Today’s September 10, and that means I’ve been doing webcomics for sixteen years and that Dumbing of Age itself is a healthy three years old! That also means that starting today and for the next week, if you use the code SIXTEEN with any order from my online store, you’ll get 10% off! That’s 10% off of anything books, anything posters, anything Joyce and Walky!.
(I am going to be in Maryland this weekend for Small Press Expo, so I will be somewhat restricted from mailing things out to you guys when that is occurring, as a heads up.)
Hooray!
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Happy Birthday DoA!
three years! woo!
Think if this comic makes it thirteen more the characters will become sophomores?
No, they are cursed to roam the land eternally freshmen, blissfully unaware of their mortal plight.
Nah, the time skips will grow exponentially and one day we’re all gonna be like “wait, why is everyone in a resting home?”
Or the setting will remain the same and the characters will start actually ageing and we’ll end up with a freshman class full of senior citizens.
this isn’t 90210 brah
Oh no! I am on 90120!
/horror
BECAUSE THIS HERE IS REAL
ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY DoA
And know the naysayers can’t.
Oh yeah, the siblings know what’s going on.
Let’s just hope the parents don’t, or there may be hell.
That’s what they think.
badum-tish
They seem to have faded into nonexistence while this happens.
Oh no Ethan is becoming Walky. Or maybe Joyce is Walky?
No way Joyce knows. She’d be a lot more in-between these two if she realized what was going on.
Look deep in yourself, Joyce. You know it in your heart to be true.
The relationship has been altered. Pray Willis does not alter it any further
No way. Joshua has to fight for the ship.
never underestimate the powers of denial.
And once again, Happy Birthday DoA
+1!!!!
You can’t take us from Robin to this! We’re gonna get mood whiplash!
A strip with feels, perfectly apropos for DoA’s third birthday.
I think the Daddy knows.
Well, if anything, at least Big Brother knows, and Big Brother keeps us safe from Daddy.
And Big Daddy keeps Little Sister safe from ADAM thieves!
Fortunately, ADAM got together with Eve to fight piracy in the space shipping lanes.
But then, there was no more piracy, and ADAM and Eve worked in data entry for the glory of Oceania.
Wait, I think I got lost after the Bioshock reference…
But where does the Second Impact come into the picture?
Or are we talking about something else now.
Big Brother is Gendo’s superior.
Big Brother is the Wandering Jew?
That explains so much.
He decided to stop fucking around and subject all those asshole Christians to the hell he had been living. Starting with England.
Ethan’s body language in the first panel… Merrcy.
He looks like he’s gonna slug him.
No way, that’s the “Here are my PECS pose”. Joshua, stop looking in the wrong direction.
I think he’s just leaning up against the wall (and maybe just a little bit in…)
He’s leaning on the closet. Fitting.
Pictured from left to right: Joshua, sexual tension, Ethan.
You know, I get the feeling he’s not talking about work.
But he’s definitely trying to WORK it!!! Eh? Eh?
Ehhhh…. Maybe you should WORKshop it.
OH BOY!!!
I see what you did there…
Ok, Joshua is a good bro, even if he isn’t being entirely honest about who he is.
Also, Happy Birthday, DoA! First one since I started reading, but definitely no the last.
Unlike Ethan who is flat out lying about it.
“I’m totally sexually attracted to your sister! I’m just ignoring her and leaning in real close like this because…. you smell nice?”
That wouldn’t precisely help the situation, Keen.
Especially if, like most writers, he smells of pencils and sweat.
Excuse me? This writer smells of cigars, Scotch and Hoppe’s #9.
And dead deer I presume.
At the appropriate time of year. Deer, elk, antelope, you name it.
Wonderful hobbies, or an end game?
Yes.
He’s almost certainly a blogger, so I’d imagine he smells of energy drinks and Cheetos.
And sweat.
Cannot forget the sweat.
Don’t know how the smell gets there, but it does.
And, despite my own Internet writings, to avoid unintentional offense, I pre-write everything in pencil. Pen suggests permanence.
Ok. Now it’s become JUST barely official enough for me to inactively ship it.
Liking the sound of that. At least you’re a step or two closer to multiple fanfics. 😀
Wait, Faz/Dina was enough before they even interacted, but NOW you wait for more???
Well Faz and Dina are both socially awkward wierdos. I wasn’t sure if Joshua was indeed gay yet so I had to have it verified.
Yeah, I had my suspicions about said brother form the start…
Joyce stop interrupting were trying watch a new ship launch!
Ship delayed due to hurricane Joyce!
I ship Ethan x Joshua (Ethua? Joshan?)
The USS Indiana?
In this case, being the UNF So Steamy?
United Nations Frigate?
Universal Noise of Fucking.
Also, the way that Joyce has been completely (unintentionally) pushed out of this conversation, combined with her puppy-dog face… All of the feels.
This seems close to John Belushi in Blues Brothers, when he shoved Carrie Fisher to the ground and stepped over her in the sewer.
Joyce has a college goal? I thought she came to college to get married. Which is goal enough, true, but why the sudden mention of education in panel 2? Am I missing a development in a previous panel?
Also, that is one heck of a ship, so I’m gonna start shipping it.
Well, she will need a grounding in education to home school her future children.
Well, she still has to do something while she’s there.
She may plan to meet her future husband there, but that’s no reason to waste her time and student loan money while looking. It’s a complimentary enough goal that gives her the option of being very well prepared for potentially homeschooling her own kids or having a job that won’t interfere too much with a family, and where as a bonus her title would be ‘Mrs. SoandSo’.
