Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
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I’m talking layers of fiction, not layers of simulation. If I learned that it was possible to simulate universes, and it was in fact happening, then I’d hesitantly rethink my default assumption that this is reality.
In the comic: Joyce is attempting to rectify the cognitive dissonance of having a gay best friend who’s parents want to “fix” her, and a gay boyfriend who she was trying to help “fix” up until just recently.
In the comments: THE METALAYERS OF THE UNIVERSE ARE IN CONFLICT
Actually, there’s a pretty good chance that this universe is, in fact, a simulation. The basic argument is that as computing power increases, it becomes more and more possible to simulate a full universe at extremely high fidelity. It’s sort of a Boltzmann Brain theory writ large, only with an upper layer or layers of reality taking the place of a formless thermodynamic soup.
Related to this is the idea that at some point, if you go small enough, the simulation won’t be able to maintain fidelity. The same way that if you look closely enough at a computer screen, you can see the pixels. Right now, the Fermi National Accelerator Lab is conducting a set of experiments intended to suss out any such ‘pixelation’ in our universe.
That’s true, but to our understanding there’s a limit to data compression, like the universe is very big which makes it difficult to simulate, sure, but more importantly, every single tiny point of that universe is occupying a set of distinct states. In other words, as far as we currently believe, the smallest possible way to represent the universe is the universe itself.
Of course like you said the universe might not be as high fidelity as we think, or the place we’re being simulated in might have much better information density, but it’s kinda a stumbling block for these kinds of theory.
I like to think that this universe is in fact just a simulation, how many layers down it may be. And that one day, somehow, I will find the cheat codes for this simulation…
Who says it’s just ONE simulation though? I mean, if you had a good enough connection between machines, a person could theoretically send something from one to another without realizing it, given that thing had a small enough file-size.
How would one be able to tell if this is a work of fiction or reality though ? It could be just a VERY verbose piece of fiction with a lot of internal dialoges.
Daniel the Human & his sister tend to prefer Hotrod from G1 over Hotshot apparently, now they’ve told me about this stuff. Me, I’ll just stay me! I’m already an awesome Transformer…
Willis’s soul is actually sustained by the outcrying of frustrated/saddened readers of his comic. For every “Damn you, Willis!” he actually gains another week of life. By now he is nigh on immortal.
The best fanfic (and/or porn, which is not always mutually exclusive) starts like this, with people who call each other ‘bro’ and end up having sex under the bleachers somewhere and/or adopt a litter of kittens, depending on fic rating xD
Yep and them she will get depressed about missing all the fun stuff as a kid, like dancing and dates, but at least she had the universiy to help her and didn’t have to work it out on her own… ¬_¬
The only people allowed to have the same name in this story are the Rachels though.
On a more serious not, Jocelyn probably hasn’t undergone a legal name change yet. Until that happens, Jocelyn’s documents, driver’s license and so on will still identify her as Joshua.
Yeah, but if you’re a decent person you’d still call her Jocelyn for everyday conversation. Especially if you’re introducing her. Especially if you’re dating her.
Not to play fundie’s advocate, but it’s not like they’re aware of their daughter’s true gender identity. They’re just acting under the assumption that Jocelyne is their son, rather than their daughter.
Dorothy would likely have been upset had she found out during, when Joyce would be willing to argue while it’s the right thing. But now she knows better and is fixing things so it’s not really worth getting upset over.
Yeah, I was wondering what was up with the 50-McNugget boxes in Dumbing of Age until that point. Now New York City is compatible with David Walkerton’s diet!
I like McNuggets quite a lot, but I don’t trust myself to NOT eat the whole damn box in one sitting, so I don’t think I’ll be buying a 50-box anytime soon.
She was probably just stuck in HGSS mentality where you could set them on auto. But then she moved onto the next generation where you have to hold B to run.
Is it me, or are Dorothy and Walky approaching from the opposite direction that Joyce did? Looks like they are coming from the same direction Ethan came from.
Ah… now that I think of it, maybe it’s one of those “acceptable losses” to maintain an intuitive left-to-right viewing order. Action in comics needs to flow in the same direction as the audience’s reading order (left-to-right for us, right-to-left for certain other regions) to keep the reader’s eyes on an unbroken path. Notice when Joyce is sprinting, she is specifically sprinting to the right— in the direction of the next panel. The following pages require Joyce to still be on the left as well: when she tries to walk away from Ethan and is daunted by the imagined Ryans, you’re meant to see Joyce first and Ethan picking up her books second.
As for today? Dorothy and Walky are supposed to be the last thing that the audience sees, perhaps arriving just after Joyce finishes speaking, thus they are to the farthest right.
Dorothy only caught sight of her when Joyce ran into Ethan. Considering the fact that we can’t see the building, I’d say there was a considerable distance between them.
She (?) hasn’t left a comment in 2 days that I have noticed. Some of us here are worried she (?) may be dead. Or something. Hopefully it’s something rather than dead, but still worried.
They took a page out of Jocelyn’s playbook, and hid behind the fountain (now watch someone point out that the fountain is on the other side of campus or something).
Also, don’t forget–Joyce was running blindly. In my headcanon, Dorothy and Walky had to keep stopping to help out the injured non-Ryans whom Joyce trampled getting to her safe zone (ie, one yard or less away from Ethan).
Now that I think about it, Dorothy and Walky showing up right about now is perfect. The “you won’t make it home without me” thing will be made irrelevant. So long as they don’t flip a wig over the sham of a relationship that just ended.
Danny: Still bi bi bi. Still coming to terms with this fact.
Also there are certainly some minor background characters who are probably gay and male. And I think Faz is “whatever can stand to have sex with Faz”sexual.
Also, he’s gone straight from thinking Amber and Amazi-Girl are different people to thinking they’re the same person without stopping at the reality in between.
I really liked Joyce in that last panel, that was just so freaking honest. I lol’ed at her, but only because I was so happy to see her grow as human being.
For that particular instance, the key is to remember the “Your Song” bookends to that particular chapter– it starts with those words coming from a phone, and ends with those same words being spoken into that same phone (along with Fuck Yeah Gaybies).
So “gaybies” is at the very end of the chapter, meaning the fastest way to find it is to go to the chapter list in the Archive page, click the chapter AFTER “Your Song” (the first page of “Steaming You Up”), and then hit the “previous comic” button a few times until you find it (twice, in this case).
I… I got nothing. The kids are communicating so well on their own. And looki – Ethan can finally talk to someone about being gay who doesn’t jell at him, and who he hasn’t asked to help him suppress it (if only there were some other nice boys in among his friends who desperately need someone to talk about this sort of things with, hint hint).
Run Dorothy, Run Walky. Those stairs are no match for you!
