The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
Spinnerette
Krazy Krow, Rocio Zucchi, Pablo Rey
When a lab accident gives Heather Brown spider powers and six arms, she does what any midwest comic geek would do: Become Ohio's #3 superhero!
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Killjoys
Flatw00ds
When two disgraced ex-feds fall backwards into trouble with the clown mafia, getting out in one piece is gonna be no joke!
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
Patrik the Vampire
Bree Paulsen
Patrik loves to knit, bake, and help his friends while dealing with his own demons... like his thirst for blood because, oh yeah--he's a vampire.
Folklore
Adam Ma, Colin Tan Wei
A superhuman horror story focused on a small band of survivors trying to navigate a war-torn world in the aftermath of the Federation’s collapse.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Anacrine Complex
Sae Cotton
A superhuman heist involving probably too many pigeons than entirely necessary.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Far to the North
Allison Shaw
Kelu turns to the monsters of her remote mountain home when her family is held hostage by outsiders.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Lunar Blight
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Lunar Blight is a gothic horror story about an elite knight serving a moon cult who must choose between upholding his honoured duty or condemning everything he’s grown to know.
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
Clockwork
Chikuto
Cog Kleinschmidt is a diligent, quiet worker at the Mercia Fortress, the world power's leading stronghold. His orderly life is thrown into chaos when an enemy kingdom sends a diplomat for peace talks. This diplomat needs something from Cog - whether he agrees to their terms or not!
Drugs & Wires
Mary Safro, Io Black
Dan used to be a VR operator until his brain got fried by malware. Now he's stuck delivering packages in a post-Soviet hellhole all while trying to adjust to his new life and find some answers.
Come Hell or High Water
Jenny/Star, Mori
Prince Gladimir was never meant to fall for a pirate. Swearing off love for duty, the threat of war propels him back into the Captain’s world of high seas and high stakes. Their relationship could be the thing to save the kingdom of Yvoire - or destroy it.
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Heart of Gold
Eliot Baum, Viv Tanner
A pianist with failing eyesight seeks out a priest with a miraculous healing touch, drawing him deeper into a world of miracles and curses.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Solstoria
Angelica Maria
After her brother goes missing, Samantha vows to become a Knight and help those around her in the Kingdom of St. Helena.
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Goblins
Ellipsis
A fantasy RPG as told through the eyes of the low-level monsters.
Tove
Severin
The end of the world is coming, and Tove doesn't want to be a hero, but SOMEONE has to look after her little brother.
Go Get a Roomie
Clover
Experience the queer journey of an upbeat hippie and the friendships she makes along the way! A tale of self-discovery and love of many forms.
Demon Studies
Miyuli
Four students summon and study potentially dangerous demons within the walls of the mysterious Summerland University.
How to be a Werewolf
Shawn Lenore
Malaya Walters was bitten by a werewolf as a child. After being raised by her human family, she faces the chance to learn what being a werewolf is really like as an adult.
Fairmeadow
Kendra P. / KP
A wayward soldier finds herself in a pacifist commune deep in the wilderness of a war-weary land. Living in isolation brings her closer to those she was sworn to kill than she could ever imagine - but also threatens to tear the place apart.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
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Very likely. Now when Ruth is doing better she can’t use her as an excuse to skip classes. OOOOOPS, TURN OUT WALKY NEEDS A FRIEND TO NAVIGATE HIM THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIMES. TO THE MURDER CAVE TO DRINK ROCKET FUEL!!!
I think she’s going from “I’ll badmouth her a bit to make this seem better” (and perhaps letting out some restrained irritation at Dorothy) to “ooooops, fucked that up, better change tack fast”.
I personally read it as “deliberately over casual?” Like, when one is Tough and Cool, the acceptable levels of overt emotional display are low, so comforting someone in distress often involves intense sideways glances as one attempts to read the level of distress without looking directly at them or indicating that you are in any way worried.
