Discussion (153) ¬
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Kevin Buist @kevinbuist.com ⋅ 1d
Ferric Fang @fangferric.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Paul Lê @paulle.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com ⋅ 2d
Blue sky nice guy @rajandelman.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
Maggie Westrum @maggiewestrum.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
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the bottom half is your boots, Joyce
Uggs complete the look.
put on some leggings and youll be fine!
Ah, the old “Make your friend as appealing as possible to the guy you like so he notices YOU” routine.
…I’m beginning to understand why Sarah hasn’t had more luck socially.
It does sound like a flawed plan…
Although as pointed out below, she doesn’t really seem to care so long as he isn’t with Raidah.
I don’t think Sara wants him. I think she thinks Joyce and Jacob would be a good pair, and is trying to make it happen.
She just doesn’t want to admit it to Joyce – hence the afterthought in the last panel.
But she’s certainly conscious of what she’s doing.
I’m not sure that Sarah has got over the “let’s ruin Raidah’s life” thing yet.
And why shouldn’t she? Raidah has a vendetta against her. Raidah in her first appearance, at BEST came over to the table to rail against her for having Dana brought home just because she saw her in the dining hall. Sarah left as quick as she could when confronted at the mall… and she took ONE swing at Raidah to make her let go of Joyce, because she can SAVE Joyce. RAIDAH dragged Jacob away from the dorm party that SHE WASN’T INVITED TO ANYWAY! Why shouldn’t Raidah live in fear of Sarah? Raidah is certainly doing her level best to make everyone afraid that one slip up, and Sarah will narc you out and have you removed from college.
Sarah’s given up on Jacob. Joyce just hasn’t picked up she’s being shipped.
I’m genuinely unsure if Sarah’s still going after Jacob herself, or if she’s content to have Joyce take him away from her rival.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/alternative/
Based on that strip, I’m pretty sure Sarah doesn’t care who Jacob ends up dating as long as he’s no longer with Raidah.
Man, even the ‘good’ people in this strip do bad things fairly often. Jacob has a say in this and just outright trying to tempt somebody into infidelity is a scummy thing to do. Albeit, he has to have the final fault to become a cheater but having been the tempted one before I can tell you that it is NOT a good feeling either when you have to tell them they need to take a few steps back or when you have to explain to your SO that you’re not cheating. It actually ruined a relationship for me and I’d done nothing wrong.
Almost like there’s no such thing as a good person who never does bad things.
I think they want him to dump Raidah, not cheat on her… but not sure that’s really much better
First time I see an Asma gravatar.
I’d like Asma to be involved in a story arc. We know so little about her.
Her story arc is watching other people’s fathers (or grandfathers) being horribly abusive. I like the idea someone had in the comments that she regularly calls her own parents just to say that she loves them.
She still keeps her goals well in sight.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/determination/
Love Joyce’s expression here when she sees the outfit.
It’s been a lot since we saw that outfit, last time she wore it when she went on a date with Joe, which didn’t end good for him.
That was a different yellow dress though, it was flowy knee-length or longer.
And that was MUCH earlier in the run of the strip.
Where’s that yellow dress now, though? It managed to impress even Joe (and a number of readers).
Joyce still has the best reaction faces of all the characters in this comic.
We need a Joyce’s Greatest Faces compilation. They would make such great reaction images.
Indeed
Joyce certainly perked up from panel one to panel two when she remembered that this is “shipping Sunday”.
Indeed
Requested by nobody, Saucy Mary being saucy. Regardless of my feelings it’s nice to see her finally get to let loose with a like minded gentleman.
http://imgur.com/a/I3hQg
It’s a given that someone, somewhere thinks Mary is the best character in DoA, and will love that piece.
To be fair I feel fine admitting Mary is attractive physically, and rather enjoyed Yotomoe’s pic in that context. That doesn’t change my opinion on her abhorrent personality and behavior though,
The axiom I use* is, “I’d find her attractive if I could put a paper bag over her personality”.
*I lifted that from a woman describing a man, before the internet. No cite, sorry.
Yeah, but Mary is a two-bagger.
Not gonna lie, I was hoping for something more explicit.
