You are correct, it was Saints Row 4 but it took me several tries before I could finally get past that damn stage, my poor vision didn’t make it any easier that’s for certain.
I don’t know anything about Saints Row 4, but boy I do love Eurodance, and that is a great song. Also, those videos are hilarious, especially the one with Riker/Picard/Data. 🙂
Where did the footage of the three guys in the car come from?
I’d think that freaking out so hard that you agree to a mind-wipe that turns you into an amnesia patient just to forget what you’ve seen has to qualify as snapping.
In response to all above, I mean snapping like when Walky got mindwiped by Penny. Just going insane and beating the closest people around. She came close with sal once But I don’t recall her actually laying a beatdown on someone.
In case you didn’t know: This continuity is strictly realistic (no SF or Fantasy elements), but the *other* comic continuity had aliens in it and Joyce (and Walky and Sal and several other people) was among the abductees that had been given superpowers by them and eventually ended up fighting against them.
Those aliens are the origin of all mentions of the “Head Alien” Dexter and Monkey Master that you hear about as being merely Walky’s favourite cartoon show in this continuity.
Yeah there was a whole period of time when she was considered super dangerous and unstable and people were tiptoeing around her so she didn’t go all she hulk on them
In response to all above again, I didn’t really count the Nega-Joyce storline, since she a) it was a one shot kill, b) it was her ‘evil’ clone, and c) I’d forgotten about it.
As for the time she ‘attacked’ Sal for calling her Useless, she never did any damage to her at all. Left no marks. I’m talking about the kind of snapping that happened when Walky beat sal up with a Segway.
No. A lot of people seem to think this, and I have no idea why. Aside from the fact that she wouldn’t, it isn’t remotely the right movement/pose for that.
Only her upper body is turning, and no one’s going to throw punches postured like that. Granted it’s not like she can’t turn completely around in the next comic, but panel 5 isn’t a guarantee of violence.
Since when is there I pose for punching? OK, since martial arts, I guess. But you can spontaneously punch from any position.
But I don’t think this will end in punching. Probably tears and a need for comfort, thus making Sarah really uncomfortable.
I dismissed some people’s suggestion that Joyce would punch Becky for kissing her because it seemed out of character. Joyce can turn violent, but she needs a ramp up.
It’s actually incredibly usual in comics to draw characters with clenched fists to point out that they’re frustrated. As I see it, that’s all that’s going on here. She’s not turning around to punch Sarah. No, she’s turning around because it’s common human behaviour to look people in the face when you’re about to yell at them or vent your frustrations at them verbally.
And now imagine missing at least three pages and being confused about fecal matter all over the place- I’ve basically gone from Joyce and Becky talking to each other to this page.
It has 2 meanings, at least that’s what past experiences have taught me.
Either A, making sure no one else can can you or B, checking call history.
I’ve heard it more used in the context of preventing calls/ not answering calls, though.
If someone’s calling, seeing who it is before letting it through. Not sure how she’d do that with a cell phone preemptively, though. I usually require caller ID.
Most smartphones (I think most cellphones now?) have a call reject feature on the phone itself. You can turn it on and add specific phone numbers, and those callers only will be forwarded to voicemail as though the phone was turned off. The phone won’t even ring.
I got SO many calls in tech support on that very issue, because on some models (Samsungs mostly) it was insanely easy to accidentally set someone on the reject list so calls and messages wouldn’t come through.
Becky might have been adding her parents, Joyce’s parents, any other mutual friends, their old pastor, whatever numbers she knows onto Joyce’s reject list.
Right, I meant she’s putting numbers on Joyce’s phone’s reject list to screen them out so even if those people try to call Joyce to ask ‘have you seen Becky? Is she with you?’ or what-have-you, the calls won’t ring through at all. Thus pre-emptive screening.
But how would she know how to do that? It’s true that a reject list is fairly common knowledge… if you have a cell phone or have an interest in them.
I think it’s mostly Sarah being needlessly paranoid about this. Becky was playing games. Sarah, suspicious curmudgeon that she is, immediately assumed she was a KGB spy and called the special forces to neutra-
Wait. Wrong comic.
I dunno. I think Becky didn’t tell anyone she was leaving and she was screening Joyce’s phone to make sure he parents or anyone else wasn’t calling to find her. Not that she was snooping through Joyce’s history
Maybe she should’ve been snooping through Joyce’s history. Browsing backwards through those pictures of dingdongs might’ve given her enough of a clue to abort the “kiss the girl” plan.
Actually, that was one of the theories going around when Becky showed up. Sarah was pretty suspicious of Becky’s story (cause it seemed inconsistent), and so thought the families back home sent her to check on Joyce and make sure she wasn’t going native, which could include things like checking to make sure she’s not making booty calls or whatever.
Sarah wasn’t around for the rest to know that it’s basically the opposite.
I thought that Becky kissing Joyce would break Joyce. It didn’t. It broke Becky. Sarah is not about to break Joyce. Instead, Sarah usefully moved Joyce from a state of shock to a state of determined action.
I was a Patreon member until recently. Moments like this, I would immediately look ahead. But Willis keeps leaving things haning, so I had to look ahead everyday. It made almost no difference in the end, I only had one comic a day. I would try to ween myself off by not reading for a day or two, but then something like this would happen and I would be right back in Patreon looking at tomorrow’s strip everyday for a week. In the end I decided it wasn’t worth it, especially if I bought the book later. I would still be getting only one strip a day unless I strung myself out. Damn you Willis, you Crack comic dealing Cracker.
Based on the name, I’m guessing that Ynis is some kind of Eldritch Abomination and he/she/it/they is/are totally influencing your action and that, that typo was your subconscious trying to warn either you or us.
Oooh, and look at that last-panel expression, too. That is a Joyce who hates herself.
After all, one of her best friends just gave her the most wonderful gift of all – the greatest thing one could possibly be given – and she just threw it back in her face.
I agree, it looks like she’s turning away from Sarah, yelling over her shoulder, and those look like shoulders/fists primed to move to me. (Sarah’s been in front of her all the other panels with the posters/tagboard to the left, then Sarah’s behind her and the posters/tagboard have switched sides.)
Sarah’s very Sarah-like protectiveness of Joyce via assumption of ill-intent on the part of someone else has snapped Joyce out of her shock and allowed her to start thinking and acting. Or so it seems to me. Go Sarah? I guess?
Exactly. On top of that, Joyce completely fumbled the response, just like she yelled at Walky about. Sure, she might not loveLOVE Becky, but she’s her best friend and she seems to understand she hurt her pretty badly.
I honestly thought this strip was going to be three panels of Joyce trying to wrap her mind around everything, and a fourth-panel of her just staring down at her bed, with a single speech bubble: “Fuck.”
Oh no Joyce is mad because she couldn’t do anything to help her friend when she was sort of the cause and regrets it so hard and wants to be there for her right away, but does she know how?
This is kind of nice, this shows a bit about Joyce, that while she was raised with strong christian beliefs and that one of the biggest parts of her life (childhood friend) has severly changed. She is more worried about the pain she inflicted on Becky then the fact she was involved in a lesbian kiss.
I’m proud of you Joyce….now i’m going back to my sinking ship to cry….
When I first gayed, I was hooked. I stayed up all night for days just… Gaying. I lost weight, my only concern was getting my next fix. The worst part is that it was my gateway orientation. I hope Joyce will be ok.
I was thinking more like how he’s always commenting on how attached Joyce is to Dorothy, insinuating that she’s a lesbian. I would hope this would lead to her finally swearing, or at least punch him for when he really deserves it. I dunno, I just don’t like the Walky of this universe very much.
I have 3 or 4 pairs of formal shoes (different balances of formal and comfort, also black vs brown), steel toed boots, ski boots, snowboard boots, hiking shoes, everyday shoes (and my old pair), two pairs of Five-Fingers (those toe shoes)… I think that’s about it.
Ya its all her fault, of course she can’t help being straight but its still her fault for being such a tease with her stupid ass sexy hoodies and sweater vest and the lame hair cut that went out of style when the Brady Bunch went off the air.
I mean Becky gave her the best thing in the world and she just threw it back in her Face! I can’t even, do you even know how much I – you know what I’m getting some soft serve.
“Hurt ME? My best friend in the whole wide EVERYTHING just pulled her heart out of her chest and OFFERED it to me, and I threw it on the floor and STOMPED on it, and you’re asking if SHE hurt MEEE???”
To be fair to Joyce, it’s not her fault if Becky got hurt, Beck came on too strong, made some assumptions based on poor reasoning; most likely due to strong emotions, & worst of all; put Joyce in an incredibly awkward position without thinking of the consequences of her actions.
YES!!! This strip. All this strip. While it disturbs me how similar Joyce and I am in some ways, THAT is exactly how a person like me/her would respond to a wrongful accusation of one of our friends do something harmful to us. And I love her to death for it. Tomorrow she’ll have a rant at Sarah and storm out and by this time next week there will (hopefully) have been reconciliation and understanding between the two and the perpetual drama hurricane can move onto another part of the Dumbiverse.
Also if I remember correctly there were a couple of peeps who believed that Becky was spying for Joyce’s folks. I love that that was what Sarah believed. While not fooled of the everseeing shipping eyes of the commenters, it’s still a very good red herring.
