Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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July 11, 2026

Sarcasm

by David M Willis on October 31, 2014 at 12:01 am
  • 01 - When Somebody Loved Me
└ Tags: becky, joyce, sarah

Discussion (196) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    Love Sarah’s comment to Becky.

    • anonymous
      anonymous
      October 31, 2014 at 12:21 am | #

      Becky’s response was intriguing. Did she actually listen to what Sarah was saying?

      • AgentKeen
        AgentKeen
        October 31, 2014 at 12:37 am | #

        Yeah, I’m… I’m still trying to piece that bit together.

        • TheZachariah
          TheZachariah
          October 31, 2014 at 2:37 am | #

          Yeah, I think she did. She just genuinely cares about Joyce and knows how messed up her upbringing was?

          • ThatGug
            ThatGug
            October 31, 2014 at 4:53 am | #

            She’s probably one of those many people who placate their family on their church goings and constant prayers and stuff. And is just a normal girl (Normal meaning someone who might be religious but not crazy about it like Joyce parents. )

            • David Herbert
              David Herbert
              October 31, 2014 at 5:12 am | #

              I think it’s more that she’s one of those people who does short, quick answers around people she’s unfamiliar with.

              • auo> mous
                auo> mous
                October 31, 2014 at 4:43 pm | #

                I would think so. But you never know.

  2. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    “Without me she’d be on like her fifth human skinsuit by now!”

    • MrSirk
      MrSirk
      October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

      Times that by ten then you’d be in a fair range.

    • Cthulhu's Intern
      Cthulhu's Intern
      October 31, 2014 at 1:12 am | #

      “She’d be on Dick #1,000,000,001.”

    • 4th Dimension
      4th Dimension
      October 31, 2014 at 3:35 am | #

      Without her she would be doing something terrible like chasing and stalking Danny.

      Roomies reference.

    • Lume
      Lume
      October 31, 2014 at 7:22 pm | #

      “Now it’s only been two!”

  3. Jen Aside
    Jen Aside
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    Is it Angry Birds Transformers???

    If I know Willis, it is.

    • pyrophobia
      pyrophobia
      October 31, 2014 at 8:52 am | #

      They probably have a Dexter & Monkeymaster version in this universe.

  4. MrSirk
    MrSirk
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    I’m ready for Becky to become a regular character.

    • hof1991
      hof1991
      October 31, 2014 at 7:35 am | #

      Becky’s only here for a day or two, so we’ll be seeing her for a couple months our time. Then it’s back to Christian college for her.

  5. liahansen
    liahansen
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    pff, Angry Birds, what is this, earlier in 2014?

    • Barf Ninjason
      Barf Ninjason
      October 31, 2014 at 1:00 am | #

      All the likes. Best comment ever. Would read again.

    • -Sentinel-
      -Sentinel-
      October 31, 2014 at 12:00 pm | #

      You know pop culture is moving fast when you say stuff like: “February called, they want [X] back”.

      • das-g
        das-g
        October 31, 2014 at 6:37 pm | #

        Wait … don’t we still have, like, 3 months till February? How can it want back anything already now?

        • Lume
          Lume
          October 31, 2014 at 7:24 pm | #

          LAST Feburary

  6. piemanpie24
    piemanpie24
    October 31, 2014 at 12:02 am | #

    Becky should only speak in the titles of things that she has been denied by her parents.

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

      “Lesbian sex!”

      • liahansen
        liahansen
        October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

        well I should hope her parents haven’t been giving her that

        • Mr k
          Mr k
          October 31, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

          Unless her mom is Raygo from Kill la Kill

          • liahansen
            liahansen
            October 31, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

            I have only a vague idea of what that means and am perfectly content with that.

    • Communist Canada
      Communist Canada
      October 31, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

      She and Howard would really hit off then.

      • Cephalo the Pod
        Cephalo the Pod
        October 31, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

        “Game of Thrones!”
        “Angry Birds!”
        “Game of Thrones!”
        “Angry Birds!”
        “Game of Thrones!”
        “Angry Birds!”

        *Cut to outside view of motel*.

        • Catullus
          Catullus
          October 31, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

          …

          I ship it now

          • Wack'd
            Wack'd
            October 31, 2014 at 12:42 am | #

            Their kids would have very, very red hair.

            • pyrophobia
              pyrophobia
              October 31, 2014 at 8:53 am | #

              And a double helping of freckles.

