Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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take it, joyce, that's free money
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Cord

by David M Willis on November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am
  • 01 - To Those Who'd Ground Me
└ Tags: joyce, sarah

Discussion (361) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    WHOA A TWENTY???!?

    MATCHING HAIRDO TIME

    • Inkblot
      Inkblot
      November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

      Was hoping this would come back, not disappointed.

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        November 22, 2015 at 12:47 am | #

        I just got my DOA book 4 + bookmark in the mail, and it got me thinking “the student has become the master”

        hmm, I should post some of my DOA vs. Legendary Showdown magnets

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 22, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

      Is that Ruth with a haircut??

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 12:06 am | #

        i think that’s ruth with a ponytail up out of the frame

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          November 22, 2015 at 12:08 am | #

          Ah!

  2. timemonkey
    timemonkey
    November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    Take it, get a haircut. Be rad.

    • TrueVCU
      TrueVCU
      November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

      Becky is already shivering with delight at the thought

      • Yet_One_More_Idiot
        Yet_One_More_Idiot
        November 22, 2015 at 7:37 am | #

        I think Joycy would look really cute with longer hair. But at the rate this comic progresses, it’d take decades for her to grow her hair out like that. xD

        Maybe get it cut and styled in a bob? 🙂

  3. Yuki
    Yuki
    November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    Joyce is the cutest

    • Someone
      Someone
      November 22, 2015 at 12:48 am | #

      and the scariest

  4. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    Joyce is about to invent some new swears.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

      Actually I kinda want to see her try. Knowing Joyce, they’d be an attempt to sound vulgar, but actually be adorable.

      Joyce: “Plip!”

      Sarah: “…what”

      Joyce: “Plipping motherplipper! Go plip yourself!”

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        November 22, 2015 at 12:26 am | #

        Noy jitat, that kreld-eating jitaten chungo lungo!

        • evilmidnightlurker
          evilmidnightlurker
          November 22, 2015 at 1:06 am | #

          Ay chongo chipongo, those gantha-pigs! By Daven’s beard!

          • Ana Chronistic
            Ana Chronistic
            November 22, 2015 at 1:36 am | #

            That’s a fitting gravatar for that, you naja dog!

        • TsunamiJane
          TsunamiJane
          November 22, 2015 at 6:55 am | #

          I LOVE YOU ALL

          By the moons of Mer! I didn’t think anyone remembered that show!

          • Ana Chronistic
            Ana Chronistic
            November 22, 2015 at 11:23 pm | #

            prolly b/c it’s less painful to remember they only got halfway before being cancelled =(

            • Jordan
              Jordan
              November 23, 2015 at 6:10 am | #

              What show is this?

              • Jeff K!
                Jeff K!
                December 1, 2015 at 7:06 pm | #

                That would be Pirates of Dark Water, aka the greatest animated series that got cancelled before the main plot was completed.

                Well, that and Thundercats 2012.

      • Psyme
        Psyme
        November 22, 2015 at 3:18 am | #

        I heard that in Usalia’s voice. I cannot hear it any other way.

        • Kim
          Kim
          November 22, 2015 at 10:57 am | #

          What a great avatar! 😀

        • Doctor_Who
          Doctor_Who
          November 22, 2015 at 11:00 am | #

          Hanging out with Majorita has given her a dirty mouth.

        • Time Sage
          Time Sage
          November 22, 2015 at 9:02 pm | #

          I heard it in the voice of one of her prinnies as well as her….

  5. Durandal_1707
    Durandal_1707
    November 22, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    Anyone got a link, for those of us with non-perfect memories who don’t remember what this $20 thing was about?

    • Lord Stoneheart
      Lord Stoneheart
      November 22, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

      $20 for a damn! http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/damnation/

      • Durandal_1707
        Durandal_1707
        November 22, 2015 at 1:49 am | #

        Thanks!

      • Ryan
        Ryan
        November 22, 2015 at 3:58 am | #

        How long ago was this in strip time?

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          November 22, 2015 at 9:53 am | #

          Couple of weeks. We’re not even in October, yet.

          • evan
            evan
            November 22, 2015 at 4:41 pm | #

            you overestimate how fast time passes in DOA. Its been almost exactly a week.

        • John
          John
          November 22, 2015 at 11:25 am | #

          Joe offered Joyce money to swear at lunch on Sunday, beginning of Week Four. It is currently the evening of Monday of Week Five. So eight days.

    • John
      John
      November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

      Link.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        November 22, 2015 at 1:31 am | #

        Linkle

        • Durandal_1707
          Durandal_1707
          November 22, 2015 at 1:49 am | #

          ?

          • Kamino Neko
            Kamino Neko
            November 22, 2015 at 2:38 am | #

            Linkle is Link’s sister, recently added to…some game or other. The new Smash Brothers, maybe?

            • Kelly
              Kelly
              November 22, 2015 at 2:43 am | #

              New Zelda. Not out yet I think.

              • Lone Wolf
                Lone Wolf
                November 22, 2015 at 2:51 am | #

                Hyrule Warriors Legends, a 3DS port of the Wii U game with a bunch of new content added that you can apparently also apply to the Wii U version if you own both.

            • Disloyal Subject
              Disloyal Subject
              November 22, 2015 at 5:29 am | #

              …why?

              • Beoluve
                Beoluve
                November 22, 2015 at 8:54 am | #

                For the glory of Satan of course.

              • nothri
                nothri
                November 22, 2015 at 3:00 pm | #

                Because there was previously a link. That’s as far or complicated as that joke was intended to be.

            • Deanatay
              Deanatay
              November 22, 2015 at 9:58 am | #

              They couldn’t have just named her ‘Zelda’?

              *gets pelted by fruit*

              (nah, then they’d know she was a calligraphy enthusiast with a slight slight overbite, and hair the color of strained peaches)

              • Redfacedone
                Redfacedone
                November 22, 2015 at 11:45 am | #

                YES

              • 3-I
                3-I
                November 22, 2015 at 1:53 pm | #

                Well, that, and also Zelda’s already in the game… twice.

                • Durandal_1707
                  Durandal_1707
                  November 22, 2015 at 6:03 pm | #

                  Well, here I am talking out of my ass since I’d never heard of this before this comment thread, but… I’d think pretty much anything would be better than “Linkle.” It’s not like it’s particularly progressive; Anita Sarkeesian would probably have a few things to say about just taking the male character’s name and adding a few letters to it.

                • Ana Chronistic
                  Ana Chronistic
                  November 22, 2015 at 11:24 pm | #

                  idk, “Linkette” or “Linkelle” seems like they’d be worse

                  barely

                • thomas wrobel
                  thomas wrobel
                  November 23, 2015 at 8:07 am | #

                  Links only call link as a “Link to the player”. LinKle is just their attempt at a femine version. If the whole point is to make a female version of the male character (which is what fan demand was for), its going to be a similar name

                  In the main games you always call your character what you like. If a female link character model ever becomes a option, then the same would apply there.
                  Honestly, its nothing to get either excited or worked up over.

                  Personally, I take the view its the same character the whole time – its only now she feels confident enough to be her true self 😉

            • Time Sage
              Time Sage
              November 22, 2015 at 9:07 pm | #

              A: She’s in the 3DS port of the the non-canon spin off, hyrule warriors
              B: She’s NOT his sister. As far as we know, the two have never even met. She was originally planned as a “Little sister TYPE” character but didn’t make the cut, and was re imagined as a sort of Distaff Counterpart, with her only real connection to Link being the fact that she basically is just “Girl Link with Crossbows” She was mostly added due to fan demand

    • a4lbi
      a4lbi
      November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

      Shortly after Becky arrived she was bugging the hell out of Billie. So Billie gave her $20 to leave her alone. Becky used that money for the haircut.

      • a4lbi
        a4lbi
        November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

        NEVERMIND I’M THINKING OF ANOTHER $20

        • cesium133
          cesium133
          November 22, 2015 at 12:30 am | #

          Then there was that time Mike did 400 moms for $20…

          • Silvester Crow
            Silvester Crow
            November 22, 2015 at 1:14 am | #

            He was just walking down the halls after, shaking a coffee can of nickles labeled “I did your mom for a nickel”, while laughing in the pure bliss of knowing that everyone he knows, knows that he slept with their mothers.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/word/

    • Architex
      Architex
      November 22, 2015 at 12:12 am | #

      Two whole books ago, already. Wow.

      • Nik
        Nik
        November 22, 2015 at 12:22 am | #

        Two whole /years/ ago….

        • a4lbi
          a4lbi
          November 23, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

          Brick joke? Brick joke.

