So this was weird. Guess who won this month’s vote to star in the Dumbing of Age Patreon monthly bonus comic? O HAI BECKY. Well, uh, that’s spooky timing. But I drew a Becky strip anyway (also Asma is in it), so if you wanna go check it out, all you have to do is be a member of the Patreon. The first panel of the bonus strip is on the left. You can see the monthly bonus strip (and the monthly wallpaper) for any pledge amount, and if you pledge $5 or more you get to see tomorrow’s strip a day early. That’s right, those folks knew Becky was showing up 24 hours ago! But not a month ago, or they probably wouldn’t have voted this way.
We’re not going to have any shortage of Becky, is what I’m saying.
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Becky, Becky, she so cool
I don’t get Becky I can’t sleep
I need Becky ‘fo I beat
Becky, Becky, marry me
You mean
Sal, Sal, she so cool ohwait wrong comic
No, I think that applies to this one too.
Maniac, Maniac, he’s so cool.
Maniac, Maniac, don’t go to school.
Runs all night, runs all right.
Maniac, Maniac, *kissed a bull*!
Holy crap, that takes me back.
You kissed a Bull?
Yea, Red Bull.
I didn’t know there was anyone else in the world who read that book.
Are you kidding?? It won a Newberry Medal! There are *curriculums* written for teaching that book.
Damn it, that was a good book.
Ohai Becky.
So, how’s your school life going?
It’s not true, it’s bullcrap, I did not draw dingdongs, I did naaaht.
So, anyway, how is your premarital-hanky-panky life?
Oh joy, more wood to add to the fire!
That sounds like a euphenism.
It’s not. It is in fact another comment reflecting the OP’s desire to randomly immolate certain characters.
It feels wrong to start a phrase “oh joy” and not conclude it with “sex toy”
+68
+1 more
This is especially true when you know people named Joy.
Oh joy, more wood to add to the fire sex toy!
/couldntresist
“Hey, Joyce, want to meet my atheist girlfriend?”
“Wait, that came out wrong, I’m just a friend of Dorothy!”
“No? How about my Jewish boyfriend? Don’t worry, nothing’s happened yet. He’s gay”
Or my other alcoholic and possibly BI friend and her EX criminal roommate.
I think you guys missed the point… BECKY would be the one with the athiest girlfriend. And I’d say something like that seems inevitable.
Maybe this is the point we find out Becky is gay and has been trying to hide it from Joyce out of fear, but Joyce realizes she has feelings for Becky that’s been transferred to Dorothy in lieu of Becky not being there.
So we add another can of romantic gasoline to the fire.
no that’s taylor swift
The fundieness has been doubled!
Let’s hope Mary doesn’t ruin it. Perky fundies are more fun than bongoy ones.
They put the fun in fundies.
Conversely, Mary puts the “fundament” in “fundamentalist”.
No, she puts the mental in “fundamentalist”
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Fundament?r=75
You’re both right, she’s an ass and she’s mental.
You beat me to that one. Although I was going to make that joke about Joyce.
you’re talking about these amirite
omfg what
Jen Aside — I demand a refund of my brain-before-checking-out-your-link. A *full* refund. No trace memories of that insanity.
A rabid opposum covered in barbed wire’d be better than Mary.
Hey, alt-text, I’m the one that makes ‘SAL?!?’ jokes.
…and probably like 50 other people.
That’s how Willis knows us so well. One pool of jokes =p
“Nobody has made a ‘FAAAACE’ joke in a while; better have someone get hit in the face with a pie.”
We haven’t had an “unkillable badass” joke for a while either… Probably because unkillable badasses are so rare, unlike religious fundamentalists that hate all things fun.
This would be a lot more dramatic if Becky had called Joyce earlier to break up with her, followed by an extended flashback of the two of them in high school.
Well this is going to be a spectacular truck crash
Don’t worry Joyce, God has just been ‘paying attention’ to Billie and Ruth lately, if you know what I mean.
“I made the right decision making these too so hot. If only people’d stop spreading that “I hate gays” rumor. My whole schtick is I don’t hate anyone!
+1 for TRUTH!
“Oh hey there little fella!”
Brain, you are far too good at recalling things thought forgotten.
Becky-Joyce Shippers!
Assemble!
