Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
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.
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.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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Every human dies simultaneously in a burst of collective apoplectic rage. In a few million years, when another intelligent species finds the ashes of our civilization, they will wonder what happened to us. All they will find is a single three-word message, etched into every brick and pavestone:
Don’t mention that game!!! It’s only been out a few days and I already have 30 hours playing it on record. I think I have a problem. But now I really want to get back to my rapid breeding, adaptive, space insect technocracy…
Bought it last night, played 8 hours already and probably going to go another several tomorrow…I also have a problem, but Paradox has kinda been my dealer since EU3.
Dorothy doesn’t have quite the same immediate dramatic potential. It would still be interesting as she reaches the conclusion that this is why he broke up with Amazing Amber.
It gets better, they’ll be finding out if a person really can bend like in Amber’s fanfics when she walks in on them, and her first thought will be “I wrote the script for this, you’re plagiarising!”
This comic?…No. The next one where Ethan pushes Danny down on his bed and they start aggressively making out will break a thousand….Or maybe there won’t be any because everyone who sees that one will have passed out.
Yeah, there are times when Willis knows damn well the comments for a particular strip’s topic will be rife with awful, so he shuts them down for the day. Off the top of my head, such strips have involved the Walkerton family’s racism toward Sal, and Mary being a shit at Carla for being trans. He doesn’t do it often, but when he does I’m just like “yeah fair enough.”
Tbh the comment section here is generally fairy reasonable, as comment sections go, but there are times when it’s totally fair for Willis not to feel especially inclined to provide us the rope with which we hang ourselves (or trigger others). Being new to fatherhood doesn’t help anything in terms of his energy and tolerance for bullshit, either.
Dammit, lejwocky, you KNOW when The Willis giveth, he then taketh away, and there will be much wailing and rending of garmets when he does so! WHY MUST YOU TAUNT HIM???
I felt like it was a dream until the last panel? Danny’s last clause seems more self-aware than I would expect in a dream, but I guess that could just be based on my own dreaming experience. L
The guy’s been pretty brutally dumped by two people he really cared about in the span of like…a month. I think there’s a lot of anger motivating this decision. I’m just speculating but I think as sympathetic as he is towards Amber he’s still pissed as hell about how she dumped him. Which is an understandable emotion. So he’s making not the best decision right now considering who he’s pursuing but I think he probably feels like he should get to be selfish after doing “the right thing” backfired on him. Now he just wants to do the wrong thing that’ll feel so good. Joe would be so proud
Naw,
Ethan is the first person that made Danny want to rip his clothes off , and jump someone.
Hes been repressing this constantly, hes a damn thats gonna blow.
and Ethan likes Danny. And Danny is probably the first guy ever who ever expressed an interest in Ethan.
It can be but I don’t think Danny would do that to Ethan. I think Amber’s intense lack of self-awareness and honesty has just served to spur him to address his own avoidance of his issues.
Interesting. Some commenters want the characters to analyze every thought and action in advance, forgetting that the actions playing out over several days’ worth of strips are developing in minutes or even seconds in comic time, and some commenters complain that characters process and/or react too quickly. Anyone want to Venn-diagram that one?
You really have it out for the poor dude. Like oh how dare he not cloister himself in his room and weep for hours on end right? He is the victim in this scenario so your constant judgmental bullshit just is not cool.
I’m reasonably certain this poster has a joking hatred for Danny. They trotted out the “Danny dumped Amber to date Amazi-Girl” line for years even though they’ve constantly been told that wasn’t the case.
I really don’t see that happening yet. I think Danny’s just laying his cards on the table, sharing his feelings with Ethan, not trying to hook up with him.
That doesn’t mean it can’t happen in their near future, but it’ll probably be a few days even if Ethan doesn’t decide it’d be too painful for Amber.
But I’ve been wrong before.
Of course, this ship depends on Ethan finally giving in to his lust for Danny. And if so, the reaction from Amber on finding out is going to be fun to read.
I doubt she’d intentionally report back, but she might reveal it to Amber by talking about it under the assumption she already knows, if she thinks that’s why they broke up.
Although, my love for her Dotty making me want to believe that she’s too nice & smart & open-minded and some other adjective eluding me right now to make this kind of assumption and not question it before talking about it.
Everyone, no matter how smart and nice and open minded they are, has blind spots. Given her initial reaction and how little she knows, I’m worried that Danny is a big one for Dorothy.
Also remember, at this point, Dorothy “knows” that Amber and Danny broke up, that it’s Danny’s fault because he lost faith, and that the last conversation he had with Dorothy was that he was finding himself interested in dudes and he had no idea how to process that.
It is known that she knows who Ethan is, but was she there when Amber blew up at him? Does she know the history between Amber and Ethan?
Right now I’ve got a bad feeling this isn’t the setup for a Danny/Ethan OTP. This is setting up for Dorothy thinking Danny broke up with Amber to hook up with Ethan, and her letting that belief slip to Amber when they have their interview tonight as she bongoes about their dumbass ex.
You make some great points. I have a lot of love an admiration for Dotty, so that’s probably making me idolize her a little in a way that’s making me believe she’ll make the objectively best decision most of the time. Which is a stupid belief since as a character in the story she doesn’t benefit from all the information like we readers do, so she can’t really always be objective, regardless of whether she tries…
TL;DR: Agreed. ^^”
I mean, Dorothy is knowledgeable enough about bisexuality that she was able to calmly tell Danny what it was and that “you can like boys and girls.” I can’t imagine that much of a soapboxer would leap to Danny cheating.
Well, if she does catch danny and Ethan making out, it would not take much of a leap of logic (or semantics) to use the evidence in front of her eyes to interpret “lost the faith” to mean faithless, which iirc is an adjective typically used to describe those who cheat on their SO’s. Granted, you’d THINK, having known danny as long as she has, Dorothy wouldn’t believe him capable of cheating (“serial monogamist, ” after all), but I don’t think she has the highest opinion of his judgment and she definitely idolizes Amazi-girl, so it’s probably safe to expect a Hilarious Misunderstanding and possibly a “this is not what it looks like” and maybe even a “we were on a break!” if danny wants to channel Ross Gellar.
This isn’t too surprising. Considering the only thing holding Danny back from acting on his intense attraction to Ethan was his relationship and as much as he may be sympathetic towards all Amber’s gone through there’s going to be some resentment over how she dumped him. I think there’s a lot of, “Fuck her, fuck everything, Danny’s looking out for himself for once!” going into making this move.
Ethan: “Wait, does that mean you want together?”
Danny: “Right now I am not in a good place. I just said unhealthy. Also, I don’t know if that would cause Amber to murder us, or start writing erotic fanfiction involving us.”
Ethan: “So, next week maybe?”
Danny: “Yep, that sounds better.”
All of us in the comments: “But a week will be, like, three years!”
Willis: “Muahahahaha!!!!”
On the other hand, a man with two babies to support could be tempted to reach for that fat Slipshine cash. Two seater baby strollers aren’t cheap, you know?
Actually, I think these two are mature enough that this’ll be healthy. Danny gets to stop bottling stuff up so much, Ethan realizes dudes find him attractive after all, and no one’s under any obligation to make more of it.
He’s not coming onto him here. He’s been obsessing over his attraction to Ethan since he first started feeling it and he’s been worried it was going to sabotage his relationship with Amber, so with Amber dumping him and Danny seeing how she’s been through a lot of pain because she can’t cope with her trauma and mental heath, Danny’s decided to just be open about it instead of torturing himself any further.
Seconded.
Having been going through similar things as Danny recently, I’m very glad for him he was able to take this healthy step of honesty. I just hope it doesn’t backfire on him like things tend to do when Danny means well, and he ends up regretting being honest and just reject being honest about his feelings as a concept.
While true. The paradox is what you wrote “loops back around” into Danny coming onto Ethan.
All those things Danned in that order have the practical effect of coming on to Ethan; for both of them. Hes being honest that he has these overwhelkming feelings— and that is likely to stimulate those feelings in both of them right now. Even if he didnt mean to unleash them Dam.
Its easier to repress , when you dont know the other person is also struggling not whip out their dong too. I dont expect Danny knows this. How would he? Nor would Ethan ( till right now ) .
He is, and indeed he tried to do as much with Amber before Joe and Dorothy convinced him he was rebounding whereupon he immediately leaped towards Amazi-Girl. But I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to do here.
Danny doesn’t get that he’s allowed to be attracted to Ethan, because Ethan is both a guy and also not the one person he’s ever allowed to view in any non-platonic fashion. Even as Danny became slightly more comfortable admitting that he could be attracted to men, Ethan was still this giant blind spot in Danny’s rigid views on how he has to be a good romantic partner. Unlike how his realization that he had feelings for Amber while dating Amazi-Girl played out, where he was ultimately vindicated for his unfaithfulness because they turned out to be the same person, Ethan represents something he can’t just smother out of sight or ignore. If Ethan were a girl, then Danny would either strictly insist on being completely platonic friends or cut her out entirely if it ever went farther than that, but because Ethan is a man that Danny is attracted to, something he didn’t know was possible until just over a week ago, he has no context for dealing with a genuine sexual, and possibly romantic, attraction to him, the kind of thing that caused him to try and block Amber out of his life because he thought it would have made him a filthy cheater.
So he buries it as deeply as possible, and now he’s realized that’s what Amber’s been doing to deal with her problems. Amber can’t accept her rage, her guilt, her shame, or even that she’s capable of the genuine heroism that Amazi-Girl has pulled off, and it’s been eating her alive. Danny doesn’t want to be scared of his sexuality anymore. He wants to take control of his own feelings and not be ruled by them.
I’m still sort of thinking this won’t happen for whatever reason and Willis will surprise us with Danny/Sal. Because why go for the easy break of Amber’s psyche when you can really wreck it?
All Danny is doing is platonically stating simple facts. the sky is blue, water is wet, Ethan is six feet plus of super hot man. No need to rush to a slipshine just yet.
Point well made. Danny is just establishing how he feels. He probably wouldn’t want to make Ethan feel like he’s betraying Amber or being used as a rebound. Best case scenario, they attempt to straighten everything out with Amber first. Of course that’s best case. Worst case is that Amber goes into Amazing-girl alter permanently after suffering a complete mind break, and decides to become the DoA universes illegal version of Judge Dredd. “Amazing Girl is the law!!!”
Ending with a final battle with Danny over a rooftop, where they both fall off of the roof, but while Danny’s foot gets caught in the grappling hook, Amber falls like a disney villain.
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Actually, has there been any suggestion so far than Ethan is into Danny? He seems to cope fairly fine from what I can remember; the repressed lust has gone all the other way.
There was that alt text implied to be from Ethan’s pov saying, “Don’t take this the wrong way but I wanna bang you like a stallion.” Also he thinks Danny’s adorable. It hasn’t been as explicitly stated but I would be shocked if the attraction wasn’t mutual. Almost 100% sure it is.
Taking his Shortpacked history and applying it here, Ethan is a person who doesn’t really want to put a lot of effort into romance. So now his cute friend who he already knows is a great dude and that they share similar hobbies is talking at length about how he’s really attracted, and that’s basically a perfect storm for what Ethan.