    • syd
      syd
      November 22, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

      C’mon, it was only like a few days ago

  6. Jayfernz
    Jayfernz
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Imagine if she’d lost her fucking phone cord

    • licoricepencil
      licoricepencil
      November 22, 2015 at 12:11 am | #

      that’s for within the confines of marriage

      • OldFart
        OldFart
        November 22, 2015 at 1:36 am | #

        Y’know, I don’t have time to read the comments obsessively like I used to, and I really miss you guys and your jokes. I really did LOL.

      • Badeyes
        Badeyes
        November 22, 2015 at 2:09 am | #

        Perfect Gravitar there for all three comments…

  7. inqntrol
    inqntrol
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Not sure if that was the best time for that Sarah.

    • neeks
      neeks
      November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

      agreed. i mean, she was trying to lighten the mood, but uh…maybe just let joyce stew for a little bit and then attempt to cheer her up. lotta shit went down today.

      • Clif
        Clif
        November 22, 2015 at 1:38 am | #

        I don’t think she was trying to lighten the mood. I think she was reminding Joyce who she is.

        • rachel
          rachel
          November 22, 2015 at 1:42 am | #

          that’s.. that’s kinda an awesome take on it. first assumption was definitely just a typical Sarah shit-giving quip, but no, I think you’re right, very much a “let’s just get back to grounded.” Love this.

        • Cephalo the Pod
          Cephalo the Pod
          November 22, 2015 at 10:49 am | #

          Holy shit.

        • AdmiralChucK
          AdmiralChucK
          November 22, 2015 at 5:53 pm | #

          Or perhaps she really doesn’t know what to do in this situation

  8. Mr. Mendo
    Mr. Mendo
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Joyce’s about to shank somebody!

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      November 22, 2015 at 12:12 am | #

      Sometimes, you’re in the mood to scream at the whole damn world… um… Wait. Haven’t her parents been trying to get ahold of her all weekend…?

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      November 22, 2015 at 10:00 am | #

      Joyce be like IMMA CUT YOU B-WORD

  9. AnvilPro
    AnvilPro
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    The day keeps getting better and better. What’s next? Dorothy has to leave college and the truck breaks in and kills Ruth in her sleep?

    • Griffin
      Griffin
      November 22, 2015 at 1:16 pm | #

      I hate when trucks do that.

  10. SpoopyFox
    SpoopyFox
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Joyce makes the best faces

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

      walky has been helping her with this one. it’s called “really not amused”

  11. Fijord
    Fijord
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    That look though…

  12. Doc
    Doc
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Well. Joyce is broken.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      November 22, 2015 at 12:13 am | #

      She rode a motorcycle and used a swear and even fought against an authority figure. All that’s left is a (candy) cigarette and her transition to the rebel side will be complete.

      • Tacos
        Tacos
        November 22, 2015 at 12:41 am | #

        Something something something… the Power of the Dark Side.

      • Mollyscribbles
        Mollyscribbles
        November 22, 2015 at 3:50 am | #

        Next thing you know, she’ll be drawing Dexter and Monkeymaster erotic fanart.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        November 22, 2015 at 7:36 am | #

        She still has to read blocked websites, stay up late, and not pick the cheese off her sandwiches though.

  13. abbers
    abbers
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    This is. This is gonna go somewhere. 😀

  14. David Herbert
    David Herbert
    November 22, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    Sarah keeps her promises, even two books later.

    • David
      David
      November 23, 2015 at 7:31 am | #

      Well, she is no Jesus.

  15. Just A. Thinker
    Just A. Thinker
    November 22, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    Does anyone here actually go to Indiana University?

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      November 22, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

      I haven’t been in college since Carter was in office. So, Not Me.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        November 22, 2015 at 5:02 am | #

        Bush I for me. I spent a long time at university.

        • Marc in MN
          Marc in MN
          November 22, 2015 at 6:54 pm | #

          Clinton for me. Man, it’s nice to still feel young in places like this every once in awhile. 😉

    • Dr. T
      Dr. T
      November 22, 2015 at 12:23 am | #

      I went there and still work for them, though I commute to Indy from B-town to do so.

    • altalemur
      altalemur
      November 22, 2015 at 12:46 am | #

      i work at IU Bloomington. it’s both beautiful and annoying. i know there is a fan base here, but not sure how many of them are (undergrad) students.

    • Inspector Hound
      Inspector Hound
      November 22, 2015 at 1:23 am | #

      I attended its arch-rival, so I am a very wrong person to volunteer information.

      • Badeyes
        Badeyes
        November 22, 2015 at 2:13 am | #

        What too busy making boilers?

        • Inspector Hound
          Inspector Hound
          November 22, 2015 at 6:45 pm | #

          Those rivets get everywhere.

    • ObiKemnebi
      ObiKemnebi
      November 22, 2015 at 2:36 am | #

      My personal Toedad did. I was wearing IU cheerleader costumes to AF Falcons basketball games when I was six. *rolls eyes*

    • Skilltagz
      Skilltagz
      November 22, 2015 at 9:35 pm | #

      I’m in the right age category, wrong country. UVIC in BC, Canada

  16. Codyblues
    Codyblues
    November 22, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    Poor Joyce, she seems to be a little more upset then Becky is.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      November 22, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

      Yeah, she probably is. Becky has just had a moment of great love where she was saved from a terrible fate after sacrificing herself to it. The scars will echo later from that. But Joyce?

      Joyce lost part of her faith at that fountain and on that roadway. She’s been told all her life that there’s good people and those people are only those who worship God in the same exact way that she does and everyone else is a hell-bound sinner. And well, for the second time a fellow-traveler has threatened to hurt her. And this time it was not because of a reason she could pin an excuse on.

      This was a fellow traveler she grew up. Who believed everything she was told about gay people to be literal truth and acted accordingly and in so doing revealed the toxicity in how she was raised. Right now, she doesn’t have faith that how she was taught was the right way and unfortunately for her, she was taught that everything she was taught must be 100% true or else none of it is.

      If a “good godly man” can do evil and if a gay person can be good in her worldview, then that is supposed to be the breaking point of faith. Joyce hasn’t lost it yet, but she’s simmering in an intense anger around the soreness of the strain these truths are having on her beliefs.

      And also just anger in general. She froze during Ross’s initial attack and it can be really hard sometimes to forgive yourself from that all-natural trauma response in the aftermath of a traumatic event. I know that personally. So she’s pumping a lot of that anger at herself, at her faith, at Toedad into this white hot fury and just can’t wait to dump it on someone or something.

      Aka, we might be seeing another fight between Sarah and Joyce if Sarah tries to push it.

      • Codyblues
        Codyblues
        November 22, 2015 at 12:32 am | #

        Perfect.

        Side note, what hit home for me was the whole six flags thing. It’s like seeing smoky the bear burning some trees for fun.

        • Bagge
          Bagge
          November 22, 2015 at 1:09 am | #

          Yes, it’s such a fundamental betrayal of Joyce’s entire childhood.

          And of course, Becky is done for the night. All she has to do this evening is cuddle her girlfriend and recount the tall tales of her victory (“tell me again about the part where you bit his face”). Joyce still has the confrontation with her parents in front of her. (if only the damn phone starts to damn cooperate)

      • Screwball
        Screwball
        November 22, 2015 at 4:05 am | #

        Yep, that all seems pretty much right on the mark. Been told “This is how you must live of God with smite you”, realizing it’s all a lie as you mean nice people, stand up for nice people to authority figures, learn her childhood best friend was a lesbian, come to terms with the fact she’s not the Devil’s plaything, have her childhood best friend’s Toedad threaten them both with a gun, do her part to help take him down before punching out cold with 1 hit & curb-stomping him…

        Yeah, that’s some serious re-evaluate-your-life shit there…

      • evan
        evan
        November 22, 2015 at 4:42 pm | #

        love this comment.

        (doubt we’ll see a fight though—sarah seems to realize that was probably too soon)

      • Durandal_1707
        Durandal_1707
        November 22, 2015 at 6:05 pm | #

        Yes. That is all.

  17. Lena
    Lena
    November 22, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    With how long it takes to get through just a week or even a day, I’m kinda worried we won’t see a happy Joyce for a long time 🙁

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

      We will, she will throw all the sad into The Vault.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        November 22, 2015 at 10:04 am | #

        Into the Anti-Joyce vault?

        (I admit, a part of me was gonna ask, ‘Which Vault? Where is it on the map??? I WANNA EXPLORE IT!!!’)

        • Ollie
          Ollie
          November 22, 2015 at 10:34 am | #

          Anti-Joyce? What kind of Eridian tech is that?

          • Screwball
            Screwball
            November 22, 2015 at 12:53 pm | #

            Something from another world, with faces similar to these…

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          November 22, 2015 at 4:45 pm | #

          I was thinking more in the lines of Joyce having the equivalent of Finn’s Vault.

  18. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    Aww, Sarah. You remembered. All at the wrong time tho.
    —
    I wonder how many unread message from her parents are on that phone, right now.