I feel bad for the person who goes into teaching because they think it won’t interfere with having a family.
Yeah, after I typed that I realized I should have included that I meant from the point of view of someone who was homeschooled until leaving for college and might not realize how much time is demanded outside of regular school hours. As a teen I knew a few people who were surprised to realize just how much time it sucks up because they just hadn’t thought about it much.
RedScharron: It just hit me. Her title is going to be Mrs. Rosenthal.
What? It’s totally going to be Mrs. Walkerton. Well, either that or Mrs. Keener.
First Lady Joyce Keener?
But of course.
That’s a very good point.
Happy Birthday, DOA.
But most importantly, 10% OFF!!!
Joshua, don’t worry, we know your secret. We know you’re really Amazi-Girl. You don’t have to hide it anymore.
Uh, I’m pretty sure Willis said no more Amazi-Girl jokes… at least, not irt her identity.
He can say he likes, but it isn’t going to stop people from making them. That genies got out of the bottle a long time ago, and it ain’t going back.
True…
… and we’re obeying that why?
I thought he was going to enforce it a la “is Ethan gay in this universe?”.
I guess not.
Willis asked us not to keep it up with the amazigirl jokes, and did imply he might use judicious application of the banhammer, but more importantly, he gave several honestly reasonable reasons why we should cut it out, and that’s plenty enough for me.
I think i missed those, what reasons are they?
It does make it hard to actually discuss the comic. Somebody tries to say something about Amazi-girl, and the next 300 replies are about Ultra-Car being Amazi-girl instead.
I noticed when there were serious things to discuss about her a while back, the jokes seemed to dry up for a while.
I dunno if that was one of his reasons, though.
Also, it’s an injoke from “that other comic”, which can confuse those (many) who didn’t read it.
becuse willis can ban us if he gets tired with us, and to be fair despite being the more vocal commentators, we make such a tiny, tiny portion of his audiance that him doing so would have no effect on him whatsoever
I’m pretty sure Jason is Amazi-Girl.
The point of the mask is that anyone can be Amazi-Girl.
(Which means that Amazi-Girl can be masquerading as anyone?)
Aye. Poor oblivious Joyce.
We’re past obliviousness and well into desperate denial.
“Now… Kiss!” Where’s Lucy when we need her?
Sadly not quite in this universe yet, her power of forcing men to kiss would’ve came in handy many strips ago.
But I demand boys kissing ! Also crushing of Joyce’s hopes and dream and parentspocalypse.
Well, okay that might not be a good idea…
Awwwwkwaaaard.
Are the parents even still in the room? Or did they leave Ethan and Joyce in the room thinking…
Yanno, I was gonna say doing the nasty, but then what the fuck would Joyce’s parents leave them alone to do, with Joshua in the room?
At least Josh realises the need to back off… for now…
Regroup and come up with a better strategy.
Flank from the left, pinning them against the Siegal Mountains. We’ll set up a small diversion within the ra– sorry, what?
Infiltry shall come in from the rear.
(best part is, I’m not even sorry)
Wow, thats what my dad told me bout the “bird and bees”
The closest thing to a “birds and bees” talk my dad ever gave me was how to avoid spyware and viruses from porn sites (but most of the time I was just looking for ROMs and the sites happened to have porn).
Well, you know what they say “The best surprises always sneak up from behind”
oh my
Yay! Toph avatar!!! 😀
Wow, it took me a minute to get that.
Can you feel the love tonight….
The peace the evening brings…
OMFG JOYCE
I feel guilty for shipping Ethan and Joshua now. ; ~ ;
Yeah, we should totally respect the relationship based on repression and denial.
I’m… not saying that?
I feel guilty for enjoying a pairing that will hurt a character I like. This is largely due to the other guy in question being her own brother.
Exactly, and that’s why I can’t ship it. If Ethan decides that he wants to come out and date a guy, fantastic.
But for it to be Joyce’s brother, that’s just asking for a huge mess of bad feelings for everyone involved.
If he’d just own up to his own feelings and end the relationship with Joyce, she might well ship them -herself-, once she figured out how to feel about her brother being gay.
And nobody is giving a flying shit what Joyce is saying while Ethan and jashua are on the verge of having an emotional heart to heart
On a side note happy anniversary!
What? Joyce is in this strip?
With your grav, it looks like you’re saying “Wait — did I miss my cue?”
Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 16 years, i can really see such a huge improvement from the beginning to now!
What would you say was the biggest thing that influenced your art evolution? Certain cartoonists? A need to express characters better? Etc etc.
OH WOW. I like where this is going. The tears will be delicious.
Joyce if you sink this ship we won’t let you touch Sal’s hair.
That’s not enough. Joyce if you sink this ship we won’t let you near Dorothy anymore.
Her parents already aren’t letting her do that, so she probably figures she’s got nothing to lose.
Her parents won’t be there once visiting time is over.
But that guilt trip they laid won’t be going anywhere.
Meh, I think they lost their power during the whole Taking It To God thing.
But that would sink a different ship!
Whole navy is going down.
Wait, which ship? Joyce with Sal, Dorothy or Sal’s hair?
Yes.
Joycethy.
It’s a ship dammit!
I hereby declare the Permutative Corollary of Rule 34: For any two objects that are the subject of Rule 34, their combination is also the subject of Rule 34.
…. except Rule 34’s about porn… and this’d be about ships…. dammit.
((Also, let’s just ignore how this makes Mike/Ryan a ship.))
