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.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
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.
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
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Plus, this is progress. She had that sweater buried at the bottom of her closet before because she wasn’t ready to deal with it. So along with everything else, she also lost the ability to enjoy one of her favorite articles of clothing. She’s taking the sweater back, and also reframing the meaning of that night. Yeah, she was victimized, but she was also the same bad-ass Joyce we’ve since seen in other crises.
Sarah’s probably the most realistic in my experience as a brother with a brother. Gripe about them all the time until they’re really hurt, then kick monkey ass to save them.
Under specific circumstances, Joyce’s smile is so powerful it expands into her surroundings, meaning that she *will* arrive smile-first. And sometimes smile-only. :p
She’s doing it wrong. Cats are tsunderes, and the only way to fight tsundere is with more tsundere. Put on The * War or Yuri on Ice, and the cats will come to you.
(What? Victor is a total tsundere. Fight me.)
In all seriousness, making clicking noises with your tongue is remarkably effective, as is having a warm laptop or an empty box. No two cats are exactly alike, but they usually don’t respond to the same stimuli as dogs, and a cat person (even one who’s never owned a cat) should know this, if for no other reason than through research or exposure to other cat people, such as Neferpitou.
I’m no good with links so you’ll have to take my word for it, but I think Jacob said something like ‘she wears a wrist brace from punching a kidnapper, how is that not alluring?’ in response to Joe saying she’s excised from his ‘do list’. So if she mentions to him that the blood from the sweater is from her would-be-rapist that she cut, it could serve to help Jacob fall for her.
Although she probably won’t tell him this, seeing as they don’t know each other that well and that is hugely sensitive information, I think this is meant more as a symbolic message for the readers. It seems to me like Willis is setting up a contrast between this ‘modest’ battle- worn sweater with the more skin-showing never-worn dress that Sarah wanted her to wear.
This shows how to Sarah he is a sex object, something he has explicitly stated he does not want to be seen as, so her attempt to get Joyce to seduce him is by using a dress that appeals to more physical emotions. But what actually attracts Jacob to Joyce (and I think to some extent he already is attracted to her a little judging from his comment to Joe) is her personality. Her bravery, intelligence and dedication to her values.
This contrast shows why Sarah can never have him because she cannot get out of her tendency of seeing him from a purely sexual angle, even when he has told her in no uncertain terms that he prefers for the sexual side of things to come second in a relationship. Whereas Joyce completely innocently picks something that would actually appeal to him more as it reflects her strong character.
I adore Joyce’s line in the last panel.
When I was thirteen I got more dressed up than usual one day, with makeup and stuff, and later that evening I was sexually assaulted. After that I would have anxiety around being more dressed up, even if I was in an environment that seemed like it should be safe. I didn’t wear makeup much until I was in college, and the super red lipstick trend was in, and I really liked it and wanted to wear some myself. I bought a shade of red that I dubbed “Blood of My Enemies” and began wearing it occasionally, gradually feeling less anxious about doing so.
Major high five for your journey. For me, it was the color green–one specific shade–and the scent of spearmint. It’d make me anxious whenever I smelled it, and for years I hated green.
One day I finally went no, fuck that, he doesn’t get to take a whole color from me. Fuck that guy.
For me, it’s riding a motorcycle. Not quite there yet, partially because money and partially because fuck PTSD. But I still want to learn some day, from somebody who isn’t using it as an excuse to isolate and assault me.
“I want to keep loving this sweater” hit me pretty hard. I was introduced to Garbage (the band) by my then-best-friend who I ended up cutting ties with because she was emotionally abusive/manipulative/generally awful. They were her favorite band and the only music we had in common. I had to consciously choose to keep enjoying them and not let the connection to her ruin that for me.
Wear the hell out of that sweater, Joyce. Do me a favor and blare ‘Right Between The Eyes’ when you do it.
that is such a big, wonderful thing that she's able to do that now yay
I had my own little trigger incident today, and managed to stay present and process some of the emotional pain a lot more draining than dissociating it away, and more physical symptoms, but, yay healing it felt like the sort of thing that needed to get more painful before getting better. although in other aspects it already *was* a fair bit better – the feelings were intense but bearable. bearable is huge progress and I think it'll be significantly less terrifying next time something similar happens.
Glad to hear that! With trauma, it’s important tonremember we are not weak because we were hurt. We are strong because we get up as many times as it takes.
When I saw the phrase “tattered flesh of my vanquished enemies,” I assumed it was either a biblical quote or some pop culture reference. But a quick google of that exact phrase turns up nothing; it is in fact original dialog by Willis.
Let us all reflect on how fortunate we are that, at least so far, Willis continues to use his powers for good.
If Willis were to use the Krell machine from Forbidden Planet, humanity would be doomed.
As pessimistic as I am, I don’t believe that humanity is necessarily doomed. Except, of course, in the sense that evolution will sooner or later result in humanity’s descendants no longer resembling modern humans. Yes, something with the immediate devastation of a Chicxulub impact could do us in, but that is really unlikely.
The near-term collapse of civilization as we know it, however, is both preventable and all but inevitable. It’s happened before — see Eric Cline’s 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed — and if global warming doesn’t get us within 50 years, peak phosphorus gets us in at most 200 years.
But in all likelihood humans will still be around — albeit in much smaller numbers — even after civilization collapses. It’s happened before and it will probably happen again.
…So, you’re saying I might be able to sit in an old rocking chair, telling the little mutant toddlers about the Before Times? Pardon me while I go research life-prolonging diets and fitness routines.
You won’t have time for rocking. You’ll be too busy scavenging for food and supplies to get you through another day. When you’re not fending off other roaming tribes of scavengers.
Last time around we were able to do a lot less damage to the world around us as we went.
We weren’t causing a mass extinction event. We weren’t causing global warming. We didn’t have nuclear weapons. We really could wipe ourselves off the planet in ways we’ve never been capable of before.
The nuclear weapons I will grant you. If enough of them go off, even accidentally, that could be a humanity-ending event.
