“Oh no! That means I might change again! Battlestations! Secular vigilance set to max! New idea shields at full! Load up the Bible quote torpedos! Double the security patrols to sweep for stowaway notions! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!”
The best/worst thing about that image is that since the platitude is framed in freaking cross-stitch above the bed, hands-under-the-covers-kid clearly KNOWS what’s up. So he’s looking over at hands-above-the-covers-kid all “heeeeeyyy there”.
(Fingers crossed I still have that Joe avatar, for extra creep factor.)
That just ups the creep factor by 1000%. Imagine the aftermath. The kid looks up at that plaque above him, looks over at his friend’s hands (or, rather, where they should be were they above the covers). Panic then ensues.
jonjon looked over and realized his friend jojo did NOT have his hands above the covers. in a panic jonjon dashes out of bed and prostrates himself before the mantle bible in hand and starts praying to his blasphemous friend! Turn to page 62 to have JonJon Exorcise his friend. Turn to page 52 to have Jon Jon run into the street screaming, ” its all wrong! its all so wrong!!!”
A lesbian who is in love with that straight girl, and kissed her earlier, no less!
That being said, I trust Becky here not to sexually assault Joyce in the middle of the night. I mean, Becky doesn’t want to hurt Joyce anymore than Joyce wants to hurt Becky. These two are seriously in love with one another!
(Even if not in quite the way either of them would like…)
Lonely and forgotten,
Never thought she’d look my way,
When she smiled at me, and held me,
Just like she used to do,
Like she loved me,
When she loved me…
Toy Story 2 and 3 are the only two movies that have made me cry actual tears. And I’m 23. And I’ve seen Fruitvale Station and Requiem for a Dream.
Mind-shattering drug abuse and brutal, unjustified death?
Whatever.
Crises of childhood?
*sobs like a small child, with those weird gasps in the middle because you can’t catch your breath, and accompanied by those weird waxy tears coming from your ears. That’s…that’s normal, right?*
*leaves forum character persona*
I’m pretty sure many or most of us are speaking metaphorically, or in an internal sense. I’ve never actually cried, but I have cried internally, if that makes sense. It’s all a part of the DoA experience.
*re-enters forum character persona*
Fair enough. I’m just not vry emotional when it comes to media. Fruitvale Station is, by far, the saddest thing I have EVER seen. Not. One. Tear. My friends think I’m an emotionless robot.
… a Vonnegut quote. Albeit with several very positive interpretations. Okay, I have chosen to assume that the quote refers to embracing the change within oneself, which is one of the possible meanings in Slaughterhouse 5. Because I really don’t want to think about how some of the other interpretations can be applied to this situation.
Oh, come on, MacLachlan’s not that baIN THE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARMS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOF THE AAAAAAAAAAAAANGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS *pictures of sad, homeless animals flash before your eyes*
Sorry guys, I’m not getting on this weep train with the rest of you. So how about switching over to something apropo but more hopeful.
“I don’t know where I’m going,
But I sure know where I’ve been,
Hanging on the promises and songs of yesterday,
And I’ve made up my mind,
I aint wasting no more time”
Here I go again
Though I keep searching for an answer,
I never seem to find what I’m looking for,
Oh Lord I pray you give me the strength to carry on,
Cause I know what it means,
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
“Here I go again on my own,
Walking down the only road I’ve ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to along,
Cause I know what it means,
To walk along the lonely street of dreams,
And I’ve made up my mind,
I ain’t wasting no more time,
Just another heart in need of rescue,
Waiting on love’s sweet charity,
Gonna hold on for the rest of my days,
Cause I know what it means to walk along,
The lonely street of dreams!
I think they’re tears of “Our entire worldviews have been shaken apart and we’re both going through a bit of a crisis and I am so glad you are able to accept me even if it’s wrong because this has been the worst week of my life.”
And despite everything we can still have a sleepover together, so everything is just like before, only not at all and the whole world has changed but you are still here with me.
She did say “maybe even in defiance of God’s will.” Now maybe she means the eleventy-seventh commando or whatever number it is (“Thou shalt honor them what gived berf to you”) …or maybe, just maaaaaybe she’s thinking about letting Becky pre-maritally hanky-pank her brains out.
Next time we’ll handle….I don’t know if anything else we can throw at her, she’s made friends with atheist , alcoholics, and lesbians . the only other thing that’s left to do is throw a satanist in here but that would take a really really dark path, lets try the next best thing which is Goths ! Wait thinking about it how come there are no goth girls in this comic ?
In fairness, most self proclaimed satinists I’ve met have been lovey people, of somewhat odd. Emphasis on “most” though. From my limited
Knowledge there are various strains of satanism, like any religion- and like any religion it mostly comes down to how the individual treats it.
Still. Would be hilarious watching Joyce process it.
Perhaps she’s just coming to the realization that yeah, she has changed, in ways she didn’t realize before. Incremental steps in acceptance plus a harsh reality check re:violence and such can do that.
And who are you, the proud lass said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that’s all the truth I know.
In a coat of pink or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my dad,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so she spoke, and so she spoke,
that Becky MacIntyre,
But now the rains weep o’er her dorm,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o’er her dorm,
and not a soul to hear.
Willis, if you still feel bad about Becky being miserable, it’d be cool with me and probably others if you wanted to take a week or two off the story and just feature strips with Becky getting hugs from the entire cast every day.
Saddest character is a tradeoff between Amber and Ruth. Usually Ruth, unless Blaine is around. Kind of funny, that, in a kind of sad dramatic irony way. The one who wants a parent to die horribly, and the one who would give anything to have hers back.
It’s just not safe to be a character in a Willis comic.
It could set a bad precedent. If every character that needs a hug gets a hug we will NEVER get anything done. The whole comic will just consist of adorable people hugging each other… which would be bad for some reason I really can’t figure out right now.
if that last face is any indication, Joyce is gonna be doing some reevaluation of her life now. Lets hope it starts with ending her trainwreck of a relationship with Ethan, now that she’s admitted that being gay isn’t a mistake.
Even given the recent drama, I could still imagine becky saying the exact same line with a sincere smile instead of a weepy frown. Unrequited love is painful, I am MORE than well aware. But I’d still be happy for how much Joyce has grown. IMHO, as wonderfully lovable as all the other characters may be, Joyce is what makes this entire strip.
As annoying and frustrating as she often is, sometimes I love Joyce. Because she knows that letting Becky stay with her is defying their parents, and honestly and seriously believes that it’s defying God Himself… but she’s doing it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.
Defiance of your parents? Hell yes. Defiance of God? Hell no. If your God would rather Becky be homeless, or undergoing psychologically damaging treatment, than you need to abandon that God. God says come as you are, not come as you are unless you’re on THIS list right here.
AGred…seriously, my family are usually rather nice people. 😛 I am in the part that listens to the whole ‘don’t judge or be judged’ or, you know…’honor thy neighbor’. You’re not supposed to use faith as a way to bring hate, THAT is slapping God in the face!
I went to a church that was half Joyce’s parents, and half people that agreed with me. The pastor was okay with homeless people coming to his sermons, and always let them come eat after the sermon. (we had this little coffee and snacks thing that went on) He was very accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, and spoke often of coming as you are, and not as anyone else. He deeply wanted to nail the pink triangle to the front of our church. (to signify that it was an LGBTQ+ friendly space) But before he did that, he asked the congregation, and more than half said absolutely not, so he did not. That’s when I left. I realized that the people I saw as friends saw the come as you are as a “come as you are and then let me change you.” That was not my pastor’s view, and those people genuinely worried him. My mom and I still talked with him even after he left. My mom would go to him for advice all the time. He’s a great guy, and really helped me with my morals. I only wished he could do the same for the whole congregation.
It’s disconcerting to realize just how quickly she’s changed. I mean, it’s been what, something under two months? Have they even reached the one-month mark since move-in day?
