A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
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Reading about the Last Supper must be real fun in Toedad’s household!
Matthew 26:34 – Jesus told him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the male chicken bird crows, you will deny me three times.”
Becky: “Don’t you mean “before the cock crows,” dad?”
Toedad: “Rebecca Jean* MacIntyre! Go wash your mouth out! You just lost a week of TV privileges, young lady!”
In all seriousness, though, Sal’s only a little taller than Becky, who’s approximately Joyce’s height. And Joyce isn’t that tall. I’m willing to bet that Toedad is rather short. Compare Sal to Sarah and Carla, who are both considerably taller than her, but still shorter than Ethan. I’m going with Toedad’s shortness.
That’s the thing about Joyce; even when she might have a right to, she doesn’t keep grudges and, in fact, tends to have guilt trips about her own culpability.
Because early in Joyce’s relationship with Ethan, Sarah outright told her that she would be shunned, especially by Dorothy, if it got out that she was trying to “cure” his homosexuality.
And yesterday (the day after the party), Walky told Joyce that Dorothy knows.
Hence why Joyce is just a tiny bit nervous about where she and Dorothy currently stand.
It would actually be quite funny to watch him melt down insisting to Sal that he will talk to her parents and get them to punish her for her disrespect whilst she just glares at him stonily.
What a coincidence, Gigafreak, I used to be one of the people who did the same thing for the Canadian equivalent. Me and my wife wore these monitors that tracked what radio and t.v. we were exposed to. I would mess with them by putting soft core porn on when I was playing on the computer, or play the strangest movies I could find on Netflix. My wife would put the monitor on the dog’s collar when she went out, with the t.v. tuned to the CBC Punjabi channel (we are not Punjabi).
It was never an issue for me which is odd. I think it’s because, here in Britain, ‘cock’ is a synonym for ‘rooster’ and the idea of the word being intrinsically obscene would be seen as funny.
In America, both men and women have fannies. Some have really big fannies and will admit to it in public.
BTW, cock means rooster in Merica too and the University of South Carolina uses Gamecocks as their mascot. Their gamewear is all labelled “COCKS” and is a big seller nationwide.
There wasn’t one. But yesterday Walky told Joyce that Dorothy knows that Ethan is gay. Dorothy knows that Joyce broke up with Ethan because what she realized what she was doing wasn’t right. (She pieced this together at the sushi restaurant). Since she realized the relationship was over, there was no reason to bring up the topic for further discussion. Because she didn’t bring it up, Joyce didn’t know Dorothy figured the whole thing out. Joyce thinks that Dorothy must have figured it out since the party. And this all goes back to Sarah telling Joyce that Dorothy won’t be her friend if she knew what Joyce was doing with Ethan. (“You will lose them. Especially Dorothy.”)
She seems pretty freaked out at the idea of Dorothy knowing that Ethan is gay. And Sarah did convince her that if Dorothy knew that she wouldn’t be friends with Joyce anymore.
Joyce got angry with Dorothy for getting drunk when Joyce has views about under-age drinking, at least in her personal spaces. Dorothy was drunk enough to start insulting Joyce about being too uptight.
Man, singing songs about farm animals must’ve been difficult in the MacIntyre household. The rooster says ‘GO CLEAN OUT YOUR MOUTH WITH SOAP AND THEN PRAY-a-doodle-doo’.
So…does she think Dorothy’s mad at her? Because…because there is actually no way Dorothy would be mad at her. Joyce didn’t even give her a proper chewing-out for drinking in her room. Poor conflict-averse Joyce.
Sarah told Joyce that if Dorothy ever found out about the fix-the-game dating that Joyce was doing with Ethan, she would immediately lose her friend. Joyce apparently took that to heart.
In addition to the drinking thing Dorothy now knows Joyce was trying to de-gay Ethan. And the longer they go without talking about it the more Joyce will assume the worst.
It’s time’s like these when I appreciate my relative naivety. The first thing I thought of when I saw “meat-spin” was a helicopter with steaks tied to the rotors. (And no, I don’t you need you to tell me what it actually means, I figured it out thank you)
I know this is not how it works, but it would be fun to screw with Becky’s Dad’s head and convince him that punishing Becky for cock related words is what caused her lesbianism.
It would be fun if that happened while taking him well, well away from Becky.
Can Carla demonstrate her heretofore unseen power to easily send random deserving assholes to the middle of the Amazon? Preferably the river, during one of the seasons the piranhas are feeling hungry for meat?
They should send Toedad to Madison (WI), where the Pink Plastic Flamingo has been designated as the official city bird. The birds will take care of him.
I’m glad they are enlisting Sal as well. The more people invested in keeping Becky safe, the better. I love Sal’s expression in the last panel, trying to keep up.
Joyce in the last panel: Yeah, that’s a good description.
If Ross gets confirmation that she’s at the school he can contact the school authorities and have her removed from the property. He doesn’t need her exact location or even touch her, they’ll find her and she’ll have nowhere to go, he can just wait outside.
I wish the drinking thing was the real issue between Joyce and Dorothy, temperance lecture shenanigans sound like fun. Genuinely believing one of your best friends hates you and feeling like they’re justified in that is no fun at all.
Luckily, Dorothy doesn’t actually feel that way because she has nigh-infinite understanding and patience for her friends, and is all about communication.
Okay, here’s the weird thing: It honestly looks like Becky and Joyce never really respected Becky’s dad and haven’t for a long while. I’m wondering if they used to sit together in Joyce’s room after lessons and make up rude names for him and the like. When you consider their upbringing, this is startling and probably tells you a lot about the man.
