You may have noticed the full-frontal (mongrel)male nudity in today’s comic. Expect more of that, both male and female, in The Legacy of Dominic Deegan. Six years have passed since I made the last comic for Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, and in that time I’ve rearranged my priorities when it comes to what I want represented in my work. For this new series, I won’t be censoring or obscuring nude forms and I’m doing away with graphic violence.
I was a much younger man when I started Oracle for Hire back in 2002. I loved splattery gore and body horror. I squealed at the chance to play in gory fantasy, ripping bodies apart and gleefully drawing blood-splatter all over every panel I could. I was a real gore-hound, so to speak, and indulged that in the medium of comics. But, as time went on, I got those gory spectacles out of my system and began to notice what we readily censor and what we eagerly embrace.
We tend to accept graphic violence without much thought, but the presentation of a nude body is almost unthinkable without a content advisory. As the years have rolled on I’ve noticed how accepted graphic violence has become in most mainstream media, to the point where I find myself going, “Oh wow, they went that far on TV? They blew that dude’s face half off his head!” But things like breasts, buttocks, and genitals? Things like loving, consensual sex? Unthinkable. Dead and dismembered bodies? Horrific violence? Now those are acceptable for modern audiences without warning.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy indulging in ridiculous splatter. Mortal Kombat 11 is one of my favorite games these days. But doing The Legacy means doing things differently. It means challenging myself to make something I’ve never made before, and to approach comics in a way that’s outside my comfort zone. And maybe, in this case, to challenge some preconceived notions as to what’s acceptable and what isn’t.
So consider this your “content advisory” for The Legacy of Dominic Deegan. There’s going to be nudity. It’s going to be uncensored but I’m going to do my best to keep it “natural” instead of “explicit” or “gratuitous.” There isn’t going to be any graphic violence. Like I said before, I got that out of my system during the Oracle for Hire years, and you’re welcome to revisit all those splattery comics any time you like. There may even be loving, consensual sex scenes if the story calls for them. We’ll see what happens.