That ship was going to sink soon enough. It is an acceptable sacrifice. We can find better ships for Joyce.
Joyce if you sink this ship we won’t let you be Billie’s shower buddy.
SUBTEXT!!!!
Can’t spell “subtext” without “buttsex”.
Also, I find it amusing that me and DoA started college at the same time.
I hope you’re further along.
Nope, like the characters, I am an eternal freshman.
(Nah, I’m a junior by now.
I’m just starting senior year, and I’m fairly sure this comic began around the time I entered college. At this rate I may be done with med school before they’re halfway through freshman year. xD
If you guys are wondering what the parents are doing, Carol and Naomi are still making out.
If we’re lucky. The two sets of horrible parents have warred it out off screen for dominance and killed each other. Maybe if we’re luck, they also got Blaine in the crossfire.
Have you drawn this yet?
http://sadpanda.us/images/1831097-NGAOC39.png
like a few days ago.
Sorry I missed it, but glad I got to see it now.
Oooh. So delighfully inappropriate. Thanks for reposting 😀
what about the dads?
I love you. Never change.
If that’s the case, Naomi’s a hypocrite now, is she?
Most moms are.
Yes, Joshua, go! Run! You can crash on my couch. My couch in my deep blue, East Coast state where you won’t have to sublimate your feelings in writing.
GET THE POPCORN!!!
I love that a piggy is saying this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFosUj6A22c
Ethan, could your pose in panel one be any more “Well hey there, lil’ filly”?
Objectively speaking: no, it couldn’t.
Alright I’m convinced, he’s totes homosexual. Or at least bi.
Also that poor adorable Joyce in panel 2.
Oooooah! This ship was supposed to sail in the morning. Now it’s not shipping. 🙁
There might be some delays, but I’ll be damned if this ship gets scuttled before her time.
Ok, so I’m forseeing a future wherein they get drunk at a party and end up making out in a closet and then Joyce opens the door and sets the gay love free
You do realize the irony of placing them in a closet, don’t you?
Lol that’s great…
I WOULD say “let the shipping begin!”, but that ship sailed long ago, or at least whenever Joshua was introduced. It definitely went into full speed ahead with today’s and yesterday’s comics.
On a side note, happy birthday DoA! And congratulations to Willis for making webcomics for as many years as I’ve been alive. How is that even possible, seeing as when he started the vast majority of people had dial-up? The internet is a strange and magical place.
All of you are trying to put the boys in the same clubhouse. I think ole Joshy-boy is a bit less religious than his parents possibly on dorothys side of the fence… But ya kno he keeps below the radar.
Maybe…
oy vey. When a gay guy meets his girlfriends brother who also happens to be gay it never turns out well. Trust me ive been there.
I dont even…
How does that even..
Wow. I guess DoA is a lot more realistic than i give it credit for, that’s not really something i ever pictured happening for some reason.
At the very least you have a crazy story for posterity, right?
Actually this is…not that far from how I met a guy once.
Although, in fairness, I didn’t know I was dating her at the time…
. . . I don’t see how that is possible.
Read Roomies, then come back.
Seen it happen. He’s hanging out with his friend who happens to be a girl, they’re having a great time, they’re having fun – and unbeknownst to him, there’s this entire story building in her head about how she’s secretly winning him over to the straight ways, how they’re in love, and there’s this great future together…
…and then there comes the day when he finds out about all this, and tries to correct her. In the case I saw, it, ah, didn’t end well.
Real-life Ethan?
You’ve been in that EXACT situation?
Happy Anniversary, DoA!
To celebrate, here’s a double emotional gut-punch!
No Brown is ever allowed to get a break.
16 years of Willis’ weirdness ! 3 years of DOA !
Long live the Drama !
It’s odd knowing that I’m only a day older than Roomies.
Happy b-day to you, too!
I love how clearly gay they both are, although I feel like we won’t see any issues arise from this for a few months yet, if they ever do.
Not only do I ship it but I feel horrible for Joyce and not only that but HOLY SHIT that gaydar is strong like damn.
That is a very interesting horrible feels thing to have for your third anniversary willis.
Happy DOA birthday Willis, sounds like Ethan’s already getting the party started early.
This won’t turn into a ship. It’s gonna be a whole darn fleet. Alas poor Joyce.
You know, a few days ago, somebody asked in the comments section something along the lines of “Who is Ethan hurting besides himself?” with the added implication that because he wasn’t lying to Joyce, their little relietionship was OKAY.
THIS. THIS COMIC RIGHT HERE IS WHY WHAT ETHAN IS DOING IS NOT OKAY. He is harming himself, he’s leading Joyce on, and he is being, quite simply, a JERK. That said, Joshua is adorable, and if Ethan ever fesses up to Joyce (and himself) that what they’re doing isn’t going to work, I will proceed to ship the hell out of…Joshthan? Ethua?
Yep.
Can we cut Ethan some slack? As we’ve seen JUST over the course of this storyline, Ethan’s parents are sacks of shit who are coercing him into trying to be straight. And then right off of that emotional rollercoaster, Joshua comes into the equation, and suddenly he has to deal with hormones that he likely hasn’t dealt with before, at least not like this.
I don’t know how long it’s been since you were a teenager, but those two factors, especially one right after the other, generally don’t leave one thinking straight. Hormones especially have a habit of canceling all logic before you even know what’s hit you. That doesn’t make what he’s doing all right, of course, but he doesn’t WANT to hurt Joyce. I don’t think he even realizes how focused he’s been on Joshua, at least not on a I-am-ignoring-other-people level. Is his reaction kind of shitty? Yes. Is he being a jerk? Not really.