That in mind, if he eventually worked over some of his hangups about it (I imagine the biggest being how Amber would feel), he would probably go for it because Danny provides him, essentially, with everything he could want in a partner.
In my own interpretation of this strip, I always felt that Danny’s fantasy was a fantasy they were both having, judging by the kind of daul trail of the thought bubbles and the fact that they both have identical blushy facial expressions. For me the whole twist with that strip was seeing the *second* thought-bubble-trail travel to Danny. I’m realizing on a second viewing that the path of the trail/my reading of it as two trails is kind of vague, but still, the dual blushing at least suggests mutual attraction.
I’m very torn between the part of me that feels like things shouldn’t be happening between Danny & Ethan before stuff with Amber is resolved and the part of me that just went kyaaaaa in the last panel and is picturing Danny & Ethan finally making out.
Danny also hooked up with Billie like a week after he and Dorothy broke up and they were together for years. He wasn’t able to go through with it but he made the effort. So I guess it’s not so out of character that he’s immediately trying to hook up with someone new after his 4 week old (if that) relationship has ended.
He did turn down Billie but I think he was in a different place after his break up with Dorothy. More blindsided by it, less bitter, and he hadn’t been repressing a weeks long intense sexual attraction to Billie.
Plus he’s super sexually attracted to Ethan to a scary degree. He was only holding back for Amber and that reason no longer exists. I mean it still does. This is a decision that will have a devastating effect on her but Danny’s pissed at her. There’s a part of him that still cares about her but there’s a new part of him that wants to hurt her back. He’s fueled by spite, sadness, and horniness. Dangerous combination. Ethan however is (probably) not going to go for it. Yet. So I don’t see them hooking up. I just think Ethan now has to deal with being aware of Danny’s attraction to him. I think he’s attracted to Danny too. So now there’s just going to be this ticking time bomb between them set to go off the second Ethan has a reason to say “fuck it” towards Amber’s feelings too.
I don’t see how this current interaction is being fueled by spite and anger. Some time has passed since Danny and Ethan were talking into the lobby, which was directly after the breakup. That was when Danny suggested that Ethan can’t make his own decisions against Amber. That was fueled by anger and him being mean. Now we are in Ethan’s room and Danny has come by and started this conversation by apologizing for earlier. Danny is clearly in a different emotional state than earlier.
Danny clearly says that he sees how Amber is fueled/controlled by being ashamed of important parts of herself and he realizes how unhealthy that is. As a result he’s decided to be honest about being attracted to Ethan to help work past it. Danny is still coming to terms with being attracted to both men and women. Amber and Ethan are close friends (to the extent that Danny figured she would get Ethan in the divorce). Danny has a hard time feeling attracted to another person while he’s in a relationship, which was shown during family weekend where he felt that he was cheating on Amazi-girl by going along with Amber pretending to be his girlfriend.
This interaction is about being honest and not about trying to get revenge on Amber by trying to seduce her best friend. If nothing else Danny is trying to be better than Amber by not repressing his feelings or hiding them all behind a mask
I’m not saying this interaction is being completely fueled by spite and anger. I just would be shocked if no small amount is present. Danny is still knowingly making a pass at his ex’s ex/best friend. If they get together and Amber found out it will hurt her. Danny knows this. His intentions might be mostly pure but if they were entirely pure, if he cared as much as he did pre break up about hurting Amber, he wouldn’t do this. I just don’t think he would.
Danny outright states that he wanted to be open about his feelings for Ethan because of how much he’s seen how much Amber goes through trying to bury her trauma. When it comes to Amber, spite is the last thing on Danny’s mind; remember Freshman Family Weekend? He tried to cut her off and it took him all of one day to try and talk to her again.
Yeah and if we could trust that there’s no such thing as subtext and all of people’s motivations come through in everything they say I’d 100% trust what Danny says his motivations are outright. But people can say they’re doing things for one reason, they may even believe that reason and that reason may be 90% the actual truth. But beneath the surface there can be a whole lot else going on. That other 10% can be a mess of emotions you’re can’t even begin to articulate or understand or define. Danny hasn’t stopped caring about Amber obviously. He may fully believe his using his feelings about her to make a decision that’s best for his life going forward and he may be right overall about this being a good and healthy choice for him. But what he’s doing here is still a selfish move. If Ethan weren’t who he is it would still be because he’s still using “I don’t want to be like HER to get something he’s been denying himself. But looking at who Ethan is you can’t divorce who Ethan is to Amber from this situation. He’s still her ex. He’s still her best friend. She can still be hurt by this and Danny still knows this. When they were dating he kept his feelings to himself to protect her. Now he’s putting his feelings immediately out there because he’s putting his wants above doing more damage to her. Yes this may be a good decision for his emotional health and he has a right to that but that doesn’t change what this potential hook up (if it happens) would likely do to Amber if she finds out about it. And I find it hard to believe that there isn’t some small amount of being pissed at her rejection motivating this. Even if it’s a very small amount of anger. Even if it’s not anger he’s consciously aware of. (But he looks pretty damn angry talking about her in that second panel.) You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons while still believing you’re doing it for the right reasons and even opening your mouth and saying all the right reasons but Danny could have decided to wait until his wounds had healed a bit before putting on the table how ready he is to fuck Ethan when/if Ethan’s ever up for it.
Sigh. I messed up that last sentence but basically: You can say the right thing out loud. You can believe all the right reasons you are saying. But what you are actually feeling and what is actually motivating you on the inside could be so many different things. It’s not just that simple as him saying his reasons out loud being everything he’s actually feeling.
I mean, even if this is Danny deciding that he wants to date Ethan now that he’s done with Amber, well, sure okay I guess. It’s absolutely not what’s happening here but it’s still his call. He’s allowed to rebound, or maybe he’s decided that if things with Amber weren’t ever going to work out then he can feel free to jump into a new one. It’s a moot point anyway since, and I reiterate, it ain’t happening.
As for why Danny decides that now is the time to spill the beans, well, he says as much on panel right there. Amber’s attempts at burying her issues has created something far worse, and Danny doesn’t want that for himself. Besides, this isn’t about Ethan, not really. It’s about how Danny is twisting himself in knots over his inability to accept that he’s attracted to Ethan, and how he’s tired of feeling ashamed over it.
Of course he’s upset. He loves Amber and he doesn’t know what to do, and stepping outside his comfort zone as Romantic Support Team exploded in his face and cost him a relationship he deeply enjoyed as well as distancing himself from someone he desperately wants to help. And yes, Danny has gotten spiteful before, the Shoes arc is a testament to that, but this is far more serious a situation than Dorothy trying to swipe a pair of sneakers for her new boyfriend whose existence Danny is personally offended by; his girlfriend almost died. Like, he just said to Ethan that it tore him up seeing how much Amber hates herself, her calling him someone who buckled when she needed him didn’t even seem to matter.
And either way, Danny’s allowed to open up to a fellow friend about something that’s been deeply bugging him. This ain’t the lead up to a slipshine, folks.
I think when you talk about what Danny has a right to you also have to consider what Ethan has a right to as well. Danny’s not just opening up to a friend here. Ethan is not just anyone. This situation is way more complicated than you seem to be willing to admit it is because you only seem to be looking at what’s good for Danny’s emotional needs and if you only look at what this does for Danny then yeah this is a great healthy thing he just did. I don’t think Danny’s looking to get into a new relationship right this second with Ethan. I think he’s operating on pure lust. I think he’s tired of how he was living before. I think he wants to be more open and honest and a but more out for himself. I think he wants to fuck Ethan. I think he’s putting himself out there to let Ethan know that. Basically handing Ethan a sex coupon to be cashed in at a future date and bonus points he doesn’t have to be burdened with trying to hide his attraction anymore. He’s going to be out and open with it. That attitude has its pros and cons. I’m proud of him for putting himself out there and taking a risk. I’m irked that he’s put someone else in the inconvenient position of having to deal with this knowledge. Ethan’s not unburdened with this info. He now has to deal with his best friend’s ex being a sexual option for him. An option that he’d probably like to take. An option that he probably will take and that’s going to have ripple effects that will include Amber and Amber will be hurt by it. This is a mess of a situation with good and bad to it.
Until we see the rest of this conversation I do not see how Danny being open about his attraction to Ethan is the same thing as offering him a free sex coupon. It is very possible to feel attraction to someone and at the same time not want to have sex with them.
In the comic “Glad” http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/glad/ Danny and Ethan are starting to connect and be supporting of each other, over their shared attraction of men. They’re glad they can talk to each other about this and that’s still what’s going on here. It’s a bit complicated since Ethan is the object of Danny’s attractions; but being open about his feelings isn’t the same thing as saying “do me you giant hunk of a man!”.
This is about Danny being vulnerable, honest, and trying to move past his shame of obsession and a ridiculous fantasy.
Ethan: I love you too! Lets make out!
*Licky Style!*
Amber: (Runs in) Danny, I’ve been thinking, and I’ve forgiven Sal, stopped being Amazi-Girl and got over my general issues, the only possible thing that could make my regress is if I saw you making out with my gay ex boyfriend!
Wow, this was quite fast! but way better to get over the secret crush right away… even if I don’t think I could ever be like that myself… maybe that is why I am amazed…
Go Danny. Beyond everything else, for Ethan to hear that he is desirable to men, after all his worries about “marginalising himself out of happiness”, could work wonders for his self-esteem.
And in general, even if they don’t end up immediately together, the frankness could be a good thing for them both. No more ‘will this fanfic position work, whoops never mind, better hide across the room’. The attraction’s acknowledged, the cat’s out of the bag, they don’t have to dance around things any more, and it should relieve a lot of awkwardness. Or possibly create a new exciting form of awkwardness. Either way will be interesting!
Yea, I agree. It is frustrating to me, how people think this is too fast, and Danny should be pining after Amber for a while before he moves on. He and Amber dated for less than a month, and she wasn’t very nice to him for about half of it. Plus the way she dumped him was just cold. I am sure he still cares for her as a person, but I think he is probably very over her right now.
He is into Ethan, and good for him for doing what is in his best interest and just going for it. He’s been the passive partner in his last two relationships, maybe a change will be good. And good for him for being honest about how he feels. Plus I agree, this is something that Ethan needs to hear, that a man actually REALLY likes him. Even if this goes no where, or no where for a while, getting the feelings on the table is good for everyone. (Not including Amber in the everyone, because she doesn’t really matter here.)
Okay, there’s no way this is actually happening. I refuse to get my hopes up (again) for nothing (again). I’m like 90% certain Ethan’s gonna politely reject Danny in order to protect Amber, saying reasonably things like how making out with your ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend on the day of the breaking-up is probably not the best idea, especially considering the fact said ex-boyfriend being gay broke her heart, which she never dealt with because she was busy protecting him from his family (and burying pretty much all her sad feelings like she always does). *sigh*
No matter how Ethan feels about Danny; even if he has raging lust for him — Ethan is just too decent to do anything that even whiffs of betrayal of Joyce and/or Amber. Especially since he knows that Joyce is in an unhappy place right now, and Amber as well.