          • Chris
            Chris
            October 31, 2014 at 12:48 pm | #

            Naw. It should be MaryxHoward.
            My O T P.

        • Lanval
          Lanval
          October 31, 2014 at 12:54 am | #

          In the Game of Angry Birds, you collapse the structure or you die.

          • ThatGug
            ThatGug
            October 31, 2014 at 4:55 am | #

            There needs to be a co op mode in which you gain great benefit from the other player but you know you have to eventually kill them off to win the game. the only question is will you betray your partner before they betray you?!

            • Kaoy
              Kaoy
              October 31, 2014 at 5:51 pm | #

              That… why isn’t there games with mechanic all over the place yet?

              • ezrast
                ezrast
                November 1, 2014 at 7:36 am | #

                Because human nature ruins it. There are some board games that are “cooperative” but still leave a single player as the most winningest winner (Legendary is the first example that comes to mind) and it’s never a compelling model. More competitive gamers defect immediately in order to “win” by doing better than the other players (even if the game tells them they lost), and everyone else ignores the competitive side and then is frustrated when the game says that that even though they won, somebody else won more. Everyone focuses one objective or the other and is annoyed when the other side of the game gets in the way.

                • nkh
                  nkh
                  November 1, 2014 at 11:36 am | #

                  Wildly popular counterexample: Munchkin.

                  (Granted, it doesn’t REQUIRE or even have any mechanics to explicitly reward cooperation in the early stages of the game, but every game I’ve ever played has involved people forming temporary alliances with one another, which are then suddenly-but-inevitably betrayed once someone gets near winning.)

    • Pantheon the Mantheon
      Pantheon the Mantheon
      October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      Inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!

      • Dorje Sylas
        Dorje Sylas
        October 31, 2014 at 12:28 am | #

        I don’t see a Smartphone as required part of those.

        There are good reasons not to give even a freshman collage child such a device and its associated data charges. A “feature” cellphone and some from of non-cellular fablet sized device would do.

        • Betty Anne
          Betty Anne
          October 31, 2014 at 3:37 am | #

          I can understand keeping the fablet away from her, because anything that sounds like it’d make her more fabulous runs the risk of making her gay, but otherwise, don’t you think that’s a bit limiting to a collage child? I suspect they’re probably still 18 years old and capable of getting a work study job to pay for the bill, even if they ARE pasted together from pieces of other children.

          • pwisva
            pwisva
            October 31, 2014 at 4:07 am | #

            Pure perfection.

  7. Communist Canada
    Communist Canada
    October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    Backy can’t have a Phone? Haven’t she and Joyce been calling back and forth on multiple occasions?

    • CRtwenty
      CRtwenty
      October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      She probably has a land line in her dorm at school. With a receptionist that transfers callers to the room after vetting them. Her school is prolly old school like that

      • Roborat
        Roborat
        October 31, 2014 at 3:27 pm | #

        Hell, they are not even that modern. They take a message, put it in a container, then place it in the vacuum tube system, where it is whisked to her floor, where an 80 year old matron hand delivers the message to here room.

    • synnerman
      synnerman
      October 31, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

      Cell phone. Becky probably has access to an old fashioned land line.

      I’m just reminded of when I read _Less Than Zero_ a couple of years ago and the characters were talking about “running home to catch a phone call.”

    • Dedlok
      Dedlok
      October 31, 2014 at 12:07 am | #

      There are such things as dorm telephones. Also landline telephones.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      October 31, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

      Backy? And i thought Walky was a bad nickname.

      • Marianne
        Marianne
        October 31, 2014 at 7:36 am | #

        Here in the UK, “backy” is slang for rolling tobacco. This leads to the amusing slang term “wacky backy” for cannabis.

        • MeHael
          MeHael
          October 31, 2014 at 9:44 am | #

          A Walky talky about the wacky backy?

    • Rutee
      Rutee
      October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

      Um, landline?

      • Clif
        Clif
        October 31, 2014 at 12:34 pm | #

        They were an amazing invention where you could talk as much as you wanted without paying for air time.

        • Kaoy
          Kaoy
          October 31, 2014 at 5:59 pm | #

          Er… Maybe after cell phones became common and they were forced to find a way to compete. A quick ride in your personal Way Back Machine to the Grand Ol’ Year of 2000 will tell a very different tale.

          You want to call OUT OF STATE for HOW LONG? Who are you? Mr. Rockefeller McMillionaire?