I feel like Joyce is going to be torn between her upbringing, and her need to protect Becky from other people’s judging. After all, Becky has been her loyal friend (even if friendzoned) for many years before college.
Woah, this is a little unexpected. I’m getting a “I hurt her and I hate myself for it” vibe way more than anything. Not sure about the arms, but maybe she’s going to run after her? Fingers AND toes crossed. They may never be lovers, but it would be a shame if they stopped being friends.
Also, Sarah is just too damn distrustful, the fact that she assumed a good friend of Joyce’s was up to no good so quickly illustrates her social issues quite well.
Sarah is quite possibly right about Becky screening calls. It would explain why no one has contacted Joyce to find out where Becky is. I should have realized it myself.
True. She’s probably the only character who’d have jumped so enthusiastically to the worst conclusions.
It’s just that if she did find that Becky was screening calls (and she may have had good reason to be), it would have looked really, really bad from Sarah’s perspective. I could see coming to the same conclusion in that situation.
Hey, it’s a useful thing to have. Certainly help out with the party. And her old roommate. The cast as a whole is optimistic enough that her cynicism is good.
Not a “Punch” pose, but an “Action” pose. Her legs and hips are turning away from Sarah, and she is speaking over her shoulder. And, no that is not a “back breaker” pose, but well withing human normal.
My take: Joyce has already gotten past the point where homosexuality blows her mind. She still seems to have this idea that gayness is “fixable” (in regards to Ethan, specifically), although even there that seems like a thin layer of denial rather than a firm belief.
Right now, though, she understands that Becky is in pain and needs some empathy. She can’t engineer a happy ending to this situation, but she can and should be there for Becky now and help her go into a dangerous emotional tailspin.
Tough, tough, tough situation, and Sarah is misreading it completely.
I think I mentioned in a post above that Joyce turning her whole body around and then going for it isn’t out of the question; but body mechanics aside, I’m not expecting it either.
Wow wtf Sarah. Instead of just saying the first thing that jumps to mind, why don’t you just say “Oh did she? Did something happen?” and leave it at that. Or just wait for Joyce to tell you! I hate to say it…but no wonder she’s got no friends.
I think Sarah is in big sister mode, she (strange as it my seem) sees Joyce as being completely naïve to the point of defenselessness and has a little bit of a tendency to overprotectiveness …
anyone who wouldn’t have loved to have (if not been willing to kill to have) such a friend at some point in their life has led a pretty sheltered life. Sarah has few friends (that we know of) because: 1) she’s an introvert, 2) she tried to do the right thing for her former roommate and has been judged and shunned (if not outright hounded) for it. Strangely, some people become defensive and withdrawn when they are punished for trying to help … and yet she’s still trying (and succeeding)
Something tells me this situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets even a little bit better. Also, now that I think about it, here’s hoping Becky doesn’t run into someone who will make things worse. I already have someone in mind, here’s a hint her name rhymes with Mary.
Yeah, then Professor Oak’s gonna have to stop his lecture, and then the entire class will be behind on their schedule. On the bright side, Billie won’t have to revive a semi comatose Ruth.
I’m sorry but I can’t help but laugh at the irony of this, She has a Gay Boyfriend who doesn’t love her and a Gay female best friend Who does love her. it a uh…a bit of an interesting love triangle her.
Time to tackle her problems and buy a strapon. Electrical engineers tend to sport gender changers in their toolbox to make things fit when required, so why not do the same in sociology?
She is such a loving person. Becky just came out with something that Joyce has been taught is an inherently evil way to be, and Joyce is upset because her own reaction hurt Becky so deeply. I was a little worried that she’d feel unsafe again and stop trusting women as well as men.
This reaction is better. And it means that there may be hope for their friendship.
Exactly. She’s stunned, but her first concern is for BECKY. She can’t tell her she’s feeling what she’s NOT–but she knows how much she’s hurt her best friend. The revelation that Becky is gay (and even more, in LOVE with her) hasn’t turned her against Becky or made her cut off Becky–her first reaction, past the shock, is how much she’s HURT Becky. Like the defense of Dorothy against her judgemental, fundamentalist parents, this shows how much Joyce is essentially a good person.
Perhaps I’m just hopeful since I started out life as Joyce: a somewhat clueless fundamentalist Christian who really did love people (even complete with sexual assault and a gay boyfriend! -_-) and turned into Dorothy (an atheist who is still friends with fundamentalist Christians and basically wants to help everyone)…I just see so much in Joyce that I love and care about, because I see so much of my former self in her.
Comment on the hovertext: Yes Sarah has a tendency to think the worse of people, but she has good reason to, based a little on trying to help a former roommate and getting nothing but a hard time for it. And fear of loosing her scholarship due to others screwups. And maybe knowing about Blaine. And Joyce’s near rape. Etc.
However, in all fairness, If I walked into a room and too a look at that face, the first thought in my head is ‘what happened, are you alright”.
And, isn’t Sarah right? Becky sure had a whopper of a secret to hide.
Ah oh shit! Is Joyce gonna add this to her pile of guilt trips…because she didn’t do anything damn thing wrong here. She hurt Becky, but this time it was no way her fault.
Becky made a Hellva mistake, and her hurt is on her own back. Sorry for her, but she didn’t think what she did through at all. May have helped to talk about it first? I thought that actually Joyce handled it pretty well: she didn’t judge or swear or push her away or condemn her at all. She just said no.
One of Sarah’s bigger redeeming gestures for all her misanthropy in the strip so far is that she’s sort of taken on a big sister role to Joyce. She legitimately care and protects her naive, annoying roommate.
Some of that manifests in being over protective because, well, she’s also misanthropic and doesn’t trust people.
Everything said and done, Sarah seems entirely reasonable here if perhaps unfortunately timed and wierdly specific with her accusation (then I’m vague on screening someone’s calls would work if you only had the phone for a couple hours).
I think Becky was checking to make sure Joyce didn’t get called by her parents to tell her Becky had run away, and Sarah saw her on the messages and figured she was doing something sneaky.
I agree that Joyce didn’t do anything wrong, even if she ends up blaming herself for it. Maybe she blames herself for her thoughts, for not chasing after Becky, but what she did was normal under those conditions.
And Sarah shouldn’t be blamed either. She was just looking out for her “little sister”.
I think Joyce will run after Becky. She’ll run into Ethan and plead for his help finding her. Ethan will find Becky before Joyce and they will each come to terms about their sexuality/emotions together.
No no no no no no! Hell no Joyce! You do not, I repeat do not ever give that kind of shit to someone who is willing to take a baseball bat to a party to look after your naive ass AND then take a baseball bat to someone thats drugged you and about to rape you.
Someone thats got your back like that is worth any amount of misunderstandings and deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Disclaimer: I’m a little bit drunk at the moment and this is the best mass-produced beer I’ve ever had (and I’ve drunk a few beers in my time)
Oh man I know that beer. Great taste, but it will sneak up on you and fuck you up if you’re not careful. Some of the worst hangovers I’ve had in my reckless youth were Duvel hangovers.
Joyce is conflicted. She realizes that SHE is the one that hurt Becky (not quite true, but that’s how she is feeling). And, she is hearing what Sarah said as hurtful as well. She is, verbally, at least, lashing out to protect Becky, channeling her anger at Sarah.
Yes, she will seek out, and find Becky. We know this, for it has been foretold that pizza will come to pass, with the gang, and lo, Joyce and Becky will be practically wearing each others cloths.
So tomorrows strip will be involving someone other than becky and joyce, because this is getting good and whenever it gets to this particular level of feels, balancing must take place and the focus switches for a strip.
Becky was Joyce best friend. Becky would do anything for Joyce. So would Joyce, she thought. But when Becky needed her, really, REALLY needed her, Joyce was not there for her. She couldn’t be what Becky needed. Joyce was a bad friend.
Indeed, it was Joyce’s inner voice I was going for – much more interesting than who is “objectively” right.
If I am on the right track of what Joyce is thinking there are a some really ugly parts, such as Joyce berating herself for having the “wrong” sexual orientation.
Becky didn’t answer Joyce calls. Becky didn’t let Joyce know what was going on in her life. Becky played silly games with Joyce instead of letting her know her true feelings. Becky invaded Joyce’s personal space without warning. Becky ran away when Joyce didn’t react as she hoped instead of allowing Joyce time to absorb her feelings. Becky is a lesbian which is a sin in the eyes of God, and she tried to tempt Joyce to follow the same path.
…and yet and don’t believe that Joyce cares about any of that right now.
Okay, just chill you guys. Those aren’t fists for punching. Those are angsting fists. Fists of angst. Joyce’s angst and confusion and love and loyalty all manifest in those tiny, adorable, yet powerfully potent fists.
Regarding Joyce’s pose in the last panel and whether or not it constitutes appropriate punching technique: I don’t think it’s as important as a lot of you are making it out to be. The bottom line is that her posture indicates aggression, and whether that aggression manifests itself as physical or verbal is secondary to the fact that this is the first time Joyce has ever leveled her anger directly and openly at Sarah. Which is big.
I’m most curious to see where Joyce’s dialogue is heading. From what I gather, she’s outraged that Sarah’s assumption is that she was the victim, when in this case she is the one who has hurt someone else.