No, Ethan will save (savor?) this revelation from Danny, and possibly fantasize about things being different (and feel guilty about fantasizing), but he will refuse to do anything that will so obviously make Joyce unhappy (and possibly Amber as well).
The next strip will probably be Danny fleeing in embarrassment from having spoken of his feelings, thus delaying yet again a useful discussion with Ethan about Amber.
Or maybe Danny will move past that and have that useful discussion after all. After all, this comic is called “Wisdoming of Age”, right?
I don’t see any way Joyce fits into this situation at all. She realized that trying to help repress his sexuality she was terrible and wrong. After their breakup and the LGBT/Questioning meeting that she went to with Sthan they have stayed friendly.
Amber is the only other person whose feeling Ethan would take into account here. That’s in part because they are close friends and because she broke up with Danny today (in comic time).
I don’t see Ethan starting any with Danny right now because they are both concerned for Amber. Danny is trying to have a more open friendship with Ethan and trying to work through and get past his shame of finding Ethan attractive. In part because Danny was in a relationship, Ethan is Amber’s best friend, Danny is still getting used to being attracted to guys.
Huh. Looks like I’m the only one that mentioned that Ethan and Joyce are still in some sort of relationship. A doomed, unhealthy, deeply problematic relationship, but still a relationship nonetheless.
Joyce broke up with him and has been trying to help him with coming out by taking him to the ‘Questioning’ meetup, so there’s a reason nobody mentioned it.
Well yeah, but I think it changed to close friends, not active courtship. Didn’t she take him to an event for folks with questions about rainbow stuff? And say something about “go be where you belong, with your own kind”?
…which doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be hurt by Ethan getting a new partner, even a male one, and that’s something he’d think about.
Look ok yeah the Amber timing is bad and stuff, but holy poop I am pumping my fists for Danny actually embracing this sexual discovery. I want to jump up and down with a sign saying “Go Danny!” (Admittedly I just went on my first date with someone who’s not a woman last week, so that probably has a lot to do with it :D)
Also, this is again very un-Dan-like! I think Ethan validating his feelings (not sexy feelings, yet, just in general) is doing him a LOT of good.
Daaaamn Daniel (…back at it again with the white Vans!…)
But jeez louise, that’s a good run from “questioning my previously straight identity” to “confessing my attraction to another man”. It took me like, eight years to do that.
i doubt anyone will notice or care, but i still want to clarify my “eee” is a reaction to danny’s honesty, not a display of butt stuff-related ecstasy. the “aaaah” was just “oh man that happened” shock. the end.
I want Ethan and joe to protect Danny. Cuz he’s a fuckup at times but man he was in the right in trying to help Amber let go of a very dangerous coping mechanism and being told who he can and cannot talk to by someone he’s dating is fucked up.
Man I hope Dorothy listens to his side before blaming him out loud.
Vague adjacency to some problematic feelings for myself aside (tldr: oh of course he’ll finally be open about it to his dude crush ten minutes after his mentally ill girlfriend dumps him), it is super great to see Danny decide that he won’t allow himself to be ashamed of his sexuality anymore. Admitting his attraction to Ethan isn’t just a big deal for that, it’s saying he won’t judge himself for being attracted. That his laser focused romantic sights can cause him pain and that it’s just okay to think people are attractive, and what that means is entirely under Danny’s power.
Amber is upset, but realizes maybe Danny had some sort of point, her head tumbles in confusion, she goes to the one person who’s been there for her since childhood, and finds him making out with her (ex-)boyfriend?
I would kinda love to see them actually date behind her back for a while, the whole sneaking around thing would be awesome to watch. Though they shouldn’t have to sneak, I’m sure they would because they wouldn’t want to upset her. Hopefully then she would have time to deal with her issues some before finding out, because WILLIS PROMISED NO ONE WOULD DIE.
I really can’t see either of them even attempting to hide a relationship from Amber, plus it just comes off as really duplicitous and creepy if they did.
It’s like, Amber isn’t just an ex, she’s someone they both deeply care about. It’s not that crazy that they’d want to clear the air with her.
Honestly, this doesn’t feel in character for Danny–not even a Danny who is trying to be more honest about his feelings. But hey, character growth, nice to see it.
…honestly Danny’s fantasy is relatable at a level I never would have expected to see in a story like this. I mean, it’s only a one-off joke, but it makes me wonder how much of a correlation there is between poor senses of self-worth and fetishistic fantasies (and I mean SOLELY fantasies) that entail your own (FANASIZED) death to somehow bolster or otherwise indirecrly experience someone you admire.
Or maybe I’m overthinking this and I’m alone in my grossness! WHO CAN SAY
Well, I’m into vore, so… I wouldn’t say there’s too much of a connection in that case, but that’s pretty different from what Danny’s describing.
(FURRY vore, by the way. People eating people doesn’t make sense at all.)
Eh, I’d indulge in cannibalism if I wasn’t responsible for the person’s death. Kinda a waste of good meat to just burn it all or stick it in the ground or the ocean, and so long as you stay away from the brain you can avoid prions. I mean c’mon, flesh is flesh.
Well, I should mention it’s soft vore, which means there’s no biting. And while that’s not accurate for animals either, it looks ABSOLUTELY silly when humans do it.
But as for cannibalism (rather than vorarephilia)… yeah, I’d feast on a corpse if it was the only way to survive. The Donner party was very unfortunate but they did what they had to do. They didn’t kill anybody, after all. They just did what they needed to do to stay alive.
You aren’t alone. Kinks are hella common, low self-worth is hella common. There hasn’t been any demonstrated correlation or causation between the two yet. Nobody knows how kinks form, it seems to be different for everyone. So, hey, it doesn’t really matter why you have a particular fantasy. Just enjoy.
This comment is sort of how I react to the comments section as a whole. “Oh, do we like Danny right now? no? I guess everyone hates him for the moment. Okay.”
I see this as clearing the air, not trying to start another relationship while still stranded on the shattered shoals of the previous one. Time will tell, but I feel Danny has enough insight (as shown by some of his comments here) to know that would, as well, be ‘unhealthy’.
Sorry shippers, this is one vessel that’ll take some more time to sail.
I figure there’s approximately an 86.3% chance of this being someone’s dream, fantasy, or slashfic, rather than anything actually happening.
If it IS happening, it’s a tough call to guess Ethan’s reaction. On the one hand, he’s a nice guy who cares about Amber and can recognize how douchy making a move on Danny right now would be. On the other hand, he’s a teenage guy who hasn’t been laid in forever with a cute boy coming onto him, and he’s into that.
So… what’s this ship called, anyway? Ethdan? Danneth?
I can’t decide which feeling is stronger: pride for Danny finally speaking aloud the truth of who he is or secondhand embarrassment for the time, the place, and way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaay TMI.
YES YES YES THE PERSONAL GROWTH THE NO-HOLDS BARRED UNASHAMED HONESTY I swear I’m not a “Now do a Slipshine” shipper but mad fistbumps and hugs to anyone who manages to reach the kind of self-awareness Danny has here. All my love to you, and you, and you.
But, no. Becky hasn’t told enough people all of the totally hot and mega depressing details of her story. Only Joyce knows to close the door before being gay.
I don’t know how to feel about this situation. On the one hand, both Ethan and Danny are good people and deserve to find happiness. On the other hand, if it happens and Amber finds out, she’s totally going to fall into pure meltdown mode. You just know it. There will be no going back.
I know probably nothing will happen right away, because Danny’s just come out of a relationship and Amber wouldn’t be able to handle this kind of development, but dear god I hope Ethan feels the same. Both these two seem so unhappy alone, but I think they could be genuinely happy together, and help each other becoming better, more mature people.
And can I just say how proud I am of Ethan for making sure to check on Danny and making it clear he’s his friend too, not just Ambers, and of Danny for being honest about his feelings. I just. I wanna hug them. I haven’t felt this strongly about a couple since Dina and Becky.
Amber is going to have a horrific freakout if it does and she hears that her second boyfriend turned out to be gay (well, bi, but point being into dudes) and is into her first boyfriend who also turned out to be gay.
These mere 300 comments are the murmur before tomorrow’s storm, where either Danny will Dan it up, Ethan will say “UM NO LET’S TALK ABOUT AMBER”, or they give us the next Slipshine.
You know when I first found out about this, I binged it every day until I was caught up. I’m now extremely pissed I’m caught up because now I can’t binge, but I love this comic so much. Questionable Content used to be my favorite, but now Dumbing of Age is. I still love Questionable Content with all my heart, but damn Dumbing of Age is goooooood. Glad to be here, and love seeing all the comments and discussion in the comments. Such a good community
In more ways than he even realizes. This is Danny going right back into another relationship he can use to define himself by and stave off the hard task of figuring out who he is
It’s kind of hard not to interpret Danny’s last line as a sexual come on. Even if he’s not expecting to hook up with Ethan right this second (and I don’t think he is) he’s still making his sexual interest known. Putting himself out there to for some future date. Yeah sure he’s unburdening himself which is great but it’s ridiculous to act like his intentions are nothing but pure here. He wants to fuck Ethan. He wants Ethan to know that he wants to fuck him. Yeah it’s helping him to be more emotionally healthy in the process because he doesn’t have to hide it anymore but that’s not all there is to what he’s doing.
He literally says that he’s “looping back to unhealthy” because the whole point of this conversation is letting his feelings out. He’s making his interest known because burying that interest has been driving him insane. This is a thing Danny says two panels ago.
Of course he wants to bang Ethan. Ethan’s really friggin’ hot, constantly supportive and friendly, and the harbinger of feelings Danny is only now registering that he’s allowed to have. Amber thinks Jacob’s hot. Walky thinks Joyce isn’t unpretty. Billie started cooing over Ethan the minute she saw him and tried making a pass at Joe. You’re allowed to think other people are attractive without it being an indicator that you’re raring to bang the minute you get the first chance, especially since this is Danny we’re talking about.
That’s what I was getting at. This isn’t Danny trying to get all up in Ethan’s grill the first chance he gets. He flat out states that he wants to get it off his chest because Amber bottling her issues is motivating him not to.
The guy’s allowed to be interested in Ethan without it meaning he’s looking for the first dick he can get If this were another character, then sure, but given Danny’s extremely troubled relationship with his own sexuality, I just can’t imagine his attempt to assert control over his feelings stems from “well now I’m single.”
I, like, 97% agree with you, as my follow-up comment attested more clearly. I just think “looping back into unhealthy” was about the creepy metaphor he used to tell Ethan he’s hot.
I mean, does he reciprocate? I can easily see that he would, but we’ve gotten no indication of it so far. The most we’ve seen is that he thinks Danny is adorable.
When I commented, I was positive Ethan reciprocated, and I’m surprised that comments above me (including yours) indicate otherwise. :|a I thought there was at least one strip where the situation was established to be that they were both interested, but repressing their feelings for different reasons.