Her parents maintained the brainwashing through extensive isolation. Her own personality is just too inclined towards empathy to maintain it when face-to-face with the people she’s been fed lies about and still believe them.
Exactly. That is exactly how it happened for me. For Joyce’s sake, though, I hope she doesn’t end up holding her former beliefs against herself. Guilt-based moral training regiments have a tendency to promote that sort of self-blame.
As I said at the tail end of yesterday’s comments, I am pretty sure this was discussed somewhere, and that word of Willis was that in this universe, the beds are wider. That’s what I recall anyway, I wish I could find it though…
I’m too tired to search the archive, but I think this came up when Billie shared Walky’s bed, after having been torn down by her former BFF/cheerleader-lesbian-love-interest-whose-name-escapes-me-right-now.
Ah, thanks, I will check there. I already looked around the time that Walky and Dorothy first slept together, and when they performed a sex, and it wasn’t there…
Alice, that was her name… But not the storyline I was looking for.
Anyway, I do remember Willis saying that the beds in DoA are wider than the real ones in the IU dorms, and that that was artistic license for letting him have characters share a bed without it being too awkward.
becky fell in love with the old Joyce. The old Joyce dead. Even if she knows it’s for the better, I think she misses her old friend. i’m a little worried she’ll be disappointed with the new Joyce
A few months back I was stuck in traffic all afternoon. I eventually realized it was because a lot of roads were closed because the president was in town making a speech. Thus for the first time ever I could say “Thanks, Obama!” and actually have it be something to do with Obama! I was so excited!
The character model Willis posted on the Dumblr yesterday appears to be wearing Joyce’s clothes, so I’m thinking all she’s got is the clothes on her back.
I’m a little sketched out by all these comments to the tune of “uh oh Joyce is in bed with the lesbian look out Joyce” like they’re mostly joking but it’s still not cool to suddenly fear that Becky will be predatory because she’s a lesbian
This is a statement I agree with! Becky is Becky. Joyce trusts Becky. That Becky is a lesbian does not change this. That Becky is in love with Joyce also does not change this. Becky did cross a line slightly with that kiss, but she knows she did so, and she is also accepting of Joyce’s response to that overture.
How should I put this? I’m firmly of the opinion that such sterotypes should not be promoted at all. I also did not get any sense that anyone commenting was trying to do that or harbors any notion that such a thing is anything but a stupid sterotype. I appreciate your concerns and don’t want to belittle your opinion, and it might be my familiarity with the people on this forum talking (been here since day 1) but I think you are jumping at shadows here.
That said, probably something we could stand to be a tad more mindful of. On the other hand, be wary- we tend to get pretty crass with our humor around here.
Imagine it was a manful dude; people would probably be freaking out! “Ok, but why are you letting him into your BED, Joyce?!” they’d say (writing as if Joyce was non-fictional and could read what they wrote.) Good gravy, I know a fair amount of people that think it’s weird for HOUSEMATES to be of opposite genders. Although I agree it’s silly to actually think that Becky’s gonna sexually assault Joyce, it’s more because one party is in unrequited love/lust with the other than fear of Scary Old Lezzbeckyian.
It’s not because she’s a lesbian. It’s because she’s a lesbian who 1) has admitted to being really attracted to Joyce, 2) has already kissed her without warning, and 3) just two strips ago mentioned how she still really wants to make out with her.
Add that to the DOA Commentariat’s propensity to find any possible excuse to imagine two characters going at it, and the jokes were fairly inevitable.
Is it ‘Oh, poop, I have changed…will God reject me now?’?
Is it ‘Oh, poop, I haven’t actually changed at all, and I’m totally winging this, and I’m not going to be able to keep it up for long!’?
Is it ‘Oh, poop, was I really such a jerk she couldn’t expect this from me before?’
To me it seems like all three. Joyce hates to hurt people, especially people she loves, but she was also taught that to follow god you must follow these certain rules. Don’t follow these rules you hurt god and he shuns you. Joyce loves god and I think no matter how (I don’t want to say wrong because Joyce parents don’t seem to actually hate people when faced with them) misguided her teaching was she does follow the best parts of christianity. To love and accept people and help them feel love that god has for all of his creations. So what going through her head is most likely this.
Helping Becky show her I love her and she accepted and that good. But it also hurts god because now I’m going against his teaching. But the fact that my best friend thought I was going to abandon her in her time of need is going against god to. Which one is right?
idk id say the way they treated Dorothy once they knew she was an atheist shows that Joyce’s parents have plenty of hate for people who don’t fit in their boxes.
I’m guessing one or two, maybe both. I think Joyce is too afraid about how she’s changing (and what that means about her past and future) to think she hasn’t changed.
I wonder if Joyce is uncomfortable with the implication that she wouldn’t have been as supportive about this a month ago. That only after leaving her home environment could she learn the things she needed to be the person Becky needs her to be right now. The implications that has towards the overall quality of her home environment.
That’s my read on it. The idea that being able to unconditionally love, accept, and support your best friend in circumstances like these is a change in you can’t be a comfortable thought. Especially when the change is a result of time spent away from a lifestyle and worldview that you were always taught was the proper and righteous one…
I’m no Christian, but if you believe in that verse — if that is your conception of God — then you are acting in accordance with God’s will.
Many of your religion have claimed differently. Many have disagreed with each other on what God’s nature is. Many of those disagreements can be found in your own Bible. Some of the smartest Christians I know have looked at the whole thing and come to a conclusion on where it all points to.
Keep your eye on Jubilee, and you can’t go wrong.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be, doing exactly what you are supposed to do. And you are exactly where God wants you to be, doing exactly what God wants you to do.
I don’t think its the first one Kamino, maybe the second, doubt the last.
Joyce has beat herself up pretty good over the sexual desire she won’t allow herself because of the near rape.
And because she defied her parents and religion when she told her parents she would not stop being friends with Dorothy, an atheist. I think she recognizes these changes.
She probably is winging it. Doubt if she planned defieing her parents on the Dorothy issue. But, she questions herself when she does something her beliefs conflict with.
I wonder if the look is a combination of “Omg, I have changed. Now what do I do?” Becky would notice, as she has known her a lot longer than anyone, just how much she has changed.
As someone noted, Joyce is going to have to rethink her relationship with Ethan big time. She told Becky that she recognized that Becky is Gay”, and acted as a lesbian would act: that she didn’t “make a mistake’.
That being the case, she needs to come face to face with the fact that neither is Ethan going to be different because she wants him to be. May be a bit harder actually as Ethan is busy hiding in closet still. Its probably easier to believe he will change as he is so ashamed of what he is.
But, maybe Joyce will step up and out on her own now.
I don’t think Becky in her bed is a good idea at all. Becky is only human.
But this could have good ramifications for everyone. Joyce has been made aware her changes are noticeable, just not in her head.
Becky is out of a bad situation, for awhile anyway. She is getting a break.
And the campus is good hunting grounds. Becky should find a friend when she is ready for one, with little trouble.
Nah, nah, Becky, it’s not change, it’s scraping off the barnacles. Think of faith as like a ship, a beautiful old Tall Ship. She’s gorgeous to look at from a distance, but once you get close, peek under the waterline, you see all the garbage that’s grown down there over the centuries, and it’s heartbreaking. Now at that point, you got three choices, you can cover your eyes and pretend it isn’t there, but the Grand Ole Lady will never sail right with all that crap on the bottom, and on some level you’re never able to forget its there. And you’ll hate everybody for it. And some of that growth will get inside, start eating away at her, till all she is is a wreck just waiting to die.
Second option is to walk away. Ain’t no thing. You might have been press-ganged into it as a kid, but nobody can actually make you want it. In the end, it should always be your choice to sail her.