It’d make sense in terms of her character arc: previously she’s taken steps in being exposed to the world outside of her upbringing, learning that the things she’s been taught can be wrong (objectionable people not being so objectionable), and now she’s realizing that the things she’s been taught are hurting the people she loves and have been for her entire life. That final theme is also a particularly poignant sentiment Willis has expressed a number of times in the past.
But I’ll admit I’m a little fuzzy on it at the moment and may be way off base. So I definitely want to see how this conversation plays out in the coming strips.
Nah, if Willis want to be really cruel, he’ll have Becky run over when things have calmed down and it looks like she’ll have a bright future ahead of her.
Becky’s channeling Travis Bickle “You talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me? She hurt me? What da fuck is that about? There ain’t no one else here. She hurt me? Like fuck she hurt me!”
if there’s one constant, it’s sarah assuming the worst of people
Aaaaand she’s right again, just guessing the wrong person. Well, at least regarding the “hurt” bit, not necessarily regarding the “worst” bit. It’s not like Joyce had much of an option to do better here.
Ouch man this is a really cruel storyline. For Becky and for Joyce. It’s been said a dozen times already, but I associate a lot with Becky during this and sometimes it’s even been a little hard to read from how relatable it is. I never really relate much with things like this, mostly ’cause I’m pretty rubbish with relationships for loads of different reasons, but this storyline actually hit me a little and yeah blah blah, loads of waffle here, but I just mainly want to say thanks to Willis for doing something that, while its painful to read, is true for a lot of people. He could’ve easily gone for Joyce kissing her back, or being temporarily bi for Becky, but he stuck true to how her character would react and made her turn her down, because at the end of the day Becky has always been her best friend and if she couldn’t see her in any other way, even if it does hurt her because of it.
Tl:dr: Thanks Willis for touching on this, even though ouch my heart kind of hurts now. Gonna go sob quietly somewhere with Becky/Joyce thoughts
Oh, I don’t see that Joyce has turned Becky down. Becky caught her empty-handed. And it does not appear that Joyce was particularly happy about that. It seemed more like a “gee, life would fit together so much better right now if if hadn’t handed me that stupid urge for boys” moment. Her coming-in moment, so to say: her being heterosexual in a complex world puts more of a distance between her and her parents than being homosexual in a simple world might.
“Hurt me?… No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not hurt, Sarah. I am the danger. A guy opens his door & gets shot & you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!”
…or that’s what i am now expecting to happen with Joyce’s character after this strip ;P
Motion seconded. Yes, Sarah made a bad call at one point, and all of her friends turned against her, but that doesn’t give her the right to judge everyone.
But not all of her escapades are necessarily autobiographical. For example, Willis may not have been propositioned and kissed by a gay friend who then ran away in despair.
But you can ship Beck and Willis anyway. 😉
Finally coming out of lurk-mode because the feels… I get the feeling that this is going to radiate outward like a character hurting bomb shooting shrapnel everywhere. 🙁
Well, how else would Joyce react to being kissed by someone she would never consider being with? While she has a boyfriend, none the less. (Granted a gay boyfriend, but still a boyfriend) She was in shock.
At least she didn’t do what I did when in her position, and slap the chick that kissed me. Then battle the ensuing yelling match…
not really? Her defining characteristic is that she can be that way, due to her upbringing, but once she sees the issue, she tends to change. Because she is an extremely nice and good person.
This kills me — when i came out a bazillion years ago i completely cut off my best friend because I was afraid of loving her and letting her know that I’d felt that way since the 1st second i met her. I wish i’d the courage Becky had to declare that feeling — yeah, she went about it the wrong way, but for her, given her background, joyce’s, and just the overpowering hope and fear she must have been feeling it was the ONLY way it was going to play out.
Same here. The Billie/Ruth arc with its (for now) happy resolution made me elated, but the Joyce/Becky tragedy left me feeling depressed. This is what good writing can do…
I feel like I may be the only person that never liked Becky…
Even on the first page, I had no love for her, just general distaste…
Something felt off and like it would cause pain down the road.
It’s good I didn’t get attached.
In Sarah’s defense, she is correct that Becky’s story wasn’t entirely truthful. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Becky actually had been looking at Joyce’s phone to see if there were any “OMG I <3 U so much!" messages, which would have been a pretty good tip-off that Joyce is unavailable. A reasonable impulse for someone in Becky's risky and low-information perspective, but still a trust violation. Sarah is jumping the gun in assuming malicious intent, but she knows Joyce is trusting and has been taken advantage of before. This is a rough time for Joyce, but when she's calmed down, it'd be good for her to offer Sarah an explanation and thank her for her concern.
….and almost 15 years later, while reading this strip, I realize why my best friend got so protective of me after I surprise kissed him and he turned me down. Oh.
Willis I’m serious this comic is making a lot of my late-teens-early-twenties bob up to the surface and I don’t know if it’s amazing or just painful but I’m addicted to it.
Welp, shit’s gotten real on far too many levels for Joyce right about now so I can absolutely agree that the very last thing she needs right now is Sarah and her anti-social mindset of others.
Also, ever notice that every time and I mean just about EVERY time Joyce has had some kind of world view shattering moment Sarah’s been there to be some kind of foil? With exception to Joyce being attacked (to which might I add, Joyce went on the offensive and would’ve stayed that way had the drugs not kicked in) Sarah’s been there to act as some kind of moral downer to Joyce’s naive outlook.
Here’s my thing: I like Joyce because I’ve been Joyce. I wasn’t home schooled, but I’m an ex-Catholic school girl of 13 years (and damn proud to say that too) who’s parent (just one of them) made it their life’s mission to keep me under their thumb, “safe” and away from the world.
I struggled to reach the outside world and at first, when I did, it hurt…a LOT but it made me a stronger person. I became less naive about things but I’ve kept a cautious opportunistic optimism about me so as to not let myself become bitter and overly paranoid, all the while still enjoying the benefits of my maturing. Joyce reminds me of my past and I can’t wait to see how she’ll grow from here on out.
I really have a hard time seeing Joyce’s reaction as anything other than self-empowerment taking over. I think Sarah’s words are making Joyce realize how sheltered her life has been. I think she hears Sarah playing the protective big sister role, and Joyce is sick of people feeling that way around her. Why do people feel the need to protect her? Because so many others, regardless of intent, treat her like this complete naive and innocent and (likely) wounded bird. I think it’s all hitting her right now, that some people see her as this wounded bird, and she’s sick of it. People have tried to take advantage of her or shelter her, but right now I suspect she feels like no one has ever seen her as an actual person. “Hurt me?!?” with fists clenched and angry face is Joyce determined to not be surprised or hurt by anyone again. This is likely the closest she has come to ACTUALLY swearing with meaning and force. The fact that Joyce was blindsided by Becky likely feels like justification for Sarah’s well intentioned but belittling rant. And she’s done with it.
It’s gonna be a big explosion, and it’s probably gonna swing Joyce’s pendulum too far in the other direction at first, but this will ultimately be a good thing. I just hope that the initial explosion we are about to witness doesn’t cause too much collateral damage before the recovery can begin.
In a way, you’ve gotta like the way Sarah (“Big sister”) is standing behind Joyce (“little sister”) here. She notices that Becky is missing; picks up on the fact that Joyce is hurting/in turmoil; and without hesitation she steps up squarely in support of Joyce — “What did she do? I didn’t trust her. Did she hurt you?”
And I see the last panel as a major turning point for Joyce. Just as Scarlett O’Hara, reduced to digging for overlooked turnips on her knees in the garden of what had been her fabulous home, rose and swore “I’ll never be hungry again!”, Joyce is rising from her knees to swear “I’ll never let myself be hurt again!”.
Awww. Protective Sarah is protective, and Joyce’s heart is breaking for her friend (whose heart she just broke). At least Sarah got Joyce to snap out of her BSOD.
A) I don’t even remember Becky doing anything with Joyce’s phone
B) How exactly can someone surreptitiously screen calls, anyway? It rings, and you click “no”. Even assuming it’s on mute, who exactly does Sarah imagine was calling Joyce at precisely that moment and at no other time when Becky didn’t have her phone?
She could either have been looking at Joyce’s phone call history, or setting up a black list that automatically rejects calls from certain numbers. Either could work with the use of the word “screening”. This is I believe a standard feature on Android and iOS.
I remember the first time I hurt someone I loved. It’s really brutal realizing that not everything is so black and white. Like seeing how much responsibility you have to others but also suddenly knocking yourself put of any pedestal you had.
A gray world is what Willis is all about… I wonder where he will take this.
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Hurt me?
HURT ME?
NO MORE. WHAT IS LOVE???
BABY DON’T HURT ME
DON’T HURT ME NO MORE
When I hear that song now, it reminds me of how difficult it is to fly a spacecraft through those tight spaces.
I don’t know about that but it does make me thing of ST:TNG characters in a car listening to music.
Time to shake your head!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9RGZxjORF0
This is the one I think of.
I think of Knytt Stories!
Don’t Eat The Mushroom! Best game EVER!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvZa3tiYwY
It wasn’t that hard. I only died once!
I hate that sequence every time I replay the game. Arg – is that ship made out of glass?
And how that final cutscene always crashes my game, unless I turn the graphics settings down.
I’m a little lost. What game are we talking about?
