Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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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While I agree that Ron seems like a cool dude, I’d hope our standards for who qualifies as a ‘nice guy’ in this comic strip are a bit higher than ‘has not attempted to rape any of the characters’. Just saying.
Nah it’s just a lack of major marks in the negative category. Otherwise, with all the terrible things out there that it’s possible to do, we’d all start out so far in the positive that anything short of being a serial killer would make a person “nice”.
“Billie gets major bonus points for not trying to make a move.”
My god. What sort of people are you hanging out where you’re granting points for NOT doing awful things in the face of a major incident. You shouldn’t be granting points for that. That sounds more like “I don’t grade you down” territory.
Plasma, sometimes I feel the desire to write down all the comments you make and collect them into a book titled “Things that Make Even Less Sense in Context”.
Kernanator, that is because for some reason, some of my comments end up in the wrong place due to some kind of glitch or if the comment I was replying to was deleted.
W…Wuh? “Intrigues”? It is one of *the* most common character archetypes on the internet. Seriously. Simply *existing* as a common thing is not intriguing. If the character’s choices and outlooks were examined, *that* would be intriguing.
Additionally; immediately hating absolutely everyone does not a good judge of character make.
Girls intrigue me and they’re pretty common. You make the mistake of conflating “I think broken naivete is interesting” with “I think common tropes are interesting.” But something can be both interesting and common, just as much as something can be interesting and uncommon.
As for her being a good judge of character, the only really debatable judgment she’s made has been against Billie, and it remains to be seen just how fair that judgment is going to turn out to be.
Bah. Misanthropy is the natural and rational result of frequently repeated practical demonstrations of humanity’s general suckage.
And also, repeated morons telling me that puerile story about how many muscles it takes to smile vs frowning, and other idiotic attempts to “cheer me up” or “bring me out of my shell.”
I’m sure the fact that she nearly got lost her scholarships, which are the only thing keeping her in school, because of someone who behaved like Billie (though most likely a bit worse) is certainly not a factor in it at all. It’s not as if having such a person as a roommate before didn’t make her hate people who behave that way and thus act sour towards them. This can’t possibly be a contributing factor.
she didn’t take a large dose and it wasnt with alcohol. and yes she could be allergic but thats pretty rare and she would likely be showing signs by this point
The article says especially. We don’t know how hard her body will take the date rape drug. She started showing signs almost immediately after drinking her drink – that’s usually a really bad sign, or so I hear.
Why yes, I totally believe that Willis will kill off one of his most-main characters this early in the comic. I am truly quaking in my custom baby-seal-leather boots.
(Hush, you people there, muttering things like ‘Ruth’ and ‘Dina’ in the back.)
Well, that’s getting pretty far up into what could be considered poison. Lysergic acid diethylamide is certainly an intoxicant, but it is less toxic than distilled water . . .
I think that’s just an odd angle–we’re looking through the driver’s side window. I’m assuming Willis didn’t want to do a profile shot of a newly-established character in his first solo speaking panel.
It looks big enough to be a van or suv to me. That could mean that it could have the front seats, two more bucket seats in the middle, and then a bench seat in the back.
When I first saw it, I didn’t wonder about the physics. I just wondered why he was driving a van. lol
Whelp, the decision to let Joyce sleep it off in ONE sense becomes less of a bad decision. It looks like the party organizer would be a witness as to what happened in case Ryan tries to pull something on the girls.
It’s still a very dangerous idea to let Joyce sleep it off. There are many things that could happen, and some of them can be very, very, bad.
1) We don’t know the dosage she was given.
2) If they intend to make any kind of case against this guy, they need to grab the only solid piece of evidence from out of her body as quickly as possible before it’s metabolized.
3) We still don’t know how much time has passed. The event could have transpired only three minutes ago, and they are only now just leaving the house.
4) The creator of the comic just sent you informational reference regarding the physiological dangers of date rape drugs. He may just enjoy filling in potholes of ignorance, or he may be informing you so later events take place. WE’LL FIND OUT WON’T WE.