Ethan’s pretty consistently, imho, been written as a guy who has no idea how attractive he is and, in fact, assumes as a baseline that any feelings he has are and will forever be unreciprocated. As a result, he has a tendency to quickly attach to and settle for whatever comes his way, while shoving down any interest he has in anyone on the hasty presumption that someone so [insert positive word here] would never want him.
I thought we’d had at least one strip where he’d been shown to have more than just a passing interest in Danny, and to be burying it because he defaults to assuming his romantic feelings for other people are doomed.
But I could be totally wrong on that score, and if I am that changes my expectations for the next comic considerably.
Though not my feelings on Danny’s goal and expectations here, which were definitely that Ethan would shoot him down.
I think Danny’s being very brave here, really, because I think he knows and accepts the possibility that being honest about his attraction will end his friendship with Ethan, which he kind of needs right now.
I mean, I absolutely believe that Ethan, at the very least, is physically attracted to Danny. I’m just not sure if that’s extended to romantic attraction, due to the combo of his low self esteem and Danny dating his best friend. Now that Danny is single I could easily see that start to develop, if not go anywhere particularly quickly as Ethan would absolutely not want to pursue Danny until after he clears the air with Amber.
But, yeah, that is a good point about Danny’s expectations. I imagine part of what’s let him be so forward is the assumption that Ethan couldn’t possibly be interested in him, since the both of them have pretty low self esteem.
Well, I’m conflicted. I’m glad that Danny is finally telling Ethan how he feels about him, but at the same time this is a Willis comic. I have a feeling this will end badly somehow, because the Willis giveth and the Willis taketh away.
I’m willing to bet Dorothy walks in on them making out, assumes that Amber dumped him because he was cheating on her with her best friend, and then DRAMA AND YELLING. (also, I’d be happier about him telling Ethan about his feelings if it didn’t immediately stray into super creepiness, cuz Wow)
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“oh say, Danny, that reminds me, have you heard of a Slipshine?”
“WHY DO YOU ASK”
“I keep overhearing suggestions that I should be in one with a dude?”
Suggestions? Or demands?
Probably demands in the guise of suggestions.
“We highly suggest that you make a Slipshine of Danny and Ethan.”
“Why do you have a small dog behind your back?”
“Make the comic and you won’t find out.”
Yeah, but you just know that Amber’s gonna walk in on them doing it. The DYW quotient on that one is just through the roof.
We’d be into the GigaDamns at bare minimum.
Every human dies simultaneously in a burst of collective apoplectic rage. In a few million years, when another intelligent species finds the ashes of our civilization, they will wonder what happened to us. All they will find is a single three-word message, etched into every brick and pavestone:
DAMN
YOU
WILLIS
You know… This’d be very easy to mod into Stellaris ;D
Don’t mention that game!!! It’s only been out a few days and I already have 30 hours playing it on record. I think I have a problem. But now I really want to get back to my rapid breeding, adaptive, space insect technocracy…
Bought it last night, played 8 hours already and probably going to go another several tomorrow…I also have a problem, but Paradox has kinda been my dealer since EU3.
It was Vicky 2 for me. Then CK2 which was just…well, it’s CK2. And then they had EU4 and I just… I swear Paradox games are like crack.
I swear, every time I read a mention of a game in these comments, it’s being installed on my HDD just as I read it.
Kinda like that old meme about Deus Ex?
Damn, now I have to reinstall it.
Why the hell didn’t I know this company?
I thought I’d have a life this summer, fuck that.
Oh gods… Is this in response to Paradox? If so, you’re lucky if you have a life after summer too…
It was inevitable.
Just the DoA commentariat.
Amber or Dorothy.
Por que no los dos?
Dorothy doesn’t have quite the same immediate dramatic potential. It would still be interesting as she reaches the conclusion that this is why he broke up with Amazing Amber.
He didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.
More like look in from the window as rain pours and thunder cracks.
It gets better, they’ll be finding out if a person really can bend like in Amber’s fanfics when she walks in on them, and her first thought will be “I wrote the script for this, you’re plagiarising!”
I am pretty damn sure if these two have “relations” that there WILL be a slipshine over it ;D
calling it now, this strip will easily break a thousand comments.
This comic?…No. The next one where Ethan pushes Danny down on his bed and they start aggressively making out will break a thousand….Or maybe there won’t be any because everyone who sees that one will have passed out.
No, to be honest they’ll just draw more fan art. Lots of more fan art. So much that the Pokemon fan art will be outnumbered by sunrise
If you pledge at least $5 on https://www.patreon.com/dumbingofage you get to see next day’s strip a day early hint hint hint
Unless most of them are “Squee!” posted multiple times, I doubt it. The intense social/culture comics, those spawn debate, and thus, comments.
Ooh, ooh, I made a graph of comment counts once! Let’s see…
https://tmblr.co/Zf3G5t1wxQyWe
I should rerun this… though I’m having trouble finding the script I wrote. :/
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
(One can only wonder how many comments the strip where Mary maliciously misgenders Carla would have, if comments had been allowed.)
All The Comments.
Nice!
But what’s that outlier to the bottom? The one shortly after #913 looks like it got zero comments. Did Willis switch them off for one?
Yeah, there are times when Willis knows damn well the comments for a particular strip’s topic will be rife with awful, so he shuts them down for the day. Off the top of my head, such strips have involved the Walkerton family’s racism toward Sal, and Mary being a shit at Carla for being trans. He doesn’t do it often, but when he does I’m just like “yeah fair enough.”
Tbh the comment section here is generally fairy reasonable, as comment sections go, but there are times when it’s totally fair for Willis not to feel especially inclined to provide us the rope with which we hang ourselves (or trigger others). Being new to fatherhood doesn’t help anything in terms of his energy and tolerance for bullshit, either.
How can a strip break one comic let alone a thousand? You expecting the site to crash or something?
And in Indiana they say, Danny’s balls grew three sizes that day.
Also his dick.
(slipshine slipshine slipshine)
Your name makes that comment even better.
Also the avatar.
god damn it this is funny
brb dying XD
Might wanna get that checked out.
Haha!
Depends on how unhealthy Danny bathwater is.
It’s been demonstrated to cause cancer in rats.
But, I mean, so does everything.
Rats are pretty smart. Someday we’ll discover they’ve figured out how to give a false positive on cancer tests at will, in order to fuck with us.
It’s all to show up those smug mice, who are running this planet to figure out the Ultimate Question.
The Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?
Get out the Scrabble tiles!
Doctor… who?
You didn’t know his real name was forty-two?
:O
Considering Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who, how is this the first time I saw this wonderful joke?
Plot twist: The Doctor is a cousin of The Hitman
Slartibartfast… it’s not a very good name…
“Welp, that’s over with. Time for a rebound.”
Waiting for the dream bubbles to appear on the next page.
Me too – Me too…Danny can’t have nice things.
WELL, THIS IS HAPPENING.
The Willis giveth! Praise Willis!
Eggs, meet basket. Yes, all of you.
Dammit, lejwocky, you KNOW when The Willis giveth, he then taketh away, and there will be much wailing and rending of garmets when he does so! WHY MUST YOU TAUNT HIM???
Wow, that was fast.
… This has to be a dream or something, right?
I felt like it was a dream until the last panel? Danny’s last clause seems more self-aware than I would expect in a dream, but I guess that could just be based on my own dreaming experience. L
Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! Well it is an imaginary story given that a person is writing the comic! But you know what I mean!
I had to check the date, make sure it wasn’t April
I am freaking out right now (in a good way)!
#HAPPENING
#WHYWOULDYOUHASHTAGATERRIBLEMOVIE
#BlackPantherSoLit
I call this a positive development! ^_^
Wow Danny, you sure stayed broken up about your break up didn’t you?
For like what, all day?
The guy’s been pretty brutally dumped by two people he really cared about in the span of like…a month. I think there’s a lot of anger motivating this decision. I’m just speculating but I think as sympathetic as he is towards Amber he’s still pissed as hell about how she dumped him. Which is an understandable emotion. So he’s making not the best decision right now considering who he’s pursuing but I think he probably feels like he should get to be selfish after doing “the right thing” backfired on him. Now he just wants to do the wrong thing that’ll feel so good. Joe would be so proud
Naw,
Ethan is the first person that made Danny want to rip his clothes off , and jump someone.
Hes been repressing this constantly, hes a damn thats gonna blow.
and Ethan likes Danny. And Danny is probably the first guy ever who ever expressed an interest in Ethan.
This isnt revenge. Its just honesty.
It can’t be both?
It can be but I don’t think Danny would do that to Ethan. I think Amber’s intense lack of self-awareness and honesty has just served to spur him to address his own avoidance of his issues.
*Cackles with glee* Someone get me my Casio Keytar .. This calls for soap opera victory music.
He is broken up. And he wants Ethan to hold him.
( wouldnt you ? )
and he cant help that boner.
Hes been fighting this half of himself for Amber.
She wont do to the same, for him, and take a break from Punchytimes .
Hes feels like a hypocrite for criticizing Amber for her shame-based repression when hes doing the same.
Yeah, people should spend as long as possible brooding and not even considering moving on, and also this completely proves that he’s over it.
Interesting. Some commenters want the characters to analyze every thought and action in advance, forgetting that the actions playing out over several days’ worth of strips are developing in minutes or even seconds in comic time, and some commenters complain that characters process and/or react too quickly. Anyone want to Venn-diagram that one?
YES!! I very much agree with this comment. THANK YOU.
You really have it out for the poor dude. Like oh how dare he not cloister himself in his room and weep for hours on end right? He is the victim in this scenario so your constant judgmental bullshit just is not cool.
I’m reasonably certain this poster has a joking hatred for Danny. They trotted out the “Danny dumped Amber to date Amazi-Girl” line for years even though they’ve constantly been told that wasn’t the case.
They are quickly becoming my nemesis.
Good catch
There used to be a cute jingle I knew from around 1980 for a brand of talcum powder, but I’ll be Cheesedamned if I could remember it now.
Commercial break over?
*plays “Bathwater” on the hacked muzak*
I can’t help it…
Well, that was faster than expected.
Fucking finally!
Also: Finally, fucking!
Hijacks the Hacked Muzak to play “Suddenly Seymour” from the Little Shop of Horrors soundrack
My neck is a tad strained from the whiplash! Please don’t get together yet. PLEASE.
I really don’t see that happening yet. I think Danny’s just laying his cards on the table, sharing his feelings with Ethan, not trying to hook up with him.
That doesn’t mean it can’t happen in their near future, but it’ll probably be a few days even if Ethan doesn’t decide it’d be too painful for Amber.
But I’ve been wrong before.
Hehehehehehe…
Of course, this ship depends on Ethan finally giving in to his lust for Danny. And if so, the reaction from Amber on finding out is going to be fun to read.
FREAKING OUT FREAKING OUT
SAME SAME SAME SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!
FAIRLY PLEASED IN A SEDATE FASHION
I WOULDN’T CALL CAPSLOCK SEDATE
(TBH I’M FLIPPING OUT ALSO)
#DONTFREAKOUT
DEEP BREATHS, MY FRIENDS
BUT YES THIS IS FUN
LOUD NOISES!