    • Dorje Sylas
      Dorje Sylas
      October 31, 2014 at 12:30 am | #

      There’s always those old fasioned “feature phones”, anyone remember those? They played mp3s and some even super compressed video.

    • turbanous
      turbanous
      October 31, 2014 at 6:07 am | #

      Looking back at Becky’s appearances she has a flip phone. So maybe she is bored of playing Tetris.

      • Communist Canada
        Communist Canada
        October 31, 2014 at 1:09 pm | #

        Thank you. That’s what I was talking about. Becky is shown on a wireless phone multiple times.

        • Gigafreak
          Gigafreak
          October 31, 2014 at 1:21 pm | #

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/tag/becky/
          She’s only ever shown using that phone in her own dorm room. So it might very well be a cordless landline phone.

          • TheCerpent
            TheCerpent
            October 31, 2014 at 5:13 pm | #

            Yeah, if you look at the various scenes with her on the phone, some of them show her supporting it with her shoulder as well as the keypad buttons. She probably has a cordless landline phone with a callerID display at the top.

  8. Plasma Mongoose
    Plasma Mongoose
    October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    Joyce is SANE?! EGADS!

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      October 31, 2014 at 12:22 am | #

      Whodathunkit? Sane within certain parameters of the word “sane”.

    • Wack'd
      Wack'd
      October 31, 2014 at 12:43 am | #

      More like “not as insane as she could’ve been.”

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      October 31, 2014 at 8:57 am | #

      Remember, she’s “the most socially well-adjusted of her group”. So, comparatively, yeah.

  9. Wack'd
    Wack'd
    October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    Man, we’re all about the Roomies! homages in the alt text this week, aren’t we?

    • Clif
      Clif
      October 31, 2014 at 12:24 am | #

      What was (is) the reference to this time? Cause it went totally over my head.

      • Wack'd
        Wack'd
        October 31, 2014 at 12:27 am | #

        Sarah’s first appearance in Roomies! and second line of dialogue ever. See here.

        • Clif
          Clif
          November 2, 2014 at 9:06 am | #

          Thanks.

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      October 31, 2014 at 12:40 am | #

      I’d say it’s because he started doing the last SP! storyline, but he probably made this strip a few months ago.

      • Wack'd
        Wack'd
        October 31, 2014 at 12:41 am | #

        Second-to-last, actually.

    • Trae Dorn
      Trae Dorn
      October 31, 2014 at 1:11 am | #

      Thank you – I was desperately trying to remember why that exact line was so familiar.

  10. Itama
    Itama
    October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    I see an awkward friendship in their future.
    United in the cause of keeping Joyce sane, and NOT sucking a million dicks.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      October 31, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

      “We dicks are gonna get sucked one way or another, Joyce. WE’LL BE WAITING…”

      • MrSirk
        MrSirk
        October 31, 2014 at 12:29 am | #

        Oh my god they’re talking to her now!

        • N0083rP00F
          N0083rP00F
          November 5, 2014 at 8:46 am | #

          Aaaand now you have me thinking about the latest project by Pintsize.

          and just for that extra bit of weird – second last line from the old lady that swallowed a fly.

      • Gigafreak
        Gigafreak
        October 31, 2014 at 1:22 pm | #

        THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR…

        ROBO-VAC!

  11. Kernanator
    Kernanator
    October 31, 2014 at 12:03 am | #

    The image of an even worse Joyce is quite frightening.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      I believe at that point Joyce’d be one of those people who kills in the name of her lord.

      • Viktoria
        Viktoria
        October 31, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

        Honestly, that’d be an entirely reasonable response to how she was raised. Her parents should be brought up on charges.

      • begbert2
        begbert2
        October 31, 2014 at 10:58 am | #

        As opposed to just punching people in its name like she does now.

    • sun tzu
      sun tzu
      October 31, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

      Just look at “Roomies”-era Joyce.

  12. Mr k
    Mr k
    October 31, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    Come on, I need some drama with Becky. I bet she ran away from home and is trying to admit to her crush on Joyce.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

      Joyce would be pretty cute if I didn’t find her personality so unnatractive.

      • Mr k
        Mr k
        October 31, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

        Well, at least she’s getting better. My least favorite character is Ethan, for getting in a stupid relationship with someone he knows he can’t love. Even Danny is brighter than him.