Maybe if you’re good.
“Draw me like one of your french girls”
‘Why would I draw you like a papist slut?’
I am sincerely uncertain on how to feel about this. But knowing someone in real life who is gorgeous but isn’t the most pleasant to deal with puts it in context. Darn you for reminding me Yotomoe!
*plays The Police’s “Roxanne” on the hacked Muzak*
How long has this running gag been going on? And has a day ever been missed?
And has a song ever been re-used?
“Roxanne” should’ve been a never-used.
I can think of much worse songs for this crowd.
At least the narrator in Roxanne is pleading with the title character to stop renting herself out.
Looks like Stephen doesn’t care if it’s wrong or if it is right.
It is wrong AND right. And yes, I’ve missed days and have repeated songs, and it even goes back to BEFORE I became a David Willis fan.
That was an extremely long Chekov’s gun.
I think you mean Chekhov.
Although…
That’s the one!
…the first one, not the disturbingly phallic one
“I varn you, if you don’t lie on the floor… I vill have to stun you.”
Someday TVTropes is going to become so meta that it will go right back around to being 100% serious.
Eh, it’s still an order of magnitude less than Problem Sleuth.
Not really, Problem Sleuth only took a tad over a year to write if you count the epilogue.
Homestuck probably had some longer-timed callbacks, though.
I mean in terms of narrative distance, not strict time. It’s the only way to compare such disparate styles of fiction. PS had at least one gun that took 99% of the comic’s runtime to payoff.
8 Bit Theater. Nuff said.
That was a brick joke, not a Chekhov’s gun. The setup was foreshadowing the means of victory, not the means of victory itself.
Wow, how many years has it been since we’ve last seen that dress? *always impressed by examples of years-long, tight-knit continuity*
I believe its last appearance was August 8th, 2012.
I guess Sarah’s giving up showing off her brown booty for Jacob’s attention, and instead is showing off Joyce Brown’s booty.
It feels like this has gone from “I just want to get laid” too “I just want to spite my former best friend / arch enemy by getting my room mate all up in that.”
Just wear some leggings or something Joyce. Then you’ll be alright.
Your bottom is your bottom-half.
So are Dorothy and Walky still in the bed, or?
Yes.
They will be forgotten in all the shenangins. When they wake up again, Sarah and Joyce will be gone.
…. and Willis will get a slipshine out of that after all.
Joyce won’t let Sarah see her change. There’s no way she’d undress with Walky in the room, regardless of how unconscious he is at present.
Unintentionally falling asleep together in your mutual best friend’s bed…embarrassing, but innocent and cute. Performing a sex in your mutual best friend’s bed while she’s away at church…Ew. Just. Ew. Joyce would have to burn her sheets and her mattress if she ever found out.
Which is not to say that there might not be a slipshine opportunity a little later. If Sierra isn’t actually at church, or making out with Grace and/or Mandy, perhaps Joe can stop to once again to lend her a spare sock for the door.
Yeah. Forget Raidah and Jacob and Sarah’s plotting. I want more reaction shots of those three waking up.
Man, this reminds me of the first time I met my then-girlfriend face to face. She showed up in the airport wearing a sun-yellow summer dress…
Oh right, Sarah’s wtrying to setup Jacob with Joyce. Mostly as a “fuck you” to Raidah, but still.
IS. SARAH. TRYING. TO. SET. UP. JACOB. AND. JOYCE????!!!
No, Joyce is still trying to set up Sarah with Jacob, and Sarah is now setting up Joyce to be her wingwoman.
Ivy is right. You are half right. Each of the women is trying to set the other up with Jacob.
Sarah is a lot more sophisticated, and Joyce is a better match, and Joyce and Jacob may well end up together.
Sarah, apparently, would set up Jacob with anyone else, just to keep Raidah from “getting” him. Called “dog in the manger” by some.
Not to say that before the term ends Sarah and Raidah get engaged…
I wonder how Joyce’s mother would feel about her daughter having a Black boyfriend. She seems like the sort who’d make all kinds of well-meaning but very cringey comments.
I think that Sarah has motivations she doesn’t necessarily understand consciously.