Well, Ryan is now easy to spot. If you see a guy with bruises and scars, there’s your man unless he somehow undergo plastic surgery and that’s way too ridiculous.
Yeah. Original Recipe Ryan seems to have relied exclusively on flattery, but both versions use the telemarketer’s trick of seeming to be just like their “marks” for as long as it takes to “close the sale.” (We can’t say whether OR Ryan was as impatient as his successor, since Ruth caved to him pretty much immediately.)
Funny that it comes up now, because Sarah reminds me an awful lot of Original Recipe Ruth, as a teenager. She’s got potential, but that damn superiority complex of hers is going to keep getting in her way unless something breaks it. Whatever that is, I hope it’s gentler than what broke Ruth’s.
(Actually, thinking it over, Original Recipe Ryan would HAVE to be more patient than his successor, since he seems to have waited through a few encounters to build himself up in Ruth’s mind. Which doesn’t mean he’s not a sleaze, or that he wouldn’t turn rapist if he got frustrated enough. I could certainly see him getting more impatient as his sexual history progresses, too.)
And here I thought Sarah was gonna warm up to Billie after seeing how level-headed and useful she was in giving Joyce first-aid. Of course, I guess any familiarity with drugs and/or party culture is going to be a negative mark in Sarah’s book. And now she’s got even more justification to be uncompromising and self-righteous about…
No, see – she did all this to proactively prevent the situation from going lower than the “told-you-so” threshold. Having done this, and presuming that Joyce doesn’t die or something, Sarah will be able to unleash her “told-you-so” with twice the cred, once Joyce is conscious enough to appreciate the full force thereof.
But Ryan may have wanted to “keep his head clear,” to be ready to act as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Or maybe to keep from getting so drunk that HE passed out before said opportunity. Or maybe both.
Or maybe he just doesn’t care for the taste of alcohol.
Sarah: paranoid or precognitive? Sure, Joyce at a booze-party is a disaster waiting to happen, but it could easily have been a ‘get sloppy drunk and get carried home’ disaster or a ‘get horrified by the couple sexing it upon the couch and scream’ disaster rather than a full-on ‘get nearly raped’ disaster. I dunno, maybe rape really is that common at college parties, but without knowing that this seems like Sarah acted on an awfully pessimistic guess.
I still assert that the baseball bat was a transformed Amazi-Stool. It was there for long enough to save the day – and as soon as everyone’s back was turned it disappeared quietly into the night. It’s probably chasing Ryan alongside Amazi-Girl as we speak.
Ron’s “cool dude” status may be considered earned, in part, by his willingness to break out the board games for a room full of mostly drunk people (and Joyce).
Kinda shocked at all the Sarah hate, given that really early on in the strip it was established she was getting grief from all the students who were friends with her Stoner Roomie. That kind of harassment will make anyone bitter and resentful.
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Who’s Ron?
He seems to be the guy who had the party, so he probably feels responsible for what happened
Old character from Roomies. Lived with Billie and Ruth.
That guy there. He’s Ron.
First off, the guy who gave Joyce her first drink (the one that wasn’t drugged) and secondly, apparently the guy who’s party it was.
He’s the louse who gave Joyce the *original* Sierra Mist!
“Louse”? Really?
Seems like a nice enough guy.
Didn’t try to date-rape any women.
Do we really need to equate him to a blood-sucking parasite?
I believe Jason was referring to the Sierra Mist.
Well, yes…
And in doing so he called Ron a louse…?
He was giving stuff away! That’s kind of the *opposite* of a blood-sucking parasite.
I’m sure he was exaggerate for humorous effect.
…I mean, Sierra Mist is obviously the superior beverage.
ooooh I get it. because she wanted Sprite… haha… clever.
I don’t see how. “He’s the louse,” not… “The drink’s the louse…”
It’s not Sierra Mist’s fault that it is foisted upon hapless Sprite-seekers! LEAVE SIERRA MIST ALOOOONE!!!
