For you see; if they can’t get together, then that’s hypothetically twice as many pizzas sold since they won’t split pies together. It’s a cunning plan; engineering all of the relationship dramas at the university for the sole purpose of maximizing profits, but pickles were an expensive menu addition and it was this or outright just taking and selling customer’s organs.
All Galasso needs to do is offer chicken nuggets as a pizza topping, and Walky’ll already empty out his wallet without any further machinations being necessary. Add in that probably noone* else would want to join Walky in eating such pizzas (and that Walky likely wouldn’t share, regardless), and it’s a win for Galasso all-around.
*(Actually, if I wasn’t vegetarian, I think I’d totally try that. Cheese and breaded chicken really do go so well together..)
Hey, you don’t have to look to far for meatless chicken strips.
Subway already serves the strips on their chicken sandwiches.
Just have to find out who the supplier is, order direct and bread them yourself.
A local place does a Chicken Parm pizza. It sounds great in theory but the execution suffers from a basic design flaw. Chunks of chicken parm are too heavy for the crust to support without buckling.
Amber’s father coming would actually be a net positive. There are three people on this roof who would be willing to corroborate a believable perjury about the way he accidentally slipped off the roof and died.
Given how thin Amber’s hold on her psychological state is these days, the net positive gain may be a bit more uncertain than you’ve indicated. Besides, Sal is too upfront a person, I can’t see her being comfortable hiding a cold-blooded murder, regardless of the societal benefits that may be involved.
And honestly, Walky’d break twelve seconds after the fact, and quickly hide himself under a bridge beneath a mountain of empty nugget boxes, shivering at every loud noise. Really not someone you’d want to back your play on that kind of thing 😛
All of which is why I support Blaine’s death being by mobsters running out of use and patience for him! Alternately Yuri, we don’t know her well enough to know what she’s capable of.
Optimistic thinking there.
I am pretty darn sure she is on the cusp of a total freakout.
Just look at those eyes.
The real question is – what trajectory will she take when going ballistic?
No and yes. Sal doesn’t know Amber is AG. Amber knows Sal is the girl from the robbery, but she didn’t know before now that Walky and Sal were related.
Amazi-Girl hasn’t actually appeared on stage since before the slashing – back in April 17.
The two tagged since then are Amber arguing with the costume (and the costume apparently yelling “Noooooooo”) and the social media report showing Amber that Amazi-Girl had foiled a dognapping.
I’m really looking forward to (and dreading) her reappearence.
She’s barely interacted with Amber before, so it wouldn’t really make any sense for her to have pieced it together, so I doubt it. Would be interesting to see what she’d do with that information if she did know, though Amazi-Girl and her do seem to be on better terms.
Sal has met Amazi-Girl on the roof — once. She’s also met Amber twice in other contexts, but doesn’t know her name (she calls Amber “Laundry Girl” in their most recent encounter).
Does she recognize Amber? Does she put two and two together and realize Amazi-Girl’s identity?
Right now, I’m guessing she’s more focused on Walky than the girl he’s kissing. I’m also guessing that the narrative arc would be better furthered by Sal not putting two and two together and that’s how DYW will play it, but who knows.
Nope, his face sets her brain on edge for a reason she can’t identify (he joked that was racist, she stuttered in horror). But e.g. she isn’t in the Mathematics class with them, she arriged at Joyce’s dorm party juat after Sal left (so missed Sal pointing this out to Ethan and Danny)…
Honestly, considering how she got hots for Walky and was with Danny, who befriended Sal, I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t some roundabout way in which her brain is telling her that she has a crush on Sal.
So according to Amber, making out with Walky is garbage. And since people are only allowed to feel like garbage and be garbage on the garbage roof, does this mean that Walky and Amber are only kinda sorta dating now on the garbage roof?
Yeah, the costume isn’t the reliable indicator of whether it’s Amber or Amazi-Girl in control (we’ve seen Amazi-Girl in “civilian” clothes, and we’ve seen Amber in the costume), the tags are.
Or if you want to be a little less meta, it’s the presence/absence of cheek blush – presence means it’s Amber, absence means it’s Amazi-Girl.
No. He first met Amazi-Girl on the roof. With racism cookies.
It was later he met Amber dressed as Amazi-Girl and I think it was then they named it Garbage Roof, but the attitude was there before.
Yeah. That’s true. They may have run into each other other times as well, but they actually started talking up on the roof and first made that connection when she was Amazi-Girl.
Which Walky doesn’t at all get the implications of.
It’s funny, I always wondered whether Sal would turn up up there at the same time as them someday and yet the past couple of strips I hadn’t even considered this might be that day.
It’s like what the Old Testament says ” The great Willis gives and then he takes away” …. but for real though I know I said we would cross this bridge when we get to it but I didn’t think we would get to this bridge so fast.
That aside is cell appalled at what she seen or is she appalled about the Declaration of love for garbage from the two garbage lovers.
I always felt that this translation had a little more oomph to it:
“And behold, the most Damnable of them all in My eyes, the beast known to thee as Willis; and as I created him, I knew he would be the downfall of all good, and he shall indeed be Damned for all eternity. And yet, he shall have his followers, for he knows when to give; and they will not turn on him when he takes away, for he will do so in a way that leaves them hungry for more.
And Son of Adam, thou might ask me why I would create such a devious creature that will bring only pain and damnation to this world. And Son of Adam, know that questioning thy Lord is not welcome, as I work in strange and mysterious ways, and I will not be doubted by one such as thee!
But if thou really must know…. It’s because the storyline with Becky and Dina’s hat is fricking adorkable!”
Mind, the best could be the entire dorm being bundled into a facility with nice ,young men to listen, with clean white walls and 30cm of telekill alloy on the outside and 0 functional doors.
Is… is Amber going to go into a state of shock because she’s going to realize Walky’s the brother of the girl who was part of the event that split her into two?
