Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
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!
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Did you know that psychology classes are actually required to get a Masters in teaching? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was taking an intro psych class for her MRS.
You know that saying “never a hero to their valet”? Well, a valet was responsible for (among other things) dressing their master. Joyce’s idealizations of Sal were doomed the minute she decided to dress Sal.
Oh, also since people were expressing interest: I found the Amethyst Princess of Gemworld shorts on YouTube! Very different continuity from the comics, but they were fun between ad breaks during GLTAS and Young Justice.
(Which is ultimately, I think, why nothing came of it. Cartoon Network was in that stage where the show they marathoned all day was Johnny Test, and the DC Nation block had a lot more episodic narrative stuff – and immediately before it in the Saturday Morning Deathslot was reboot Thundercats and then Clone Wars just pre-Disney buyout. CN very clearly didn’t want older viewers. CN very clearly didn’t want female viewers. CN made that abundantly clear to all of us, repeatedly.)
(It wasn’t even Gemworld being too close to Steven Universe, the block predated the show – I think Rebecca Sugar may still have been on Adventure Time when everything ended, and I’m guessing given she is a very smart person that she didn’t tell CN at first that the show would go into the epic interstellar adventure places. I still hang onto this bitterness, can you tell?)
Too bad. I think Amethyst and Steven Universe could have co-existed. Amethyst is kinda Game of thrones-esque political struggles with a Steven Universe aesthetic.
Oh, definitely! And there was clearly a market for this cute magical girl-esque series st in a video game (the shorts’ setting), or the aesthetic could have been tweaked to be more classical fantasy if they wanted it.
Could be the shortrunners didn’t want a full series, but it always makes me sad that only one set of shorts from that block got the pickup. I would’ve enjoyed Super BFFs being a full scale thing too, but at least that got a couple statues eventually.
I have never heard of this. Looks interesting though.
I was a little confused by that last second “here’s is your home. Ok, keep the jewel, you can go to your real home” thing.
I would have liked to have seen more. Maybe she’d actually use that shield she had.
Oh sweet!
As someone who actually remembers (and liked) the original comic – and doesn’t freak about the cartoon not being exactly the same – this is a great find, thanks.
Pity the show didn’t get picked up. Think your guess/summary of why is pretty ‘on’.
I really should hunt down the 80s comic sometime. (In that same nebulous ‘sometime’ I actually can have a regular comics budget, at least.)
I remember the DC Nation block fiasco so well, and I think some of that exact logic was actually given by CN execs about ending YJ and GLTAS. The toy sales killed them both, sure, and they both got screwed in the toy line department well before the actual cancellation hammer dropped (maybe your toy sales are low because, awesome as Rot Lop Fan is, he didn’t have a huge role in the movie and isn’t known outside comics fandom? Maybe it’s a bad idea to save Robin for WAVE FOUR of your toy line over minor villains?) but given the way they were screwed around specifically beyond the cancellation, even before YJ was on the block and the toys were canceled? CN didn’t want those shows on their network.
At least we’re getting closure on Young Justice. Probably not GLTAS, but I can dream and fanfic exists.
Yep. That was their justification. (See also Symbionic Titan, which didn’t have a toy line because that would require making a girl action figure and no one would buy it.)
In reality no one bought the toys because the toys were not very good (next to no articulation, and if I’m recalling right the art style meant they had trouble standing up properly) and they made such brilliant choices as releasing Icicle Boy in the first wave over a solo Robin. Robin got a stealth black repaint before he was released as a solo character. By the time a classic, solo Robin was released, Mattel had stopped promoting the toy line.
Better way to get kids buying your toys: release your leads, including the classic kid appeal character who’s one of your four principles, FIRST.
…maybe I’m just chronically lacking in self-confidence, but. I don’t get Sal’s reaction, why is someone thinking she’s beyond self-consciousness a bad thing?
Also last panel Carla is adorbs as fuck, she’s so excited
^This. Also Sal seems to be self conscious about a lot of things but does her best to hide it. And the fact that Joyce does not realize any of that, but seems to think she understands Sal has probably gotten on her last nerve. She might not actually be that mad at Joyce, this might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as they say.
Also, when people get to know Sal, she feels they abandon her. Right now, Joyce is a…friend. And knowing Joyce doesn’t actually know her just gives more room for that fear to grow.
Yeeeeep. Which is one reason she was so clingy with Marcie, because Marcie knew all that stuff about Sal and knows Sal best out of anyone and she was still her friend.
Thinking (and expressing) that Sal is beyond self-consciousness is dehumanizing, in the sense that it reduces Sal to an idealized set of attributes, rather than acknowledging that she’s a human being with all of the complexity and nuance that that involves.
You mean kind of like how thinking and expressing that Ana Chronistic is frequently the first poster is dehumanizing in the sense that it reduces Ana to a defining attribute, rather than acknowledging that she’s (probably) a human being with all of the complexity, nuance and shipping that involves?
Careful Joyce, you are dangerously close to actually learning a lesson for a change. I’d hate for Sal to shatter your- wait, no continue with what you are doing. I’ll get popcorn and a comfy seat.
Anyone else think that 4th panel looks a lot like Walky? I mean, I know they’re basically naturally made genderbent clones but up close like that it really becomes obvious…
Yes, I also thought it looked a lot like Walky. It was the first thing I saw when the site came up and I actually wondered for a second how the story had switched back to Walky so soon.
It shows how frustrated Sal gets with the people around her that they don’t actually see /her/ they just see the wall she has put up. It makes me hope that Danny continues to be a good friend for her and listen to her. New Danny seems to be doing a pretty decent job of that, so fingers crossed that goes well?
Ahhhh, this storyline is everything I want. I have SO MANY THOUGHTS on this strip.
1) Dude, for the price of a motorcycle, it should come with a lot more than a jacket. And I love Carla can spot her family tech off the bat. She’s so proud of her family! <3
2) …Yeah, I dunno if I'd personally feel self conscious wearing merch of a sort of friend's family, but I'd definitely think it was weird and keep that merch away from them.
3) I like how Sal keeps being surprised at things like her reputation not including the ability to be self-conscious or easily including street fighting.
4) I mean, feeling self-conscious about potential headaches and/or trouble and not caring in general what others think aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, Joyce. See also: Why Sal still chooses to wear her school uniform instead of something she actually likes around her parents. To some extent, it's true she doesn't care – if she truly cared about being perceived as an aloof, above it all badass who didn't care about anything or how she was seen, she wouldn't admit to things like liking apples to apples or feeling self conscious at all.
5) That said, in some regards, Sal cares about things far more than she admits (and, sometimes, more than she wants to or thinks she should. Sal's passionate that way).
6) Eek! Don't go assuming you know Sal. Then again, that's kinda the root of a lot of her problems, isn't it? People trying to mould her into what they 'know' she is (read: what they want her to be). We know she's had issues with people trying to turn her into a project and we know she's always abandoned when people realize she's not what they want. That's part of why she can get so clingy with Marcie – Marcie's the one who stayed (up until recently that is, but that had nothing to do with trying to mould Sal into something else and more to do with 'breaking promises not to fight and getting her fired' so that one's on Sal and AG).
7) And yup – put her on the defensive and Sal will get snarly and cranky. I suspect this is also true for hurt feelings if she can't get alone quickly enough, but that's a personal observation and partly head canon so I'll leave that alone for now.