I do notice that in contrast to her appearance of not caring before, Joyce does appear sympathetic here. Wonder what’ll come of that, especially since Joyce is… marginally more tactful than Billie?
Surprised no one mentioned Johny. And if we bring in everyone’s favorite breakup experts Ben and Jerry we can make milk shakes as well as bad decisions. Although combining some of the aforementioned with some flavors of icecream is a bad decision unto itself (Tequila cookie dough strikes me as a particularly bad combination.)
I mean, do we know how many serious relationships Billie had pre-Ruth? Especially since Alice seemed to be much less of a formal relationship due to Billie’s internalized biphobia, and who knows if Walky actually realized they were a thing at all. Certainly Billie responded to seeing/being confronted by Alice again badly, since that spurred the initial sexy lesbian suicide pact.
… Yeah for all we know Billie might not know how to handle a breakup any better than Walky. At least not of a serious relationship.
Walky definitely knows Billie and Alice were banging. He joked about how being a drama hurricane was apparently sexually transmissible (implying Alice caught it from Billie. Or vice versa).
Thank you! Yeah that definitely means that he knew, and now that I checked he witnessed the ‘I cut off contact over the summer to BREAK UP because you have a serious problem and are endangering people’ speech. So uh yeah, one breakup we know she had and he saw was seriously ugly.
I dunno if it’s reading this comic or real life but ” breaking up and no longer willing to talk to someone ” does not rank under “ugly breakup” to me. Ugly starts somewhere around “talking seriously bad about the other person to all and sundry” (venting to selected friends doesn’t count), works it way down with “intentionally telling lies about the other person to make them look bad” (i.e. the talker actually knows they are lies, not talking about the two side of the coin that look incredibly different), and from there on spirals downward into intentionally hurting, stalking, …
Breaking up and no longer willing to talk says “stayed in far too long” to me.
Which would be a coward’s breakup Billie had reason to resent, but still there’s some space still before “ugly”.
Or maybe you have a word that goes beyond ugly you can use for worse?
I generally use ‘ugly’ to refer to any unpleasant break up or post breakup interaction, yeah. Seems like different uses.
It seems like the fight in the lunchroom was confirmation for Billie that they didn’t just fall out of touch but Alice didn’t want her anymore and cut her off. So, sort of like a break up?
Sort of like a break up sounds right. Because it was sort of like a relationship.
But not an acknowledged one and probably more serious on Alice’s side. Or possibly Billie was just in denial. Couldn’t actually be dating a girl, just fooling around with her friend, like girls do.
And probably having drunken sex with boys all along.
For me it’s the ‘saying all of this in public, with friends around, including that detail about the drunken car accident that New Friend probably doesn’t know about’ combined with the ‘cut you off without explicitly telling you we were broken up* and you apparently didn’t realize this’ thing. Neither Billie nor Alice comes off particularly well from that detail.
* Granted, we’re pretty sure there was some serious ambiguity about that relationship, but since Alice was invested enough to say she thought she loved Billie, still not a good way to do things.
I’m not sure if he’s saying Billie isn’t good at breakup counseling or if he’s saying he will take 10.000 h to be good at not being with Dorothy.
Or both.
(And you know the saying that if you learn a new instrument (or craft) , you have to invest 10.000 h in practice to become good at it?)
I thought he was joking that Billie had had 10,000 breakups, so that’s why she was good at it.
Just, like, as a kind of mean banter to undermine her tone of superiority (and also because she seemed to be annoying him)
I mean, Billie /is/ doing a terrible job, and she’s also always assuming that her guidance is good because of her experience — so Walky’s comment is, like, poking at that presumption, /because/ she’s being so unhelpful and condescending?
LOL the more I try to explain myself the more complicated it seems, but it really does make sense in my head. o.O
I’m not sure what activity Walky is referring to practicing for 10000 hours to master, whether it’s for Billie or himself but I think she’s not the most helpful person right now.