        • Roborat
          Roborat
          October 31, 2014 at 3:29 pm | #

          Well, he can love her, just can’t have sex with her.

      • adam Black
        adam Black
        October 31, 2014 at 1:20 am | #

        If she just transferred that excess affection for jesus and religious fundmamentalism to something healthy like Doctor and Comic Books; I think she would be very date-able. Sure she’s a freak, but shes a happy good-natured freak. I can work with that

        < suddenly realizes that what Willis did with Transformers ( probably ).

      • timemonkey
        timemonkey
        October 31, 2014 at 3:33 pm | #

        Huh, that’s my exact feelings about Amber.

    • the last guy
      the last guy
      October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

      Yes, I was thinking like the same thing. I really want to discover Becky learned things about herself while at her school. Things that Joyce will be unsure how to react too.

      • adam Black
        adam Black
        October 31, 2014 at 1:22 am | #

        It would be cool of Becky was a lesbian.

        • cesium133
          cesium133
          October 31, 2014 at 9:59 am | #

          I’m starting to wonder if Willis was throwing a hint here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/related/

          • Opus the Poet
            Opus the Poet
            October 31, 2014 at 10:52 am | #

            Then Joyce and Becky move to Iowa and get married… and live not-unhappily ever after.

          • Em
            Em
            October 31, 2014 at 3:44 pm | #

            Whoa shit I didn’t even think about that.

    • newllend
      newllend
      October 31, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

      that’s what we theorize

  13. Mr. Random
    Mr. Random
    October 31, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    That is both terrifying and sweet.

  14. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    October 31, 2014 at 12:04 am | #

    You shoulda seen her before. She was always speaking delusional nonsense and smeering her feces on the wall. Then again it was kindergarten.

    • Khaner
      Khaner
      October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

      Dude, I stopped smeering shit on the walls in my sixth month. Not freaking Kindergarden

      • Catullus
        Catullus
        October 31, 2014 at 12:16 am | #

        The statute of limitations on that is like three.

      • newllend
        newllend
        October 31, 2014 at 12:18 am | #

        ya at that point most people move on to smeering a combination of drool ,paint, and piss on walls and that would get you an A in art for being creative.

  15. jams
    jams
    October 31, 2014 at 12:05 am | #

    Do people actually wear outfits like Sarah’s? I usually wear my sleeveless shirts underneath my long sleeved ones, but I do not know how to fashion.

    • David M Willis
      David M Willis
      October 31, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

      I may have stolen this one from Azumanga Daioh’s Miss Sakaki.

      I also stole her name for my cat.

      • liahansen
        liahansen
        October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

        so what you’re saying is Sarah is secretly a huge fan of Azumanga Daioh and keeps a Chiyo-chan plushie with her at all times?

        • liahansen
          liahansen
          October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

          yes, yes, I think that is what you are saying.

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            October 31, 2014 at 12:19 am | #

            But are her pigtails detachable?

            • AustKyzor
              AustKyzor
              October 31, 2014 at 1:42 am | #

              You better believe they’re detachable!

        • Kaoy
          Kaoy
          October 31, 2014 at 6:02 pm | #

          You just damned Willis to weeks of redraws to make this canon within this storyline.

      • Jupiterror
        Jupiterror
        October 31, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

        So THAT’S why it looked familiar

      • CapedLuigisYoshi
        CapedLuigisYoshi
        October 31, 2014 at 1:18 am | #

        I still think it’s weird how we never really learned Sakaki’s given name over the course of the entire comic.

    • a4lbi
      a4lbi
      October 31, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

      Yea, I do when I have a cute spaghetti strap and it’s cold out. LAYERS ARE WARM

    • Aubri
      Aubri
      October 31, 2014 at 12:12 am | #

      If a small shirt like that is a bit too boob-y, it’s fashionably agreeable to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath. Well, it is as an adult, I dunno about that newfangled high school shit.

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      October 31, 2014 at 12:42 am | #

      I wear short-sleeved t-shirts (and, more rarely, button-up shirts with the sleeves rolled up) over long sleeve shirts semi-often.

      I also lack any sense of fashion, so.

  16. Emperor Kiva
    Emperor Kiva
    October 31, 2014 at 12:06 am | #

    Sarah that includes mentally killing her. I’m happy that Joyce is happy. Please don’t have another sad Joyce until next month.

    • meghantheworldeater
      meghantheworldeater
      October 31, 2014 at 12:08 am | #

      You do realize how close next month is right?

