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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 11hDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8d
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 21d
Gwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Ash Parrish @adashtra.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Katie @katiestp.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Hunter S Schafer @bolt451.bsky.social ⋅ 4d
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(he/him)
⚧
This is fine.
I’m okay with the events that are unfolding currently.
That’s okay. Things are going to be okay.
*melts*
I only discovered this meme recently, so: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-fine
Oh dear. So how long were you in the coma?
But the sun still shines!
I honestly don’t know if I should wipe the tears from your eyes, or have another glass of Mexican wine.
Things were never going to be ok until this happened. Now they can be, or they might not be.
Size matters not.
Judge me by my size, do you?
Sometimes the most dangerous animals are the smallest ones, just ad Dennis Nedry
+3 for matching comment to avatar.
Tell her who you are, Ethan. If someone takes you hostage they owe you free motorcycle rides, like, for life.
Pretty sure that’s in the Magna Carta.
I like this idea of passing laws involving future technologies. “If there is ever a conveyance that can hover, and someone helps you move a couch, you shall be required to let them have a turn. They’ll have earned it.”
You should see what effect this little stunt had on future legislation.
I was hoping a few years would improve my view of that scene. =/ Oh well, still love the Doctor. Hate having to wait for Thirteen.
Also, yikes. Awkward and uncomfortable as it would be, I want them to have a talk about this.
They shall pivot..pivot
The 2nd Amendment would have been much better with that kind of foresight.
I maintain that the only problem is we didn’t enforce the “Well-Regulated Militia”. in my dream world, where money is no object, firearm ownership and purchase of ammunition requires maintained certification:yearly training, marksmanship expectations, examinations on proper maintenance and current state and federal ordinances. These courses would be held twice monthly, and attendance of the training course would count as civil service like jury duty so your work can’t punish you for missing a shift or three. The initiate course would drive out every Hollywood misconception about firearms, and there would be a seperate refresher course for returning applicants.
If you fail, your weapons would be sealed in a case as “Collector’s Items” until such time as you pass.
In theory Members of Congress have the authority to call snap musters in their Districts. “All gun owners whose birthday ends in 5 and whose last name ends with E</b) must report to their local Guard Armory on such and such day. Bring ALL arms in possession, unloaded; do not bring ammunition. Arms will be inspected by active duty military and law enforcement personnel and representatives of the arms manufacturing industry. Failure to participate will mean a penalty on next year's income taxes."
Only if you are of noble birth.
If it isn’t, use your TARDIS to ensure that it is
Restorative justice at its finest!
And still, invoking the MC won’t get you into law school.
Everything is lagging aaaaaaaa
the website is farting on me as well
Well it’s obviously not out of gas.
yeah but it still stinks…thankfully it’s passed and is back to normal
Oh the irony.
I knew it, he IS traumatized. I hope someone tells Sal about this soon.
Well, the flashback isn’t red. So that’s a good sign at least.
You won’t see him flying to the red.
I think it’s less traumatized (or it at least pales in comparison to Amber’s, though that’s not saying much) and more “dawning realization”.
I’m not sure about the tense. A trauma can heal and become a memory again. An ugly memory.
However, flashbacks don’t have to be the way they are with amber. They can feel cold. Like you just froze inside. If that’s a flashback, it’s probably more like that, judging by the colour. Since it’s the same colour theme as other stories from the past, I’m guessing memory, not flashback.
I’m curious if he talks to her. That could get interesting.
It’s not quite flashback-blue because the other colours are still there, just blue-tinted. Realisation flashbacks are bluescale,
So yeah, I’m thinking it’s a freeze-up. But it’s normal to have a moment like this when you’re confronted with a bad memory. Trauma is a spectrum like any mental health problem.
I hope he talks to her. I hope she notices the big guy who just stopped in his tracks. Someone’s gotta breach this topic.
There were some early strips where flashbacks had a little color in them. Could be it’s a throwback to those as well?
Is that trauma, or is it just “holy crap it really is her how could I have missed that I’m an idiot”?
Why does one automatically preclude the other? Obviously, he was never as traumatized as Amber (seeing as how it changed her life/mental state), but he could still have some trauma, as well as the “holy crap, it really is her, how could I have missed that, I’m an idiot” realization.
He had a knife to his throat. It’s unlikely to go through that without a trauma. He almost certainly was traumatised. He doesn’t show any signs of ptsd though, so I’m assuming the trauma healed.
