Unlike some of Terracciano’s naysayers, I’ve enjoyed DD more often than not. While there were times the comic dragged and even a few times I stopped reading, there was one thing that drew me back: the sense of fun that could often be found in the comic. Much akin to anime, DD was a cyclical comic that would gleefully descend into rampant silliness and goofiness until finally a larger story would evolve and things would get worse and worse. And even then Terracciano would sneak in a few moments of humor to make the darkness even deeper… until the dawn would break.

That said, the comic had run its course. There wasn’t much else for Dominic to do (having saved the world a couple of times already; it was becoming old hat). I do wonder if Terracciano could have allowed Dominic to die (and when he was catching glimpses of the future of his kingdom and not seeing himself in those glimpses I had to wonder if he had died and these were his last moments). Yet given everything that has happened to Dominic (with his magic and second-sight torn from him even as he defeated his final foe), a traditional end with the hero living out his days in peace may work well for this comic.

Not that this is the end for Terracciano; I believe he has plans in the world for a new comic (steampunk-related, if memory serves, but I may be mistaken). And let’s face it; while starting anew risks alienating and losing old fans, eventually archives grow so large that it’s ni-impossible to attract new readers… while the increased back-story risks getting in the way of new tales. But for now, Dominic Deegan has come to an end. Not with a bang, nor with a whimper, but just a farewell.

Part of this might be because Roy thinks of Elan as useless; seeing that he’s the nominal leader of the group, his constant dismissal of Elan as an effective member of the group may have ended up subconsciously sabotaging Elan’s own self-esteem and usefulness. But even when Roy’s not around to dismiss Elan’s often-inane suggestions, Elan often plays the idiot who bumbles through life relying on his good looks and luck to prevail against whatever he faces. In short, Elan’s his own worst enemy, and often makes things worse than they should be.

Thus I must admit I was absolutely shocked by the latest OotS when it was Elan of all people who saw through the illusionary trap they were trapped in. Ironically enough, it was his own immaturity and idiocy that broke the illusion for him… and allowed him to drag the others out of the trap and back into reality. As Elan himself admitted to Roy, his own desires and dreams were foolish and childish whims. The big buildup leading to this was not his marriage to Haley (which says something about his and Haley’s relationship) but rather his parents getting back together. Just because.

In short, the village idiot looked in the mirror and realized the King of Fools was wearing no clothes. In a way it makes sense for Elan to see through the illusion, seeing he’s grown increasingly adept at using illusions with his bardic magic. Sadly, I suspect it would be too much to ask for Elan to show sustained growth from this; much like Belkar, Elan is trapped by reader expectations to truly see any lasting character growth. Oh, there’ll be hints here and there, but both characters at their heart are two-dimensional caricatures who rarely show true growth.

Then again, Belkar’s shown some signs of growth, if only with the cat Mr. Scruffy (and I must admit some vague curiosity as to if Belkar’s illusionary world is one of hedonism, or if it’ll show a glimpse of character growth and the lesson that Durkon’s death may have taught him). Perhaps now that Roy has no choice but to rely on him, Elan may start to emerge from the tangle of idiocy and comic relief that have long prevented him from being what he’s long wanted to be: a hero.

In the meantime, now that links have been restored (even if the Theme that has been used forever and a decade is currently hiding in the corner while sulking) I want to direct your attention away from the lovely lady behind the curtain and toward little updates I’ve done in the meantime. By which, I mean I’ve added proper links to the “Fiction” and “Meta-Review” sections, and all Meta-Reviews are coded into the system (well, all the Meta-Reviews I was able to track down, that is – and the thumbnails and links in these reviews haven’t been fixed).

Hopefully additional features will be added in time; I’m not going to jinx things by mentioning particulars, however.

So please, feel free to check out the Meta-reviews (which are mostly old and haven’t been updated to the new Review template yet) and Fiction while waiting on reviews. They’re well worth reading.