YELLING! RARGH!
KEEP
CALM
AND
SHIP
ON
yaaaaaaaas thank you
Sixth panel is the best non-Dina-making-goofy-faces panel in the entire comic.
Oh how I have missed actual comedy in this strip. XD
Wait, this comic was supposed to have comedy in it? I don’t remember that time…
Ethan is dreaming this.
The entire comic takes place in an autistic Amber O’Malley’s imagination, like Tommy Westphall in St. Elsewhere.
YAAAAAAAAS Back to danning up his life. :3 That’s the Danny we all know and don’t want to hate as much as we pretend we do. :3
Oh, I was wondering how this was going to break to Amber in the worst possible way.
So, how many strips until Dorothy shows up and thinks Danny broke up with Amber to hook up with Ethan, and then reports that back to Amber?
I’m going out on a limb and saying very few. Except will she really report back?
I doubt she’d intentionally report back, but she might reveal it to Amber by talking about it under the assumption she already knows, if she thinks that’s why they broke up.
Although, my love for her Dotty making me want to believe that she’s too nice & smart & open-minded and some other adjective eluding me right now to make this kind of assumption and not question it before talking about it.
Everyone, no matter how smart and nice and open minded they are, has blind spots. Given her initial reaction and how little she knows, I’m worried that Danny is a big one for Dorothy.
Also remember, at this point, Dorothy “knows” that Amber and Danny broke up, that it’s Danny’s fault because he lost faith, and that the last conversation he had with Dorothy was that he was finding himself interested in dudes and he had no idea how to process that.
It is known that she knows who Ethan is, but was she there when Amber blew up at him? Does she know the history between Amber and Ethan?
Right now I’ve got a bad feeling this isn’t the setup for a Danny/Ethan OTP. This is setting up for Dorothy thinking Danny broke up with Amber to hook up with Ethan, and her letting that belief slip to Amber when they have their interview tonight as she bongoes about their dumbass ex.
You make some great points. I have a lot of love an admiration for Dotty, so that’s probably making me idolize her a little in a way that’s making me believe she’ll make the objectively best decision most of the time. Which is a stupid belief since as a character in the story she doesn’t benefit from all the information like we readers do, so she can’t really always be objective, regardless of whether she tries…
TL;DR: Agreed. ^^”
my thoughts exactly :\ nothing like brewing up some good ol’ drama eh
I mean, Dorothy is knowledgeable enough about bisexuality that she was able to calmly tell Danny what it was and that “you can like boys and girls.” I can’t imagine that much of a soapboxer would leap to Danny cheating.
Well, if she does catch danny and Ethan making out, it would not take much of a leap of logic (or semantics) to use the evidence in front of her eyes to interpret “lost the faith” to mean faithless, which iirc is an adjective typically used to describe those who cheat on their SO’s. Granted, you’d THINK, having known danny as long as she has, Dorothy wouldn’t believe him capable of cheating (“serial monogamist, ” after all), but I don’t think she has the highest opinion of his judgment and she definitely idolizes Amazi-girl, so it’s probably safe to expect a Hilarious Misunderstanding and possibly a “this is not what it looks like” and maybe even a “we were on a break!” if danny wants to channel Ross Gellar.
NICE
Someone get the stamps, cause these two are as good as shipped.
*sunglasses*
B)
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
tracking number please. not wanting this one to get lost en route
It’s a miracle!
I like my men the way I like my coffee, ground to a powder, poured into a mg and boiling water added.
Poured into mg? I’m not sure that much supplementary magnesium is healthy for the kidneys…
Its OK ;Your gut wont over-absorb Mg.
Poured into *a* mg. Obviously it’s short for “poured into a milligram”, no one would say “poured into a magnesium”.
Personally, such serving sizes would barely caffeinate a single cell of my body.
Not poured into a small sports car? Or does capitalization matter on this one?
So it’s happening. Nothing bad will come out of this. No sirree.
This isn’t too surprising. Considering the only thing holding Danny back from acting on his intense attraction to Ethan was his relationship and as much as he may be sympathetic towards all Amber’s gone through there’s going to be some resentment over how she dumped him. I think there’s a lot of, “Fuck her, fuck everything, Danny’s looking out for himself for once!” going into making this move.
I’m gonna use that
Incoming, heartbreaking kiss in 3,2,1…
Ethan: “Wait, does that mean you want together?”
Danny: “Right now I am not in a good place. I just said unhealthy. Also, I don’t know if that would cause Amber to murder us, or start writing erotic fanfiction involving us.”
Ethan: “So, next week maybe?”
Danny: “Yep, that sounds better.”
All of us in the comments: “But a week will be, like, three years!”
Willis: “Muahahahaha!!!!”
Its been his secret plan all along; he’ll give us our ships but they all take a year to reach the shore
There is supposed to be a “to get” after “want” goddamn spellcheck messing me up when I’m trying to type my sentences.
So cruel, but likely true
On the other hand, a man with two babies to support could be tempted to reach for that fat Slipshine cash. Two seater baby strollers aren’t cheap, you know?
HE JUST DOVE HEADLONG RIGHT INTO THAT DIDN’T HE…
this feels really out of character, like… it’s been two seconds since him and Amber broke up, really?
You assume he means to take action rather than just being honest for the sake of his own sanity.
Well, it’s still a terrible idea, given with whom he is being honest about what and at what time.
Wait, decisions ranging from naive to bad? This is practically a return to form for ol’ Danny!
Actually, I think these two are mature enough that this’ll be healthy. Danny gets to stop bottling stuff up so much, Ethan realizes dudes find him attractive after all, and no one’s under any obligation to make more of it.
He’s not coming onto him here. He’s been obsessing over his attraction to Ethan since he first started feeling it and he’s been worried it was going to sabotage his relationship with Amber, so with Amber dumping him and Danny seeing how she’s been through a lot of pain because she can’t cope with her trauma and mental heath, Danny’s decided to just be open about it instead of torturing himself any further.
Seconded.
Having been going through similar things as Danny recently, I’m very glad for him he was able to take this healthy step of honesty. I just hope it doesn’t backfire on him like things tend to do when Danny means well, and he ends up regretting being honest and just reject being honest about his feelings as a concept.
While true. The paradox is what you wrote “loops back around” into Danny coming onto Ethan.
All those things Danned in that order have the practical effect of coming on to Ethan; for both of them. Hes being honest that he has these overwhelkming feelings— and that is likely to stimulate those feelings in both of them right now. Even if he didnt mean to unleash them Dam.
Its easier to repress , when you dont know the other person is also struggling not whip out their dong too. I dont expect Danny knows this. How would he? Nor would Ethan ( till right now ) .
It’s totally in character. Danny’s a serial monogamist, he does not stay single long.
He is, and indeed he tried to do as much with Amber before Joe and Dorothy convinced him he was rebounding whereupon he immediately leaped towards Amazi-Girl. But I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to do here.
Danny doesn’t get that he’s allowed to be attracted to Ethan, because Ethan is both a guy and also not the one person he’s ever allowed to view in any non-platonic fashion. Even as Danny became slightly more comfortable admitting that he could be attracted to men, Ethan was still this giant blind spot in Danny’s rigid views on how he has to be a good romantic partner. Unlike how his realization that he had feelings for Amber while dating Amazi-Girl played out, where he was ultimately vindicated for his unfaithfulness because they turned out to be the same person, Ethan represents something he can’t just smother out of sight or ignore. If Ethan were a girl, then Danny would either strictly insist on being completely platonic friends or cut her out entirely if it ever went farther than that, but because Ethan is a man that Danny is attracted to, something he didn’t know was possible until just over a week ago, he has no context for dealing with a genuine sexual, and possibly romantic, attraction to him, the kind of thing that caused him to try and block Amber out of his life because he thought it would have made him a filthy cheater.
So he buries it as deeply as possible, and now he’s realized that’s what Amber’s been doing to deal with her problems. Amber can’t accept her rage, her guilt, her shame, or even that she’s capable of the genuine heroism that Amazi-Girl has pulled off, and it’s been eating her alive. Danny doesn’t want to be scared of his sexuality anymore. He wants to take control of his own feelings and not be ruled by them.
This makes so much sense, I knew there was something going on about why he’s suddenly being honest but I understand now. (I’m pretty dense lol)
“Danny wants to take control”
#mindblown
WE WERE ON A BREAK
Not the way I saw that going.
Is this really? Is this fantasy?
Caught is a landslide. No escaping reality!
Look up to the skies, open your eyes, and see…
Easy come, easy go.
Will you let me go?
Bismillah, no! We will not let you go…
Let me go!
Danny’s just a poor boy, he needs no sympathy
I’m still sort of thinking this won’t happen for whatever reason and Willis will surprise us with Danny/Sal. Because why go for the easy break of Amber’s psyche when you can really wreck it?
Unfortunately, the best destruction would be Ethan/Sal.
Ethan/Danny/Sal would probably be the ultimate destruction I would think.
Yesssss
Next Slipshine!
(because someone had to say it)
EthaNTR
Might be a while, but should it come to pass I will be inordinately pleased.
YESSSSSSSSSS
then they kiss just as Dorothy walks in. I’m calling it now!
You know for a second there I thought he said “Pounded into powder”
You and all of us, Rezkel
Well…bye.
All Danny is doing is platonically stating simple facts. the sky is blue, water is wet, Ethan is six feet plus of super hot man. No need to rush to a slipshine just yet.
Point well made. Danny is just establishing how he feels. He probably wouldn’t want to make Ethan feel like he’s betraying Amber or being used as a rebound. Best case scenario, they attempt to straighten everything out with Amber first. Of course that’s best case. Worst case is that Amber goes into Amazing-girl alter permanently after suffering a complete mind break, and decides to become the DoA universes illegal version of Judge Dredd. “Amazing Girl is the law!!!”
Ending with a final battle with Danny over a rooftop, where they both fall off of the roof, but while Danny’s foot gets caught in the grappling hook, Amber falls like a disney villain.
Did you plan that with the Galasso avatar? O_o
Ive had this gravatar for like a year now, so unless I’m the worlds greatest planner…
Um… how do I change my picture on here?
You click the link that says “Get a Gravatar” and then you sign up. Afterwards you can upload a picture you want as a grav. It might take a while for it to register the changes.
Actually, has there been any suggestion so far than Ethan is into Danny? He seems to cope fairly fine from what I can remember; the repressed lust has gone all the other way.
There was that alt text implied to be from Ethan’s pov saying, “Don’t take this the wrong way but I wanna bang you like a stallion.” Also he thinks Danny’s adorable. It hasn’t been as explicitly stated but I would be shocked if the attraction wasn’t mutual. Almost 100% sure it is.
Taking his Shortpacked history and applying it here, Ethan is a person who doesn’t really want to put a lot of effort into romance. So now his cute friend who he already knows is a great dude and that they share similar hobbies is talking at length about how he’s really attracted, and that’s basically a perfect storm for what Ethan.
That in mind, if he eventually worked over some of his hangups about it (I imagine the biggest being how Amber would feel), he would probably go for it because Danny provides him, essentially, with everything he could want in a partner.