And how is he leading Joyce on when a) he’s already TOLD her that he’s gay, and b) he’s barely had time to learn Joshua’s name, much less process his emotions and explain to Joyce in private that they just aren’t going to work out?
You don’t have to blame Ethan to disapprove of his actions. I don’t think Ethan’s trying to hurt anybody… it’s just what’s going to happen, and it’s difficult to watch, entertaining as it may be.
Not to mention, I can’t see how a relationship between Ethan and Joshua could really actually work out, no matter how much I want it to.
Sorry, but no, I can’t really “cut Ethan some slack”. College is when you move away from home and start to work out who you really are. For most people, it is an incredibly exciting time because suddenly your life is full of new opportunities and challenges. If you have problems, this is the time when you start to work out how you are going to deal with them as an adult.
Ethan’s response to his problems is to stick his fingers in his ears, and say “Reality? La la la, I can’t hear you.” He hasn’t thought things through and decided to ignore his sexuality, he’s simply latched onto Joyce as a way to pretend his problems aren’t there. I can see why he’s doing it, given his family, but I feel nothing but contempt.
Remember, he’s already come out to his family. He’s already fought the initial battles, and it looks like he used Amber as a shield. All he has to do now is stand his ground. But as soon as he doesn’t have Amber taking all the flack, he picks Joyce as a new shield and changes his position totally, giving up everything he’s gained.
I’ve got no sympathy for him at all.
> I’ve got no sympathy for him at all.
I came out 5 years ago. I was optimistic and ready to educate people etc…
Stuff happened and consequently I regretted ever coming out and being so naïve as to let people know I am gay. It has some similarities with Ethan’s story.
As I wrote in a couple of my comments, including under today’s strip, I really cannot be happy for this development because I see Joyce desperately holding on her belief that sexuality can change and Ethan acts as if he believes that too (that’s how I interpret it at least. He wasn’t looking for a “beard”, he honestly thought he could be with Joyce). It’s bad and they should stop pretending that could happen, I agree with all my heart and mind.
But to go as far and call Ethan “quitter” and that he deserves no sympathy… that’s harsh and stems from ignorance.
Yes, he does live in America, a socially liberal country. But he has some very self-opinionated and manipulative parents and since they appear to be Orthodox Jewish, they are also not above using “fear of God” as a tactic. That’s pretty Middle Eastern and since I am in Middle East I can really see why Ethan couldn’t keep being the hero you want to see. Not everyone can sacrifice all their life for the cause of educating people about LGBT rights. Hell, not everyone has the mental power to keep trying to defend being who they are. Especially in such a hostile environment where noone is going to say to you “hey, don’t give up yet, things are changing”… and yes, in Ethan’s case he lives in a liberal country that would accept him… but he’s very connected to his family so they might as well be half the world to him, and when half the world is like Ethan’s parents, it’s really hard to blame him for not wanting to taunt his luck.
Again, it’s a given that him and Joyce should stop doing whatever the hell they think they are doing. But to go as far as to say all those things about battles and no sympathy for quitters, yeah… Not everyone is cut out to be an activist. Even activists are driven to suicide, something that actually happened yesterday in a country next to mine.
I don’t expect him to be a hero. I don’t think he should dedicate his life to campaigning for gay rights, or flaunt his sexuality in the face of his family, or even go out looking for a boyfriend, if that’s not what he wants. He could quit the fight, and what you say would be true.
But I have no respect for anyone who lies to themselves, and I think the way he is exploiting Joyce is mean and selfish. He knows that he can’t make a relationship with a woman work: Amber was his best friend for years, but he couldn’t make love to her. If he wants to go back in the closet, ok, but pretending, both to himself and to her, that his relationship with Joyce is real? That’s what I despise.
> That’s what I despise.
Pretty sure he hates himself too.
Ethan isn’t lying to himself, he’s being lied to by himself.
You have no sympathy for a kid who literally thought that his parents had stopped loving him once he came out of the closet? Really?
If you think coming out is that easy, you’re a moron. There are plenty of people who came out in much more liberal environments and received just as shitty reactions from their parents. We can’t all live in San Francisco.
And again, while Ethan and Joyce are definitely making shitty choices and in denial, there’s a difference between that and him “exploiting” her. She knows he’s gay. They’re both in denial together.
I suppose denial is just something I have no sympathy or patience for, in spite of how common it is. I can understand lying to your friends, your family, your parents, but lying to yourself? I don’t think coming out is easy, or even always possible, but the one person you should come out to is yourself.
I think Ethan is exploiting Joyce’s naivety and upbringing. She has been taught to believe that you can overcome your sexuality with faith and love, and she hopes this is true. He knows from personal experience that however fond of a girl he is, he can’t have a “normal” relationship with her. They haven’t discussed this at length and resolved to overcome the difficulties together, they’ve just agreed to date. The difference between them is, she thinks she’s helping him solve his problem, and he thinks he can put her in the way of his mother’s anger.
The physiological development of the brain finishes and peaks at around 25. Sexual maturity comes about 10 years sooner. This is no accident. Sex drive does not want buzzkilling intellectual and emotional maturity all up in its business just when the party is getting interesting.
Logician hit my main points, but a couple points of note: That crap about not having to deal with hormones before is bull. First off, I’m not saying that the problem is how Ethan is acting right now. What I am saying is that the way he is acting right now was an INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE of the situation, and thus the way he was acting -before- (in pretending he can be straight for Joyce) was irresponsible and cruel.
