash about Bumper. I can't remember if he's drawn any of the cast of Legacy in color yet and that's his one way to try and backpedal out of this, but given the past he's more likely to keep digging downwards. I'm late to the topic but this seems like a good time to point out again that none of the women of Legacy (besides Kazya, but she hasn't shown up in-person and is currently just an accessory to Arudak) have had their true names revealed yet, and Corpselady doesn't even have a nickname or a title. She's also the only one whose name is implied to be so alien in nature that it can't even be rendered in written speech*. You know, just in case there weren't enough red flags already. (* Unless the ink disintegrating was Ink Witch's own doing, which wouldn't be out-of-character for her.)
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Mar 3, 2021 19:21
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It is incredibly cool that a black-coded character who was defined by her out-of-control violence and inability to communicate has both of these instantly corrected with magic, and that the first words out of her mouth are to praise her savior for putting up with her emotions and taking care of her and teaching her about kindness and written language and clothing (that she inexplicably stopped wearing during her latest breakdown) I don't even think this is a case of Mookie realizing how terrible her portrayal before now was and clumsily trying to change that within the story, because instead of fixing anything it doubles down on earlier impressions of Snout being... I don't want to assume he's analogous to white because he's of a fantasy species with no clear equivalent to any real-world culture, and there's always the chance Mookie will indicate something else in the future. But at the moment Snout and Corpselady's dynamics have been reminiscent of white savior tropes for a long while, and this page nails it in. Why does she still not have a name? Why can't her first words be, perhaps, asserting her identity to all these people who've spent the past day dehumanizing her and asking her "what" she is? Ignoring the meta reading that her identity is solely about Snout and making him feel better.
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May 12, 2021 10:12
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Ehhh... I don't want to make any assumptions about his relationships or his mental state wrt to the pandemic-related isolation. While I do feel that Snout's a vessel for wish fulfillment, I'd rather not speculate on Mookie's personal life based on the comic. Admittedly I might be missing context from outside the comic. That being said, hahahaha what a way to end the week. I thought that maybe she'd keep talking and drop some lore reveal as a weekend cliffhanger, like revealing something about who she is or who the other people in the house were. Nope, she's just going to practically grind on him. It barely even furthers character development because it just repeats the same information from the last page (Corpse is grateful to Snout, Snout is happy to be praised). There are six other people in the room and they've all temporarily vanished into the void so that they don't have to be drawn reacting to this. Though if I had to guess, they're probably giving a standing ovation right now (except perhaps Bad Orc because he's bad).
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May 14, 2021 21:23
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My best guess is that someone finally asked "hey, wtf just happened" and Snout wrote down a summary of the cabin incident while Corpsey explained what little she remembers, and this page cuts to Bad Orc already putting the pieces together. This is a huge assumption to make considering there's no indication Snout and Corpsey communicated this info at all and their last on-screen action was glomping. For all we know, she's making another speech about how amazing and wonderful Snout is. Edit to clarify: What I mean is, their actions this page have no flow with the previous page, and there is no indicator of a timeskip, which is why the scene is so jarring. There also isn't anything like "based on the subjects' testimony" that would suggest what, specifically, they've been discussing in the side panels. The only hint is that Daxethar knows about the dream gate incident, so someone had to tell him. I'm half-expecting her name is going to end up being a play on Siren or Vine. Or maybe straight up Vine, considering Sunflower's name. Speaking of which, did they just inherently know how to identify and stabilize vine clones? Are their actions going to be explained at all this week, or is Bad Orc deliberately ignoring them to further prove his xenophobia? MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 14:10 on May 17, 2021 |
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May 17, 2021 13:50
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oriongates posted:They haven't even bothered to translate the note he handed snout, the one that was, presumably, actually insulting. Because the stuff Snout actually read was not worth this much moping. It was definitely rude...but none of it was actually insulting: it was just a list of the supernatural or significant abilities that snout doesn't have...that most people don't have, for that matter. All beard-orc actually said was "Snout has no superhuman abilities, cannot dig underground, cannot use magic and cannot fly." This is true of almost everyone! It was phrased in a condescending manner but none of it is actually claiming that Snout is deficient in any way. He didn't claim that snout was stupid, or clumsy or weak...he didn't even harp on Snout's actual disabilities. He did harp on his disabilties, by saying that a deaf and mute person like him shouldn't have survived to adulthood in the Wild Edge. He then implied Snout's continued survival would only come from the charity of stronger people, which sounds like he's referring to more than just Arudak/IW's magical powers. As poorly handled as Snout's deafness has been, the ableist and outright eugenic implications of Daxethar's write-up are still there. Snout being shaken up by this is understandable. The issue is that it ends up being wrapped up in a greater narrative where as soon as Snout (or Dominic or Greg or any honorary Deegan) feels even a bit sad or helpless, all the Good Guys and the plot itself immediately bend backwards to fluff his ego. Meanwhile the Bad Guy has to double down and dig into some bigotry solely to prove his badness, just like the Star Power gangster suddenly dropped some transphobia and Siegfried supported orc lynchings because readers were starting to like them too much. That, and the pace of Legacy is glacial. Even if Snout's need for some time alone is justifiable, it ends up becoming yet another example of padding the comic out with filler landscapes that don't really establish anything. Everything from Daxethar's departure to now could've been done in half the strips, maybe a third. Why couldn't Arudak apologize/explain earlier, so that Snout would know exactly where his friends stand on this issue? Now that I think of it, why did no one think to check on Snout in the past, oh, 8-12 hours? The library scene presumably happened over the entire morning, and Snout left during the daytime and didn't come back until after nightfall. No one thought it was worrying that he skipped dinner, and possibly lunch too?
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Jun 4, 2021 16:53
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