That’s a good question. I don’t think she knew they were siblings, though it’s possible she does know, given she knows both of their last names, probably, and has seen them in person together at least once.
How are they not identical twins? I mean I know opposite gender identical twins are rare in real life and generally come with different issues, but I though that in this it was a trope of works of fiction in general?
I’m not sure how you arrived at that assumption, honestly, but they have been noted to have some physical differences– besides the obvious, there’s their natural hair text which differs. Sal made the comment of Walky coming out “whiter,” which may be just that or may be a combination of a number of factors.
Word of God is that Sal’s and Walky’s skin tone is identical, and Walky’s hair gets “kinkier” (his words, I believe) whenever it gets long enough, just like Sal’s does.
You probably mean “twins with different sex markers” when you say “opposite gender twins.” Because yeah, I have known identical twins who were different genders.
It’s theoretically possible, since even ciswomen can have XY chromosomes, as sex characteristics are determined largely by hormones. Though think that’s determined largely in the womb, so whatever happens to one would happen to the other, meaning it’d be quite the circumstance if they managed different sex characteristics.
Identical twins are genetically identical. So two boys, or two girls. They’re both either XX or XY because the egg split.
Fraternal twins share a womb, but come from two different eggs, and so while they CAN be both XX or both XY, fraternal twins can also be one boy, one girl.
Pffft! This always happens. It’s the best and worst part of the comments section. To be fair I am aware opposite gender identical twins can’t exist. I just thought it was this. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HalfIdenticalTwins
It’s Walky is even listed on that page. (Not that tvtropes is a reliable source)
Thank you for all the feedback!
I thing I had not known until tonight is that there is at least one known set of semi-identical twins, who share 100% of their maternal DNA but only 50% of their paternal DNA. Biology is always full of surprises.
I just still think it’s kind of funny that David and Maggie had a set of fraternal twins, after he’d been writing comics about fraternal twins for years.
Sal left that party minutes before Amber arrived. Checking the tags, Amazi-Girl has seen Sal and Walky in the hallway exactly once, but she might not even have noticed Walky, for reasons.
I think you cannot get the height-difference with Sal being taller from indentical twins with different sex chromosomes (according to Detective Conan at least, you only get that by one of them somehow loosing the Y chromosome and that one turns out female and smaller because of Turner Syndrome).
Hm, google states that you can get twins from the same egg with different sex chromosomes and both having two sex chromosomes, in cases where the original inseminated egg had XXY chromosomes. This wouldn’t get the hight-effect described in DC. Still, it’s unlikely this is the case with Sal and Walky, because they have a lot of different bodily characteristics like different skin coloring, hair texture, height, …
You know with his buffer, he could really clean up by charging $5.00 for one day ahead, $10. for two days, $20 for three days, $50. for four days, $100 for five days and a solid week ahead for $200 a month. But you’re only eligible for the next step up if you’re already subscribing at the previous level.
Why not adjust that metaphor so that it instead refers to the SS Titanic‘s almost-collision with the SS City of New York as the former was leaving harbor?
(that little fun fact is one of my favorite bits of Titanic trivia, by the way – you can almost taste the foreshadowing present in the fact that the Titanicmissed a ship named City of New York while on her way to…the city of New York.)
She could have been silent then to see what would happen.
After all, Amber initiated the kiss yesterday.
But today, as soon as Walky admits a desire to continue and starts to do so, thereby confirming him being “terrible”, Sal speaks.
Wasn’t it always the difference between the people who are atrative to loads of people and those that don’t, that the former can jump from one relationship to the next whatever without pause, while the others just don’t have the opportunity?
(Speaking as one without the opportunity: it might not be a wise choice most of the time, but why involve moral demerits?)
I’m not sure what you’re saying.
But since they’re on Garbage Roof, and Walky already said he’d be terrible if he got involved with Amber so quickly, they’ve already brought “morals” into it and judged themselves negatively.
Seriously. She doesn’t know her effect on Amber so I don’t her responsible for the freakout I fear in the future, but interrupting an early hookup is just rude.
Sixties music was dirty but also suitable for tender ears.
Jam up and jelly tight
My, my, my baby
Now you’re outta sight
Jam up and jelly tight
You look a little naughty
But you’re so polite
Jam up and jelly tight
You won’t say you will but
There’s a chance that you might
Wow, this made me smile in the “my day is brightened” kind of way.
So, will Amber’s reaction to Sal force her to explain her Sal connection to Walky, and by extension Sal herself, thus bringing her the very beginning of some kind of resolution to that whole resulting mess? Or is that too optimistic of me? Meh, the day is too bright for doubt.
Ok Look just Like with Joyce’s internal Trauma we’re going to have to address this sooner or later. She’s on buddy buddy term with her right now but yet she still can’t face her for some reasonew, most likely because she doesn’t know how sal’s going to react when she eventually remembers her.
Geez…You know I wonder if Sal is struggling with PTSD front the incident as well. I mean she’s the one who got stabbed I’m just dying to find out what her reaction will be when she discover’s who Amber is.
Maybe not over Amber, but it might have something to do with why she really doesn’t like uncovering her hand. PTSD related guilt and shame are two incredible b-words.
She did recently (but pre-Ryan) manage to have a safe interaction with Sal – no talking, and Amber was in the privacy chairs, but she invited Sal to local play of Mario Kart and that went fine, so she’s starting to get past ‘the mere sight of Sal triggers a panic attack and AG taking over’. Of course, there’s a difference between setting up a safe, low-stakes interaction on your own terms and being surprised like this.
Well, bare in mind that once Sal walked up close to Amber, Amber looked like she was about to have an anxiety attack before she threw the AG voice around to get Sal out of her face.
This looks a lot more like Walky’s “I’m flunking math and that is FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE” smile to me, than one of his genuine smiles. Lookit the crazy eyed grimace in panel 2.
OK, collected some Walky faces. Fair is fair, I believe abuse (due to some IRL shit) has a tendency to be highly cyclical so I have a lot of trouble not being super suspicious of Amber since she isn’t… IMO… doing much to manage her mental health.
