Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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by David M Willis on November 12, 2017 at 12:01 am
  • 01 - Face the Strange
└ Tags: joe, richard, stacy

Discussion (124) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    November 12, 2017 at 12:01 am | #

    don’t do what I do

    or who I do

    or anyone directly related to who I do

    • Antonio
      Antonio
      November 12, 2017 at 12:06 am | #

      Pretty good advice, for non-Joes and for other major family gatherings beside Thanksgiving.

    • Aeron
      Aeron
      November 12, 2017 at 2:04 am | #

      If it takes longer to connect them to Kevin Bacon than it does to me, just ask first.

      • Pablo360
        Pablo360
        November 12, 2017 at 12:03 pm | #

        …now I really want to know the cast’s Bacon numbers.

  2. UltraKyrie
    UltraKyrie
    November 12, 2017 at 12:02 am | #

    Joe is slowly becoming emotional support for the gals in his dorm, hope it sticks 😀

    • AutobotDen
      AutobotDen
      November 12, 2017 at 12:14 am | #

      That’s not a bad thing, despite what he may think of it at times. It could lead to a stable relationship down the road that lasts and that he’s glad for having a foundation of friendship to build on.

      It happened for me and my boyfriend, so I’m speaking from experience.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:01 am | #

      So…. one…. so far…. who doesn’t accept or want that support….

      …. oh, and Joyce too, so that makes the number….

      …. well, one.

      • Unusually Angry Hippie
        Unusually Angry Hippie
        November 12, 2017 at 4:46 am | #

        One more than none. That’s something. Literally.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          November 12, 2017 at 7:58 am | #

          Yay, progress?

          • N0083rp00F
            N0083rp00F
            November 13, 2017 at 1:45 pm | #

            A Quantum Leap if you will.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      November 12, 2017 at 10:18 am | #

      He has passed the Joe-Del test with Joyce, and now Amber.

      Whether or not Amber talks to him for a month, Joe is thinking of Amber and stacy.

      • Jhon
        Jhon
        November 12, 2017 at 5:24 pm | #

        Joe-Del:
        Talking with a named female cast member about something not sex related?

        • ValdVin
          ValdVin
          November 20, 2017 at 9:45 pm | #

          It wsa first that.

          Now, since the recent strips with Danny, I’m thinking it should include conversing with anyone about feels, either Joe’s or the other person’s.

  3. Yumi
    Yumi
    November 12, 2017 at 12:03 am | #

    Look, Thanksgiving is meant to be an awkward a miserable experience. It’s meant to help you be thankful the next day, when you can eat leftovers but not be around people.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:01 am | #

      The key is to keep your mouth so full of stuffing that your foot won’t fit.

      • Bickendan
        Bickendan
        November 12, 2017 at 2:56 am | #

        Wait, it’s not keeping the mouth full of foot that the stuffing won’t fit?
        Man, no wonder why Thanksgiving would be so entertaining for Mike!

      • Wizard
        Wizard
        November 12, 2017 at 5:32 am | #

        Wise man say: “A closed mouth gathers no foot.”

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      November 12, 2017 at 8:08 am | #

      Thanksgiving starts with stuffing a dead bird’s body cavity with seasoned chunks of stale bread at the crack of dawn, and it’s just downhill from there.

      At least the parade on TV gives you an escape during the cooking marathon.

    • DSL
      DSL
      November 12, 2017 at 12:43 pm | #

      I actually enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. What am I doing wrong?

      • SgtWadeyWilson
        SgtWadeyWilson
        November 12, 2017 at 10:14 pm | #

        Have you tried taking advantage of an indigenous people? /sarcasm

        Better question: what are you doing right? *Gets a notepad and pen.*

        • N0083rp00F
          N0083rp00F
          November 13, 2017 at 1:51 pm | #

          Well in my household the solution is “Being Canadian eh?”

  4. Shiro
    Shiro
    November 12, 2017 at 12:04 am | #

    This was so lovely and wholesome until that goddamn last panel. I am really starting to hate Richard last panels.