What he is doing now is understandable. But it makes what he was doing before intolerable.
Ethan is not a sheltered, homeschooled child with fundamentalist christian delusions about what “being gay” is. He knows better than Joyce. If he doesn’t know better than Joyce, after years of being gay, and being closeted, and being attracted to guys but unable to sex with his girlfriend at the time (Amber), then he’s an idiot. That’s why what he’s doing amounts to leading her on. HE’S GONE THROUGH ALL OF THIS BEFORE. He KNOWS where this ends! And he’s still leading a naive young woman down a path that will only harm her.
> HE’S GONE THROUGH ALL OF THIS BEFORE. He KNOWS where this ends!
AND MAYBE THAT’S WHY HE IS SO DESPERATE TO BE STRAIGHT. BECAUSE HE KNOWS!
Sorry for the caps, using them for uniformity.
I can honestly understand why he is so desperate to “make himself straight”, it’s completely obvious to me though I can understand why people in countries like the US and Canada are mostly baffled of how hard coming out seems to be for Ethan. But that’s how coming out is for people in most of the world, including the country that’s build around Ethan’s religion. (Not that it has to do so much with the specific religion, since all religions has machismo thrown in somewhere).
As I said a million times now, yes, Ethan should stop doing what she’s doing with Joyce (and Joyce has some maturing to do as well), but all those comments saying that Ethan should know better and try to remain out of the closet are misguided, to use a light word. Yes, he knows better. He knows that he should be quiet and give a false image to everyone but people he anonymously chats with on the internet, because otherwise he will have to be everyone’s teacher and the defender of all gay people ever existed to the eyes of his community (again, the guy seems to be quite tied to his family and their peers, not that he wants to be). He’s not cut out to be an activist.
And yes, I repeat, it’s absolutely wrong to use other people as shields and I hope he will realise it asap. But stop expecting every gay guy to be a hero for all LGBTs. Some people don’t have the mental power to even defend themselves against… their own conscience. Let alone the hordes of judgemental pricks which the have blood and/or emotional ties with.
Im going to chime in here because I also think that a lot of people are being… overly optimistic about what its like to come out as gay in the United States. If you grew up in a big liberal city, like I did, that is one thing… but even for those people I did know who came out before college (and there were very few), it was HARD, even with the majority of people around them being supportive… Because even if your parents are supportive, sometimes they still dont understand how to relate to you when they’ve never even met a gay person.
I do not at all approve of Ethan’s (or Joyce’s for that matter) actions, but keep in mind that there are still a SIGNIFICANT number of people who believe that homosexuality is a sin and a choice. Every over-the-top, conservative politician that spews hateful nonsense in the United States is not some weird, singular anomaly: they were VOTED INTO OFFICE by real humans. To expect someone who is raised by people who think this way to absolutely know, for certain, in his heart, that he can’t change, and that he must accept himself as-is, is a whole lot to ask. Especially after, what, like 2 months away from home? If he were 22, living on his own (and supporting himself, which I assume he is not), it would be different.
So are his actions based on ignorance? Absolutely. Is it a trainwreck waiting to happen? OF COURSE. Do I still sympathize with him? Yes, and I feel sorry for everyone involved. But if you want to point fingers and blame people, blame Ethan’s parents for starting all of this…
(Also, on another note, does anybody else get like… a sort of closet-case vibe from Ethan’s dad? The “you may not like sex until you do it a few times!” message is… suspect, to say the least, coming from a Straight Male)
Oh, Ethan’s dad is very definitely gay.
And while I, myself, am not, I did grow up in a heavily conservative chunk of the Midwest–which is where Joyce and Ethan came from, and is still the primary descriptor of Indiana in general. I can fully understand Ethan trying to “fix” himself to fall back in line with what he’s grown up perceiving as “normal,” especially since that would mean healing the obvious rift with his family. He’s not being a jerk, and he’s not being a coward. He’s just clinging to this desperate hope that he might be able to reconcile things with his mom.
Okay, so “freelancing” is a new gay code word. Fine. I’ve heard and am comfortable with top and bottom, shipping and receiving, pitcher and catcher, plug and socket, Germany and Poland, but what’s the complement to freelancing? Quintaining?
“You freelance? That’s perfect. I love to quintain.”
Haikuing, I guess?
Thank you for making that joke. I’ve learned a new word.
(also pffffft)
I’ll bet they both want to Free their Lances. To Joust!
…seriously, how did I not see this coming?
I’m slipping in my old age.
Happy Anniversary DoA & David W.
Wait, why are you wishing my Dad a happy anniversary-
Oh. Oooooh, different David W., my bad.
Wait, it’s your dad anniversary as well?
Nah, that was about a month ago.
(Incidentally, there’s another David W. in my Dad’s board game group)
Dude, your dad sounds like an awesome man.
He is. He’s been programming computers since the late 70s, he’s tutored so many students in math, and that’s not counting all the stuff he’s done for me, like introducing me to the works of Tolkien, to the music of Queen, to various board games, and even helping me understand calculus.
My dad taught me bitterness and spite.
I’m suddenly reminded of when I was dicking around on the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki and found out that David Willis voiced Kaiba’s dad.
Noooooooooooooo…
You two need to make adorable gaybies together…
I ship it harder than fedex
Nice placement of the closet in the background here.
“I think I should go… back into the closet… Unless you care to join me.” 😀
I suddenly pictures Dr. Evil and Frau for some reason…
Pictured* it was so weird, I typoed
Well I think the reason he changed subjects is cause he doesn’t know that Joyce knows
Needs 100% more Ethan and Joshua making out.