… Honestly if they were gonna start kissing before the Sal thing came clear this is probably the best remaining time for it.
… And shit. Sal might not remember Amber personally… but the last time they shared a strip was earlier that day after Amber was escaping the grade stealing. This might all come out at once. Fuuuuuuuck.
…Okay, first I thought the grades would come out. Then I thought it would be her freaking out at Sal (from their perspective) out of nowhere and for no good reason. I didn’t think it might be both.
Shiiiiit. This is getting messier by the minute. I love it. *keyboards up some popcorn*
My friend once took a class where anything below an A was failing. Like, to meet the requirements of the program that the class was part of, you needed to get an A in it or something. And she didn’t get an A, so she wasn’t able to complete the degree she’d been going for.
Anyway, I think a C might just be failing by Walky’s standards in this case, but different grades can be considered failing in different circumstances.
A C generally means you’ve passed. If the class is a prerequisite for further classes in that area, there may be requirements like needing a 3.0 in it to move forward, but Walky doesn’t currently seem to be planning to move on to more advanced math courses anyway.
The important thing is Amber changed them (which could get both her and Walky expelled), and if Walky’s kissing someone who Sal saw stealing his records right after a breakup… I mean, she tried to trade sex for grades so she doesn’t actually have all that much room to judge, but she did put in the effort and improve under her own power and Walky’s barely tried. And it’s pretty clear nothing about screwing Jason really felt good to Sal.
Well this was fun while it lasted, wouldn’t mind it lasting longer but still a sweet moment. Loved listing to “Electric feeling” while reading the last 2 stripes and the first 3 panels of this one before it all came to a screeching halt.
As Willis explained in the comments of that strip, her ability to do that was situational – helped a great deal by the fact that she was in a large room (with a bit of an echo effect as a result of its size), rather than outside.
Well, this could be interesting or catastrophic, depending on just how sadistically-determined Willis is to punish Amber for daring to exist and be happy.
Thinking about it, I’ve long thought that Sal is the only person who would be able to really get through to Amber and make her confront her demons. Maybe the title of the next chapter isn’t negative at all but is all about Amber’s journey (with Walky and Sal as guides and supports) to the core of her many psychological problems.
That sounds like a good storyline but I really hope it’s not the next one, because Willis once said he was considering re-titling it ‘Walking With Sal’ and I’ve been getting hyped for a Sal centred storyline ever since (plus I’m kinda really hoping the extended flashback sequence he mentioned on twitter will be either the robbery from her POV or how Marcie lost her voice).
Dorothy is Sal’s sort-of-friend, so she probably knows about the last day or so’s drama between her and Walky. She’s likely acting out of a degree of concern at the moment.
It’s impressive how quickly my expectations have shifted from “this could possibly shake out poorly” to “someone is 100 percent getting stabbed on Garbage Roof”
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intrigued, aroused, an’ disturbed?
This LITERALLY can’t get any worse.
Unless Amber’s father comes I guess… or Danny… or Dorothy…
FOOLS! you discount the machinations of GALASSO at your PERIL
For you see; if they can’t get together, then that’s hypothetically twice as many pizzas sold since they won’t split pies together. It’s a cunning plan; engineering all of the relationship dramas at the university for the sole purpose of maximizing profits, but pickles were an expensive menu addition and it was this or outright just taking and selling customer’s organs.
All Galasso needs to do is offer chicken nuggets as a pizza topping, and Walky’ll already empty out his wallet without any further machinations being necessary. Add in that probably noone* else would want to join Walky in eating such pizzas (and that Walky likely wouldn’t share, regardless), and it’s a win for Galasso all-around.
*(Actually, if I wasn’t vegetarian, I think I’d totally try that. Cheese and breaded chicken really do go so well together..)
Hey, you don’t have to look to far for meatless chicken strips.
Subway already serves the strips on their chicken sandwiches.
Just have to find out who the supplier is, order direct and bread them yourself.
Veggie Chick’n nuggets are also already a thing.
A local place does a Chicken Parm pizza. It sounds great in theory but the execution suffers from a basic design flaw. Chunks of chicken parm are too heavy for the crust to support without buckling.
Soon you will know the TRUE power of SYDNEY YUS!
Amber’s father coming would actually be a net positive. There are three people on this roof who would be willing to corroborate a believable perjury about the way he accidentally slipped off the roof and died.
Given how thin Amber’s hold on her psychological state is these days, the net positive gain may be a bit more uncertain than you’ve indicated. Besides, Sal is too upfront a person, I can’t see her being comfortable hiding a cold-blooded murder, regardless of the societal benefits that may be involved.
And honestly, Walky’d break twelve seconds after the fact, and quickly hide himself under a bridge beneath a mountain of empty nugget boxes, shivering at every loud noise. Really not someone you’d want to back your play on that kind of thing 😛
All of which is why I support Blaine’s death being by mobsters running out of use and patience for him! Alternately Yuri, we don’t know her well enough to know what she’s capable of.
Ohhh, I like the idea of Yuri snapping and going ‘He had it coming’ on his ass.
everything can always get worse. >.<
can and will get worse. Fixed that for you.
Sure it can. Sal could know about Walky failing, and could probably puzzle out that Amber helped him cheat his grades back up.
Unless Amber freaks out and somebody ends up falling off Garbage Roof as a direct consequence?
Optimistic thinking there.
I am pretty darn sure she is on the cusp of a total freakout.
Just look at those eyes.
The real question is – what trajectory will she take when going ballistic?
At least its still Amber and no AG. So far.
AG and Sal are friends.
Amber and Sal are not.
Can someone remind me if Sal knows who AG is, and if Amber knows who Sal is?
No and yes. Sal doesn’t know Amber is AG. Amber knows Sal is the girl from the robbery, but she didn’t know before now that Walky and Sal were related.
Well THAT didn’t take long! Though I’ve no idea how Amber will react to this.