8) Carla, your sort of friend just said she didn't want to. Maybe don't? That said, please continue being cute and hoppy. It's adorable and I love you.
9) Sal gives a lot of nicknames, but this is the second time she's called Joyce Pollyanna. That might stick around for a bit, sorry, Joyce, you're cute as hell.
10) Man, Carla really wants Sal to wear a jacket with her last name on it. This did not deter Patreon squeeing about Sal/Carla at all, in case you were wondering. Look, it's not our fault Sal's so frickin' great and so many people are frickin' cute to ship her with.
11) Joyce, just because your dehumanization and objectifying comes in the form of admiration and treating her like a ‘life sized barbie doll’ doesn’t make it actually good. Better than, say, Joe’s list, sure, but not actually good.
4) “… feeling self-conscious about potential headaches and/or trouble and not caring in general what others think aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive,… See also: Why Sal still chooses to wear her school uniform …” See also glove.
Yeeeep. No wonder she wears them almost 24/7 (except when she’s changing pairs of gloves and, presumably, showering). That would probably not be fun to explain every time someone saw her hand (especially since it went through her hand and would therefore probably have a scar on both sides).
I hope this might inch a bit more towards Joyce seeing Sal as a regular person and not some Perfect Cool Girl Rebel Who Cares Not For Anything (who’s also kind of a role model but not quite). Sal could use some more people who don’t do all that, and if Joyce cuts the idealizing and actually tries getting to know her rather than forced friendliness boundary-crushing while treating her like some mythical being, it could be a good thing for both of them.
(Also, giving both of them another resource for ‘okay so I think my mother’s emotionally abusive’ could be really good. Both parents in Sal’s case, jury’s still out out on Hank until we see him react to Jocelyne.)
Sal having good friends who love and care about her and maybe all bond at the holidays together over not spending them with their shitty families of origin* is really what I want most for her. Also Joyce. Also like at least four other characters.
* Everyone spending the holidays with Carla and her family as they throw a ‘Fuck Societal Expectations, We Are All AWESOME!’ party is acceptable. As would Becky and Dina hosting and inviting Leslie and the Saruyamas.
I think (or rather hope) that Joyce will have her dad still when this is all said and done.
That said, Sal should really invest more in Joyce, Billie, and Carla. They’d make good friends for her. She’s been investing more in Danny lately though, which makes me happy, and there’s her slowly budding friendship/crime fighting partnership with AG. Marcie might be happy about Danny if nothing else when she and Sal make up (eventually – kinda hoping soon-ish). I also have a feeling that if Roz can learn a little about listening instead of jumping first, she and Sal might get along.
I don’t want my hopes crushed with Hank, and we know the Jocelyne reveal will happen eventually.
Danny is definitely a good potential friend for Sal, and I agree that Joyce, Billie, and Carla could all be excellent for her. (The Billie relationship probably presents the same issues as her one with Walky, but I can see them building up some emotional support there and all three of them being siblings together.) Never considered Roz before, but there are possibilities there. (Apologizing to and reconciling with Marcie is something I really hope happens. Sal needs more friendships beyond that one, but I would be sad if they both lost someone who’s clearly been one of the most important people in each other’s lives.)
AG could be really interesting depending on how that reveal shakes out, as could Amber, and I kind of hope they do eventually become friends – there’s a lot of trauma to unravel on all sides first, but if they did come out of it understanding one another I could see it being extremely positive. (Again, more outlets for ‘your parents are fucked UP’ ‘I know, right? So are yours!’ is a good thing, especially since Sal’s been burned on therapy and Amber’s issues are so tricky to find good help for.)
I think Billie has one advantage on Walky – she didn’t intentionally shut out what Sal said about her parents or ignore what she saw and so she puts slightly more stock in what Sal says. When Sal finally drops the mic on their parents’ shittiness to Walky, Billie chimes in with ‘Well, being mixed isn’t a get out of racism free card’ and later tells Walky about her friends’ well meaning parents. Billie still phrases things gently and I don’t think she’ll cut out the Walkerton parents, because they are good to her, but I think she’d definitely be more understanding than Walky, at least at first. That’s not to denigrate Walky – he was a kid and he didn’t know how to deal with things. That said, it did still leave Sal in the lurch and there’s that level of resentment she has towards him that she may not have for Billie.
I’ll be completely honest and admit part of that desire is because I like Roz and would like her to integrate more in the main cast.
I think a reconciliation will happen eventually. Even Malaya’s noted Marcie misses Sal and we know Sal’s been thinking about their past more lately. It might be more complicated than just an apology (to a certain degree anyways – promise or no, I can’t imagine Sal being okay with letting someone be clobbered in a four on one fight where she knows one party is a rapist, and I don’t think she’d be happy if Marcie expected her to. But that said, I think the response there would be more ‘I should’ve told you what was happening so you could at least try to intervene (unlike your useless, useless bosses) and I shouldn’t have left you in the lurch to take the fall’ which is more in line with Sal). Heck, Marcie’s at least started answering when Sal talks to her directly now so who knows? Plus, as you’ve said, they have a lot of history. And I think their friendship is kind of a fundamental building block of who they are in the Dumbiverse (when Willis was talking about going back to write the wedding in Joyce and Walky, one of the things he commented was weird to remember was that Walkyverse Sal and Marcie aren’t best friends). I think we’ll see more of them. Probably with some change – they have to talk out what happened and Sal is making new friends (slowly but surely) and Marcie still likes Malaya, but I think they’ll make it through with their friendship more or less intact.
That reveal is going to lead to SO MUCH. Depending how it shakes out, they could end up friends or…well, complicated. I don’t think hating each other is in the cards, but there’s a lot of room between friends and hate, especially when mutual trauma is involved (Sal doing psychological harm to Amber and Amber doing physical – and possibly psychological – harm to Sal via stabbing). At the very least they can be mutual ‘fuck therapy’ buds. Billie will probably get in on that too, although for Billie and Amber, I think a therapy is definitely in the cards.
I think it’s not quite time for Marcie and Sal to reconcile. Those other friendships are still fragile and I expect she’d try to go back into “I only need Marcie” mode.
Let the other connections strengthen a bit more and then let that drama loose.
I said eventually. I dunno if it’ll be soon, I just think it is coming at some point. If it is soon, yeah, there’s a risk of Sal backsliding. Though, this is DoA. She’d hardly be alone in that.
Yeah, and I expect any concrete dumping of families besides Blaine and Toedad won’t happen for years in their universe anyway – Ruth can’t until she can get Howard safe, Sal is still trying with her parents despite herself, Joyce is still financially dependent and I highly doubt Hank could get away with paying her tuition behind Carol’s back (and if he CAN hide such a huge financial commitment for the next four years, Carol is not the only problem here,) Ethan still wants a relationship with his parents, Walky and Danny don’t realize anything about their treatment is wrong, and frankly if Billingsdad is willing to keep paying Billie without ever bothering to interact with her in any real way, I say keep milking that as long as you can. Especially while you’re in college.