Ah. That makes a bit more sense. Billie has said two negative things about the breakup/Dorothy already and it’s only been a few seconds.
Imagine what more she can say over the next few hours.
I feel really bad for Walky and he seems to be in a bad place, but his disgruntled faces are pleasing to me. I don’t know why; they’re just so fun to look at…
honestly as bad as dorothy THINKS she was for walky (cause how hard he started working for her) she was really the opposite. i hope they get back together for both teir same; -;
I think they both have individual issues that need confronting before they can get back together or date someone else,* but yeah they both brought out good sides in each other and could be a really good long-term pair.
* Dorothy: leisure is not frivolous, it’s a necessity. You cannot literally do everything, all the time, but you also can’t go full-force to the detriment of your hygiene, sleep, eating habits, and physical and mental well-being. There’s more than one path to the presidency and/or Yale and Smarting Harder until you succeed probably isn’t the best one. (And even then, it doesn’t matter that you’re the perfect candidate on paper because Other People will always be tricky. Keep dreaming, just know that like, people suck.)
Walky: OH DEAR GOD THAT SELF-ESTEEM/SELF-WORTH VIA EFFORTLESS ACADEMIC SUCCESS. Basically the Dorothy thing was a double-edged sword because while she inspired him to act better, she also inadvertently reinforced some of his underlying thinking he was garbage. This is actually the one that I think really needs to get dealt with before they get back together for long-term working out rather than just ‘Dorothy You’re Gonna Burn Out, Stop.’
Dorothy also needs to work on her thing of setting boundaries and then casually blowing through them. Which ties into your “leisure is not frivolous” point, but isn’t quite the same.
Also, good to know that Walky told one sister he and his girlfriend broke up, and that one sister can express concern for his emotional well-being. Also explains why she wasn’t concerned he was missing class today, habit of skipping aside – this is his first major breakup, and if he was already in a bad headspace wrt this class, it would not help at all.
Ah, that makes sense. She knew about the pause, assumed it was actually a break up. Probably knows nothing about the pause being a lie or the actual break up that followed, but she’s checking in on him anyway, because she already thought it was a break up.
More I think that Dorothy had proven to herself that she couldn’t stick with the “pause”. Because she’s bad at sticking to the kinds of limits she thinks she needs to set.
Mind you, I’m not convinced the break will go any better for her than the pause did.
Billie’s thoughts: “Okay, how can I make Walky understand how little I think of him? What’s the worst thing I can say in a breakup?”
Billie’s mouth: “She was the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.”
Billie’s thoughts: “A good start, yes… but I can do better. What if she thinks the world of her? Then he might think he can still get a girl who’s almost as good as her, someone who’s still pretty good. I’ve got to crush that hope immediately. And also belittle him for liking her in the first place.”
Billie’s mouth: “Not that she was that great or anything!”
I’m a bit surprised. I was hoping Billie would actually try to support Walky during this time, but I actually didn’t think it would happen.
Though she’s not doing a good job of it, I’m glad she’s trying.
It is quite common for people to most strongly object to perceived flaws in others that are in fact their own flaws. Freud called it projection. Freud was an ass, but a very smart ass.
A prime example these days is known for his orange hair.
Sheltered, pampered, nag? Words that could describe Billie too. While I do think Dorothy has a problem with workoholism Billie has a real problem with alcoholism and wouldn’t even be there if Jason looked the other way.
You know, I really want to know what the gossip chain looked like leading up to this point. I’m guessing that Joyce told Sal but I can’t help wonder if she got told off for being a bit too gleeful about it. I’m basing that on her expression in panel 2.
The combination of her reflexive dislike for Walky’s life attitude and her jealousy about his relationship with Dorothy makes most of Joyce’s reactions to Walky fairly uncool.
She looks best when standing next to… well, Toedad and Roz and (in his uglier moments) Joe. When otherwise besides most of the other main characters… eh. Her best quality aside from that is managing to coax Sarah outside of her shell.