He gave Joyce a fake sprite. Of couse he’s a louse.
People around here are far too forgiving of inferior soda.
I concur.
While I agree that Ron seems like a cool dude, I’d hope our standards for who qualifies as a ‘nice guy’ in this comic strip are a bit higher than ‘has not attempted to rape any of the characters’. Just saying.
You know, innocent until proven guilty and all that stuff.
It shouldn’t be the only thing you measure a person against, but having not done it is a definite mark in the “plus” category.
Nah it’s just a lack of major marks in the negative category. Otherwise, with all the terrible things out there that it’s possible to do, we’d all start out so far in the positive that anything short of being a serial killer would make a person “nice”.
Isn’t the first thing a serial killer’s neighbors say when they find out, “But he was such a nice person!”?
Apparently the Sierra Mist VS Sprite issue is SERIOUS BUSINESS in that there parts I take it?
evidently!
Especially since 7-Up is the clear winner!
Eww, just eww.
I’m no sure why they care it’s obvious that Sun Drop pwns all yellow drinks.
Ah, but neither Sierra Mist nor Sprite is yellow. They are both “white” {clear} lemon-lime flavored sodas.
Yellow?
I see your eyes function as well as your taste buds do.
I don’t really have much a preference for either. Now if it’s Coke VS Pepsi?
I’ll still pick the root beer every time.
Everyone is still debating Sprite vs 7UP vs Sierra Mist when Cheerwine is clearly the best soda out there!
Shots of Cheerwine, followed by Sun Drop chasers for everyone!
Hurray for Cheerwine!
If only Dr. Pepper’s new line didn’t have such a sexist ad line.
Oh well, there’s Mr. Pibb.
Cheerwine is the best. Too bad you can only get it in certain states.
That doesn’t sound like a cream soda or a root beer, so it can’t be true.
Cream soda and root beer are what people in most of the world drink because they don’t have access to Cheerwine.
Canada Dry quenches all desires.
Coke. Clear winner. That is the ultimate drink for me. No alternatives.
And before anyone suggests alcohol is better, I don’t drink it. EVER.
“Billie gets major bonus points for not trying to make a move.”
My god. What sort of people are you hanging out where you’re granting points for NOT doing awful things in the face of a major incident. You shouldn’t be granting points for that. That sounds more like “I don’t grade you down” territory.
It sounds like a variation of the No Kid Left Behind policy to me.
Sometimes I feel the desire to write down all the comments you make and collect them into a book titled “Things that Make Even Less Sense in Context”.
Plasma, sometimes I feel the desire to write down all the comments you make and collect them into a book titled “Things that Make Even Less Sense in Context”.
Kernanator, that is because for some reason, some of my comments end up in the wrong place due to some kind of glitch or if the comment I was replying to was deleted.
Ron is driving the car. You can work it out by process of elimination. “Which character does not have a pre-established name in this continuity?”
well said sarah
Wonder if she saw Joyce with the board games?
She was trying hard not to step in and ask to play. SO HARD.
Aww, Joyce is leaning against Sarah, they are buds /blub
I knew I voted that I like Sarah the best in every poll for a reason
I keep refreshing the page just to see how fast the comments appear
The host, I guess, and he appears here too
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/sprite/
I’d love to see Sarah get punched in the face. Seriously. I hate people who are sour to everyone for no reason.
Yes! Misanthropists are the worst!
Of course, some misanthropes have reasons.
Misanthropy is just an overreaction to broken naivety. It’s equally foolish, just in the other direction.
Broken naivety? That doesn’t intrigue you, huh? It ntrigues some of us. That and she’s obviously a good judge of character.
W…Wuh? “Intrigues”? It is one of *the* most common character archetypes on the internet. Seriously. Simply *existing* as a common thing is not intriguing. If the character’s choices and outlooks were examined, *that* would be intriguing.
Additionally; immediately hating absolutely everyone does not a good judge of character make.