Catsgotwalkystongueatonia.
She is both appalled and impressed.
Imppalled.
Appassed.
I dunno. *le shrug* xD
I’m hoping that it isn’t this.
Also, really wish there was a Preview option to make sure I got that html right.
Wow, Amazi-girl hasn’t made an appearance since December.
Amazi-Girl hasn’t actually appeared on stage since before the slashing – back in April 17.
The two tagged since then are Amber arguing with the costume (and the costume apparently yelling “Noooooooo”) and the social media report showing Amber that Amazi-Girl had foiled a dognapping.
I’m really looking forward to (and dreading) her reappearence.
Ooooooooooh
Somehow I wasn’t expecting that
Nobody expect the Salish Imposition.
Least of all the Kwakiutl.
I had to google. Having done so, I bow deeply in respect.
Impressed myself by not having to google!
What do the Kwakiutl have to do with it?
Salish.
This is probably my all-time favorite DoA comment.
Maybe not my all-time favorite but it does cross the bar of awesome-eh with lots of extra air.
Dammit! Where’s the +1, ^, or Like button?! The Doctor needs an upvote!
I was. I just expected her to climb up the side of the building.
I’m still assuming she did.
True. I meant, right there, where, and while, they were making out.
ALWAYS. EXPECT. NINJAS.
By which I mean Sal.
I TOLD YOU SO
Booooo, go away interloper!
So Sal is…impalled? Appressed?
Ampelsed.
Help! Help! I’m being appressed!
Isa dat irony?
[Plumber-pun]
No, it’s ironing, silly.
I am almost tempted to throw money at Willis’ patreon to see tomorrow’s strip.
Almost.
Well if you want to see the next strip about Joyce early, go ahead.
(Disclaimer: I don’t actually know if Willis is going to switch on us. But he is Willis and lo, he is damnable, so probably.)
Joyce comes up to the roof too?! ö_ö
With Dorothy.
(Same disclaimer as Reltzic.)
And Ninja Rick. (No disclamer)
You only say that because Ninja Rick is in every single strip.
As is Bloodrose 🙂
And most of the time they are making out.
Everybody comes up to the roof top, quickly turning the page into an homage to the classic “Night at the Opera”.
It’s what I did yesterday , I don’t regret it one bit but damn was I not prepared.
Doooo it
Doooo it
One of us, one of us!
…… Inarticulate screeching …..
Welp, this is gonna end well.
Well for US, the commenters. We’ll have plenty to bongo about.
For the characters? Yeah, no.
This strip made me grin so widely it hurts and also I can’t stop. Send help, the hype has taken over me!
I’m not entirely sure why Sal’s appalled, actually. What’d I miss?
Appalled because she knows Walky just broke up with Dorothy.
And possibly because Amber and Dorothy look similar.
Sal may have an idea of who Amazi-Girl’s alter ego is.
She’s barely interacted with Amber before, so it wouldn’t really make any sense for her to have pieced it together, so I doubt it. Would be interesting to see what she’d do with that information if she did know, though Amazi-Girl and her do seem to be on better terms.
Also, it’s now kind of a running joke. Amber even used this to cheat at ‘Carts. And Sal fell for it.
Sal has met Amazi-Girl on the roof — once. She’s also met Amber twice in other contexts, but doesn’t know her name (she calls Amber “Laundry Girl” in their most recent encounter).
Does she recognize Amber? Does she put two and two together and realize Amazi-Girl’s identity?
Right now, I’m guessing she’s more focused on Walky than the girl he’s kissing. I’m also guessing that the narrative arc would be better furthered by Sal not putting two and two together and that’s how DYW will play it, but who knows.
Much like Walky, I suspect Sal’s nicknames don’t actually mean she doesn’t know the person’s real name.
Huh? Everyone knows Sal is Amazi-Girl!
Sal kinda knows about Walky being with Dorothy. Also she might not know they broke up.
Sal thought they were broke up when they were just on pause, so she’s believed they were broken up longer than they were officially.
ha ha ha ha, i forgot about that alt-text
Ah the Alt-text, always the icing on the cake.
Wack’d attack’d by fac’t.
wack’d
Amber’s due for another breakdown.
Wait, does Amber… know… that Walky is Sal’s brother? I don’t think she does.
Fuck.
Nope, his face sets her brain on edge for a reason she can’t identify (he joked that was racist, she stuttered in horror). But e.g. she isn’t in the Mathematics class with them, she arriged at Joyce’s dorm party juat after Sal left (so missed Sal pointing this out to Ethan and Danny)…
Well his face didn’t seem to scare her off enough to make her not want to kiss the hell out of it.
Making out with someone who makes you a little queasy is a perfectly garbage thing to do on Garbage Roof.
Honestly, considering how she got hots for Walky and was with Danny, who befriended Sal, I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t some roundabout way in which her brain is telling her that she has a crush on Sal.
I also can’t remember if Amber knows that Sal was the robbery girl.
Well I don’t know if it can be called “garbage roof” anymore with Sal there.
Are you saying Sal can’t slum if she wants to?
Hey, to her, this is ‘smoking and sometimes hanging out with AG’ roof.
So according to Amber, making out with Walky is garbage. And since people are only allowed to feel like garbage and be garbage on the garbage roof, does this mean that Walky and Amber are only kinda sorta dating now on the garbage roof?
Like Danny was only dating her when she was AG, Walky is only dating her when she’s on the roof (and Amber).
Fiddlin’ around on the roof, eh?
Up on the rooof…
A most unlikely sight!
Sounds crazy, no?
Yet here in our little University of Indiana, you might say each one of us has fiddled around on the roof.
Actually, they started “seeing” each other while she was in costume.
She was in costume, but she was Amber.
Yeah, the costume isn’t the reliable indicator of whether it’s Amber or Amazi-Girl in control (we’ve seen Amazi-Girl in “civilian” clothes, and we’ve seen Amber in the costume), the tags are.