I mean, when Billie comes off as more well-adjusted than you half the time…
She’s certainly not well-adjusted. She’s got a ton of nasty baggage from her religious upbringing. She’s got serious boundary issues.
OTOH, we’ve seen her drop that baggage basically as fast as she’s seen it hurt an actual person. She’s fiercely protective of friends and family of choice – which she’s perhaps too intent on expanding.
Everyone in this comic is messed up in their own way and I like all of them for it. (Other than the outright villains, of course.)
Yeah, Joyce has definite Issues with over-familiarity and boundaries, but at the same time she does legitimately seem to be working on them a bit. Slowly, but a lifetime of relatively limited social opportunities and probably pretty rapidly changing what contacts she had takes a while to readjust, plus whatever stuff she absorbed from church. (Remember, boundaries mean nothing to Jesus, Joyce was homeschooled, and her family changed churches regularly. She probably adopted some of this as a way to make new friends quick.) And she has a LOT of good qualities, as mentioned.
Walky… is it possible that Dorothy dumped you because you weren’t… experience enough? That you didn’t know how to please her enough? Not enough time in the sack to know what to do?
And Billie just confirmed that. You do need to do something for 10,000 hours to be good at that. And Billie just offered to help…
Dorothy has never been one to sugarcoat or lie to her friends and loved ones, so why would she have not brought this up? At what point has any evidence for this come up?
The 10,000 hours stuff is nonsense. I’ve played nearly that much basketball and am still no good. Uncorrectible eye issues, poor coordination, a bad knee. Practice doesn’t make perfect, especially if it is poorly conducted.
I’m glad the Dorothy/Walky relationship is dead. Because it really does open up new avenues and stories for the characters. Dorothy has been kind of a dead end character arc for a while and this will force her to examine elements of her life and personality. Walky too.
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poor walky
Billie means well, but yowch.
Does she mean well, though? Or does she mean to use Walky’s breakup as an excuse to ditch class and get smashed.
why not both
She doesn’t need an excuse, she was perfectly capable of coming up with one herself a few strips ago.
What she needs is someone whose shoulders she can sit on while wearing a trench coat and a false mustache. That’s what Walky is for.
THIS! This made me spit out my morning coffee.
I’m a little concerned about Billie’s motives, not gonna lie.
They’re gonna skip all the rest of their classes and get completely smashed.
Very likely. Now when Ruth is doing better she can’t use her as an excuse to skip classes. OOOOOPS, TURN OUT WALKY NEEDS A FRIEND TO NAVIGATE HIM THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIMES. TO THE MURDER CAVE TO DRINK ROCKET FUEL!!!
Billie saying someone’s girlfriend wasn’t as good as they think. Glass houses.
Considering how they started off, I don’t think Billie was ever in a stage of thinking that about Ruth.
Considering how they started off, I don’t think Billie has ever stopped thinking of Wally as her not-my-boyfriend.
this could be good for walky?
I feel like billies help is beer
Not helpful enough. Dr. Billie proscribes at least 40 proof worth of help.
she could recognize drinking wouldnt help
And she’ll demostrate it first-hand.
Walky is now learning the life lesson: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. All that worrying about depressed Billie? Now it comes back to bite him.
I really hope Billie sticks around for a bit so Walky can really get going.
Also: Hella side-eye from Sal, goddamn.
I’m having trouble reading her expression here. Is she being aloof? Is she angry? And if the latter, wonder why.
My best guess is she somehow knew he was behind her and is suspicious what’s up.
I can’t imagine she hasn’t noticed Walky ditching.
I think she’s going from “I’ll badmouth her a bit to make this seem better” (and perhaps letting out some restrained irritation at Dorothy) to “ooooops, fucked that up, better change tack fast”.
I personally read it as “deliberately over casual?” Like, when one is Tough and Cool, the acceptable levels of overt emotional display are low, so comforting someone in distress often involves intense sideways glances as one attempts to read the level of distress without looking directly at them or indicating that you are in any way worried.