I think it’s Saints Row 4, but I don’t get how they could have been having problems with that ship flying/escape scene?!?
You are correct, it was Saints Row 4 but it took me several tries before I could finally get past that damn stage, my poor vision didn’t make it any easier that’s for certain.
Zinyak “ruining” Biz Markie is the highlight of that beautiful game. Can’t wait for “Gat Out of Hell”.
“Why throw away your life so recklessly, Saint?”
@Corey: I wish they had a full length version of Zinyak singing to Biz Markie, it would have been awesome.
Saints Row 4?
NONOONONONNONOOO
*gives Camachri an award… and smacks it out of their hand*
I THREW IT ON THE GROUND!
“Man. I ain’t part of your system.”
And since I ain’t part of your system,
“Life’s too short to even care at all.”
Your collective suffering is all the reward I need. But thank you anyway!
I don’t know anything about Saints Row 4, but boy I do love Eurodance, and that is a great song. Also, those videos are hilarious, especially the one with Riker/Picard/Data. 🙂
Where did the footage of the three guys in the car come from?
The “A Night At The Roxbury” sketches from SNL.
Thanks!
http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-04-01
Just for a couple of the panels.
😀 I’ve reread that comic series sooooooo many times!
WAIT IS SHE ABOUT TO PUNCH SARAH???
Yes. Please I hope so yes.
What did Sarah ever do to you?
I just want to see Joyce snap. She was one of the few characters in It’s Walky! who never snapped.
My memory may be a little fuzzy but I FEEL like she did.
She broke a glass on Ryan’s face.
We’re talking about the Walkyverse, Sentinel.
Oh, she snapped in Walkyverse. She snapped like a twig made of a thousand and one Succubi.
I think in Roomies, she came pre-snapped…
This is the girl who repeatedly mind-wiped herself to repress trauma, yes?
Really? Joyce never snapped? Even if you’re only reading along with the Roomies Redux, she’s already snapped like three or four times.
I’d think that freaking out so hard that you agree to a mind-wipe that turns you into an amnesia patient just to forget what you’ve seen has to qualify as snapping.
What comic was I reading ?
In response to all above, I mean snapping like when Walky got mindwiped by Penny. Just going insane and beating the closest people around. She came close with sal once But I don’t recall her actually laying a beatdown on someone.
She killed somebody (arguably).
How about that time when alliens captured them all and she went besek and broke from her restraints because everybody kept calling her useless?
having not read the other comics…. what.
In case you didn’t know: This continuity is strictly realistic (no SF or Fantasy elements), but the *other* comic continuity had aliens in it and Joyce (and Walky and Sal and several other people) was among the abductees that had been given superpowers by them and eventually ended up fighting against them.
Those aliens are the origin of all mentions of the “Head Alien” Dexter and Monkey Master that you hear about as being merely Walky’s favourite cartoon show in this continuity.
What about that time she beat her doppelganger to death?
And the pictures were gruesome enough to get censored on the news, I believe.
Ummm. Didn’t she murder her own clone?
Yeah there was a whole period of time when she was considered super dangerous and unstable and people were tiptoeing around her so she didn’t go all she hulk on them
She snapped in Walkyverse. Oh yeah she did 🙂
In response to all above again, I didn’t really count the Nega-Joyce storline, since she a) it was a one shot kill, b) it was her ‘evil’ clone, and c) I’d forgotten about it.
As for the time she ‘attacked’ Sal for calling her Useless, she never did any damage to her at all. Left no marks. I’m talking about the kind of snapping that happened when Walky beat sal up with a Segway.
to be honest Sarah is kind of a jerk so she kind of deserves to get chewed out.
but not punched tho, only assholes like blaine deserve THAT kind of treatment.
THIS IS GETTING SO STRESSFUL AAAAAA
No. A lot of people seem to think this, and I have no idea why. Aside from the fact that she wouldn’t, it isn’t remotely the right movement/pose for that.
That is absolutely the right pose for someone who has only ever seen people punch other people in movies.
90s comics, maybe. Her butt is pointed at Sarah. That’s some Escher Girls combat style.
Last panel, she’s turning, angry and her fists are clenched.
Also a good pose for yelling at people if I’m not mistaken.
She’s far more worried/upset than angry in the last panel. There is some anger, but it isn’t the main thing.
Only her upper body is turning, and no one’s going to throw punches postured like that. Granted it’s not like she can’t turn completely around in the next comic, but panel 5 isn’t a guarantee of violence.
My hunch is that she realizes that SHE (Joyce) has hurt Becky more than Becky has hurt her. To me, it looked like she’s rushing to chase after Becky.
‘Course, now that I’ve said this, the next page will be her decking Sarah in the face.
Or trying to. Ineffectually. Like an angry kitten.
If you go for the face, it’s bound to hurt anyway. And as the sole girl out of… four? siblings, she’s no weakling anyway.
I’m the 4th of 9 children… she’s got nothing on me lol
faaaaace?
I suppose the motion lines in the last panel are another factor to take into consideration with how people are expecting this to play out.
Since when is there I pose for punching? OK, since martial arts, I guess. But you can spontaneously punch from any position.
But I don’t think this will end in punching. Probably tears and a need for comfort, thus making Sarah really uncomfortable.
Well she was perpendicular/slightly turned towards Sarah, so it’s not like she’s twisting her body to face her.
I can’t quite visualize the room, but I feel like maybe Sarah walked past her, and now Joyce is turning to face Sarah.
No, you can tell by the billboard that Sarah doesn’t move after she enters. Joyce is turning away from Sarah while shouting over her shoulder.
And she’s not twisting her body to punch either. Her lower body is completely facing away from Sarah in the last panel.
A punch is a funny thought but really it will probably be one of two things.
She’ll stress dump on Sarah or she’ll run after Becky. Probably both.
no that’s impossible
I dismissed some people’s suggestion that Joyce would punch Becky for kissing her because it seemed out of character. Joyce can turn violent, but she needs a ramp up.
Reading this strip, I see it may be a short ramp.
No. She is about to *try* to punch Sarah.
This.
I’m pretty sure she’s starting to run off after Becky.
It’s actually incredibly usual in comics to draw characters with clenched fists to point out that they’re frustrated. As I see it, that’s all that’s going on here. She’s not turning around to punch Sarah. No, she’s turning around because it’s common human behaviour to look people in the face when you’re about to yell at them or vent your frustrations at them verbally.
And the shit continues to hit the fan.
Really? How’d we obtain all this shit?
From assholes naturally, where else?
http://tinyurl.com/oecyu2j
At least it’s not syntethic poo but natural free range one.
And now imagine missing at least three pages and being confused about fecal matter all over the place- I’ve basically gone from Joyce and Becky talking to each other to this page.
I’d think you’d expect such whiplash from this comic by now.
Sarah, you stupid…
Also, what’s screening Calls?
It has 2 meanings, at least that’s what past experiences have taught me.
Either A, making sure no one else can can you or B, checking call history.
I’ve heard it more used in the context of preventing calls/ not answering calls, though.
If someone’s calling, seeing who it is before letting it through. Not sure how she’d do that with a cell phone preemptively, though. I usually require caller ID.
Most smartphones (I think most cellphones now?) have a call reject feature on the phone itself. You can turn it on and add specific phone numbers, and those callers only will be forwarded to voicemail as though the phone was turned off. The phone won’t even ring.
I got SO many calls in tech support on that very issue, because on some models (Samsungs mostly) it was insanely easy to accidentally set someone on the reject list so calls and messages wouldn’t come through.
Becky might have been adding her parents, Joyce’s parents, any other mutual friends, their old pastor, whatever numbers she knows onto Joyce’s reject list.
I believe Becky was stated to not have a cell phone.
Right, I meant she’s putting numbers on Joyce’s phone’s reject list to screen them out so even if those people try to call Joyce to ask ‘have you seen Becky? Is she with you?’ or what-have-you, the calls won’t ring through at all. Thus pre-emptive screening.
But how would she know how to do that? It’s true that a reject list is fairly common knowledge… if you have a cell phone or have an interest in them.
I think it’s mostly Sarah being needlessly paranoid about this. Becky was playing games. Sarah, suspicious curmudgeon that she is, immediately assumed she was a KGB spy and called the special forces to neutra-
Wait. Wrong comic.
I think in is case it means she was checking to see who Joyce was calling and who was calling Joyce.
I dunno. I think Becky didn’t tell anyone she was leaving and she was screening Joyce’s phone to make sure he parents or anyone else wasn’t calling to find her. Not that she was snooping through Joyce’s history
Maybe she should’ve been snooping through Joyce’s history. Browsing backwards through those pictures of dingdongs might’ve given her enough of a clue to abort the “kiss the girl” plan.
True, but mitigated by the google history for “strap on”.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
Actually, that was one of the theories going around when Becky showed up. Sarah was pretty suspicious of Becky’s story (cause it seemed inconsistent), and so thought the families back home sent her to check on Joyce and make sure she wasn’t going native, which could include things like checking to make sure she’s not making booty calls or whatever.
Sarah wasn’t around for the rest to know that it’s basically the opposite.
FUCK GOTTA WAIT 24 HOURS NOW
My thoughts exactly
Ok about 12 and a half hours down.
10 hours and counting.
4 hours! Oh my god!
I have an interview in the morning… I have to sleep… FUUUUUUUUU
Time zones for the win.