But as far as humans are concerned, the main effect of global warming is likely to be a major shock to the global food supply at the same time as entire populations become climate refugees. Historically, that kind of situation tends to lead to famine and war. Horrific for those who live through it, but not a species-ending event for a sufficiently-adaptable species like humans.
If we were a wiser species, we might be able to avoid all that. Unfortunately, while humans as individuals are pretty smart, as a species we are, collectively, about as smart as yeast, so…
er… you’re not making the connection from war to nuclear weapons? war *before* nukes was not a species-ending event. war with nukes could be. That was the whole deal with the cold war, iirc; both America and the USSR had the technology to detect nukes headed their way early enough to retaliate, but they didn’t have the technology to make the incoming nukes not nuke something.
That makes a certain amount of added sense, as there is some limited amount of evidence (much of it hotly debated) from archaeological anthropology that suggests IHVH originated as the war god of the pantheon worshiped by the Hebrew people before they became monotheistic. Of course since this is from the period around the late Bronze Age collapse and it’s following dark age, when writing more or less kinda went away for a while, it’s exceptionally hard to be conclusive about.
I don’t know, considering the Khornate views on the Slaaneshi and what they stand for I could see a Joyce going all in for the blood god
Meanwhile I feel like she’d have all sorts of issues with any role within the Adepta Sororitas or even the Adeptus Ministorum as a whole as it now exists and as her views currently sit. I could however see her making a solid Commissar in the Guard if we wanna insist on non-heretical Imperium.
But as she said to Joe, the possibility that somebody *else* could be around that next corner has not. This is progress, and it’s both empowering and adorable, but don’t expect Amber’s actions to have totally cured Joyce’s issues.
Jocelyn’s awesome, but a) she hasn’t been able to be a “big sister figure” since she’s still closeted and b) she hasn’t been around enough – it’s been more than a year since we’ve seen her.
Being triggered would have been a perfectly acceptable reaction. But, this is good, too. In part because Joyce wearing the broken flesh of a felled enemy just brings her close to what we all know she is.
I imagine, some day, Joyce facing someone, perhaps someone from her old church, being in conversation with them, then laying them out with a combination of using a gender-studies book as a blunt weapon and her completely articulate rage-speech-powers.
I am sufficiently slow that it wasn’t until a third or fourth reading of the coming that I twigged to Joyce having prepared a speech about “enduring friendship,” exactly paralleling Lucy’s introductory greeting.
Sarah exactly gets it with “don’t barge in smile-first.”
But also? I love that Sarah was being thoughtful about it.
I think lately we’ve been hit by a lot of Sarah’s unlikable character traits: her petty scheming to break up a decent relationship, her perpetual grumpiness, her strange combination of self-righteousness and self-loathing.
But she cares deeply about people she lets herself get close to. She cared about her freshman roommate enough to be the only one concerned she was doing hard drugs. And she cares about Joyce enough to want to go after her when she went to the party on the chance she might get hurt, and enough to hide her sweater because it might be triggering.
Agreed. And in the past when she’s tried to protect Joyce, Joyce has needed it. So now we get to see how Sara will continue to be a good big sister as Joyce grows into her own autonomy.
Every now and then, Joyce does something that can only be responded to with a fixed, terrified smile and slowly backing towards the door. This is one of those times.
I would be down to watch Joyce the Barbarian rain righteous fury on a series of butthole antagonists, accumulating bloodstains on her orange sweater like trophies.
They’re going to Jacob’s church, at Jacob’s invitation. Jacob’s church is Episcopalian, or, as Joyce thinks of it, “a hippie church.”
This is not part of a spiritual quest, but one small part of a campaign to separate Jacob from Raidah. Joyce and Sarah have different understandings on how this is to be accomplished, and what happens post-Raidah, but they agree on that immediate goal.
Good Joyce, Good. Now you just need to drive your enemies before you and enjoy the lamentation of their men and women (depending on gender and sexuality of the enemy). The last part might get a bit problematic as some couples are probably battle couples and after vanquishing and driving them there will be no one to lament for them… Their dog maybe, cat would probably just shrug and go find new willing slaves.
Depends on the dog or cat, we have had a few animals in our family that would surprise you with their capacity for lamentations or revenge – both in the dog and cat variety. So, there may come a need to vanquish animal populations and that is where I think Joyce might draw the line.
You know, panel 2 really, really makes me wish that someone would create a My Little Pony of Joyce. She’d fit right in with all that talk of the ‘power of friendship’!
Apparently cuddling with Walky at night caused an interdimensional personality sync, and DoA Joyce has now embraced the philosophies of her SEMME self.
Pssshhht, blood is like any other stain as long as you use cold water and don’t let it sit there for too long. It should only take one try normally. But NOW it’ll take them ages to get it out because they understandably avoided it.
She almost got shot by a man she knew since childhood, her best friend was nearly kidnapped by said man, and she punched him in the face. It’s similar to how she was previously unable to walk around outside alone but has since proven able, as shown here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/elsewhere/ . To summarize it, I think she’s sadly had more traumas since then to occupy her mind. More distance from the attack and reminders of it help too. Sometimes the brain can only handle one thing at a time, and for now she’s focused on the more recent things. I think it also helps that Ryan has since then been beaten up and hospitalized. It’s definitely not a cure to her trauma, but knowing he’s in pain might make her feel more at ease with what happened.
It’s not just that she’s had more traumas, but she’s also had tough events that have demonstrated to her that she is a strong person. And yeah, Ryan no longer lurking as a potential physical threat to her is also helping, even if she does recognize that there are more like him out there.
I think that Joyce believes that the real world would be a lot nicer if it was more like a comic book. I can’t say that I disagree with her all that much!
I feel like the amount of singing will stay the same? So what will change besides the content of the sermons? I honestly don’t know. I’m from a fairly liberal Jewish congregation.
There’s over 600 of them. I couldn’t say off the top of my head. I will say there’s enough that th3 Talmud has a whole category called basically: ” Laws made for reasons we don’t get, bit we should be mindful of them anyway”
Am I the only one who finds it weird that Malaya is already awake and moving in on a SUNDAY while Joyce and Sarah are getting ready for church? You have to get up EARLY for church. (One of the many and admittedly more minor reasons I stopped going to church a loooooong time ago.) I can’t see Malaya being a morning person. Plus, Billie and Sal are already awake too, what is this madness?