I’ve thought this before but haven’t mentioned it. The fact is that Ross lost his daughter a long time ago. He never gave her a reason to love him or to trust him and now all the chickens have come home to roost.
You have a definite point here. Becky ran away and when she mentioned her father’s actions Joyce didn’t even bat an eye at it. It was the norm. I wonder what other harmless behavior/personality trait he locked her in prayer study to “fix”.
It means Becky’s position right now is rather untenable in the long run, probably more than we realize, and until she finds some work and starts saving up for a down payment on a place to start striking it out on her own she’s probably destined to be netted again. Zealots rarely get talked out of closed mindedness, after all.
I believe so too. Remember the stuff he said to Dina about “correcting her” – that was the public version given to a stranger in an atheist hell-hole (his view).
Add how controlling Joyce’s parents were (you know, the more liberal, touchy-feely parents of the circle) Becky’s loud-and-fun class clown persona (I’m SURE Ross liked that one) and how good she is at projecting a persona when she wants too (playing all-is-fine with Joyce an entire day while building up to the kiss), and we can be pretty certain that life in the MacIntyre household was an endless string of Rules-Rebellion-Punishment rinse and repeat.
Of course, kids making up rude names about parents is nothing unusual. Best case scenario, Becky’s mother was the one raising her and Ross just showed up to make noise once in a while. When she died he panicked and became ultra controlling because he’s afraid he doesn’t have what it takes to raise a child (spoiler, Ross: YOU DON’T)
FWIW, I’m in the process of writing a DoA fan-fiction where, years later, Carol Brown seeks out her estranged daughter to tell her that Ross McIntyre is dead. He was killed by police whilst trying to break into Dorothy’s congressional district local office to force Representative Keeler-Walkerton (at gunpoint) to tell him where Becky was living now. Naturally, Carol tries to make Joyce feel guilty, saying that he was just trying to ‘protect’ Becky and then switches to complaining about Joyce not letting her have access to the grandkids.
Of course Joyce didn’t bat an eye, she expects everyone she knows to react that way. She herself tried to de-gay Ethan. Her parents would likely do the same thing to her sister if they learned about her.
From my memory of that sequence, Joyce seemed to be convinced that it was all some kind of misunderstanding that could be sorted out by Becky and her father sitting down and talking with each other. That’s the thing about Joyce and a lot of people miss it – That thing about parents loving and caring for their children? She actually thinks its true and she’s idealistic enough to actually believe that, all things said and done it will happen.
Maybe that’s unrealistic but I can’t help but admire a heart so pure and so filled with light that this is her perspective on family.
Oh, note that she didn’t try to ‘de-gay’ Ethan until she misinterpreted his words to mean that he wanted someone to help him to do so.
A follow up to my above: There may have been no difference in intent but there was a great difference in tone and attitude between Joyce and Ross. Whilst Joyce is all about compassion and reaching the heart (no matter how misguided her motives), Ross talked about ‘fixing’ Becky like he was having having a dog sterilised or a cancerous tumour cut out.
It was that complete callousness that Joyce, with her basically positive and optimistic nature, was unable to believe.
Yeah. I mean, I know that “we haven’t spoken in a while” is mostly an excuse, because she can’t/doesn’t want to explain why she’s afraid Dorothy is mad at her, but it does amount to her saying “We didn’t speak yesterday! I’m not sure what our relationship even is anymore!”
ToeDad: NOOOOOOOO MOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRREEEEE TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Galasso: FOOOOOOL! NO ONE STANDS IN THE WAY FOR GALASSO’S TV COMMERCIALS
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
Galasso: FOOOOOL!!!
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
Galasso: FOOOOOL!!!
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
I’ve got to say that I’m increasingly interested as to how we’re going to get from here to the spoiler panels DMW has posted in Tumblr for mid September.
GUESS: Either on her own initiative or at Sal’s suggestion, Joyce is going to see Dorothy to apologise/make peace. She is going to catch her and Walky sharing a lovers’ farewell kiss at the door of Dorothy’s room. Suitable for a huge starry-eyed blush from Joyce as well as later teasing of Walky.
So, wait – Dina put Toedad on a bus – yesterday, and it’s taken him a whole day to figure out how to get on another bus to come back? Or has he just been hanging around the mall all night searching for her? Because I’m pretty sure most malls close at night, so that gets even weirder…
Yeah… Yeah, not the brightest light in the house. I mentioned this possibility then. Big, dumb, bigoted and probably prone to using violence to get his way. A winning combination.
Which leads to the best case scenario, which would be for him to assault some mall cops in the belief that they’re keeping his daughter from him, landing himself in jail, where his claims about his daughter are interpreted as the delusions of a sick mind.
Unfortunately, Willis is evil, and, as such, he’ll be back in exactly the right time to maximize the amount of drama produced by the combination of worrying about him and him actually arriving.
There’s also no guarantee that the bus, after arriving, would immediately head back along the same route. It may have waited, perhaps for hours after the fact. And once the dorm doors were locked, his ability to do anything would have been severely limited.
Probably got arrested about 5 miles down the highway when he figured out he’d been had and got into a violent confrontation with the bus driver who wasn’t going to just turn the bus around because his dumb ass got ditched by a “pokemon girl”. He’s probably sitting in some suburb police department lockup awaiting Monday morning to roll around when he goes in front of a judge to hear his charges, enter his plea, and post bail or convince the judge to ROR…
Then when he begrudgingly pays for a taxi to take his lame ass back to the campus, he ventures back to the dorms to find everyone gone to class, his car vanished, and having to get yet another taxi to go to the impound lot, where he’ll get in another violent confrontation with the tow operators at the yard over having to pay to get his vehicle released or them dinging it, and ending up in lockup again to face another judge who, after hearing he JUST posted bail for a similar incident, not be as forgiving and willing to let him ROR before standing trial and being sentenced.