Becky don’t hurt me!
Uh oh.
OH. OH NO.
I’m confused…
About what?
Joycesplosion.
Sarah has pushed Joyce one step closer to the edge, and she’s about to break.
She will find the answers aren’t so clear.
I thought that Becky kissing Joyce would break Joyce. It didn’t. It broke Becky. Sarah is not about to break Joyce. Instead, Sarah usefully moved Joyce from a state of shock to a state of determined action.
Or maybe we just read different comics.
Actually, we were singing a song.
She wishes she could find a way to disappear…
I was a Patreon member until recently. Moments like this, I would immediately look ahead. But Willis keeps leaving things haning, so I had to look ahead everyday. It made almost no difference in the end, I only had one comic a day. I would try to ween myself off by not reading for a day or two, but then something like this would happen and I would be right back in Patreon looking at tomorrow’s strip everyday for a week. In the end I decided it wasn’t worth it, especially if I bought the book later. I would still be getting only one strip a day unless I strung myself out. Damn you Willis, you Crack comic dealing Cracker.
Back to the old Vitamin Heroin fer me, thanks
Ynis is the reason I won’t go over 1$ on Patreon, beyond being a poor student.
And of course I meant ‘this’. I have no idea who Ynis is, but I doubt s/he is influencing my action that much.
Ynis has a few google hits; An Intervention service for youth, a song, and the main character for a book series.
Based on the name, I’m guessing that Ynis is some kind of Eldritch Abomination and he/she/it/they is/are totally influencing your action and that, that typo was your subconscious trying to warn either you or us.
Shhh. Don’t see the fnords.
ILLUMINATUS! *dramatic finger point*
No. The Wiliis.
Don’t see the what? Your message got cut off.
Maybe a better way would have been to offer one off purchases of tomorow’s comics?
Late for makeouts as usual, Sarah.
You can never trust those redheads right, Sarah?
I just remembered the name of the chapter
Awww, Joyce. Even if she doesn’t return Becky’s feelings, even if Becky addressed them in the wrong way, she still cares and d’aaaaw.
Oooh, and look at that last-panel expression, too. That is a Joyce who hates herself.
After all, one of her best friends just gave her the most wonderful gift of all – the greatest thing one could possibly be given – and she just threw it back in her face.
This is not a good day for Joyce, clearly.
That’s how I’m interpreting it too. She’s angry, but not particularly at Sarah. Doubt she’s going in for a punch.
I agree, it looks like she’s turning away from Sarah, yelling over her shoulder, and those look like shoulders/fists primed to move to me. (Sarah’s been in front of her all the other panels with the posters/tagboard to the left, then Sarah’s behind her and the posters/tagboard have switched sides.)
Sarah’s very Sarah-like protectiveness of Joyce via assumption of ill-intent on the part of someone else has snapped Joyce out of her shock and allowed her to start thinking and acting. Or so it seems to me. Go Sarah? I guess?
aw snap, and this is right after Dorothy told Walky she loved him and Joyce was all sad that they had that and she didn’t…..
Exactly. On top of that, Joyce completely fumbled the response, just like she yelled at Walky about. Sure, she might not loveLOVE Becky, but she’s her best friend and she seems to understand she hurt her pretty badly.
There’s no hatred so personal as self-hatred.
I knew that had to have Joyce feeling super guilty.
For a minute there I thought maybe Sarah had been in the room the whole time.
Oh, so THAT’S where Joyce’s breaking point is. I was wondering!
Maybe she’ll finally start swearing!
I honestly thought this strip was going to be three panels of Joyce trying to wrap her mind around everything, and a fourth-panel of her just staring down at her bed, with a single speech bubble: “Fuck.”
Aside from the specific cause, that’s pretty much how I started swearing. And nobody else knew I swore for, like, two years.
Lol basically the same here.
Bakusai Tenketsu!
Well played, Plasma Mongoose. I’d never have seen that coming. It’s almost as unexpected as Ryoga Hibiki winding up on the Pie family rock farm.
…and darn you for getting that idea into my head.
It’s a pity that Bakusai Tenketsu only works on things like rocks and concrete not human bodies.
Oh shit…
Contents under pressure, Sarah. Contents under pressure.
Poor Joyce. Now that you have snapped out of the shock, go find her!
Yes Joyce! Run after her – Becky’s probably at that fountain she loves so much!
Oh no Joyce is mad because she couldn’t do anything to help her friend when she was sort of the cause and regrets it so hard and wants to be there for her right away, but does she know how?
Oh no.
No, Joyce! Don’t make out with Sarah instead! That’ll just hurt Becky’s feelings even MORE!!
This is kind of nice, this shows a bit about Joyce, that while she was raised with strong christian beliefs and that one of the biggest parts of her life (childhood friend) has severly changed. She is more worried about the pain she inflicted on Becky then the fact she was involved in a lesbian kiss.
I’m proud of you Joyce….now i’m going back to my sinking ship to cry….
I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that this experience will drastically change Joyce’s opinions on homosexuality
That or make her even more homophobic.
Gay, not even once.
When I first gayed, I was hooked. I stayed up all night for days just… Gaying. I lost weight, my only concern was getting my next fix. The worst part is that it was my gateway orientation. I hope Joyce will be ok.
Finally, here’s where Joyce strips some gears. Pass the popcorrn and crank up Time to define your good Joyce, not anybody else’s.
Joyce don’t feel bad. You were honest with her but when the truth shattered her fantasy she couldn’t handle it.
“Hurt me? She made me feel wonderful and that’s the problem!”
Please allow this to be the end of the sentence.
O my sweet summer child
I’m giving that as big a chance of being true that I can possibly allow myself to (about 5%).
Joyce that’s a bit much and Sarah you don’t trust ANYBODY.
Maybe I’d think that was a bad thing if she wasn’t always RIGHT.
OK so she has a good reason too, moral of the story is “never let you guard down” bet Joyce wished she knew that.
Tomorrow Joyce goes on a huge rant that Sarah shuts down by pointing out her hypocrisy by dating Ethan.
I don’t see Joyce sticking around for the shut down…. I see her storming out after ranting. That said, the shut down would likely still happen later.
Your avatar would have loved this show.
For some reason, this is making me think Walky will say something inappropriate related to this later on that’ll piss Joyce off.
“Man, offhand I sure hate redheaded lesbos.”
(You know. So he can piss off Billie AND Joyce)
And Carla.
I was thinking more like how he’s always commenting on how attached Joyce is to Dorothy, insinuating that she’s a lesbian. I would hope this would lead to her finally swearing, or at least punch him for when he really deserves it. I dunno, I just don’t like the Walky of this universe very much.
I dunno. He’s my favorite Walky. I’m basically just a blacker, dreadlockier, artier dumber Walky.
There’s walky like that deep down within us all, Embrace the inner Walky people !
I currently own only one pair of shoes, does that count?
(Dammit, I need to remember to get more shoes.)
You eventually get shoes for different occasions.
Hiking, running, metal shop, formal dress, workout, aquatic.
Six is a good number.
I blame student-ing myself.
I have 3 or 4 pairs of formal shoes (different balances of formal and comfort, also black vs brown), steel toed boots, ski boots, snowboard boots, hiking shoes, everyday shoes (and my old pair), two pairs of Five-Fingers (those toe shoes)… I think that’s about it.
Maybe something like, “If I could be a lesbian, don’t you think I would?!”
And he learns what his spleen looks like.
“Yeah, hurt you. Did she do that?”
Only mentally, onnnnllllyy mentally.
She’s not hurt, physically, or mentally. Or rather if she is hurting now, she is inflicting it on herself, for hurting Becky.
Ya its all her fault, of course she can’t help being straight but its still her fault for being such a tease with her stupid ass sexy hoodies and sweater vest and the lame hair cut that went out of style when the Brady Bunch went off the air.
I mean Becky gave her the best thing in the world and she just threw it back in her Face! I can’t even, do you even know how much I – you know what I’m getting some soft serve.
I didn’t say it was Joyce’s fault, or that she could have done anything differently. All I said she is upset because she hurt Becky.
I feel like Sarah’s not THAT people-dumb. I may be overestimating her.
“Hurt ME? My best friend in the whole wide EVERYTHING just pulled her heart out of her chest and OFFERED it to me, and I threw it on the floor and STOMPED on it, and you’re asking if SHE hurt MEEE???”
Oh my god, this. This made me tear up. You too, newllend.
More like fumbled it in surprise. And it being fragile, it kinda shattered on impact with reality.
To be fair to Joyce, it’s not her fault if Becky got hurt, Beck came on too strong, made some assumptions based on poor reasoning; most likely due to strong emotions, & worst of all; put Joyce in an incredibly awkward position without thinking of the consequences of her actions.
Agreed, but now Joyce needs to talk to her.
All she really can do if she wants to save a friend…
Joyce’s eyes. I didn’t know they could go that small. It’s quite amazing really.
Sarah you are being such an ass.
That’s an opinion you can only have as someone who has all the information.
Well, there’s her unrelenting assumption that Joyce is delicate and needs protecting. Of course, that’s not exactly that poor of an assumption either.
Good to know, thanks.
Yeah, but she ran away from Jacob, so he can’t possibly have all the information.