That will teach you a lesson for multiplying and wandering around campus with a scar…. oh, wrong Ryan. Sorry.
I agree. The lack of cries for bloody murder in the comment section (with the already mentioned, commonly agreed upon exception) is a nice change of pace. I really expected the breakup between Joyce and Ethan to be at least as polarizing as the whole thing with Roz. I’m glad I was wrong.
I think it’s because the Roz thing was so polarizing that this isn’t. As much as so many people had a problem with Roz (so much so that we have to say “bongo” now), she had a point and Joyce realized it. When she explained, sure Ethan protested a bit (for which he got a little flak) but he picked up her books and helped her anyway. Both sides are right and, more importantly, both sides are friendly to each other.
Re: alt text, there’s a movie called Gayby. It’s very cute. It’s about a gay guy and his straight female bff deciding to have a baby together. It’s cute and happy-endings-y (they both find love & still raise the baby as a big family together), so basically what I’m saying is… Joyce & Ethan Gayby AU fic. It needs to happen xD
I get that a lot with movies. I get the impression that there’s a playlist of movies that everyone must watch before they die, and my copy got lost in the mail.
You might be thinking of “queue,” which means something else but is pronounced the same as “cue” because English doesn’t make a damn bit of sense half the time.
The words aren’t unrelated; there is some evidence that “cue” as in “enter into play” or “begin <performance>” started as an alternate spelling for “queue” as in “line of people”, mostly in, where else, theatrical scripts. It becomes more plausible when you realize why queues are usually formed.
Oh, and Ethan, I KNOW you want to postpone the Gay-talk until later, but I had hoped that Joyce just demonstrated that it is not always an option, and not always a good idea.
So… what are the odds that Becky has found the newspaper office and made sweet love with Daisy while Joyce is all dealin’ with drama and stuff? ‘Cause poor Daisy is terribly sex-starved based on everything we’ve been shown so far, and she could probably show Becky some really good moves.
Advanced journalism. Deep, deep background, if you know what I mean. Maybe even changing the font on her masthead. Ooh la la.
Ugh, I know too many bad journalism innuendoes. I worked at my college paper for two years, and my co-copy editor was this guy, a gay man as it happened, who laughed like a hyena at every single terrible joke I made. I might once have had a moment of impulsive raunchiness and said something to him about “giving good head… lines.” I’m not proud of myself for that, but he did fall out of his chair, so.
One of the two at some point needs to use the phrase “let’s be friends”.
I get that Joyce feels like she can’t have two gay friends to support but I’m hoping in the future she realizes that having a gay friend doesn’t mean carrying a burden.
I wanted to make a “but gay is the opposite of sad” joke but that is a tiny bit gay-erasure-ish and that happens entirely too commonly so now I feel a little bad about it.
The seminar on Character Fucking Development in Webcomics will be held in the Des Plaines conference room at 2:20. Panelists: Mike, your mom. A materials fee of a nickel will be charged. No flash photography.
Yeah that last panel is about the best one I’ve seen of Joyce. Actually both Ethan and Joyce are pretty cool in that last panel. Joyce is finally seeing that Ethan has reason to be afraid to come out.
And for once, I don’t think Ethan is postponing the ‘talk’ because can’t do it, but because he really doesn’t want the audience fast approaching.
About Faz, he is old enough to do it -he works full time in Shortpacked, so he is no kid. Hell, he was probably born ready.
As far as any hating going on:
Faz has taken his share, but more along the hate that you feel when you step on a slug.
Mary is high on the hate list.
Ryan is way up there.
Ambers bastard father is at the top I think.
Roz ain’t too popular right now.
Mike has his moments.
Great character development. I love this entire strip. My favorite fictional characters to get all involved with.
Don’t forget Ethan’s mother, Naomi. We don’t see her very often, but with this new progression in the story, I think a phone call cameo might be imminent.
Hm… If I had to rank the Scale of Hate, from ‘some contempt to be had’ to ‘nuke it from orbit’:
Danny & Joe both have a contingent of fans and a similar group of detractors. They aren’t actively hated so much as frustrating. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sarah ends up in this category too.
Actual Mike-hate is fairly rare (though it’s out there), but people who hate on other characters in the strip are often pointed to balance their reaction to that other character vs. their tolerance (or even approval) of Mike’s often deliberate cruelty.
Roz is very controversial as a character–she’s either loved or loathed by very vocal segments of the community. In this list, she’s like Dan or Joe–but with a lot more intensity both ways.
Faz is actively despised, but I agree with the ‘stepped on a slug’ interpretation. He is just strongly distasteful. He’s still the first of the folks that just has no supporters.
Joyce’s parents, Ethan’s mom (at least), Joe’s dad, the Walkerton parents–all of these folks would be welcome, I think, to never make an appearance again. Though a strip with all of them forced to deal with each other might be amusing, just because of all the awkwardness and suffering it would cause. Of this tier, I do think “You fuck her; you fuck her GOOD” (quote pulled from faulty memory) made Naomi the most despised.
Mary is probably the most despised of the hall folks. She’s worked hard for that position, so let’s just give it to her. If Roz gets a redemption arc, I suspect it will feature her trashing some blackmail scheme of Mary’s.
Then we have the true rage-inducers, the folks that it’s easy to be glad when they get beaten, stabbed or hospitalized. Yes, at the top of the douchecanoe pyramid, it’s Blaine and Ryan! All in favor of stripping them both naked, shackling them to each other, and then dipping the whole package in a vat of superglue, so they have to spend the rest of eternity in one another’s company, say “Aye”.
Honestly, Blaine needs some serious help with his anger issues. Till then, he’s a danger to all around him. He won’t be redeemed, just safer.
Ryan the Rapist needs to be convicted and locked up.
Thanks! Yeah I see myself there all the time. Never was a fundie, my family taught us early not to hate people and a few friends of the family are gay. There is still a disapproving attitude that is not brought up in front of others though, and it doesn’t leave easily.
I have supported a friend coming out but had trouble saying what I meant.
I know it was harder for him though by a million miles.
As she seems slightly annoyed about her mom only talking about her roomies’ race, she must have remembered that she did a similar thing not too long ago.
To be fair, a lot of hetero guys have a similar problem being friends with girls without hoping to eventually bang them. Thankfully, Ethan is able to do that!
…Though now he’s having problems being friends with GUYS without hoping to bang them (see most of this interactions with Danny and Jacob), so maybe he’s not THAT good at it?
We can totally taint the hell out of the word “taint!” Jolly old Taint Dickolas will pay the naughty boys and girls a visit on the night of Fistmas Eve.