Or if you want to be a little less meta, it’s the presence/absence of cheek blush – presence means it’s Amber, absence means it’s Amazi-Girl.
No. He first met Amazi-Girl on the roof. With racism cookies.
It was later he met Amber dressed as Amazi-Girl and I think it was then they named it Garbage Roof, but the attitude was there before.
I recall him meeting her when he and Dorothy were chasing her.
Yeah. That’s true. They may have run into each other other times as well, but they actually started talking up on the roof and first made that connection when she was Amazi-Girl.
Which Walky doesn’t at all get the implications of.
As I understand it, you don’t have to be garbage, but you can’t object to people calling themselves garbage.
That panel 2, tho.
…. does it really count as me calling it yesterday if I expected it not to happen for at least another year (real time)?
Yeah, I’d say so.
Take the Called It Stars and duck for impending drama.
*the fuse blows on the sound system*
*plugs his ears for the feedback howl*
It’s funny, I always wondered whether Sal would turn up up there at the same time as them someday and yet the past couple of strips I hadn’t even considered this might be that day.
It’s like what the Old Testament says ” The great Willis gives and then he takes away” …. but for real though I know I said we would cross this bridge when we get to it but I didn’t think we would get to this bridge so fast.
That aside is cell appalled at what she seen or is she appalled about the Declaration of love for garbage from the two garbage lovers.
Wait “Garbage lovers” Perfect name for these two.
I always felt that this translation had a little more oomph to it:
“And behold, the most Damnable of them all in My eyes, the beast known to thee as Willis; and as I created him, I knew he would be the downfall of all good, and he shall indeed be Damned for all eternity. And yet, he shall have his followers, for he knows when to give; and they will not turn on him when he takes away, for he will do so in a way that leaves them hungry for more.
And Son of Adam, thou might ask me why I would create such a devious creature that will bring only pain and damnation to this world. And Son of Adam, know that questioning thy Lord is not welcome, as I work in strange and mysterious ways, and I will not be doubted by one such as thee!
But if thou really must know…. It’s because the storyline with Becky and Dina’s hat is fricking adorkable!”
I prefer the more old-timey sounding “The Willis giveth and the Willis taketh away”.
Also I believe this ship is already called the S.S. Garbage Skowl.
And then Amber and Walky go on a double date with Sal and Danny, and everyone is mature and it’s not awkward at all, the end.
I low key wouldnt mind that.
If someone could bottle the eternal optimism found in certain commenters *coughBaggecough* and turn it into gold, the gold prices would soon collapse.
I’m sure everything would still work out for the best!
Mind, the best could be the entire dorm being bundled into a facility with nice ,young men to listen, with clean white walls and 30cm of telekill alloy on the outside and 0 functional doors.
That is when you buy it all and wait two hours for the market to reset.
Hmm, must have been a tad to obscure with this reference.
SAL, ON HER WAY TO WRECK YOUR SHIT
SAL, THE GARBAGE COLLECTOR
SAL, THE TRASH COMPACTOR
Is… is Amber going to go into a state of shock because she’s going to realize Walky’s the brother of the girl who was part of the event that split her into two?
Even more fun if she feels that part of her feelings towards him were tied up in her unconscious association between him and Sal.
<3
That’s a good question. I don’t think she knew they were siblings, though it’s possible she does know, given she knows both of their last names, probably, and has seen them in person together at least once.
I’m eager to find out.
When did Amber – or Amazi-Girl – see them together?
Was she at Joyce’s room party when it was revealed to everyone there they were siblings?
Sal left the party right before Amber showed up.
She and Sal weren’t at the party at the same time.
She was, but she arrived shortly after Sal left.
Which is good, since she would probably have got an anxiety attack from seeing Sal.
Ah, right. I couldn’t quite remember the sequence of events. Thanks all.
Only once. Amazi-Girl saw them in the hallway during Carla’s revelation of Ruth/Billie. No indication there was any connection between them though.
Other than that Amber’s appeared in strips with both of them, but either in montage scenes or with one just in the background.
They’re really the same person phasing back and forth between both roles extremely quickly, just like the Olsen twin.
I’d ask how could she not know with Walky being Sal’s identical twin. You’d think that would trigger her immediately.
They’re not identical twins, they’re fraternal. They do share a good deal of sibling resemblance, though.
How are they not identical twins? I mean I know opposite gender identical twins are rare in real life and generally come with different issues, but I though that in this it was a trope of works of fiction in general?
I’m not sure how you arrived at that assumption, honestly, but they have been noted to have some physical differences– besides the obvious, there’s their natural hair text which differs. Sal made the comment of Walky coming out “whiter,” which may be just that or may be a combination of a number of factors.
*hair texture
Word of God is that Sal’s and Walky’s skin tone is identical, and Walky’s hair gets “kinkier” (his words, I believe) whenever it gets long enough, just like Sal’s does.
In comic explanation disagrees (and flips your “long” with “short”): http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/kinky-2/
The skin is the same tone.
The black vs beige was our first clue to the family’s racial issues and reflects a lot more than actual color.
Yeah, I never said anything about their skin tone being different?
Guess I misread. Thought that’s what you were saying the in comic explanation disgreed with.
Last time I checked, identical twins were twins separated from the same egg.
That doesn’t seem possible with opposite gender twins.
You probably mean “twins with different sex markers” when you say “opposite gender twins.” Because yeah, I have known identical twins who were different genders.
It’s theoretically possible, since even ciswomen can have XY chromosomes, as sex characteristics are determined largely by hormones. Though think that’s determined largely in the womb, so whatever happens to one would happen to the other, meaning it’d be quite the circumstance if they managed different sex characteristics.
Identical twins are genetically identical. So two boys, or two girls. They’re both either XX or XY because the egg split.
Fraternal twins share a womb, but come from two different eggs, and so while they CAN be both XX or both XY, fraternal twins can also be one boy, one girl.