YES!!! This strip. All this strip. While it disturbs me how similar Joyce and I am in some ways, THAT is exactly how a person like me/her would respond to a wrongful accusation of one of our friends do something harmful to us. And I love her to death for it. Tomorrow she’ll have a rant at Sarah and storm out and by this time next week there will (hopefully) have been reconciliation and understanding between the two and the perpetual drama hurricane can move onto another part of the Dumbiverse.
Wait, in the last panel is Joyce turning around to run after Becky or reeling back to punch Sarah?
My read of the body language is yelling over her shoulder as she marches, or even runs, determinedly away.
Also if I remember correctly there were a couple of peeps who believed that Becky was spying for Joyce’s folks. I love that that was what Sarah believed. While not fooled of the everseeing shipping eyes of the commenters, it’s still a very good red herring.
I get the impression that while the Brown parents aren’t the nicest, that’s too dastardly for them. Like that’s Blaine levels of cunning.
“Well if you insist. I’ll go grab my bat”
Sarah, duck! punch incoming!!!!
Given their respective heights, a sidestep or parry might be more effective.
I feel like Joyce is going to be torn between her upbringing, and her need to protect Becky from other people’s judging. After all, Becky has been her loyal friend (even if friendzoned) for many years before college.
Woah, this is a little unexpected. I’m getting a “I hurt her and I hate myself for it” vibe way more than anything. Not sure about the arms, but maybe she’s going to run after her? Fingers AND toes crossed. They may never be lovers, but it would be a shame if they stopped being friends.
She’s probably thinking ,” Coming to this place has done nothing But hurt me! “
Unlikely, I think. Her repeated emphasis on “me” leads me to believe that she’s thinking, ‘No, I hurt her!”
Also, Sarah is just too damn distrustful, the fact that she assumed a good friend of Joyce’s was up to no good so quickly illustrates her social issues quite well.
Sarah is quite possibly right about Becky screening calls. It would explain why no one has contacted Joyce to find out where Becky is. I should have realized it myself.
Still, Sarah jumped to a conclusion & assumed malicious intent, which says something about her opinion of people.
True. She’s probably the only character who’d have jumped so enthusiastically to the worst conclusions.
It’s just that if she did find that Becky was screening calls (and she may have had good reason to be), it would have looked really, really bad from Sarah’s perspective. I could see coming to the same conclusion in that situation.
I
I’m guessing that she had some better evidence than she explained here. She might have overheard her listen to the messages or something.
Mary would’ve come up with even worse conclusions and jumped to them way more enthusiastically.
I think that Mary isn’t really somebody to compare to anyone, she’s the Great Butt. Ultra Butt. Master Butt.
Hey, it’s a useful thing to have. Certainly help out with the party. And her old roommate. The cast as a whole is optimistic enough that her cynicism is good.
A good friend that showed up unannounced from far away on a random day (it isn’t like it was family weekend).
I’m guessing that she had some better evidence than she explained here. She might have overheard her listen to the messages or something.
*reply fail
Oh shit, it looks like she’s about to deck her.
Not a “Punch” pose, but an “Action” pose. Her legs and hips are turning away from Sarah, and she is speaking over her shoulder. And, no that is not a “back breaker” pose, but well withing human normal.
My take: Joyce has already gotten past the point where homosexuality blows her mind. She still seems to have this idea that gayness is “fixable” (in regards to Ethan, specifically), although even there that seems like a thin layer of denial rather than a firm belief.
Right now, though, she understands that Becky is in pain and needs some empathy. She can’t engineer a happy ending to this situation, but she can and should be there for Becky now and help her go into a dangerous emotional tailspin.
Tough, tough, tough situation, and Sarah is misreading it completely.
*help her not go into a tailspin
I think you are right on.
The first time.
Clenched fist, gritted teeth, rearing back…..JOYCE HAYMAKER?!
She’d have to turn around completely before throwing it, otherwise it would be super ineffective.
I’d be surprised if she actually punches Sarah but she’ll most likely be the victim of misplaced emotions.
I think I mentioned in a post above that Joyce turning her whole body around and then going for it isn’t out of the question; but body mechanics aside, I’m not expecting it either.
Nor am I, but if she does she could use the pivot for a substantial amount of extra force if she drives from the hips.
Wow wtf Sarah. Instead of just saying the first thing that jumps to mind, why don’t you just say “Oh did she? Did something happen?” and leave it at that. Or just wait for Joyce to tell you! I hate to say it…but no wonder she’s got no friends.
I think Sarah is in big sister mode, she (strange as it my seem) sees Joyce as being completely naïve to the point of defenselessness and has a little bit of a tendency to overprotectiveness …
anyone who wouldn’t have loved to have (if not been willing to kill to have) such a friend at some point in their life has led a pretty sheltered life. Sarah has few friends (that we know of) because: 1) she’s an introvert, 2) she tried to do the right thing for her former roommate and has been judged and shunned (if not outright hounded) for it. Strangely, some people become defensive and withdrawn when they are punished for trying to help … and yet she’s still trying (and succeeding)
Protectiveness can lead one to be pretty blunt about threat assessment.
Something tells me this situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets even a little bit better. Also, now that I think about it, here’s hoping Becky doesn’t run into someone who will make things worse. I already have someone in mind, here’s a hint her name rhymes with Mary.
Yeah, you totally can’t trust Gary.
Oak?
Of course. Imagine when he releases that Arcanine in the dorm. Billie will have to pull the fire alarm for real this time.
Yeah, then Professor Oak’s gonna have to stop his lecture, and then the entire class will be behind on their schedule. On the bright side, Billie won’t have to revive a semi comatose Ruth.
What? No, Gary doesn’t live on this floor.
It’s SHERRY we all need to worry about.
(But dear sweet historical Jesus playing with action figures would Mary showing up right now be terrible.)
From Ib?
Nah, that’s two R’s; what am I thinking?
“I’ll be sad when this world breaks you,” she said, not realizing that she’d be the one to do it.
Ouch.
Fishy eh? I guess that confirms the whole “enough agency to bus across the country” bit.
Guys I know this is super serious and everything, but I can’t help but read Joyce’s last comment in a Lemongrab voice.
I’m sorry but I can’t help but laugh at the irony of this, She has a Gay Boyfriend who doesn’t love her and a Gay female best friend Who does love her. it a uh…a bit of an interesting love triangle her.
The next chapter is titled “Three’s a Crowd”.
Time to tackle her problems and buy a strapon. Electrical engineers tend to sport gender changers in their toolbox to make things fit when required, so why not do the same in sociology?
I love Joyce right now.
She is such a loving person. Becky just came out with something that Joyce has been taught is an inherently evil way to be, and Joyce is upset because her own reaction hurt Becky so deeply. I was a little worried that she’d feel unsafe again and stop trusting women as well as men.
This reaction is better. And it means that there may be hope for their friendship.
Exactly. She’s stunned, but her first concern is for BECKY. She can’t tell her she’s feeling what she’s NOT–but she knows how much she’s hurt her best friend. The revelation that Becky is gay (and even more, in LOVE with her) hasn’t turned her against Becky or made her cut off Becky–her first reaction, past the shock, is how much she’s HURT Becky. Like the defense of Dorothy against her judgemental, fundamentalist parents, this shows how much Joyce is essentially a good person.
THIIIS. This this this.
Perhaps I’m just hopeful since I started out life as Joyce: a somewhat clueless fundamentalist Christian who really did love people (even complete with sexual assault and a gay boyfriend! -_-) and turned into Dorothy (an atheist who is still friends with fundamentalist Christians and basically wants to help everyone)…I just see so much in Joyce that I love and care about, because I see so much of my former self in her.
Comment on the hovertext: Yes Sarah has a tendency to think the worse of people, but she has good reason to, based a little on trying to help a former roommate and getting nothing but a hard time for it. And fear of loosing her scholarship due to others screwups. And maybe knowing about Blaine. And Joyce’s near rape. Etc.
However, in all fairness, If I walked into a room and too a look at that face, the first thought in my head is ‘what happened, are you alright”.
And, isn’t Sarah right? Becky sure had a whopper of a secret to hide.
Ah oh shit! Is Joyce gonna add this to her pile of guilt trips…because she didn’t do anything damn thing wrong here. She hurt Becky, but this time it was no way her fault.
Becky made a Hellva mistake, and her hurt is on her own back. Sorry for her, but she didn’t think what she did through at all. May have helped to talk about it first? I thought that actually Joyce handled it pretty well: she didn’t judge or swear or push her away or condemn her at all. She just said no.
One of Sarah’s bigger redeeming gestures for all her misanthropy in the strip so far is that she’s sort of taken on a big sister role to Joyce. She legitimately care and protects her naive, annoying roommate.
Some of that manifests in being over protective because, well, she’s also misanthropic and doesn’t trust people.
Everything said and done, Sarah seems entirely reasonable here if perhaps unfortunately timed and wierdly specific with her accusation (then I’m vague on screening someone’s calls would work if you only had the phone for a couple hours).
I think Becky was checking to make sure Joyce didn’t get called by her parents to tell her Becky had run away, and Sarah saw her on the messages and figured she was doing something sneaky.
I agree that Joyce didn’t do anything wrong, even if she ends up blaming herself for it. Maybe she blames herself for her thoughts, for not chasing after Becky, but what she did was normal under those conditions.