I’m a bit confused about the word bae, I find it in a lot of context and can’t figure out if it means a fond “sweetheart” or a demeaning “baby” or something else entirely. Can a native speaker please enlighten me?
Technically it’s supposed to stand for “before anyone else,” as in the person who is most special to you, but it’s more commonly used as shorthand for boyfriend or as a shortened version of “babe.”
Also I seriously don’t get the hate for it. It’s a harmless word that people enjoy using and allows you to greet your SO by saying, “Hey, bae.”
I’ve mostly seen it used by idiots. Maybe the idiot-stigma rubbed off on the term. Y’know, akin to how “swag” was a classy abbreviation for “swagger” until idiots got ahold of the word.
I just found this comic, what three days ago?, and I’ve shotgunned all of it. Amazing work sir, I love each and every character (except the obvious parents) and will be reading this faithfully every Thursday (can’t stand reading one page a day :p). Probably gonna have to buy the books when my income tax hits too. Keep up the amazing work.
She’ll collect them like cats, demanding they all live in her room to protect them..
kidding aside, i’m enjoying her new self awareness. and eagerly awaiting the next one in line to have their belief system shattered.. I’m hoping for Roz or Jason.
I don’t think Joyce was ever one to use slurs in the first place. Nor stand with a picket sign shouting people down. She’s more the person who would have you in her company and simply say things making you uncomfortable the whole time thinking it will help you “change”. Not a good thing by any measure but I doubt she would have kicked her own son or daughter out either, it would have gone much the same way as here. I suppose she is supposed to be the fundie that we can still like, but she fails at being fundie at that point.
Some people here don’t seem to ever have encountered true fundies.
Well, using slurs out of ignorance isn’t out of the question. I mean, the guys who defend the name “Redskins” still seem to honestly believe it’s not a slur.
Either Joyce ran up the stairs, turned left and bumped into Ethan during the speed panel or Dorothy and Walky got lost and are approaching from a different direction. Either way, the backgrounds are all consistent with what we’ve seen so far in this scene so…*shrugs*
Dorothy and Walky spotted Joyce the moment they stopped outside. I think Joyce just zigzagged around a few imagined Ryans to get where she is, whereas Dorothy and Walky could take a more direct path.
I remain unconvinced it’s total hatred. It’s one thing for Joyce to seek his companionship for reasons she’s made clear, but Walky? Dude hangs out with her even when Dorothy’s not around.
Its really kindof nice that Ethan’s there to help sortof walk Joyce through this. Kindof the reflection to how Amber helped him with his parents. The situations not exactly the same of course, but hopefully it teaches him a bit about liking himself, and help Joyce solidify some of the understanding.
Granted what the hell do I know? I’m a pretty judgmental prick on purpose most of the time.
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One day, Joyce is gonna look back and be all “Wow, I was a total hanky-panky wit.”
Yah, an’ then she’s gonna write comics about it.
And porn.
Then she’ll start writing porn comics and become known as the Pornlady.
Porn Lord’s main lady companion
Well, Joyce -is- supposed to be biographical…
We’ve been over this before – a female Pornlord is called a ‘Phallady’.
The audience in the topmost metalayer will lose patience when the main character of the 5th metalayer starts making comics.
By which I mean, that’s about when I’d lose patience here in reality.
You think you’re the top layer. That’s adorable.
I’m talking layers of fiction, not layers of simulation. If I learned that it was possible to simulate universes, and it was in fact happening, then I’d hesitantly rethink my default assumption that this is reality.
We are simulating a universe, one which we lovingly call the Dumbingverse. I’m sure the denizens approve of their name.
In the comic: Joyce is attempting to rectify the cognitive dissonance of having a gay best friend who’s parents want to “fix” her, and a gay boyfriend who she was trying to help “fix” up until just recently.
In the comments: THE METALAYERS OF THE UNIVERSE ARE IN CONFLICT
Theoretical physicists got nothing on us!
An undeveloped simulation. None of the characters have developed enough self-awareness to try breaking out yet.
Well, at least one character is beginning to suspect that he exists in a work of fiction:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/jumpcut/
Oh lord. That second panel. When did the Ryan incident happen?
Holey shoot! Take that guy in the last panel, and change his skin tone! Does he not look like an older Historical Jesus?
Actually, there’s a pretty good chance that this universe is, in fact, a simulation. The basic argument is that as computing power increases, it becomes more and more possible to simulate a full universe at extremely high fidelity. It’s sort of a Boltzmann Brain theory writ large, only with an upper layer or layers of reality taking the place of a formless thermodynamic soup.
Related to this is the idea that at some point, if you go small enough, the simulation won’t be able to maintain fidelity. The same way that if you look closely enough at a computer screen, you can see the pixels. Right now, the Fermi National Accelerator Lab is conducting a set of experiments intended to suss out any such ‘pixelation’ in our universe.
That’s true, but to our understanding there’s a limit to data compression, like the universe is very big which makes it difficult to simulate, sure, but more importantly, every single tiny point of that universe is occupying a set of distinct states. In other words, as far as we currently believe, the smallest possible way to represent the universe is the universe itself.
Of course like you said the universe might not be as high fidelity as we think, or the place we’re being simulated in might have much better information density, but it’s kinda a stumbling block for these kinds of theory.
I like to think that this universe is in fact just a simulation, how many layers down it may be. And that one day, somehow, I will find the cheat codes for this simulation…
Hoverboards & infinite ammo weapons, here we come…
IDDQD, IDKFA, send me in now!
DNStuff – Fully loaded with everything.
DNKroz – God Mode activated.
Guess who got introduced to Duke Nukem 3D PC version…
Who says it’s just ONE simulation though? I mean, if you had a good enough connection between machines, a person could theoretically send something from one to another without realizing it, given that thing had a small enough file-size.
I only quoted the Doom cheats because they’re more famous than the Quake cheats (which I personally used way more often):
God – Full health, invincible to everything
Impulsee 255 – Fully loaded, all weapons all ammo all keys
How would one be able to tell if this is a work of fiction or reality though ? It could be just a VERY verbose piece of fiction with a lot of internal dialoges.
They will be called “Recursing of Age” and “Packedception!”
Given how many years it took and will still take to get to the 2nd metalayer, the 5th isn’t for anytime soon.
Well we are on Author Avatar number 4
When you count The David Willis Character in Hijinx Ensue who draws Dumbing of Age, I think we have arrived at Meta#5
At the pace this comic moves, you certainly won’t be alive by then (but Willis’s soul will be sustained within a powerful machine).
As soon as the technology becomes available, he’s having his brain put in a Hot Shot replica.
suspended in JaAm
Wait, I thought he was going to put his wife in the Hot Shot replica and himself in some other robot’s so he could have sex with Hot Shot.