I just want to note that sex and gender can be more complicated than that, but that’s not what’s going on with Walky and Sal.
Identical means literally identical. Different genders means not identical.
Those 4 responses were not there before…
Pffft! This always happens. It’s the best and worst part of the comments section. To be fair I am aware opposite gender identical twins can’t exist. I just thought it was this.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HalfIdenticalTwins
It’s Walky is even listed on that page. (Not that tvtropes is a reliable source)
Thank you for all the feedback!
Even the point of that trope is that the twins in question aren’t REALLY identical twins, though.
I thing I had not known until tonight is that there is at least one known set of semi-identical twins, who share 100% of their maternal DNA but only 50% of their paternal DNA. Biology is always full of surprises.
I just still think it’s kind of funny that David and Maggie had a set of fraternal twins, after he’d been writing comics about fraternal twins for years.
They’re not identical. Walky is the one without boobs.
Sal left that party minutes before Amber arrived. Checking the tags, Amazi-Girl has seen Sal and Walky in the hallway exactly once, but she might not even have noticed Walky, for reasons.
I think you cannot get the height-difference with Sal being taller from indentical twins with different sex chromosomes (according to Detective Conan at least, you only get that by one of them somehow loosing the Y chromosome and that one turns out female and smaller because of Turner Syndrome).
Hm, google states that you can get twins from the same egg with different sex chromosomes and both having two sex chromosomes, in cases where the original inseminated egg had XXY chromosomes. This wouldn’t get the hight-effect described in DC. Still, it’s unlikely this is the case with Sal and Walky, because they have a lot of different bodily characteristics like different skin coloring, hair texture, height, …
Height is something that can be impacted by a lot of outside factors, though.
Like boots.
Ah, fuck.
oh no oh no oh no this can’t be happening how am I going to sleep tonight???
I just don’t have five bucks to shell out for power over time 😛
lol that ship hadn’t even cleared the dock before it got torpedoed
Hey let’s not over react here there’s still a chance it can go a little longer…….there’s no chance is there?
Well I guess a good way to some this up then would be: https://youtu.be/3Ni_DD15y80
As the Great Willis has reminded us on twitter, it’s only $5 a month to read tomorrow’s strip on Patreon.
You know with his buffer, he could really clean up by charging $5.00 for one day ahead, $10. for two days, $20 for three days, $50. for four days, $100 for five days and a solid week ahead for $200 a month. But you’re only eligible for the next step up if you’re already subscribing at the previous level.
Let’s not get greedy. It’s hard enough remembering what’s been published on here and what hasn’t as it is sometimes.
…. and the glasses fall from her eyes.
I wonder if we’re finally gonna see Sal’s hand.
Immediately after leaving dock, the S. S. Garbage Skowl swerves onto a collision course with the iceberg Disappointed Nemesis.
Why not adjust that metaphor so that it instead refers to the SS Titanic‘s almost-collision with the SS City of New York as the former was leaving harbor?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_New_York#Post-war
(that little fun fact is one of my favorite bits of Titanic trivia, by the way – you can almost taste the foreshadowing present in the fact that the Titanic missed a ship named City of New York while on her way to…the city of New York.)
For Willis (besides the expected “damn you”):
https://goo.gl/images/yCB3BY
This does NOT look like a job for Amazi-Girl.
But I bet she’s going to show up anyways.
She’s better. She and Sal have a date, and all.
OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII–
-P IS SINKING!
Is that what you were trying to say?
Kill Bill siren in 3..2..1..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOy6hqzfsAs
There ya go
Thanks!!
One more thing to make me feel ancient. I love Kill Bill, but to me that siren is the Ironside intro.
So who here thinks that, or at least wonders if, Sal was there for yesterday’s strip and just didn’t say anything until now?
I don’t. If she were silent then there was no reason for her not to be silent now.
She could have been silent then to see what would happen.
After all, Amber initiated the kiss yesterday.
But today, as soon as Walky admits a desire to continue and starts to do so, thereby confirming him being “terrible”, Sal speaks.
Wasn’t it always the difference between the people who are atrative to loads of people and those that don’t, that the former can jump from one relationship to the next whatever without pause, while the others just don’t have the opportunity?
(Speaking as one without the opportunity: it might not be a wise choice most of the time, but why involve moral demerits?)
I’m not sure what you’re saying.
But since they’re on Garbage Roof, and Walky already said he’d be terrible if he got involved with Amber so quickly, they’ve already brought “morals” into it and judged themselves negatively.
I was referring to the comments moralizing, not the characters.
But I wasn’t speaking on Walky’s morals. I was giving a potential reason why Sal might have been there for the other strip yet remained silent.
Well that’s the death of that, probably.
Why am I loving this so much? >w<
YES. I wasn’t expecting this and it’s delicious.
and so, they both eloped to become trailer trash together lol
Honestly, yes please.
I am 100% here for this, this is the content I signed up for
COLLISION TIME.
Oh, hai Amber. Is it Freakout o’ Clock time yet?
They didn’t even get to the licky style tung action yet. Sal is really good at that cock blocking.
If Walky keeps getting with Danny’s exes then…
oh no
He’ll take a ukelele lesson from his sister?
Is that what the millennials are calling it?
That’s why Sal’s appalled, isn’t it.
well that was quick
SAL, DON’T CLAM-JAM!
Seriously. She doesn’t know her effect on Amber so I don’t her responsible for the freakout I fear in the future, but interrupting an early hookup is just rude.
Hey, she’s the older twin, which gives her the right to snarkily comment on any and all hook ups, kisses, and relationships he gets himself into.
To be fair this isn’t the first time it’s happened to walky: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/introduced/
Clam jam? WHY IS THAT A PHRASE?!
AFAB equivalent to cock-block.
Everybody get up, it’s time to jam now.
Jam with your clam like you’re on the lam!
Come and slam, and welcome to the jam!
Ok, 1, 2, 3 let’s jam!
*saxophones*
Sixties music was dirty but also suitable for tender ears.