  19. Valis_KR3
    Valis_KR3
    November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    Language!

    • Kelly
      Kelly
      November 22, 2015 at 12:54 am | #

      https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YIp-0V6YKfQ/hqdefault.jpg

      • Screwball
        Screwball
        November 22, 2015 at 4:11 am | #

        LOL true…

  20. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    Joyce can sing the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt theme for Becky now!

  21. Nono
    Nono
    November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    Poor Sarah, she’s trying.

  22. Schpoonman
    Schpoonman
    November 22, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    Aaand I finally have my gravatar.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      November 22, 2015 at 12:21 am | #

      That stare looks like you are trying to melt the sidebar with your laser vision.

      • Screwball
        Screwball
        November 22, 2015 at 4:12 am | #

        Or maybe she’s trying to avoid looking at someone who’s pissed her off greatly lately…

        Wait, who’s my Gravatar again… :p

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      November 22, 2015 at 7:40 am | #

      Perfectly aimed for replies!

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      November 22, 2015 at 10:06 am | #

      I’m together with your plan!

  23. Lord Stoneheart
    Lord Stoneheart
    November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

    Joyce’s phone has been dead? For some reason I have a bad feeling about the types of messages she’s going to find once she gets the thing back on.

    • Stephen R. Bierce
      Stephen R. Bierce
      November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

      The moment has been prepared for. 🙂

      • Tkrr
        Tkrr
        November 22, 2015 at 12:32 am | #

        I would not have suspected she could regenerate.

        • Stephen R. Bierce
          Stephen R. Bierce
          November 22, 2015 at 12:41 am | #

          The phone will regenerate its battery once it’s been plugged back into the wall.

          • inqntrol
            inqntrol
            November 22, 2015 at 1:48 am | #

            I thought that you have to be drunk to do that.

            • Screwball
              Screwball
              November 22, 2015 at 4:13 am | #

              …Is that a power plug plugged into a light switch?

              • Schpoonman
                Schpoonman
                November 22, 2015 at 4:34 am | #

                There are lamps that have a plug in them for convenience.

      • DinaWho
        DinaWho
        November 22, 2015 at 1:45 am | #

        Now I just want to know what represents the Watcher in this analogy.

        And at least no one got dropped off a radio tower? And probably no one’s going to get taken hostage by the Master next storyline? That we know of, at least.

        you not only mentioned doctor who, you mentioned one of my favourite eras. sorry not sorry.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      November 22, 2015 at 12:13 am | #

      i’m more concerned about how she’ll respond to them, given her current state of mind

    • Rheinman
      Rheinman
      November 22, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

      I’m expecting a lot of cognitive dissonance from Joyce’s parents:
      “Oh my gosh, there’s been a shooting at your school. You need to come home where its safe. The same place the shooter is from… Oh, wait”

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        November 22, 2015 at 12:22 am | #

        “We’re organizing a prayer circle and fundraiser for a Ross MacIntyre, you remember? Becky’s dad? He’s in a lot of trouble right now just for trying to save his kid. The pastor told the whole phone tree about it.”

        • Ana Chronistic
          Ana Chronistic
          November 22, 2015 at 12:28 am | #

          “here’s his GoFundMe”

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            November 22, 2015 at 1:01 am | #

            “Also, do you happen to know where Becky is? The pastor has found some great camps she can use to get better and stop causing so much pain and trauma to the family. I’m sorry, dear, I can’t quite hear you, there might be something wrong with my receiver because all I’m hearing is a weird grinding sound.”

            • Bagge
              Bagge
              November 22, 2015 at 4:06 am | #

              OUCH. Let’s spare the poor girl SOME punches…

              • Screwball
                Screwball
                November 22, 2015 at 4:20 am | #

                And yet, there are signs these lines of thought are quite possible from her old CultChurch…

                …They are starting to look a bit Cult-like, if you think about it, especially Toedad. “Must live exactly like this, or you’re going to Hell…”

                • neeks
                  neeks
                  November 22, 2015 at 4:50 pm | #

                  Yeah, they are, which makes me so sad that the commentariat will argue in perpetuity over whether people really talk or act or believe stuff like that.

                  As ridiculous as you find a behavior or frame of mind, there’s bound to be someone out there who thinks it’s totally normal.

            • Amazi-Stool
              Amazi-Stool
              November 22, 2015 at 12:26 pm | #

              “And could you tell your friends to stop those satanic swears i am now hearing!”

          • Gamaran Sepudomyn
            Gamaran Sepudomyn
            November 22, 2015 at 7:37 am | #

            GoAwayFundie.

        • Commodore Jeep-Eep
          Commodore Jeep-Eep
          November 22, 2015 at 8:16 am | #

          Good odds on this, yes.

    • Carolyn
      Carolyn
      November 22, 2015 at 10:54 am | #

      …You know, I’m almost hoping that Joyce answers the phone in her current state of mind so we can just see her blow up and start swearing a blue streak at her mother.

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 4:46 pm | #

        “Yes hello mother were you aware that Mr macintyre has a fucking GUN? Because he totally just brought it to my school and threatened to goddamn kill us, as if ‘abduction at gunpoint’ were a normal response to finding out your daughter has a girlfriend. What? No, I’m not gay, but it sure as shit would be easier for my dating life if I were, thanks to some asshole at what to turned out to be a hell of a party. I can’t even go anywhere without seeing his douchenozzle of a face everywhere, which is FUCKING FANTASTIC, let me tell you.

        Anyway Mr M won’t be coming home for a while so you should probably have someone collect his mail for him for…the foreseeable future, probably. One would hope, anyway. God, what a prick.”

  24. FriendlyNeighborhoodDave
    FriendlyNeighborhoodDave
    November 22, 2015 at 12:05 am | #

    Sarah looks genuinely terrified of Joyce in that last panel. That’s on the list of things I never thought I’d see.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

      The only thing scarier than the triangular smile are the square eyes.

      • Tacos
        Tacos
        November 22, 2015 at 12:39 am | #

        What about a nightmare combination of the two?

        • Screwball
          Screwball
          November 22, 2015 at 4:31 am | #

          Ask, & you shall receive… }:D

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            November 22, 2015 at 5:04 am | #

            NIIIICE! ^_^

          • Cephalo the Pod
            Cephalo the Pod
            November 22, 2015 at 11:02 am | #

            HOLY SHIT, Joyce looks like she’s about to saw off someone’s head.
            …or she’s already done it.

            • Screwball
              Screwball
              November 22, 2015 at 1:04 pm | #

              “I want to play a game…”
              “Joyce, who are you talking to on the phone in that weird voice?”
              “Awww, you’ve spoiled my fun. No, maybe you’ve added an interesting twist…”
              “Joyce, what are you doing?”
              “Joyce, you’re scaring me…”
              “Joyce-“

            • Ana Chronistic
              Ana Chronistic
              November 22, 2015 at 11:25 pm | #

              Yami Joyce =p

          • Wublub
            Wublub
            November 22, 2015 at 9:07 pm | #

            My gods, that’s terrifying.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      November 22, 2015 at 4:09 am | #

      Heck, I’M terrified of her and I am protected by the fourth wall.

  25. leoatrox
    leoatrox
    November 22, 2015 at 12:06 am | #

    Hell of a day, to from “I will not swear for any reason” to casual swearing in less than 12 hours.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      November 22, 2015 at 12:23 am | #

      When the dam breaks, the flood begins.

      • sun tzu
        sun tzu
        November 22, 2015 at 12:33 am | #

        I can confirm that from experience. Despite my nonreligious, not-exactly-restrictive upbringing, I used to have a whole thing about swearing. When that went away, well…

      • Hi There
        Hi There
        November 22, 2015 at 12:36 am | #

        Exactly. I was one of those that never cursed until a bad breakup in college. Once that floodgate opens, it’s really hard to close.

      • Very Good Karma
        Very Good Karma
        November 22, 2015 at 1:22 am | #

        I will third that after a lifetime of never swearing, because you believe that it’s bad and you shouldn’t do bad things, once you lose your faith in life and any inherent goodness in the universe, you fucking start saying fuck about every other fucking sentence.

        • Jacknoir
          Jacknoir
          November 22, 2015 at 1:59 pm | #

          Fuck, shit and damn are like starter level swears, versatile but not very effective.

          for more advanced general purpose expletives I’m currently favoring “Cock Guzzling Thunder conga”

      • No Name
        No Name
        November 22, 2015 at 1:30 am | #

        Willis does have a bit of a habit about this. It’s subtle, but Leslie’s original incarnation didn’t swear until the de-fridge arc. And I’m sure Willis is speaking from experience.

      • Reepunzel
        Reepunzel
        November 22, 2015 at 8:19 am | #

        When the damn dam breaks, the flood begins.