Could be that Malaya was woken by her bright and happy roommate (the one that triggered the move in the first place) causing her to want to move early since the option had finally opened up.
So yeah, I’m sure Malaya found the inspiration to leave quickly.
Billie just want to get out and get it over with, and Sal – I think – is awake to say goodbye to Billie. She may not be the hugging kind of family but she worries about her kinda-not-really sister.
Panel 1: I love this to death. It’s Joyce doing her typical excited no boundaries thing and it’s Sarah making sure to check that impulse and giving a good consent reason why. That it’s important to let folks settle before pouncing on them. And it really shows how much Sarah has embraced this big sister role.
Panel 2: And it’s a good thing she stopped her too. That would have been an epic disaster.
Panels 4-6: There are no words to express how massive this is. After an assault, there are objects and smells and places that trigger intensely and that can last years. I have a specific event I have a hard time going back to because I was raped there.
And we know this sweater in particular was that. Like, lest we forget, the last we saw this sweater, it was Becky pulling it out of the closet and Joyce going into a full spiral seeing it again that lead to the reality of her assault being discussed.
Both Becky and Sarah have independently tried to hide this sweater knowing how harmful seeing it and remembering was. But here, she is genuinely heart-warmed and happy to see it and has found an internal narrative that allows her to win back this object she loves and turn it into an object of strength rather than pain.
And that reclamation is huge, frequently extraordinarily difficult, and can be a massive part of reclaiming one’s power back.
Cause that’s one of the enduring things from an assault, the way someone steals your body autonomy, leaving you feeling powerless with unbidden triggers poisoning things you used to love or feel neutral about. Each trigger can feel like another way that rapist has managed to have enduring power over you. It makes the reliving of the violation that much worse.
So to be able to do something like this, reclaim the object is a huge thing. It is her managing to fight and take back what was stolen from her and it is likely this is part of why she was so adamant about letting Amber know how grateful she was.
Because knowing that her rapist got ripped apart has allowed his hold on her subconscious to weaken enough to let her crawl out from under some of her triggers.
And I can’t blame her for wanting to share that and make it heard, because as a survivor, there are no words for how amazing it feels to finally do something you’ve had triggers about and have it not feel like pain and death.
Well, now, she might. Trauma doesn’t just go away – it’ll always be a part of her. But now, when it happens, she’ll have the armor and weapons to fight back.
I see in her eyes that a lot of it is bravado. She’s not over the trauma, she’s just making a concerted effort to not let it control her. Still amazing, but the opera’s not over ’til the fat lady sings.
Cerb, I love this analysis about reclaiming power and vanquishing triggers, but I’ve got a question. I’m someone who’s been sexually assaulted, but not raped. Arguably, that is also true of Joyce. I also do research on non-rape sexual assault, so have plenty of information about how what is frequently referred to as a “minor” incident can wreak havoc in people’s lives.
As a result, the use of “rapist” as a catch-all bothers me, especially because other types of sexual assault are likely to get trivialized because they weren’t rape. The only word I’ve thought of as a replacement, “assailant,” feels overly clinical. So I guess what I’m asking is, what vocabulary can we use to capture the awfulness of people who commit any kind of sexual assault, including the infinite variants other than rape?
(And I can think of all sorts of words that can’t be used in polite company, but I’d also like one that can be used with policymakers, students, and educators)
I actually like ‘assailant’ for this. ‘Attacker’ might also work.
You might also reconsider ‘rapist’. Just because they’re not TECHNICALLY rapists, doesn’t mean that what they’re doing isn’t in the same general vein. To have your consent violated, your body violated, is ‘rape’ enough.
Thanks. I think I need to steer clear from using “rape” for things that are not technically rape because A. The sorts of policymakers and political types I’m trying to convince to make changes will accuse me of exaggerating the problem and B. it unintentionally reinforces the idea that assaults other than rape aren’t “really” bad when they can, in fact, have consequences that linger for years.
I like that option myself, yeah. “Sexual molester” gets the idea across succinctly (as does being “molested” as opposed to and as a complement term to being raped); and as you say, already has a whole host of negative connotations thanks to the use of the word in the phrase “child molester”.
“Accosted” might be a good one as well, for instances of sexual harassment that, thankfully, didn’t get physical. Possibly also “violated”/”violator”?
Ok, I got a gravatar, but it’s not showing up. How do I fix this?
Also, I wish my trigger was as badass as Joyce’s. Mine is just organizing filing systems. Not even connected to any one event, my anxiety just makes it a nerve-wracking experience.
We can’t choose our triggers. Remember that Joyce’s also involve less glamorous things like just being outside alone. And as someone who can have a panic attack about sending an email, I sympathize with your plight!
Even the characters have caught on to how the book titles work. Soon they’re all going to speak in potential book titles and no one’ll know what’s what anymore.
I am now very, very, *very* happy that Joyce didn’t meet Malaya. If anybody could make Joyce mad (probably not punch-mad, but definitely scary-mad), it’d probably be Malaya ignoring her/taking shots at her oppressive sunniness.
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“except that it’s just the one enemy”
“I KICKED HIM IN THE NUTS, TOO (in my headcanon)”
“ok, got me there”
“also, what about Toedad”
“were you wearing that then?”
“…I brought home some souvenir flesh?”
*Sarah backs away slowly*
“I have the skeletal scars and a brace to remember it by!”
speaking of that, shouldn’t she still be wearing that brace? It’s been less than a month
It was just a light sprain.
I dunno if a week is reasonable for that though.
I think it’s been a couple of weeks since the incident by this point. It was only mid-to-late September or so then, and we’re now well into October.
Ah. I thought it was a break
Each nut counts as a separate enemy.
Jinkies for the Jinkies god.
Scooby Snacks for the Scooby Snacks throne.
Like, zoinks.