Or will they both be Hot Shot?
AND WHO WILL BE SG RAVAGE AND RATBAT?
We will all be Hot Shot. It will be glorious.
ONE OF US!
Daniel the Human & his sister tend to prefer Hotrod from G1 over Hotshot apparently, now they’ve told me about this stuff. Me, I’ll just stay me! I’m already an awesome Transformer…
Aw crap, does this mean that Willis will become Skynet?
Willis’s soul is actually sustained by the outcrying of frustrated/saddened readers of his comic. For every “Damn you, Willis!” he actually gains another week of life. By now he is nigh on immortal.
His soul maybe, but what about his body? Hmmmmm? How’s he gonna sustain himself when he can’t draw?
The Cheese, obviously.
His soul will be uploaded into a kickass Hot Shot Transformer body.
you mean that you can tell your -4th metalayer counterpart has just lost patience?
So… What layer are we on as forum writers?
Clearly the insane one.
Is the main character of the comic going to be David Willis?
Jeph Jacques will be the Danny.
I can ship this.
“OH NO I CAUGHT THE BUTT DISEASE”
“Cool story bro”
“Bro, Bro, Bro”
“Shut up!”
The best fanfic (and/or porn, which is not always mutually exclusive) starts like this, with people who call each other ‘bro’ and end up having sex under the bleachers somewhere and/or adopt a litter of kittens, depending on fic rating xD
Ehhh, I’d read and leave comments on the forum…
This is my favorite comment I have seen for this webcomic to date. I applaude you.
WAIT THIS IS A FORUM
Wait… is “fuck wit” a common phrase? I never heard that one
It is a common UK and Ozzie usage, yes. Not so much here in the colonies.
You do find dimwit here, though.
Also “nitwit”
I encounter fuckwit a bit more commonly than dimwit and nitwit. I live in New Jersey. Maybe it’s regional.
The question is, do Hoosiers use it?
Yes, we do. Even Hoosier ex-pats like myself.
Also from New Jersey, also heard it more commonly than dimwit and nitwit. Maybe we just like cursing more?
Depends on your community, I guess. We use “fuckwit” a LOT in my circle of friends, because ‘dimwit’ and its derivatives just aren’t strong enough :/
One does not simply comment before Jen aside
GAYBY GAYBY GAYBY!!!!!
Yep and them she will get depressed about missing all the fun stuff as a kid, like dancing and dates, but at least she had the universiy to help her and didn’t have to work it out on her own… ¬_¬
Run free Ethan! Be free and multiply!
WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY!
But the super-soaker is in the other universe…
And it doesn’t solve the lack of a womb.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110216/
no prob
Ethan is going to impregnate Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Hell nah, Danny DeVito’s gonna impregnate Ethan!
Insert “egg in trying time” joke here.
Your next class is math, right?
Ethan: “How am I supposed to do that?”
Joyce: “Don’t you just teach the gay agenda in public schools?”
Ethan: “Joyce, I think you still have a ways to go on this enlightenment thing.”
Years later:
“Joyce, this is my partner Josh. We want to have a kid, and we’d like you to be the surrogate.”
“Gasp! Turkey baster hanky-panky!”
W…with Joyce’s own sibling!?
“Josh” is a pretty common name.
Also, her name is Jocelyn. Her fundie parents saddled her with “Joshua”.
The only people allowed to have the same name in this story are the Rachels though.
On a more serious not, Jocelyn probably hasn’t undergone a legal name change yet. Until that happens, Jocelyn’s documents, driver’s license and so on will still identify her as Joshua.
Yeah, but if you’re a decent person you’d still call her Jocelyn for everyday conversation. Especially if you’re introducing her. Especially if you’re dating her.
Not to play fundie’s advocate, but it’s not like they’re aware of their daughter’s true gender identity. They’re just acting under the assumption that Jocelyne is their son, rather than their daughter.
Oh eek! I’d forgotten that character’s given name. I just picked a name at random.
So now the question is will Dorothy still be mad when she finds out about all this or will she be understanding?
The suggestion that Dorothy might be mad about Ethan rather than sympathetic came from Sarah. Mayyyyybe not the best judge of character.
Dorothy would likely have been upset had she found out during, when Joyce would be willing to argue while it’s the right thing. But now she knows better and is fixing things so it’s not really worth getting upset over.
A related question is when/whether Dorothy finds out…it might not be right now.
I’m sure she’s already figured it out. The “Best Friend’s Best Friend” thing was a little blatant.
There’s a chance she’s understanding, given Joyce’s actions just now.
At last, Walky has arrived to silly this up a bit!
Man, Dorothy’s a slow runner. Wasn’t she in track and field?
Maybe they were distracted by all the Ryan clones.
I’m imagining them having to stop every three steps to knock Ryans down with a baseball bat, Double Dragon-style.
She needed to let the guy whose diet is 80% McNugget by volume keep up.
Nah, it dropped down to 60%, they dropped the 50 McNugget deal.
Tell New York City last weekend that!: https://41.media.tumblr.com/850e1c25509b426ba8cbac8724dbcace/tumblr_njwjf1XvLy1sm8ur3o1_540.jpg
Aaaand, I should have refreshed the page before I posted the comment just below this. Now my foolishness is on display.
Yeah, I was wondering what was up with the 50-McNugget boxes in Dumbing of Age until that point. Now New York City is compatible with David Walkerton’s diet!
I like McNuggets quite a lot, but I don’t trust myself to NOT eat the whole damn box in one sitting, so I don’t think I’ll be buying a 50-box anytime soon.
Oh god, 470 calories per serving? And Walky mows down whole boxes of those multiple times in the couple of weeks he’s been at college?
Not sure how he burns all that energy. Performing Multiple Sexes a day? =S
See Willis’s Twitter feed. Apparently, the 50 McNugget deal lives.
In the New York City area, at least. (David Willis is/was hanging out here for the Toy Fair.) The 50-nugget deal only popped up here very recently.
Maybe the deal follows Willis around the country as he makes con appearances?
She didn’t have an adrenaline infusion from thinking she’s running through a forests of rapists.
She doesn’t have the running shoes equipped.
She was probably just stuck in HGSS mentality where you could set them on auto. But then she moved onto the next generation where you have to hold B to run.
And she hasn’t made it to the bike shop yet.
And don’t even get us STARTED on the roller skates.
Ah, the skates.
BE FREE FROM THE BONDS OF THE GRID
AND THEN CRASH INTO THINGS BECAUSE THE GRID WILL STILL FIND WAYS TO MOCK YOU
No, it was Amber who was in track and field. Dorothy was “only” in cross country. She can run, but she can’t jump’n’run.