    • Stu
      Stu
      November 12, 2017 at 12:07 am | #

      Are we sure he goes by Richard and not Dick though? The latter would be far more fitting.

    • JessWitt
      JessWitt
      November 12, 2017 at 12:21 am | #

      Do what I do and pretend those panels aren’t there.

    • Greylurker
      Greylurker
      November 12, 2017 at 12:54 am | #

      It kind of fits him though doesn’t it. He’s that guy who mostly seems decent…until he says that one last thing that makes you think “god damn it, you were so close”

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        November 12, 2017 at 3:00 am | #

        I wonder if he does that on purpose to keep people at a distance, but that seems more like a Joe thing to try.

        • Chris Phoenix
          Chris Phoenix
          November 12, 2017 at 4:08 am | #

          And where might Joe have learned to behave like that?

          • Jason
            Jason
            November 12, 2017 at 4:30 am | #

            Oh yeah, absolutely. I think Joe’s more aware of it is all- and I wouldn’t have thought he was aware of it at all until recently. We are who we learn to be.

          • Leorale
            Leorale
            November 12, 2017 at 3:46 pm | #

            Chris Phoenix: Very true.
            Jason: Also true. I think we’ll keep watching Joe choose to learn a new way to be.

  5. chris73
    chris73
    November 12, 2017 at 12:06 am | #

    Interesting how Joe has, inadvertently, helped Amber so much. Yeah he wasn’t listening but sometimes when you want to open up its easier to open up to someone you don’t really know and Joe “let” Amber talk as much as she wanted on her favorite subject

    Hes got Joyces support and friendship, hes got an in with Amber so if he can just repair bridges with Dorothy (Joyce will help with that) he’ll be well on his way to being a decent guy and probably quicker then he expected

  6. Parkrndl
    Parkrndl
    November 12, 2017 at 12:06 am | #

    So is it pretty normal that I hear all Joe’s lines in Patrick Warburton’s.voice?

    • tim gueguen
      tim gueguen
      November 12, 2017 at 12:12 am | #

      An obvious choice.

    • Rukdug
      Rukdug
      November 12, 2017 at 5:56 am | #

      I personally hear his lines in John H. Benjamin’s voice, but I can definitely see Patrick Walburton. On a somewhat related note, I can’t help but assign Danny’s lines a weird James Franco and Mark Wahlberg hybrid voice.

      • Parkrndl
        Parkrndl
        November 12, 2017 at 8:15 am | #

        Ok so I had to go to YouTube and have a listen because it’s been a while since I’ve watched Archer… but now I don’t think I can unhear it.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        November 12, 2017 at 10:22 am | #

        The Archer voice, I figure?

        I read once that HJB gets into Bob Belcher by stooping his shoulders and dropping his head a bit. I can believe it.

  7. TemporalShrew
    TemporalShrew
    November 12, 2017 at 12:06 am | #

    I love Joe’s perpetual look of mild bewilderment and exasperation here.

  8. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    November 12, 2017 at 12:06 am | #

    Panel 2 is cute, I think Stacy’s face is what sells it.

    • Lokitsu
      Lokitsu
      November 12, 2017 at 12:18 am | #

      Agreed.
      And Joe’s perplexed look is just the icing on the cake.

      • Kamino Neko
        Kamino Neko
        November 12, 2017 at 1:00 am | #

        That looks less perplexed than worried, to me.

        • Jason
          Jason
          November 12, 2017 at 4:33 am | #

          Mixed up, ill at ease, but beyond that hard to be sure what exactly he’s feeling in that panel. Sad? Concerned? Considering how much his dad seems to actually mean what he said in the cafeteria? Just plain uncomfortable? Probably, he’s feeling quite a lot, and not fully aware of half of it.

          • nightsbridge
            nightsbridge
            November 12, 2017 at 5:02 am | #

            Uh . . . The thing that his dad just said to him was the creepiest thing in the world?