ALL ABOARD
It turns out that Becky always had a crush on Joyce. This conversation will go badly.
how can there already be shippers !? everyone would have forgot she existed if it wasn’t for the fact she’s on the cast list.
or in the VERY FIRST STRIP if you accidentally click the “First” button??
Or when you follow ads here to check the daily update, only to feel that tiny spark of rage when they bring you to page one instead and negate the time saved in not typing the URL manually by requiring a click to reach the homepage…
Dude, bookmarks save tons of time.
I am often reminded of Beckys existence when my large thumb tries to click the ‘previous’ button on my phone and mashes into the first button instead.
I’m actually kinda excited to find out what happened to Becky. How long in the DoA universe has it been since Joyce last saw her?
The last strip with Joyce and Becky in the same physical locale was posted September 15, 2010 http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/forget/
Actually I don’t even think Becky is still on the cast list.
I ship them so hard and I DONT KNOW WHY? I’ve got it in my head that Becky has a massive crush on Joyce for some reason.
I will not ship Joyce with Becky unless Dorothy is also involved.
I knew Joyce would cheer up quickly somehow. Way to go, Joyce! 😀
Oh this is going to be fun!
…Hopefully.
It’s been a while, Becky! Can’t wait to see what comes of this little get-together.
Plot twist: God is real.
We all knew that already, at least within the world of Dumbing of Age. His name is Willis.
And this God of the DoA is an atheist.
He looks in the mirror and says “You’re not real”
I imagine our God (if he exists) to be an atheist. He knows what he is and why he exists, so he doesn’t have to believe in himself, and there’s nothing bigger than him to believe in. So, yeah, atheist.
And he’s a zombie in a box.
And He’s a zombie cat.
Your chin is looking strong as ever.
“Becky! Finally, I need you to look at giant butts with me!”
“Hi, Becky! Please don’t look at my browser history. There are no pictures of mandangles in there. I promise.”
Prediction: Joyce’s changes in college will cause these two to start to hate each other, with Becky representing everything Joyce was and despises about herself. It will lead to arguments, and an eventual falling-out.
And then wonderful hatesexI could see it maybe being Joyce trying to pretend to be as she was, slipping, and Becky maybe being like “Oh, thank God, you finally noticed some of this stuff too!”
Hey main character we’ve only seen twice since the beginning of the comic. how you been.
This won’t end well. Ditto for their friendship.
Joyce is the plaything of Tzeentch. Never play poker with him.
Ominous feeling is ominous.
Your statement is giving off an ominous feeling.
Your noting of the ominous feeling of my statement feels ominous.
what like how she got here? wait wait wait let me guess… she ran away from home and came here to see the love of her life one last time
Good thing Joyce doesn’t have a bike. It might get stolen.
She’ll go on the run, eventually meeting some Australian gal that insists on always wearing an outback hat (or whatever they’re called) and was disowned by her mother, the hook-handed leader of time-traveling Australian pirates. They’ll both get caught up in a secret war with the Big Vampire and his vampire minions. Becky turns out to have a twin, and both of them were given vampire DNA (the real reason Becky gets nasty sunburns as opposed to being a red-head).
I spent too much time on that.
And I spent too much time trying to figure out if your were just making something up or referencing another webcomic.
I’m so glad I’m donating to Patreon. The early stuff is well worth the cash im paying.
Yay, I can’t wait to see how Becky reacts to a slightly college influenced Joyce.
Will there be any more shirts for sale soon in the store?
You know there is more than one way to read this sign right?
Now that’s what I call service!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCHE0Tjw6MA
Oh, this is going to be painful. I want to be happy for Joyce, but I know what it’s like when two old friends go to college, and one changes more than the other. The nature of the relationship shifts, makes things awkward, especially if the friend who hasn’t changed is unwilling to listen. It’s possible to salvage the friendship, but if Joyce or Becky is expecting for things to be just the same between them, they have another thing coming.
“Beckyvador!”
A new challenger appears, probably here to challenge Dorothy for the title of being Joyce’s best friend/lover
It bodes badly that the first thing said was “You remembered my name!”
I was scared I was the only one who noticed that. That passive aggressive is worthy of Seattle!
I think it was more insecurity. Joyce, to her, is getting to be all worldly, she sees herself as the “little people” forgotten on the way up.
haha, nice
/Seattleite
Best city, as far as the big ones go. Optimum weather, decent seafood and public transportation, plentiful geekery…
I really should visit more often.
