Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Is he just a power hungry sorcerer of the classic variety, or is there something else going on? And did he make up that story just to check on the library?

I'm guessing the mirror is in the Lost Tomb of Temshutup, the directions to which used to be in the royal library. Either he wants the mirror itself, or something else in the Tomb.

I am guessing his short temper will be his undoing...

I'm also guessing that he turned the king into a tree...

Of course this might be what Rich wants us to think... He might turn out to be a good guy but I do doubt it...

If he is the good guy that will be the stangest twist Rich has ever used.

Well he does look like the classic power hungry mage-villain, but what if the artifact is needed to cure some orphans? Huh? Huh?

I'd like to say, that we don't have any proof Kurassa is evil.
He is pictured on purpose as if he resembles Jafar very much -- but if we look at him carefully, we shall see his face doesn't bear real signs of malice.
He isn't charming at all, his eyebrows make him look rather gloomy and peevish -- but he treats Fatina (his servant) decently, and his smile on the last panel of the strip #1450 isn't particularly evil.

He may be cunning, he may be sorcerer-conman, he obviously needs the magic mirror (perhaps desperatly) -- but I'd put off conclusions till he would look into it... Then the truth shall show itself

I think maybe Mr. Morris is playing deliberately with our stereotypes.
Even Fatina's perplexed look or Vanessa's and Kassim's beforehand disapproval of him influence our apprehension
Let's recall Jone: Mr Morris, IMHO, played there with us as well.
He made us think she must be adorable, although only a bit strange, bulled, hungry and unwashed -- because we remembered how nice and cute was Glon from the very beginning, and we projected our attitude to him onto her, plus we felt sorry for her... But once she was at last in the Black Mountain cave, among friends, and her stare remained maniacally haunted and not a bit nicer than formerly ... we could forebode that Jone, innocent as she was, would do something horrible and cruel...
And nevertheless some kept insisit she's an adorable cute darling... The power of stereotype!)

Oh Gods, the new forumie is using logic….. IT BURNS!!!!! MAKE IT STOP! I know; I’ll get my kerosene, Napalm and matches that will stop the pain.

Sorry was a bad day. I am glad that we have a new member of our council here and that person is bringing up good ideas. Keep it up, makes this place more fun.

Well, since he treed the Caliph, sent his servant into harm's way against the roc, and apparently keeps her in rags when at home, I think we can safely assume he's not a nice guy.

Doesn't mean he's working against the Umbrils, though.

To turn Kurassa into a good guy will take a lot -plus with all the well rounded and mysterious characters around can't we have a stereotype to simply despise? Please? Pretty pretty please with a kobold on top?

Erm... What does it mean?
English isn't my native language, sorry, and somtimes I fail to understand new idioms

Nevertheless I never said Kurassa was good or nice.
He may have his interests, he may be selfish, etc.
I just think he may be not cruel enough to be considered as genuinely evil.
So far I didn't see him to smirk maliciously underhand or go "bwahaha!"
He fights with flies and sometimes looks not very bright... He often seems to be at a loss.

As for

let me answer from the end
3. He keeps Fatina in rags when at home... -- we see her doing floors there. Nobody does it in his/her best outfit;
2. He sent his servant into harm's way against the roc... -- she can do it, he can not (perhaps he's too old or clumsy, and she's obviously skilled and nimble...).
1. He treed the Caliph... -- now, that's an argument. A strong one, indeed. It's really an evil deed. But so far it's only our presumption, not a direct proof, we didn't see him doing it.
And with Rich's inventivness and aptiness to twist typical (archetypical) plots we can well expect the culprit is somebody else...

A minor point, but we mislead ourselves with Jone. Both BK and DM have commented that they were surprised by how much we liked Jone as she was never supposed to be anything but creepy.

I don't think we've ever actually been purposely mislead about a character before. Basically we all just get so carried away with first impressions and speculating that we end up believing a bunch of assumptions with no actual support for them.

Which is immensely entertaining in a "wow - I seriously never thought of it that way before!" way. Just before things get too far off the rails here, though, let me point out the Voice of God (tm, NOT linking to tvtropes because I have work to do today, dammit) from the first strip in this arc:

http://yafgc.net/?id=1450

"In the ruins of an ancient city, an evil man was making an evil discovery."

So by all means do speculate on what was meant by that and whether Kurassa fits your definitions of 'evil,' and all that fun stuff that sparks conversation and ignites interesting debate. Just don't lose sight of the original introduction of the character in the process.

(Also, washing the floor?)

The standard expression is pretty please with a cherry on top, (just a cute way to say please, actually) but seeing Fang in today's strip made me lose some sanity points .
I doubt Kurassa was intended to be taken as anything else than evil. Even putting aside the first strip which was pretty clear in who and what he is, he has so far been dishonest, threatening, dismissive of his servant (yes, feudal setting, but again, fantasy) and he has been plotting behind the siblings' back he whole time. These are mannerisms, not evidence, but in fantasy mannerisms matter.
Most importantly, the Calipha pointed out to her children that she had magically identified him as evil before sending them off to the quest.
So far i do not think we had so many assurances that a human is evil in YAFGC for anyone else (apart from the monsters).

PS Most people knew that Jone had been evil from some point onward. What was debated was if she was still a likeable or salvageable character -after all evil in this strip is hardly a deal breaker .

Well we have all seen the savage nature of Turg but we all love him anyway. The abilty to do evil does not make you unlikable. This strip uses real world logic to an extent that there is very little black and white just a lot of gray. Good and evil are just points on an invisible line, just look at Adwen. She is a 'good guy' but she has some real evil in her.