            Okay not the creepiest but close

            • Miri
              Miri
              November 12, 2017 at 6:39 am | #

              I suspect he’s used to his dad by now. He’s not used to sweet, somewhat anxious women who are desperately concerned about their troubled daughter who recently stabbed a rapist asking him to keep an eye (however low-key) on said vulnerable young woman. Stacy has trusted him with a real responsibility. She sees something worth trusting in him. And she sees the same in his dad who is not only A dick but The Dick… So does that mean she has terrible judgement and they’re both destined to let down both women? Or does that mean it is also his responsibility to somehow keep his dad being a faithful, decent partner when he couldn’t do that for him with his mum? (Does that mean it was his fault that his dad hurt his mum? Or is this a second chance to fix things because now he’s an adult with awareness and can?)

              This. This is why Joe acts like a 2D caricature, right here… do you know how hard it is to interact with others respectfully, and recognise the limits of your own abilities and what is and is not feasibly your responsibility?? (Yes, learning this stuff is hard and part of growing up, but Joe doesn’t know where to start…)

              I know he looks older (he looks like a non-bearded duplicate of his 55 yo father) – but he is just a kid of 18 still…

  9. Raen
    Raen
    November 12, 2017 at 12:09 am | #

    MUCH too late, Richard.

  10. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    November 12, 2017 at 12:10 am | #

    The path to humanity is hard eh, Joe.

  11. Passchendaele
    Passchendaele
    November 12, 2017 at 12:11 am | #

    stacy/richard looks more like it’ll work, so yay!

    • Passchendaele
      Passchendaele
      November 12, 2017 at 12:13 am | #

      and everyone’s being pretty reassuring (except for last panel richard, but let’s not talk about that). <3

      • Unusually Angry Hippie
        Unusually Angry Hippie
        November 12, 2017 at 4:53 am | #

        I’m pretty sure ‘last-panel Richard’ which in real life would be ‘tack-on half-joke’ Richard, is more a coping mechanism than anything else. He’s not ready to entirely let go of his former flippant, promiscuous self, and so he feels the need to reinforce that identity every so often in order to avoid raising the bar for his behavior past a point he finds acceptable.

        It’s not all that different from me following up every few nice/thoughtful statements I make with something kinda rude or just painfully honest, and every intelligent/perceptive statement I make with something crass and less-than-insightful. It prevents people from expecting a standard of behavior from me that I don’t think I can live up to, because the expectations of others are my biggest fear.

        • Miri
          Miri
          November 12, 2017 at 6:55 am | #

          When people call me up coz they’re upset it’s not unusual for me to establish the facts then lovingly mock them/the situation until they feel better. (Not *every* situation coz some of them have nowt funny about them – but probably a good 3/4s of the time… People continue to contact me again after this happens – of course, at my daughter’s birthday party last month, my best friend and cousin both asked me explicitly to shout at them about their problems and help kick them into gear after my sister mentioned I’d done this to her because she was beating herself up about things beyond her sphere of control, so this may say more about the people I know?- and laughing down the phone feels like an improvement on crying down it, and sometimes a sense of perspective is useful… I suspect there are probably times I haven’t got the balance between loving non-judgemental support and mocking quite right though…)

  12. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    November 12, 2017 at 12:12 am | #

    “As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly.”–WKRP IN CINCINNATI

    • tim gueguen
      tim gueguen
      November 12, 2017 at 12:16 am | #

      Anyone else think WKRP just might be an old TV series Joyce’s parents would let her watch? Despite Johnny Fever.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:10 am | #

      They can.

      …. so long as you get natural turkeys, rather than ones bred and raised for dinner platters.

  13. Aggrax
    Aggrax
    November 12, 2017 at 12:17 am | #

    Literally every one of Richard’s speech bubbled could be replaced with “I am an asshole and deserve to be shat upon by bears” and nothing would really change.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:16 am | #

      Nah, he’s had at least three relevant bombshells that force you to pay attention to the rest of the things he says.

    • Shiro
      Shiro
      November 12, 2017 at 1:10 pm | #

      Maybe not every one, but at least a solid 50%. In fact that’d make him waaaaaaay more self-aware.