And Sarah shouldn’t be blamed either. She was just looking out for her “little sister”.
Ad to my post above. I am not a Joyce fan by a long shot.
Your Gravatar is adorable; where does it come from? I don’t recall seeing Ruth and Bille actually happy together like that.
It wasn’t that long ago! 🙂
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/terrible-2/
Sarah!
No!
Stap!!!!
Sarah… Sarah what are you doing… Sarah… STAHP! Do you have any idea how much sodium is in that cola?
Fire punch!
Falcon Punch!
SHINING FINGER!
Take this! My love, my anger and all of my sorrow!
Rising Dragon Fist!
This might be the start of Joyce becoming a Social Justice Super-Hero (to be trained by and join Amazi-Girl). Just a theory…
Anti-Joyce Begins
“Why birds, mistress Joyce?”
“Birds anger me. It’s time my enemies share my high score on Facebook.”
I think Joyce will run after Becky. She’ll run into Ethan and plead for his help finding her. Ethan will find Becky before Joyce and they will each come to terms about their sexuality/emotions together.
Ethan and Becky will become great friends.
Joyce will be jealous of both of them.
Hovertext: Something tells me she did not assume what Joyce is about to do.
No no no no no no! Hell no Joyce! You do not, I repeat do not ever give that kind of shit to someone who is willing to take a baseball bat to a party to look after your naive ass AND then take a baseball bat to someone thats drugged you and about to rape you.
Someone thats got your back like that is worth any amount of misunderstandings and deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Disclaimer: I’m a little bit drunk at the moment and this is the best mass-produced beer I’ve ever had (and I’ve drunk a few beers in my time)
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/222/695/
Go home chris73, you’re drunk
http://imgur.com/gallery/T1C9g
Thats cool
Ohhh, I drank that beer when I was in Belgium! It was alright.
Oh man I know that beer. Great taste, but it will sneak up on you and fuck you up if you’re not careful. Some of the worst hangovers I’ve had in my reckless youth were Duvel hangovers.
The billie avatars make this so much better
OK, please don’t try to beat up Sarah. She didn’t see what happened and she feels protective of you since the Ryan incident.
Joyce is conflicted. She realizes that SHE is the one that hurt Becky (not quite true, but that’s how she is feeling). And, she is hearing what Sarah said as hurtful as well. She is, verbally, at least, lashing out to protect Becky, channeling her anger at Sarah.
Yes, she will seek out, and find Becky. We know this, for it has been foretold that pizza will come to pass, with the gang, and lo, Joyce and Becky will be practically wearing each others cloths.
I wonder if this is where we’re about to see Joyce cuss for the first time in her life?
Her first curse word will be the c word and then she’ll never curse again.
I think Joyce grew up a bit, and is now going to find Becky and tell her that she, Joyce does love her, just not in that particular way.
Sure just like Ethan told Joyce he loves her and that worked out really well for everyone involved
It’s not remotely the same situation.
So tomorrows strip will be involving someone other than becky and joyce, because this is getting good and whenever it gets to this particular level of feels, balancing must take place and the focus switches for a strip.
Am I supposed to feel sorry for Becky? ‘Cause I don’t. She was acting like an idiot.
well, like a desperately co-dependent teen.
I’m with you, Neonix. Was I the only one to notice the crazy look on Becky’s face when she did the whole “You have to feel the same way” bit?
Becky was Joyce best friend. Becky would do anything for Joyce. So would Joyce, she thought. But when Becky needed her, really, REALLY needed her, Joyce was not there for her. She couldn’t be what Becky needed. Joyce was a bad friend.
In other words: Guilt-guilt-GUILT
Maybe that’s what Joyce thinks… But Joyce really couldn’t have done much more than she did.
Indeed, it was Joyce’s inner voice I was going for – much more interesting than who is “objectively” right.
If I am on the right track of what Joyce is thinking there are a some really ugly parts, such as Joyce berating herself for having the “wrong” sexual orientation.
Who wasn’t answering her phone when the other called and texted them after a major crisis?
Becky didn’t answer Joyce calls. Becky didn’t let Joyce know what was going on in her life. Becky played silly games with Joyce instead of letting her know her true feelings. Becky invaded Joyce’s personal space without warning. Becky ran away when Joyce didn’t react as she hoped instead of allowing Joyce time to absorb her feelings. Becky is a lesbian which is a sin in the eyes of God, and she tried to tempt Joyce to follow the same path.
…and yet and don’t believe that Joyce cares about any of that right now.
Okay, just chill you guys. Those aren’t fists for punching. Those are angsting fists. Fists of angst. Joyce’s angst and confusion and love and loyalty all manifest in those tiny, adorable, yet powerfully potent fists.
> Fists of angst
Now there’s a band name.
OMG… Sarah! Duck! >.<
*braces self for the fist-to-face impact*
http://youtu.be/omLve_vezbA?t=4s
Sarah is channeling the commentator thread a bit too close for comfort.
Regarding Joyce’s pose in the last panel and whether or not it constitutes appropriate punching technique: I don’t think it’s as important as a lot of you are making it out to be. The bottom line is that her posture indicates aggression, and whether that aggression manifests itself as physical or verbal is secondary to the fact that this is the first time Joyce has ever leveled her anger directly and openly at Sarah. Which is big.
I’m most curious to see where Joyce’s dialogue is heading. From what I gather, she’s outraged that Sarah’s assumption is that she was the victim, when in this case she is the one who has hurt someone else.
It’d make sense in terms of her character arc: previously she’s taken steps in being exposed to the world outside of her upbringing, learning that the things she’s been taught can be wrong (objectionable people not being so objectionable), and now she’s realizing that the things she’s been taught are hurting the people she loves and have been for her entire life. That final theme is also a particularly poignant sentiment Willis has expressed a number of times in the past.
But I’ll admit I’m a little fuzzy on it at the moment and may be way off base. So I definitely want to see how this conversation plays out in the coming strips.
P.S. Effin’ pronouns, how do they work?
If there’s another constant in the universe, it’s Joyce always doing the right thing (eventually).
Why am I suddenly having visions of redheaded lesbians and oncoming trucks? 🙁
oh shit i didn’t even think of that
BECKY REMEMBER TO LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING THE STREET JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER OKAY
Nah, if Willis want to be really cruel, he’ll have Becky run over when things have calmed down and it looks like she’ll have a bright future ahead of her.
You know he reads these, right?
Guys, again, David has said their are no deaths in this version
Joyce, when we started out on this adventure together, I thought, “There is no way I’m going to like your character.”
Keep on proving me wrong, you rapidly-growing wonder.
Joyce is awesome. I say this a liberal and vocal atheist
She embodies the best of fundie Christianity along with a number of its faults.
Aren’t girls supposed to embody tectonic faults?
Your gravatar is pretty much perfect.
Becky’s channeling Travis Bickle “You talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me? She hurt me? What da fuck is that about? There ain’t no one else here. She hurt me? Like fuck she hurt me!”
I can hear Mortal Kombat music slowly building in the back of my mind.
[TEST YOUR MIGHT INTENSIFIES]
Leave it to the girls grown up in the deeply christian households to swing the other way
… it took me a moment, but I got there.
*slow clap*
Phoey don’t hit Sarah! She’s just awkward and cares about you.. cause honestly your niave..
The only thought I can imagine Joyce having right now: ‘Hurt ME? I’M THE ONE THAT HURT HER!’
Is that true? Debateable.
You could say Becky hurt herself by destroying her own fantasy.
You could also say Joyce hurt her by destroying her fantasy.
You could also say Becky forced Joyce to hurt her by taking an action that forced Joyce to destroy her fantasy.
But, regardless, to Joyce, she hurt her best friend by telling the truth that she didn’t feel the same way.
“You could also say Becky forced Joyce to hurt her by taking an action that forced Joyce to destroy her fantasy.”
BINGO.
That said, a webcomic can never have enough freckled red-haired lesbians.
I swear I’m starting to develop a complex where I automatically assume all redheads are at least bisexual.
Instead of slugging Sarah, Joyce repeatedly swings her fist into her own face. “HURT ME? I HURT HER! I’M THE ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN HURT!”
Aaaaand she’s right again, just guessing the wrong person. Well, at least regarding the “hurt” bit, not necessarily regarding the “worst” bit. It’s not like Joyce had much of an option to do better here.
Ouch man this is a really cruel storyline. For Becky and for Joyce. It’s been said a dozen times already, but I associate a lot with Becky during this and sometimes it’s even been a little hard to read from how relatable it is. I never really relate much with things like this, mostly ’cause I’m pretty rubbish with relationships for loads of different reasons, but this storyline actually hit me a little and yeah blah blah, loads of waffle here, but I just mainly want to say thanks to Willis for doing something that, while its painful to read, is true for a lot of people. He could’ve easily gone for Joyce kissing her back, or being temporarily bi for Becky, but he stuck true to how her character would react and made her turn her down, because at the end of the day Becky has always been her best friend and if she couldn’t see her in any other way, even if it does hurt her because of it.