Jam up and jelly tight
My, my, my baby
Now you’re outta sight
Jam up and jelly tight
You look a little naughty
But you’re so polite
Jam up and jelly tight
You won’t say you will but
There’s a chance that you might
For real, just let these kids smooch.
Nope. Not allowed.
I swear on my copy of Spider-Man 3, those wacky kids had better get to smooch more. And I don’t take that movie’s name in vain.
Same, but with less faith in Spider-Man 3. (I mean, Sandman was great, but past that… I’d rather watch that movie with the Bat-credit card.)
I’ll take no sass about Harry’s character arc, the climactic battle, or Eric Foreman Jr.
So sass about Emo Parker and his… dancing is still on the table? Sweet!
I hate to be the “Joe” around here, but you shouldn’t need a sock to get some privacy.
Don’t rank socks, Bagge. 😛
It’s a sacred sibling right, nay, duty to be the anti-wingman/woman.
Especially if they’re older, as my brother has frequently informed me.
Noooooo let them be happy
Mmm, that’s some tasty garb-… ech, okay, I don’t like ‘garbage’ as a pet name/term of endearment.
Gets gross a wee bit too quickly for my tastes.
Ohhhh this is gonna end badly
Wow, this made me smile in the “my day is brightened” kind of way.
So, will Amber’s reaction to Sal force her to explain her Sal connection to Walky, and by extension Sal herself, thus bringing her the very beginning of some kind of resolution to that whole resulting mess? Or is that too optimistic of me? Meh, the day is too bright for doubt.
Ok Look just Like with Joyce’s internal Trauma we’re going to have to address this sooner or later. She’s on buddy buddy term with her right now but yet she still can’t face her for some reasonew, most likely because she doesn’t know how sal’s going to react when she eventually remembers her.
But still there’s only one way past this.
Bury her head in the sand and hope Sal goes away? 😛
The reason is that Amber still has panic attacks when Sal gets too close because she still has PTSD from the robbery
Proximity to Sal might NEVER stop triggering panic attacks
Geez…You know I wonder if Sal is struggling with PTSD front the incident as well. I mean she’s the one who got stabbed I’m just dying to find out what her reaction will be when she discover’s who Amber is.
Maybe not over Amber, but it might have something to do with why she really doesn’t like uncovering her hand. PTSD related guilt and shame are two incredible b-words.
Well, that and what’s almost assuredly a really nasty scar from the knife through her hand.
Fair warning…this is a Game of Thrones link, knives and blood, you know the drill:
“So many veins in the wrist….
I miss Oberyn.
She did recently (but pre-Ryan) manage to have a safe interaction with Sal – no talking, and Amber was in the privacy chairs, but she invited Sal to local play of Mario Kart and that went fine, so she’s starting to get past ‘the mere sight of Sal triggers a panic attack and AG taking over’. Of course, there’s a difference between setting up a safe, low-stakes interaction on your own terms and being surprised like this.
Well, bare in mind that once Sal walked up close to Amber, Amber looked like she was about to have an anxiety attack before she threw the AG voice around to get Sal out of her face.
This looks a lot more like Walky’s “I’m flunking math and that is FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE” smile to me, than one of his genuine smiles. Lookit the crazy eyed grimace in panel 2.
That smile looks like the real deal to me.
I think I’m going to have to agree with Cyfarfod on this one. That slightly raised lower eyelid makes all the difference for me.
I read the raised lower eyelid as giddiness, which just adds to seeing the smile as genuine.
That was my thought process.
OK, collected some Walky faces. Fair is fair, I believe abuse (due to some IRL shit) has a tendency to be highly cyclical so I have a lot of trouble not being super suspicious of Amber since she isn’t… IMO… doing much to manage her mental health.
PLAUSIBLE GENUINE WALKY SMILES
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/checkingin/ (panel 2)
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/snice/ (panel 2)
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/spreadsheet/ (panel 2)
IMO DENIAL/STRESS BASED WALKY SMILES
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/grueling/ (panel 2)
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/contained/ (panel 2)
IN CONCLUSION- Walky sure does smile in the second panel of a lot of damn comics, eh?
Lastly, here he’s not smiling but he’s got those EYES again…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/contained/ (last panel)
Why did I not see this coming yesterday? I had 24 hours to guess that this would happen, but somehow I did not.
*siren music from Kill Bill kicks in*
Welp…
… Honestly if they were gonna start kissing before the Sal thing came clear this is probably the best remaining time for it.
… And shit. Sal might not remember Amber personally… but the last time they shared a strip was earlier that day after Amber was escaping the grade stealing. This might all come out at once. Fuuuuuuuck.
…Okay, first I thought the grades would come out. Then I thought it would be her freaking out at Sal (from their perspective) out of nowhere and for no good reason. I didn’t think it might be both.
Shiiiiit. This is getting messier by the minute. I love it. *keyboards up some popcorn*
The grades aren’t that important, since it’s a C walky still fails…. hooray for failing?
Since when is a C failing?
My friend once took a class where anything below an A was failing. Like, to meet the requirements of the program that the class was part of, you needed to get an A in it or something. And she didn’t get an A, so she wasn’t able to complete the degree she’d been going for.
Anyway, I think a C might just be failing by Walky’s standards in this case, but different grades can be considered failing in different circumstances.
I’ve been in courses that I needed a DN or HD in, while people in the same class but in different programs could count a CR or P1.
C usually means a repeat right ? To me if you haft to repeat a class then it’s a fail.
A C generally means you’ve passed. If the class is a prerequisite for further classes in that area, there may be requirements like needing a 3.0 in it to move forward, but Walky doesn’t currently seem to be planning to move on to more advanced math courses anyway.
But his mom has plans that involve no Cs and more math.
The important thing is Amber changed them (which could get both her and Walky expelled), and if Walky’s kissing someone who Sal saw stealing his records right after a breakup… I mean, she tried to trade sex for grades so she doesn’t actually have all that much room to judge, but she did put in the effort and improve under her own power and Walky’s barely tried. And it’s pretty clear nothing about screwing Jason really felt good to Sal.