Is it me, or are Dorothy and Walky approaching from the opposite direction that Joyce did? Looks like they are coming from the same direction Ethan came from.
I looked over the last few pages and you seem to be right.
Though maybe Joyce took a circuitous, zigzagging path to dodge her imagined Ryans.
Ah… now that I think of it, maybe it’s one of those “acceptable losses” to maintain an intuitive left-to-right viewing order. Action in comics needs to flow in the same direction as the audience’s reading order (left-to-right for us, right-to-left for certain other regions) to keep the reader’s eyes on an unbroken path. Notice when Joyce is sprinting, she is specifically sprinting to the right— in the direction of the next panel. The following pages require Joyce to still be on the left as well: when she tries to walk away from Ethan and is daunted by the imagined Ryans, you’re meant to see Joyce first and Ethan picking up her books second.
As for today? Dorothy and Walky are supposed to be the last thing that the audience sees, perhaps arriving just after Joyce finishes speaking, thus they are to the farthest right.
At least she and Walky look adorable and tiny. What if the whole comic was tiny far away people?
Still doing the Baywatch run, I see. Talking really is a free action.
Yeah, but most DMs pull out an egg timer when you go past 2 minutes.
Unless it’s an SLP talking. Then there is nothing to do but let the monologue wash over you.
Joyce might just be really, really fast.
Dorothy only caught sight of her when Joyce ran into Ethan. Considering the fact that we can’t see the building, I’d say there was a considerable distance between them.
I think Joyce may be leaning on the fourth wall a bit with her last line.
I think it’s more along the lines of self-awareness.
Awww.
Joyce, one the update installs, just restart your system.
Also, I’m starting to worry about Jen Aside.
Did somebody pull her aside?
Perhaps she’s getting some side action.
She (?) hasn’t left a comment in 2 days that I have noticed. Some of us here are worried she (?) may be dead. Or something. Hopefully it’s something rather than dead, but still worried.
http://www.itswalky.com/comic/straighten-your-bed/#comment-390464
relax
=/
sheesh, I had an assignment
[I had to prove a point–it was horrible]
Oooh, what point?
50SOG is verifiably a piece of shit
[“You haven’t read the book! You can’t talk about it!” …well, I haven’t had polio, either, but I know it’s pretty bad stuff]
When she said “your own kind” she meant Transformers fans.
Can this be the continuity where Ethan and Duncan finally hook up?
Oh fuck. Ninja’d! By a wide margin.
Hey! You’re here!
Hadn’t seen you in a while and was beginning to get worried.
He showed up yesterday, having repented for his sins and ready to perpetrate new ones.
YESSSS, come worship us, for we are awesome… 8D
Great now what?
Now she talks to Walky and Dorothy about what’s going on.
And they locate Becky and for an actually plan rather than “gee I hope my folks don’t find out!”
If this wasn’t so sad I would be laughing my ass off right now.
Maybe, just maybe, Joyce begins to realize that Becky isn’t the only one here whose life has been upended by homophobia.
You guys are the slowest fucking runners
I still believe they took an extra lap to be out of earshot during the most embarrassing parts of the breakup.
They took a page out of Jocelyn’s playbook, and hid behind the fountain (now watch someone point out that the fountain is on the other side of campus or something).
There are trees. There are lamp posts. There are plenty of things to hide behind while Joyce and Ethan’s attention is elsewhere.
I’m assuming it took them a little bit to leave the classroom in the first place. Plus, Dorothy waited a little bit for Walky; he left after her.
Also, don’t forget–Joyce was running blindly. In my headcanon, Dorothy and Walky had to keep stopping to help out the injured non-Ryans whom Joyce trampled getting to her safe zone (ie, one yard or less away from Ethan).
I wonder if someday Joyce is going to talk without saying something awkward or silly
It will take many years of training
I wonder that about myself sometimes, too.
Often, actually.
Implying any human is capable of such a feat!
Ask Willis.
In the name of all that has been damned I summon Willis
You need to sacrifice three monster tokens in order for the ritual summon to work.
Only got two. Damn you Willis
“Oh, Ethan, My Poor Gay Baby…” why did I read that line in a southern accent.
…and now I hear Applejack saying that.
(in a fanfic near you)
…
I’d read it.
I love this.
“Sweet Baby Jesus” is my southern PG explicative
It is alright to use gay baby if you are talking about gay baby jail.
I got my friend the Gay Baby Jail shirt off of Human.com and it was the best purchase ever. https://twitter.com/petstains/status/555921811071045632/photo/1
whoops, sorry, it’s ” http://www.lookhuman.com/ ” not human.com
Now that I think about it, Dorothy and Walky showing up right about now is perfect. The “you won’t make it home without me” thing will be made irrelevant. So long as they don’t flip a wig over the sham of a relationship that just ended.
Flip a wig? Amber/Amazi-Girl isn’t around…
Ethan’s own kind? Transformers fans? That’s clearly what she meant.
It says something that Willis has so many people just eagerly waiting for midnight to roll around.
I am completely and totally not jealous of Joyce in the fourth panel.
Not at all…
I’ll be in my bunk. Again.
Aw, Benjy, you just need to meet the right rock pile. There’s someone out there who thinks you’re a regular Gibraltar.
… Also, could you keep the volume down a bit in there? The noise is like three avalanches happening all at once.
Actually, I think he set off three avalanches just now…
Now I want to be having foreplay with someone, throw them into a sexing position, and yell “IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!”
I don’t care if I get kicked out. It will be glorious.
Aww, friendship. And aww, Joyce is trying. Clueless, but trying.
And sometimes she’s very trying.
5 minutes in the Punelty Box.
Now Ethan is free to pursue… Um…
Shit, Ethan’s the only gay dude in the comic, isn’t he?
There’s… Arnold?
If you’re extending it to bi dudes, Ken and Danny. And Drew, but he hasn’t made an appearance (yet).
I think when you saw Ken and Arnold in that single strip, you may have jumped to some false conclusions.
Or at least not-yet-supported conclusions.
Far as we know, but he’s not the only guy who’s into guys.
Of course, the other one we know about’s in a relationship, and still hasn’t figured out his sexuality, but…hey.
Danny is still trying to make heads or tails of that for himself.
Danny: Still bi bi bi. Still coming to terms with this fact.
Also there are certainly some minor background characters who are probably gay and male. And I think Faz is “whatever can stand to have sex with Faz”sexual.
I got the impression that Faz is like 15 in this continuity.
Like that makes a difference in “whatever can stand to have sex with a Faz”sexuals?
Yeah, I’m not saying Ethan would be remotely attracted to him, because Faz, I’m saying his sexuality may also include dudes. May.