Though we can hope that he fell into a sewer and hadn’t written Becky out of whatever will he and his wife had set up so she suddenly gets a huge financial windfall and is able to afford her own place and possibly tuition after enrolling at the university.
I highly doubt Ross Babies McIntyre would write Becky out of his will. He really does loves Becky, but his upbringing has told him gays are evil, and he’s too old to change.
Now, I’m not excusing his actions, he deserves to burn as much any one else who thinks homosexuality can and should be “fixed”, but he’s not the type to renounce probably the only family he has left.
That chick in Kentucky thinks she’s fighting the good fight too. Turns out she’s just an asshole.
Like, no matter what intent he may have he’s trying to force his daughter to undergo conversion therapy. Literally one of the most evil things practiced right now.
Real people do disown their kids over this. They mistakenly think it’s the only right thing to do. Hard for us to imagine, but yes, this is absolutely a possibility.
I just got into this webcomic a week ago, and I’ve burned through the original roomies, it’s walky, shortpacked, dumbing of age and even lawsome. After reading countless wiki pages, surfing comment sections and going through the-initialshockbutthenmildinterest-reaction to the slipshines, I can confidently say that I have no life, and that also I am a gigantic fan of David and his work.
For years, when new readers came here saying “I just spent the last week reading through all the archives”, I was awestruck at this incredible feat, until I realized that they were just talking about the DoA archives, not the everything-David-Willis-has-ever-published archives.
And now you’re telling me you have done exactly that?
The comics can be red in a week… but the really tricky part is reading the comments. Quite a few times I spent half a day or more on one DoA page because I ended up reading every single comment on it, or even participated in some long-winded debates on one topic or another. Eventually, I had to stop reading every single comment for my own sanity, but not before I red more then 2/3 of the DoA archive.
Then again, didn’t read shortpacked yet and haven’t finished itswalky either (red large parts of it twice due to reading it back-to-middle and then front-to-back), but loved every bit of joyceandwalky, even if it’s a bit of a mess at the end due to inter-strip osmosis. I think I red roomies 3-4 times now due to it being mirrored on the other sites?
WHAT THE?! It’spregnancy?! O_o Whelp. Excuse me, I have reading to do.
Why do I have a suspicion that ToeDad and AmberDad are going to have a random chance meeting, lament how rebellious and needing of proper discipline their daughters are, and team up to get back on campus and cause some form of hell possibly in the form of kidnapping Becky and luring out AmaziGirl to try and get revenge for the asskicking she did before.
I’m really hoping not, and the story takes a more boring take on the plight of Becky of her managing to get a job and her own place or find a way to pay tuition to enroll in the college and attend there before Mary blows her cover. Or, if some drama must happen, that it’s a happy ending with Mary getting her cheerful ass kicked out of school and Becky getting her dorm slot.
Eh, I doubt it. Even in the Walkyverse, over 12 years ago, Mary came slightly close to making amends before descending back into Christian Warrior Assqueen mode.
That Mary was thrown on a bus, and by the time she came back she was such a minor character, a heel face turn was pointless. This Mary may fair better.
That’s what I was getting at. We were led to believe that Mary had started to understand how hurtful she had been and gearing up for an apology, only for her to say the worst, most awful thing she could possibly conceive to Sal, one of her oldest friends. This was even after that Roomies epilogue where she seemed to try and make amends with Billie.
Granted, Mary could be a bit deeper than what we know; between her statement about how nobody would bother with evil if it weren’t nice and her constantly present wristbands. Plus, the arc after this is a Billie/Ruth focused one with Mary appearing, so maybe we’ll shed some light on her.
Well if they do, the minute Blaine shows his true colors (abusive for the sake of the abuse), Ross Babies McIntyre will probably switch sides. *He* may count as abusive, but it’s out of misplaced devotion, not a sick need for validation. His conversation with Dina proved that much.
You know Blaine genuinely thinks he was toughening his daughter up, right? He berated her because she was weak and then tried to enroll her in self defense classes. Plus, of course he has to direct her; look how unstable she is! Blaine knows that he’s right and everyone should shut up and fall in line!
That’s not validation for either of them; they’re both sick fucks. Not too many abusers wake up and think “I’m going to abuse my kids cuz I’m radsauce.”
It’s all well and good to keep dodging Toedad, but Becky should try to put a bit of distance between them thru the courts maybe?
If she’s 18 she legal. There is help thru the center on campus and why oh why oh whyyyyy hasn’t someone enlisted of Leslie. She would solve Beckys problems in the right way, and get her legal freedom too probably.
Getting interesting with Sal involved now…that will one sorry toe shaped daddy if he raises a hand to her.
I know this comic is a few days old so I’m likely not get a response but…
Wasn’t the party just last night for Joyce? Why does she say it’s been a while since she’s seen Dorothy? It certainly feels that way to me but for the character I’m not sure it should.
Of course, it might also just be, ya know, a full day and if you’re used to seeing someone DAILY that makes more sense
Loading ...
*later*
“Ah din’t see no shuttledick-lookin’ dude, but ah saw a toe-lookin’ one with a pornstache.”
“POOP”
“you know they’re never really here for cleaning the pool, right ?”