At the conscious level: she hates Raidah, and will do almost anything to make sure Raidah doesn’t get Jacob.
Also at the conscious level: she finds Jacob very, very attractive, sexually.
At the border between consciousness and unconsciousness: she understands that she and Jacob could only be a short-time thing. Well, I think she understands. After all, Jacob is looking for a long-term relationship and right now she’s not, so….
tl;dr: Sarah’s willing to use Joyce as bait to get Jacob away from Raidah, and then…she’ll see what happens.
But if Joyce and Jacob start to realize how perfect they are for one another…I honestly don’t think Sarah will be able to deal with that particularly well.
Oh, she’s fully aware of what she’s doing:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/alternative/
And Joyce is much more skilled at lying to herself than Sarah is.
10: PRINT “Sarah, no!”
20: GOTO 10
I get that reference.
How appropriate a Cyrano reference is for Sarah!
Le Bret:
Alone, yes! But why stand against the world?
What devil has possesed you now, to go
Everywhere making yourself enemies?
Cyrano:
Watching you other people making friends
Everywhere- as a dog makes friends! I mark
The manner of these canine courtesies
And think: “My friends are of a cleaner breed;
Here comes- Thank God! – another enemy!”
You mean a Rostand reference; as Cyrano was real and a playwriter, we’d better say a Cyrano reference only for the plays Savinien de Cyrano himself wrote. Like you would say a Vergilio reference only for Vergilio’s work, and not for his appearance in Dante’s Inferno.
Are we playing the “Frankenstein’s monster” game or the “Well, actually…” game? I’m cool either way, just want to get the rules straight.
The title of Rostand’s book is literally Cyrano de Bergerac. Any reference to that book is therefore literally a reference to Cyrano de Bergerac, or as most people would understand, a Cyrano reference.
It’s as though I quoted the St. Crispin’s Day speech (“we happy few, we band of brothers”) and called it a Henry V reference, and you come along and insist that I should call it a Shakespeare reference because Henry V was a real person and he didn’t say those words, Shakespeare did. That is arrant pedantry up with which no one should put.
1: Calling it now that Raidah will actually be with Jacob in church.
2: No, Sarah is not trying to set up Joyce with Jacob. Joyce saying “I’m supposed to get him to like you” is a pretty big hint of this being about Joyce acting as Sarah’s wingwoman. So is Sarah’s very last line.
Yeah, JOYCE thinks she’s there to set Jacob up with Sarah. Pretty darn sure Sarah just wants Jacob away from Raidah and is quite happy to set him up with Joyce to get that.
Yes… She looks so very happy here with this idea:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/corner/
But after she’s had time to think about it…”Sure, whoever.”
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/alternative/
The more I think about it, the more messed up it is. Joyce likes Jacob, but considers him off-limits because Sarah liked him first. Joyce hasn’t even acknowledged that she likes Jacob, he’s that off-limits to her. Sarah is blowing past Joyce here to try to set up Joyce/Jacob anyway, (and lying to do it, I see that “of course” up there, Sarah) because even though it would make Sarah jealous, she detests the idea of Raidah/Jacob just that much.
Sarah is super messed up and I love her.
I take no joy in this, but…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/episcopalian/
(jk, I take perverse joy in this)
As a lapsed UU, I’m like: “Joyce, want to see a real hippie church?
Seriously, I still remember the day Malvina Reynolds came to sing at our church service — I think she was the church service that Sunday. And yes, she was awesome.
Why not just wear what she wore for the ill-fated date with Joe her first week there? I think that would both work well and probably be more “churchy”, although I personally say a pair of dark leggings or dark yoga pants under that dress with some white boots would be an outfit to kill for.
…
I’m serious about that “to kill for” bit. I’ve seen something eerily similar happen over a nearly identical outfit during the one Black Friday sale I worked retail during my college years. There was blood, bile, and pepper spray covering the floor of that JCPENNY’S when we finally closed. And then you got to the men’s side and you’d find teeth that had been knocked straight out of someone’s skull by the belts and ties. The horror. The shear horror. I still can’t walk into a JCPENNY’S to save my life to this day eight years later.