Third option is clean the crap off and make her beautiful again. It’s a long, hard process, and it NEVER STOPS. The stuff will always regrow, you’ll always be scraping it away until the day you die or put ashore and walk away. But, once her hull’s clean and gleaming, she’ll sail beautiful.
(thus end the overlong tortured nautical metaphor).
Whatever else you can say about the Abrahamic faiths all the holy books are totally into old school hospitality so I don’t think God is a problem… In defiance of dorm rules, most likely… hopefully the college doesn’t catch on.
Heh. Just imagining Ruth catching on, and just bursting out in laughter at Joyce’s fear, but not reporting them because 1- the irony be too stronk, and 2- “eh I ship them” (with a wink to the audience).
Looks like I crossed a line to make that last joke. So never mind. I’ll just stick with my original point, which is that John’s comment was well stated.
When I was sixteen years old, I was a conservative fundamentalist Christian and a homophobe. I rarely prayed though and did once for guidance after my brother is dead, then I got the response. “Quit being a ****head. That was Jesus’s entire ministry.” I found once I started actually trying to be empathic and nonjudgmental to anyone who wasn’t using Jesus’ name to get rich or hurt people that I became an extreme liberal. An atheist friend of mine was surprised to find out I was religious.
It’s a little weird that this is the first storyline of Book 5. It feels more like not just the end of a book, but the end of the first group of books.
Icame here at 4:41 AM Willis time and found a page with only about 15 comments on it, and left a post. When the screen refreshed (at 4:42 AM Willis time) I got this page — with almost 250 comments but nothing after 3:54 AM (again, Willis time).
I remember there being more comments almost an hour ago as well. Maybe there was a tech error, like a server reset or something. It does feel weird, being a casual commenter to think “Wow, I was actually close to getting a first comment”.
Willis mentioned yesterday that the site was moving to a new server. It looks like it got switched back and forth between the old and the new a few times, and it looks like the new server started out with a database snapshot that was about 11 hours old when it came on-line (comments from about 5 pm yesterday until about 4 am today went missing). Any comments we made while the new database was on-line were eventually lost as the new database was brought in sync with the old one. I think. 🙂
Naming yourself after a historical person or a deceased relative is fine. Naming yourself after a “public figure” is a kind of creepy, and naming yourself after a sibling is way creepy. Joshua/Jocelyne needs to build a female identity that isn’t his sister.
I was just thinking that it could also be the J.O. letters theme that their parents saw fit to use with them. Joyce, Joshua, Jordan, I can’t think of too many girl names begining in j.o….Joan maybe? The only other one I can think of is Joy but that’s just Joyce with a no c.e.
Based on the way you pronounce Jocelyne (Joss-a-lyn) it sounds more similar to Joshua than Joyce, so that’s probably why she picked it, since it sounds close to Joshua…I mean I can’t think of any female names that can be easily made while still staying close-ish to Joshua.
Waitaminute – Storyline over??? As in tomorrow there will be a new storyline dealing with people who are not Becky? Come on, how will I get my daily treat of adorable Joyce-Becky love?
I know, I know. And the fact that Becky is a new main character is about as awesome as can be. I’m just being unreasonably whiny about the fact that the comic is about other people as well and that different storylines and groups of characters take turn. So thanks for taking me seriously but I’m afraid this was just a toddler-level tantrum about wanna-have-more-Becky-NOW!
If it’s any consolation/commiseration, you’re not the only one pouting that there should be more Becky involvement here. I’m sure we have many more times ahead where Becky and Walky crack jokes and make Joyce blush ahead.
Okay, I know this is completely unrelated, but I just realized that Dina’s hat would be 70% more accurate if it was meant to be an Anurognathid pterosaur.
Oh, I had to look the name up. I remembered them when I saw the picture though! You are very correct about the look!
Not sure what other people’s google results for the name might look like, but in mine, I had two results from David Peters, who is in fact a total loon. Please disregard anything from “reptileevolution” or “pterosaurheresies”. Instead try things like the wikipedia article and http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.com/2011/04/functional-morphology-of-anurognathid.html
Personally, I like looking up David Peters stuff for that very reason. He’s either utterly and hilariously stupid or a very very good troll. At any rate, he’s funny enough that I can’t really be angry at him.
I want to believe that Becky wearing a black T-shirt (the first time we’ve seen her wearing one) is a preview of her new life as the resident Metal Lesbian.
Actually, I don’t think Joyce changed at all; from a certain point of view at least. Joyce’s character has remained static but her beliefs have changed, she had a multitude of choices to make all of which required her to either change her beliefs or change who she was inside.
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because I finally get to sleep with you
“W-wait, I’ve changed?!?!”
Self-awareness protocols activate in 10…9…8…
“Oh no! That means I might change again! Battlestations! Secular vigilance set to max! New idea shields at full! Load up the Bible quote torpedos! Double the security patrols to sweep for stowaway notions! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!”
Chick Tracts on standby.
Those seem to have been written by a schizophrenic.
That’s how you can tell it’s the real deal! All the best really hardcore religious material is indistinguishable from psychosis.
Take the Book of Revelations, for example. It’s like what would happen if Fear and Loathing is Las Vegas was written in the 1st century.
Or what happens when you get really drunk and high, then right about a place that just humiliated you before kicking you out.
That is the best description of Revelations that I’ve ever heard from anyone.
Side note for those who wish to be well-informed: it’s the Book of Revelation. It isn’t plural.
I’ve always preferred The Apocalypse of St. John, it has a catchier ring to it.
Somehow I mis-read that as “The Apocalypse of John Carter,” and now I want it.
The holiness church i grew up in banned those because they thought jack chick was crazy lol.
Sadly this sounds exactly like a friend of mine whenever science/other religions pop up…
Keep yer hands where we can see ’em, Becky.
http://tinyurl.com/k48wzqq
…That is AMAZINGLY creepy.
What… the… what the fuck?
You know what’s even worse?
The other kid with his hands under the blanket.
This is the most messed up thing I’ve seen in a while. A while being about 3 hours. Damn you, Reddit.
Is this one of those Goofus and Gallant things?
I was gonna say, is this Goofus and Gallant slash fic
The best/worst thing about that image is that since the platitude is framed in freaking cross-stitch above the bed, hands-under-the-covers-kid clearly KNOWS what’s up. So he’s looking over at hands-above-the-covers-kid all “heeeeeyyy there”.
(Fingers crossed I still have that Joe avatar, for extra creep factor.)
That just ups the creep factor by 1000%. Imagine the aftermath. The kid looks up at that plaque above him, looks over at his friend’s hands (or, rather, where they should be were they above the covers). Panic then ensues.
jonjon looked over and realized his friend jojo did NOT have his hands above the covers. in a panic jonjon dashes out of bed and prostrates himself before the mantle bible in hand and starts praying to his blasphemous friend! Turn to page 62 to have JonJon Exorcise his friend. Turn to page 52 to have Jon Jon run into the street screaming, ” its all wrong! its all so wrong!!!”
You win ten internets 🙂
Aww, come on dude. What the hell is Oddball gonna do with ten internets? My computer can barely handle one!
Your computer can handle the entire internet? At once? Can I borrow it?
This is a couple cloth masks away from being Twilight Sad album art.
I’m just going to leave this thing I was reminded of by that creepy picture for some reason right here.
That was funny, thanks for linking it.
Like Joyce’s chest. That way we don’t miss out on anything!
I’m pretty sure Becky would meet Sarah’s bat if she tried that.
Mr. Bat is a nice guy once you get to know him.
You get to know him with your face, or maybe your rib cage.
Maybe your legs. But that’s only if you’re a no-good snitch.
He’s just very…persuasive. And a bit blunt.
Best word play ever.
It’s simple! We kill the bat. Wait. Why does that sound familiar?
…said Sarah.
We’re all glad of that, Becky.
(well, except Joyce. She’s… not so sure.)