I used to live there, sorta. Bellingham and Tacoma before we got moved again. Damn you DoD!
I READ THAT AS OPIUM WEATHER OH MY GOD. *coughs* Anyway. I love Seattle as well. It’s about a two hour drive away, but I still never go.
I think she’s just joking. Like “haha, we’ve been separated for only a little while and we’re best friends, let’s pretend I was worried you would forget my name.” I mean, they’ve been in school for what, a month? And we’ve already seen Joyce call Becky at least once, as well as attempting to call her on another occasion.
If I’ve got my theology correct, Joyce and Becky do, in fact, believe they’re going to live forever, and possibly learn how to fly.
So Becky knew to come to her room in the dorm and Sarah let her in and now they need to play catch up?
And is Becky going registered now, or visiting?
How will this affect the 2 of them?
Will Becky run screaming into the sunset after meetings Joyces’ atheist gf, gay Jewish BF, carmel friendly/ememy Walky, and sexy Sal and dopey Dan?
Tune in same time tomorrow and for the rest of the year to find out 🙂
Same Amazi-Girl time, same Amazi-Girl channel.
Cute New Testament scholarship joke.
Becky’s facial structure is a lot like Joyce’s mom. I will assume she is a secret illegitimate sister.
Well dang, girl. We haven’t seen you since twenty-twelve.
the question is if Joyce takes this as a sign that hey no prob bob your not in trouble or as here is my messenger to bring to back to the straight and narrow from which you have strayed. I’m hoping the former but it feels like we havnt been cursing Willis name enough recently so I’m betting the latter
Oh shit oh shit oh shit! I think I just realized what “When Somebody Loved Me” is referring to!
Why must he toy with our emotions!
oh
my
god
Either somebody needs to tell me what the alt-text is, or tell me how to see them on my tablet (Which I am stuck on until I have new laptop funds). I’m dying here. D:
So. Why hasn’t Becky been answering Joyce’s calls for forever? Has Becky changed in the ways Joyce has? Will their friendship survive whatever Willis has in store for them over the next year of real world time?
Stay tuned?
You can see hovertext on tablets by tapping the blank space on either side of the comic navigation.
Yay! Now I can go back and read all the alt texts since late September! 😀
It says ‘SAL!?!? no wait wrong comic’.
Interesting!
Now then, is this a ‘Hi there, how’ve you been? –My life is falling apart, helphelphelp’ or a ‘Hi there, how’ve you been? Oh, phone? They don’t let us have phones there, silly! Nor [long list of other normal things], of course’?
Beckys story just has to be told
Becky still has possessed eyes, so I’m going to assume she hasn’t started to be de-brainwashed.
How can she be de-brainwashed? Joyce is the only one of the Homeschool class who is at a secular college. Everyone else wasn’t socialized enough to hack it and had to go to a Christian college.
I was seriously getting worried about Becky after the several weeks (in universe)/years (out of universe) of Joyce being unable to get ahold of her on the phone.
Seeing her away from her school in the middle of the week doesn’t bode well, but I’m glad she’s, y’know.. Moving under her own power and not enacting a Very Special Afterschool Special about alcohol somewhere.
oh, this is gonna end well
We’ve got trouble my friends. That’s trouble with a capital “T,” and that rhymes with B and that stands for Becky.
I always thought Becky was like Tyler Durden and that’s why she wasn’t picking up her phone.
It’s gonna be Joyce’s first few days of college all over again, isn’t it? Horror and shock at the promiscuity, gays/lesbians, differing moral and religious ideals, and racism. Looking forward to it ;D
I was kind of hoping for something like this. It’s obvious that Joyce is noticing that the real world and the ideal one she grew up with aren’t the same, nor are they completely compatible, at least, not in the black and white terms with which she has been taught to see things. Regardless it is pretty clear that she doesn’t know how to feel about these differences, and I’m hoping that seeing how much Becky has changed (or hasn’t) might bring her to realize that the outside world, for all of it’s differences, might be good.
The similarities between Joyce and my wife continue: in high school, her best friend was also named “Becky”.
Let’s hope this Becky doesn’t wind up screwing Joyce over.
Or walking all over her for changing her ways.
Floor Joyce.
“Let’s hope Becky ends up screwing Joyce over and over.”
.
There; fixed that for you.
I will take this time to say that I have loved and appreciated every one of your comics up to and including this one.