Did I miss Sal finding out they broke up or is she commenting on something else?
*class magically apparates behind him*
I was about to question if they were old enough, but they should all be 17.
*Looks up apparate.* Wait, are you saying that I’m old enough to magically teleport to or from a place?
You had to look it up? I though everyone learned what ‘apparate’ meant from Harry Potter…
I uhh… *Mumbles something about reading other books, and not paying enough attention to the movies to learn new words.*
I do notice that in contrast to her appearance of not caring before, Joyce does appear sympathetic here. Wonder what’ll come of that, especially since Joyce is… marginally more tactful than Billie?
She’s gonna wait until his back is turned before she breaks into a song and dance routine because she’s got Dorothy to herself now.
Master of tact!
Quick, Billie, how many strategies can you try for helping a friend with a break-up? You have thirty seconds, go!
beer. lots if it
I said many strategies!
Billie: Okay, meet Jim, Jack and Jose.
Don’t forget Jameson, Jerry, Juan, and… Jägermeister.
Billie: …and that’s just the “J”s!
I uhh… Okay, gotta admit, I’m a little impressed.
How many alcoholic beverages begin with “J”?
Surprised no one mentioned Johny. And if we bring in everyone’s favorite breakup experts Ben and Jerry we can make milk shakes as well as bad decisions. Although combining some of the aforementioned with some flavors of icecream is a bad decision unto itself (Tequila cookie dough strikes me as a particularly bad combination.)
In Cannery Row, Doc orders a beer milkshake just out of curiosity.
He tells the waitress, “It’s not so bad when you get used to it.”
A good stout in a chocolate malt might even be good.
Beer milkshakes are a thing in Colorado. And yes, yes they are. A vanilla porter goes nicely too.
I’ve done Guinness ice cream floats…
crap I forgot johnny
Vodka and gin probably go well with lemon ice cream.
is Walky saying Billie is bad at helping in the last panel?
Probably, or implying it’s not something Billie is especially practiced in.
I mean, do we know how many serious relationships Billie had pre-Ruth? Especially since Alice seemed to be much less of a formal relationship due to Billie’s internalized biphobia, and who knows if Walky actually realized they were a thing at all. Certainly Billie responded to seeing/being confronted by Alice again badly, since that spurred the initial sexy lesbian suicide pact.
… Yeah for all we know Billie might not know how to handle a breakup any better than Walky. At least not of a serious relationship.
Walky definitely knows Billie and Alice were banging. He joked about how being a drama hurricane was apparently sexually transmissible (implying Alice caught it from Billie. Or vice versa).
Thank you! Yeah that definitely means that he knew, and now that I checked he witnessed the ‘I cut off contact over the summer to BREAK UP because you have a serious problem and are endangering people’ speech. So uh yeah, one breakup we know she had and he saw was seriously ugly.
Yeaaaaahhhh, Walky knows Billie likes the ladies.
*knew I guess. Everyone knows that now.
I dunno if it’s reading this comic or real life but ” breaking up and no longer willing to talk to someone ” does not rank under “ugly breakup” to me. Ugly starts somewhere around “talking seriously bad about the other person to all and sundry” (venting to selected friends doesn’t count), works it way down with “intentionally telling lies about the other person to make them look bad” (i.e. the talker actually knows they are lies, not talking about the two side of the coin that look incredibly different), and from there on spirals downward into intentionally hurting, stalking, …
Breaking up and no longer willing to talk says “stayed in far too long” to me.
I mean, the actual break up was pretty ugly imo, even if their later treatment of each other isn’t.
What do we know about the actual breakup? I think Billie totaled the car and whathername never showed her face again?
I’m referring to the fight in the lunch room. Not much of a break up no but it was pretty ugly.
Which would be a coward’s breakup Billie had reason to resent, but still there’s some space still before “ugly”.
Or maybe you have a word that goes beyond ugly you can use for worse?