I DON’T LIKE THE LOOK OF THAT RAISED EYEBROW IN PANEL FOUR
Shit, I meant panel 5.
That is not a look that says “happiness” to me. That’s a look that screams “I’m about to lose it.” Those eyes are bothering the heck out of me.
To be fair Joyce hasn’t mastered facial expressions aside from the snails yet
*smile
Damnable auto correct
Autocorrect is why I hesitate to enter text on my phone. It even tried to “correct” a password once. And I haven’t found the flag to turn it off yet.
It’s actually really nice to see that she can still at least wear the sweater after what happened
Plus, this is progress. She had that sweater buried at the bottom of her closet before because she wasn’t ready to deal with it. So along with everything else, she also lost the ability to enjoy one of her favorite articles of clothing. She’s taking the sweater back, and also reframing the meaning of that night. Yeah, she was victimized, but she was also the same bad-ass Joyce we’ve since seen in other crises.
Man, I’ve got to stop playing grav roulette… that’s the worst face for my comment!
What?
Hot.
Joyce is kind of a nerd, isn’t she
(I love this strip)
*plays REO Speedwagon’s “Keep On Loving You” on the hacked Muzak*
CAUSE ITS THE ONLY THING I WANNA DO-OOO-OOH
This is the most adori-badass Joyce has ever been. She’ll need that for whenever she does meet Malaya.
I hope Joyce charms Malaya and then Malaya, Sal and Sarah get into a three-way tussle over who’s the best sisterly figure.
This was a reminder for me to read to the end of comments before having a reaction.
Ok glad I wasn’t the only one
Sarah’s probably the most realistic in my experience as a brother with a brother. Gripe about them all the time until they’re really hurt, then kick monkey ass to save them.
that’s it, getting a gravatar. damn system switched me back
What’s the problem?
Good on ya Joycey.
Also, I’d like to comment on yesterday’s Strip, since today’s comments will be read more than yesterday’s:
Oh god, Sal’s hands must smell funkier than her brother’s underwear.
Oh gods, I bet they’re awful.
As long as she rotates through a few pairs as she showers, things should be okay..
Despite the poor decisions she made in her school years, Sal’s the responsible one.
I am too lazy/scared to read through everything from yesterday.
Doesn’t she wear the gloves to hide the scar from being stabbed in the hand?
While it isn’t confirmed that that is the reason, it is highly likely that she does wear the gloves to hide her hand stab scar
That’s not a bad way to look at it, actually.
I wasn’t expecting Joyce to tackle it that way.
And “barge in smile-first”? Sarah does know.her.
Joyce’s eyebrows in panel one will soon enter low-earth orbit.
One small step for eyebrows, one giant leap for eyebrowkind.
I kinda want to see her barge in smile-first with Malaya. How many seconds before Malaya’d be pestering Asma for another room change?
If Joyce is trying to be a Klingon she’s still far too nice.
Not to mention that she has better looks than them.
But only to humans, tlhIngans would most definitely think much differently on the matter.
“BAH! YOUR FOREHEAD IS SOFT AND DISGUSTINGLY SMOOTH!”
“IT IS AS SMOOTH AS A BABY’S BOTTOM!”
“So?”
“BABIES ARE GROSS AND ANNOYING POOPING MACHINES”
WHO CAN’T FIGHT!
You’ve never met a Klingon baby, have you? <_<
I have not had the pleasure
Way to reclaim it, Joyce. Feel the wind in your ponytail, hear the lamentations of his parents, etc.
I guess that’s a good way to cope with it.
Joyce, don’t be ridiculous. Human flesh makes for poor leather.
And when he died we tanned his hide…
–It’s out there hanging on the shed!
Altogether now! Tie me kangaroo down, sport…
Ugh! Not Malaya!
That’ll pass.
I find myself wanting a wobble-board, suddenly.
he drives a hard bargain
While trading for leather or skins
He’ll let you keep yours for a cookie!
My God, how the cookies roll in!
At the same time, said delicate leather from human flesh is surprisingly soft and smooth according to some accounts.
You go, girl!
Under specific circumstances, Joyce’s smile is so powerful it expands into her surroundings, meaning that she *will* arrive smile-first. And sometimes smile-only. :p
Joyce as a Converse Cheshire Christian? … naw, she’s not nearly catty enough …
But Joyce is a total cat person!
http://www.itswalky.com/comic/hello-kitty/
She’s doing it wrong. Cats are tsunderes, and the only way to fight tsundere is with more tsundere. Put on The * War or Yuri on Ice, and the cats will come to you.
(What? Victor is a total tsundere. Fight me.)
In all seriousness, making clicking noises with your tongue is remarkably effective, as is having a warm laptop or an empty box. No two cats are exactly alike, but they usually don’t respond to the same stimuli as dogs, and a cat person (even one who’s never owned a cat) should know this, if for no other reason than through research or exposure to other cat people, such as Neferpitou.
Subjecting your pets to The Asterisk War is legally considered animal abuse.
Okay, that’s pretty metal.
Yeah, but probably not what you want to wear to attract Jacob. But I mean who knows, maybe he has a tattered flesh fetish or something.
I’m no good with links so you’ll have to take my word for it, but I think Jacob said something like ‘she wears a wrist brace from punching a kidnapper, how is that not alluring?’ in response to Joe saying she’s excised from his ‘do list’. So if she mentions to him that the blood from the sweater is from her would-be-rapist that she cut, it could serve to help Jacob fall for her.
Although she probably won’t tell him this, seeing as they don’t know each other that well and that is hugely sensitive information, I think this is meant more as a symbolic message for the readers. It seems to me like Willis is setting up a contrast between this ‘modest’ battle- worn sweater with the more skin-showing never-worn dress that Sarah wanted her to wear.
This shows how to Sarah he is a sex object, something he has explicitly stated he does not want to be seen as, so her attempt to get Joyce to seduce him is by using a dress that appeals to more physical emotions. But what actually attracts Jacob to Joyce (and I think to some extent he already is attracted to her a little judging from his comment to Joe) is her personality. Her bravery, intelligence and dedication to her values.