      • nothri
        nothri
        November 12, 2017 at 2:00 pm | #

        So he doesn’t always say something that is deserving of being shat upon by bears? Would that make those comments unbearable?

        • Leorale
          Leorale
          November 12, 2017 at 3:49 pm | #

          Why did the marsupial refrain from adding his own bear-based puns?
          –He lacked the koala-fications.

          • Arian
            Arian
            November 12, 2017 at 9:02 pm | #

            Thank you!

  14. Keulen
    Keulen
    November 12, 2017 at 12:22 am | #

    It’s still kinda weird to me seeing this side of Joe.

  15. Yumi
    Yumi
    November 12, 2017 at 12:22 am | #

    So one small (technical) thing about yesterday’s comic, which I know has already been a headache: it currently doesn’t link to today’s strip, with the “next” button not being clickable like you’re at the most recent strip and clicking on the strip itself just refreshing the page.

    • wwwhhattt
      wwwhhattt
      November 12, 2017 at 12:28 am | #

      I’ve noticed this happening on a couple of sites. I assume the web gods are demanding more sacrifices or something.

    • David M Willis
      David M Willis
      November 12, 2017 at 12:28 am | #

      You’re looking at a cached version of the site from before the update.

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        November 12, 2017 at 12:35 am | #

        Oh, okay. Never happened before, so I didn’t know.

  16. brasca1
    brasca1
    November 12, 2017 at 12:28 am | #

    You’re a Rosenthal not a Lannister.

    • Kamino Neko
      Kamino Neko
      November 12, 2017 at 12:59 am | #

      It’s more a Targaryen thing than a Lannister thing. Only a handful of Lannister cases, where it’s the Targaryens’ whole deal.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:18 am | #

      Besides, it wouldn’t be a blood relative thing.

      ….

      …. also, Amber’s very much not interested and, oddly, Joe isn’t interested either.

  17. Josh Spicer
    Josh Spicer
    November 12, 2017 at 12:38 am | #

    Richard I swear to fucking God…..

    • missilentmurmur
      missilentmurmur
      November 12, 2017 at 2:23 am | #

      Whoah wait, that might be an exaggeration there, I don’t believe you

  18. MapleAmber
    MapleAmber
    November 12, 2017 at 12:43 am | #

    I ship it (Joe/Amber)
    If only because I like Joe and my name is Amber lol

    • Wright
      Wright
      November 12, 2017 at 3:04 am | #

      I dunno if I can get on Team Jamber just yet.

      I think that Joe kinda needs to stay unattached for a while – figure himself out first, ya know?

      And Amber, I dunno, she’s kind of got a lot of things going on right now, too.

      I’d be all “Team Salmber”, but I’m pretty sure that after the Prom Night flashbacks, Amber is probably a zero on the Kinsey Scale. Honestly, Danny was probably the only male cast member sensitive enough and caring enough to really be involved there, and he’s got Eef.

      … anyone think we could see a return of Mike and Amber a la Shortpacked!? If anyone is going to give her hard truth, it’s Mike.

      • Jason
        Jason
        November 12, 2017 at 4:40 am | #

        Honestly, right now, Amber proooobably shouldn’t be “seeing” anyone but a therapist. The state of her, she should be building positive friendships rather than romantic relationships where she starts to feel more like she can (or should?) have a say in their behaviour.
        As for her/Mike… she’s a very different person here and they have a different relationship. I don’t think so. It would need a lot of work first. And frankly, I don’t think he would be a healthy fit for this version of Amber.

        • MapleAmber
          MapleAmber
          November 12, 2017 at 4:45 am | #

          Agreed, comic-Amber should definitely not be with anyone right now.
          Maybe when she’s in a better state of mind and Joe is in a better place I will feel less awful about shipping them haha. Can I ship myself with Joe, then? lol
          I still kind of like him with Joyce, but I also really like the idea of him having a friend that is female that won’t take his crap and that he cares about platonically.