You have a point about the fight in the lunch room. Saying all that in public starts to go into “ugly” territory.
I generally use ‘ugly’ to refer to any unpleasant break up or post breakup interaction, yeah. Seems like different uses.
It seems like the fight in the lunchroom was confirmation for Billie that they didn’t just fall out of touch but Alice didn’t want her anymore and cut her off. So, sort of like a break up?
Sort of like a break up sounds right. Because it was sort of like a relationship.
But not an acknowledged one and probably more serious on Alice’s side. Or possibly Billie was just in denial. Couldn’t actually be dating a girl, just fooling around with her friend, like girls do.
And probably having drunken sex with boys all along.
For me it’s the ‘saying all of this in public, with friends around, including that detail about the drunken car accident that New Friend probably doesn’t know about’ combined with the ‘cut you off without explicitly telling you we were broken up* and you apparently didn’t realize this’ thing. Neither Billie nor Alice comes off particularly well from that detail.
* Granted, we’re pretty sure there was some serious ambiguity about that relationship, but since Alice was invested enough to say she thought she loved Billie, still not a good way to do things.
I’m afraid I’m also unsure about what exactly the punchline is trying to say.
I’m not sure if he’s saying Billie isn’t good at breakup counseling or if he’s saying he will take 10.000 h to be good at not being with Dorothy.
Or both.
(And you know the saying that if you learn a new instrument (or craft) , you have to invest 10.000 h in practice to become good at it?)
I thought he was joking that Billie had had 10,000 breakups, so that’s why she was good at it.
Just, like, as a kind of mean banter to undermine her tone of superiority (and also because she seemed to be annoying him)
Nah, it’s that Billie is doing a shit job of being comforting right now, in part because she hasn’t done it much before.
I mean, Billie /is/ doing a terrible job, and she’s also always assuming that her guidance is good because of her experience — so Walky’s comment is, like, poking at that presumption, /because/ she’s being so unhelpful and condescending?
LOL the more I try to explain myself the more complicated it seems, but it really does make sense in my head. o.O
Is he wrong, tho?
Walky has Jason to thank for this… “help”.
As soon as forever is through
I’ll Be Over You…
I’m not sure what activity Walky is referring to practicing for 10000 hours to master, whether it’s for Billie or himself but I think she’s not the most helpful person right now.
Helping someone to navigate through breakup is what he’s referring to. Billie has not done a stellar job of it so far.
Ah. That makes a bit more sense. Billie has said two negative things about the breakup/Dorothy already and it’s only been a few seconds.
Imagine what more she can say over the next few hours.
And this is Billie Helping While Sober.
Billie may be used to nastier breakups? Sometimes this kind of ragging on the ex works.
Of course, starting off with “she was best thing that ever happened to you” kind of counters that.
Still, it’s good to see her reaching out to help Walky, even if she’s not exactly doing a great job.
I feel really bad for Walky and he seems to be in a bad place, but his disgruntled faces are pleasing to me. I don’t know why; they’re just so fun to look at…
honestly as bad as dorothy THINKS she was for walky (cause how hard he started working for her) she was really the opposite. i hope they get back together for both teir same; -;
I think they both have individual issues that need confronting before they can get back together or date someone else,* but yeah they both brought out good sides in each other and could be a really good long-term pair.
* Dorothy: leisure is not frivolous, it’s a necessity. You cannot literally do everything, all the time, but you also can’t go full-force to the detriment of your hygiene, sleep, eating habits, and physical and mental well-being. There’s more than one path to the presidency and/or Yale and Smarting Harder until you succeed probably isn’t the best one. (And even then, it doesn’t matter that you’re the perfect candidate on paper because Other People will always be tricky. Keep dreaming, just know that like, people suck.)