Girls intrigue me and they’re pretty common. You make the mistake of conflating “I think broken naivete is interesting” with “I think common tropes are interesting.” But something can be both interesting and common, just as much as something can be interesting and uncommon.
As for her being a good judge of character, the only really debatable judgment she’s made has been against Billie, and it remains to be seen just how fair that judgment is going to turn out to be.
Misanthropy is dangerous if not kept a watvhful eye on.
Its the beginning stage of lycanthropy.
Bah. Misanthropy is the natural and rational result of frequently repeated practical demonstrations of humanity’s general suckage.
And also, repeated morons telling me that puerile story about how many muscles it takes to smile vs frowning, and other idiotic attempts to “cheer me up” or “bring me out of my shell.”
(People who do this learn to fear my laser face.)
Y’know, it only takes four muscles to smile but a lot more to flip someone off. Flipping someone off makes ME smile :3
Heh, someones headed for full blown Lycanthropy.
Better lock up your snausages and beggin strips folks.
And any small pets you dont want devoured.
And the fact that everyone glorifies her stormy disposition just makes it so much more infuriating.
I’m sure the fact that she nearly got lost her scholarships, which are the only thing keeping her in school, because of someone who behaved like Billie (though most likely a bit worse) is certainly not a factor in it at all. It’s not as if having such a person as a roommate before didn’t make her hate people who behave that way and thus act sour towards them. This can’t possibly be a contributing factor.
Prior to her avenging angel act, she treated joyce with spite, so she has only recently earned the benefit of the doubt to be fair.
She’s obnoxious, but she did the right thing in the end.
An aversion to getting punched in the face for petty reasons is a very good reason for being sour all the time.
Being sour to Billie and Joyce is hardly being sour to everyone.
Is that DoA Ultra Car?
Or is it just a red car?
The tag doesn’t identify it as Ultra Car, but it looks uncannily similar.
Proto-car?
*cue whistle theme*
Later, Proto-Car becomes Break-Car to fight his brother,Mega-Car only to do a heel face turn when he discover that it’s employer is evil.
Given Billie’s expression, it seems Sarah didn’t deliver that with the usual nastiness we might expect.
Nah, Billie just recognizes her personality can be abrasive.
Jeez, Sarah, just how high is that horse of yours? How do you find the oxygen to condescend to people from up there?
she evolved beyond the need for oxygen after finding out that people can use oxygen to get high
She’s Sarah. And she can breathe in space.
But does she eat nachos?
Yes. With her face.
In her PEEEENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!
Wait, what?
I get the feeling Sarah has her reasons for being jaded. And she probably thinks the worse will always happen. If not, to her they just got lucky.
I’m theorizing, I’m not the expert on the character.
Dammit Ron, skip campus and drive to a damn hospital!
she doesnt need to go to a hospital. she was drugged not poisoned
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape_drug#Dangers
she didn’t take a large dose and it wasnt with alcohol. and yes she could be allergic but thats pretty rare and she would likely be showing signs by this point
The article says especially. We don’t know how hard her body will take the date rape drug. She started showing signs almost immediately after drinking her drink – that’s usually a really bad sign, or so I hear.
I’m actually getting very afraid of what may happen…
Especially when we consider who just pointed out the dangers of roofies…
Willis is a master of deceit, and he’s proven that many times.
I will remain unconvinced Joyce is in any long-term life threatening harm until I see it for myself.
Why yes, I totally believe that Willis will kill off one of his most-main characters this early in the comic. I am truly quaking in my custom baby-seal-leather boots.
(Hush, you people there, muttering things like ‘Ruth’ and ‘Dina’ in the back.)
I’m pretty much expecting tomorrow’s strip to be Sarah waking up to the sight of Joyce’s cold, white flesh across the room.
It would be a strange yet fitting turn for this comic if Joyce didn’t wake up in the morning…
I hope you mean that she’s out cold until the afternoon, because if you mean anything more sinister, then NO.
Should not put it past him. We all remember IW!
waaaaaait.Is this a hint at something Willis?
This isn’t a good sign.