Oh this is a huge can of worms that’s being open right now.
/popcorn
A straight girl in bed with a lesbian. This will go great!
Sounds like the opening line of a joke.
That or what would probably be a very bizzare porno.
a joke that ends with, “aliens, and earth-moving robots in disguise.”
Right? Right?
Well I can help with those, let the fun commence! 😛
A fundamentalist, a lesbian, and a cynic walk into a dorm room…
For some reason, I think that one ends in explosions.
A lesbian who is in love with that straight girl, and kissed her earlier, no less!
That being said, I trust Becky here not to sexually assault Joyce in the middle of the night. I mean, Becky doesn’t want to hurt Joyce anymore than Joyce wants to hurt Becky. These two are seriously in love with one another!
(Even if not in quite the way either of them would like…)
I’ve heard this called philia and friendlove. It’s an important kind of love!
I’m glad Joyce knows that she can trust Becky.
These words were invented by people who never learned the term “Platonic love.”
Eh, Plato was a wanker. I like “philia” better.
No, no, Plato was a wrestler.
Or “agape”.
I want to hug both of them so much. 🙁
DAMN YOU HOVERTEXT!
Every hour we spent together
lives within my heart…
Oh, look! I’m crying!
*sobs quietly in corner*
Tears? Tears? What tears? It’s raining! Yeah! No crying at all! =’C
It’s a terrible day for rain.
It must be rainin’ ’cause a MAN ain’t supposed to cry
but I look up, and I don’t see a cloud
Lonely and forgotten,
Never thought she’d look my way,
When she smiled at me, and held me,
Just like she used to do,
Like she loved me,
When she loved me…
In the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarms oooooooooooof the aaaaaangellllllll…
I thought I was going to be fine, then I read the hovertext
Thanks for joining the rest of us. Have some tissues.
Toy Story 2 and 3 are the only two movies that have made me cry actual tears. And I’m 23. And I’ve seen Fruitvale Station and Requiem for a Dream.
Mind-shattering drug abuse and brutal, unjustified death?
Whatever.
Crises of childhood?
*sobs like a small child, with those weird gasps in the middle because you can’t catch your breath, and accompanied by those weird waxy tears coming from your ears. That’s…that’s normal, right?*
Have you seen Up?
Yup. Me AND my parents went to see it on my mom’s birthday. Mistake. Opening didn’t make me cry. Brought me close, though. DID make my mom cry.
Up is weapons-grade sorrow.
Every time I see that montage near the beginning I just cry and cry and cry
Isn’t that the movie that has the lesson “you can’t have a really great adventure until your wife dies?”
Nah man, the message is “you can still have great adventures after your greatest one has ended”.
Hrm. I always seem to miss those messages in movies. Mrs. Animal says it’s because I only have four emotions: Happy, hungry, angry and horny.
Pixar’s next movie is really going to confuse you, then.
Am I the only one who hasn’t cried even once (not a single tear) while reading DoA?
Nah
*leaves forum character persona*
I’m pretty sure many or most of us are speaking metaphorically, or in an internal sense. I’ve never actually cried, but I have cried internally, if that makes sense. It’s all a part of the DoA experience.
*re-enters forum character persona*
*continues to sob quietly in corner*
Like parts of tumblr, overexpressed emotion is part of the zeitgeist here.
That said, I did, in fact tear up a little on this comic, and really full on cried on a few other recent strips.
Comics and books are pretty good at making me cry at times. TV less so, and movies least of all (though it still happens at times)
Fair enough. I’m just not vry emotional when it comes to media. Fruitvale Station is, by far, the saddest thing I have EVER seen. Not. One. Tear. My friends think I’m an emotionless robot.
Not even internally. I’m more likely to laugh my head off than cry. I’m messed up.
No.
… a Vonnegut quote. Albeit with several very positive interpretations. Okay, I have chosen to assume that the quote refers to embracing the change within oneself, which is one of the possible meanings in Slaughterhouse 5. Because I really don’t want to think about how some of the other interpretations can be applied to this situation.
And when she was sad, I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy, so was I, when she loved me.
DAMN YOU MCLACHLAN! AND DAMN YOU WILLIS FOR EVOKING HER PRESENCE!
**opens mouth** **closes mouth** Welp, I’m an idiot. How did I miss Sarah Mclachlan and wander off to freakin’ Vonnegut?
Vonnegut is always relevant. Fear not.
Oh, come on, MacLachlan’s not that baIN THE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARMS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOF THE AAAAAAAAAAAAANGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS *pictures of sad, homeless animals flash before your eyes*
oh man I didnt even see
Sorry guys, I’m not getting on this weep train with the rest of you. So how about switching over to something apropo but more hopeful.
“I don’t know where I’m going,
But I sure know where I’ve been,
Hanging on the promises and songs of yesterday,
And I’ve made up my mind,
I aint wasting no more time”
Here I go again
Though I keep searching for an answer,
I never seem to find what I’m looking for,
Oh Lord I pray you give me the strength to carry on,
Cause I know what it means,
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
“Here I go again on my own,
Walking down the only road I’ve ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to along,
Cause I know what it means,
To walk along the lonely street of dreams,
And I’ve made up my mind,
I ain’t wasting no more time,
Just another heart in need of rescue,
Waiting on love’s sweet charity,
Gonna hold on for the rest of my days,
Cause I know what it means to walk along,
The lonely street of dreams!
Like a drifter?
“I thought satan would use its evil influence to make me a hippie or a drifter.”
…
“Or maybe a hifter or a drippie.“
Well played!
Joyce has absolutely no idea how to feel about that.
I’m all for making Joyce uncomfortable in ways she can’t rationalize away.
She’s got a good head on her shoulders, she just needs to use it.
…those are tears of joy, right?
Please?
I think they’re tears of “Our entire worldviews have been shaken apart and we’re both going through a bit of a crisis and I am so glad you are able to accept me even if it’s wrong because this has been the worst week of my life.”
Yeah, this one.
And despite everything we can still have a sleepover together, so everything is just like before, only not at all and the whole world has changed but you are still here with me.
Yeeep.
Well said.
Tears of Joyce.
Sir, you need to go to the doctor. You may have puncreatitis.
BUTT _)_) mebbe he don’t want go doctor
He’s going to need an appundectomy.
Excuse me, but that’s the procedure used for appundecitis, not puncreatitis! WHAT JOKE OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL DID YOU GO TO?
The proper treatment is a dose of punicillin
That won’t be any good, since it’s clearly viral. I hope we won’t have a pundemic.
It’s OK, we have a vaccine – hold still this won’t hurt … just a little puncture …
Tears of crushing sadness and loneliness, I’d say.
The only upside here is that at least she’s with someone she doesn’t need to hide her misery from.
It’s like that moment at the end of “The Graduate.” They have no idea what’s going to happen next, despite the immediate rush of happiness and relief.
“Ms. McIntyre, you’re trying to seduce me”. 🙂
Becky: Let me show you HOW glad…
Joyce: *gives a sassy look* Beckyyyyyyyyyyyy!
*studio laughter*
*theme song plays*
THAT’S BECKY!
Joyce’s friend Becky!
A bundle of fun!
Who happens to be
A lesbian!
That causes Joyce
To have a crisis of faith
Who’s the cause?
IT’S BECKY!
Dumbing of Age, Dumbing of AAAAAAGE, its Dumb-Dumb-Dumb-Dumb-Dumbiiiing OOOOOOOF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. (dum-dum-dum)
I don’t know whether to laugh at this or pay you for it . . .
Why not both!?
That is the spirit of webcomics. *salutes*
Note: the music for this song (that I hear in my head, naturally) is adapted from the “It’s Butters!” theme song from South Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaT1_-VtkaQ
Sorry, crying.
Same here.
Getting a little misty-eyed myself.