As does all things.
They haven’t actually done any yet, so 100% more of 0 is still 0.
Damn, defeated by math.
At least some schmuck didn’t try to divide by zero…
So… is EVERYONE in Joyce’s family really really gay and also in denial? Because that’s like the most unfortunate thing.
Also I swear to god if Ethan and Joyce are bout to make hanky-panky and THAT’S what brings her to a realization about her own sexuality I’ll burn this fucking comic to the ground.
How do you even burn something digital to the ground, anyways?
Code Lyoko
Hahaha, oh man, I thought no one else remembered that show!
Oh, we already established that Joyce digs Ethan big time regarding unwholesome thoughts. She really got caught flatfooted by the melon eating his head. It’s true that she also got caught flatchested by Billie but the impulses triggered there were rather of childish than adult nature.
The appearance of “flatchested” and “Billie” in the same sentence seems to have resulted in the temporary loosening of my grip on reality. Could you repeat yourself?
You know, Joshua should change his last name to Shepard with that “I should go” thing.
And now I can’t unsee it
Exactly what I was thinking.
I did a search of the comments page just to find this comment, or else make it myself. And yes, Joshua sounds just like Shep at that point.
Do you think he does that often?
Perhaps he needs a clone like in the Citadel DLC to remind him it’s not a typical human saying.
But then he would have the exact same name as the little brother of the main protagonist from Silent Hill: Homecoming 🙁
There’s a lot going on in this strip, but all I’m really focused on is that Ethan apparently contemplates his future based on whoever is in his immediate line of sight.
No, you’ve got it all wrong… Just the guys.
Though given how Joyce is about the same thing, they might meant to be together.
Whoa, did you see that plot thicken just now?
As thick as soup.
I’m almost willing to bet that some of Joshua’s freelancing work is under a pseudonym for a gay news site.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote stuff on the side for a Christian outlet to appease his parents. I mean, he has to have something to show them.
I’m still clinging to the notion of him being a semi-regular contributor at Cracked, as others have suggested. You know, things like “5 Shockingly Simple Ways to Reverse-Indoctrinate Your Fundie Parents (That Science Says Works)”.
Is that an actual thing, or just a fictional example?
Cracked is definitely real (and awesome). As for that specific example, I have to say it’s made up (though your average Cracked article does look like that).
Well, yeah, I know Cracked is a real thing, I was just asking because I really want to read that article.
It’s been 3 years already?
Joshua has a good head on his shoulders. Also at least a little bit of a spine. *approval/sympathy*
Appathy?
Regarding the picture of the Joyces over the years, I have to say I think 2003 is my favorite. It lacks the more vibrant colors of Willis’s more modern work, but I like the skinnier body and smaller head. It’s interesting to see such a thin character after getting so used to the large bodies and heads over these past years.
Actually, I like the last three (the DoA Joyce). I did not read the earlier incarnations, and don’t really think I am going to; the scifi/aliens/secret agency storyline just seems to hokey to me. Your point about the skinny body/smaller head is noted, but the neck is abnormally long. You can see that it has gradually shrunk from the 1998 Joyce, but 2002 and 2003 still had a ways to go.
I also like the hairstyle from 2010 on, as well as the choice of clothing. And is it just me, or does it look like she has gotten little more curvy in just the last three years?
not so much more curvy that the part with curves has become less styilized (note how much higher the waist is previously), what with willis’ recent work starting to buil the torso towards realistic proporions whilst shrinking the legs to match
I like 2002-03 the best too, though I may be biased since that’s when I started reading It’s Walky.
Holy crap, I just realized I’ve been reading Willis’s work for a full decade. Now *I* feel old.
Put 2004 Joyce in the vest and boots and stripe, and that’s what Joyce looks like in my head – that current Joyce has only a general resemblance to that notwithstanding.
I’m not a big fan of the big-head-munchkin look DoA started out with, and I’m glad Willis has been moving back towards more realistic proportions.
I want that pic of Sal in the Tweets box on a 3’x5′ poster.
Awww, man, if your name was JB, your comment, avatar, and post would’ve been a holy trinity of awesome.
I had forgotten how much your art has matured and evolved in the 16 years of the Walkyverse and the three years of DoA. Your storylines went normal college stuff that still resonates to this day to a complex interlocking story that spans dozens of characters each with their own unique personalities.
May you have many more years of inspiration and readership!
Oh, lord. This is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. No, worse – it’s like seeing the train *about* to wreck, and being unable to do anything to prevent it. Oh, this is agonizing. Poor Joyce. Poor Ethan.
True, and the wreck itself isn’t even imminent. Parents weekend will end and Joyce’s family will go home. When Joyce invites Ethan home for Thanksgiving, that’s when the real trouble starts…
Especially if Jordan is there to mess things up. Though he probably isn’t invited to Thanksgivings.
I sense pain coming from every different direction.
I don’t get it… Can someone please explain the joke to me?
Okay, based on other comments, this seems to be a plot thing more than a joke, but I’m still confused.
The joke is “ooh, cute guy… wait, whoops, I guess I’m kinda trying to steal my sister’s boyfriend, maybe I should ditch before things get too awkward”.
…so yeah, not a joke.
The joke is that Joshua is probably super gay, super closeted where his parents are concerned, and Joyce is oblivious to all the flirting going on between her brother and her boyfriend.
I think Joyce is less oblivious and more cheerfully terrified.
G.A.Y.D.A.R Reporting: Second contact confirmed!