I’m not at all sure Sal had any clue what Amber was doing, if she even noticed her.
And drunk Sal did rave about the size of Jason’s equipment, if that suggests anything. 🙂
*imagines BBCC upending his keyboard over a bowl, and a bowlful of popcorn falls out*
*her but yeah, pretty much this. I have popcorn. It’s yummy. 😛
Sister, that could be the name of my autobiography.
oh shit, meet fan
I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything.
Because the moderation filter still flags all my posts. 😛
Also I know that Sal and Walky are more realistic lightweights in this setting and how long alcohol generally stays effective!
Their alcohol tolerance is none.
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!
Well this was fun while it lasted, wouldn’t mind it lasting longer but still a sweet moment. Loved listing to “Electric feeling” while reading the last 2 stripes and the first 3 panels of this one before it all came to a screeching halt.
Nobody panic! Don’t forget Amber can throw her voice.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/ravine/
As Willis explained in the comments of that strip, her ability to do that was situational – helped a great deal by the fact that she was in a large room (with a bit of an echo effect as a result of its size), rather than outside.
She’s not indoors here.
I like to imagine that she tries to throw her voice before she removes her mouth from Walky’s, and it’s just a mess.
Or maybe Walky magically absorbs Amber’s Amazi-voice and Sal thinks Walky is Amazi-Gril thus giving Amber the moment she needs to escape!
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
Phew, glad that’s out of the open.
I mean bad for Amber x Walky, but she knows now.
I’m…sorry, Sal?
We all are Sal
Really, though
Not the first thing I thought would go wrong, but a place to start
Calling it now. Tomorrow’s strip is going to be the end-of-chapter one with a bunch of people falling asleep in bed.
And after that we’ll begin a chapter about the Amber/Sal blowup, maybe with a bit of conniving Blaine thrown in, titled “Flyin’ to the Red”.
THREESOME! Wait, wait, sorry, what am I thinking. We need Faz in here.
No, not the mask! Leave it on! Leave it on.
Sals not always a moment killer but when she does she kills it.
Well, this could be interesting or catastrophic, depending on just how sadistically-determined Willis is to punish Amber for daring to exist and be happy.
Don’t forget both. It could be both.
DAMN THATS A MOMENT!
Welp, here comes the plot
Next week will be seven days of Steve eating cereal.
Grapenuts, it is.
honey bunches of oats
Sal, did nobody tell you no one likes a gooseberry?
Finally, Amber and Amazigirl meet face to face!
Billie’s got great intuition, she called it from the start.
Okay, dafuq is Sal doing up there?!
Looking to console her brother maybe, but it looks like laundry girl is already doing a good job of that….with her mouth.
She is a regular smoker, so probably stepping outside for a cig.
[cue an image of the detonation of the Tsar Bomb]
Suddenly, the Marvin Gaye record stops.
Person 1: “What’s going on?”
Person 2: “We can’t talk until she starts moving again”
Welp, back to the drawing board…
…I mean my sketch book.
…which is what I call the phone I’m currently drawing in.(on?)
Shit he actually reads the comments
RUN
Thinking about it, I’ve long thought that Sal is the only person who would be able to really get through to Amber and make her confront her demons. Maybe the title of the next chapter isn’t negative at all but is all about Amber’s journey (with Walky and Sal as guides and supports) to the core of her many psychological problems.
That sounds like a good storyline but I really hope it’s not the next one, because Willis once said he was considering re-titling it ‘Walking With Sal’ and I’ve been getting hyped for a Sal centred storyline ever since (plus I’m kinda really hoping the extended flashback sequence he mentioned on twitter will be either the robbery from her POV or how Marcie lost her voice).
Yay, no more of this ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop,’ it’s here!
Erm.
I, kind of… totally forgot he was her brother.
ofg, the drama!
I guess, on garbage roof everyone can be garbage. Cuz interrupting a first make-out like that is pretty garby.
Dorothy is Sal’s sort-of-friend, so she probably knows about the last day or so’s drama between her and Walky. She’s likely acting out of a degree of concern at the moment.
It’s impressive how quickly my expectations have shifted from “this could possibly shake out poorly” to “someone is 100 percent getting stabbed on Garbage Roof”
Na, no ones gettin’ stabbed. Eventually the truth who Sal and Dorothy are to each other needs to come out.
And, pray tell, what are Sal and Dorothy to each other?
Sal is Dorothy’s RA’s girlfriend’s former roommate.
“And what does that make us?”
Contextually related.
Dammit Sal ! You ruined the ship! See guys, this is why we can’t have nice things.
Willis?
I legit put my phone down and ran around the room with my arms in the air. FINALLY Amber will find out about the link between walky and sal
What is appalling about this? No one’s trust has been broken.
They both love Garbage, that’s what’s appalling.
The eyes, especially panel two, are captivating. I don’t know if Amber has looked this way before. She could even be called sly.
Who left the roof door unlocked?
sal, cmon, where’s your sense of sibling loyalty? dude was about to get some rebound action
Per my question yesterday— I guess she does now…
I knew this would implode, I just didn’t expect it so soon
The fact that’s Sal of all people saying this is what makes this extra funny. Not ’cause she’s his sister but because it’s just her haha
I hope sal does not judge walky, shes hardly blameless for doing stuff like this, seeing as he was sleeping with that teacher.
Of all the people who could have shown up on the roof, Sal is the best one it could possibly be. And that last panel should be the book title.
I’ve wondered if Amber knew or was going to know that Walky and Sal are siblings. Given her past trauma and stabby tendencies.
This is the part were everything falls. Well, better now than after some period of calm that is a trap.
Meh, I liked it better with them just being platonic friends. *shrug*
5 seconds. That’s a new record for shortest relationship lifespan
*Someone* had to beat Taniguchi’s record…