Becky: “Mind you, I wish it had changed you just a bit more.”
Joyce: “I know, Becky.”
Becky: “You know, in the area of-”
Joyce: “I get it, Becky”
Becky: “…I don’t suppose if I come back in a few more weeks…?”
Joyce: “NO.”
Hey, after the finale to Legend of Korra, anything is possible.
I love that now it doesn’t even get to surprise me cuz the internet flipped so much shit about it. I already don’t care.
Sarah: “Will you two STFU and go to sleep already!”
Becky: “…Hey Joyce, what’s your roommate’s, uh, situati-“
Joyce and Sarah: NO
Joe: Joe-sense tingling.
Danny: I DON’T WANT TO KNOW
Billie: Hey Ruth, just to clear the air, what’s your stance on threesomes?
Ruth: Hmmmm….pretty okay with em, really.
Billie: Okay, cool. Heh. If only we knew an unattached girl who liked other girls, huh?
Ruth: Yeah. But after all the crap we went through just to get together, its probably not worth even looking, ya know.
Billie: Yeah, true enough. Oh well.
IT IS OUR GENERATION’S ROMEO AND JULIET
by which I mean a stupidly preventable tragedy caused by not taking five minutes to talk to people
hum, that would be a very red-headed threesome there
She did say “maybe even in defiance of God’s will.” Now maybe she means the eleventy-seventh commando or whatever number it is (“Thou shalt honor them what gived berf to you”) …or maybe, just maaaaaybe she’s thinking about letting Becky pre-maritally hanky-pank her brains out.
Becky: ‘How about in a few mon–?’
Joyce: ‘Becky, I swear, if you keep this up you can talk to God face to face.’
Keep on changin’ Joyce!
By the end of the comic, she’ll have changed so much nobody will recognize her from the beginning.
Joyce will be a muscular black man with his own motorcycle.
Well, I suppose that will bring balance to the universe for the changes Michael Jackson once went through…
…living in suburban Melbourne and working as a professional basket-weaver
Best universe Joyce is played by Terry Crews.
Been done: http://walkypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-Joyce
You gotta click on it just to see the picture. Joyce is hot when she’s bad.
All that before Christmas break!
Next time we’ll handle….I don’t know if anything else we can throw at her, she’s made friends with atheist , alcoholics, and lesbians . the only other thing that’s left to do is throw a satanist in here but that would take a really really dark path, lets try the next best thing which is Goths ! Wait thinking about it how come there are no goth girls in this comic ?
Clearly, because everyone likes Carla better.
Throw in a prostitute and a tax collector and Shazzam! Joyce is Jesus. Exceot for that dying on a cross thing.
In fairness, most self proclaimed satinists I’ve met have been lovey people, of somewhat odd. Emphasis on “most” though. From my limited
Knowledge there are various strains of satanism, like any religion- and like any religion it mostly comes down to how the individual treats it.
Still. Would be hilarious watching Joyce process it.
Hey a satanist is a big step, she hasn’t
donemet (I meant met) any witches yet …Wheeeeellp.
One Giant Character Hurdle down. Let’s see if she sticks the landing.
Well, my feels have been sufficiently punched in the kidneys right now. Anyone else.
Everyone else.
EVERYONE.
In ALL the kidneys.
I dunno about the kidneys, but there’s certainly something wrong with my duodenum.
Joyce doesn’t look like she wants to have changed. Not at all.
Perhaps she’s just coming to the realization that yeah, she has changed, in ways she didn’t realize before. Incremental steps in acceptance plus a harsh reality check re:violence and such can do that.
it begins….AGAIN
DRAMA IS COMING
DOOT DOO DO DO DOOT DOO DOOT DOOT DOOT DO
It never left.
Really, it’s just been walking in circles.
Or mobius strips.
god dammit just let me have my GoT moment
And who are you, the proud lass said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that’s all the truth I know.
In a coat of pink or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my dad,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so she spoke, and so she spoke,
that Becky MacIntyre,
But now the rains weep o’er her dorm,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o’er her dorm,
and not a soul to hear.
*holds up lighter*
*realizes that everyone else at the wedding is dead*
*lowers lighter, slinks off into corner*
“Being the only Dothraki at the Red Wedding, he did not realize that something went wrong.”
LOL
“Seriously? Best party ever!”
yes, yes, you win very much
Honestly, Drama deserves to be tagged in, like, 90% of the strips.
It is, but someone keeps pulling it.
No, the drama-tag prevents drama (until pulled).
However the Dumbiverse came with the drama-tag pre-pulled!
So are we, Becky so are we.
Not sure if this is good or not…
Gonna go with “good”. She was afraid she’d be rejected and shamed by Joyce rather than gently rejected and supported.
I hope Joyce doesn’t try to “Fix” Becky.
Considering how unsuccessfully she has fixed Ethan, that would be for the best.
… and anyway she’s not a cat girl …
…but she does like pussy… 😀
You’re hissssterical!
It’s left intentionally kinda vague. Open for cheers and/or tears as you seem fit.
Probably not. Someone’s bound to come looking for her here sooner or later. Probably sooner, lets face it.
I feel like if they’re going to have any hope of keeping this a secret, they need to get Ruth in on it.
It’s good in the sense that at least Joyce is still her friend.
It’s really, really bad from just about any other angle.
The feels, man. The feels!
Willis, if you still feel bad about Becky being miserable, it’d be cool with me and probably others if you wanted to take a week or two off the story and just feature strips with Becky getting hugs from the entire cast every day.
I am totally onboard with the next storyline being “Seven days of Becky getting hugs.”
Hell, if that were the Patreon bonus, I would sign up immediately.
For the third day of Becky-hugs, Willis gave to me – one Walky joking, one Joyce-accepting, one Sarah inviting…
I dunno. Honestly Becky doesn’t even seem like his saddest character. She seems to be takin’ everything in stride. Girl’s strong.
Saddest character is a tradeoff between Amber and Ruth. Usually Ruth, unless Blaine is around. Kind of funny, that, in a kind of sad dramatic irony way. The one who wants a parent to die horribly, and the one who would give anything to have hers back.
It’s just not safe to be a character in a Willis comic.
It could set a bad precedent. If every character that needs a hug gets a hug we will NEVER get anything done. The whole comic will just consist of adorable people hugging each other… which would be bad for some reason I really can’t figure out right now.
I think the last panel shows that she’s not really taking it in stride, she’s just putting up a strong front and deflecting with humor.
Exactly. Everyone has a coping mechanism. What this strip reveals is the cracks in those coping skills can seriously make things…difficult.
We all cry sometimes. It’s healthy.
A very SPECIAL sleepover, Joyce. A very SPECIAL sleepover.
And what a poignant strip to end on. Gives me the weepies.
Don’t cry, Becky! If you do, y-you’ll get me s-started-d…
*sob*
…and now you made me start. I hope you are happy, Becky. Now we’re all crying.
if that last face is any indication, Joyce is gonna be doing some reevaluation of her life now. Lets hope it starts with ending her trainwreck of a relationship with Ethan, now that she’s admitted that being gay isn’t a mistake.
Amen to that. Although, I think she may still keep him around as a security guard. Since Mike had that job last, anyone would be better.
last panel joyce is getting a visit from Scary Music Insurance
They’re totally not in defiance of God, though! Willis just sent her an angel like she asked. We should all be so lucky.
Becky is the best angel. (“No, Joyce – you are my angel”)
Running away from parents – not exactly “honor your father and mother”.
Even given the recent drama, I could still imagine becky saying the exact same line with a sincere smile instead of a weepy frown. Unrequited love is painful, I am MORE than well aware. But I’d still be happy for how much Joyce has grown. IMHO, as wonderfully lovable as all the other characters may be, Joyce is what makes this entire strip.
I’m surprised Joyce even agreed to this.