In my own interpretation of this strip, I always felt that Danny’s fantasy was a fantasy they were both having, judging by the kind of daul trail of the thought bubbles and the fact that they both have identical blushy facial expressions. For me the whole twist with that strip was seeing the *second* thought-bubble-trail travel to Danny. I’m realizing on a second viewing that the path of the trail/my reading of it as two trails is kind of vague, but still, the dual blushing at least suggests mutual attraction.
**dual. “daul” is not a word, past-self.
“Daul” is Darth Maul’s surfer name.
I’m very torn between the part of me that feels like things shouldn’t be happening between Danny & Ethan before stuff with Amber is resolved and the part of me that just went kyaaaaa in the last panel and is picturing Danny & Ethan finally making out.
Time to guess: Who is currently dreaming? Danny or Ethan?
We know they both want eachother.
Ethan, obviously. He stands around, minding his own business and Danny comes out of the blue and says he is hot.
If it was Danny’s dream, his subconscious would never allow him to assert himself like this.
Mega pitch *squeeee*
Danny also hooked up with Billie like a week after he and Dorothy broke up and they were together for years. He wasn’t able to go through with it but he made the effort. So I guess it’s not so out of character that he’s immediately trying to hook up with someone new after his 4 week old (if that) relationship has ended.
He turned Billie down, though
He did turn down Billie but I think he was in a different place after his break up with Dorothy. More blindsided by it, less bitter, and he hadn’t been repressing a weeks long intense sexual attraction to Billie.
Plus he’s super sexually attracted to Ethan to a scary degree. He was only holding back for Amber and that reason no longer exists. I mean it still does. This is a decision that will have a devastating effect on her but Danny’s pissed at her. There’s a part of him that still cares about her but there’s a new part of him that wants to hurt her back. He’s fueled by spite, sadness, and horniness. Dangerous combination. Ethan however is (probably) not going to go for it. Yet. So I don’t see them hooking up. I just think Ethan now has to deal with being aware of Danny’s attraction to him. I think he’s attracted to Danny too. So now there’s just going to be this ticking time bomb between them set to go off the second Ethan has a reason to say “fuck it” towards Amber’s feelings too.
I don’t see how this current interaction is being fueled by spite and anger. Some time has passed since Danny and Ethan were talking into the lobby, which was directly after the breakup. That was when Danny suggested that Ethan can’t make his own decisions against Amber. That was fueled by anger and him being mean. Now we are in Ethan’s room and Danny has come by and started this conversation by apologizing for earlier. Danny is clearly in a different emotional state than earlier.
Danny clearly says that he sees how Amber is fueled/controlled by being ashamed of important parts of herself and he realizes how unhealthy that is. As a result he’s decided to be honest about being attracted to Ethan to help work past it. Danny is still coming to terms with being attracted to both men and women. Amber and Ethan are close friends (to the extent that Danny figured she would get Ethan in the divorce). Danny has a hard time feeling attracted to another person while he’s in a relationship, which was shown during family weekend where he felt that he was cheating on Amazi-girl by going along with Amber pretending to be his girlfriend.
This interaction is about being honest and not about trying to get revenge on Amber by trying to seduce her best friend. If nothing else Danny is trying to be better than Amber by not repressing his feelings or hiding them all behind a mask
I’m not saying this interaction is being completely fueled by spite and anger. I just would be shocked if no small amount is present. Danny is still knowingly making a pass at his ex’s ex/best friend. If they get together and Amber found out it will hurt her. Danny knows this. His intentions might be mostly pure but if they were entirely pure, if he cared as much as he did pre break up about hurting Amber, he wouldn’t do this. I just don’t think he would.
Danny outright states that he wanted to be open about his feelings for Ethan because of how much he’s seen how much Amber goes through trying to bury her trauma. When it comes to Amber, spite is the last thing on Danny’s mind; remember Freshman Family Weekend? He tried to cut her off and it took him all of one day to try and talk to her again.
Yeah and if we could trust that there’s no such thing as subtext and all of people’s motivations come through in everything they say I’d 100% trust what Danny says his motivations are outright. But people can say they’re doing things for one reason, they may even believe that reason and that reason may be 90% the actual truth. But beneath the surface there can be a whole lot else going on. That other 10% can be a mess of emotions you’re can’t even begin to articulate or understand or define. Danny hasn’t stopped caring about Amber obviously. He may fully believe his using his feelings about her to make a decision that’s best for his life going forward and he may be right overall about this being a good and healthy choice for him. But what he’s doing here is still a selfish move. If Ethan weren’t who he is it would still be because he’s still using “I don’t want to be like HER to get something he’s been denying himself. But looking at who Ethan is you can’t divorce who Ethan is to Amber from this situation. He’s still her ex. He’s still her best friend. She can still be hurt by this and Danny still knows this. When they were dating he kept his feelings to himself to protect her. Now he’s putting his feelings immediately out there because he’s putting his wants above doing more damage to her. Yes this may be a good decision for his emotional health and he has a right to that but that doesn’t change what this potential hook up (if it happens) would likely do to Amber if she finds out about it. And I find it hard to believe that there isn’t some small amount of being pissed at her rejection motivating this. Even if it’s a very small amount of anger. Even if it’s not anger he’s consciously aware of. (But he looks pretty damn angry talking about her in that second panel.) You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons while still believing you’re doing it for the right reasons and even opening your mouth and saying all the right reasons but Danny could have decided to wait until his wounds had healed a bit before putting on the table how ready he is to fuck Ethan when/if Ethan’s ever up for it.
Sigh. I messed up that last sentence but basically: You can say the right thing out loud. You can believe all the right reasons you are saying. But what you are actually feeling and what is actually motivating you on the inside could be so many different things. It’s not just that simple as him saying his reasons out loud being everything he’s actually feeling.
I mean, even if this is Danny deciding that he wants to date Ethan now that he’s done with Amber, well, sure okay I guess. It’s absolutely not what’s happening here but it’s still his call. He’s allowed to rebound, or maybe he’s decided that if things with Amber weren’t ever going to work out then he can feel free to jump into a new one. It’s a moot point anyway since, and I reiterate, it ain’t happening.
As for why Danny decides that now is the time to spill the beans, well, he says as much on panel right there. Amber’s attempts at burying her issues has created something far worse, and Danny doesn’t want that for himself. Besides, this isn’t about Ethan, not really. It’s about how Danny is twisting himself in knots over his inability to accept that he’s attracted to Ethan, and how he’s tired of feeling ashamed over it.
Of course he’s upset. He loves Amber and he doesn’t know what to do, and stepping outside his comfort zone as Romantic Support Team exploded in his face and cost him a relationship he deeply enjoyed as well as distancing himself from someone he desperately wants to help. And yes, Danny has gotten spiteful before, the Shoes arc is a testament to that, but this is far more serious a situation than Dorothy trying to swipe a pair of sneakers for her new boyfriend whose existence Danny is personally offended by; his girlfriend almost died. Like, he just said to Ethan that it tore him up seeing how much Amber hates herself, her calling him someone who buckled when she needed him didn’t even seem to matter.
And either way, Danny’s allowed to open up to a fellow friend about something that’s been deeply bugging him. This ain’t the lead up to a slipshine, folks.
I think when you talk about what Danny has a right to you also have to consider what Ethan has a right to as well. Danny’s not just opening up to a friend here. Ethan is not just anyone. This situation is way more complicated than you seem to be willing to admit it is because you only seem to be looking at what’s good for Danny’s emotional needs and if you only look at what this does for Danny then yeah this is a great healthy thing he just did. I don’t think Danny’s looking to get into a new relationship right this second with Ethan. I think he’s operating on pure lust. I think he’s tired of how he was living before. I think he wants to be more open and honest and a but more out for himself. I think he wants to fuck Ethan. I think he’s putting himself out there to let Ethan know that. Basically handing Ethan a sex coupon to be cashed in at a future date and bonus points he doesn’t have to be burdened with trying to hide his attraction anymore. He’s going to be out and open with it. That attitude has its pros and cons. I’m proud of him for putting himself out there and taking a risk. I’m irked that he’s put someone else in the inconvenient position of having to deal with this knowledge. Ethan’s not unburdened with this info. He now has to deal with his best friend’s ex being a sexual option for him. An option that he’d probably like to take. An option that he probably will take and that’s going to have ripple effects that will include Amber and Amber will be hurt by it. This is a mess of a situation with good and bad to it.
Until we see the rest of this conversation I do not see how Danny being open about his attraction to Ethan is the same thing as offering him a free sex coupon. It is very possible to feel attraction to someone and at the same time not want to have sex with them.
In the comic “Glad” http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/glad/ Danny and Ethan are starting to connect and be supporting of each other, over their shared attraction of men. They’re glad they can talk to each other about this and that’s still what’s going on here. It’s a bit complicated since Ethan is the object of Danny’s attractions; but being open about his feelings isn’t the same thing as saying “do me you giant hunk of a man!”.
This is about Danny being vulnerable, honest, and trying to move past his shame of obsession and a ridiculous fantasy.
I wonder if I should feel sympathy for Amber. Maybe I should, but I don’t.
Go and see a doctor, girl.
Yes, Now
Kissget therapy.Dear god I want to quote that. Can I quote that? I’m gonna quote that.
Go ahead.
I feel like Ethan’s gonna reject him
Next strip
Ethan: I love you too! Lets make out!
*Licky Style!*
Amber: (Runs in) Danny, I’ve been thinking, and I’ve forgiven Sal, stopped being Amazi-Girl and got over my general issues, the only possible thing that could make my regress is if I saw you making out with my gay ex boyfriend!
…
Wow, this was quite fast! but way better to get over the secret crush right away… even if I don’t think I could ever be like that myself… maybe that is why I am amazed…
Go Danny. Beyond everything else, for Ethan to hear that he is desirable to men, after all his worries about “marginalising himself out of happiness”, could work wonders for his self-esteem.
And in general, even if they don’t end up immediately together, the frankness could be a good thing for them both. No more ‘will this fanfic position work, whoops never mind, better hide across the room’. The attraction’s acknowledged, the cat’s out of the bag, they don’t have to dance around things any more, and it should relieve a lot of awkwardness. Or possibly create a new exciting form of awkwardness. Either way will be interesting!
Yea, I agree. It is frustrating to me, how people think this is too fast, and Danny should be pining after Amber for a while before he moves on. He and Amber dated for less than a month, and she wasn’t very nice to him for about half of it. Plus the way she dumped him was just cold. I am sure he still cares for her as a person, but I think he is probably very over her right now.
He is into Ethan, and good for him for doing what is in his best interest and just going for it. He’s been the passive partner in his last two relationships, maybe a change will be good. And good for him for being honest about how he feels. Plus I agree, this is something that Ethan needs to hear, that a man actually REALLY likes him. Even if this goes no where, or no where for a while, getting the feelings on the table is good for everyone. (Not including Amber in the everyone, because she doesn’t really matter here.)
COMMENCE THE GAY!!!