Reading about the Last Supper must be real fun in Toedad’s household!
Matthew 26:34 – Jesus told him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the male chicken bird crows, you will deny me three times.”
Becky: “Don’t you mean “before the cock crows,” dad?”
Toedad: “Rebecca Jean* MacIntyre! Go wash your mouth out! You just lost a week of TV privileges, young lady!”
Oops. Forgot to add the note at bottom to signify “Jean” is a middle name I just made up. (couldn’t find canonical one)
I think Jean kind of suits her. Well, not her, but Toedad’s idea of her.
Eh, Jean has the phoenix which recognizes no authority inside her. not too bad a match.
Could have made a “Moby WHAT!?” joke in there.
They might just substitute “Rooster” since that means the same and is less wordy. :X
They do. A quick google search of the verse reveals several examples of rooster being used.
I especially like this avatar, Ana.
Shuttle-yknow ?
Shuttle-noodle.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttlecock
Oh my god, THAT’s what those things are called? I’ve missed so many bad joke opportunities.
Your Mike Gravatar is PEEERFECT for that comment omg.
I thought they were just called “badminton balls”.
But, are they Brunching?
Wow. Congratulations on the Brunching Shuttlecocks reference. That goes back a ways.
Wait…is Sal tall, or is Toedad short?
Why not both?
Have this taco.
‘Laughs in Mexican’
You can actually laugh in Spanish. Well type it technically but whatevs. It’s just “ja ja ja ja.”
I’m Mexican so that’s why I know.
Which means “yes, yes, yes” in Swedish.
Ah, languages!
And also in German.
But the pronunciation has nothing to do
Actually it’s almost the same as the English (Swedish and German) laugh: “ha ha ha”
So is the same laughing in Spanish than moaning in Swedish and German?
I’m pretty sure we all knew you were Mexican, Tacos.
In all seriousness, though, Sal’s only a little taller than Becky, who’s approximately Joyce’s height. And Joyce isn’t that tall. I’m willing to bet that Toedad is rather short. Compare Sal to Sarah and Carla, who are both considerably taller than her, but still shorter than Ethan. I’m going with Toedad’s shortness.
IIRC, Willis has said that Sal’s 5’7″, so… a bit of both.
Well, that’s average for Sal, but short for Toedad. Question answered!
I think Toedad only looked that much taller earlier because we were seeing him in comparison to Dina, who’s one of the shortest students around.
Uh, I kinda assumed she was 180cm or so.
I would have guessed he’s around a foot
Points!
Becky’s totally not grinning ’cause Joyce and Dorothy might not be on speaking terms. Not in the slightest.
Now that I think about it, the last time we even Saw Dorothy…she was passed out on the floor next to Walky, wasn’t she?
Might still be there. This comic’s POV often stays around waist height.
Bingo. And probably both are in the hangover state.
Do hangovers from a single glass of diluted alcohol normally last multiple days?
No,they can last up to 24 hours,I only forgot that two days passed in the comic,not one.
Actually she was brushing her teeth.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/goofoff/
Forgot about that,thanks.
Shared bathroom next day, Sunday morning.
I’m interested to see just how big this circle-of-people-who-know-about-Becky’s-situation gets before some figure of authority finds out.
calling it right now it’s gonna be Mary
I don’t think Mary counts as an “authority figure”
No, but the instant Mary finds out, an authority figure will find out. Not that there’s a connection, I’m just saying, a STRONG coincidence.
“In a while” you know, a day ago.
Wait, why is talking to Dorothy an issue again?
I’d like to know this too. Maybe because Dorothy doesn’t know about Becky?
Yes she does know about Becky,but she and Walky are still drunk or they have a hangover since they drank ,,last night”.
That was the night before last, I think. It’s Monday morning now, and I think the party was Saturday night.
I think Joyce is still angry at Dorothy for drinking at her party.
Joyce doesn’t look angry, more concerned about the state of their relationship, almost like she thinks Dorothy is the one who’s mad….
That’s the thing about Joyce; even when she might have a right to, she doesn’t keep grudges and, in fact, tends to have guilt trips about her own culpability.
I think she might still have a grudge against Ryan and maybe Amazi-girl a tiny bit.
She was drunk at Joyce’s party – it was a big deal before the Dina/Becky kiss and Ruth’s arrival kind of distracted everyone.
Because early in Joyce’s relationship with Ethan, Sarah outright told her that she would be shunned, especially by Dorothy, if it got out that she was trying to “cure” his homosexuality.
And yesterday (the day after the party), Walky told Joyce that Dorothy knows.
Hence why Joyce is just a tiny bit nervous about where she and Dorothy currently stand.
Thanks, I thought she seemed excessively concerned about something.
Oh, this makes waaaay more sense than the whole drinking thing.
Leave it to Sun Tzu to spot the strategic importance of webcomic happenings.
How does Toedad take away TV privileges for people he’s not even related to?
It’s his mutant superpower.
The ability to take away t.v. privileges could elevate Ross above Blaine as most terrifying parent.
It was a way more effective superpower back 20+ years ago, these days smartphones and internet are what where it’s at.
Of course you need the parent to provide you with those and then let you use them for that to matter.
Not if you’re employed and/or sneaky.
Do they even have a TV in their room ? I assumed they only got it from their laptops.
He emits radiation from his moustache which blanks out the signal.
Besides his ugliness.
Ugliness is Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask’s weakness and that guy is a ranked 1 A-level hero.
Dad: “Did you touch the thermostat??”
Next door’s dad: “Did somebody touch your thermostat??”