          • chris73
            chris73
            November 12, 2017 at 1:07 pm | #

            I’ve always liked Joe and Joyce together because they have obvious chemistry together (not sure if romantic, platonic or brother-sister) and they’re at stages where they both need to learn about, well a lot of things, and I think Joyce would be very good at setting boundaries which Joe, now, would be respectful of but also Joyce has shown that she listens to Joe so it’d be very good for both of them

        • Liliaeth
          Liliaeth
          November 12, 2017 at 4:31 pm | #

          honestly, I think that at this point, Amber could use Joe in brother mode, just like he could use a sister.

          • Liliet
            Liliet
            November 13, 2017 at 1:34 pm | #

            ^^^ this. I sibling-ship Joe/Amber very hard.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      November 14, 2017 at 2:16 pm | #

      Rosenmalley? O’senthal?

  19. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    November 12, 2017 at 12:58 am | #

    …..

    …. okay, so if Thanksgiving’s going to be awkward ANYWAY, any hypothetical Joe/Amber shenanigans couldn’t be identified as the thing that made it awkward.

    (I’m sorry, I’ve got a rules-lawyer’s brain.)

  20. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    November 12, 2017 at 1:03 am | #

    Richard knows a good place for dinner.

    Guess who else is coming to Galasso’s, by any chance?

    • Kryss LaBryn
      Kryss LaBryn
      November 12, 2017 at 12:30 pm | #

      Guess Who’s Coming to Galasso’s is the name of the spin-off sitcom, isn’t it?

      • Godfather
        Godfather
        November 12, 2017 at 3:34 pm | #

        I demand that this happen!

        Hang on *ahem*

        I DEMAND this happen!

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        November 12, 2017 at 3:52 pm | #

        More Sayid? Yes, please.

  21. Smooti
    Smooti
    November 12, 2017 at 1:11 am | #

    Uh, step-sibling get?

  22. Zee
    Zee
    November 12, 2017 at 1:19 am | #

    Okay high key, that was pretty fucking adorable. I hope Richard is serious about this

  23. Teddae
    Teddae
    November 12, 2017 at 1:29 am | #

    i have a feeling things won’t last long with stacy and richard

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      November 12, 2017 at 2:19 am | #

      I have a feeling that sometime around new years things will turn into Drama and Cheating and Bad Flames that Burn for Five In-Comic Months.

      • Blackbird
        Blackbird
        November 12, 2017 at 12:12 pm | #

        Haha, like this series will ever make it to New Year’s. I mean, Willis only has another 50-60 years to live. We’ll be lucky to get to Thanksgiving.

        • ValdVin
          ValdVin
          November 12, 2017 at 3:56 pm | #

          I’m not worried about Willis’ life expectancy, as much as my own.

    • Nono
      Nono
      November 12, 2017 at 4:11 am | #

      Stacy’s way too passive to actually do anything about it (I’m surprised she even had the courage to divorce Blaine).

      • Jason
        Jason
        November 12, 2017 at 4:41 am | #

        Guessing it had more to do with Amber than with their relationship, but I’m basing that partly off SP!, which isn’t really fair to her.

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        November 12, 2017 at 4:00 pm | #

        I don’t think Stacy is passive at all. Blaine has probably terrorized her for a decade or two, trying to make her shrink completely into passivity… and yet, she got herself and Amber out of that domestic violence situation, likely at tremendous personal risk/cost, and is making a new life for herself, while supporting her daughter in every way she can think of.
        Emotionally speaking, Stacy’s hard core.

        • Jason
          Jason
          November 12, 2017 at 6:54 pm | #

          People seem to feel that people are weak if they stay with abusers. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head- those people aren’t weak, but getting out? That takes incredible strength.

  24. Deanatay
    Deanatay
    November 12, 2017 at 1:42 am | #

    This is what it means to be friends with a girl, Joe. You have to occasionally pretend to care what’s happening in their lives every once in a while. Once you’ve mastered that, maybe you can move on to actually dating a girl. Maybe.

    • Miri
      Miri
      November 12, 2017 at 6:58 am | #

      Ideally you actually care rather than pretend, mind…

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        November 12, 2017 at 8:57 am | #

        Baby steps.