This contrast shows why Sarah can never have him because she cannot get out of her tendency of seeing him from a purely sexual angle, even when he has told her in no uncertain terms that he prefers for the sexual side of things to come second in a relationship. Whereas Joyce completely innocently picks something that would actually appeal to him more as it reflects her strong character.
Mixing fibers? That’s banned by Leviticus! How dare she?
Leviticus was a liar and a thief.
Bah. That’s old testament.
It also doesn’t apply to synthetic fibers (and maybe not to cotton, depending on to what extent “linen” is read as symbolic of other plant fibers)
Knowest thou of Old Testament pronouncements upon synthetic fibers?
Joyce is getting super Biblical up in here.
I adore Joyce’s line in the last panel.
When I was thirteen I got more dressed up than usual one day, with makeup and stuff, and later that evening I was sexually assaulted. After that I would have anxiety around being more dressed up, even if I was in an environment that seemed like it should be safe. I didn’t wear makeup much until I was in college, and the super red lipstick trend was in, and I really liked it and wanted to wear some myself. I bought a shade of red that I dubbed “Blood of My Enemies” and began wearing it occasionally, gradually feeling less anxious about doing so.
So. Good comic.
Major high five for your journey. For me, it was the color green–one specific shade–and the scent of spearmint. It’d make me anxious whenever I smelled it, and for years I hated green.
One day I finally went no, fuck that, he doesn’t get to take a whole color from me. Fuck that guy.
For me, it’s riding a motorcycle. Not quite there yet, partially because money and partially because fuck PTSD. But I still want to learn some day, from somebody who isn’t using it as an excuse to isolate and assault me.
*appropriate gesture of support* I’m sorry that happened to you, and I’m glad you feel more comfortable wearing things you like.
Hell fucking yeah, Joyce. I’m so proud of her.
[insert “you’re doing amazing sweetie” meme]
“I want to keep loving this sweater” hit me pretty hard. I was introduced to Garbage (the band) by my then-best-friend who I ended up cutting ties with because she was emotionally abusive/manipulative/generally awful. They were her favorite band and the only music we had in common. I had to consciously choose to keep enjoying them and not let the connection to her ruin that for me.
Wear the hell out of that sweater, Joyce. Do me a favor and blare ‘Right Between The Eyes’ when you do it.
Yes Joyce, wear the flesh of your vanquished foes. Hear the lamentations of their kin.
<3
that is such a big, wonderful thing that she's able to do that now
yay
I had my own little trigger incident today, and managed to stay present and process some of the emotional pain
a lot more draining than dissociating it away, and more physical symptoms, but, yay healing 
it felt like the sort of thing that needed to get more painful before getting better. although in other aspects it already *was* a fair bit better – the feelings were intense but bearable. bearable is huge progress 
and I think it'll be significantly less terrifying next time something similar happens.
Congratulations! And *appropriate gesture of support*
congrats!
Glad to hear that! With trauma, it’s important tonremember we are not weak because we were hurt. We are strong because we get up as many times as it takes.
When I saw the phrase “tattered flesh of my vanquished enemies,” I assumed it was either a biblical quote or some pop culture reference. But a quick google of that exact phrase turns up nothing; it is in fact original dialog by Willis.
Let us all reflect on how fortunate we are that, at least so far, Willis continues to use his powers for good.
If Willis were to use the Krell machine from Forbidden Planet, humanity would be doomed.
About the whole humanity being doomed thing, I may have bad news.
You say that as if the doom of humanity is a bad thing. I think we should embrace it.
Eat Arby’s.
Winning comment wins Interwebs.
As pessimistic as I am, I don’t believe that humanity is necessarily doomed. Except, of course, in the sense that evolution will sooner or later result in humanity’s descendants no longer resembling modern humans. Yes, something with the immediate devastation of a Chicxulub impact could do us in, but that is really unlikely.
The near-term collapse of civilization as we know it, however, is both preventable and all but inevitable. It’s happened before — see Eric Cline’s 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed — and if global warming doesn’t get us within 50 years, peak phosphorus gets us in at most 200 years.
But in all likelihood humans will still be around — albeit in much smaller numbers — even after civilization collapses. It’s happened before and it will probably happen again.
…So, you’re saying I might be able to sit in an old rocking chair, telling the little mutant toddlers about the Before Times? Pardon me while I go research life-prolonging diets and fitness routines.
You won’t have time for rocking. You’ll be too busy scavenging for food and supplies to get you through another day. When you’re not fending off other roaming tribes of scavengers.
Oh, don’t be such a defeatist. There’s always time for rocking.
Last time around we were able to do a lot less damage to the world around us as we went.
We weren’t causing a mass extinction event. We weren’t causing global warming. We didn’t have nuclear weapons. We really could wipe ourselves off the planet in ways we’ve never been capable of before.
The nuclear weapons I will grant you. If enough of them go off, even accidentally, that could be a humanity-ending event.
But as far as humans are concerned, the main effect of global warming is likely to be a major shock to the global food supply at the same time as entire populations become climate refugees. Historically, that kind of situation tends to lead to famine and war. Horrific for those who live through it, but not a species-ending event for a sufficiently-adaptable species like humans.
If we were a wiser species, we might be able to avoid all that. Unfortunately, while humans as individuals are pretty smart, as a species we are, collectively, about as smart as yeast, so…
er… you’re not making the connection from war to nuclear weapons? war *before* nukes was not a species-ending event. war with nukes could be. That was the whole deal with the cold war, iirc; both America and the USSR had the technology to detect nukes headed their way early enough to retaliate, but they didn’t have the technology to make the incoming nukes not nuke something.
So is Joyce starting to go old testament now…?
Nah, the Old Testament forbids mixing cotton and synthetic fibers.
What synthetic fibers did they even have, back then? Some variant of rayon?
It’s mixing two types of fibres. At the time, it would’ve meant like mixing flax with wool.
Linen and wool actually are the banned mixers. They d8dnt even have snthetic fibers or cotton
Whoops, didn’t see this had already been said
Linsey-woolsey was a thing in colonial America.