Because Sarah wants Joyce to seduce Jacob. If she has to make her dress out of character then so be it.
But it’s Jacob. The first-date dress would probably work better on him.
…..
…. though, of course, Sarah doesn’t realize that.
Calling it right now!
The Pastor is Ryans father!!!
This is one of the times where you’d be extremely happy to be proven wrong, right?
I think that’s unlikely because Ryan strikes me as the type to go to school well away from his parents. But we’ll see.
I dunno… This is just my headcanon but I think that Ryan’s dad runs some big mega-church. I can’t see anything like that in a small town; if he’s anywhere it will be Indianapolis.
I kinda feel like Richmond would be more on the right line to me. It’s smaller, but it’s still big enough and especially conservative enough to give some significant local power to the kind of parent people like “Ryan” come from.
It’s also possible that Ryan’s father is a decent sort from a mainline protestant denomination and Ryan’s douchebaggery is in part a rebellion against that. While plenty of abusive pricks were physically or emotionally abused themselves as children, some are starting brand-new chains of abuse.
Richmond: The .
(…and Ryan…but we don’t advertise that part.)
Ugh. Richmond is the “Birthplace of Recorded Jazz”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennett_Records
(Cues up Dusty Springfield’s Son of a Preacher Man)
FWIW, I’ve long wondered if Ryan was in some way both inspired by and an inversion of that song. Maybe Willis could comment on that?
Bow-chicka-hallelujah!
Saaaarah…
Storms are brewing in your eyes.
Don’t worry, Joyce. A well placed Dr Pepper, and God won’t see any part of you you don’t want God to see.
Except the good Doctor.
I’m pretty sure that Sarah is serious about getting Joyce and Jacob together but she still has ulterior motives of revenge against Raidah. I don’t think that she’s reconciled her conscience to the notion that hurting Joyce and Jacob is acceptable so long as it also hurts Raidah. I think that’s why she can’t meet Joyce’s eyes in panel 6: She’s ashamed of what she’s doing.
The thing is…? I don’t think that Jacob is interested in Joyce that way. In fact, I think that he views her as a little sister. If so, today could be painfully funny if Joyce does try anything that she thinks is seductive!
Except Joyce ISN’T going to do anything that she thinks is seductive.
Correct; she won’t purposefully do that.
But I want a betting pool on the number of times Joyce twirls her hair in front of Jacob.
Even if Sarah is indeed trying to set Joyce and Jacob up, I’m certain she will be pissed he’s not with her anyway.
That said, Jacob can and probably will decide for himself. He seems like one of the most level headed characters too, so I don’t think shenanigans will ensue. At least not the ones intended
I’m more worried about whether Sarah will end up putting Joyce in the sights of Raidah and her gang as well as whether Sarah is setting Joyce up for unexpected pain and embarrassment.
Yeah, spite seems to be guiding Sarah and that opens the door for a bunch of things I would rather avoid for Joyce.
It may be because more often than not I steer away from shipping, but I feel like Joyce is best on her own for now.
We know Joe has already said about Jacob and Raidah and how hes not cool with the idea (from the pizzeria) so I’m wondering what’ll happen if Joe learns its still going on
Not cool with trying to split up Jacob and Raidah I mean
THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE UNACCOUNTED FOR IN THAT ROOM AND I NEED ANSWERS
I KNOW, RIGHT!!! BACK TO ADORABLE/HILARIOUS/AWKWARD SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS!!!
Tonight, Grav Roulette, you have given me Daisy.
….
…. sigh.
She’s a bit part, but at least she’s a bit part that we know something about.
Specifically, what we know about her is that she’s a raging mass of hormones who uses and abuses her position and authority in search of any hint of a vicariously-lived fantasy, instead of just locking herself in a room with a dirty mag for twenty minutes and then getting on with her job and her life.
I mean, seriously, I don’t say most people need to get laid when they’ve get stressed or acting out, but Daisy? Daisy needs herself a girlfriend or at least a fuck-buddy STAT. For the good of EVERYONE.
…..
….. noIdon’trelatetothatshutupGravRoulette.
Maybe we could solve some problems if we threw her at Leslie?