Second? How did you miss Saul?
Wow, looking back on this, I just love the expression on Ethan’s face in the last panel. It’s like, the most half-hearted surprised look ever, as if he realizes he should be reacting to this in some fashion, but can only just barely bring himself to do so.
Grab his hand, Ethan! So that we can see Josh blush! Haha
If he ever does, I have to say I’d probably suffer a cuteness overload.
And Ethan’s gaydar is like BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP
It was bleep bleep, now it’s just a continuous tone.
Hmm, I think I liked 2003 Joyce the best.
Also, I wonder who we’re gonna get tomorrow? Perhaps Danny? Been a while since we last saw him. Joe too.
Or maybe we’ll actually get to see Dina and her parents meaningfully interacting with each other, rather than just kind of existing with about as much purpose as, say, Howard.
I’d also like to see what has become of The Great Faz.
SUBTEXT
Happy Birthday DoA!
ruh roh, Raggy!
Abandon ship
Poor Joyce… though she really put herself there the moment she decided to stay with Ethan.
Oh and happy birthday DoA!
I blame him more than her, though. I also partly blame her parents for choosing to homeschool her rather than let her attend an actual school where she could better learn about social interaction.
Joyce was taught to believe that gay people are simply making a choice to live sinfully, and that they can decide not to be gay the same way I might decide not to steal my neighbor’s bicycle. She’s picked up an inkling of reality since coming to college, but not really enough to make an informed choice.
Ethan, on the other hand, has done this dance before. He knows where it goes, and what it can do to somebody that he cares about.
I ship it.
YES
is it bad that all I think of watching this unfold is D’AWWWWW. And damn it Willis why do you have to add to the issue of me only reading/watching gay romance stuff lately. Ok its not an issue I just always said I’m not a yaoi girl and now it seems all I read is canonical gay relationship stuff (and I LOVE it)
I think Joshua is stepping down so Joyce could be happy…but it could just be me.
A Happy 3rd Birthday to Dumbing of Age! Woot!
And it hits me back with the big brotherly feels! D’awww!
This is both hilariously funny and heartbreakingly sad.
DAVID WILLIS YOU DOG
Ah, I can’t really enjoy this seeing Joyce so desperate 🙁 She knew what she was getting in but Ethan used her belief that sexual orientation is modified if you concentrate hard enough (also called “praying” in some languages, I was told). Still, it’s a bit sad 🙁
On the plus side, seeing men flirt it’s something I only get so see in English-language webcomics, nowhere else and especially in real life (I am not really in Canada, never mind the username), so that’s exciting.
Oh man, this trio. I can’t ship any of it. But neither can I condemn anyone for being awful people. I can’t say that Ethan’s using Joyce and leading her on. If he continues communicating and flirting with Joshua after this, I’d be more comfortable saying that. Joshua and Ethan have talked for maybe a minute. Joshua just figured out that talking to Ethan is a bad idea. I’m proud of Joshua for trying to extricate himself.
Ethan and Joyce need to talk about this. I doubt they will, unless Joyce brings it up very specifically. Ethan – don’t fixate on your girlfriend’s brother. Just…just don’t.
I hope that Joyce and Ethan break up soon and that the healing can begin quickly.
I actually don’t think Joshua talking to Ethan and Joyce is a bad idea. If left to their own devices they’ll continue to feed each others pray the gay away delusions, leading to a unfulfilling relationship that will end in bitterness. However continued exposure to Joshua should lead to Ethan grasping that this gay thing ain’t going away, and having someone she cares deeply about reveal that they are themselves gay should be shock enough to challenge Joyce’s preconceived notions.
These. Both of these. These are level headed comments.
Thank you. That’s a very high compliment.
It’s a good point. I just see a potential for a lot of heartbreak. Not that it’s not coming anyway, but having a beloved brother will make it worse for Joyce and Joshua and a lot more confusing for Ethan. I’m afraid that it will turn the conversation from “being gay isn’t a choice, and it’s a perfectly valid way of life” to “you betrayed me! with my brother!”
I just want all the characters to be happy. Eventually. After they grow up some. I just want hope that the characters will learn and become happy one day.
Hah.
Always wonderful to see Joyce’s dreams explode like this.
This is probably the first time I’ve ever seen myself rooting for a gay ship.
But Joyce really had this coming, and I’m gonna be here eating pop corn. 🙂
I reaaally hope you aren’t going to go down the road of, “I was against gays, but then I found out my brother/sister/son/aunt was one, so it’s okay!” thing for joyce
Some people think that is somehow showing “enlightened” behaviour. It’s not. it’s showing a complete lack of moral standards.
If someone has one set of moral standards, but then drops them as soon as it affects them personally, that doesnt show them as a better person. That shows them as a selfish hipocrit. That makes them a *worse* person, not a better person, in my book.
OR it’s showing the ability to adapt and learn through actual experience, and putting greater stock in observed reality than something that you only know from a ancient book and not from personal experience.
*shrug* Sometimes it just shows that they’re willing to reconsider change their beliefs when faced with the truth. Empathy is a powerful thing, and it’s easier to empathize with someone you know.
Having the situation more directly affect you, doesnt make it any more “the truth” or not. That’s akin to the notion of “subjective truth”, which is just a fancy hifalutin way of saying “I’m going to do whatever feels right to me”.
An effect that you may not be aware of, was noted in multiple studies. I will summarize it as follows:
When people were faced with a challeging issue that required them to either change their behavior to match their stated morals, or change their morals to match their behaviour… more people chose to change their “morals”.