    • Zee
      Zee
      November 12, 2017 at 9:09 am | #

      You…know he’s been friends with girls before,right?

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        November 12, 2017 at 10:48 am | #

        He has?

        Maybe, kind of, Joyce, though he was pretty awkward about it, especially face to face after their online conversations. And that was a large part of his change.

        • BBCC
          BBCC
          November 12, 2017 at 12:17 pm | #

          Dorothy. Ish.

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            November 12, 2017 at 1:40 pm | #

            very “ish”.
            Only because of Danny. He put her on the “do list” as soon as they broke up. They’ve barely interacted since.

  25. Griffin Raynor
    Griffin Raynor
    November 12, 2017 at 1:48 am | #

    You had to ruin the nice moment, Dick.

  26. Nobody
    Nobody
    November 12, 2017 at 1:51 am | #

    It’ll already be awkward, don’t worry Dick

  27. BenRG
    BenRG
    November 12, 2017 at 2:50 am | #

    The message to Joe today seems to be: “Well, Amber isn’t officially your step-sister or anything but be a dear and treat her as if she was your step-sister. Kthxbai.”

  28. Bagge
    Bagge
    November 12, 2017 at 3:11 am | #

    To be fair, that WOULD have been good advice to Joe up until a few days ago.

    Speaking of, something that makes me sad is that Joe just had a life-changing experience, something that shook his identity to the core and has made him change a lot of previous assumptions, but he has NO inclination of sharing it with his father – or indeed any reason to assume that it would help. He might be right.

    • Jason
      Jason
      November 12, 2017 at 4:43 am | #

      While it might say something about their relationship (and probably does) I think that it’s also been completely pushed out of Joe’s head for the moment.

  29. OnyxIdol
    OnyxIdol
    November 12, 2017 at 3:58 am | #

    Through strange providence, their fates entwined.

  30. Rukdug
    Rukdug
    November 12, 2017 at 5:48 am | #

    Joe in the final panel: Oh god now I have to go like up that lunch I just ate. Why would you say that even as a joke?

  31. Just Me
    Just Me
    November 12, 2017 at 6:45 am | #

    Is Joe an only child? I guess not so much anymore.

    • Doopyboop
      Doopyboop
      November 12, 2017 at 4:23 pm | #

      With Richard’s uh…’propensities’ I imagine there are probably a few half siblings Joe may not be aware of/haven’t met/at least doesn’t spend Thanksgiving with. I like Stepsibs Amber and Joe though!

      • Gwen
        Gwen
        November 12, 2017 at 5:44 pm | #

        I mean, birth control is a thing. Cheating does not automatically mean unsafe sex.

        • Inahc
          Inahc
          November 12, 2017 at 5:55 pm | #

          Er, birth control stops babies, not necessarily STDs. And even condoms don’t fully protect against herpes.

        • Jason
          Jason
          November 12, 2017 at 6:59 pm | #

          Condoms are what, 99% effective if used perfectly? Unless Richard got the snip, given how many different partners it’s suggested he has had, it’s not that unlikely. Some of them would be on the pill or implant or IUD etc, but a lot wouldn’t.
          It could easily go either way, is my point. Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe was unplanned and he got the snip after that, but that might be based on my own cheating fuckheaded father.

          • Inahc
            Inahc
            November 12, 2017 at 8:10 pm | #

            From a quick Google I see 98-99% effective against babies and HIV. Iirc it’s only 50% effective against herpes. The best info I found was https://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/brief.html

  32. Peter Sadlon
    Peter Sadlon
    November 12, 2017 at 8:27 am | #

    Joe is obviously thinking “you don’t have to that happening between Amber & I but you’ve already made things awkward for Thanksgiving.”

  33. Vulcanodon
    Vulcanodon
    November 12, 2017 at 10:13 am | #

    Joe only recently began to deal with the realization that women are people. Lots of implications he hasn’t thought out yet, and from which he will be years disentangling. Not surprising he isn’t sure what to say here.

    Geez, Richard.