Joyce is starting to go SELECTIVELY old testame-….
….. er, I mean, CONTINUING to go selectively old testament.
Next thing you know, she’ll be yelling “Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne!”
Now that I think of it, she would better fit the role of a Sister of Battle than that of a Khornate cultist…
Hey, the OT God liked the smell of burning flesh better than that of burning grains, so He’s kinda a ‘Blood God’.
That makes a certain amount of added sense, as there is some limited amount of evidence (much of it hotly debated) from archaeological anthropology that suggests IHVH originated as the war god of the pantheon worshiped by the Hebrew people before they became monotheistic. Of course since this is from the period around the late Bronze Age collapse and it’s following dark age, when writing more or less kinda went away for a while, it’s exceptionally hard to be conclusive about.
I don’t know, considering the Khornate views on the Slaaneshi and what they stand for I could see a Joyce going all in for the blood god
Meanwhile I feel like she’d have all sorts of issues with any role within the Adepta Sororitas or even the Adeptus Ministorum as a whole as it now exists and as her views currently sit. I could however see her making a solid Commissar in the Guard if we wanna insist on non-heretical Imperium.
…Joyce would make an awesome Commisar with the proper training. She’d be like a more chaste Ciaphas Cain.
Milk for the Khorne flakes!
Raisins for the bran bowl!
I am not going to get worried until I hear “Blood and souls for Arioch”…
Thanks…now I have to buy a new book series… I’m not made of money you know!
Methinks that “Ryan” getting sent upstate in a bloody Hefty bag did wonders for Joyce’s trauma.
Well, yeah of course. The possibility that he could be right around the next corner is gone.
But as she said to Joe, the possibility that somebody *else* could be around that next corner has not. This is progress, and it’s both empowering and adorable, but don’t expect Amber’s actions to have totally cured Joyce’s issues.
Operation Enduring Friendship is on standby it seems.
Save us from people who think they know what “metal” means…
Chemists?
Smiths?
Alchemists?
Yes?
Do someone need to save us from you?
Considering the Mike gravitar, probably.
How about we use the Nathan Explosion ‘brutal’ meme instead?
Implying people have deeply-held beliefs in regards to what “metal” does or doesn’t mean.
Also, I was the only one who said it, unless every other use is misspelled.
Judging by panel 6, I’m going to guess the Browns had at least a couple Viking ancestors.
With that little gesture of kindness, Sarah shows again why she’s the best big sister figure in the comic.
I dunno, Jocelyn’s not bad… or are we disqualifying her for being a literal rather than figurative big sister?
Jocelyn’s awesome, but a) she hasn’t been able to be a “big sister figure” since she’s still closeted and b) she hasn’t been around enough – it’s been more than a year since we’ve seen her.
Yeah, the lack of presence kinda excludes her from the running. She can get the title of ‘cool big sister’ though, howaboutthat?
“What are little girls made of”
Sugar, spice, and the blood of our enemies!
Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, and everything else!
Hopefully not too much lead, now that we took it out of paint and gasoline
Being triggered would have been a perfectly acceptable reaction. But, this is good, too. In part because Joyce wearing the broken flesh of a felled enemy just brings her close to what we all know she is.
…
SOCIAL JUSTICE BARBARIAN! [Que echo]
Yeah, screw Social Justice Warrior. Warrior’s an NPC class!
Though, really, I think Social Justice Paladin is more her speed.
Until she roars and butchers her opponent with the random thing she has in her hand.
A phone?
Joyce is like that one spy dude from a series I watched a long time ago. She’d be probably able to wreck someone with chopsticks or a sponge…
I imagine, some day, Joyce facing someone, perhaps someone from her old church, being in conversation with them, then laying them out with a combination of using a gender-studies book as a blunt weapon and her completely articulate rage-speech-powers.
You have to remember her rage-based-powers. Specifically, what she did to a door just after thinking about the injustice that was done her friend.
That, and Joyce is on a path of disillusionment with religion, but learning the value and control of her anger and rage as a weapon.
Plus, wearing the blood of your felled foes, totally a barbarian move.
Social Justice Barbarian.
It would have been really funny if Malaya had switched roommates just to get Joyce.
Heh, I bet she will see a lot of her anyway.
I wanna her Joyce’s friendship speech. I bet Malaya wanna her it too
I am sufficiently slow that it wasn’t until a third or fourth reading of the coming that I twigged to Joyce having prepared a speech about “enduring friendship,” exactly paralleling Lucy’s introductory greeting.
Sarah exactly gets it with “don’t barge in smile-first.”
Given Malaya’s probable reaction, Sal would be so conflicted.
I love Joyce’s reclaiming of her sweater.
But also? I love that Sarah was being thoughtful about it.
I think lately we’ve been hit by a lot of Sarah’s unlikable character traits: her petty scheming to break up a decent relationship, her perpetual grumpiness, her strange combination of self-righteousness and self-loathing.
But she cares deeply about people she lets herself get close to. She cared about her freshman roommate enough to be the only one concerned she was doing hard drugs. And she cares about Joyce enough to want to go after her when she went to the party on the chance she might get hurt, and enough to hide her sweater because it might be triggering.
I love Sarah a lot actually.
Agreed. And in the past when she’s tried to protect Joyce, Joyce has needed it. So now we get to see how Sara will continue to be a good big sister as Joyce grows into her own autonomy.
Judging by her reaction to Lucy in yesterday’s strip, Malaya would probably take one look at Joyce and “nope” her way out of yet another dorm.
Nah, she would stay to spite Sal.
That Malaya knew she was moving in with Sal and still opted to go through with it is interesting.
Very.
I don’t think Malaya minds being around Sal. After all – how would Sal otherwise know that Malaya is cooler than her?
Every now and then, Joyce does something that can only be responded to with a fixed, terrified smile and slowly backing towards the door. This is one of those times.
I disagree – 1) she’s earned the right to be hardcore, 2) she’s a deeply good person. Badassery in good people should be appreciated, not fled from.
Besides how will she be able to cosplay as Velma without it?