You also have to remember that the trauma wasn’t just getting a knife held to his throat. Yes, that was pretty bad — he looks pertty out of it here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/freezeup/ But notice what else happens there. The next part of the trauma is that he sees his best friend ever go nuts and stab someone through the hand, and not in self-defense.
Ethan’s the reasonable type (so long as you don’t bring up Transformers), and even in that state it would be terrifying for him to discover what Amber’s capable of. I don’t think we know if he’d ever witnessed one of her red panels before — or hell, if this was the first time she ever lost it.
So yes, what Sal did would have traumatized him, but it’s quite possible that the effect of that was lessened by the immediately following trauma of seeing Amber snap.
I bet she’s aware.
here we go, yo
As if it just happened an hour ago…
I’m just over here running around, screaming, don’t mind me
That’s what I brought all these pillows for! Soft, squishy, and scream-absorbent.
I’m just over here running around, screaming, don’t mind me.
Ah, he sees it now.
No red panels for Ethan….
I’d be on the floor cowering…so he’s doing okay…
Well no red panels so that’s something at least I guess.
rutten to the core
Struttin’ in Rutten
What does the alt text say? It’s not coming up for me.
“everything was a lot bigger when you were little”
Thank you
That’s what she said.
And thus Ethan took up the mantel of Amazi-girl.
(Or, you know, worked through his trauma in a less self destructive way I dunno)
Where’s the fun in that?
…come to think of it, this might not be about Ethan’s trauma as much as SAL’s trauma. Hope SHE won’t get any red panels
We haven’t seen anything of the robberies from her POV, but I recall Ethan thought she was having a panic attack (or starting to have one) right before the second one – he told Amber he bet she and Sal were having the same problem. And, yeah, I’d not be shocked if it comes up, especially since this storyline is supposed to be Sal centred.
Also, all you American-type pokemon should look at this:
https://twitter.com/Celeste_pewter/status/1047672286176673792
My reps are both definite no’s and have been for months, but I’ll see if I can add anything with Herd On The Hill.
And start preparing my poster board for what comes next.
I’d call them anyways and affirm that stance. Having numbers they can point to helps.
I’m so glad she actually wore the jacket
I didn’t think she’d wear it either. She looks pretty badass in it.
Sure, but Sal looks badass in ANYTHING (to Billie’s chagrin)
She put it on, put it on, put it on!
Nice framing!
What? No! Sal wasn’t framed. They caught her redhanded (I’M SO SORRY FOR THAT PUN!)
Well, Sal WASN’T redhanded until Amber got a hold of the knife…
Well, I don’t blame Sal any for not recognizing him. he looks like he traded bodies with Bruce Wayne.
She could still kick his butt.
Oh hey, fuckface got her to wear the Rutten jacket.
Fuckface was for story time, not the jacket.
waaaahhh shortpacked is dooowwwnnnn
I’ve been rereading it the last few weeks. I wish there was more of utra-mammoth and wazzzzpinator.
yay! iz back! thank you willis!
And thus ends Dumbing Of Age. Good luck with your next project, Willis.
This is an great strip in a technical, Scott McCloud sense.
Gorgeous framing.
Except for… well… you know.
Clothes.
Sal’s jacket somehow reminds me of King Rutentuten
Ethan was going to say something to her, but that jacket is just too cool.
Yeah you may be over six feet and shredded now, but she could probably still hold you at knife point pretty easy.
Damn straight, best self defence against a knife is either run or a gun
That’s quite the growth spurt Ethan had between then and now.
Which is why Sal doesn’t remember him.
“Ah go fer tall. And so Ah’d remember the hell outta you.”
….. awcrap, she’s gonna end up crushing on him isn’t she?
…. no, no way, Willis wouldn’t be that cruel….
You HAVE read his comics before, right?
Okay, maybe he’d be that cruel to his characters, but not to his READERS, right?
Yeah, that tends to happen between 13 and 18.
Is Ethan exceptionally tall, or is the rest of the cast short? Sal’s only a couple inches taller than Joyce (who’s 5’4″ according to the wiki), and it looks like he’s almost a foot taller than her.
Joe is 6 feet tall so Ethan’s either the same or an inch shorter.
Sal’s 5’7, Ethan’s 6 feet iirc.