      • Emperor Kiva
        Emperor Kiva
        October 31, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

        Then I mean after November.

        • meghantheworldeater
          meghantheworldeater
          October 31, 2014 at 12:16 am | #

          That’s better 🙂
          Now if only the Willis would actually be so kind.

          • ArendJK
            ArendJK
            October 31, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

            Well Doesn’t Willis do his comics several months in advance?
            So if you ask now, you’d only be asking for no sad Joyces during for November of next year

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        October 31, 2014 at 9:03 am | #

        He meant a _in-comic_ month – so, a few years, our time.

        • Emperor Kiva
          Emperor Kiva
          October 31, 2014 at 11:02 pm | #

          That works too. I can only put up with sad Joyce for so long.

  17. Mkvenner
    Mkvenner
    October 31, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

    Well that’s a plus in Becky’s favor.

  18. newllend
    newllend
    October 31, 2014 at 12:09 am | #

    great another completely sheltered girl who needs deconstruction into the normal world, this wont be a pain in the ass…are we shore these two aren’t Amish?

    • ArendJK
      ArendJK
      October 31, 2014 at 12:22 am | #

      Yes.
      Getting Homeschooled by a Fundamentalist Christian can do some strange things to a person

      • Kirt
        Kirt
        October 31, 2014 at 9:38 am | #

        The Amish at least get a week where they’re allowed to go crazy before re-joining the church.

  19. Communist Canada
    Communist Canada
    October 31, 2014 at 12:10 am | #

    What would all the characters go as for Halloween?

    • Khaner
      Khaner
      October 31, 2014 at 12:14 am | #

      Joyce doesn’t celebrate Halloween. She celebrates Jesusween.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y52CN1_z0tw

      • Jen Aside
        Jen Aside
        October 31, 2014 at 12:42 am | #

        My co-worker has been making a stink about how she doesn’t “celebrate” Hallowe’en. I pointed out, “You wear jeans on Casual Friday, don’t you?”

        “Yes, but that’s not celebrating.”

        “You don’t have to ‘celebrate.’ It’s just you do stuff because you CAN.”

    • Catullus
      Catullus
      October 31, 2014 at 12:23 am | #

      Walky would plan out an elaborate D&MM-themed costume, but wouldn’t ever get around to actually putting it together.

      Mike would probably be something pointlessly offensive, like an ISIS member.

      Dina would be a dinosaur.

      Amber would try to think of a costume that would most differentiate her from Amazi-Girl, and likely end up not settling on one at all.

      Billie would probably buy a “sexy whatever” costume. Joe would probably do the same.

      Danny would be a quietly earnest Robo-Vac.

      Dorothy would be something reasonable, and well-made, but not especially creative.

      The rest of the main cast probably wouldn’t dress up, for one reason or another.

      • kelticat
        kelticat
        October 31, 2014 at 1:01 am | #

        Carla as Spider-something or Shtickshift.

      • 4th Dimension
        4th Dimension
        October 31, 2014 at 3:44 am | #

        Joe as sexy RoboVac?

      • Lume
        Lume
        October 31, 2014 at 7:03 am | #

        What are you talking about? Mike wouldn’t be there, he’s be paying our mothers a nickel.

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        October 31, 2014 at 6:01 pm | #

        Danny as quietly earnest Robo-Vac is my favourite!

        Amazi-Girl goes dressed as Amber.

        Dorothy and Walky use a store-bought couple’s costume of Dexter and Monkey Master, respectively.

        Joe goes as something macho that allows him to parade about in his underwear, like Sexy Fireman or something.

        Mary, if she’s the kind of Christian that can celebrate Halloween in the first place, goes as a rather beautifully crafted princess. She spends the evening scowling at everyone’s Sexy Whatever costumes.

        Ethan goes as Nightwing, Howard as Picard, and Sierra wears cute animal ears simply because that’d be fun to draw.

      • Lumpy Frogsnuggler
        Lumpy Frogsnuggler
        October 31, 2014 at 7:29 pm | #

        I found Dina’s costume. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvHzTnfZUjY

  20. caramelundqueer
    caramelundqueer
    October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

    That, “Yes, Maam!” makes me think Becky’s a bit more self aware than we thought.

    • OnyxIdol
      OnyxIdol
      October 31, 2014 at 3:43 am | #

      This.