Well, it makes it less “Faz is a creep” and more “Dude, Faz is way too young”
But not too young in the Glorious Mind of The Faz
Also true, Faz is probably not planning on doing the sex any time soon.
Or at least he shouldn’t be.
Eugh, Faz.
Pretty sure he is. Also pretty sure any such plans are wildly optimistic.
As though Faz would be anything but unrealistically optimistic.
Faz has always been younger than Amber, I think.
I was thinking he was a full blown child child. Young enough that he’s more curious about sexuality than he is genuinely interested in women.
Well, there’s always sort of Danny.
Of course, with Amber involved that’ll be one of the more awkward Love Triangles I’ve seen.
I could see some kind of fucked up “It’s okay if Amber finds out. I just need to make sure I keep it secret from Amazi-Girl” shit happening.
I don’t think Danny is that dumb…
Also, he’s gone straight from thinking Amber and Amazi-Girl are different people to thinking they’re the same person without stopping at the reality in between.
Even Amber/Amazi-Girl isn’t quite sure what the reality is, sometimes.
There is also Faz and Mike
I really liked Joyce in that last panel, that was just so freaking honest. I lol’ed at her, but only because I was so happy to see her grow as human being.
I’m impressed with Joyce not for any other reason, but because she can call someone “my poor gay baby” with a straight face.
Which is just like saying “My poor straight baby” with a gay face.
Allow me to present you with this miniaturized Internet…
… so that would be a micronet?
Welcome back Yotomoe!
aww thanks. You’re gonna make me blush.
I came back for all you cool guys hee hee
And you win Comment of the Week… And it is only Tuesday…
And let’s not forget the bi faces, they deserve to be included as well.
Who you callin’ two faced?
That is totally gaybies.
Gaybies Siegal.
Fuck yeah
Gaybies
Damn, I couldn’t find the link. And I have the book.
For that particular instance, the key is to remember the “Your Song” bookends to that particular chapter– it starts with those words coming from a phone, and ends with those same words being spoken into that same phone (along with Fuck Yeah Gaybies).
So “gaybies” is at the very end of the chapter, meaning the fastest way to find it is to go to the chapter list in the Archive page, click the chapter AFTER “Your Song” (the first page of “Steaming You Up”), and then hit the “previous comic” button a few times until you find it (twice, in this case).
Dammit. I missed this, and now I look like a wannabe waaay down the page.
I thought it was Gaybies McIntyre.
No no, it’s Babies McIntyre, but Gaybies Siegal.
Better to have the gay talk with Becky, Ethan. It’ll blow your eardrums.
I… I got nothing. The kids are communicating so well on their own. And looki – Ethan can finally talk to someone about being gay who doesn’t jell at him, and who he hasn’t asked to help him suppress it (if only there were some other nice boys in among his friends who desperately need someone to talk about this sort of things with, hint hint).
Run Dorothy, Run Walky. Those stairs are no match for you!
Even more surprising, no one has expressed violent hatred for any characters
On the contrary, half the fandom has been calling for my gruesome death (the other half just don’t want to see me again, ever).
…oh wait, wrong Ryan. Guess I don’t have to hatch my elaborate scheme to land myself in the Witness Protection Program.
That will teach you a lesson for multiplying and wandering around campus with a scar…. oh, wrong Ryan. Sorry.
I agree. The lack of cries for bloody murder in the comment section (with the already mentioned, commonly agreed upon exception) is a nice change of pace. I really expected the breakup between Joyce and Ethan to be at least as polarizing as the whole thing with Roz. I’m glad I was wrong.
I think it’s because the Roz thing was so polarizing that this isn’t. As much as so many people had a problem with Roz (so much so that we have to say “bongo” now), she had a point and Joyce realized it. When she explained, sure Ethan protested a bit (for which he got a little flak) but he picked up her books and helped her anyway. Both sides are right and, more importantly, both sides are friendly to each other.
HEY! I like the bongos.
Re: alt text, there’s a movie called Gayby. It’s very cute. It’s about a gay guy and his straight female bff deciding to have a baby together. It’s cute and happy-endings-y (they both find love & still raise the baby as a big family together), so basically what I’m saying is… Joyce & Ethan Gayby AU fic. It needs to happen xD
Oo-oo-oo, gayby gayby
I LOVE MY DEAD GAY SON. OR RATHER, GAY EX BOYFRIEND.
I need to watch Heathers again.
Do you ever get the distinct feeling that you’re missing important context?
watch Heathers my friend and all will be made clear
OMG YOU’VE NEVER SEEN HEATHERS
I get that a lot with movies. I get the impression that there’s a playlist of movies that everyone must watch before they die, and my copy got lost in the mail.
As I often tell my friends, let’s get garried and have gaybies.
Que building climbing due to real Ryan showing up.
Que Walkie quitting.
Cue, not the Spanish word for “what”. I keep expecting to see that spelled ¿Que?
Plus, que is pronounced ‘kay’, which makes it even more confusing.
#spellingfail #AtLeastItsAConfusingWord!
You might be thinking of “queue,” which means something else but is pronounced the same as “cue” because English doesn’t make a damn bit of sense half the time.
Except a queue is a line, as in ‘standing in line’.
Yes, that’s what I meant when I said it “means something else.”
*looks dumb*
*thinks there are way too many ways of spelling the same pronunciation*
“Queue” is English looking defiantly at French and saying “Well look at this! I can use shitloads of unnecessary letters too!”
I’ve always heard it pronounced as “keh”
That’s how it’s pronounced by us native speakers.
I always thought it was “queue” for some reason
The words aren’t unrelated; there is some evidence that “cue” as in “enter into play” or “begin <performance>” started as an alternate spelling for “queue” as in “line of people”, mostly in, where else, theatrical scripts. It becomes more plausible when you realize why queues are usually formed.
Oh my god…Joyce is growing up!
Has anyone cracked the ceremonial champagne bottle against the EthanxDanny ship yet?
The good ship Ethanny has long ago set sail. That beautiful, beautiful ship.
I’m holding out for EthanxDannyxAmber.
I need this for reasons.
Hope you don’t actually need it, ’cause the odds are real damned low.
I CAN DREAM, HAROLD
Also yes, the slow-mo running in the background totally cracks me up, too. I can really hear the Baywatch music in my head lol.
Lol; my generation will forever hear the “TSH-tsh-tsh-tsh!” of the Six Million Dollar Man.
Oh, and Ethan, I KNOW you want to postpone the Gay-talk until later, but I had hoped that Joyce just demonstrated that it is not always an option, and not always a good idea.
Dorothy and Walky simply try to run in to the last panel thinking, “Okay, before she says something REALLY stupid, lets jump in.”