There might be a huge blowout between Joe and Richard when things with Stacey start to fall apart, but I imagine there’s still another month or two in-strip before that even begins to drama. (Because one: still in honeymoon phase, and two: I can just see them all having Awkward New Relationship Blended Family Thanksgiving when Richard takes Joe aside and reveals he just cheated on Stacey within the last few days.) Even then I’m not certain Joe would choose to cease all contact with Richard (once again, financial dependence for tuition), but I certainly doubt they’ll ever be close unless Richard has a sudden emotional growth spurt.
All other parents are fine or unknown. I wonder a bit about Jacob’s family, but you can come from a perfectly healthy background and still end up with massive anxiety and inferiority complex issues and we will certainly see his brother soon to find out firsthand what that relationship is like.
This is the way I think it’s going to shake out from what we know about the parents.
– Joyce will probably have a fraught relationship with her mom but probably not totally cut her off. I like to think she’ll still have Hank, but I think that will depend on his reaction to Joss coming out.
– Dorothy, Dina and Carla have wonderful parents.
– I think Billie and Walky will remain in contact with the Walkerton parents, but I like to think they’d stand up for themselves (and Sal). I think Sal’s eventually (probably after the comic) is going to cut them off.
– Billie probably doesn’t need to cut off her parents, she hears from them so rarely.
– Danny might at least stand up for himself. I don’t know if he has it in him not to give a zillion second chances.
– I foresee a confrontation between Joe and his dad. What happens afterwards depends how serious Richard is about changing.
– Amber has her mom and I think she always will. Blaine can fuck off.
– I hope Ethan eventually stands up to himself. He might cut them off depending how bad they get. If not, maybe they’ll eventually mellow out like in Shortpacked.
– I hope Ruth eventually gets free of Sir. Maybe after she’s graduated and hopefully has an apartment and Howie’s free. Fuck Clint.
It’s a little weird that Sal starts to lose her accent explaining to Carla about the jacket, but gets it back while talking to Joyce about being self conscious since it’s normally being upset that causes the loss and she seems more upset talking to Joyce.
Eh, it’s been weirder. Malaya said earlier Sal’s accent disappears when she’s angry, but we’ve seen her accent stay plenty of times when she’s angry or upset. It actually seemed thicker to me once when she was yelling at Jason.
I don’t really see her losing the accent. What makes you think that?
There aren’t any obvious markers in “Jacket came free with the cycle”, but I think that’s more that there just aren’t any opportunities. She’s back to it in the next bubble.
I screwed up. Format is (swapping angle brackets for square brackets) [a href=”Address here” Title=”hover-over text here”]Text you want to show here][/a]
The “title” attribute in the “a” tag is where the title text goes (hence the name). The stuff to be displayed (and which you click) goes between the “a” and “/a” tags, just like with every other html tag. I believe that got me the first time I tried it, and it claims a new victim every once in a while.
The best way to learn is by messing with HTML yourself, though! The W3schools TryIt Editor is a great tool for that, because you can see your markup and its results side by side, and it does syntax highlighting which makes it obvious when a tag’s left open.
Carla wanting her to wear the jacket is pretty cute. Imagine she’s pretty proud of her family. That, or she’s just pushing Sal’s buttons.
Joyce obviously thinks highly of Sal, but her picture of Sal is rather incomplete, so far. It’s like the expression goes, though:
“Admiration is the furthest thing from understanding.”
It’s not that I think Joyce hasn’t made the effort, but she’s really only had limited opportunity to get to know Sal.
Sal really doesn’t like to be worshiped, Joyce. She has done many mistakes, but not as many as Mike. That guy made more mistakes than any man, woman, child, and even Ozpin.
Every article of clothing of Sals keeps coincidentally peeling back some sort of layer about her. It’s none intentionally but it’sa theme.
“Ah wear these gloves all the time because my hands were permanently disfigured after a incident that changed my life forever. ”
” Ah hate that church girl uniform because it reminds me of the years wasted by my parents when they sent me away to not deal with me, but Ah still keep it around so I can wear it and put on act because I still want their love and approval despite doing a good job at hiding it.”
“Ah sleep in the buff because-….Well ah don’t even know the reason for that one. I like the breeze?”
I don’t think it’s in the same vein, but Joyce believing Sal doesn’t ever feel self conscious reminds me of how some people don’t think black people feel pain as easily or how black children charged with crimes are viewed as adults more often then white children charged with the same crimes.
Maybe because it’s dehumanizing, as someone else suggested? I don’t know. It just gave me the same feeling.
I was going to draw a similarity as well but I was going to equate Joyce’s blind perception of Sals cool Factor in the same vain as Forrest Squads perception of Billie.
The reason she doesn’t wear the jacket isn’t because she’s self-conscious, it’s because it’s evidence that she bought a motorcycle with all the cash she stockpiled from robbing convenience stores!…Or more likely it’s because Carla’s being predictably annoying about it.
I think that one might be something Joyce Vaguely Knows about Carla by now – Carla’s used her engineering powers to help Joyce before, I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘My parents made your phone’ came up at some point.
That, or Joyce still being in the very early but general admiration stage with Carla friendship-wise means she just skates over some of the details. Same way Carla doesn’t really hide that she’s trans, but Joyce hasn’t been present for or picked up on any of the signs because they’re either subtle or Mary being a bigot. (Though… I suddenly wonder how public details about Carla’s early childhood were, or when Ruttech was founded. Could be interesting and horrifying if, say, the Browns boycotted Ruttech devices because of *transphobic propaganda shit* and Joyce ends up realizing things that way.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if Joyce weren’t allowed to know those stories just yet in case it corrupted her tiny child brain (she would have been only a year younger). I also wouldn’t be shocked if Carla made magazine or tabloid news because she’s the daughter of two presumably famous zillionaires.
Yeah at this point I think that Joyce could conceive of Carla as the daughter of a millionaire. Without help, I don’t think she could naturally conceive of Carla or anyone else as trans. It’s really hard to pick up clues to something if that something isn’t even a concept in your mental space.
Even when you ARE trans it’s hard to pick up on those clues before you know trans-ness is a thing! Source, only figured out I was trans after learning what trans was in my 20s.
I wouldn’t be shocked if she knew about trans issues (in the context of things like bathrooms and Target boycotts) but I would be surprised if she was allowed to hear about them as a child – most parents like that refuse to let their kids hear anything about LGBTQ+ people when they’re young in case it ‘corrupts them’.
When I first saw the strip I had my monitor set for warm, hopefully circadian rhythm friendly, mode, so I couldn’t tell if it was blue or black. I immediately thought “I knew it! Sal is Amazigirl!”
I mean maybe this is assuming, but it seems like Carla actually had functional and supportive parents in this universe and I’m honestly so happy for her.
take a red sharpie, change it to “rotten“, then put it on. (just for my own pride, i want to state that i came up with this before i saw the comments, and then i searched if anyone had made the joke before like a good forum user before opening a new thread )
Panels 4 and 5 suggest to me that Joyce isn’t too good at reading signals. All was throwing out out some major “tread carefully” vibes which Joyce either didn’t note or just ignored
I’m a little bothered by the fact that the sleeve says “Rutten” rather than “Ruttech”. Branding is very specific as to spelling and other aspects of visual appearance.
I guess I can retcon it in my head by saying that while the parent company is “Ruttech”, there were and are subdivisions that use “Rutten” as part of their name. So the motorcycle engine was actually made by “Rutten Motors, a division of Ruttech”, and Rutten Motors has “Rutten” as a brand.