It would actually be quite funny to watch him melt down insisting to Sal that he will talk to her parents and get them to punish her for her disrespect whilst she just glares at him stonily.
Well, if they’re watching TV in his house…
Those worry faces are great, Joyce, but I don’t think you have much to worry about on the Dorothy front.
Turns out Dorothy is still drunk in Joyce’s room the entire time
No, Sierra is in Joyce’s room; taking shelter with her. Dorothy and Walky threw her out the night of the party and haven’t let her back in since!
“Permission to say Cock?”–James May
Playing badminton was basically impossible during Joyce and Beckys childhood.
Just call them birdies
I didn’t even know there was a name other than birdie until this comic.
In French the term is volant i think.
We usually call it moineau which is a type of bird.
Moineau is often used a an euphemism for dangly bits too.
We usually what ? I’ve never heard about that “moineau” thing lol.
In my region of Quebec we did then
“Birdies” like “the birds and the bees”?! Television privileges revoke, DarkoNeko!
I mean “revoked.” Sigh.
Noooooo
You just gonna take that? C’mon, be a rebel >:O
I’ve hardly used my TV since 2002 or so.
The Nielsen people decided to poll me on my television habits (rather, they selected my household, but I live alone).
I haven’t bothered to subscribe to any television service since I moved in, because the Internet exists.
Surely I’m not the only one. Wonder how often that happens to them nowadays.
What a coincidence, Gigafreak, I used to be one of the people who did the same thing for the Canadian equivalent. Me and my wife wore these monitors that tracked what radio and t.v. we were exposed to. I would mess with them by putting soft core porn on when I was playing on the computer, or play the strangest movies I could find on Netflix. My wife would put the monitor on the dog’s collar when she went out, with the t.v. tuned to the CBC Punjabi channel (we are not Punjabi).
They just called it “That little thing we whack when we play badminton”.
That sounds painful.
It was never an issue for me which is odd. I think it’s because, here in Britain, ‘cock’ is a synonym for ‘rooster’ and the idea of the word being intrinsically obscene would be seen as funny.
British humour, yay
“I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it, it was a shitzu.”
Gesundheit!
That’s ok, we think your reaction to our use of the word pants is quite funny.
In America, both men and women have fannies. Some have really big fannies and will admit to it in public.
BTW, cock means rooster in Merica too and the University of South Carolina uses Gamecocks as their mascot. Their gamewear is all labelled “COCKS” and is a big seller nationwide.
Sal’s tattoo is so cool.
It’s just mocking me in this strip.
Sooooooooo
Coooooooool
Refresh my memory, there was a falling out between Joyce ‘n Dorothy at the party?
I don’t recall one happening.
I think so, yeah, but not a super major one, just Dotty cutting a bit looser than Joyce would have liked.
There wasn’t one. But yesterday Walky told Joyce that Dorothy knows that Ethan is gay. Dorothy knows that Joyce broke up with Ethan because what she realized what she was doing wasn’t right. (She pieced this together at the sushi restaurant). Since she realized the relationship was over, there was no reason to bring up the topic for further discussion. Because she didn’t bring it up, Joyce didn’t know Dorothy figured the whole thing out. Joyce thinks that Dorothy must have figured it out since the party. And this all goes back to Sarah telling Joyce that Dorothy won’t be her friend if she knew what Joyce was doing with Ethan. (“You will lose them. Especially Dorothy.”)
Joyce got angry at Dorothy for drinking at her party. It didn’t really go much further than that cuz of Ruth appearing and the Dina /Becky kiss.
But there’s also Joyce’s reaction here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/freegaypizza/
She seems pretty freaked out at the idea of Dorothy knowing that Ethan is gay. And Sarah did convince her that if Dorothy knew that she wouldn’t be friends with Joyce anymore.
Joyce was upset about Dorothy drinking, although I don’t believe anything escalated very far.
Joyce got angry with Dorothy for getting drunk when Joyce has views about under-age drinking, at least in her personal spaces. Dorothy was drunk enough to start insulting Joyce about being too uptight.
Hey Ross how’s it hanging? What? Why?! Dammit I just lost my television privileges.
Instead of shuttlecock, how about commutewilly?
Aww, Joyce is worried she ruined the friendship because of the glare she gave Dorothy here:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/amygrant/
Poor Joyce. She’s trying to balance so many things.
I actually think she’s worried about this
That link failed, so here it is: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/lose/
Man, singing songs about farm animals must’ve been difficult in the MacIntyre household. The rooster says ‘GO CLEAN OUT YOUR MOUTH WITH SOAP AND THEN PRAY-a-doodle-doo’.
Throws off the whole rhythm.
Not to mention reading the Bible itself.
“And the cock crowed three times.” (from Luke 22:60)
“Hey, yeah, it’s in the Bible; ‘cock’ is in the Bible!”
“Does it say in the bible that you can watch TV? Np? There you go then.”
Or more likely.
“Don’t get smart with you, young lady. No TV.”
Fudge you, Ross.
GEORGE CARLIN REFERENCE
LOVE IT
Not to mention “And the ass saw the angel” and “Lord, Lord, it is hard kicking against the pricks”.
“Oh, we haven’t spoken since we left her with her boyfriend out sleeping in the corridor”
“after doddling stuff on their faces”
So…does she think Dorothy’s mad at her? Because…because there is actually no way Dorothy would be mad at her. Joyce didn’t even give her a proper chewing-out for drinking in her room. Poor conflict-averse Joyce.
She just see’s Dorothy as really strict and by-the-book so she doesn’t trust that she’d be cool with the situation.