Walky: OH DEAR GOD THAT SELF-ESTEEM/SELF-WORTH VIA EFFORTLESS ACADEMIC SUCCESS. Basically the Dorothy thing was a double-edged sword because while she inspired him to act better, she also inadvertently reinforced some of his underlying thinking he was garbage. This is actually the one that I think really needs to get dealt with before they get back together for long-term working out rather than just ‘Dorothy You’re Gonna Burn Out, Stop.’
Dorothy also needs to work on her thing of setting boundaries and then casually blowing through them. Which ties into your “leisure is not frivolous” point, but isn’t quite the same.
Also true. And probably, ultimately, some kind of readjustment about her priorities and the fact that they change.
Oh Billie. You… have issues.
Also, good to know that Walky told one sister he and his girlfriend broke up, and that one sister can express concern for his emotional well-being. Also explains why she wasn’t concerned he was missing class today, habit of skipping aside – this is his first major breakup, and if he was already in a bad headspace wrt this class, it would not help at all.
She called it back when they were on pause: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/02-this-is-the-way-that-we-love/coin/
I really need to check the archives. But then it’s midnight.
Ah, that makes sense. She knew about the pause, assumed it was actually a break up. Probably knows nothing about the pause being a lie or the actual break up that followed, but she’s checking in on him anyway, because she already thought it was a break up.
She probably heard ‘pause’ and figured ‘pauses almost never work, she pretty much dumped him’.
Yeah, especially since it was a ‘still like each other but one member Does Not Have Time’ thing, Dorothy needed to commit to the clean break.
More I think that Dorothy had proven to herself that she couldn’t stick with the “pause”. Because she’s bad at sticking to the kinds of limits she thinks she needs to set.
Mind you, I’m not convinced the break will go any better for her than the pause did.
Another classic Walky/Billie interaction, this should get framed too.
These two are the best pair surrogate siblings.
Oh, Billie, I love you and your terrible brand of helping. Hijinks? Hijinks!
Well you can’t say she isn’t trying.
[Altogether now:]Very, very trying.
So I guess Billie managed to make it to class after all.
Billie’s thoughts: “Okay, how can I make Walky understand how little I think of him? What’s the worst thing I can say in a breakup?”
Billie’s mouth: “She was the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.”
Billie’s thoughts: “A good start, yes… but I can do better. What if she thinks the world of her? Then he might think he can still get a girl who’s almost as good as her, someone who’s still pretty good. I’ve got to crush that hope immediately. And also belittle him for liking her in the first place.”
Billie’s mouth: “Not that she was that great or anything!”
Billie’s thoughts: “This is working out great!”
Pretty much. Sometimes Billie’s the kind of friend you don’t need any additional enemies to.
I’m a bit surprised. I was hoping Billie would actually try to support Walky during this time, but I actually didn’t think it would happen.
Though she’s not doing a good job of it, I’m glad she’s trying.
I agree. She’s very trying.
Walky speaks fluent Billie, so he likely understands, even if he can’t quite appreciate it now.
Never have I liked Billie more than I did on Pannel 4. Thank you Billie
The irony of Billie calling anyone else sheltered and pampered…
It is quite common for people to most strongly object to perceived flaws in others that are in fact their own flaws. Freud called it projection. Freud was an ass, but a very smart ass.
A prime example these days is known for his orange hair.
Sheltered, pampered, nag? Words that could describe Billie too. While I do think Dorothy has a problem with workoholism Billie has a real problem with alcoholism and wouldn’t even be there if Jason looked the other way.
Aaaaaalpha bongo!
if you look closely you can actually pinpoint the exact moment his heart breaks in two!
You know what?
Yeah. I’m down for this.
Nice of Sal to ask
You know, I really want to know what the gossip chain looked like leading up to this point. I’m guessing that Joyce told Sal but I can’t help wonder if she got told off for being a bit too gleeful about it. I’m basing that on her expression in panel 2.
No gossip chain at all, I think.
Sal knew about the pause and assumed it would be a real breakup. That’s probably all she still knows.
I’m pretty sure that’s 10,000 hours before you become an expert at something.