So… what are the odds that Becky has found the newspaper office and made sweet love with Daisy while Joyce is all dealin’ with drama and stuff? ‘Cause poor Daisy is terribly sex-starved based on everything we’ve been shown so far, and she could probably show Becky some really good moves.
All completely offscreen. Joyce will find Becky strolling along the road with disheveled clothing and a stupid grin.
“What have you been up to?” Joyce asks.
“Journalism” Becky answers, and that will be everything that is ever said on the topic.
That would be epic level trolling.
Dorothy then says hello to her editor, who is walking by in a trance.
Advanced journalism. Deep, deep background, if you know what I mean. Maybe even changing the font on her masthead. Ooh la la.
Ugh, I know too many bad journalism innuendoes. I worked at my college paper for two years, and my co-copy editor was this guy, a gay man as it happened, who laughed like a hyena at every single terrible joke I made. I might once have had a moment of impulsive raunchiness and said something to him about “giving good head… lines.” I’m not proud of myself for that, but he did fall out of his chair, so.
Oh god! That must have changed his toner.
Good thing he didn’t slug you
Like Becky would ever be that subtle.
Joyce: Hey Becky, what’ve you been up to?
Becky: SCISSORING!!!!!
Joe: NOW we’re talking
Joe-rnalism!
He would show up as soon as the word was uttered, wouldn’t he?
Becky: Oh… DEMONSTRATION TIME!!!!!!!!
Thank you for helping us a better ending than Daddy Dearest showing up.
Imagine – helping us imagine a better ending
Least I could do. It’s probably too optimistic to expect him to take the “Hell with her, I have no daughter” path, buuuuut a guy can hope.
Yes. Dorothy and Walky are just in time. Group hug NOW!
heh, I remember saying poor gay baby a while back at a certain cucumber quest update
gayby is the Best portmanteau <3<3<3
Well, Joyce is awesome. That is all.
One of the two at some point needs to use the phrase “let’s be friends”.
I get that Joyce feels like she can’t have two gay friends to support but I’m hoping in the future she realizes that having a gay friend doesn’t mean carrying a burden.
Dammit Willis. I’m drunk and sad and gay and this is making me cry. So…
Idk, fuck you? Also, I love you?
I’m conflicted
The accepted phrase is “DAMN YOU WILLIS”. Also, aww. Sorry to hear that (at least about the sad part).
I wanted to make a “but gay is the opposite of sad” joke but that is a tiny bit gay-erasure-ish and that happens entirely too commonly so now I feel a little bad about it.
Drunk, sad and gay is no way to go through life, son.
[+1 if you get the reference.]
Oh look, character fucking development done right!
Actually, this is just regular character development. The other kind can only happen during sex.
The seminar on Character Fucking Development in Webcomics will be held in the Des Plaines conference room at 2:20. Panelists: Mike, your mom. A materials fee of a nickel will be charged. No flash photography.
Still love Joyce. She’s a good character over all.
The Great Gayby
I remember when I was first infected with gabies. It stared a long journey down the rabbit hole of queerness of which there is no returning.
Sounds lethal – half of that portmanteau is a terrifying killer of a disease.
Once you get past the first few days, it becomes more of a tickle every now and then.
Generally it’s your enemies that are the ones foaming at the mouth though
And you’re sure they aren’t the ones with the disease?
They certainly are sure about that!
Lots of topics said in the thread.
Yeah that last panel is about the best one I’ve seen of Joyce. Actually both Ethan and Joyce are pretty cool in that last panel. Joyce is finally seeing that Ethan has reason to be afraid to come out.
And for once, I don’t think Ethan is postponing the ‘talk’ because can’t do it, but because he really doesn’t want the audience fast approaching.
About Faz, he is old enough to do it -he works full time in Shortpacked, so he is no kid. Hell, he was probably born ready.
As far as any hating going on:
Faz has taken his share, but more along the hate that you feel when you step on a slug.
Mary is high on the hate list.
Ryan is way up there.
Ambers bastard father is at the top I think.
Roz ain’t too popular right now.
Mike has his moments.
Great character development. I love this entire strip. My favorite fictional characters to get all involved with.
Everyone’s several years older in Shortpacked! (not to mention in a different universe)
Don’t forget Ethan’s mother, Naomi. We don’t see her very often, but with this new progression in the story, I think a phone call cameo might be imminent.
Joyce calls Ethan’s mom and lectures her o acceptance!
Ethan’s mom barely even views Joyce as a person. It’s not likely that she’d be willing to listen.
The hate list goes in descending order:
Ryan and Blaine (tied), Ross, Naomi, Mary.
The rest changes too easily with additional information for me to want to pin down.
Hm… If I had to rank the Scale of Hate, from ‘some contempt to be had’ to ‘nuke it from orbit’:
Danny & Joe both have a contingent of fans and a similar group of detractors. They aren’t actively hated so much as frustrating. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sarah ends up in this category too.
Actual Mike-hate is fairly rare (though it’s out there), but people who hate on other characters in the strip are often pointed to balance their reaction to that other character vs. their tolerance (or even approval) of Mike’s often deliberate cruelty.
Roz is very controversial as a character–she’s either loved or loathed by very vocal segments of the community. In this list, she’s like Dan or Joe–but with a lot more intensity both ways.
Faz is actively despised, but I agree with the ‘stepped on a slug’ interpretation. He is just strongly distasteful. He’s still the first of the folks that just has no supporters.
Joyce’s parents, Ethan’s mom (at least), Joe’s dad, the Walkerton parents–all of these folks would be welcome, I think, to never make an appearance again. Though a strip with all of them forced to deal with each other might be amusing, just because of all the awkwardness and suffering it would cause. Of this tier, I do think “You fuck her; you fuck her GOOD” (quote pulled from faulty memory) made Naomi the most despised.
Mary is probably the most despised of the hall folks. She’s worked hard for that position, so let’s just give it to her. If Roz gets a redemption arc, I suspect it will feature her trashing some blackmail scheme of Mary’s.
Then we have the true rage-inducers, the folks that it’s easy to be glad when they get beaten, stabbed or hospitalized. Yes, at the top of the douchecanoe pyramid, it’s Blaine and Ryan! All in favor of stripping them both naked, shackling them to each other, and then dipping the whole package in a vat of superglue, so they have to spend the rest of eternity in one another’s company, say “Aye”.
So long as we aren’t actually lynching anybody…
Honestly, Blaine needs some serious help with his anger issues. Till then, he’s a danger to all around him. He won’t be redeemed, just safer.
Ryan the Rapist needs to be convicted and locked up.
At least Joyce admits she unintentionally says some offensive things. Character growth is a wonderful thing.