Tl:dr: Thanks Willis for touching on this, even though ouch my heart kind of hurts now. Gonna go sob quietly somewhere with Becky/Joyce thoughts
Oh, I don’t see that Joyce has turned Becky down. Becky caught her empty-handed. And it does not appear that Joyce was particularly happy about that. It seemed more like a “gee, life would fit together so much better right now if if hadn’t handed me that stupid urge for boys” moment. Her coming-in moment, so to say: her being heterosexual in a complex world puts more of a distance between her and her parents than being homosexual in a simple world might.
It looks like Joyce is about to punch Sarah…
“Hurt me?… No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not hurt, Sarah. I am the danger. A guy opens his door & gets shot & you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!”
…or that’s what i am now expecting to happen with Joyce’s character after this strip ;P
People continue making an ass out of themselves and Joyce.
well, she IS a law student, it’s important to be suspicious in that field.
ive seen those fists before :
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/bestpossiblething/
Joyce! Run after her and hug her and let her know it’s going to be okay! ;_;
i saw them when they we’re beating the crap outta joes face
Oh boy. Shit’s about to hit the fan. Again.
Please rip sarah a new one
please rip sarah a new one
please rip sarah a new one
she needs to get off her high horse in assuming shes better then everyone when her only interactions with jacob were mocking joyce.
Motion seconded. Yes, Sarah made a bad call at one point, and all of her friends turned against her, but that doesn’t give her the right to judge everyone.
….so joyce is an autobiographical character?
Yes
But not all of her escapades are necessarily autobiographical. For example, Willis may not have been propositioned and kissed by a gay friend who then ran away in despair.
But you can ship Beck and Willis anyway. 😉
Finally coming out of lurk-mode because the feels… I get the feeling that this is going to radiate outward like a character hurting bomb shooting shrapnel everywhere. 🙁
And if there’s a second constant, it’s Joyce being emotionally stunted and terrible to others while still staying self-righteous.
Well, how else would Joyce react to being kissed by someone she would never consider being with? While she has a boyfriend, none the less. (Granted a gay boyfriend, but still a boyfriend) She was in shock.
At least she didn’t do what I did when in her position, and slap the chick that kissed me. Then battle the ensuing yelling match…
not really? Her defining characteristic is that she can be that way, due to her upbringing, but once she sees the issue, she tends to change. Because she is an extremely nice and good person.
I… I don’t think I’m reading the same comic you are.
Just looking at it from Sarah and Becky’s perspective.
This kills me — when i came out a bazillion years ago i completely cut off my best friend because I was afraid of loving her and letting her know that I’d felt that way since the 1st second i met her. I wish i’d the courage Becky had to declare that feeling — yeah, she went about it the wrong way, but for her, given her background, joyce’s, and just the overpowering hope and fear she must have been feeling it was the ONLY way it was going to play out.
Damn you, willis. Nicely done.
I feel like the entire week has been a cliffhanger. I’m emotionally exhausted.
Same here. The Billie/Ruth arc with its (for now) happy resolution made me elated, but the Joyce/Becky tragedy left me feeling depressed. This is what good writing can do…
I feel like I may be the only person that never liked Becky…
Even on the first page, I had no love for her, just general distaste…
Something felt off and like it would cause pain down the road.
It’s good I didn’t get attached.
In Sarah’s defense, she is correct that Becky’s story wasn’t entirely truthful. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Becky actually had been looking at Joyce’s phone to see if there were any “OMG I <3 U so much!" messages, which would have been a pretty good tip-off that Joyce is unavailable. A reasonable impulse for someone in Becky's risky and low-information perspective, but still a trust violation. Sarah is jumping the gun in assuming malicious intent, but she knows Joyce is trusting and has been taken advantage of before. This is a rough time for Joyce, but when she's calmed down, it'd be good for her to offer Sarah an explanation and thank her for her concern.
….and almost 15 years later, while reading this strip, I realize why my best friend got so protective of me after I surprise kissed him and he turned me down. Oh.
Willis I’m serious this comic is making a lot of my late-teens-early-twenties bob up to the surface and I don’t know if it’s amazing or just painful but I’m addicted to it.
Hurt? Nope. Just busy processing universe changing events.
Sarah’s error however, is likely to serve a good purpose: To jar Joyce out of processing, and into action.
Welp, shit’s gotten real on far too many levels for Joyce right about now so I can absolutely agree that the very last thing she needs right now is Sarah and her anti-social mindset of others.
Also, ever notice that every time and I mean just about EVERY time Joyce has had some kind of world view shattering moment Sarah’s been there to be some kind of foil? With exception to Joyce being attacked (to which might I add, Joyce went on the offensive and would’ve stayed that way had the drugs not kicked in) Sarah’s been there to act as some kind of moral downer to Joyce’s naive outlook.
Here’s my thing: I like Joyce because I’ve been Joyce. I wasn’t home schooled, but I’m an ex-Catholic school girl of 13 years (and damn proud to say that too) who’s parent (just one of them) made it their life’s mission to keep me under their thumb, “safe” and away from the world.
I struggled to reach the outside world and at first, when I did, it hurt…a LOT but it made me a stronger person. I became less naive about things but I’ve kept a cautious opportunistic optimism about me so as to not let myself become bitter and overly paranoid, all the while still enjoying the benefits of my maturing. Joyce reminds me of my past and I can’t wait to see how she’ll grow from here on out.
Well, Sarah is her roommate. So that alone makes her likely to be around.
Ugh…Raidah has got Sarah so well TRAINED.
I really have a hard time seeing Joyce’s reaction as anything other than self-empowerment taking over. I think Sarah’s words are making Joyce realize how sheltered her life has been. I think she hears Sarah playing the protective big sister role, and Joyce is sick of people feeling that way around her. Why do people feel the need to protect her? Because so many others, regardless of intent, treat her like this complete naive and innocent and (likely) wounded bird. I think it’s all hitting her right now, that some people see her as this wounded bird, and she’s sick of it. People have tried to take advantage of her or shelter her, but right now I suspect she feels like no one has ever seen her as an actual person. “Hurt me?!?” with fists clenched and angry face is Joyce determined to not be surprised or hurt by anyone again. This is likely the closest she has come to ACTUALLY swearing with meaning and force. The fact that Joyce was blindsided by Becky likely feels like justification for Sarah’s well intentioned but belittling rant. And she’s done with it.
It’s gonna be a big explosion, and it’s probably gonna swing Joyce’s pendulum too far in the other direction at first, but this will ultimately be a good thing. I just hope that the initial explosion we are about to witness doesn’t cause too much collateral damage before the recovery can begin.
Is there a way I can give a ‘Like’ to this reply?
In a way, you’ve gotta like the way Sarah (“Big sister”) is standing behind Joyce (“little sister”) here. She notices that Becky is missing; picks up on the fact that Joyce is hurting/in turmoil; and without hesitation she steps up squarely in support of Joyce — “What did she do? I didn’t trust her. Did she hurt you?”
And I see the last panel as a major turning point for Joyce. Just as Scarlett O’Hara, reduced to digging for overlooked turnips on her knees in the garden of what had been her fabulous home, rose and swore “I’ll never be hungry again!”, Joyce is rising from her knees to swear “I’ll never let myself be hurt again!”.
Have I hurt you?
I have hurt myself!
Or “I hurt HER.” That possibility too.
Is it just me, or is Joyce winding up to punch Sarah? I just can’t see that going well for her
It’s not just you, but I’m pretty damn sure she’s not.
Punch? Or…
“No punch.”
Awww. Protective Sarah is protective, and Joyce’s heart is breaking for her friend (whose heart she just broke). At least Sarah got Joyce to snap out of her BSOD.
A) I don’t even remember Becky doing anything with Joyce’s phone
B) How exactly can someone surreptitiously screen calls, anyway? It rings, and you click “no”. Even assuming it’s on mute, who exactly does Sarah imagine was calling Joyce at precisely that moment and at no other time when Becky didn’t have her phone?
She was playing angry birds on Joyce’s phone. But I really don’t think she was screening calls.
She could either have been looking at Joyce’s phone call history, or setting up a black list that automatically rejects calls from certain numbers. Either could work with the use of the word “screening”. This is I believe a standard feature on Android and iOS.
As for when:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/hectic/
And when Joyce wasn’t there:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/inseparable/
And mentioned here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/sarcasm/
I remember the first time I hurt someone I loved. It’s really brutal realizing that not everything is so black and white. Like seeing how much responsibility you have to others but also suddenly knocking yourself put of any pedestal you had.
A gray world is what Willis is all about… I wonder where he will take this.
Round Two
FIGHT
My next gravatar has been completed! We will see when the time comes for its use…
Is it Joyce rearing for a punch?
Because I am highly tempted to make that one.
Heh. No, it is actually a nice pic of Joyce and Becky hanging out (from the campus montage strip).
Is it Joyce rearing for a punch Because I am highly tempted to make that one.
I can’t help but laugh a bit at the fact that, in my head, Joyce sounds like Pinkie Pie
Cannot unsee.
No. NO. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! DAMN IT, RARITY!!!
That is AWEsome!
Anyone else constantly checking in, even though you know that it’s another half-an-hour until an update?
No? Just me?
OKKKKKKKKKK.
Nope, I am right here
Same. I’ll be onsite for another 20 minutes.
Yes. Yes I am
Damn. this storyline is good
oh wow, I was wrong, no scene change to the other peoples this time… felt like the right time for it too…
I feel strong kinship with Sarah from this alt-text. I mean from her cynic pessimism too of course.