I would be down to watch Joyce the Barbarian rain righteous fury on a series of butthole antagonists, accumulating bloodstains on her orange sweater like trophies.
I’m intrigued by how Joyce seems to be actively avoiding the idea of going to church. And also why Sarah is pushing it so hard.
Which one are they even going to? IIRC they’d been church hopping a bit? I think the last time was when Joyce had the PTSD flashback to Toedad.
ohhhhhh….
They’re going to Jacob’s church, at Jacob’s invitation. Jacob’s church is Episcopalian, or, as Joyce thinks of it, “a hippie church.”
This is not part of a spiritual quest, but one small part of a campaign to separate Jacob from Raidah. Joyce and Sarah have different understandings on how this is to be accomplished, and what happens post-Raidah, but they agree on that immediate goal.
Oh, Joyce.
Episcopalian means they have bishops, not hippies.
Good Joyce, Good. Now you just need to drive your enemies before you and enjoy the lamentation of their men and women (depending on gender and sexuality of the enemy). The last part might get a bit problematic as some couples are probably battle couples and after vanquishing and driving them there will be no one to lament for them… Their dog maybe, cat would probably just shrug and go find new willing slaves.
Depends on the dog or cat, we have had a few animals in our family that would surprise you with their capacity for lamentations or revenge – both in the dog and cat variety. So, there may come a need to vanquish animal populations and that is where I think Joyce might draw the line.
You know, panel 2 really, really makes me wish that someone would create a My Little Pony of Joyce. She’d fit right in with all that talk of the ‘power of friendship’!
Apparently cuddling with Walky at night caused an interdimensional personality sync, and DoA Joyce has now embraced the philosophies of her SEMME self.
Hasn’t that sweater been washed yet?
They probably tucked it away and avoided thinking about it.
Blood takes ages to get out, one wash would not do it.
I remember reading that hydrogen peroxide would help.
Pssshhht, blood is like any other stain as long as you use cold water and don’t let it sit there for too long. It should only take one try normally. But NOW it’ll take them ages to get it out because they understandably avoided it.
At this point, Lestoil is your friend. But you can’t let it sit too long or it’ll remove the dyes.
Anyone else notice the drenched bed?
In panel 1? Yes, I saw the shadowing, but I think it’s a different room. I’d love to be wrong, tho.
No, this is Joyce’s room and it was Joyce’s bed they were in.
somebody analyze and let me know what’s changed since http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/schnazzy/
She almost got shot by a man she knew since childhood, her best friend was nearly kidnapped by said man, and she punched him in the face. It’s similar to how she was previously unable to walk around outside alone but has since proven able, as shown here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/elsewhere/ . To summarize it, I think she’s sadly had more traumas since then to occupy her mind. More distance from the attack and reminders of it help too. Sometimes the brain can only handle one thing at a time, and for now she’s focused on the more recent things. I think it also helps that Ryan has since then been beaten up and hospitalized. It’s definitely not a cure to her trauma, but knowing he’s in pain might make her feel more at ease with what happened.
What’s changed? Time, events, and Joyce.
It’s not just that she’s had more traumas, but she’s also had tough events that have demonstrated to her that she is a strong person. And yeah, Ryan no longer lurking as a potential physical threat to her is also helping, even if she does recognize that there are more like him out there.
Oh Joyce, from adorable to grimdark whimsical in a matter of seconds.
I think that Joyce believes that the real world would be a lot nicer if it was more like a comic book. I can’t say that I disagree with her all that much!
I can relate to that.
Also, I’m surprised to see that I got a new Gravatar
Joyce will amazed to discover the difference between churches she’s experienced before and a ‘hippie church’. It may be a turning point for her.
I feel like the amount of singing will stay the same? So what will change besides the content of the sermons? I honestly don’t know. I’m from a fairly liberal Jewish congregation.
Oh Joyce! How I love thee! Let me count the ways…
Mixed fabrics? Doesn’t god hate those?
why must everyone make that joke? It’s not even the craziest law in the Torah
I’ll bite. What is the craziest law in the Torah?
There’s over 600 of them. I couldn’t say off the top of my head. I will say there’s enough that th3 Talmud has a whole category called basically: ” Laws made for reasons we don’t get, bit we should be mindful of them anyway”
besides, it’s only the mixing of linen and wool that’s banned. And only sheep/lamb/ram wool, so llama wool, for example, can be mixed with linen
What’s linen, specifically?
It’s a kind of cloth woven from plant material. Less insulating than, say, wool.
Very much less insulating. It’s meant to be breathable and light, suitable fo sun-blocking tunics and headwear that don’t trap heat
Ok, why is my greatest back to normal when I post on my phone?
Greatest victim of auto-correct…
Am I the only one who finds it weird that Malaya is already awake and moving in on a SUNDAY while Joyce and Sarah are getting ready for church? You have to get up EARLY for church. (One of the many and admittedly more minor reasons I stopped going to church a loooooong time ago.) I can’t see Malaya being a morning person. Plus, Billie and Sal are already awake too, what is this madness?
Could be that Malaya was woken by her bright and happy roommate (the one that triggered the move in the first place) causing her to want to move early since the option had finally opened up.
anything to leave Lucy
Yeah, Malaya may well have asked Forest*, “It’s 12:01am, therefore Sunday. What do you mean I can’t move right now?”
(*Until he gets a name, that’s Asma’s counterpart at the other dorm.)
On the other hand, I’m sure LUCY is a morning person and has spent all morning fussing over Malaya, heartbroken about her leaving
…something like this
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/production/
So yeah, I’m sure Malaya found the inspiration to leave quickly.
Billie just want to get out and get it over with, and Sal – I think – is awake to say goodbye to Billie. She may not be the hugging kind of family but she worries about her kinda-not-really sister.
Heh, seems like more than one of us got the not-very-farfetched idea that Lucy was involved.
Positron – you have the BEST gravatar.
Go Joyce! Maybe she’ll get over the agoraphobia Stabby McRapeface gave her.