        • SDGlyph
          SDGlyph
          November 22, 2015 at 3:15 pm | #

          The fucking flood.

      • Skilltagz
        Skilltagz
        November 22, 2015 at 9:40 pm | #

        I believe in this case, it’s a damn 😉

  26. AtomsOrSystems
    AtomsOrSystems
    November 22, 2015 at 12:06 am | #

    And Sarah was never heard from again.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      November 22, 2015 at 10:11 am | #

      She wound up in the bellies of dogs across the state.

  27. meanderling
    meanderling
    November 22, 2015 at 12:06 am | #

    Hey, I never used to cuss either til I started college. I picked it up pretty fuckin’ quick.

    • Badeyes
      Badeyes
      November 22, 2015 at 2:19 am | #

      USAF for me. The clean language clashed with my punk band shirt collection before the damn broke.

      • Roborat
        Roborat
        November 23, 2015 at 3:05 pm | #

        Yup, same for me, was army basic training that did it for me. Now I have compartmentalized it, the swearing comes out when I put the uniform on.

    • Reepunzel
      Reepunzel
      November 22, 2015 at 8:37 am | #

      Same here. I cussed a little in high school (very little), but I didn’t learn how to do it properly until college. Something about multiple long-term school projects (and being shit at scheduling them – thanks brain), never having enough sleep (I will never have enough sleep again – thanks again brain), working part time, and struggling with a couple of previously alluded to neurological issues (and one fucking debilitating reproductive one – thanks, body) that I was suffering from but did not get diagnoses until I was close to graduation can reeeeally teach you a thing or two about expletives.

      Fuck. “I need to squeeze in these multiple doctors’ visits and a trip to the pharmacy in my crazy schedule, but I don’t know who I should see first or where to even begin… and the stress is making me kinda tired… zzzzzzz….”

      (anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours later) “… Aw shit, not again! What time is it now??”

    • Skilltagz
      Skilltagz
      November 22, 2015 at 9:46 pm | #

      It’s reassuring to be in an exam you know you’re screwed in, and hear someone else going “fuck. oh fuck.” reading the questions. You know you’re not alone

  28. Tanarin
    Tanarin
    November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

    And there’s the payoff (Both literally and joke wise.)

    You must have been waiting forever for that one, huh Dave?

  29. Robert
    Robert
    November 22, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

    Someone is going to end up at the hospital twice in one night before we even get to Monday’s strip.

  30. TheGrammarLegionary
    TheGrammarLegionary
    November 22, 2015 at 12:08 am | #

    Joyce is actually turning out to be pretty good at cursing… I was not, my first day.

  31. Wublub
    Wublub
    November 22, 2015 at 12:08 am | #

    Apparently now is not a good time to joke in front of Joyce.
    At least she tried.

  32. Stephen R. Bierce
    Stephen R. Bierce
    November 22, 2015 at 12:09 am | #

    “She’s gurgling. Play her some Jackson Browne.”–Opus in BLOOM COUNTY, to the Greenpeace gal who was trying to serenade a whale with her flute.

    • Kelly
      Kelly
      November 22, 2015 at 12:51 am | #

      Jackson Browne is so good!

    • TsunamiJane
      TsunamiJane
      November 22, 2015 at 7:01 am | #

      Jackson Browne cures all.

  33. tim gueguen
    tim gueguen
    November 22, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

    Joyce will soon wish her phone was still dead, I suspect.

  34. khambatta
    khambatta
    November 22, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

    I just realised Joyce is wearing her Semme outfit now.

    • kelticat
      kelticat
      November 22, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

      Minus the yellow stripe.

    • MrZombieScordo
      MrZombieScordo
      November 22, 2015 at 3:06 am | #

      She also displayed near superhuman strength a couple hours ago.

  35. Cheshrin
    Cheshrin
    November 22, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

    Is it twenty bucks per swear or twenty bucks for Joyce swearing as a while?

    Because if it’s the former, Sarah and Joe better start pooling together their pocket change. Joyce has sworn, what, eight times in the past month’s worth of comics? That’s worth $160 right there.

    Oh my god Joyce has sworn eight times in the past month’s worth of comics.

    • Schpoonman
      Schpoonman
      November 22, 2015 at 12:25 am | #

      I’m still holding out for Joe wordlessly emptying his entire wallet in Joyce’s hands and walking away.

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        November 22, 2015 at 12:29 am | #

        given college, that would prolly still be $20

        • Rabid Rabbit
          Rabid Rabbit
          November 22, 2015 at 11:28 am | #

          Especially since we know Joe carries a lot of one-dollar bills.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      November 22, 2015 at 12:44 am | #

      But as she stated, the first time Joyce swore it *WAS* powerful and *DID* have meaning.

      • Screwball
        Screwball
        November 22, 2015 at 4:38 am | #

        True, very true…

  36. newllend(henryvolt)
    newllend(henryvolt)
    November 22, 2015 at 12:12 am | #

    Hey cheer up choice now you can use that money to buy a new phone cord charger.

  37. Carter
    Carter
    November 22, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

    Am I the only one surprised Sarah just happened to have $20 in cash on her right at that time? I carried very little cash on me as a college student.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      November 22, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

      She saved it from this comic. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/word/

      • Amazi-Stool
        Amazi-Stool
        November 22, 2015 at 12:46 pm | #

        Actually, the previous comic made it clear that Joe did not give 20$ to Sarah for swearing, so i am wondering why Sarah feels inclined to pay for Joes’ debt.

    • Sarah
      Sarah
      November 22, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

      Nah, I , and most le in my family, always carry an emergency 20. In case the store doesn’t accept credit/is a small business/you need bus fare/vending machines. Mostly vending machines honestly. Those things don’t all accept credit cards.

      • Carter
        Carter
        November 22, 2015 at 12:30 am | #

        Huh, okay. Everywhere I went took card, but that’s likely because I went to school in a big city. I could see that being an issue in more college-y towns. With the vending machines, you could load money on your student ID and the machines had readers that only accepted those. I’m surprised more schools don’t do this.

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        November 22, 2015 at 12:31 am | #

        I don’t keep emergency $20s because they’re called “yuppie food stamps” for a reason.

        I *do* keep an old film canister full of quarters, though. One in the car, as well, since my tires have not been the most reliable of late in retaining their air pressure.

        • Dana
          Dana
          November 22, 2015 at 4:09 am | #

          I was taught to carry twenty so that if I was mugged the mugger wouldn’t feel they’d wasted their effort and escalate the incident.

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          November 22, 2015 at 10:15 am | #

          Quarters are actually more valuable to college students. LAUNDRY.

    • Ana Chronistic
      Ana Chronistic
      November 22, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

      I remember finding a LOT of money over my lifetime compared to how much I lost. In college, specifically, a $20 just lying on the rather large handicap ramp (big spiralling thing in the middle of the student centre) and no one in sight, much less one who looked frantic about having lost that much money.

      Reminds me I recently found another such completely abandoned $20 at the grocery. I should relocate it to a food bank.

      • John
        John
        November 22, 2015 at 12:25 am | #

        When I was a kid, I found a $20 in the parking lot of a motel outside D.C. when we were there on a trip. My brother got all sulky because he didn’t get a free $20, too. I bought a Lego set with it.

        • Tacos
          Tacos
          November 22, 2015 at 12:38 am | #

          I found $37 dollars a few months ago just randomly on the street still in a money clip when I went to go fill up my water gallon from the water machine. I didn’t even know what it was at first and just stared at it for a couple of minutes before finally realizing it.

          • Nicknack Paddywhack
            Nicknack Paddywhack
            November 22, 2015 at 1:41 pm | #

            Once when I was around 10 years old, I found $70 (a $50 and a $20) floating in the Atlantic ocean. Years later I found a $20 in a supermarket food court. And just last week I found a $10 bill folded in half in the middle of the sidewalk, with nobody else around. Add to that a few dollars in coins over the years, and I’ve made enough in found money to get a pretty nice folding knife.

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              November 22, 2015 at 2:34 pm | #

              Long ago, working a summer job mowing a park for the town, I found a ziplock baggie with a $100 and 2 $50s tightly rolled up in it. Not far away was another ziplock with a needle.
              I didn’t mention that one to anyone for quite some time.

              • Ana Chronistic
                Ana Chronistic
                November 22, 2015 at 11:28 pm | #

                oh the BEST time was I found someone’s entire billfold full of large bills + IDs for super easy identity theft

                luckily it was in a store, so I just went to the cashier when I didn’t see the person on the ID card and said, “uh, I found this on the floor…”

                “oh, wow”

                “yup”

    • John
      John
      November 22, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

      I actually carried a lot more cash on me as a college student than I do now. When I was a college student, there were a whole lot more places where paying for things with plastic was inconvenient or impossible.