I think the full name of the company is probably still Rutten Technology. “RutTech” is probably just the branding they use for their electronics division, while they still use the full name on stuff like motorcycle engines because they wanna appeal to a much different demographic that would associate “RutTech” with nerds who wouldn’t know a motor bike if it ran over them
I’m a little bit bothered because I realized yesterday that Carla is basically the daughter of two billionaire tech magnates and I’m getting dissonance now with the idea of her being the daughter of two Elon Musk clones.
I like to think that they have a huge-ass scholarship and/or charity for LGBT youth, particularly those who want to go into STEM fields, and that Becky will end up a recipient of it. (We’ll never see such things because timescale, but I like to think that.)
I also dearly hope that they pay their workers well and give solid benefits, rather than being super-wealthy because they hoard it all. I’d bet if it is a factor that the plot will eventually discuss it so we know for sure. At the very least we’re predisposed to like them more than the Also-Super-Wealthy Dargon Chesterfield (“cruel and powerful captain of industry”, quote Jason) and Alleged Father Billingsworth (literally the only things we know of him are that he substitutes paying Billie for actually caring about her whatsoever, and that he evicted all the homeless people in their town.) That their anecdotes are all about supporting Carla unequivocally and we haven’t yet heard anything nasty about Ruttech seems deliberate.
According to Billie, her dad’s so emotionally constipated that the only way he knows how to show he loves Billie is money. So he might be trying but that and the homeless population…yeah, it’s not a good look.
Yeah, that one’s the kicker really. Still, the degree to which the Walkertons just assume he won’t be around and visiting her… even if he’s trying, he’s failing so hard I wonder why he appears to have sole custody of Billie. Is her mother as completely unconcerned with things? Is she her own brand of dysfunctional? I’m pretty sure Billie’s indicated she’s not dead.
While we have so little to work with about Billie’s mother (or any and all stepmothers, I seem to recall there’s at least one but should really do a reread soon) I don’t really feel comfortable painting her with the same brush as Billie’s father, if both her biological parents really are this apathetic or inept, I really hate them and they had no business having a child in the first place if they weren’t willing or able to provide actual affection. Hence why I make an effort to include AT LEAST Billie’s father on any Bad Parent list in this comic.
Billie’s parents aren’t divorced so far as we know. Billie’s dad is away on business frequently and, again, only knows how to demonstrate affection via money. Her mother apparently contents herself by having as many affairs as possible and ignores Billie to focus on them. IIRC, she’s also rarely home.
So, her parents both suck but like….at least her dad is trying? Failing horribly, but trying?
…yeah, no, who am I kidding, you know shit’s bad when Linda and Charles frigging Walkerton are a step up.
I see what you’re doin there, Willis! Trying to start another meme! Drilling a new catchphrase into our heads! Using repetition! I’m onto your games! I’m not falling for it! So forget it! You can just… stow it, Pollyanna!
I think that Sal is too aware of her flaws (which are manifold) and the ways in which she feels she has failed and is failing. Because of that, she feels unworthy of Joyce’s admiration and even feels a little frustrated that her ‘fangirl’ doesn’t seem to realise that she’s giving admiration to a garbage person.
I think some of it is also a feeling of being idealized which has backfired before when people realize she’s not what they want her to be. It’s the other side of the coin of her being treated like the bad kid – either way they don’t see all she is.
This reminds me a bit of when I started talking to my family about my anxiety problems. They became supportive eventually but the initial reaction was disbelief and laughter. “But you always seem so laid back and confident! You don’t complain about things much.” As is true in many cases, it was very annoying to have to convince people about something I already felt nervous sharing.
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“Ah care about not carin’ that ya care that ah care about not carin’ that ah care that ya care”
Sorry, I lost track somewhere there.
Ah don’t care.
Joyce is a secret psychology major.
If so, she’s got a lot of studying to do.
She can do a field study right in her wing.
She’s gonna totally ACE that Abnormal Psychology class practicum!
Did you know that psychology classes are actually required to get a Masters in teaching? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was taking an intro psych class for her MRS.
No Name, I like you.
Maybe next semester. So, it’ll be a while in real time.
So secret, even she doesn’t know about it!
The problem with having a degree in Secret Psychology is you’re not allowed to put it on your resume.
Not to mention finding the classroom.
Sal looks so resigned in panel 2. Not really looking at either Joyce or Carla, just kind of going “yep, guess I gotta do this now.”
Never befriend your heroes, Joyce.
You know that saying “never a hero to their valet”? Well, a valet was responsible for (among other things) dressing their master. Joyce’s idealizations of Sal were doomed the minute she decided to dress Sal.
Isn’t it never *meet* your heroes?
Vulnerability! Sal (apparently) got a specific motor for her bike to spiff it up more!
CARLA!
Oh, also since people were expressing interest: I found the Amethyst Princess of Gemworld shorts on YouTube! Very different continuity from the comics, but they were fun between ad breaks during GLTAS and Young Justice.
(Which is ultimately, I think, why nothing came of it. Cartoon Network was in that stage where the show they marathoned all day was Johnny Test, and the DC Nation block had a lot more episodic narrative stuff – and immediately before it in the Saturday Morning Deathslot was reboot Thundercats and then Clone Wars just pre-Disney buyout. CN very clearly didn’t want older viewers. CN very clearly didn’t want female viewers. CN made that abundantly clear to all of us, repeatedly.)
(It wasn’t even Gemworld being too close to Steven Universe, the block predated the show – I think Rebecca Sugar may still have been on Adventure Time when everything ended, and I’m guessing given she is a very smart person that she didn’t tell CN at first that the show would go into the epic interstellar adventure places. I still hang onto this bitterness, can you tell?)
Too bad. I think Amethyst and Steven Universe could have co-existed. Amethyst is kinda Game of thrones-esque political struggles with a Steven Universe aesthetic.
Oh, definitely! And there was clearly a market for this cute magical girl-esque series st in a video game (the shorts’ setting), or the aesthetic could have been tweaked to be more classical fantasy if they wanted it.
Could be the shortrunners didn’t want a full series, but it always makes me sad that only one set of shorts from that block got the pickup. I would’ve enjoyed Super BFFs being a full scale thing too, but at least that got a couple statues eventually.
Yeah, there were a lot of ways to play what’s basically a kiddified Game of Thrones crossed with SU (even if Amethyst came first).
I have never heard of this. Looks interesting though.
I was a little confused by that last second “here’s is your home. Ok, keep the jewel, you can go to your real home” thing.
I would have liked to have seen more. Maybe she’d actually use that shield she had.
Oh sweet!
As someone who actually remembers (and liked) the original comic – and doesn’t freak about the cartoon not being exactly the same – this is a great find, thanks.
Pity the show didn’t get picked up. Think your guess/summary of why is pretty ‘on’.
I really should hunt down the 80s comic sometime. (In that same nebulous ‘sometime’ I actually can have a regular comics budget, at least.)