Okay, there’s no way this is actually happening. I refuse to get my hopes up (again) for nothing (again). I’m like 90% certain Ethan’s gonna politely reject Danny in order to protect Amber, saying reasonably things like how making out with your ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend on the day of the breaking-up is probably not the best idea, especially considering the fact said ex-boyfriend being gay broke her heart, which she never dealt with because she was busy protecting him from his family (and burying pretty much all her sad feelings like she always does). *sigh*
Now move in for the kill.
They aren’t going to have sex at this time.
No matter how Ethan feels about Danny; even if he has raging lust for him — Ethan is just too decent to do anything that even whiffs of betrayal of Joyce and/or Amber. Especially since he knows that Joyce is in an unhappy place right now, and Amber as well.
No, Ethan will save (savor?) this revelation from Danny, and possibly fantasize about things being different (and feel guilty about fantasizing), but he will refuse to do anything that will so obviously make Joyce unhappy (and possibly Amber as well).
The next strip will probably be Danny fleeing in embarrassment from having spoken of his feelings, thus delaying yet again a useful discussion with Ethan about Amber.
Or maybe Danny will move past that and have that useful discussion after all. After all, this comic is called “Wisdoming of Age”, right?
Ethan cant have sex becuase the Fundamentalist Christian GF who dumped him and told him to “be with his own kind” is in a bad place? huh?
I am taking this as your embedded sarcasm tag . You must be kidding. Even Ethan isnt in that much Denial.
No sarcasm, just honestly misremembering all of the changes in the relationship.
I don’t see any way Joyce fits into this situation at all. She realized that trying to help repress his sexuality she was terrible and wrong. After their breakup and the LGBT/Questioning meeting that she went to with Sthan they have stayed friendly.
Amber is the only other person whose feeling Ethan would take into account here. That’s in part because they are close friends and because she broke up with Danny today (in comic time).
I don’t see Ethan starting any with Danny right now because they are both concerned for Amber. Danny is trying to have a more open friendship with Ethan and trying to work through and get past his shame of finding Ethan attractive. In part because Danny was in a relationship, Ethan is Amber’s best friend, Danny is still getting used to being attracted to guys.
OH MY
Huh. Looks like I’m the only one that mentioned that Ethan and Joyce are still in some sort of relationship. A
doomed, unhealthy,deeply problematic relationship, but still a relationship nonetheless.Friendship? Joyce “broke up” with Ethan, but Ethan wanted to still be friends.
Joyce broke up with him and has been trying to help him with coming out by taking him to the ‘Questioning’ meetup, so there’s a reason nobody mentioned it.
Didn’t they pretty much break up when Joyce decided to accept it was okay for Ethan to be gay and she had no right to try and change him? http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/goodbyemyfriend/
Well yeah, but I think it changed to close friends, not active courtship. Didn’t she take him to an event for folks with questions about rainbow stuff? And say something about “go be where you belong, with your own kind”?
…which doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be hurt by Ethan getting a new partner, even a male one, and that’s something he’d think about.
Dang. I just clicked the “ethan” tag, and went back to those strips (where Joyce is even encouraging him to de-closet).
What can I say? It was more than a year ago.
In other news, wow, there sure are a lot of recent strips where Ethan is with Danny. . .
Holy shit that went from kinda flattering
to bloody psychotic. In no time flat.
It’s hyperbole dude.
Look ok yeah the Amber timing is bad and stuff, but holy poop I am pumping my fists for Danny actually embracing this sexual discovery. I want to jump up and down with a sign saying “Go Danny!” (Admittedly I just went on my first date with someone who’s not a woman last week, so that probably has a lot to do with it :D)
Also, this is again very un-Dan-like! I think Ethan validating his feelings (not sexy feelings, yet, just in general) is doing him a LOT of good.
Holy shit that went from kinda flattering
to bloody psychotic. In no time flat. Not even enough time for Ethan to start planting.
his dick in Danny’s but!
Heyo!
I am terrible
how do I not spell butt right?
The ! through me off, I swear!
I know your pain anti-Odysseus.
Well, at least Poseidon likes me
Yeah, but Athena must hate your guts. You know who else Athena hated? The Trojans. ‘Nough said.
The ‘!’ is just doing terrible things to you — you want “threw”, not “through”.
(Did autocorrect get you? I’ve seen this happen on twitter a few times.)
NOOOOOOO!
Bow your no has six extra letters; exclamation points must be your kryptonite!
Gah, bloody hell!
So, all that playing with Amber’s emotions is just so Willis doesn’t have to deal with a Danny talking to Ethan about cheating subplot?
Daaaamn Daniel (…back at it again with the white Vans!…)
But jeez louise, that’s a good run from “questioning my previously straight identity” to “confessing my attraction to another man”. It took me like, eight years to do that.
Well…this morning’s strip should result in about 2400 comments by daybreak, don’t you think?
Danny is the one being open and honest about his feelings, and attempting to express them in a healthy manner?
what strange dystopian nightmare is this
if there is room in the heart, there is room in the butt
aaaaaaaaahhh but also eeeeeeeeeee~
i doubt anyone will notice or care, but i still want to clarify my “eee” is a reaction to danny’s honesty, not a display of butt stuff-related ecstasy. the “aaaah” was just “oh man that happened” shock. the end.
It’s been almost an hour since this was posted. I expected more squeeing shipper comments by now.
They probably didn’t recover from the shock yet.
oh my this took a turn for the amazing. bit of a rebound but i’ll take what i can get.
I want Ethan and joe to protect Danny. Cuz he’s a fuckup at times but man he was in the right in trying to help Amber let go of a very dangerous coping mechanism and being told who he can and cannot talk to by someone he’s dating is fucked up.
Man I hope Dorothy listens to his side before blaming him out loud.
Vague adjacency to some problematic feelings for myself aside (tldr: oh of course he’ll finally be open about it to his dude crush ten minutes after his mentally ill girlfriend dumps him), it is super great to see Danny decide that he won’t allow himself to be ashamed of his sexuality anymore. Admitting his attraction to Ethan isn’t just a big deal for that, it’s saying he won’t judge himself for being attracted. That his laser focused romantic sights can cause him pain and that it’s just okay to think people are attractive, and what that means is entirely under Danny’s power.
Pfffft, Danny is such a wuss, there is no way he’ll… wait, what did Danny just say?
HIGH FIVE, BUDDY!!!!
Your gravitar makes this comment about 10^23% more awesome.
It seems Danny actually took a leaf from Becky’s book when it comes to closets.
And he didn’t even do any stupid mindgames or surprise kisses. Way to go!
I have a bad feeling about this and I pray I’m wrong.
Amber is upset, but realizes maybe Danny had some sort of point, her head tumbles in confusion, she goes to the one person who’s been there for her since childhood, and finds him making out with her (ex-)boyfriend?
Then we need a cleanup because ALL OF THE BLOOD!
I would kinda love to see them actually date behind her back for a while, the whole sneaking around thing would be awesome to watch. Though they shouldn’t have to sneak, I’m sure they would because they wouldn’t want to upset her. Hopefully then she would have time to deal with her issues some before finding out, because WILLIS PROMISED NO ONE WOULD DIE.
I really can’t see either of them even attempting to hide a relationship from Amber, plus it just comes off as really duplicitous and creepy if they did.
It’s like, Amber isn’t just an ex, she’s someone they both deeply care about. It’s not that crazy that they’d want to clear the air with her.
Yes. The ship has canonically sailed! Also, Danny you are one brave motherfucker.
wait no, that’s shortpacked!Mike.
Honestly, this doesn’t feel in character for Danny–not even a Danny who is trying to be more honest about his feelings. But hey, character growth, nice to see it.
…honestly Danny’s fantasy is relatable at a level I never would have expected to see in a story like this. I mean, it’s only a one-off joke, but it makes me wonder how much of a correlation there is between poor senses of self-worth and fetishistic fantasies (and I mean SOLELY fantasies) that entail your own (FANASIZED) death to somehow bolster or otherwise indirecrly experience someone you admire.
Or maybe I’m overthinking this and I’m alone in my grossness! WHO CAN SAY
if there’s one thing the internet taught us, it’s that when it comes to kinks and fantasies, no one is ever alone.
That’s called Ugol’s Law, btw.
huzzah! learning!
Well, I’m into vore, so… I wouldn’t say there’s too much of a connection in that case, but that’s pretty different from what Danny’s describing.
(FURRY vore, by the way. People eating people doesn’t make sense at all.)
Eh, I’d indulge in cannibalism if I wasn’t responsible for the person’s death. Kinda a waste of good meat to just burn it all or stick it in the ground or the ocean, and so long as you stay away from the brain you can avoid prions. I mean c’mon, flesh is flesh.
Well, I should mention it’s soft vore, which means there’s no biting. And while that’s not accurate for animals either, it looks ABSOLUTELY silly when humans do it.
(although I suppose it is accurate for snakes)
But as for cannibalism (rather than vorarephilia)… yeah, I’d feast on a corpse if it was the only way to survive. The Donner party was very unfortunate but they did what they had to do. They didn’t kill anybody, after all. They just did what they needed to do to stay alive.
You aren’t alone. Kinks are hella common, low self-worth is hella common. There hasn’t been any demonstrated correlation or causation between the two yet. Nobody knows how kinks form, it seems to be different for everyone. So, hey, it doesn’t really matter why you have a particular fantasy. Just enjoy.
Heh, never thought I’d say this, but I wish I had Danny’s guts. ><
” ” That what Ethan Said
Boo-Yah!
DAAAyum! XD
So, cut him open and take them!
What? Not appropriate?
No, I think we like Danny in this one
This comment is sort of how I react to the comments section as a whole. “Oh, do we like Danny right now? no? I guess everyone hates him for the moment. Okay.”
i don’t control the unreasonable emotional tide of internet comment sections, i just live in fear of it
omg omg omg omg
Relationship goal: Be reduced to literary nothing and dissolved in the perfect partners shadow.
same
I took it to mean he wants to cover every inch of Ethans naked Body.
I will go with your interpretation since it at least sounds sexy.
YAY! I am Sarah now! Been soo long since i last commented…
Literary nothing? What, like a comic written by Rob Liefeld?
This will end well, I’m sure.
It’s a Willis comic, so of course it will.
I am immune to sarcasm and irony, so i do not understand your comments
fanart incoming beep beep beep
I have a good feeling about you saying that.
Good-feeling is what it’s all about
I see this as clearing the air, not trying to start another relationship while still stranded on the shattered shoals of the previous one. Time will tell, but I feel Danny has enough insight (as shown by some of his comments here) to know that would, as well, be ‘unhealthy’.
Sorry shippers, this is one vessel that’ll take some more time to sail.
I think you’ve got it right. But, you have to admit, it is kinda fun sitting back and watching the shippers lose their minds in ecstatic glee.
Ships don’t need to be canon in order to sail, do they?
Canon often weighs ships down.
Sadly, I have but one internet to award for this comment.
I thought a ship with canon sinks other ships?
Some time ago I asked “What happens to Amber when her boyfriend leaves her for her ex-boyfriend?”
