News

Trap spells morphing into constructs which turn out to be in combat with arcane doppelgangers who transform into Lovecraftian tentacle-centaurs.

High level mage duels are confusing, huh?

At least now we have some idea as to where Nimmel is... even if it's not a terribly fortunate revelation.

For those who may have missed the announcement yesterday, SUPERGREG VS. SNOWSONG is now on sale in the Seer's Catalog! I do hope you folks will forgive me for being somewhat repetitive about this for the remainder of the week (even if it only constitutes today and tomorrow), but I always get excited when new books come out. My inner bazaar merchant comes out for a few days. At least online.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

New comic books traditionally hit the shelves on Wednesdays, and today there's a new comic book "on the shelf" around here!

SUPERGREG VS. SNOWSONG is now available in the SEER'S CATALOG!



A HUGE thank-you goes out to my friend Garth Graham for the amazing colors he provided for the cover of this superheroic tale of white magic gone awry. The comics inside are still their original black-and-white.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on!

And we're back! And Miranda's beat-down of King David Johann continues at the hands of her various traps and constructs. Miranda's appearances have been primarily scholarly or studious, but every so often she cuts loose and kicks some ass.

SuperGreg vs. Snowsong goes on sale in the SEER'S CATALOG tomorrow!

Thanks again to everyone who came by to see me at A-KON this past weekend. Many of you had some very, very nice things to say to me regarding the comic's ten years and my choice to end it within a year's time. I sincerely hope I managed to express my gratitude enough.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Thanks to Shinoga for this wonderful and adorable hand-made statue of me and my wife in our Halloween costumes on our wedding day.

Other gifts from generous readers this weekend included:

- Hand-made, cross-stitched bookmarks of Dominic and Bort. They were very well made but I was having trouble taking an effective picture of them to show off.

- Homemade vegan maple muffins. I would have shown them off, too, but I ate them. All of them. Nom nom.


I am exhausted from a very busy but very enjoyable A-KON. The comic will resume tomorrow.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Miranda's pulled a trick like that before, so King David Johann isn't kidding when he calls her deception a "classic."

I'm at A-KON this weekend! Hope to see you there!

There will be filler of some kind on Monday, and the comic will resume on Tuesday.



That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and have a nice weekend!

It was a close call, but SuperGreg vs. Snowsong arrived yesterday! I'll be able to continue the tradition of debuting new books at A-KON this year! This weekend!

Chances are I'm either in the process of getting ready to leave for the show or I'm already in transit by the time you read this news post. I told you it was a close call.

I'll have the books up for sale in the SEER'S CATALOG next week. Probably on Wednesday, since that's when new comic books hit the shelves. It feels appropriate given the superheroic nature of the story.

The comic will update normally tomorrow, and then there will be some form of filler for Monday.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and see you at A-KON!

We are all in the unenviable position of watching two people talk about something they're very informed about, while the rest of us are more-or-less in the dark. What is the Heart of Magic? Is it a metaphorical prophecy or a magical relic like the Lost Treasure of Luana? How has the king been siphoning power from it? So many questions, so little time!

It looks like SuperGreg vs. Snowsong will be arriving today (I hope). If all goes well, I should have them available for A-KON this weekend and up for sale next week. If you pre-ordered a copy from me at Anime Boston or Anime St. Louis I'll have your copies in the mail before I leave for Texas.

My flight is tomorrow, but the comic will update on Friday normally (I hope). There will be filler of some kind on Monday, as I'm getting home very late on Sunday night.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

In case you forgot that important fact about King David Johann, here's a linky reminder that the Circle Archmagi added a fifth Circle for him, and it was Miranda who took his place when he left to rule Callan. Now it seems his admission wasn't so much earned as it was taken.

I'll hopefully have (good) news today regarding the availability of SuperGreg vs. Snowsong for A-KON. Even if my printing company has screwed up and I won't have them in time for this weekend's convention, they'll be available for purchase next month... after I'm done raging at my printer, should it come to that. I hope it doesn't. Cross your fingers.

There will probably be filler of some kind next Monday in place of a comic.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

The big news this week is that I'll be at A-KON this weekend! It's always a pleasure to return to this mammoth, memorable convention and I'm so happy to have the chance to come back this year. Be sure to stop by and say "hi" if you're in the area!

Right now I don't know if I'll have SuperGreg vs. Snowsong available in time for A-KON. The printing company I've used for years was uncharacteristically vague and delayed in their dealings with me concerning this (comic) book. It's a long, frustrating, boring story, but they tell me that the shipment will be arriving the day before I leave for A-KON. That's what they tell me, anyway. I'll believe it when I see it.