    • Kelly
      Kelly
      November 22, 2015 at 12:48 am | #

      I am a 33 year old adult (theoretically anyway), with my own apartment and a job. I typically do not have a single dollar bill or a single penny on me. (I do have some coins in the ashtray of my car, and in a jar at home though). Cash is dead.

      • Dragon_Nataku
        Dragon_Nataku
        November 22, 2015 at 11:25 am | #

        I am the same way, minus when I want a frappuccino at Starbucks, in which case it was only a five. Now the price has gone up so I have to carry more cash ^=__=^;;

        In regards to the keeping track of spending thing below, I’ve had a credit card since I was 16. Never went over my credit limit. I guess I just don’t really buy that much stuff.

        • Roborat
          Roborat
          November 23, 2015 at 3:09 pm | #

          Or you have a hella high credit limit.

    • No Name
      No Name
      November 22, 2015 at 1:36 am | #

      I keep cash on me so I can keep better track of my finances. Parting with a piece of paper or metal is a lot harder to do psychologically than swiping a piece plastic through a device.

      • OldFart
        OldFart
        November 22, 2015 at 1:55 am | #

        I try to take out a weekly cash withdrawal and use that instead of plastic. Otherwise, runaway spending happens. It helps, even if I cheat every once in a while.

      • Kelly
        Kelly
        November 22, 2015 at 2:23 am | #

        Yeah that doesn’t work on my brain.
        It just drains mental spoons dealing with cash and remembering to get it.

  38. Sarah
    Sarah
    November 22, 2015 at 12:15 am | #

    Badum Tsss.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      November 22, 2015 at 10:16 am | #

      You, uh, you dropped your drum set…

  39. Just Me
    Just Me
    November 22, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

    Let’s compare Sarah vs Dina ….

    Let’s not.

    • Just Me
      Just Me
      November 22, 2015 at 11:25 am | #

      Actually, let’s. Dina gives her roommate Amber a hug, Sarah give her roommate Joyce a Twenty.

      Sarah could use some lessons in social interaction from Dina.

      • Steve
        Steve
        November 22, 2015 at 11:44 am | #

        I would always rather have a twenty than a hug. I once held the broom I was using out like a spear so the coworker trying to hug me would have to impale himself if he kept trying…

  40. Ben
    Ben
    November 22, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

    Oh…. no… I suspect my assessment yesterday that she’d be alright was hhooooorribly misguided… oh no… where is my tech to take me into comics and stories, I need to step in and try to help… DAMMIT WHY IS THAT TECH NOT A THING?!

    • Stephen R. Bierce
      Stephen R. Bierce
      November 22, 2015 at 12:21 am | #

      You need to read Robert A. Heinlein’s NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

      • Kelly
        Kelly
        November 22, 2015 at 1:28 am | #

        Pantheistic Multi Person Solipsism! or, The World as a Myth.

    • Ellegos
      Ellegos
      November 22, 2015 at 12:55 am | #

      The answer isn’t tech. IT’S MAGIC

      http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320529909l/460087.jpg

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        November 22, 2015 at 10:17 am | #

        Uh-oh

    • DinaWho
      DinaWho
      November 22, 2015 at 11:33 am | #

      Be careful what you wish for. I’m pretty sure that tech was what caused a lot of the events in the Thursday Next series.

      • Steve
        Steve
        November 22, 2015 at 11:47 am | #

        Do you pronounce the author’s name Ford or Fuforday? I do the latter just for fun…

  41. newllend(henryvolt)
    newllend(henryvolt)
    November 22, 2015 at 12:27 am | #

    well I know where this is going, Sarah going to start contplainting whether or not if she should get her tooken out of school and back home where she can be safe. But the problem is she no longer feels safe anywhere considering that some that she until today considered family. Not to mention Sarah will probably won’t have it in her to go through with it and go never seen choice again just like her last roommate ( Even though she can still find some closer just by track her said ex-roommate down and see how’s she’s doing ).

    • neeks
      neeks
      November 22, 2015 at 12:24 pm | #

      Well for one thing, Joyce hasn’t been interfering with Sarah’s studies (much) and causing her grades to suffer (at least not yet.) Also, Joyce has not been exhibiting extended indications of decline/being a danger to herself by way of selfdestructive behavior. And then there’s the part where contacting Joyce’s parents would only make things worse for Joyce, not arguably save her life, and Sarah was trying to act in her ex-roommate’s best interests when she contacted her father. Also as I recall it she didn’t anticipate said father withdrawing his daughter from uni. Basically I’m not seeing many, if any, parallels here.

      Besides, if worse comes to worse and Sarah wanted to fuck off from the situation in general she could probably just officially request a roommate swap–or do it under wraps as did Billie/Ruth and Sal/Becky.

  42. Edupoet81
    Edupoet81
    November 22, 2015 at 12:27 am | #

    I can imagine how many messages Joyce must have.

    Sarah looks confused and afraid in that last panel, like she barely recognizes the person standing before her.

    I don’t have the energy to hunt down the particular comic from one of the earlier story arcs, but there was a comic that ended on Sarah telling Joyce that she’ll be sad when the world breaks her (or something like that, can’t recall the exact words right now). Is Sarah realizing that they’ve now come to that point?

    • Edupoet81
      Edupoet81
      November 22, 2015 at 12:32 am | #

      I decided to hunt down that comic after all. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/break/

      • spiderfan14
        spiderfan14
        November 22, 2015 at 8:01 am | #

        well, that’s going into the tearjerker entry of the Dumbing of Age tv tropes page.

      • Les
        Les
        November 22, 2015 at 9:34 am | #

        Well that took 4-1/2 years of real time, so that’s what 2 weeks of story time?

    • Beef Jerky Guy
      Beef Jerky Guy
      November 22, 2015 at 12:33 am | #

      Joyce isn’t broken. Pissed beyond previous recognition, but not broken. This too shall pass. When the anger subsides, there may well be some shock. But this is not a broken Joyce. This is a Joyce on the cusp of becoming far stronger than she ever was before.

      • Bicycle Bill
        Bicycle Bill
        November 22, 2015 at 12:55 am | #

        “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
        ……Friedrich Nietzsche

        And it is a scientific truth that a broken bone is stronger at the point of the break than the original bone ever was.  There may be some tough times in the short term, but overall, Joyce is going to be just fiine.

        • evilmidnightlurker
          evilmidnightlurker
          November 22, 2015 at 1:11 am | #

          “The world breaks every one, but afterwards many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway

          • Leorale
            Leorale
            November 22, 2015 at 4:28 am | #

            That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stranger.

            • Jonathan S.
              Jonathan S.
              November 23, 2015 at 12:00 am | #

              Maxim 37: That which does not kill me has committed a tactical error.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          November 22, 2015 at 9:45 am | #

          “That which does not kill us, still hurts a lot.”

          • Deanatay
            Deanatay
            November 22, 2015 at 10:19 am | #

            “I’m not gonna kill you. I’m just gonna hurt you. Really, really, REALLY, bad!”

        • neeks
          neeks
          November 22, 2015 at 12:27 pm | #

          “There are four lights!” – Jean-Luc Picard

        • SDGlyph
          SDGlyph
          November 22, 2015 at 3:24 pm | #

          “That which does not kill us, must have missed us.”
          – Miowara Tomokata

          • evilmidnightlurker
            evilmidnightlurker
            November 22, 2015 at 7:37 pm | #

            Yay! Someone else who’ll know what I’m talking about when I start raving about little gray kittens with Gatling guns! 😀

      • Michael Chandra
        Michael Chandra
        November 22, 2015 at 4:38 am | #

        “If you strike me down now I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi

  43. Hi There
    Hi There
    November 22, 2015 at 12:33 am | #

    The cursing floodgate has been opened. I figured that we would get to see more profanity out of Joyce once that first curse word was uttered.

    Back before college, I never cursed. Then I went through a my first serious relationship that ended with a bad breakup. That’s when the floodgate just opened and it was like all of the pent up frustration from that relationship and my entire life up to that point came out of me as profanity. I don’t curse now as much as I did then, but once that door has been opened, it’s difficult to shut.

    I think Joyce will be okay, eventually. She’ll never be the same as she was before this incident, but she’ll grow and develop and eventually be okay. It’s just going to be a long process and not very fun in the immediate days to come.

  44. metaceryn
    metaceryn
    November 22, 2015 at 12:38 am | #

    Now that’s a damn fine callback.

  45. vonniesaur
    vonniesaur
    November 22, 2015 at 12:41 am | #

    Save it for a new Bible

    • Someone
      Someone
      November 22, 2015 at 12:58 am | #

      And the lord said, you had better motherfucking bless those who persecute you!