So thank you!
Ironic how she appears only after her name is removed from the character section.
Well, the drama barometer was already low, but now it has plummeted even further. Methinks there is another hurricane a-brewin’.
Becky- Joyce’s guardian angel, who materialized because Joyce was THAT naive. Or is it Sarah…? Guardian angel duo…?
Becky!! Finally we get to see more of her. Now, what’s gonna happen? Either of two things, I guess:
– Becky’s still the same christian conservative girl she used to be, which is then used to highlight Joyce’s progress.
– Becky came out as a lesbian. Joyce’s progress is then shown by her relatively easy acceptance of this. Which seems a bit trite, given the abundance of lesbians in Willis’ comics, but then again, Becky had that vibe from the very beginning.
There is something about the way she’s drawn in this strip and here that screams “future gym teacher”.
THE CRITERION OF EMBARRASSMENT xD xD xD
I’m so glad I got into Jesus mythicism/historicity now. Just being able to get that joke makes it all worth it!!
Oh? There was a Jesus-injoke? Pray tell what is it, because I didn’t really get it.
It’s not really about Jesus, but about establishing the veracity of historical tradition. If a story is embarrassing to its author, there’s a high chance it must be true. Take for example the story of how Saint Nicholas got so angry at another bishop on a minor point of orthodoxy that he hit the other man over the head. This story is told in a Life of Saint Nicholas, which is otherwise full of the usual wonders ascribed to Saints. These must be taken with a grain of salt, especially since many such wonders are simply copied from other Saints’ Lives. But since the story about two clerics exchanging blows is so embarrassing, yet included by the author of the Saint’s biography, it’s probably true.
Source: http://www.livius.org/person/nicholas-of-myra/#Nicaea?
Ah, now I get it. Thanks for the explanation.
And yes, it’s hilarious : )
I learned something! I didn’t catch that at all.
Ask and thou shalt receive. 🙂
I’m getting a ‘oh crap!’ feeling than a ‘oh yay!’ feeling right now.
Well of course! The fun bit is figuring out exactly which terrible thing will happen.
Has Becky become more secular than Joyce? Will she condemn Joyce’s new life? Is she secretly Azmolach, demon lord of the Eternal Pits?
I have a strong feeling about that last one. I think it’s a winner.
When worlds collide… boom!
Oh, shit.
Wrong angel, I think.
On the. Tumbler, there was a question about gender bent characters, followed by a Becky drawing. I thought it was a Danny that had sprouted breasts. So, happy to see Becky instead.
Yup, it’s time to add that to the list of things that could go horribly wrong.
That….is a really impressive chin on Becky…..
Wait Becky? I thought she exploded or something.
“You remembered my name!” Wish my friends held me to such high standards ;P
I wonder if Joyce is in on Becky’s secret identity as the Crimson Chin?
‘SAL?!?! You said you’re my best friend?!? YAY! That means I can brush and brush and brush your hair and that you’ll let me have se- er, ride your motorcycle!’
Ugggh I forgot to check in for updates for weeks and I have no idea where I left off…on one hand, it’ll take forever to find my place… On the other i get to binge…is this a bane or a boon?
i would follow the RSS feed. i use feedly to keep up to date on this stuff. then, if you skip a week, it’ll show you both unread updates
is her hair shorter than it was at the very beginning?
…
I SENSE QUEERNESS
(…i mean that’s a stereotype so on one hand it might not mean anything but on the other hand it’s a really easy way to hint at that… so fingers crossed for queer!Becky)
Ahh, I’m really worried now. I hope Becky has become a little more open minded
Sarah’s as big of a biblical scholarship nerd as the author, apparently.
what if joyce falls for becky?
that would be so weird. and complicated. ugh
I’m expecting the opposite; Becky falls for Joyce.
Man I completely forgot about this character
Angel achieved
God is quiet? Is she usually hearing him reply? Is that what happens to believers? I wonder why he never said anything to me. Maybe he’s pissed at he for not believing in him?
Anyway, WHOA. Becky. It’s been YEARS.
She had time to be kicked off the character page.
Holy shit, looking back from the more recent pages it does almost look like it is a sign from God.
Except, you know, that would mean God made a train wreck of Becky’s situation just so Joyce and Ethan could learn something.
Ha. A couple of commenters actually called it.
Yeah, God, what ARE you trying to tell Joyce here?