Thanks! Yeah I see myself there all the time. Never was a fundie, my family taught us early not to hate people and a few friends of the family are gay. There is still a disapproving attitude that is not brought up in front of others though, and it doesn’t leave easily.
I have supported a friend coming out but had trouble saying what I meant.
I know it was harder for him though by a million miles.
She already learned earlier in the story, particularly at parents’ visit day.
Compare this early Joyce with Joyce on parents’ visit day.
As she seems slightly annoyed about her mom only talking about her roomies’ race, she must have remembered that she did a similar thing not too long ago.
This is totally gaybies.
Joyce is legitimately adorable in today’s strip and I love it.
I hereby move that all gay couples now be officially required to call their partner “gayby” as a term of endearment. XD
i want ethan to be straight ;-;
not cause i ship him with joyce, i hate joyce. cause i love him ;-; and im a girl ;-;-;-;
One day Joyce will learn that it is possible to be friends with a guy without intending to marry them. Today is apparently not that day.
To be fair, a lot of hetero guys have a similar problem being friends with girls without hoping to eventually bang them. Thankfully, Ethan is able to do that!
…Though now he’s having problems being friends with GUYS without hoping to bang them (see most of this interactions with Danny and Jacob), so maybe he’s not THAT good at it?
In Jacob’s case, I think it’s more fearing to bang him.
It can be both! “Hoping to bang, while also fearing to bang” describes Joyce’s (former) relationship with Ethan as well.
What it turns out that Joyce is also gay? Then she can still be with Ethan.
We’ve already established, heartbreakingly, that Joyce isn’t gay.
Umm… what?
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Because that is exactly how homosexuality works.
Time to talk about the gay birds and the lesbian bees!
…Both common things in nature, incidentally
The gay early bird gets the hermaphroditic worm
Nobody’s said it?
Fine.
GAYBAE.
Oh gods we don’t need to taint the word “gay” any more than it already has been
ha ha ha taint
‘Taint nothin’ wrong with it!
We can totally taint the hell out of the word “taint!” Jolly old Taint Dickolas will pay the naughty boys and girls a visit on the night of Fistmas Eve.
…remind me to never ask you if you can taint a word.
Sometimes I feel I’ve got to run away…
I’m a bit confused about the word bae, I find it in a lot of context and can’t figure out if it means a fond “sweetheart” or a demeaning “baby” or something else entirely. Can a native speaker please enlighten me?
Technically it’s supposed to stand for “before anyone else,” as in the person who is most special to you, but it’s more commonly used as shorthand for boyfriend or as a shortened version of “babe.”
Also I seriously don’t get the hate for it. It’s a harmless word that people enjoy using and allows you to greet your SO by saying, “Hey, bae.”
Thanks, then I get it better. That sounds cute. There is hate for that word? Why on earth? Is it regarded as to childish or something?
I’ve mostly seen it used by idiots. Maybe the idiot-stigma rubbed off on the term. Y’know, akin to how “swag” was a classy abbreviation for “swagger” until idiots got ahold of the word.
I just found this comic, what three days ago?, and I’ve shotgunned all of it. Amazing work sir, I love each and every character (except the obvious parents) and will be reading this faithfully every Thursday (can’t stand reading one page a day :p). Probably gonna have to buy the books when my income tax hits too. Keep up the amazing work.
One of us!
P.S. Becky is best character.
Joyce is gonna become the campus fag hag and it will be glorious.
She’ll collect them like cats, demanding they all live in her room to protect them..
kidding aside, i’m enjoying her new self awareness. and eagerly awaiting the next one in line to have their belief system shattered.. I’m hoping for Roz or Jason.
“She’ll collect them like cats, demanding they all live in her room to protect them…”
What manner of haggotry is going on here
The kind that results in babushka wearing and pushing a trolley.
I don’t think Joyce was ever one to use slurs in the first place. Nor stand with a picket sign shouting people down. She’s more the person who would have you in her company and simply say things making you uncomfortable the whole time thinking it will help you “change”. Not a good thing by any measure but I doubt she would have kicked her own son or daughter out either, it would have gone much the same way as here. I suppose she is supposed to be the fundie that we can still like, but she fails at being fundie at that point.
Some people here don’t seem to ever have encountered true fundies.
They are a pain in everyones behind.
Well, using slurs out of ignorance isn’t out of the question. I mean, the guys who defend the name “Redskins” still seem to honestly believe it’s not a slur.
Never feel comfortable in the presence of a person who has chick tracts at their disposal!
In her shoe!
One of you,
One of you!
A GayBy is when someone gays near you and then suddenly gays away really fast.
Hopefully you don’t get gunned down by gayngsters in the process.
… gayngbangers.
Weren’t Dorothy and Walky following Joyce? How’d they end up behind Ethan?
Did it take so long to reach them because they took the long way around?
I think Joyce and Ethan got turned around during there hug. Or at least, that’s what I think Willis will rationalize it with.
Either Joyce ran up the stairs, turned left and bumped into Ethan during the speed panel or Dorothy and Walky got lost and are approaching from a different direction. Either way, the backgrounds are all consistent with what we’ve seen so far in this scene so…*shrugs*
Dorothy and Walky spotted Joyce the moment they stopped outside. I think Joyce just zigzagged around a few imagined Ryans to get where she is, whereas Dorothy and Walky could take a more direct path.
Willis, why doesn’t your thumbnail for http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/expecting/ show Ruth’s brother saying “Game of thrones”?
Ethan needs to learn he can only be happy amongst his fellow gay Sasquatches. At least, that’s what I got from Joyce’s statement.
Boyfriends aren’t the only people who can help you and take care of you. Regular friends can do that too just sayin’.
Joyce has it in her head that any guy she even remotely likes she has to marry. It’s telling that the only male friend she has in the cast is Walky.
Who isn’t her friend because they greatly dislike each other.
They’re guilty of being friends by asociation.
I remain unconvinced it’s total hatred. It’s one thing for Joyce to seek his companionship for reasons she’s made clear, but Walky? Dude hangs out with her even when Dorothy’s not around.
alt-text: GAYBIES
http://www.lefthandedtoons.com/623/
Not much of a slur, but maybe a tad emasculating being called a baby.
Why? Boys are babies too! (What? They’re born that way.)
…so to speak.
Its really kindof nice that Ethan’s there to help sortof walk Joyce through this. Kindof the reflection to how Amber helped him with his parents. The situations not exactly the same of course, but hopefully it teaches him a bit about liking himself, and help Joyce solidify some of the understanding.
Granted what the hell do I know? I’m a pretty judgmental prick on purpose most of the time.
And they should both be able to help Becky. Although I think she’s managing surprisingly well in some ways. Girls got moxy.