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 12:30 pm | #

        “THAT’S IT! I am SICK of these MOTHERFUCKING MONEYLENDERS in this MOTHERFUCKING TEMPLE!” – Jesus, probably

  46. TheTJ
    TheTJ
    November 22, 2015 at 12:46 am | #

    Huh, I’m in a similar boat to the one Joyce was just in, choosing not to swear by way of habit/stubbornness/hope of future impact.

    I wonder if I break it will it be like the dam breaking? Will there be no going back?

    • Marie
      Marie
      November 22, 2015 at 1:11 am | #

      The damn breaking

      • Marie
        Marie
        November 22, 2015 at 1:12 am | #

        Shit, I just wrote twice instead of closing it

        • Marie
          Marie
          November 22, 2015 at 1:13 am | #

          That wasn’t even a real tag this time why has this happened

          • Kelly
            Kelly
            November 22, 2015 at 1:23 am | #

            if you want to show a tag, you have to escape it.

            to write out an <i> tag you have to write it like this: &lt;i&gt;

            no I will not explain the meta of how to escape the the escape that I just used.

            /hope it all comes out right
            //no preview here…

            • No Name
              No Name
              November 22, 2015 at 1:39 am | #

              (use &ampamp)

              • No Name
                No Name
                November 22, 2015 at 1:41 am | #

                Shoot, forgot to close it with a ;!
                Ahem
                (use &ampamp;

                • No Name
                  No Name
                  November 22, 2015 at 1:42 am | #

                  Okaaay, I need to do more research)

              • Kelly
                Kelly
                November 22, 2015 at 2:20 am | #

                &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;

                Maybe.
                We’re in to deep!

                • ə snow ʍouse
                  ə snow ʍouse
                  November 22, 2015 at 1:10 pm | #

                  it’s so meta even this acronym

                • ə snow ʍouse
                  ə snow ʍouse
                  November 22, 2015 at 1:12 pm | #

                  I took an introductory HTML class once. Basically just enough for standard commenting tags. And you know, < homebody > and all that

                • ə snow ʍouse
                  ə snow ʍouse
                  November 22, 2015 at 1:13 pm | #

                  is homebody a thing or am I combining homeboy with somebody

                • neeks
                  neeks
                  November 22, 2015 at 4:36 pm | #

                  @ snowmouse: “homebody” is indeed a thing, it’s basically a “shut-in,” or just someone who prefers to stay home instead of going out a lot.

                • ə snow ʍouse
                  ə snow ʍouse
                  November 23, 2015 at 8:31 am | #

                  Oh, right! I’m a homebody myself
                  Although I suppose if I could get more people to start hanging out with me…

                • ə snow ʍouse
                  ə snow ʍouse
                  November 23, 2015 at 8:32 am | #

                  Not too many people, though. That’s a bit stifling.

            • Marie
              Marie
              November 22, 2015 at 2:43 am | #

              I just broke it with another character but I guess it saw that coming and disagreed

  47. nothri
    nothri
    November 22, 2015 at 12:49 am | #

    The Joyce you have known is no more. Now and forever more I shall be known as…..GalvaJoyce.

    • Kelly
      Kelly
      November 22, 2015 at 1:26 am | #

      Sarah is about to be disintegrated, in that case.

      • Screwball
        Screwball
        November 22, 2015 at 5:31 am | #

        “MegaJoyce, is that you…”

        “HERE’S A HINT!!”

        *BOOM…*

  48. JoyceParty
    JoyceParty
    November 22, 2015 at 12:53 am | #

    Joyce went with Rose Gold.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      November 22, 2015 at 1:21 am | #

      Impossible.  Willis had this comic in the buffer since sometime in July or early August 2015.  The iPhone 6S (in rose gold) wasn’t even unveiled to the public until the second week of Sept 2015, and weren’t available for purchase until the end of the month. So he couldn’t have known about the color option that far in advance; hell, I *WORK* for Verizon and I didn’t know about it until about four days before the official announcement!!

      Also, according to the Dumbing of Age Timeline in the Walkypedia, it is only the start of the fifth week of the semester.  And if we accept that the IU semester started two weeks before Labor Day (refer to the IU website for dates for first semester 2015) then we are just starting the fifth week of the semester and it is only the third week of September.  So it would be a violation of the space-time continuum for Joyce to have such a phone.

      And lastly, I’d like to think that Joyce isn’t one to follow the crowd and buy an iPhone just because everybody else has one.

      • Lord Stoneheart
        Lord Stoneheart
        November 22, 2015 at 1:36 am | #

        Comic book time? I just assume it’s the year 20XX. (Though this is the same phone Joyce has had for a while now I think)

        • ə snow ʍouse
          ə snow ʍouse
          November 22, 2015 at 1:15 pm | #

          Word of God says it’s the current year, whatever that year happens to be. That’s basically 20xx, though.

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 12:39 pm | #

        I just assumed it’s a smartphone protector or whatever but I’m not a smartphone owner (never needed one and now that I changed my mind about it I literally have no money to fix that. Life, right?) so I lack a personal frame of visual reference. I’ve seen a lot of artistic representations of phone cases though (and also they’re rather ubiquitous on this side of the fourth wall) and Joyce’s phone looks similar enough, so I didn’t even think about it.

        Gotta love the whole “upgrade your iPhone to this year’s model! Exactly the same features but for only $600 you can get it in a new color!!!!” thing, though.

  49. Someone
    Someone
    November 22, 2015 at 12:55 am | #

    A lot of people are talking about how they never swore during high school (a lot could be one person, excluding Willis) But I have the opposite issue, I swear so much that I think I could potentially break the record for number of swears said in a single school day at my high school. I especially like fuck.

    • inqntrol
      inqntrol
      November 22, 2015 at 1:07 am | #

      Play Mafia 2, you will not be dissappointed.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        November 22, 2015 at 10:23 am | #

        Fallout 4’s got a surprisingly dirty mouth, as well.

    • newllend(henryvolt)
      newllend(henryvolt)
      November 22, 2015 at 1:32 am | #

      That’s Bullshit I swore even before high school.

      • Someone
        Someone
        November 22, 2015 at 1:50 am | #

        so did I fucker

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 12:43 pm | #

        I used to think I did but to be fair I mostly just made up/reappropriated words, and up to a certain point I actually thought that “crud” was an expletive (that certain point was the fourth grade, mind you; I thought Ralph from “Muppet babies” was fucking metal for the longest time because of his potty mouth, lol.)

        • neeks
          neeks
          November 22, 2015 at 12:52 pm | #

          That being said I’m basically situationally casually profane* and the I’ve stunned coworkers at my warehouse job by dropping f-bombs when prior to that I apparently came across as a surprisingly erudite Sunday school teacher or something. Granted I generally try to avoid cussing in a professional environment, even if it’s distinctly blue collar…..But, you know, after a while, fuck it. (Not in meetings or anything like that tho.)

          *my mom really really wishes one of those contexts where I’m casually profane weren’t when she and I are talking about church shit, haha

  50. Sporky
    Sporky
    November 22, 2015 at 12:56 am | #

    Alt-text is exactly what I was thinking. A hurtful 20 bucks is still 20 bucks.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      November 22, 2015 at 1:16 am | #

      She could perhaps get herself a rad haircut

    • Noah Brand
      Noah Brand
      November 22, 2015 at 2:30 am | #

      Same. You don’t turn down free money; that’s fundamental where I come from.

      • anna
        anna
        November 22, 2015 at 11:25 am | #

        “You’re a piece of worthless trash, just like your father. You know it’s true, that’s why you’re always broke. You’d be homeless under a bridge if it weren’t for me! Here’s twenty bucks so you don’t starve. Make sure you don’t spend it on booze, like your father would.”

        Sometimes the cost of “free” is too damn high.

        • neeks
          neeks
          November 22, 2015 at 12:54 pm | #

          I’d think the best response to that would be “I don’t want your money but I’ll take it just so you don’t have it.”

  51. Bagge
    Bagge
    November 22, 2015 at 1:02 am | #

    PLEASE DON’T KILL SARAH IN THE FACE.

    God bless her, she is trying but she has NO idea what to do with a pissed off Joyce. She’s taking a cue from Walky, THAT’S how desperate she is.

    I suggest making the first call to the fire department, because there will be some pretty sever burns in the Brown household.

    • nothri
      nothri
      November 22, 2015 at 3:04 pm | #

      So its okay to kill Sarah as long as its not in the face?

      …….

      ……..

      Fuck it. “In the FAAAAAAAAAACE”?

      • neeks
        neeks
        November 22, 2015 at 4:31 pm | #

        There’s a legal loophole that makes it ok to murder people as long as you use their femurs to do it.*

        *I am joking. Please do not do this.

  52. Marie
    Marie
    November 22, 2015 at 1:03 am | #

    Tomorrow, a million missed phone calls from ‘Home’

  53. phildog
    phildog
    November 22, 2015 at 1:03 am | #

    “…and there’s $100 more if you say fuck.”