…she might learn to cope, eventually? getting over it, who knows. If she’s otherwise neurotypical, it could happen I guess. I’m not a psychologist.
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: I love this to death. It’s Joyce doing her typical excited no boundaries thing and it’s Sarah making sure to check that impulse and giving a good consent reason why. That it’s important to let folks settle before pouncing on them. And it really shows how much Sarah has embraced this big sister role.
Panel 2: And it’s a good thing she stopped her too. That would have been an epic disaster.
Panels 4-6: There are no words to express how massive this is. After an assault, there are objects and smells and places that trigger intensely and that can last years. I have a specific event I have a hard time going back to because I was raped there.
And we know this sweater in particular was that. Like, lest we forget, the last we saw this sweater, it was Becky pulling it out of the closet and Joyce going into a full spiral seeing it again that lead to the reality of her assault being discussed.
Both Becky and Sarah have independently tried to hide this sweater knowing how harmful seeing it and remembering was. But here, she is genuinely heart-warmed and happy to see it and has found an internal narrative that allows her to win back this object she loves and turn it into an object of strength rather than pain.
And that reclamation is huge, frequently extraordinarily difficult, and can be a massive part of reclaiming one’s power back.
Cause that’s one of the enduring things from an assault, the way someone steals your body autonomy, leaving you feeling powerless with unbidden triggers poisoning things you used to love or feel neutral about. Each trigger can feel like another way that rapist has managed to have enduring power over you. It makes the reliving of the violation that much worse.
So to be able to do something like this, reclaim the object is a huge thing. It is her managing to fight and take back what was stolen from her and it is likely this is part of why she was so adamant about letting Amber know how grateful she was.
Because knowing that her rapist got ripped apart has allowed his hold on her subconscious to weaken enough to let her crawl out from under some of her triggers.
And I can’t blame her for wanting to share that and make it heard, because as a survivor, there are no words for how amazing it feels to finally do something you’ve had triggers about and have it not feel like pain and death.
Big sis is doing good. Reining in little sis when she is about to be overly obnoxious is a good part of it.
And Joyce’s victory over her internal Ryan is EPIC. I doubt she will see him multiplied wandering around campus that often anymore.
Overly obnoxious –》gloriously obnoxious to Malaya
Fixed that for you.
Well, now, she might. Trauma doesn’t just go away – it’ll always be a part of her. But now, when it happens, she’ll have the armor and weapons to fight back.
I see in her eyes that a lot of it is bravado. She’s not over the trauma, she’s just making a concerted effort to not let it control her. Still amazing, but the opera’s not over ’til the fat lady sings.
Cerb, I love this analysis about reclaiming power and vanquishing triggers, but I’ve got a question. I’m someone who’s been sexually assaulted, but not raped. Arguably, that is also true of Joyce. I also do research on non-rape sexual assault, so have plenty of information about how what is frequently referred to as a “minor” incident can wreak havoc in people’s lives.
As a result, the use of “rapist” as a catch-all bothers me, especially because other types of sexual assault are likely to get trivialized because they weren’t rape. The only word I’ve thought of as a replacement, “assailant,” feels overly clinical. So I guess what I’m asking is, what vocabulary can we use to capture the awfulness of people who commit any kind of sexual assault, including the infinite variants other than rape?
(And I can think of all sorts of words that can’t be used in polite company, but I’d also like one that can be used with policymakers, students, and educators)
I actually like ‘assailant’ for this. ‘Attacker’ might also work.
You might also reconsider ‘rapist’. Just because they’re not TECHNICALLY rapists, doesn’t mean that what they’re doing isn’t in the same general vein. To have your consent violated, your body violated, is ‘rape’ enough.
Thanks. I think I need to steer clear from using “rape” for things that are not technically rape because A. The sorts of policymakers and political types I’m trying to convince to make changes will accuse me of exaggerating the problem and B. it unintentionally reinforces the idea that assaults other than rape aren’t “really” bad when they can, in fact, have consequences that linger for years.
Might you try molester? And/or violent molester? It already carries all the correct negative sexual connotations.
I like that option myself, yeah. “Sexual molester” gets the idea across succinctly (as does being “molested” as opposed to and as a complement term to being raped); and as you say, already has a whole host of negative connotations thanks to the use of the word in the phrase “child molester”.
“Accosted” might be a good one as well, for instances of sexual harassment that, thankfully, didn’t get physical. Possibly also “violated”/”violator”?
Ok, I got a gravatar, but it’s not showing up. How do I fix this?
Also, I wish my trigger was as badass as Joyce’s. Mine is just organizing filing systems. Not even connected to any one event, my anxiety just makes it a nerve-wracking experience.
We can’t choose our triggers. Remember that Joyce’s also involve less glamorous things like just being outside alone. And as someone who can have a panic attack about sending an email, I sympathize with your plight!
Thank you. Now, about my gravatar. I uploaded a custom one, bit it’s not showing up
Is it rated G? I had that issue.
I rated it PG, since it’s the C:tL skull
When I first read this strip, I wondered why Sarah would be holding Joyce’s sweater in the first place.
I had to go back to look at the previous strips to see Billie returning the sweater, and Sarah grabbing at it to hide it.
Sarah is such a good friend.
I love the line, “I choose to wear the tattered flesh of my vanquished enemies.”
Would make a Chapter title.
Synthetic fibers? C’mon, Joyce. Go wool or go home.
Even the characters have caught on to how the book titles work. Soon they’re all going to speak in potential book titles and no one’ll know what’s what anymore.
I honestly feel like Ryan should be tagged in this.
There is precedent for tagging him on the sole basis of his blood (see: the last time he appeared in the strip).
I love it when a character’s eyebrows try to escape through liftoff.
Last panel: LOL, Walky is rubbing off on Joyce.
Huh, I thought he was doing that on Dorothy.
Wait, panel 1. Are those her eyebrows up there?!
I am now very, very, *very* happy that Joyce didn’t meet Malaya. If anybody could make Joyce mad (probably not punch-mad, but definitely scary-mad), it’d probably be Malaya ignoring her/taking shots at her oppressive sunniness.