As usual for a convention weekend, there will likely be guest art, convention photos, or a crummy filler doodle from yours truly in place of a comic next Monday. Just giving you fine folks a proper heads-up.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

I listen to a lot of music during the day, and it has always helped set the mood for me when I sit down to make the comic.

When I was writing Two Thief or Not Two Thief, I primarily listened to the blues. Back when XM Radio was separate from Sirius it'd play some of the most obscure, crap-quality recordings of achingly heartfelt blues music. The studio stuff didn't do anything for me, since it sounded too professional and clean. But the old stuff, where the recording equipment is so crappy that the performer really had to belt out his/her troubles really struck me and put me in the mood to write about our resident down-on-their-luck thieves.

If you're like me, and you like the occasional soundtrack to your comics, pick one of those blues songs for today. Any will do. The more sorrowful (and badly recorded) the better. "Death Don't Have No Mercy" performed by Rev. Gary Davis is a good example, but certainly not the only one.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and have a nice weekend.

It's another surprise twelve-panel update today! I do hope you folks like it.

There are also a couple of linky notes that go along with it, if you're interested:

Quilt has used those black spikes before. They formerly belonged to Urik, the local leader of The Chosen.

He's also suffered more "severe" damage than he has today, and that didn't put him down either. Quilt is very resilient.


That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

The Infernomancer has been hit much harder. He's resisted white magic before, but let's see how he fares against a necromantic golem. An angry one.

It's been an eventful week so far, and it's only Wednesday. The comic's tenth anniversary, the announcement of its final year, and the unfortunate fate of Bumper revealed both yesterday and today. The timing of all these things brings up an excellent concern, which was tweeted to me yesterday. It read, "if you suddenly change the game and start killing off my favorite characters because you're officially ending the comic, I'm gonna be upset!"

Will every character make it to the end of the comic's run alive? No.

Does this mean I'm going to start a killing spree of beloved characters to make the comic more dramatic in its final year? Absolutely not.

I've said before that a body count is not the sign of a bold or daring writer, and I don't plan to go back on that statement. On the other hand, there is an element of danger now that wasn't around before, and it admittedly increases the tension of any given cliffhanger. What I'm trying to say is that I hope to strike a happy medium between the two during this final year.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

I want to thank all of you for your kind words regarding the comic's tenth anniversary and the announcement of its final year. The general theme of the emails, tweets and Facebook comments I received were along the lines of "I'm sad the comic's ending, but I'm glad you're ending it on your own terms." Thank you all so much for your love and support, and I hope you'll forgive me if I have a difficult time answering these emails, as there are a lot of them.

And I have a feeling I'm going to receive a lot more emails, tweets and Facebook comments after the events of today's comic.



That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is ten years old today. For the last decade I've been putting the adventures of a (formerly) grumpy seer online, but more importantly I've had all of you here to read those adventures. My life has been changed so much by this whole experience, and I cannot express my gratitude enough to all of you who have shown me so much love and support over the years.

But I must announce that this, the comic's tenth year, will be its final year. This is something I've been mentioning at conventions for awhile now, but I feel today is an appropriate time to make it official.

Sometime between now and May 21, 2013, Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire will come to an end.

However, I make this announcement with a relatively light heart. Why? Because I'm not being forced to end the comic. Because this is something I want to do, not have to do. Because I'm going to end the comic's run on my terms and I realize how lucky I am to be able to make this decision. Ten years is a long time to tell a lot of stories about a lot of characters, and I'm ready to give this cast a proper (and hopefully satisfying) ending.

Am I getting out of webcomics altogether?
No way. Webcomics have changed my life. I've met so many wonderful people over the years because of webcomics (including my amazing wife) and I have no intention of disappearing. I have other ideas for other comics I've been working on, and I hope people will like them.

Will the website remain online once the comic ends?
For as long as people are willing to come and read it.

Will I still release book editions of the comics?
For as long as people are still interested in buying them.

But the comic isn't ending tomorrow. There are many days, weeks, and months in a given year, so there's still a long way to go and a lot more comics to make. Besides, knowing me and my penchant for lengthy stories, I'll probably go over my own deadline.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on.

Things aren't looking good for Bumper right now.

...

There's no cliffhanger-y statement to go along with that. Bumper is in a lot of trouble right now.

"Fireball" is just a classic fantasy spell. Whether it's an archetypal wizard casting it in a movie, you're rolling dice to do so in a tabletop RPG, spending mana to light your enemies ablaze in a video game, or if it's reminiscient of Luna's early spellcasting, "fireball" is just one of those old standbys that you can just rely on for old-school fantasy magic goodness.

Be sure to come back on Monday. It's the comic's tenth anniversary and there will be a big announcement down here in the news box. You won't want to miss it.

That's all from me for now.
Rock on, and have a nice weekend!