Uh… “drugged” and “poisoned” are nigh-synonymous, you know? Nearly all drugs, especially date rape drugs, easily qualify as poisons.
So a character might actually die because another thought it was best to “stick it to the man” over doing the sensible if awkward thing.
In fact, alcohol is considered a poison.
Technically, any intoxicant is poison.
Well, that’s getting pretty far up into what could be considered poison. Lysergic acid diethylamide is certainly an intoxicant, but it is less toxic than distilled water . . .
Ron just left his own house party? I like his dedication to the cause.
he feels guilty for distributing sierra mist, eve though it was on sale!
<—newest member of the Sarah fan club.
Sarah is the best character in the whole strip, darn it! (“No, just you” is a classic)
I dunno, man. She’s competing with Dina. And more importantly, Dina’s hat.
Ryan and Ron
Hmm…
Does the contrast between these two make anyone else think of Goofus and Gallant?
Gallant’s guests go up to the roof, where they gaze at the sunrise on the mist…
Goofus’s guests aren’t told it’s BYOB.
Well, Ryan hardly strikes me as the Gallant type, but Ron did serve Sierra Mist at a party, so….
I’m a bit confused by the physics of this car.
Dorothy is behind Ron, which means she’s not riding shotgun; but she’s not sitting with Joyce, Billie and Sarah, so she’s not in the backseat either.
Hammer Space? 0_o
I think that’s just an odd angle–we’re looking through the driver’s side window. I’m assuming Willis didn’t want to do a profile shot of a newly-established character in his first solo speaking panel.
Actually Dorothy is riding shotgun. It’s on an angle.
It looks big enough to be a van or suv to me. That could mean that it could have the front seats, two more bucket seats in the middle, and then a bench seat in the back.
When I first saw it, I didn’t wonder about the physics. I just wondered why he was driving a van. lol
Whelp, the decision to let Joyce sleep it off in ONE sense becomes less of a bad decision. It looks like the party organizer would be a witness as to what happened in case Ryan tries to pull something on the girls.
It’s still a very dangerous idea to let Joyce sleep it off. There are many things that could happen, and some of them can be very, very, bad.
Thank goodness for “THRESHOLDS OF TRAGEDY!!!”
They probably make Sarah think “aww…Joyce looks so tragedorable, drugged like she is…”
1) We don’t know the dosage she was given.
2) If they intend to make any kind of case against this guy, they need to grab the only solid piece of evidence from out of her body as quickly as possible before it’s metabolized.
3) We still don’t know how much time has passed. The event could have transpired only three minutes ago, and they are only now just leaving the house.
4) The creator of the comic just sent you informational reference regarding the physiological dangers of date rape drugs. He may just enjoy filling in potholes of ignorance, or he may be informing you so later events take place. WE’LL FIND OUT WON’T WE.
ahh balzac I meant to reply to someone else’s post with this. THIS IS FOR YOU, LORD OF DANCE. FOR YOOOOOUUUU.
Well, Ryan is now easy to spot. If you see a guy with bruises and scars, there’s your man unless he somehow undergo plastic surgery and that’s way too ridiculous.
Is Joyce gonna die?
Doood.
Has this been pointed out yet? I was reading the archives and saw this:
http://www.itswalky.com/d/20070221.html
wow…I totally forgot about him.
I think it’s been mentioned, if only because I have vague memories of it being pointed out to me before.
It has — several times, but I’m glad someone linked it finally.
Yeah. Original Recipe Ryan seems to have relied exclusively on flattery, but both versions use the telemarketer’s trick of seeming to be just like their “marks” for as long as it takes to “close the sale.” (We can’t say whether OR Ryan was as impatient as his successor, since Ruth caved to him pretty much immediately.)
Funny that it comes up now, because Sarah reminds me an awful lot of Original Recipe Ruth, as a teenager. She’s got potential, but that damn superiority complex of hers is going to keep getting in her way unless something breaks it. Whatever that is, I hope it’s gentler than what broke Ruth’s.