  34. Falcon
    Falcon
    November 12, 2017 at 2:18 pm | #

    You know, I get that Richard was a horrible father figure for Joe, but I don’t get why people are hating him for what he’s doing *right now*. Richard is actively acknowledging his weaknesses and combating them while staying true to a romantic attachment that he also meta knows he’s super lucky to get.

    • Tarnish
      Tarnish
      November 12, 2017 at 2:45 pm | #

      Because he’s lying to himself, and to the woman he’s in love with. He’ll hurt her, most likely.

    • Jason
      Jason
      November 12, 2017 at 7:02 pm | #

      I think when he met Sarah is when we first met him? And that was a BAD first impression, and has probably stuck with a lot of people.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        November 12, 2017 at 9:28 pm | #

        And we know what Joe has said about him and we can see what effect he’s had on Joe’s attitudes.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      November 12, 2017 at 9:27 pm | #

      He’s not acknowledging his weaknesses. He’s still making creepy comments. He’s joking about how he barely notices the barely legal teens around because the sex with the younger women he’s with is so good. That’s not dealing with his weaknesses, that’s at best, “I’ve met the special woman who’s turned my life around without even trying.”
      It’s crappy romance fiction. It’s bullshit. It’s not a story Willis is going to write. Richard isn’t just going to blunder into a complete character turn around while his son struggles with his problems.

      We know from the start that Richard’s a dick. He’s not going to change into the perfect boyfriend/husband material overnight. It’s kind of funny watching readers fall for his act, but kind of scary too, because that’s how people fall for creeps like that in real life too and how they charm and schmooze their way into being trusted.

      • Hana
        Hana
        November 12, 2017 at 11:47 pm | #

        I hate it that the answer is always “because Willis wouldn’t write a morally ambiguous character that isn’t totally scummy deep down”.

        (Similar to this is the fact that knowing Willis does far more to help predict the comic than reading the comic does)

        “His act”? You think that he’s not serious, even if he’s not being realistic with himself? (The fact that he’s not allowed to change as a person without major trauma aside)

        • Liliet
          Liliet
          November 13, 2017 at 1:41 pm | #

          uh…
          Ruth? Amber? Billie? Hank?

          And while Richard is 100% serious, he’s still got the underlying-attitude problems that make him a piece of shit, and being currently serious about this one relationship doesn’t make him not a creep.

    • Liliet
      Liliet
      November 13, 2017 at 1:39 pm | #

      We are not ‘hating him for what he’s doing right now’ we ‘distrust what he’s doing right now and are reluctant to rejoice’. He’s a shithead, he creeps on young girls and outright admits it. I don’t see why people should limit their reaction to a rarely-appearing side character to just what’s happening on the current panel. Joe’s dad is here, so we’re discussing him, period, the whole of his character, not just what he’s doing right now.

  35. Puckish Rogue
    Puckish Rogue
    November 12, 2017 at 3:39 pm | #

    Not sure if Stacey realises it but what she said to Joe and show she said it is probably the best way to approach Joe

    To look out for someone else works on his ideas of being a man and doing it for Stacey (the mom) not Amber (the peer) also ties into his feelings for moms (not many guys can refuse a moms request)

  36. LS
    LS
    November 12, 2017 at 9:49 pm | #

    Thanks Dad, as if Thanksgiving would be awkward enough already…

  37. LS
    LS
    November 12, 2017 at 9:50 pm | #

    “..would NOT be awkward…”

  38. Shadow Eagle
    Shadow Eagle
    November 13, 2017 at 7:46 am | #

    WOW, all of this is making Joe grow up fast, finally… BTW, how long into the semester is it, i cant tell how long anythings been. How long has amazing Girl been around???

Who should be the default doodle for Book 14?

  • Jennifer (30%, 822 Votes)
  • Danny (11%, 309 Votes)
  • Jason (9%, 246 Votes)
  • Ethan (11%, 307 Votes)
  • Amber (27%, 749 Votes)
  • Jacob (12%, 338 Votes)

Total Voters: 2,771

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CONVENTION APPEARANCES


May 3, 2025 - FCBD @ Laughing Ogre Comics in Columbus, Ohio

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