  21. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

    I just want there to be a scene where Billie or Amber (or any of the larger girls) to be leaving the shower in the buff and Joyce just says ” Oh my god…Becky. Look at her butt”

    • chris73
      chris73
      October 31, 2014 at 12:18 am | #

      Yes!

    • Khaner
      Khaner
      October 31, 2014 at 12:25 am | #

      She knows what to do with that big fat butt.

      • Itama
        Itama
        October 31, 2014 at 12:32 am | #

        “wigglewigglewiggle”

        • Khaner
          Khaner
          October 31, 2014 at 12:56 am | #

          *stupid recorder hook*

    • Wack'd
      Wack'd
      October 31, 2014 at 12:53 am | #

      That doesn’t sound like a thing that would come out of Joyce’s mouth! She would be trying to keep Becky from seeing the sinful, sinful hindquarters.

      Maybe someone else can say it to her. But not Joyce.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        October 31, 2014 at 9:06 am | #

        Covering Becky’s eyes – while looking herself.

        • Yotomoe
          Yotomoe
          October 31, 2014 at 11:28 am | #

          And biting her lower lip.

  22. Rosicrucian
    Rosicrucian
    October 31, 2014 at 12:11 am | #

    I almost get the impression that since Becky is even more restricted by her parents than Joyce is (Christian school, no phone, etc.) she has realized “This is BS” sooner.

    • Mr k
      Mr k
      October 31, 2014 at 12:13 am | #

      She ran away from home, probably.

      • Clif
        Clif
        October 31, 2014 at 12:53 pm | #

        She ran away from home and joined a secret government organization that spies on their fellow Americans.

    • Kelly
      Kelly
      October 31, 2014 at 12:39 am | #

      yeah, that response is making me think along those lines.

  23. Zak
    Zak
    October 31, 2014 at 12:29 am | #

    I almost feel like if this was a different comic Sarah might fistbump Becky at the end of this strip

  24. Twinkle Toes the Berserker
    Twinkle Toes the Berserker
    October 31, 2014 at 12:45 am | #

    I get the feeling Becky kind of went through what I went through in whatever passed for high school in her homeschooling group. I get the feeling she watched the news once or twice, and had this realization that someday she was going to have to live in that world, and she was uber not prepared.

    Of course, I was in public school, so my solution was to hang out with the goths and stoners. I can’t see how Beck would have done that.

  25. Black Bumblebee
    Black Bumblebee
    October 31, 2014 at 12:45 am | #

    Plot twist: Becky has come on a surprise visit to tell Joyce that she’s pregnant! That would probably make Joyce break, though…

    • kelticat
      kelticat
      October 31, 2014 at 12:56 am | #

      Well Becky is expected to get her MRS degree. This would just result in it arriving sooner.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      October 31, 2014 at 9:07 am | #

      LESBIAN pregnant?

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        October 31, 2014 at 9:45 am | #

        American sex ed…

  26. Gangler
    Gangler
    October 31, 2014 at 12:52 am | #

    Interesting. So Becky’s got a bit of the rebel in her. I bet she’s one of those people who phrases her religion’s limitations as “I can’t do this” or “I’m not allowed to do that”, viewing those aspects of her religion as shackles put on her by her parents.

    She might actually be surprisingly sympathetic to Joyce’s forbidden adventures. The fascination she holds with the cell phones she’s been denied quite likely also extends to areas like sex or even secular social circles. Just waiting to go out and experience the world to her own content as soon as her parents ease up on the leash.

    • Khaner
      Khaner
      October 31, 2014 at 12:58 am | #

      Or she was using the phone as an emergency vibrator.

      • Gangler
        Gangler
        October 31, 2014 at 1:32 am | #

        I feel like Sarah would’ve mentioned that more explicitly.

      • David
        David
        October 31, 2014 at 2:48 am | #

        “The way my phone looks, your birds were really angry. Long time?”

        • pyrophobia
          pyrophobia
          October 31, 2014 at 9:02 am | #

          +1

    • kelticat
      kelticat
      October 31, 2014 at 12:59 am | #

      My guess is that she realized what Walky realized after the first time he woke up in Dorothy’s bed.

      • Nono
        Nono
        October 31, 2014 at 7:56 am | #

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/cuddles/

        Erections?

  27. Mike
    Mike
    October 31, 2014 at 12:58 am | #

    I’m expecting Becky to announce she’s pregnant or getting married or running away from her past.