I remember the DC Nation block fiasco so well, and I think some of that exact logic was actually given by CN execs about ending YJ and GLTAS. The toy sales killed them both, sure, and they both got screwed in the toy line department well before the actual cancellation hammer dropped (maybe your toy sales are low because, awesome as Rot Lop Fan is, he didn’t have a huge role in the movie and isn’t known outside comics fandom? Maybe it’s a bad idea to save Robin for WAVE FOUR of your toy line over minor villains?) but given the way they were screwed around specifically beyond the cancellation, even before YJ was on the block and the toys were canceled? CN didn’t want those shows on their network.
At least we’re getting closure on Young Justice. Probably not GLTAS, but I can dream and fanfic exists.
I’ve heard good things about the comic!
I heard Young Justice got cancelled for having too many female fans (because female fans don’t buy toys or something?)
Yep. That was their justification. (See also Symbionic Titan, which didn’t have a toy line because that would require making a girl action figure and no one would buy it.)
In reality no one bought the toys because the toys were not very good (next to no articulation, and if I’m recalling right the art style meant they had trouble standing up properly) and they made such brilliant choices as releasing Icicle Boy in the first wave over a solo Robin. Robin got a stealth black repaint before he was released as a solo character. By the time a classic, solo Robin was released, Mattel had stopped promoting the toy line.
Better way to get kids buying your toys: release your leads, including the classic kid appeal character who’s one of your four principles, FIRST.
There are 6 or 7 issues of Amethyst at my regular comics place. If I can get the extra cash, I’ll have to check them out.
I don’t think this strip implies that she got a specific motor, since she said “it came free with the cycle.”
Ah yes, “put it on!”, the true asexual catchphrase.
Except if you’re referring to a strap-on, of course.
Sal doing a Gandalf here.
By which I mean, unexpected Black Speech.
What are you talking about? Sal always had the blackest speech in the comic!
…
*exits, pursued by a bear*
hungry bear
The way Joyce is holding the jacket in panel 1 makes it looks like a heartfelt tribute to Robbie Rotten.
This is so fantastic.
…maybe I’m just chronically lacking in self-confidence, but. I don’t get Sal’s reaction, why is someone thinking she’s beyond self-consciousness a bad thing?
Also last panel Carla is adorbs as fuck, she’s so excited
Sal isn’t particularly comfortable with people idolizing her, especially if it’s a false image of her.
^This. Also Sal seems to be self conscious about a lot of things but does her best to hide it. And the fact that Joyce does not realize any of that, but seems to think she understands Sal has probably gotten on her last nerve. She might not actually be that mad at Joyce, this might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as they say.
Also, when people get to know Sal, she feels they abandon her. Right now, Joyce is a…friend. And knowing Joyce doesn’t actually know her just gives more room for that fear to grow.
Yeeeeep. Which is one reason she was so clingy with Marcie, because Marcie knew all that stuff about Sal and knows Sal best out of anyone and she was still her friend.
Thinking (and expressing) that Sal is beyond self-consciousness is dehumanizing, in the sense that it reduces Sal to an idealized set of attributes, rather than acknowledging that she’s a human being with all of the complexity and nuance that that involves.
You mean kind of like how thinking and expressing that Ana Chronistic is frequently the first poster is dehumanizing in the sense that it reduces Ana to a defining attribute, rather than acknowledging that she’s (probably) a human being with all of the complexity, nuance and shipping that involves?
oh my god
She could probably have gotten away with saying that she didn’t want to give Carla the satisfaction, which Joyce would have instantly understood.
Careful Joyce, you are dangerously close to actually learning a lesson for a change. I’d hate for Sal to shatter your- wait, no continue with what you are doing. I’ll get popcorn and a comfy seat.
Avatar matches the content!!
Joyce stop reading Sarah’s textbooks
lotta eye action going on in this one, eh
also i think you’ve got something in your throat, sal
looks like… undeath
Turn undead!
Sal swallowed a Death Eater this morning.
Well, she did just wake up, so hasn’t brushed her teeth yet.
Anyone else think that 4th panel looks a lot like Walky? I mean, I know they’re basically naturally made genderbent clones but up close like that it really becomes obvious…
Humans are trippy…
Yes, I also thought it looked a lot like Walky. It was the first thing I saw when the site came up and I actually wondered for a second how the story had switched back to Walky so soon.
Looks like Sal’s experiencing some fuckor.
(really hopin’ i did that html right)
Maybe Joyce should get the mug
I think that’s contrafuckor in this case…
*The hacked Muzak is temporarily out of service this weekend due to Tropical Storm Florence. We apologize for the inconvenience. *
Stay safe, hacked Muzak!
“Meanwhile, enjoy some nice ‘hold’ music“
My favorite
recently tossed at me as a suggested selection on account of I played a bit of Santana’s album Caravanserai
Huh. Joyce’s comments are a nice contrast to Malaya’s who saw Sal’s attitude as a front while Joyce takes it at face value.
It shows how frustrated Sal gets with the people around her that they don’t actually see /her/ they just see the wall she has put up. It makes me hope that Danny continues to be a good friend for her and listen to her. New Danny seems to be doing a pretty decent job of that, so fingers crossed that goes well?
Panel three Joyce is the cutest
Ahhhh, this storyline is everything I want. I have SO MANY THOUGHTS on this strip.
1) Dude, for the price of a motorcycle, it should come with a lot more than a jacket. And I love Carla can spot her family tech off the bat. She’s so proud of her family! <3
2) …Yeah, I dunno if I'd personally feel self conscious wearing merch of a sort of friend's family, but I'd definitely think it was weird and keep that merch away from them.
3) I like how Sal keeps being surprised at things like her reputation not including the ability to be self-conscious or easily including street fighting.
4) I mean, feeling self-conscious about potential headaches and/or trouble and not caring in general what others think aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, Joyce. See also: Why Sal still chooses to wear her school uniform instead of something she actually likes around her parents. To some extent, it's true she doesn't care – if she truly cared about being perceived as an aloof, above it all badass who didn't care about anything or how she was seen, she wouldn't admit to things like liking apples to apples or feeling self conscious at all.
5) That said, in some regards, Sal cares about things far more than she admits (and, sometimes, more than she wants to or thinks she should. Sal's passionate that way).
6) Eek! Don't go assuming you know Sal. Then again, that's kinda the root of a lot of her problems, isn't it? People trying to mould her into what they 'know' she is (read: what they want her to be). We know she's had issues with people trying to turn her into a project and we know she's always abandoned when people realize she's not what they want. That's part of why she can get so clingy with Marcie – Marcie's the one who stayed (up until recently that is, but that had nothing to do with trying to mould Sal into something else and more to do with 'breaking promises not to fight and getting her fired' so that one's on Sal and AG).
7) And yup – put her on the defensive and Sal will get snarly and cranky. I suspect this is also true for hurt feelings if she can't get alone quickly enough, but that's a personal observation and partly head canon so I'll leave that alone for now.
8) Carla, your sort of friend just said she didn't want to. Maybe don't? That said, please continue being cute and hoppy. It's adorable and I love you.
9) Sal gives a lot of nicknames, but this is the second time she's called Joyce Pollyanna. That might stick around for a bit, sorry, Joyce, you're cute as hell.
10) Man, Carla really wants Sal to wear a jacket with her last name on it. This did not deter Patreon squeeing about Sal/Carla at all, in case you were wondering.
Look, it's not our fault Sal's so frickin' great and so many people are frickin' cute to ship her with.