I love how Billie trying to be better is still messed up as ever.
But You’re trying. Just not well.
Pretty uncool of Joyce, outing him like that infront of the others.
The combination of her reflexive dislike for Walky’s life attitude and her jealousy about his relationship with Dorothy makes most of Joyce’s reactions to Walky fairly uncool.
Joyce has been my least favorite main character for awhile now and just continues to dig her hole with every strip she’s in.
She looks best when standing next to… well, Toedad and Roz and (in his uglier moments) Joe. When otherwise besides most of the other main characters… eh. Her best quality aside from that is managing to coax Sarah outside of her shell.
I mean, when Billie comes off as more well-adjusted than you half the time…
I like Joyce a lot.
She’s certainly not well-adjusted. She’s got a ton of nasty baggage from her religious upbringing. She’s got serious boundary issues.
OTOH, we’ve seen her drop that baggage basically as fast as she’s seen it hurt an actual person. She’s fiercely protective of friends and family of choice – which she’s perhaps too intent on expanding.
Everyone in this comic is messed up in their own way and I like all of them for it. (Other than the outright villains, of course.)
Yeah, Joyce has definite Issues with over-familiarity and boundaries, but at the same time she does legitimately seem to be working on them a bit. Slowly, but a lifetime of relatively limited social opportunities and probably pretty rapidly changing what contacts she had takes a while to readjust, plus whatever stuff she absorbed from church. (Remember, boundaries mean nothing to Jesus, Joyce was homeschooled, and her family changed churches regularly. She probably adopted some of this as a way to make new friends quick.) And she has a LOT of good qualities, as mentioned.
man, 10 000 hours of sex ?
At once. If you have to restart, you reset the clock.
That Willis has read Chuck Jones’ autobiography and knows of that alt-text surprises me not one bit.
Walky… is it possible that Dorothy dumped you because you weren’t… experience enough? That you didn’t know how to please her enough? Not enough time in the sack to know what to do?
And Billie just confirmed that. You do need to do something for 10,000 hours to be good at that. And Billie just offered to help…
Do I see another Slipshine coming?
Considering that Billie and Walky see each other as effectively being siblings (not biologically related, but nevertheless), I’ll pass, kthnx.
Dorothy has never been one to sugarcoat or lie to her friends and loved ones, so why would she have not brought this up? At what point has any evidence for this come up?
wtf
Hey, everyone’s missed THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of this comic!
MIKE. Lurking just behind Walky, poised to strike.
Remember, this is HIS chapter, we need to pay attention to him…
Anyone who says 10,000 hours equal mastery has never seen a cabbie drive.
The 10,000 hours stuff is nonsense. I’ve played nearly that much basketball and am still no good. Uncorrectible eye issues, poor coordination, a bad knee. Practice doesn’t make perfect, especially if it is poorly conducted.
I’m glad the Dorothy/Walky relationship is dead. Because it really does open up new avenues and stories for the characters. Dorothy has been kind of a dead end character arc for a while and this will force her to examine elements of her life and personality. Walky too.
Hey I think I saw one of your books on a audiobook download site
In the hover text, who is addressing who?
Fuck off, Billie. Walky doesn’t need romantic advice from a potential suicide practitioner.
Sometimes you forget that Billie is Sal and Walky’s sister in all but blood. Sometimes, like today, you remember it.
GOD DAMN YOU WILLIS THERE ARE 2 AMBER CLIFFFHANGERS HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CARE ABOUT OTHER CHARACTERS!
you’ll be thankful for the days when there were only two
You are a mean one, Mr Willis.
I just started nervous laughing because its keeping me from crying.
Wow, that was unexpected. True, but still.
Billie will be just the tonic for Sally that he was for her here.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/mccrankypants/
Just passing along the Dina cameo in Questionable Content today. Well done.
Yeah, this was awesome
We just don’t know!
Completely OT Willis, but has anyone ever told that you look like Guillermo del Torro?