OK. I didn’t anticipate Amber’s dumping Danny first.
Danny would never have left Amber.
WHAT, IS THIS REAL??
Jesus fucking christ kid.
Yeah, one of the things you do NOT miss about being in college is the awkward fucking attempts at explaining an attraction to somebody.
in the hope of some awkward fucking.
I can’t even explain attraction to myself. Can’t even imagine explaining it to someone else, much less the object of that attraction. ><
I figure there’s approximately an 86.3% chance of this being someone’s dream, fantasy, or slashfic, rather than anything actually happening.
If it IS happening, it’s a tough call to guess Ethan’s reaction. On the one hand, he’s a nice guy who cares about Amber and can recognize how douchy making a move on Danny right now would be. On the other hand, he’s a teenage guy who hasn’t been laid in forever with a cute boy coming onto him, and he’s into that.
So… what’s this ship called, anyway? Ethdan? Danneth?
Seecox.
^ WE HAVE OUR WINNER
Holy shit this has my vote
“my ex girlfriends self hatred is so unhealthy.. that reminds me, i should be open and honest with my new friend and tell him that i want to bang him”
also just cause danny awkwardly told ethan that he wants to fuck him, if ethan feels the same way, doesnt mean they will actually do it
I can’t decide which feeling is stronger: pride for Danny finally speaking aloud the truth of who he is or secondhand embarrassment for the time, the place, and way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaay TMI.
YES YES YES THE PERSONAL GROWTH THE NO-HOLDS BARRED UNASHAMED HONESTY I swear I’m not a “Now do a Slipshine” shipper but mad fistbumps and hugs to anyone who manages to reach the kind of self-awareness Danny has here. All my love to you, and you, and you.
Uh oh!
Spaghettio™
That sounds like something a serial killer say.
Or at least what they would tell the cop the victim said.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
did you close the door?? DID YOU CLOSE THE DOOR????
Obviously all characters in DoA were raised in Dragon Age Inquisition, cause none of them know how to close a damn door.
Has Becky taught us nothing???
^0^!
But, no. Becky hasn’t told enough people all of the totally hot and mega depressing details of her story. Only Joyce knows to close the door before being gay.
Super ultra mega hot mansex coming right up.
Well, good on ya, Danny.
I don’t know how to feel about this situation. On the one hand, both Ethan and Danny are good people and deserve to find happiness. On the other hand, if it happens and Amber finds out, she’s totally going to fall into pure meltdown mode. You just know it. There will be no going back.
While I find it adorable (and not so unhealthy for Danny), I think that this relationship will make Amber explode in a realy harmful way
shipshipshipSHIPSHIP
*breathes*
I know probably nothing will happen right away, because Danny’s just come out of a relationship and Amber wouldn’t be able to handle this kind of development, but dear god I hope Ethan feels the same. Both these two seem so unhappy alone, but I think they could be genuinely happy together, and help each other becoming better, more mature people.
And can I just say how proud I am of Ethan for making sure to check on Danny and making it clear he’s his friend too, not just Ambers, and of Danny for being honest about his feelings. I just. I wanna hug them. I haven’t felt this strongly about a couple since Dina and Becky.
They seem unhappy alone, AROUND AMBER.
It’s about time they got their own lives, unaffected by an Amber. Just thinking for themselves, their happiness, being “selfish”.
KISS KISS KISS KISS
STOP WORRYING EVERYONE! LOOK, AMAZI-GIRL IS SO FINE WITH IT SHE’S ENCOURAGING THEM!
You know, I’m kinda sad you cannot display images in the comments here, because I had the perfect Yelling Bird for that situation.
“and then they fucked”
PLEASE RECIPROCATE
So…. is Danny/Ethan about to happen?
Amber is going to have a horrific freakout if it does and she hears that her second boyfriend turned out to be gay (well, bi, but point being into dudes) and is into her first boyfriend who also turned out to be gay.
I just hope it happens so we have a less depressing slipshine ad.
aye
I am so proud of him.
Me too. *sheds tear*
Me three :’)
With me four! We are a Frightful Four of pride over lil’Danny!
OMG OMG OMG *SKREAMS INTO FOREVER*
Somebody spin the top.
I want to bathe in your old bathwater..
Good luck, Danny.
“And that Batman t-shirt isn’t helping either.”
These mere 300 comments are the murmur before tomorrow’s storm, where either Danny will Dan it up, Ethan will say “UM NO LET’S TALK ABOUT AMBER”, or they give us the next Slipshine.
The only thing that came to my mind from this strip was this:
SET(Danny’s_Brain2Mouth_Filter)=0
I know you update daily but when you leave a cliffhanger like that I feel like tomorrow is a week away.
I AM CONFLICTED
on the one hand i have so very badly wanted these two to get together
ON THE OTHER HAND I THINK THIS IS HAPPENING WAY TOO SOON AFTER THE AMBER/AMAZI-GIRL BREAKUP
Like I know Danny started dating her not long after breaking up with dorothy but it wasnt like…
what was this like an hour? thirty minutes?
Amber might take it the wrong way and im fearing that ethan will feel like a simple rebound.
Road to hell, good intentions, etc. I would’ve thought Lucy of all anthropomorphic personifications would’ve recognized that.
Are you not entertained? Is this not what you asked for! Mwahhahaa!
LMAO this is so great. Atta boy, Danny. I mean, your choice of metaphor there is really fucking weird, but I applaud the sentiment xD
You know when I first found out about this, I binged it every day until I was caught up. I’m now extremely pissed I’m caught up because now I can’t binge, but I love this comic so much. Questionable Content used to be my favorite, but now Dumbing of Age is. I still love Questionable Content with all my heart, but damn Dumbing of Age is goooooood. Glad to be here, and love seeing all the comments and discussion in the comments. Such a good community
“back to unhealthy again”
In more ways than he even realizes. This is Danny going right back into another relationship he can use to define himself by and stave off the hard task of figuring out who he is
I’m surprised at how many people think this is Danny immediately trying to leap into Ethan’s pants.
Well, no, I guess I’m not.
It’s kind of hard not to interpret Danny’s last line as a sexual come on. Even if he’s not expecting to hook up with Ethan right this second (and I don’t think he is) he’s still making his sexual interest known. Putting himself out there to for some future date. Yeah sure he’s unburdening himself which is great but it’s ridiculous to act like his intentions are nothing but pure here. He wants to fuck Ethan. He wants Ethan to know that he wants to fuck him. Yeah it’s helping him to be more emotionally healthy in the process because he doesn’t have to hide it anymore but that’s not all there is to what he’s doing.
He literally says that he’s “looping back to unhealthy” because the whole point of this conversation is letting his feelings out. He’s making his interest known because burying that interest has been driving him insane. This is a thing Danny says two panels ago.
Of course he wants to bang Ethan. Ethan’s really friggin’ hot, constantly supportive and friendly, and the harbinger of feelings Danny is only now registering that he’s allowed to have. Amber thinks Jacob’s hot. Walky thinks Joyce isn’t unpretty. Billie started cooing over Ethan the minute she saw him and tried making a pass at Joe. You’re allowed to think other people are attractive without it being an indicator that you’re raring to bang the minute you get the first chance, especially since this is Danny we’re talking about.
I mean, I’m pretty sure “looping back to unhealthy” is about GRINDING HIMSELF UP INTO POWDER? And being in Ethan’s bath water?
Not expressing sexual interest in general, but the specific really weird way he was doing it.
That’s what I was getting at. This isn’t Danny trying to get all up in Ethan’s grill the first chance he gets. He flat out states that he wants to get it off his chest because Amber bottling her issues is motivating him not to.
The guy’s allowed to be interested in Ethan without it meaning he’s looking for the first dick he can get If this were another character, then sure, but given Danny’s extremely troubled relationship with his own sexuality, I just can’t imagine his attempt to assert control over his feelings stems from “well now I’m single.”
I, like, 97% agree with you, as my follow-up comment attested more clearly.
I just think “looping back into unhealthy” was about the creepy metaphor he used to tell Ethan he’s hot.
For what it’s worth tho I agree that Danny is saying this just to say it.
I think he doesn’t realize Ethan reciprocates his feelings, so he sees even a blunt come-on as a dead-end street.
I mean, does he reciprocate? I can easily see that he would, but we’ve gotten no indication of it so far. The most we’ve seen is that he thinks Danny is adorable.
Totally would buy that he is, though.
When I commented, I was positive Ethan reciprocated, and I’m surprised that comments above me (including yours) indicate otherwise. :|a I thought there was at least one strip where the situation was established to be that they were both interested, but repressing their feelings for different reasons.
Ethan’s pretty consistently, imho, been written as a guy who has no idea how attractive he is and, in fact, assumes as a baseline that any feelings he has are and will forever be unreciprocated. As a result, he has a tendency to quickly attach to and settle for whatever comes his way, while shoving down any interest he has in anyone on the hasty presumption that someone so [insert positive word here] would never want him.
I thought we’d had at least one strip where he’d been shown to have more than just a passing interest in Danny, and to be burying it because he defaults to assuming his romantic feelings for other people are doomed.
But I could be totally wrong on that score, and if I am that changes my expectations for the next comic considerably.
Though not my feelings on Danny’s goal and expectations here, which were definitely that Ethan would shoot him down.
I think Danny’s being very brave here, really, because I think he knows and accepts the possibility that being honest about his attraction will end his friendship with Ethan, which he kind of needs right now.
I mean, I absolutely believe that Ethan, at the very least, is physically attracted to Danny. I’m just not sure if that’s extended to romantic attraction, due to the combo of his low self esteem and Danny dating his best friend. Now that Danny is single I could easily see that start to develop, if not go anywhere particularly quickly as Ethan would absolutely not want to pursue Danny until after he clears the air with Amber.
But, yeah, that is a good point about Danny’s expectations. I imagine part of what’s let him be so forward is the assumption that Ethan couldn’t possibly be interested in him, since the both of them have pretty low self esteem.
Yea, it’s probably mostly that Ethan never thought Danny would be interested in him.
Rebounding of Age
Ok. I have a thing to share, but there is a lack of boob windows to transition over into the sharing the thing.
Dammit.
*holds breath, gawks*OoO
Do I see a little hint of Ethan blushing at the end?
(Oh, and whatcha think of my new grav? Got tired of not looking anything like myself.)
*HAPPY SQUEALS*
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
*from back of crowd*: MAKE OUT ALREADY
Ha, gay
Somehow not buying this (but then again I didn’t buy Humbert’s confession in Nabokov’s Lolita)
Well, I’m conflicted. I’m glad that Danny is finally telling Ethan how he feels about him, but at the same time this is a Willis comic. I have a feeling this will end badly somehow, because the Willis giveth and the Willis taketh away.
I’m willing to bet Dorothy walks in on them making out, assumes that Amber dumped him because he was cheating on her with her best friend, and then DRAMA AND YELLING. (also, I’d be happier about him telling Ethan about his feelings if it didn’t immediately stray into super creepiness, cuz Wow)
Wow, that is genuinely a hot come-on line. Fanning myself here.