(Actually, thinking it over, Original Recipe Ryan would HAVE to be more patient than his successor, since he seems to have waited through a few encounters to build himself up in Ruth’s mind. Which doesn’t mean he’s not a sleaze, or that he wouldn’t turn rapist if he got frustrated enough. I could certainly see him getting more impatient as his sexual history progresses, too.)
Well, I’m assuming the original Ryan was still in high school, too. He very well could have evolved from flattery to drugging once he got to college.
Is that really an evolution? Seems like a step backwards. Original Ryan was a douche, but he wasn’t breaking laws, at the very least.
Oh, semantics.
“He may have *moved on* from flattery to using drugs.” There, better?
Well shit. She has a conscience after all. Sorta.
And here I thought Sarah was gonna warm up to Billie after seeing how level-headed and useful she was in giving Joyce first-aid. Of course, I guess any familiarity with drugs and/or party culture is going to be a negative mark in Sarah’s book. And now she’s got even more justification to be uncompromising and self-righteous about…
Sarah does not strike me as someone whose opinion, bad or good, reverses itself immediately. She is now speaking politely to Billie, which is a start.
Hiiiii Roooooon.
Also, glad Sarah didn’t take the “told ya so” opportunity, even if it was about the size of Indonesia and flashing in neon colours.
No, see – she did all this to proactively prevent the situation from going lower than the “told-you-so” threshold. Having done this, and presuming that Joyce doesn’t die or something, Sarah will be able to unleash her “told-you-so” with twice the cred, once Joyce is conscious enough to appreciate the full force thereof.
“I told-you-so” is a dish best served cold.
I looooove the way you write, David!
Okay, let just establish that mentioning ‘i told you so’ counts as full told you so. +2 for smugness also.
So I guess Ryan wasn’t drinking too? Huh.
Sobriety is recommended when you’re hosting certain age groups, no matter how badly their company might make you want to drink.
Ryan wasn’t hosting the party. Ron was.
But Ryan may have wanted to “keep his head clear,” to be ready to act as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Or maybe to keep from getting so drunk that HE passed out before said opportunity. Or maybe both.
Or maybe he just doesn’t care for the taste of alcohol.
Sorry. Misread the name there.
Oh. You mean I did all that thinking for nothing? O_o
Joyce looks really cute when she’s snoring. I wonder if she’s one of those people who also snores cutely.
Gah! The comments, they’ve gone MAAAAD!
Sarah: paranoid or precognitive? Sure, Joyce at a booze-party is a disaster waiting to happen, but it could easily have been a ‘get sloppy drunk and get carried home’ disaster or a ‘get horrified by the couple sexing it upon the couch and scream’ disaster rather than a full-on ‘get nearly raped’ disaster. I dunno, maybe rape really is that common at college parties, but without knowing that this seems like Sarah acted on an awfully pessimistic guess.
Maybe Sarah decided Joyce was right, and that it couldn’t hurt to spend one night dancing…went looking for Joyce and found Ryan…and a baseball bat.
I still assert that the baseball bat was a transformed Amazi-Stool. It was there for long enough to save the day – and as soon as everyone’s back was turned it disappeared quietly into the night. It’s probably chasing Ryan alongside Amazi-Girl as we speak.
Ron’s “cool dude” status may be considered earned, in part, by his willingness to break out the board games for a room full of mostly drunk people (and Joyce).
Any more than five kilosads and you cross the I Told You So threshold.
Man, Ron By The Way seems like a pretty cool guy.
Kinda shocked at all the Sarah hate, given that really early on in the strip it was established she was getting grief from all the students who were friends with her Stoner Roomie. That kind of harassment will make anyone bitter and resentful.
Oh look, a cameo by Rayne Sumners!
Well, the title of his webcomic anyhow…
Ultra Car cameo
Uh…. “The gecko, the land crocodile, the skink, the sand-lizard and the chameleon.”
Leviticus 11:30
Yeah, I think I’m starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel here. Time to hit the books.