    • saltchocolate
      saltchocolate
      November 22, 2015 at 9:01 am | #

      And a motorcycle ride that is not also a car chase.

  54. Mandy
    Mandy
    November 22, 2015 at 1:09 am | #

    Use the $20 to buy a new phone cord!

  55. Lielac
    Lielac
    November 22, 2015 at 1:09 am | #

    Oof. Too soon, Sarah.

  56. Marie
    Marie
    November 22, 2015 at 1:16 am | #

    I think Sarah could save this by saying ‘tomorrow we’ll get another 20 from Joe and then we can use it for whatever you want [charity, going out somewhere, shopping, becky,etc]’

    • Marie
      Marie
      November 22, 2015 at 1:17 am | #

      But I think she looks too panicked to close that smoothly, on second thought. Hopefully she says something sisterly tomorrow and gices Joyce a hug.

  57. NinjaNick
    NinjaNick
    November 22, 2015 at 1:19 am | #

    A new phone cord and a bar of soap, probably.

  58. Mkvenner
    Mkvenner
    November 22, 2015 at 1:21 am | #

    What is- OH!

  59. BonniePride
    BonniePride
    November 22, 2015 at 1:22 am | #

    True story–you start swearing after never being allowed to do so your entire life, suddenly you find yourself just letting loose over the tiniest things… But hey, I think it’s healthy to get a chance to do so after being constrained for so long, so YAY JOYCE!!

  60. newllend(henryvolt)
    newllend(henryvolt)
    November 22, 2015 at 1:30 am | #

    its funny how both the Duming of age version of Joyce and the Itswalky version Joyce are both going through a transition at the same time

  61. GlaceEx
    GlaceEx
    November 22, 2015 at 1:37 am | #

    You know I would totally date the new Joyce, wasn’t a huge fan of her super religiousness, but now that she seems to be doubting parts of it I am totally living her! I hope she sticks with her views about sex though, abs stays sweet and awesome.

    • ninja_jesus
      ninja_jesus
      November 22, 2015 at 8:40 am | #

      Dude. She’s just had her faith broken. You find her suffering hot?

      • Dragon_Nataku
        Dragon_Nataku
        November 22, 2015 at 11:33 am | #

        Some people only want to date broken people.

        • Guairdean Beatha
          Guairdean Beatha
          November 22, 2015 at 12:52 pm | #

          Joyce wasn’t broken, she was incomplete. Now, she’s seeing the world in a new, more complete, way. As she learns, she’ll become a complete and well rounded person. Well rounded, strong people (and believe me, what she’s been through may have left scars, but it also toughened her up) are the most interesting of all. I can see her now, sitting in her room with a glass of Nestle Strawberry Milk: “I don’t always get involved in high speed kidnappings, but when I do……”

  62. Kaunisenkeli
    Kaunisenkeli
    November 22, 2015 at 1:40 am | #

    Bad timing, Sarah.

  63. Cheryl
    Cheryl
    November 22, 2015 at 1:54 am | #

    I cant even

  64. motorfirebox
    motorfirebox
    November 22, 2015 at 2:13 am | #

    Joyce is gonna walk into a bar, and a minute later a bunch of sailors come running out.

    • Screwball
      Screwball
      November 22, 2015 at 5:34 am | #

      “What’s going on?”

      “She just…That language…..I mean…” *breaks down & cries…*

  65. Miffed Mab
    Miffed Mab
    November 22, 2015 at 2:31 am | #

    Not the moment.

  66. BenRG
    BenRG
    November 22, 2015 at 2:35 am | #

    Sarah…? RUN.

    Seriously, if there was ever a moment about which you can say “This is not the time”, it is here and now. Joyce really needs a rest-cure!

  67. detective boomwolf
    detective boomwolf
    November 22, 2015 at 2:41 am | #

    Sara, ya poked the bear. Ya don’t poke the bear when she growls.

  68. Tualha
    Tualha
    November 22, 2015 at 2:46 am | #

    Yep yep, free money. Didn’t cost a damn thing.

    • Lia47
      Lia47
      November 22, 2015 at 2:56 am | #

      Except her immortal soul

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        November 22, 2015 at 4:02 am | #

        Dumbing of age, the chick tract version.

        “Poor, wholesome Joyce went to college and got in BAD COMPANY. Even her ‘best friend’ (really a Satan-spawn) turned out to be A LESBIAN which as everyone knows is the same as a CHRISTMAS-HATING CORRUPTER. Watch how the corrupted Joyce RAISES HER HAND TOWARDS A FATHER and SWEARS. Then she goes to hell and BURNS FOREVER JUST AS SHE DESERVES. The end.”

        …this was a parodic hyperbole, right? I did not correctly paraphrase real life Chick tracts, right?

        • Tualha
          Tualha
          November 22, 2015 at 4:53 am | #

          … I wish I had time to draw that 🙂

        • TsunamiJane
          TsunamiJane
          November 22, 2015 at 7:07 am | #

          No, as an avid consumer of Chick tracts until I was in high school, you got it about right. :/

          Maybe add a part where she refused to repent.

        • John
          John
          November 22, 2015 at 9:35 am | #

          The ending’s not quite right. Becky and Dorothy and Ethan (gay and Jewish! Double Satan!) get to burn in Hell forever, but Mary comes in and tells Joyce about Jesus Christ (like she could somehow grow up in America without having heard about him before), cites a couple of Bible verses, and Joyce repents and is saved.

        • Guairdean Beatha
          Guairdean Beatha
          November 22, 2015 at 12:21 pm | #

          Sometimes it’s hard to tell hyperbole and real life when you’re dealing with Chick Tracts. For example: http://www.weirdcrap.com/chick/fundy/fundy.html

          • Bicycle Bill
            Bicycle Bill
            November 22, 2015 at 1:17 pm | #

            Why is that publishing something like the ‘tract’ linked to above is not considered a hate crime, but displaying a Confederate flag is?

            Don’t worry, I already know the answer — free speech (under the First Amendment) as well as the right to parody other copyrighted material, but if someone can burn an American flag and claim it to be ‘freedom of expression’, I would think that someone’s choice for a grille cover on a Peterbilt would be afforded the same freedoms.

            • Guairdean Beatha
              Guairdean Beatha
              November 22, 2015 at 1:26 pm | #

              We found the Findie! Ross? Is that you?

            • Spencer
              Spencer
              November 22, 2015 at 3:55 pm | #

              I try to consider myself an ardent supporter of free speech, but the Confederate Flag was the symbol of a bunch of guys who fought a war for the right to own people.

              This is not a hill anybody should die defending.

              • Guairdean Beatha
                Guairdean Beatha
                November 22, 2015 at 4:35 pm | #

                Agreed. The confederate flag is an historical artifact and nothing more. Hopefully, some day, chick tracts will also be historical artifacts. Pointing out their failings will, hopefully, keep us from making the same mistakes in the future. Defending the right to keep and display either is noble, defending the concepts behind them is not.

              • Jonathan S.
                Jonathan S.
                November 23, 2015 at 12:09 am | #

                Even worse, in my opinion – the side using that flag were traitors, who in many cases violated oaths they’d taken to the United States in order to gain high positions in the rebellion. It’s a flag steeped in treason, lies, death, and slavery. I can’t imagine how anyone can be “proud” of that heritage.

            • John
              John
              November 22, 2015 at 5:42 pm | #

              Show me one single person who has been enslaved or murdered by someone brandishing one of those parody tracts.

              You’re going to have to stack up a lot of them to match the pile of dead the Confederacy, the Klan, and random assholes flying the Confederacy’s symbol of racism, treason, and slavery have produced.

              I do support the right of private citizens to display the Confederate battle flag. It makes it easier to identify the assholes, if nothing else.

              I also fully support the right of private corporations to tell said assholes, “Fuck off, we’re not going to sell you that shit”.

              And I do not support the right of state governments to display the Confederate battle flag. The right to free speech does not apply to state governments. We won the fucking war, take down your fucking treason flag.

              • Guairdean Beatha
                Guairdean Beatha
                November 22, 2015 at 6:40 pm | #

                I can’t point to a death or enslavement (physical enslavement, anyone that believes the hatred spewed in those tracts is mentally enslaved) from a chick tract. The deaths and economic enslavement promoted by their ideology is all around us. The enslavement by those who cry out against “hate speech” and labeling an opinion as a “hate crime” is also all around us and sadly, is growing.

                • John
                  John
                  November 22, 2015 at 8:50 pm | #

                  I think you may have missed that I was challenging Bill to produce a death from the parody tract that you linked, not the actual Chick tracts that it parodies.

                • Guairdean Beatha
                  Guairdean Beatha
                  November 22, 2015 at 9:41 pm | #

                  Yes I did. My apologies.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        November 22, 2015 at 10:25 am | #

        And her femurs.