I was thinking of Ruth instead of Dorothy for some reason, my mistake
She’s not just conflict averse. She’s got no experience being mad at friends so it’s scary and the worst thing ever.
We just had an entire chapter of Becky and Dina not being sure what the other was thinking. The situation is not that different for Joyce and Dorothy.
Walky: Ac….
Me: YES, I know where you are going with that.
Sarah told Joyce that if Dorothy ever found out about the fix-the-game dating that Joyce was doing with Ethan, she would immediately lose her friend. Joyce apparently took that to heart.
In addition to the drinking thing Dorothy now knows Joyce was trying to de-gay Ethan. And the longer they go without talking about it the more Joyce will assume the worst.
Do we have to call Toedad Shuttlecock Dad now? Because that makes me uncomfortable a bit lololol.
Well, he is a sort of helicopter dad (cough), so shuttlecock isn’t too far.
“Helicopter” suggests close monitoring. Toedad is straight up tryna work Becky’s remote.
straight
I admire that pun.
It’s pretty puntastic.
That’s not remote, that’s local.
Thanks to the internet, when I see helicopter, I think meat-spin.
Note to self, don’t wonder to hard about Mongoose’s browser history.
Agreed.
Ironically my browser history nowadays isn’t even half as bad as it was back in the naughties.
Naughty?
“Boy I could tell you things about internet that would turn your hair white!”
To loosely quote Sam from Death Vigil
Death Vigil
Also not much can phase me anymore
Amen/
And now I may.
to the brain bleach we go.
It’s time’s like these when I appreciate my relative naivety. The first thing I thought of when I saw “meat-spin” was a helicopter with steaks tied to the rotors. (And no, I don’t you need you to tell me what it actually means, I figured it out thank you)
I know this is not how it works, but it would be fun to screw with Becky’s Dad’s head and convince him that punishing Becky for cock related words is what caused her lesbianism.
It would be fun if that happened while taking him well, well away from Becky.
Can Carla demonstrate her heretofore unseen power to easily send random deserving assholes to the middle of the Amazon? Preferably the river, during one of the seasons the piranhas are feeling hungry for meat?
Would caiman or anacondas be an acceptable substitute?
Don’t be mean to cute reptiles. That would taste horrible.
They should send Toedad to Madison (WI), where the Pink Plastic Flamingo has been designated as the official city bird. The birds will take care of him.
HitchCOCK would be proud.
That’s it, I’m breaking out the Scandinavia and the world references again.
WARNING – sometimes not safe for work (this one is OK though), sometimes not safe for sanity, always hilarious
http://satwcomic.com/gay-eggs
It’s late (early?) where I am, and so I feel the need to tell you that you are extremely awesome.
I’m glad they are enlisting Sal as well. The more people invested in keeping Becky safe, the better. I love Sal’s expression in the last panel, trying to keep up.
Joyce in the last panel: Yeah, that’s a good description.
And the ding-dong bandit would know
The more people who can keep their mouths shut invested in keeping Becky safe, the better.
True… but given that the conspiracy started with Joyce and Becky…
While her keeping an eye out in general (though not hunting) is good to ask.
can’t becky just chill out alone in the empty room during said classes?
If Ross gets confirmation that she’s at the school he can contact the school authorities and have her removed from the property. He doesn’t need her exact location or even touch her, they’ll find her and she’ll have nowhere to go, he can just wait outside.
I wish the drinking thing was the real issue between Joyce and Dorothy, temperance lecture shenanigans sound like fun. Genuinely believing one of your best friends hates you and feeling like they’re justified in that is no fun at all.
Luckily, Dorothy doesn’t actually feel that way because she has nigh-infinite understanding and patience for her friends, and is all about communication.
Okay, here’s the weird thing: It honestly looks like Becky and Joyce never really respected Becky’s dad and haven’t for a long while. I’m wondering if they used to sit together in Joyce’s room after lessons and make up rude names for him and the like. When you consider their upbringing, this is startling and probably tells you a lot about the man.
I’ve thought this before but haven’t mentioned it. The fact is that Ross lost his daughter a long time ago. He never gave her a reason to love him or to trust him and now all the chickens have come home to roost.
You have a definite point here. Becky ran away and when she mentioned her father’s actions Joyce didn’t even bat an eye at it. It was the norm. I wonder what other harmless behavior/personality trait he locked her in prayer study to “fix”.
It means Becky’s position right now is rather untenable in the long run, probably more than we realize, and until she finds some work and starts saving up for a down payment on a place to start striking it out on her own she’s probably destined to be netted again. Zealots rarely get talked out of closed mindedness, after all.
I believe so too. Remember the stuff he said to Dina about “correcting her” – that was the public version given to a stranger in an atheist hell-hole (his view).
Add how controlling Joyce’s parents were (you know, the more liberal, touchy-feely parents of the circle) Becky’s loud-and-fun class clown persona (I’m SURE Ross liked that one) and how good she is at projecting a persona when she wants too (playing all-is-fine with Joyce an entire day while building up to the kiss), and we can be pretty certain that life in the MacIntyre household was an endless string of Rules-Rebellion-Punishment rinse and repeat.
Of course, kids making up rude names about parents is nothing unusual. Best case scenario, Becky’s mother was the one raising her and Ross just showed up to make noise once in a while. When she died he panicked and became ultra controlling because he’s afraid he doesn’t have what it takes to raise a child (spoiler, Ross: YOU DON’T)
FWIW, I’m in the process of writing a DoA fan-fiction where, years later, Carol Brown seeks out her estranged daughter to tell her that Ross McIntyre is dead. He was killed by police whilst trying to break into Dorothy’s congressional district local office to force Representative Keeler-Walkerton (at gunpoint) to tell him where Becky was living now. Naturally, Carol tries to make Joyce feel guilty, saying that he was just trying to ‘protect’ Becky and then switches to complaining about Joyce not letting her have access to the grandkids.