This means that the majority of people dont actually have any meaningful moral standards. they merely have convenient plattitudes to justify doing whatever they feel like doing.
This is PATHETIC. The whole point of having moral standards, should be to have a fixed, objective set of values to guide your behaviours, reguardless of how your feelings may fluctuate.
This is why I never really trust moral standards. If even personal experience of the harm your principles cause can’t convince you that you are wrong, then your beliefs are the worst kind of dogma.
You must be young 🙂 Your statement exhibits the naive sentiments that there is always a solution that doesnt cause anyone “harm”.
Or, worse yet, the childish belief that it is always better to avoid suffering a small amount of hurt/difficulty now, even if that means bigger suffering later on.
A trivial example being innoculations. A child will always run away from the immediate pain of an injection, reguardless of the longer term benefit.
I’m nearly 50. I don’t remotely think that there is always a harm-free solution to problems. But most of your so-called “moral standards” are an excuse to avoid trying to find the best practical solution to problems, and blame the victim.
Morals aren’t whatever you want them to be. Prejudice is immoral.
A person faced with proof that their beliefs are immoral who DOESN’T change would be a person with a complete lack of moral standards, and a selfish hypocrite.
Do you… know what “selfish” means? Because empathy and compassion aren’t exactly selfish qualities.
You are blinding insisting that your set of moral standards are superior to other peoples. Ironically, that is, by defintion, prejudice.
You are insinuating that prejudice is bad. I am prejudiced against lots of things. Cruelty, for instance.
Also you only talked ABOUT her argument and failed discuss anything.
Joyce’s beliefs are based entirely on what her parents have drilled into her head, and whatever likeminded children she was allowed to spend time with. It’s only natural for Joyce’s beliefs to change as she actually sees what real life is like and how the biased opinions of her very narrow minded peer group may or may not have been misguided.
The thing is, for some people morality is not about rigidly following the rules but about consideration for others.
“Consideration for others” is not interchangable with “everyone can do whatever they feel like”.
In fact, any real moral system has to explicitly counter “everyone can do whatever they feel like” to some degree or other.
I’ll mention that there are non-religious reasons to be against homosexual relationships as well as religious ones. There isnt room to discuss that sort of thing here; i only mention it to point out that anyone who is inclined to immediately reply with “That’s wrong”, “you’re an idiot”, “homophobe”, etc, etc. without actually LISTENING to the reasons first, is, by definition, prejudiced. Look in a dictionary some time.
You can find “reasons” for or against anything if you search hard enough, and ignore how unconvincing those reasons are. The only reason you would do that (or bring it up in this conversation) is homophobia, or perhaps a desperate attempt to convince yourself that your previous prejudice was justified.
Happy third birthday, and happy 17th for the other continuity. I don’t know how it is possible, but your strips keep gettting better and better. Just when I think you have reached perfection, you manage to up your game. Congratulations to the hardest working person in webcomics.
Why did I type 17, I knew it was 16. Really wish we had an edit button.
Is it wrong I really am shipping Jacob and Ethan hard? Maybe he’s bi and they can be together!
Okay, Drama-dar officially going high-wire (it’s been beeping like crazy since Joshua and Ethan met)
Just since then?
Mine has been going off since Blaine first showed up! 😛
Looks to me like Joyce’s brother may be gay as granddad’s hatband, and closeted like last year’s suit.
…Three years?
I have no recollection whatsoever of a second anniversary. Did I drink that much?
sorey i cpmletley fogort:: HAPPYA NIVESARY!!!!!!!!!11111
This ship is easy…Too easy.
I’m betting that Joshua is transgender, so we can have even more family drama.
That seems unlikely, at least to me.
It is, but I don’t trust Willis. I’m expecting some kind of plot twist that will horrify his parents, and him turning out to be gay is too obvious for my liking.
He’s a transgender furry atheist brony masochist.
I mean, I -hope- he’s a grans furry atheist brony masochist, because I’d kind of like to see his parents have a nervous breakdown, and that has the highest probability of doing it.
trans, rather. Man, my typing has gotten sloppy as I’ve gotten older.
His parent’s heads would probably explode, Scanners style.
Since there’s a football game going on now, maybe we’ll get to see more of Tony.
Hear, Hear Candyman. I think Tony’s arc in the Walkyverse broke my heart the most.
I may be biased because for whatever reason I never succeeded in giving a damn about Tony, but I’m pretty sure that by any objective standard going out giving your life to save others’ and your work – and apologizing because you couldn’t do better – is more heartbreaking.
It’s weird seeing how much these characters have changed. Wonder what they’ll look like three years from now.
Just to make sure, I can still ship Ethan and Joshua while being a hetroromantic guy, right? Because they look like they’d be so cute together.
I hope so.. ’cause I totally ship ’em too! 😀
Whether you think two people make a cute couple is completely independent of whether or not either of them is someone you would want to bang or be in a relationship with.
That made me laugh so hard for some reason, haha. No seriously, you dont have to be anything to ship peoples 🙂
Though being a salty sea captain helps.
Poor Joyce, she’s missing on an important subtext here 🙁
Joyce sees the subtext and desperately wants it to end
You know, in hindsight, Jocelyne being transgender is blisteringly obvious.
I know! right?
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say.
To be fair, i’m pretty sure everyone thought she was talking about being gay
Wow, that thing about feeling trapped and not being able to be what you want to be has so much more meaning now
I guess it really is true. Once you get into a (fake) relationship everyone starts flirting with you.
And Josh is gay lol.