I’m a little surprised too, but it’s not like she has a better alternative available for tonight and they’re both exhausted.
also ha! i knew i was right when i said that the title of this storyline was a reference to that Toy Story 2 song!
Well done! 😀
perfect gravatar is perfect
Ruth agrees.
*sniff* Does anyone have tissues?
EVERYONE around here has issues. Lot’s and lot’s of issues.
Oh… tissues… sure, here. Sorry, I thought…. Hrm. This is awkward.
Yeah, I got tissues.
It all started with my mother.
Gross.
Mmm, Joyce lookin’ a little conflicted there… religious crisis a comin’.
Remember, Joyce, you can’t spell “change” without “a” and “n,” which are two of the letters in “pain,” and…
See, this is why I didn’t go into motivational speaking.
I choose to believe this ending is optimistic!
Cautiously optimistic is still optimistic.
As annoying and frustrating as she often is, sometimes I love Joyce. Because she knows that letting Becky stay with her is defying their parents, and honestly and seriously believes that it’s defying God Himself… but she’s doing it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.
also, when I retire to bed I become a goth
Defiance of your parents? Hell yes. Defiance of God? Hell no. If your God would rather Becky be homeless, or undergoing psychologically damaging treatment, than you need to abandon that God. God says come as you are, not come as you are unless you’re on THIS list right here.
See, why couldn’t the Christians I grew up with have seen things that way? 🙁
AGred…seriously, my family are usually rather nice people. 😛 I am in the part that listens to the whole ‘don’t judge or be judged’ or, you know…’honor thy neighbor’. You’re not supposed to use faith as a way to bring hate, THAT is slapping God in the face!
I went to a church that was half Joyce’s parents, and half people that agreed with me. The pastor was okay with homeless people coming to his sermons, and always let them come eat after the sermon. (we had this little coffee and snacks thing that went on) He was very accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, and spoke often of coming as you are, and not as anyone else. He deeply wanted to nail the pink triangle to the front of our church. (to signify that it was an LGBTQ+ friendly space) But before he did that, he asked the congregation, and more than half said absolutely not, so he did not. That’s when I left. I realized that the people I saw as friends saw the come as you are as a “come as you are and then let me change you.” That was not my pastor’s view, and those people genuinely worried him. My mom and I still talked with him even after he left. My mom would go to him for advice all the time. He’s a great guy, and really helped me with my morals. I only wished he could do the same for the whole congregation.
after we left, whoops
If “God” gives you homophobes and conversion centers, FIND A BETTER RELIGION. Jesus never really did put up with bigots much.
It’s disconcerting to realize just how quickly she’s changed. I mean, it’s been what, something under two months? Have they even reached the one-month mark since move-in day?
It’s been said that they’ll be freshmen forever.
Her parents maintained the brainwashing through extensive isolation. Her own personality is just too inclined towards empathy to maintain it when face-to-face with the people she’s been fed lies about and still believe them.
Exactly. That is exactly how it happened for me. For Joyce’s sake, though, I hope she doesn’t end up holding her former beliefs against herself. Guilt-based moral training regiments have a tendency to promote that sort of self-blame.
According to Walkypedia, it’s been a little less than a month.
Not too long ago rocktavian made a timesheet which was cited on the dumblr of age.
So the current storyline is on thursday of the 4th week.
I’M NOT CRYING, BECKY’S CRYING
They’re sleeping two to a bed? In a college dorm bed?
SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF BROKEN.
It is rather wide for a twin. (You can fit two on those, but it’s a more snug fit.)
My senior dorm had double beds, but that was a big deal.
My college had minuscule beds, but on the plus side, I didn’t have to share my room, so that’s comparatively great!
But I’m just joking to avoid addressing the emotional impact of the strip, obviously.
I slept with my bf in a twin during college. I have no idea how, but we did.
The beds in my college dorm were wide enough to fit two people about that close. And it is known that these dorms were recently renovated.
You believed it when it was Joyce and Ethan… when it was Dottie and Walky… when it was Billie and Walky… So why stop now??
Because I hadn’t thought about it yet.
Don’t forget Joyce and Sarah!
As I said at the tail end of yesterday’s comments, I am pretty sure this was discussed somewhere, and that word of Willis was that in this universe, the beds are wider. That’s what I recall anyway, I wish I could find it though…
I’m too tired to search the archive, but I think this came up when Billie shared Walky’s bed, after having been torn down by her former BFF/cheerleader-lesbian-love-interest-whose-name-escapes-me-right-now.
Ah, thanks, I will check there. I already looked around the time that Walky and Dorothy first slept together, and when they performed a sex, and it wasn’t there…
Alice, that was her name… But not the storyline I was looking for.
Anyway, I do remember Willis saying that the beds in DoA are wider than the real ones in the IU dorms, and that that was artistic license for letting him have characters share a bed without it being too awkward.
becky fell in love with the old Joyce. The old Joyce dead. Even if she knows it’s for the better, I think she misses her old friend. i’m a little worried she’ll be disappointed with the new Joyce
Didn’t she just confirm that she likes new Joyce? And the thing she loved with old Joyce is still there. Remember – “Same old Joyce”.
Thanks, Obama.
A few months back I was stuck in traffic all afternoon. I eventually realized it was because a lot of roads were closed because the president was in town making a speech. Thus for the first time ever I could say “Thanks, Obama!” and actually have it be something to do with Obama! I was so excited!
And now your life will never be as exciting ever again.
Pshaw. You make your own fun. Push comes to shove, I can always hunt my fellow man for sport.
Or be prey for another man to hunt, that’s really exciting.
Maybe I can meet a movie star!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI
No no no! When push comes to shove, you dodge at the last minute so the one doing the shoving falls over.
“This is not what I meant when I said that I wanted to sleep with you, Joyce”
The advertisement of your offer to do so was misleading.
You and me both, Becky.
Just… the party, that’s where I wish she hadn’t had to have gone through that, since that, too, was part of what led to certain changes.
Somewhere along the line, Joyce is going to have to come to terms with those memories. I’m looking forward to how Willis makes that happen.
No! No more crying Becky, dammit! I can’t take it!
So Willis, we getting a 5 page Christmas gift? :3
I CHOKED UP THANK YOU WILLIS
“…and nothing hurt”?
Has Becky even managed to pack anything with her? She showed up at IU without even a backpack. Money’s probably going to be an issue before long.
I am sure Billie will be happy to help with immediate shopping needs.
See commentary on other strips for ideas about scholarships, other parents helping out, etc.
The character model Willis posted on the Dumblr yesterday appears to be wearing Joyce’s clothes, so I’m thinking all she’s got is the clothes on her back.
And Joyce. What else does she need?
I feel like when I went to school, dorm beds weren’t wide enough for even two small adults to lie side by side like this without touching more.
I mean, for Joyce’s sake, I’m glad hers is.
The last panel is glitching for me and it’s wonderfully appropriate.
(idk if this works for anyone else: a link because I’m too lazy to take a screenshot which would definitely work)
The image you linked looks perfectly normal.
Your laziness has cost all of us that whatever you were looking at
Your browser had a moment. You’ll live.
I’m a little sketched out by all these comments to the tune of “uh oh Joyce is in bed with the lesbian look out Joyce” like they’re mostly joking but it’s still not cool to suddenly fear that Becky will be predatory because she’s a lesbian
This is a statement I agree with! Becky is Becky. Joyce trusts Becky. That Becky is a lesbian does not change this. That Becky is in love with Joyce also does not change this. Becky did cross a line slightly with that kiss, but she knows she did so, and she is also accepting of Joyce’s response to that overture.
End of story.
You take life to seriously dude
it’s ok friend. it’s ok that people care about things that aren’t on your radar, like predatory stereotypes of gay people. live your life.