Of course Joyce didn’t bat an eye, she expects everyone she knows to react that way. She herself tried to de-gay Ethan. Her parents would likely do the same thing to her sister if they learned about her.
From my memory of that sequence, Joyce seemed to be convinced that it was all some kind of misunderstanding that could be sorted out by Becky and her father sitting down and talking with each other. That’s the thing about Joyce and a lot of people miss it – That thing about parents loving and caring for their children? She actually thinks its true and she’s idealistic enough to actually believe that, all things said and done it will happen.
Maybe that’s unrealistic but I can’t help but admire a heart so pure and so filled with light that this is her perspective on family.
Oh, note that she didn’t try to ‘de-gay’ Ethan until she misinterpreted his words to mean that he wanted someone to help him to do so.
A follow up to my above: There may have been no difference in intent but there was a great difference in tone and attitude between Joyce and Ross. Whilst Joyce is all about compassion and reaching the heart (no matter how misguided her motives), Ross talked about ‘fixing’ Becky like he was having having a dog sterilised or a cancerous tumour cut out.
It was that complete callousness that Joyce, with her basically positive and optimistic nature, was unable to believe.
That party was 2 fucking days ago man.
Yeah. I mean, I know that “we haven’t spoken in a while” is mostly an excuse, because she can’t/doesn’t want to explain why she’s afraid Dorothy is mad at her, but it does amount to her saying “We didn’t speak yesterday! I’m not sure what our relationship even is anymore!”
I love all those little things in Joyce’s body language.
And with “love” I mean “feel my heart break for her”.
I like to think Toedad tried to take away everyone’s TV privileges.
ToeDad: NOOOOOOOO MOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRREEEEE TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Galasso: FOOOOOOL! NO ONE STANDS IN THE WAY FOR GALASSO’S TV COMMERCIALS
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
Galasso: FOOOOOL!!!
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
Galasso: FOOOOOL!!!
ToeDad: FOOOOOL!!!
Galasso will watch say yes to the dress!
Attempted terrorist attack on the local cable TV hub? Not beyond the boundaries of suspension of disbelief!
More just repeatedly trying to deny someone access to TV whenever they say anything that bothers him.
Which would be everybody.
I’ve got to say that I’m increasingly interested as to how we’re going to get from here to the spoiler panels DMW has posted in Tumblr for mid September.
GUESS: Either on her own initiative or at Sal’s suggestion, Joyce is going to see Dorothy to apologise/make peace. She is going to catch her and Walky sharing a lovers’ farewell kiss at the door of Dorothy’s room. Suitable for a huge starry-eyed blush from Joyce as well as later teasing of Walky.
Butt …. Butttt …..
*looks over from Wilde Life comments*
… what?
Taco… Tacoooo…
Que?
So Toedad is a smaller version of Jabba the Hut.
Toedad Jabba the Hut’s son confirmed.
That’s an insult to Jabba.
So, wait – Dina put Toedad on a bus – yesterday, and it’s taken him a whole day to figure out how to get on another bus to come back? Or has he just been hanging around the mall all night searching for her? Because I’m pretty sure most malls close at night, so that gets even weirder…
Yeah… Yeah, not the brightest light in the house. I mentioned this possibility then. Big, dumb, bigoted and probably prone to using violence to get his way. A winning combination.
Which leads to the best case scenario, which would be for him to assault some mall cops in the belief that they’re keeping his daughter from him, landing himself in jail, where his claims about his daughter are interpreted as the delusions of a sick mind.
Unfortunately, Willis is evil, and, as such, he’ll be back in exactly the right time to maximize the amount of drama produced by the combination of worrying about him and him actually arriving.
They had his car towed away, he’s likely been dealing with that. Plus they don’t know if he still suspects Becky is there.
There’s also no guarantee that the bus, after arriving, would immediately head back along the same route. It may have waited, perhaps for hours after the fact. And once the dorm doors were locked, his ability to do anything would have been severely limited.
Probably got arrested about 5 miles down the highway when he figured out he’d been had and got into a violent confrontation with the bus driver who wasn’t going to just turn the bus around because his dumb ass got ditched by a “pokemon girl”. He’s probably sitting in some suburb police department lockup awaiting Monday morning to roll around when he goes in front of a judge to hear his charges, enter his plea, and post bail or convince the judge to ROR…
Then when he begrudgingly pays for a taxi to take his lame ass back to the campus, he ventures back to the dorms to find everyone gone to class, his car vanished, and having to get yet another taxi to go to the impound lot, where he’ll get in another violent confrontation with the tow operators at the yard over having to pay to get his vehicle released or them dinging it, and ending up in lockup again to face another judge who, after hearing he JUST posted bail for a similar incident, not be as forgiving and willing to let him ROR before standing trial and being sentenced.
Though we can hope that he fell into a sewer and hadn’t written Becky out of whatever will he and his wife had set up so she suddenly gets a huge financial windfall and is able to afford her own place and possibly tuition after enrolling at the university.
I highly doubt Ross Babies McIntyre would write Becky out of his will. He really does loves Becky, but his upbringing has told him gays are evil, and he’s too old to change.