  69. glutularphysics
    glutularphysics
    November 22, 2015 at 2:58 am | #

    tfw pages hurt more on a reread 🙁

  70. Pinja
    Pinja
    November 22, 2015 at 3:02 am | #

    Now that’s funny

  71. CianM1301
    CianM1301
    November 22, 2015 at 3:27 am | #

    Time and a place, Sarah.

  72. 0kami
    0kami
    November 22, 2015 at 3:38 am | #

    Wow, first Carla, and now Sarah.

    Lots of folks around Clark Wing about to be never heard from again…

  73. Dana
    Dana
    November 22, 2015 at 4:26 am | #

    panel 1. Sarah knows she’s bad at this stuff but she has to try.

    • Dana
      Dana
      November 22, 2015 at 4:28 am | #

      I was shooting for panel one here.

  74. zmm
    zmm
    November 22, 2015 at 4:46 am | #

    Well she keeps her word when she says something. THat is somethign I always liked about her

    • Mollyscribbles
      Mollyscribbles
      November 22, 2015 at 5:39 am | #

      Strictly speaking, it was someone else who made the offer, but it’s nice of her to follow through.

  75. Alex C
    Alex C
    November 22, 2015 at 7:02 am | #

    Those eyes…. the eyes… run Sarah. Run!

  76. CenturyChild533
    CenturyChild533
    November 22, 2015 at 8:03 am | #

    Don’t feel bad Joyce. I didn’t remember either. 🙂

  77. Sigurther
    Sigurther
    November 22, 2015 at 8:09 am | #

    Not a good time for that, roomie.

    • Volkai
      Volkai
      November 22, 2015 at 8:54 am | #

      Yep. Shoulda waited to do the money thing ’til tomorrow.

  78. ninja_jesus
    ninja_jesus
    November 22, 2015 at 8:42 am | #

    Joyce has had no time for any kind of healing. She’s at her lowest point right now, I think. I hope she can reconcile this.

  79. Spencer
    Spencer
    November 22, 2015 at 9:10 am | #

    Sarah’s usually on the ball when it comes to making Joyce feel better.

    You could say it was a real swing and a miss.

  80. Uniquitous
    Uniquitous
    November 22, 2015 at 9:35 am | #

    Welcome back, Anti-Joyce! I missed you!

  81. saki
    saki
    November 22, 2015 at 10:55 am | #

    I think it was like a fifty-fifty shot here between whether she’d react like this or smile.

  82. Torra
    Torra
    November 22, 2015 at 11:48 am | #

    just got to say, i love nearly all the joyce faces

  83. MM
    MM
    November 22, 2015 at 12:13 pm | #

    The damn has broken with a vengeance.

  84. Jackson
    Jackson
    November 22, 2015 at 12:17 pm | #

    Dang, Joyce.

  85. OnyxIdol
    OnyxIdol
    November 22, 2015 at 12:31 pm | #

    What’s next, Joyce? A leather jacket?!?

  86. Hinoron
    Hinoron
    November 22, 2015 at 12:48 pm | #

    Go Sarah! Grand Mistress of Tact!
    😛

  87. HeySo
    HeySo
    November 22, 2015 at 12:51 pm | #

    I’M NOT ADDICTED, OKAY.
    I CAN STOP ANY DAMN TIME I WANT, DAMN IT.

  88. The Candyman
    The Candyman
    November 22, 2015 at 12:55 pm | #

    Dang it, now she’s stuck on swear mode.

  89. Griffin
    Griffin
    November 22, 2015 at 1:28 pm | #

    Joyce smash?

  90. cricricri13
    cricricri13
    November 22, 2015 at 1:53 pm | #

    Had to make a gravatar out of this

  91. Shadow-DJ
    Shadow-DJ
    November 22, 2015 at 1:56 pm | #

    …WOW thats been awhile since then…

  92. Guairdean Beatha
    Guairdean Beatha
    November 22, 2015 at 3:35 pm | #

    On a completely separate note, are there any signatures or decorations on Joyce’s cast?

  93. SDGlyph
    SDGlyph
    November 22, 2015 at 3:38 pm | #

    Bit of errant shading escaping the border in panel 2, by the way. Which may be the pickiest nit I’ve ever picked, but now I can’t not see it!

    • Agemegos
      Agemegos
      November 22, 2015 at 3:48 pm | #

      One night when my father was on call a patient phoned up to say “Doctor, I can’t sleep.” To which my father replied “Now there are three of us: you, me, and my wife.”

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      November 22, 2015 at 3:52 pm | #

      0/10 webcomics are ruined forever

    • Peduncle
      Peduncle
      November 22, 2015 at 5:10 pm | #

      It’s not a flaw in the comic, it’s just a couple spots on my monitor.

  94. Sock_V
    Sock_V
    November 22, 2015 at 5:21 pm | #

    The moment Joyce became a serial killer.

  95. John
    John
    November 22, 2015 at 5:53 pm | #

    I like that everyone in the new poll is ladies.

    And that I can’t think of any guys who deserve to be in it but were left out.

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      November 22, 2015 at 5:56 pm | #

      I’m at a loss for how Ruth could be a badass.

      What with her being an abusive asshole and all that.

      • John
        John
        November 22, 2015 at 6:28 pm | #

        Thusly.

        • Spencer
          Spencer
          November 22, 2015 at 6:35 pm | #

          She still, like, repeatedly harassed and assaulted Billie, though.

          Suplexing a dude twice your size is pretty rad but I don’t know how that stacks up with the rest of her actions.

          • John
            John
            November 22, 2015 at 8:45 pm | #

            Billie and Ruth’s relationship is all kinds of fucked up, but Billie is not the innocent victim of the evil Ruth here. It’s worth remembering that Billie very literally threw the first punch, after being the one who escalated a confrontation to a fight in the first place. It was not unilateral bullying, it was both of them, for their own reasons, trying to prove that they’re the alpha dog.

            And while Billie has mostly stopped challenging Ruth’s authority, I don’t think it’s because she thinks she’s lost and Ruth has won. I think she saw enough of Ruth’s weakness in her room after she pulled the fire alarm that she can feel like she came out on top, and has established Ruth in her mind as someone weaker whom it’s her duty as top dog to take care of. (Grah, I can’t link the strip I want to cite here because of the bongo filter.) Ruth can be top dog in the dorm; Billie’s okay with just being (or at least feeling like she is) top dog in their relationship. While occasionally deliberately tweaking Ruth to get herself banged silly.

            It’s also worth remembering that a character can have both good and bad traits. Most of the best ones do, really. And while the bad traits may outweigh the good ones, they don’t erase them, any more than the good traits erase the bad ones.

            • Spencer
              Spencer
              November 22, 2015 at 9:08 pm | #

              Considering that was a student reacting to an RA outright provoking them into violence, an RA who then proceeded to hound and harass said student whenever they felt like it, stole from her, sexually assaulted her, stripped her naked in public, and has struck her more than once, while also harassing the other students under her care, I’m okay with putting the blame mostly on Ruth in this one.

              Anyway, I’m aware that Ruth isn’t actually Blaine, I just don’t see how being complex and interesting wipes away the awful shit that she’s done. I’m describing her as an abuser because she’s an abusive person, not because I think it makes her a bad character.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        November 22, 2015 at 8:18 pm | #

        Bad arses don’t have to be good people. In fact, they usually aren’t.

  96. chris73
    chris73
    November 22, 2015 at 6:32 pm | #

    I’d like to know if Joyce now feels it was worth holding in the swears or, now that shes done it, if she now feels it was no big deal abd is now feeling a little silly out of making it a big deal

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      November 22, 2015 at 9:10 pm | #

      I’m thinking it’s more she’s just spontaneously saying it when she’s speaking, rather than putting any significant thought into why she swears.

  97. Chronos
    Chronos
    November 22, 2015 at 8:30 pm | #

    I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but…

    Thank you, Willis!!!

  98. Rideps1
    Rideps1
    November 22, 2015 at 8:36 pm | #

    I keep meaning to comment on these when I read them at night, but then I see the Slipshine add and my train of thought derails…

    K-keep up the good work, Willis?

  99. Gob Hobblin
    Gob Hobblin
    November 22, 2015 at 10:53 pm | #

    I think Joyce has reached her ‘had enough of this shit’ quotient.

  100. Ancient Mariner
    Ancient Mariner
    January 24, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

    Y’all are missing the point here (as if anyone is going to read this to find out), but the fact that “it’s too soon, Sarah”, while perfectly obvious to anyone outside the writer’s head (and obvious to him, too), just makes this a perfect and safe and fun time for Sarah to be intimidated by Joyce. Love it. It’s great. I doubt we’ll ever see it again.

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