That’s interesting so, whilst Ethan recognises who Sal is now and it isn’t a pleasant memory, it is still not enough to turn into a red panel. I’m wondering if he’s here to ask Sal to go to Amber on the grounds that she needs to make peace with her?
I don’t think he’s here for anything, this strikes me as just a chance encounter. He’s leaving the cafeteria, looking at his phone, and then happens to look up and see Sal.
I think Ethan knows Amber well enough to figure out that would be a very bad idea, even if he doesn’t specifically know that it would cause Amber to have a panic attack, or that Amber has ALREADY made peace with her
“Oh my GOD… That girl is wearing a Ruttech jacket!”
ETHAN: “Excuse me but are you one of Carla Rutten’s fangirls? I need her help to fix the arm on my classic G1 Hot Rod action figure and…”
SAL: “AAAUUUGHHH!!!“
CARLA: Sorry!
ETHAN: GAAAHH!
CARLA: …I only fix ACTUAL hot rods, not nerdy toys.
ETHAN: H.. how did you…
CARLA: I always know when people talk about me. *big grin*ALWAYS… *rolls away*
>Set “Ethan” to: [confusion]
Dang, this is very good. Love panel #3 with Sal.
Sal will want to finish the job. She’s clearly been hiding a murderous psychopath underneath all her decency and valor.
Everything was a lot bigger when you were little, Ethan. Except your jaw. Your jaw was much smaller back then.
GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS: Real life Fuckfacery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSryodLLVTQ
I don’t care that the link says “youtube” and not “redtube”… I’m not clicking anything labeled “fuckfacery”, just in case it’s not about an iguana.
Disclaimer: It’s about an iguana. On a head.
Didn’t do much for his charisma, though (the guy, I mean. The iguana was cool. I have no trouble with the iguana).
That’s a good policy
It is safe, and quite funny.
So, is Ethan gonna tell her?
I guess Ethan really… outgrew his trauma.
Well, he still seems to have at least a little bit to work through. Does that mean he’s going to grow even taller?
In panel 3 Sal seems taller, with a low angle. He remembers the holdup and being the same height. Final panel shows he’s taller than her now. Literally outgrown her. I love this.
It’s curious how Sal doesn’t ever seem to recognise Ethan and Amber and they can’t have changed that much. I’m wondering if she dealt with the incident through inducting a kind of amnesia-by-will. She forces herself not to have any conscious memory of it.
Neither of them recognized her at first sight either. Amber knew something was familiar about her, but didn’t recognize her until she saw Sal in a similar outfit. Ethan needed Amber to put the pieces together. Plus, Sal most likely barely saw Amber that day (she was hiding, then Sal was being led out and away by the police and then Amber stabbed her through the hand from behind, so Sal was a little busy screaming). Plus, even here, Ethan’s facing away from her, so it’s entirely possible she didn’t have a good look at his face.
There is no way she hasn’t know the whole time if she’s remorseful.
I’d argue it’d be pretty crappy for her to hit on Ethan and get crabby when Amber ducks away from her (because Sal was trying to talk to her about her hogging the privacy chairs) without so much as a ‘sorry’ if she does know.
Not sure what being remorseful has to do with it. It doesn’t mean she would recognize their faces.
I would quote M. Bison, but it would probably get me banhammered
“I think the food court should be larger. All the big franchises will want in.”
No, it makes sense. She looks preoccupied.
I don’t see what’s so scary about Panel 5.
I mean, she’s just letting him borrow her phone, right?
Heh, nice one.
Hey, do we know exactly how old they were when the knife incident happened?
13.
Well this is tense as heck. Wish Ethan had more time to process his thoughts first (since he only just made the connection), but hey- he probably won’t handle this too badly.
I wish wish freaking wish someone ANYONE would just tell Sal.
To be fair, only two people know. One is too traumatized to talk a lot to Sal except when she’s AG, and one just found out.
Mike probably knows, because he’s Mike and keep notes on everyone.
In this instance, silence create more chaos between Amber and Sal. Hence Mike’s silence.
Mike would know of the incident, doesn’t necessarily mean he knows Sal did it. I don’t remember Sal and Mike exactly interacting that much. I do wonder if Ethan would tell Mike. that’ll probably be the most likely way he’d find out the specifics.
He did a good job growing, I didn’t gain half as much height between the ages of 13 and 18
Right? I was done growing in height at 13. I’m crazy jealous
This is going to be interesting…
YEAH. ETHAN. ITS MORE INTENSE THAN YOU KNOW