Now, I’m not excusing his actions, he deserves to burn as much any one else who thinks homosexuality can and should be “fixed”, but he’s not the type to renounce probably the only family he has left.
That chick in Kentucky thinks she’s fighting the good fight too. Turns out she’s just an asshole.
Like, no matter what intent he may have he’s trying to force his daughter to undergo conversion therapy. Literally one of the most evil things practiced right now.
Real people do disown their kids over this. They mistakenly think it’s the only right thing to do. Hard for us to imagine, but yes, this is absolutely a possibility.
Wait does this mean Toedad’s a midget? Huh. Wonder if my 4′ 8″ grandma is taller than him.
If Ross is Sal’s height, he’s about 5’7″, which isn’t that short.
It’s a bit weird because Becky is around Sal’s height here when she looks visibly shorter than Joe elsewhere.
Why is that weird? Becky’s 5’4″ and Joe is over six feet tall.
I just got into this webcomic a week ago, and I’ve burned through the original roomies, it’s walky, shortpacked, dumbing of age and even lawsome. After reading countless wiki pages, surfing comment sections and going through the-initialshockbutthenmildinterest-reaction to the slipshines, I can confidently say that I have no life, and that also I am a gigantic fan of David and his work.
I strongly recommend that you take a few weeks with no caffeine whatsoever to detox after that feat!
Wow, impressive. When did you find time to sleep?
Sleep is for the weak. There are webcomics to be read.
Praise Cheese.
You took the words out of my FAAACE.
For years, when new readers came here saying “I just spent the last week reading through all the archives”, I was awestruck at this incredible feat, until I realized that they were just talking about the DoA archives, not the everything-David-Willis-has-ever-published archives.
And now you’re telling me you have done exactly that?
I may have to worship you.
The comics can be red in a week… but the really tricky part is reading the comments. Quite a few times I spent half a day or more on one DoA page because I ended up reading every single comment on it, or even participated in some long-winded debates on one topic or another. Eventually, I had to stop reading every single comment for my own sanity, but not before I red more then 2/3 of the DoA archive.
Then again, didn’t read shortpacked yet and haven’t finished itswalky either (red large parts of it twice due to reading it back-to-middle and then front-to-back), but loved every bit of joyceandwalky, even if it’s a bit of a mess at the end due to inter-strip osmosis. I think I red roomies 3-4 times now due to it being mirrored on the other sites?
WHAT THE?! It’spregnancy?! O_o Whelp. Excuse me, I have reading to do.
Why do I have a suspicion that ToeDad and AmberDad are going to have a random chance meeting, lament how rebellious and needing of proper discipline their daughters are, and team up to get back on campus and cause some form of hell possibly in the form of kidnapping Becky and luring out AmaziGirl to try and get revenge for the asskicking she did before.
I’m really hoping not, and the story takes a more boring take on the plight of Becky of her managing to get a job and her own place or find a way to pay tuition to enroll in the college and attend there before Mary blows her cover. Or, if some drama must happen, that it’s a happy ending with Mary getting her cheerful ass kicked out of school and Becky getting her dorm slot.
Of course Mary can still pull a heel face turn
Eh, I doubt it. Even in the Walkyverse, over 12 years ago, Mary came slightly close to making amends before descending back into Christian Warrior Assqueen mode.
That Mary was thrown on a bus, and by the time she came back she was such a minor character, a heel face turn was pointless. This Mary may fair better.
That’s what I was getting at. We were led to believe that Mary had started to understand how hurtful she had been and gearing up for an apology, only for her to say the worst, most awful thing she could possibly conceive to Sal, one of her oldest friends. This was even after that Roomies epilogue where she seemed to try and make amends with Billie.
Granted, Mary could be a bit deeper than what we know; between her statement about how nobody would bother with evil if it weren’t nice and her constantly present wristbands. Plus, the arc after this is a Billie/Ruth focused one with Mary appearing, so maybe we’ll shed some light on her.
Of course that was the Walkyverse, no one was very deep or complex back then.
Well if they do, the minute Blaine shows his true colors (abusive for the sake of the abuse), Ross Babies McIntyre will probably switch sides. *He* may count as abusive, but it’s out of misplaced devotion, not a sick need for validation. His conversation with Dina proved that much.
You know Blaine genuinely thinks he was toughening his daughter up, right? He berated her because she was weak and then tried to enroll her in self defense classes. Plus, of course he has to direct her; look how unstable she is! Blaine knows that he’s right and everyone should shut up and fall in line!
That’s not validation for either of them; they’re both sick fucks. Not too many abusers wake up and think “I’m going to abuse my kids cuz I’m radsauce.”
Have one of the characters say “fleshy” and “cock” in a single, non-sexual sentence: Achievement unlocked.
It’s all well and good to keep dodging Toedad, but Becky should try to put a bit of distance between them thru the courts maybe?
If she’s 18 she legal. There is help thru the center on campus and why oh why oh whyyyyy hasn’t someone enlisted of Leslie. She would solve Beckys problems in the right way, and get her legal freedom too probably.
Getting interesting with Sal involved now…that will one sorry toe shaped daddy if he raises a hand to her.
sigh no edit:…..”that will be one sorry…”
i am loving joyce’s character now. bekcy has gotten better too. its probably the cute dino girl kisses.
I know this comic is a few days old so I’m likely not get a response but…
Wasn’t the party just last night for Joyce? Why does she say it’s been a while since she’s seen Dorothy? It certainly feels that way to me but for the character I’m not sure it should.
Of course, it might also just be, ya know, a full day and if you’re used to seeing someone DAILY that makes more sense