How should I put this? I’m firmly of the opinion that such sterotypes should not be promoted at all. I also did not get any sense that anyone commenting was trying to do that or harbors any notion that such a thing is anything but a stupid sterotype. I appreciate your concerns and don’t want to belittle your opinion, and it might be my familiarity with the people on this forum talking (been here since day 1) but I think you are jumping at shadows here.
That said, probably something we could stand to be a tad more mindful of. On the other hand, be wary- we tend to get pretty crass with our humor around here.
Imagine it was a manful dude; people would probably be freaking out! “Ok, but why are you letting him into your BED, Joyce?!” they’d say (writing as if Joyce was non-fictional and could read what they wrote.) Good gravy, I know a fair amount of people that think it’s weird for HOUSEMATES to be of opposite genders. Although I agree it’s silly to actually think that Becky’s gonna sexually assault Joyce, it’s more because one party is in unrequited love/lust with the other than fear of Scary Old Lezzbeckyian.
It’s not because she’s a lesbian. It’s because she’s a lesbian who 1) has admitted to being really attracted to Joyce, 2) has already kissed her without warning, and 3) just two strips ago mentioned how she still really wants to make out with her.
Add that to the DOA Commentariat’s propensity to find any possible excuse to imagine two characters going at it, and the jokes were fairly inevitable.
“Commentariat” is a hilarious way of over-dignifying us
Not to forget how easy it can be to edit pics on “Paint”. Human tech is fun… 🙂
Yes, thank you for saying it.
That look on Joyce’s face is worrying…
Is it ‘Oh, poop, I have changed…will God reject me now?’?
Is it ‘Oh, poop, I haven’t actually changed at all, and I’m totally winging this, and I’m not going to be able to keep it up for long!’?
Is it ‘Oh, poop, was I really such a jerk she couldn’t expect this from me before?’
They’re not mutually exclusive. Probably, at this point, a wordless worry that will come out with all three.
To me it seems like all three. Joyce hates to hurt people, especially people she loves, but she was also taught that to follow god you must follow these certain rules. Don’t follow these rules you hurt god and he shuns you. Joyce loves god and I think no matter how (I don’t want to say wrong because Joyce parents don’t seem to actually hate people when faced with them) misguided her teaching was she does follow the best parts of christianity. To love and accept people and help them feel love that god has for all of his creations. So what going through her head is most likely this.
Helping Becky show her I love her and she accepted and that good. But it also hurts god because now I’m going against his teaching. But the fact that my best friend thought I was going to abandon her in her time of need is going against god to. Which one is right?
idk id say the way they treated Dorothy once they knew she was an atheist shows that Joyce’s parents have plenty of hate for people who don’t fit in their boxes.
I’m guessing one or two, maybe both. I think Joyce is too afraid about how she’s changing (and what that means about her past and future) to think she hasn’t changed.
With all this talk of poop, she might need a change… of underpants.
Joyce has read the alt-text and thinks:
“DAMN YOU WILLIS!
Not everything that happened here was beautiful!”
That’s DARN you Willis. She hasn’t changed that much yet.
I wonder if Joyce is uncomfortable with the implication that she wouldn’t have been as supportive about this a month ago. That only after leaving her home environment could she learn the things she needed to be the person Becky needs her to be right now. The implications that has towards the overall quality of her home environment.
That’s my read on it. The idea that being able to unconditionally love, accept, and support your best friend in circumstances like these is a change in you can’t be a comfortable thought. Especially when the change is a result of time spent away from a lifestyle and worldview that you were always taught was the proper and righteous one…
Joyce. Remember 1 John 4:8.
I’m no Christian, but if you believe in that verse — if that is your conception of God — then you are acting in accordance with God’s will.
Many of your religion have claimed differently. Many have disagreed with each other on what God’s nature is. Many of those disagreements can be found in your own Bible. Some of the smartest Christians I know have looked at the whole thing and come to a conclusion on where it all points to.
Keep your eye on Jubilee, and you can’t go wrong.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be, doing exactly what you are supposed to do. And you are exactly where God wants you to be, doing exactly what God wants you to do.
Damn it, I was sure I had that link right. Trying again.
I don’t think its the first one Kamino, maybe the second, doubt the last.
Joyce has beat herself up pretty good over the sexual desire she won’t allow herself because of the near rape.
And because she defied her parents and religion when she told her parents she would not stop being friends with Dorothy, an atheist. I think she recognizes these changes.
She probably is winging it. Doubt if she planned defieing her parents on the Dorothy issue. But, she questions herself when she does something her beliefs conflict with.
I wonder if the look is a combination of “Omg, I have changed. Now what do I do?” Becky would notice, as she has known her a lot longer than anyone, just how much she has changed.
As someone noted, Joyce is going to have to rethink her relationship with Ethan big time. She told Becky that she recognized that Becky is Gay”, and acted as a lesbian would act: that she didn’t “make a mistake’.
That being the case, she needs to come face to face with the fact that neither is Ethan going to be different because she wants him to be. May be a bit harder actually as Ethan is busy hiding in closet still. Its probably easier to believe he will change as he is so ashamed of what he is.
But, maybe Joyce will step up and out on her own now.
I don’t think Becky in her bed is a good idea at all. Becky is only human.
But this could have good ramifications for everyone. Joyce has been made aware her changes are noticeable, just not in her head.
Becky is out of a bad situation, for awhile anyway. She is getting a break.
And the campus is good hunting grounds. Becky should find a friend when she is ready for one, with little trouble.
Nah, nah, Becky, it’s not change, it’s scraping off the barnacles. Think of faith as like a ship, a beautiful old Tall Ship. She’s gorgeous to look at from a distance, but once you get close, peek under the waterline, you see all the garbage that’s grown down there over the centuries, and it’s heartbreaking. Now at that point, you got three choices, you can cover your eyes and pretend it isn’t there, but the Grand Ole Lady will never sail right with all that crap on the bottom, and on some level you’re never able to forget its there. And you’ll hate everybody for it. And some of that growth will get inside, start eating away at her, till all she is is a wreck just waiting to die.
Second option is to walk away. Ain’t no thing. You might have been press-ganged into it as a kid, but nobody can actually make you want it. In the end, it should always be your choice to sail her.
Third option is clean the crap off and make her beautiful again. It’s a long, hard process, and it NEVER STOPS. The stuff will always regrow, you’ll always be scraping it away until the day you die or put ashore and walk away. But, once her hull’s clean and gleaming, she’ll sail beautiful.
(thus end the overlong tortured nautical metaphor).
Never heard that metaphor before. It’s awesome.
Whatever else you can say about the Abrahamic faiths all the holy books are totally into old school hospitality so I don’t think God is a problem… In defiance of dorm rules, most likely… hopefully the college doesn’t catch on.
Heh. Just imagining Ruth catching on, and just bursting out in laughter at Joyce’s fear, but not reporting them because 1- the irony be too stronk, and 2- “eh I ship them” (with a wink to the audience).
I just realized Joyce kinda got her answer. I wonder if it was the one she wanted…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/angel/
Becky’s not the angel Joyce wanted, but she’s the angel Joyce needed.
Looks like I crossed a line to make that last joke. So never mind. I’ll just stick with my original point, which is that John’s comment was well stated.
AWHHHH. AWHHHHHHHHH AWHHH. ok ok these two are too cute oh my goodness. awhhhhhhhhhh becky dont cryyy
This! I was so hoping for a callback to that strip, and this has just made my night!
Joyce, deploy hugs.
When I was sixteen years old, I was a conservative fundamentalist Christian and a homophobe. I rarely prayed though and did once for guidance after my brother is dead, then I got the response. “Quit being a ****head. That was Jesus’s entire ministry.” I found once I started actually trying to be empathic and nonjudgmental to anyone who wasn’t using Jesus’ name to get rich or hurt people that I became an extreme liberal. An atheist friend of mine was surprised to find out I was religious.
You have chosen… wisely.