I don’t believe Joyce saw her in the school girl uniform, but I may be mistaken.
She hasn’t. It’s just another example of my point.
11) Joyce, just because your dehumanization and objectifying comes in the form of admiration and treating her like a ‘life sized barbie doll’ doesn’t make it actually good. Better than, say, Joe’s list, sure, but not actually good.
thiiiiiiis.
4) “… feeling self-conscious about potential headaches and/or trouble and not caring in general what others think aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive,… See also: Why Sal still chooses to wear her school uniform …” See also glove.
Yeeeep. No wonder she wears them almost 24/7 (except when she’s changing pairs of gloves and, presumably, showering). That would probably not be fun to explain every time someone saw her hand (especially since it went through her hand and would therefore probably have a scar on both sides).
I hope this might inch a bit more towards Joyce seeing Sal as a regular person and not some Perfect Cool Girl Rebel Who Cares Not For Anything (who’s also kind of a role model but not quite). Sal could use some more people who don’t do all that, and if Joyce cuts the idealizing and actually tries getting to know her rather than forced friendliness boundary-crushing while treating her like some mythical being, it could be a good thing for both of them.
(Also, giving both of them another resource for ‘okay so I think my mother’s emotionally abusive’ could be really good. Both parents in Sal’s case, jury’s still out out on Hank until we see him react to Jocelyne.)
I hope so too. I love their ‘cheerful adorable little sister and closed off but cool older sister’ dynamic so much.
And yeah, if Sal’s not being idealized she’s been treated as some terrible trouble child (hi, Linda and Charles!)
Sal having good friends who love and care about her and maybe all bond at the holidays together over not spending them with their shitty families of origin* is really what I want most for her. Also Joyce. Also like at least four other characters.
* Everyone spending the holidays with Carla and her family as they throw a ‘Fuck Societal Expectations, We Are All AWESOME!’ party is acceptable. As would Becky and Dina hosting and inviting Leslie and the Saruyamas.
I think (or rather hope) that Joyce will have her dad still when this is all said and done.
That said, Sal should really invest more in Joyce, Billie, and Carla. They’d make good friends for her. She’s been investing more in Danny lately though, which makes me happy, and there’s her slowly budding friendship/crime fighting partnership with AG. Marcie might be happy about Danny if nothing else when she and Sal make up (eventually – kinda hoping soon-ish). I also have a feeling that if Roz can learn a little about listening instead of jumping first, she and Sal might get along.
I don’t want my hopes crushed with Hank, and we know the Jocelyne reveal will happen eventually.
Danny is definitely a good potential friend for Sal, and I agree that Joyce, Billie, and Carla could all be excellent for her. (The Billie relationship probably presents the same issues as her one with Walky, but I can see them building up some emotional support there and all three of them being siblings together.) Never considered Roz before, but there are possibilities there. (Apologizing to and reconciling with Marcie is something I really hope happens. Sal needs more friendships beyond that one, but I would be sad if they both lost someone who’s clearly been one of the most important people in each other’s lives.)
AG could be really interesting depending on how that reveal shakes out, as could Amber, and I kind of hope they do eventually become friends – there’s a lot of trauma to unravel on all sides first, but if they did come out of it understanding one another I could see it being extremely positive. (Again, more outlets for ‘your parents are fucked UP’ ‘I know, right? So are yours!’ is a good thing, especially since Sal’s been burned on therapy and Amber’s issues are so tricky to find good help for.)
I think Billie has one advantage on Walky – she didn’t intentionally shut out what Sal said about her parents or ignore what she saw and so she puts slightly more stock in what Sal says. When Sal finally drops the mic on their parents’ shittiness to Walky, Billie chimes in with ‘Well, being mixed isn’t a get out of racism free card’ and later tells Walky about her friends’ well meaning parents. Billie still phrases things gently and I don’t think she’ll cut out the Walkerton parents, because they are good to her, but I think she’d definitely be more understanding than Walky, at least at first. That’s not to denigrate Walky – he was a kid and he didn’t know how to deal with things. That said, it did still leave Sal in the lurch and there’s that level of resentment she has towards him that she may not have for Billie.
I’ll be completely honest and admit part of that desire is because I like Roz and would like her to integrate more in the main cast.
I think a reconciliation will happen eventually. Even Malaya’s noted Marcie misses Sal and we know Sal’s been thinking about their past more lately. It might be more complicated than just an apology (to a certain degree anyways – promise or no, I can’t imagine Sal being okay with letting someone be clobbered in a four on one fight where she knows one party is a rapist, and I don’t think she’d be happy if Marcie expected her to. But that said, I think the response there would be more ‘I should’ve told you what was happening so you could at least try to intervene (unlike your useless, useless bosses) and I shouldn’t have left you in the lurch to take the fall’ which is more in line with Sal). Heck, Marcie’s at least started answering when Sal talks to her directly now so who knows? Plus, as you’ve said, they have a lot of history. And I think their friendship is kind of a fundamental building block of who they are in the Dumbiverse (when Willis was talking about going back to write the wedding in Joyce and Walky, one of the things he commented was weird to remember was that Walkyverse Sal and Marcie aren’t best friends). I think we’ll see more of them. Probably with some change – they have to talk out what happened and Sal is making new friends (slowly but surely) and Marcie still likes Malaya, but I think they’ll make it through with their friendship more or less intact.
That reveal is going to lead to SO MUCH. Depending how it shakes out, they could end up friends or…well, complicated. I don’t think hating each other is in the cards, but there’s a lot of room between friends and hate, especially when mutual trauma is involved (Sal doing psychological harm to Amber and Amber doing physical – and possibly psychological – harm to Sal via stabbing). At the very least they can be mutual ‘fuck therapy’ buds. Billie will probably get in on that too, although for Billie and Amber, I think a therapy is definitely in the cards.
I think it’s not quite time for Marcie and Sal to reconcile. Those other friendships are still fragile and I expect she’d try to go back into “I only need Marcie” mode.
Let the other connections strengthen a bit more and then let that drama loose.
I said eventually. I dunno if it’ll be soon, I just think it is coming at some point. If it is soon, yeah, there’s a risk of Sal backsliding. Though, this is DoA. She’d hardly be alone in that.
Our time, it’s going to be quite a while till the holidays. Except for Halloween. That should be coming up sometime in the next year or so.
That’s what makes it fun to speculate!
Yeah, and I expect any concrete dumping of families besides Blaine and Toedad won’t happen for years in their universe anyway – Ruth can’t until she can get Howard safe, Sal is still trying with her parents despite herself, Joyce is still financially dependent and I highly doubt Hank could get away with paying her tuition behind Carol’s back (and if he CAN hide such a huge financial commitment for the next four years, Carol is not the only problem here,) Ethan still wants a relationship with his parents, Walky and Danny don’t realize anything about their treatment is wrong, and frankly if Billingsdad is willing to keep paying Billie without ever bothering to interact with her in any real way, I say keep milking that as long as you can. Especially while you’re in college.
There might be a huge blowout between Joe and Richard when things with Stacey start to fall apart, but I imagine there’s still another month or two in-strip before that even begins to drama. (Because one: still in honeymoon phase, and two: I can just see them all having Awkward New Relationship Blended Family Thanksgiving when Richard takes Joe aside and reveals he just cheated on Stacey within the last few days.) Even then I’m not certain Joe would choose to cease all contact with Richard (once again, financial dependence for tuition), but I certainly doubt they’ll ever be close unless Richard has a sudden emotional growth spurt.