  28. walls
    walls
    October 31, 2014 at 1:10 am | #

    She looks a lot different from the first strips.

    • Bill
      Bill
      October 31, 2014 at 2:43 am | #

      It’s been something like three and a half years since Willis drew Becky in the first month of strips.  Like any artist, his style has changed in that length of time, and I’d be amazed if it hadn’t.

  29. Shark
    Shark
    October 31, 2014 at 1:24 am | #

    becky is 2qt

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      October 31, 2014 at 10:59 am | #

      A half-gallon?

      • Clif
        Clif
        October 31, 2014 at 12:57 pm | #

        for pints.

  30. Bagge
    Bagge
    October 31, 2014 at 1:25 am | #

    Sarah has now interacted more than an hour with Becky without coming to hate or loath her. This is a new experience that is confusing and frightening.

    • tinfoil theory
      tinfoil theory
      October 31, 2014 at 2:29 am | #

      Becky has secretly been an android this whole time.

    • Dorje Sylas
      Dorje Sylas
      October 31, 2014 at 1:04 pm | #

      It’s easy to “interact” with someone who buries themselves in Angry Birds for 59 minutes. Asuming the “Hello I’m Joyce’s friend Becky and I want to surprise her,” lasted no more than 60 seconds.

  31. TheZachariah
    TheZachariah
    October 31, 2014 at 2:35 am | #

    Snow White, that’s a good barometer for sanity.

  32. Orangey
    Orangey
    October 31, 2014 at 2:45 am | #

    I want to know what Becky’s deal is. I really want to know. She’s not giving much to go on so far!

  33. Jesse
    Jesse
    October 31, 2014 at 2:55 am | #

    What the fuck is a becky?!

  34. Saaaam
    Saaaam
    October 31, 2014 at 3:09 am | #

    I got it. Becky is made of scorpions and will unleash her arachnid brood when all drama is at a new peak.

  35. Gadgeteer Smashwidget
    Gadgeteer Smashwidget
    October 31, 2014 at 4:40 am | #

    I… don’t quite get that last panel.

  36. Taigan
    Taigan
    October 31, 2014 at 4:49 am | #

    Let’s all hope that Becky didn’t check Joyce’s browser history.

    • Dean
      Dean
      October 31, 2014 at 7:09 am | #

      She would probably assume that Joyce mistyped ‘pictures of ducks’.

      • Gigafreak
        Gigafreak
        October 31, 2014 at 2:32 pm | #

        “Darnit Joyce, Matilda is a HEN, not a COCK!”

  37. Nightsbridge
    Nightsbridge
    October 31, 2014 at 5:01 am | #

    Huh. I thought that Becky would be the herald of a regression in progress for Joyce. Maybe I was wrong. Hopefully I was wrong.

  38. Lume
    Lume
    October 31, 2014 at 5:18 am | #

    D’aawwwwwww

  39. Sir Robin
    Sir Robin
    October 31, 2014 at 5:55 am | #

    I bet it’s Becky who turns in the Anti-Joyce and snaps and sucks 500 dicks instead

  40. Pinja
    Pinja
    October 31, 2014 at 6:52 am | #

    I’m a little confused: She is what gave Joyce an anchor to the mainstream reality but she is even less trusted by her parents than Joyce and Joyce says she was the best socialised of her homeschooled peer-group?

    She’s not going to be the prejudiced religious b-word because Mary has that locked down and it seems unlikely she would be when Joyce isn’t.

    I can only assume she’s gone mad with college freedom and/or contrasts with Joyce’s inability to break from her backwards upbringing.

    I’m intrested to see which way Willis will play it.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      October 31, 2014 at 9:44 am | #

      They are friends. That’s what she was to Joyce, growing up.

    • caramelundqueer
      caramelundqueer
      October 31, 2014 at 3:52 pm | #

      Becky’s parents don’t even trust their daughter with a cell phone. My guess is that even if in reality Becky’s actually much more well adjusted and equipped to handle the real world than Joyce her parents never even considered letting her go to a liberal college because they are just that controlling.

      • caramelundqueer
        caramelundqueer
        October 31, 2014 at 3:58 pm | #

        And I’m guessing Becky is probably well adjusted DESPITE her upbringing.

        • Knightsky
          Knightsky
          October 31, 2014 at 6:37 pm | #

          People are forgetting that int he very first strip, Becky made a poop joke. She’s probably okay, despite any parental baggage.