FULL CIRCLE.
It’s a little weird that this is the first storyline of Book 5. It feels more like not just the end of a book, but the end of the first group of books.
That does seem strange, but on the other hand, I guess the alternative is to begin a book with the “Three is a crowd” storyline.
That would be the storyline where someone tries to keep a kitten in their dorm room without letting Ruth Roper find out, right?
Well said, Beckers.
Icame here at 4:41 AM Willis time and found a page with only about 15 comments on it, and left a post. When the screen refreshed (at 4:42 AM Willis time) I got this page — with almost 250 comments but nothing after 3:54 AM (again, Willis time).
So what’s going on, Willis?
I remember there being more comments almost an hour ago as well. Maybe there was a tech error, like a server reset or something. It does feel weird, being a casual commenter to think “Wow, I was actually close to getting a first comment”.
One of my comments vanished too. I assumed it was just in poor enough taste to deserve a-deletin’, but maybe not…
O_O I LOVE YOUR AVATAR, IT IS BEAUTIFUL !
Thanks! I rather like it myself. Kinda chronicling the evolution of their relationship through moments of looking at each other. 😀
Yeah, sounds more like a bug. I am going go ahead and blame PHP unless other evidence comes to light.
Willis mentioned yesterday that the site was moving to a new server. It looks like it got switched back and forth between the old and the new a few times, and it looks like the new server started out with a database snapshot that was about 11 hours old when it came on-line (comments from about 5 pm yesterday until about 4 am today went missing). Any comments we made while the new database was on-line were eventually lost as the new database was brought in sync with the old one. I think. 🙂
Ah, makes sense. I missed that announcement. Dang, and I so wanted to blame PHP!
Meanwhile, Mary glowers at their dormroom door in impotent rage…
Mary has nothing to report on these two for a few days yet. Becky’s presence in the room is immoral, ungodly, and completely within the rules.
Isn’t the first person to report to in that case the RA? I imagine that will go really well.
“I wish to report two lesbians doing lesbian stuff.”
“Feeeemuuuuuuurrrrrrr.”
“I of course talk about Joyce and Becky. Why, I have no reason to believe there are OTHER lesbians doing lesbian stuff, do I?”
“I see what you did there. Anyway – Feeeeemmmuuuuuuuurrrrrrrr.”
“Hey, Brown. Becky. You are now under my personal protection because of reasons. Any questions?”
“Y…yes, why does that sound so scary?”
“Because I’m Ruth, that’s why.”
Or, even better…
Isn’t the first person to report to in that case the RA? I imagine that will go really well.
“I wish to report two lesbians doing lesbian stuff.”
“OK. What do you need from me? After all…feeeeeemurrr>”
“I of course talk about Joyce and Becky. Why, I have no reason to believe there are OTHER lesbians doing lesbian stuff, do I?”
“Ah, OK. Hey, Sarah, Mary here is concerned that Joyce and Becky are disturbing here, and she wants me to do something about it.”
[Enter Sarah, right, carrying the Baseball Bat of the Old Testament God.]
Test
…aaaaand scene.
Y’know, it’ll be interesting to see Jocelyn’s reaction to this. If Joyce can do this for her bestest friend ever, wouldn’t she do it for her sister?
So far as we know, the Brown family is completely ignorant of Jocelyne’s existance, right?
And Joshua really should have picked a name a little further away from Joyce’s. Just sayin’.
I think it’s a form of endearment. I imagine Joyce looks alot like Jocelyne would if this universe were a fair one.
Naming yourself after a historical person or a deceased relative is fine. Naming yourself after a “public figure” is a kind of creepy, and naming yourself after a sibling is way creepy. Joshua/Jocelyne needs to build a female identity that isn’t his sister.
I was just thinking that it could also be the J.O. letters theme that their parents saw fit to use with them. Joyce, Joshua, Jordan, I can’t think of too many girl names begining in j.o….Joan maybe? The only other one I can think of is Joy but that’s just Joyce with a no c.e.
Based on the way you pronounce Jocelyne (Joss-a-lyn) it sounds more similar to Joshua than Joyce, so that’s probably why she picked it, since it sounds close to Joshua…I mean I can’t think of any female names that can be easily made while still staying close-ish to Joshua.
I’m pretty sure they know she exists, they just don’t know who she really is.
Yes there has been a subtle change and refinement in my character design Becky thanks for noticing!
Also, my head shrank quite a bit.
Waitaminute – Storyline over??? As in tomorrow there will be a new storyline dealing with people who are not Becky? Come on, how will I get my daily treat of adorable Joyce-Becky love?
Don’t you get it? Soon we get to see Becky interacting with everybody, like a proper character!
Oh, crap. Walky’s going to go a bit too far with the “Joyce is a lesbo” thing, isn’t he?
And then she’ll snap and suck a billion dicks.
One day before yesterday somebody revealed the title of the next storyline in a reply to your comment in this thread!
I know, I know. And the fact that Becky is a new main character is about as awesome as can be. I’m just being unreasonably whiny about the fact that the comic is about other people as well and that different storylines and groups of characters take turn. So thanks for taking me seriously but I’m afraid this was just a toddler-level tantrum about wanna-have-more-Becky-NOW!
If it’s any consolation/commiseration, you’re not the only one pouting that there should be more Becky involvement here. I’m sure we have many more times ahead where Becky and Walky crack jokes and make Joyce blush ahead.
… “Becky making Joyce blush”… hee hee~~ 8D
*sniff* We all are.
Welp, it’s good that storyline is over, I really hate Becky..
You looking for trouble, mister?
Nope, can’t I have an honest opinion about the character? I don’t hate her for being lesbian, I hate her for being because she annoys me.
Second panel made me laugh so hard. It was a welcome relief after the emotional rollercoaster this week.
Okay, I know this is completely unrelated, but I just realized that Dina’s hat would be 70% more accurate if it was meant to be an Anurognathid pterosaur.
Oh, I had to look the name up. I remembered them when I saw the picture though! You are very correct about the look!
Not sure what other people’s google results for the name might look like, but in mine, I had two results from David Peters, who is in fact a total loon. Please disregard anything from “reptileevolution” or “pterosaurheresies”. Instead try things like the wikipedia article and http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.com/2011/04/functional-morphology-of-anurognathid.html
Personally, I like looking up David Peters stuff for that very reason. He’s either utterly and hilariously stupid or a very very good troll. At any rate, he’s funny enough that I can’t really be angry at him.
Heh, yeah. As long as innocents don’t get confused, it is amusing
OK, that is one weird looking dinosaur.
Nope. Pterosaur. But close enough, as both dinosaurs and pterosaurs belong to the group known as archosaurs.
am i the only one whose heart died because of becky’s face on the last panel
man every time Becky cries it makes me so sad. she’s such a darn likable character.
Really, any time Becky’s eyes are all sad and tearful, mine soon do the same.
FEELSBRO
Wow… A new perspective from (for?) Joyce! I think she’s growin’ up!
I want to believe that Becky wearing a black T-shirt (the first time we’ve seen her wearing one) is a preview of her new life as the resident Metal Lesbian.
I think Becky is my favorite character now.
She’s up there together with Joyce and Dorothy for me. Really quick for so little screentime
Damn you Willis! *sobs hysterically*
Joyce, you are a good friend to Becky.
This is one super-awesome college if it can effect significant changes in people’s character in, what’s it been, a couple of weeks strip time?
The orange shirt on your tumblr suits her wonderfully. well done.
so i was right about the title being about these two but it is not nearly as dramatic as i was expecting
This is probably my favorite strip of the lot. Like, so much feelings out of it, I can’t even begin to describe.
Actually, I don’t think Joyce changed at all; from a certain point of view at least. Joyce’s character has remained static but her beliefs have changed, she had a multitude of choices to make all of which required her to either change her beliefs or change who she was inside.