All other parents are fine or unknown. I wonder a bit about Jacob’s family, but you can come from a perfectly healthy background and still end up with massive anxiety and inferiority complex issues and we will certainly see his brother soon to find out firsthand what that relationship is like.
This is the way I think it’s going to shake out from what we know about the parents.
– Joyce will probably have a fraught relationship with her mom but probably not totally cut her off. I like to think she’ll still have Hank, but I think that will depend on his reaction to Joss coming out.
– Dorothy, Dina and Carla have wonderful parents.
– I think Billie and Walky will remain in contact with the Walkerton parents, but I like to think they’d stand up for themselves (and Sal). I think Sal’s eventually (probably after the comic) is going to cut them off.
– Billie probably doesn’t need to cut off her parents, she hears from them so rarely.
– Danny might at least stand up for himself. I don’t know if he has it in him not to give a zillion second chances.
– I foresee a confrontation between Joe and his dad. What happens afterwards depends how serious Richard is about changing.
– Amber has her mom and I think she always will. Blaine can fuck off.
– I hope Ethan eventually stands up to himself. He might cut them off depending how bad they get. If not, maybe they’ll eventually mellow out like in Shortpacked.
– I hope Ruth eventually gets free of Sir. Maybe after she’s graduated and hopefully has an apartment and Howie’s free. Fuck Clint.
I believe she also got a motorcycle with the jacket, which explains the cost.
I was joking about how expensive motorcycles are. Motorcycles are so expensive, I said they should come with more than a lousy jacket.
Sal paid way too much for a jacket she didn’t even really want because it came with a free motorcycle.
Pfft!
It’s a little weird that Sal starts to lose her accent explaining to Carla about the jacket, but gets it back while talking to Joyce about being self conscious since it’s normally being upset that causes the loss and she seems more upset talking to Joyce.
Eh, it’s been weirder. Malaya said earlier Sal’s accent disappears when she’s angry, but we’ve seen her accent stay plenty of times when she’s angry or upset. It actually seemed thicker to me once when she was yelling at Jason.
I don’t really see her losing the accent. What makes you think that?
There aren’t any obvious markers in “Jacket came free with the cycle”, but I think that’s more that there just aren’t any opportunities. She’s back to it in the next bubble.
I could have sworn that her “Ah” became “I” while talking to Carla, but now I don’t see it.
Did I imagine it?
Put it on.
Put it on!
PUT IT ON!
PUT IT OFF!
PUT IT OUT!
PUT IT IN!
Bop it!
Twist it!
Pull it!
Is that Padparadscha?
Follow up question, is that official SU art?
Yes it is and I am not certain.
Well I have a new ship.
Joyce/Sal/Carla ain’t new.
New to me! I mean, I’ve always thought Joyce had a thing for Sal, but Sal having a thing for Carla I hadn’t thought of.
has found a new host.
(Plz work for me html)
dammit, didn’t work.
Sal has learned The Black Speech from Amber.
If you were trying to link to another strip, with alt text that says “The daemonic entity that once dwelled within Amber,” then it worked.
Not exactly, I wanted that text to be the thing that you click on, I didn’t even know I could do alt text on a link
the format you wanted is
Text you want to show hereAssuming I didn’t screw up.I screwed up. Format is (swapping angle brackets for square brackets) [a href=”Address here” Title=”hover-over text here”]Text you want to show here][/a]
The “title” attribute in the “a” tag is where the title text goes (hence the name). The stuff to be displayed (and which you click) goes between the “a” and “/a” tags, just like with every other html tag. I believe that got me the first time I tried it, and it claims a new victim every once in a while.
Oh, cool. So where do the “a” and “/a” tags go?
Like this, but with greater-than and less-than signs instead of brackets:
[a href=”http://www.dumbingofage.com”]This is a link back to the DoA homepage.[/a]
So that example becomes this:
This is a link back to the DoA homepage.
The best way to learn is by messing with HTML yourself, though! The W3schools TryIt Editor is a great tool for that, because you can see your markup and its results side by side, and it does syntax highlighting which makes it obvious when a tag’s left open.
Cool, thanks! I’ll need to check that website out when I get the chance.
Carla wanting her to wear the jacket is pretty cute. Imagine she’s pretty proud of her family. That, or she’s just pushing Sal’s buttons.
Joyce obviously thinks highly of Sal, but her picture of Sal is rather incomplete, so far. It’s like the expression goes, though:
“Admiration is the furthest thing from understanding.”
It’s not that I think Joyce hasn’t made the effort, but she’s really only had limited opportunity to get to know Sal.
Sal really doesn’t like to be worshiped, Joyce. She has done many mistakes, but not as many as Mike. That guy made more mistakes than any man, woman, child, and even Ozpin.
+1 for the RWBY reference.
Every article of clothing of Sals keeps coincidentally peeling back some sort of layer about her. It’s none intentionally but it’sa theme.
“Ah wear these gloves all the time because my hands were permanently disfigured after a incident that changed my life forever. ”
” Ah hate that church girl uniform because it reminds me of the years wasted by my parents when they sent me away to not deal with me, but Ah still keep it around so I can wear it and put on act because I still want their love and approval despite doing a good job at hiding it.”
“Ah sleep in the buff because-….Well ah don’t even know the reason for that one. I like the breeze?”
It’s not entirely in the buff – she wears underwear and gloves and sometimes a sleep bonnet.
Joyce even found this hardcore. Sal responded that she shared the gloves + underwear look with Mickey mouse.
I don’t think it’s in the same vein, but Joyce believing Sal doesn’t ever feel self conscious reminds me of how some people don’t think black people feel pain as easily or how black children charged with crimes are viewed as adults more often then white children charged with the same crimes.
Maybe because it’s dehumanizing, as someone else suggested? I don’t know. It just gave me the same feeling.
I was going to draw a similarity as well but I was going to equate Joyce’s blind perception of Sals cool Factor in the same vain as Forrest Squads perception of Billie.
That’s a better 1:1 comparison.
The reason she doesn’t wear the jacket isn’t because she’s self-conscious, it’s because it’s evidence that she bought a motorcycle with all the cash she stockpiled from robbing convenience stores!…Or more likely it’s because Carla’s being predictably annoying about it.
I LOVE ALL THE THINGS HAPPENING IN THIS STRIP, it is so dense and so good!!!!!
Ooooh shit
Sal has been having a mixed bag of a life recently hasn’t she?
It’s fun how Joyce didn’t catch the part about Carla being the daughter of a billionnaire
I think that one might be something Joyce Vaguely Knows about Carla by now – Carla’s used her engineering powers to help Joyce before, I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘My parents made your phone’ came up at some point.
That, or Joyce still being in the very early but general admiration stage with Carla friendship-wise means she just skates over some of the details. Same way Carla doesn’t really hide that she’s trans, but Joyce hasn’t been present for or picked up on any of the signs because they’re either subtle or Mary being a bigot. (Though… I suddenly wonder how public details about Carla’s early childhood were, or when Ruttech was founded. Could be interesting and horrifying if, say, the Browns boycotted Ruttech devices because of *transphobic propaganda shit* and Joyce ends up realizing things that way.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if Joyce weren’t allowed to know those stories just yet in case it corrupted her tiny child brain (she would have been only a year younger). I also wouldn’t be shocked if Carla made magazine or tabloid news because she’s the daughter of two presumably famous zillionaires.