  41. Lume
    Lume
    October 31, 2014 at 7:00 am | #

    Wait wait wait- did Willis have a Becky too? Who was s/he?

  42. Nono
    Nono
    October 31, 2014 at 7:15 am | #

    Wait, so when Joyce went, ‘C’mon Becky, pick up your phone’ in earlier strips…. she was banking on Becky answering a corded landline phone?

    Okay, that makes more sense that Becky can’t answer it all the time.

  43. Crumplepunch
    Crumplepunch
    October 31, 2014 at 7:19 am | #

    “yer not ‘zactly snow white yerself, sister”

    That’s… racist?

    • Nono
      Nono
      October 31, 2014 at 8:06 am | #

      See an above comment, it’s a homage to an early Roomies! strip.

    • auo> mous
      auo> mous
      October 31, 2014 at 4:50 pm | #

      Sarah said it.

  44. Jimmy
    Jimmy
    October 31, 2014 at 8:27 am | #

    Wait, is that Sarah’s version of a complement to Becky? If so, very nice!

  45. Bagge
    Bagge
    October 31, 2014 at 9:46 am | #

    Becky thinking: “Now, can I please play some more Angry Birds before Joyce returns or are you going to stare suspiciously at me this whole time?”

  46. Man from Sarcasmania
    Man from Sarcasmania
    October 31, 2014 at 10:07 am | #

    We have a beautiful language where I am from, and Sarah is one of our greatest poets.

    • Clif
      Clif
      October 31, 2014 at 1:04 pm | #

      I was going to be a twit and ask if that made you a Sarcasmanian, but I see from your name that it did.

  47. Arkadi
    Arkadi
    October 31, 2014 at 1:04 pm | #

    “An’ proud of it!”

  48. Arkadi
    Arkadi
    October 31, 2014 at 1:07 pm | #

    Here’s what a conversation between Becky and Howard would be like:

    “Angry Birds!”
    “Game of Thrones!”
    (Repeat to infinity)

  49. OmegaDez
    OmegaDez
    October 31, 2014 at 2:21 pm | #

    Becky looks “old school” compared to everyone else. Like her style didn’t evolve where the rest of the cast’s did.

    Or maybe it’s just me? It’s weird though. I was thinking about her the other day wondering if we’d ever see her again.

    • airyu
      airyu
      October 31, 2014 at 2:37 pm | #

      Her eyes look really off to me.

    • Gigafreak
      Gigafreak
      October 31, 2014 at 3:11 pm | #

      Becky hasn’t received extensive screentime in a long time, and therefore hasn’t been drawn very much in a long time. Thus her design hasn’t been iterated on in a long time. If you want to see the opposite happening, check out Jacob’s first Shortpacked appearance and compare it to how he looks less than a year later. That took one year. Becky’s been gone for two. She’s missed out on a lot of design evolution and refinement.

  50. Resulli
    Resulli
    October 31, 2014 at 3:36 pm | #

    I get the feeling that Becky isn’t quite as innocent as Joyce. Not to say she’s sinful or anything but I get the feeling she isn’t as holier-than-thou as Joyce tends to be.

  51. Anderhail
    Anderhail
    October 31, 2014 at 7:04 pm | #

    I think Becky will be a fun character to watch interact with the cast. They have begun to settle into a comfortable mindset with how they view each other, and it’ll be interesting to see how the rest react to Joyce when she lets down her guard. You’ll note Joyce actually gave Sarah a friendly teasing with no thought to it, and that in the previous strip Sarah was a bit nonplussed at the shift in Joyce’s actions and speech. Even though I look forward to more of Becky, I am really looking forward to how the rest of the cast starts to view Joyce as more than just the earnest, confused fundie-girl she has been showing them so far. Though that I have a feeling things are gonna get… wobbly when Becky meets Ethan. On the other hand the thought of Joe meeting Becky the first time is hilarious, for although Joyce is trying to be better, she does have a genuine streak of violence.

    On a different note, I feel that Willis style gut-punches to the feels lie in wait on the topic of Ryan. Especially if Ryan meets Becky without anyone else being around, whether or not he knows about her friendship with Joyce. Because even a temporary insinuation of friendship towards her would be horrible.

  52. nothri
    nothri
    October 31, 2014 at 8:49 pm | #

    I….I have this disorienting sensation that Becky might not be as terrible as I thought she was. Or Willis is trying to butter us up so she can be even worse than I originally imagined.

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