8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:38 am

I maintain that Mookie pre-plans (quite well) the majority of of the comic arcs. Most of the arcs lead into each other, and the presence of Snowsong way back in the Storm of Souls shows a lot of planning (although the earliest pre-views weren't long after). Even if they aren't well recieved arcs, I don't really think Mookie would be able to change the ended of an arc, given how he's plotted it (according to me, anyhow) from the earliest stages.

More then anything, this strip made me feel sorry for Gregory when he was younger, and kind of irritated at Jacob for experimenting on Greg's blight. The the vast majority of people would feel sorry for the crippled boy dreaming of being a superhero rather then getting an urge to make them into a zombie. Or perhaps it was Jacob's version of "helping". Man, now I want Jacob back in the comic. I'm such a sucker for family dramas.

Interesting strip, Mookie. *thumbs up*

Edit: Ah, I got ninja'd several times, but this wasn't in response to anything in particular. *shrugs*

Subject: Yup, 10 minutes down the drain. Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:01 am

Maybe he has a notesheet somewhere.

"Kill Gregory slowly, then Jacob resurrects him or something, everything goes back to normal, ~~but Jacob has a sex change~~" "Too.. dramatic.. for me."

"~~Dom gets head from Snowsong?~~" "When did I write this? It's inspired.. hmm, make it a ~~dream~~ mindscape, hell yea. She'll never know."

"Luna finds new meaning in life." "wait 2 10 arcs"

"Spark gets a ~~bow and arrows~~ gun" "hmm, forum won't like that.. say it's just "magic." That'll put them off for a couple of weeks, so I'll have time to think of an excuse."

"Seriously fuck Milov up, make it terminal or something." "I need an excuse to get him back into the spotlight, and let's face it, no one really cares about him."

"Add a white-magic-addicted crack whore or something. Greg's dream of polygamy gets realized after he makes Pam supper happy or something." "Needs more work. Try adding a clone of Greg, but get this, he's evil."

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:39 am

Thanks to the lack of foreshadowing, I can't see this as anything less than damage control.

However, he IS doing damage control, which is nice.

It may have been an offhanded comment for an idea I thought would have made a particularly heart-rending flashback... but kudos to SOMEONE mentioning that yes, Gregory was a cripple at that young age.

Like I said, it's damage control, so I can't say I'm "happy" with how things went down, but I can accept the arc is over and move on.

Besides, it looks like the next arc won't be "filler", which sounds good to me.
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Define "damage control". You imply that Mookie is making up this explanation after the event to justify what he wrote. For a comic book writer making a story about a guy who can see into the furture, making up stories on the spot would be a disaster.

I honestly see the closing to the arc an explanation of why every seemed so wrong. It could be read as damage control but only in a pre-conceived fashion. And anyone who really thought about it had the chance to see something was going on behind the scenes. Free chocolate cake? It would be so easy to overlook at the time but makes perfect sense knowing Dominic had his hand involved.

I enjoyed the story, it's interesting to see how Dominic played the events including that odd transformation which no one could believe. I find it easier to blieve it was planned this way than not ;-)

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:38 am

It's damage control because there was absolutely no foreshadowing. Sure, Dominic knew what was happening, but as far as we the readers were concerned, it was an entire arc of random nonsense (he should have established Supermage earlier on) and handwaving ("Magic is just magic...except for the fact that we're studying it scientifically" Psyduck?

). If there had been just a little bit of foreshadowing, we wouldn't have to have had these comics of explanation. If we had maybe caught a glimpse of Greg's old hand-drawn comic (not the whole thing mind you...just enough bits and pieces to allow us to figure out what was going on with a bit of thinking), if somebody had mentioned Supermage by name earlier in the comic, if something had happened to let us know that this wasn't just being pulled out of Mookie's ass, then we would have only needed a little bit of explanation to tie up the loose ends. But since there was no foreshadowing, we need multiple days of heavy explanation to tie the entire arc together, let alone the little loose ends.
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Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:58 am

You want foreshadowing? Well, aside from the constant emphasis people made on changing, the conspicuous placement of the paper, and other things, it's quite easy to tell Dominic had a hand in things from the get-go.

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-05-26

Look at the expression on his face in the last panel. He OBVIOUSLY saw it coming, because Luna just looks at him confusedly while he holds in his laughter.

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-05-31

This is the first we see of Luna after Dominic uses the "Magic is just magic" line. She's not even paying attention to them after he says it, and in the second window it's like she's pondering exactly what the hell's going on...whereas if Dominic's explanation made sense to someone who worked at a magic school, she would've just accepted it...and if it didn't, she likely would've thrown out a counterpoint already.

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-06-08

Everyone complained about this one. We ALL know Dominic is NOT that oblivious, so he obviously knew what was going on, and wasn't worried at all.

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-06-12

He knew EXACTLY how Greg was going to react to this situation, as he made apparent by what he says here. What the hell would give him the idea that he was going to contact Rachel out of the blue?

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-06-14

Fourth panel. She recognized him as Buzz Beardman, and knew the name, so she obviously knew where it was from. Dominic says it was a "long story," perhaps a reference to the story that Greg had written? I can't assume that, but again, it made it quite obvious that he'd expected this.

I'd toss a few more out there, but really there WAS foreshadowing, but not as blunt as you people would like it. It was more subtle, and it seems to me that most of it was just stuff people complained about at the time as being stupid, instead of realizing it for what it was.
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Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:22 am

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:26 am

I agree with everything this man just said.
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Heh. This is like some sort of bizarre, fourth-wall breaking form of Xanatos Roullette. Instead of a character suddenly revealing how they were in control the entire time, it's the author demonstrating that there was a reason for everything.

I do agree with those who say he planned this the entire time. He may have tweaked elements based on comments in forums (or hell, people who emailed him), in order to cover all his bases, but the basic structure of, "Dominic is doing all of this, and he'll show how he did it after everything is done," was a deliberate creative decision.

Which means the only thing left from my list of complaints about the arc is Greg getting pissed for being treated like a tool. The ONLY reason for Dominic doing things this way (at least so far) is so he can do his smug routine now.

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:41 pm

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:15 pm

Anybody notice how often people seem to sign up JUST so they can say "MOOKIE IS GREAT!" then poof?

Also:

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Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:53 pm

Xanatos Gambit/Roulette?
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Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:38 pm

YAY XANATOS!

As for foreshadowing that -I- wanted...yes, we could tell Dominic was up to something, but there was very little hint dropped as to what exactly he was doing. That's not foreshadowing, thats sloppy writing. :P

Foreshadowing would be seeing the supermage comics before greg went supergreg. Foreshadowing would be a lot of the stuff we DIDN'T get. A thinly veiled idea of what was going on.

The past month or so we've been constantly going "....what." with good reason. Hell, Razor, you were doing so too. Because the foreshadowing wasn't really foreshadowing. It was hinting that Dominic was up to something, but left us absolutely no idea as to what. A week of exposition isn't going to fix this arc, alas.

Subject: Re: 8/8/2007: "Magic is just magic" explained Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:11 pm

Think it would have been better if we actually saw Dominic's vision (headless Snowsong one) before the plan started or would it have been worse for us?

Just wondering.
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