Except she’s a student, and Leslie doesn’t date students.
She is a student? Weird, I had the impression that she was part of the faculty… oh well. Too bad.
The editor at student newspapers are also students, and since the IDS in independent, they report to a board of journalists and student representatives.
You really think Daisy isn’t ‘taking care of herself’ all the time?
With a Chest Window?
Sarah trying to unleash some tactical nukes huh…
Damn it all.
Yup. Wear some nice shorts and possibly boots with it and it’ll look simple and plain.
unless you go hard core leather boots and some odd colour pants then it’ll probably be less church happy.
Also you silly roomie… that won’t help your cause
High socks or tights could work, though.
Ehhh, I’m not sure yellow is your colour, Joyce. Get a red one, now we’re talking!
…Sarah is trying to get J x J happen ?
Wait… Sarah’s revenge plan disregards Joyce’s and Jacob’s feelings and reservations, and she’s using them as tools to further her revenge on Raidah. Isn’t what she’s doing a form of objectification?
I … don’t think so? I mean, it’s a horrible, horrible plan for multiple reasons, and seriously, Sarah, what is the matter with you, but I don’t think that’s one of them.
Now that I think of it… Didn’t Joyce advocate ruining Raidah’s relationship so Sarah could get together with Jacob? I’m almost sure that was a thing…
Yes, that’s Joyce being immature and (still the damaging kind of) innocent. Hopefully she learns without destroying anything (in a comic not called “Good decisions made your first semester at college”).
Sarah supposed to already know this, however she’s maybe blinded by her dislike of Raidah.
Mhm Raidah is indeed the last person I would feel sorry for in this situation considering what a turd she’s been to Sarah and Dina.
Jacob is the one who’d get most messed up in this situation with Joyce coming in next (assuming she realizes what she is doing is bad)
I’d use stronger words considering she is trying to drop a homewrecker on Raidah’s relationship but objectification might be a good start.
Well according to Kant whenever you treat persons as a mean to a end you are committing an evil act,even in the service of the greater good.We could argue that objectification is for Kant the essence of all evil.
Somewhere Granny Weatherwax is nodding approvingly.
Both of them should remember how that play ended,with the pair succeeding all too well and the girl falling in love with a person that does not exist
It’s a good thing her mom is such an intellectual powerhouse.
YAY a Cyrano de Beregerac reference!!
here to see what my gravatar changed to don’t mind me
hMMMMMMMM
You were better off not knowing.
I tell you, like I’ve told evertone else, you can re-roll your grav roulette by randomyl capitalizing a letter in your Email
Or you can roll your own.
Or you can get a gravatar.com account and copy and upload any Willis-created gravatar you choose. (I’m assuming Willis would be okay with that as long as you’re posting on this or other Willis-created forums; if you’re thinking of using his artwork in any other context, check with him first.)
It didn’t occur to me until I’d posted this that I did not consult with Edward Gorey before “borrowing” his artwork, but then the Wuggly Ump came for him over a decade ago. I think I’m within the bounds of “Fair Use,” though.
I think at this point Sarah is content to live vicariously through Joyce
At this point she is happy as long as Raidah doesn’t get to keep Jacob honestly.
Has Joyce worn this in-universe before? I feel like I remember it, but maybe I’m just remembering one of the preview images.
I think someone’s already posted this, but the last time we saw this on Joyce, she was trying it on in a mall. (This was after Raidah and her friends had insulted Dina by calling her mentally challenged, and before Sarah punched Raidah.) Not going to put another link in, but one of the earlier strips has Joyce saying it bares more of her legs than she is comfortable with, and Billie tells her she should want to bare her very nice legs.
Or you may be thinking of the yellow dress she wore on her first date with Joe. But that was ankle-length.
The short dress is quite attractive but the long dress had more class (IMHO)
But it’s missing a layer.
I thought that there was only one yellow dress…
Mwahaha, I can keep up my last-comment streak. Well, until Willis catches on and goes “what is even the point of this”.
Joyce’s expressions are never not funny to me, and I seriously need to look up that literary reference, because it’s distantly familiar to me but I don’t know exactly what it is, and that impels my overwhelming curiosity.