Yeah at this point I think that Joyce could conceive of Carla as the daughter of a millionaire. Without help, I don’t think she could naturally conceive of Carla or anyone else as trans. It’s really hard to pick up clues to something if that something isn’t even a concept in your mental space.
Even when you ARE trans it’s hard to pick up on those clues before you know trans-ness is a thing! Source, only figured out I was trans after learning what trans was in my 20s.
I wouldn’t be shocked if she knew about trans issues (in the context of things like bathrooms and Target boycotts) but I would be surprised if she was allowed to hear about them as a child – most parents like that refuse to let their kids hear anything about LGBTQ+ people when they’re young in case it ‘corrupts them’.
I know this may sound odd but I’ve got the feeling that Carla’s dad being hyper-rich isn’t the sort of thing Joyce would necessarily care about.
Sal’s so angry her voice went full Amazi-Girl.
Amazi-Girl puts on a blue Batman-esque voice. Sal’s just channeling Xykon here. (Or whichever other undead you prefer.)
Xykon was my thought as well.
There aren’t many undead I could see saying “Stow it, Polyanna”, but Xykon is an exception.
Yeah, it’s Amber who’s gone full “Possessed o’clock”.
When I first saw the strip I had my monitor set for warm, hopefully circadian rhythm friendly, mode, so I couldn’t tell if it was blue or black. I immediately thought “I knew it! Sal is Amazigirl!”
I am in agreement with Carla in the last panel. Wear the jacket Sal. You know you want to. Do it.
Put! It! On!
.
.
.
.
The Ritz!
*horse whinny*
That’s Rutenstein.
I mean maybe this is assuming, but it seems like Carla actually had functional and supportive parents in this universe and I’m honestly so happy for her.
For a minuto I thought the sleeve said “rotten”…
Something’s Rutten in the state of Indiana.
XD
take a red sharpie, change it to “rotten“, then put it on. (just for my own pride, i want to state that i came up with this before i saw the comments, and then i searched if anyone had made the joke before like a good forum user before opening a new thread
)
i wanna see Carla’s face if she does that.
This is a vital and important moment for Joyce: The moment when she first sees the person Sally Walkerton rather than her fantasy imagining of her!
Does she look like a fuckin’ Sally to you?
Does she look like a friggin’ “Sally” to you?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/sally/
More like a slap-jackin’ bonky-tonkin’ Sally, now that you mention iit.
Well now you’re just making up words.
Quick, someone feed Carla some more sugar.
I’m not sure that is strictly necessary
More cookies please!
That’s a really important moment of vulnerability and opening up for Sal.
Shame about the company.
That said… PUT IT ON!
Hopefully Joyce will learn an important lesson as well, hopefully
Well well well. Joyce becoming disillusioned/ challenging her mental image of sal, huh?
Maybe we SHOULD check to see if the head alien exists in this universe
That’s ridiculous, characters existing in a cartoon in the fictional universe, and the actual fictional universe? What is this, Digimon Tamers?
Is- is Carla *jumping* in that last panel…? I can’t tell.
Small fist pumps in time with the chanting.
No, she’s just really tall, I think. Her hair doesn’t seem to move.
Oooh. I wonder if she’s related to Bas Rutten?
Now that would be an awesome twist!
Yes, that would be quite the punchline.
I’m not sure Willis would know who Bas Rutten is.
Panels 4 and 5 suggest to me that Joyce isn’t too good at reading signals. All was throwing out out some major “tread carefully” vibes which Joyce either didn’t note or just ignored
Those are boundaries. Joyce isn’t aware of those.
Or she wouldn’t have been in the room in the first place.
I’m a little bothered by the fact that the sleeve says “Rutten” rather than “Ruttech”. Branding is very specific as to spelling and other aspects of visual appearance.
I guess I can retcon it in my head by saying that while the parent company is “Ruttech”, there were and are subdivisions that use “Rutten” as part of their name. So the motorcycle engine was actually made by “Rutten Motors, a division of Ruttech”, and Rutten Motors has “Rutten” as a brand.
Maybe.
Maybe the company is called Ruttech, but they slap their surname on everything for merch?
Or Ruttech is short for Rutten Tech. That’s what I always assumed.
FWIW, On the bottom right of Carla’s phone, it appears as RUTTECH.
I think the full name of the company is probably still Rutten Technology. “RutTech” is probably just the branding they use for their electronics division, while they still use the full name on stuff like motorcycle engines because they wanna appeal to a much different demographic that would associate “RutTech” with nerds who wouldn’t know a motor bike if it ran over them
Rutten Motors as a subdivision works for me too, yeah – have we actually seen both sleeves? Maybe it has another word somewhere on it.
Huh.
Web searching on “ruttech” found that there is a “Rut-Tech Motors”. Or at least a Facebook page for such a company.
I’m a little bit bothered because I realized yesterday that Carla is basically the daughter of two billionaire tech magnates and I’m getting dissonance now with the idea of her being the daughter of two Elon Musk clones.
They made that Ultra-Car for her so that predisposes me to think they’re pretty good eggs.
I like to think that they have a huge-ass scholarship and/or charity for LGBT youth, particularly those who want to go into STEM fields, and that Becky will end up a recipient of it. (We’ll never see such things because timescale, but I like to think that.)
I also dearly hope that they pay their workers well and give solid benefits, rather than being super-wealthy because they hoard it all. I’d bet if it is a factor that the plot will eventually discuss it so we know for sure. At the very least we’re predisposed to like them more than the Also-Super-Wealthy Dargon Chesterfield (“cruel and powerful captain of industry”, quote Jason) and Alleged Father Billingsworth (literally the only things we know of him are that he substitutes paying Billie for actually caring about her whatsoever, and that he evicted all the homeless people in their town.) That their anecdotes are all about supporting Carla unequivocally and we haven’t yet heard anything nasty about Ruttech seems deliberate.
According to Billie, her dad’s so emotionally constipated that the only way he knows how to show he loves Billie is money. So he might be trying but that and the homeless population…yeah, it’s not a good look.
Yeah, that one’s the kicker really. Still, the degree to which the Walkertons just assume he won’t be around and visiting her… even if he’s trying, he’s failing so hard I wonder why he appears to have sole custody of Billie. Is her mother as completely unconcerned with things? Is she her own brand of dysfunctional? I’m pretty sure Billie’s indicated she’s not dead.
While we have so little to work with about Billie’s mother (or any and all stepmothers, I seem to recall there’s at least one but should really do a reread soon) I don’t really feel comfortable painting her with the same brush as Billie’s father, if both her biological parents really are this apathetic or inept, I really hate them and they had no business having a child in the first place if they weren’t willing or able to provide actual affection. Hence why I make an effort to include AT LEAST Billie’s father on any Bad Parent list in this comic.
Billie’s parents aren’t divorced so far as we know. Billie’s dad is away on business frequently and, again, only knows how to demonstrate affection via money. Her mother apparently contents herself by having as many affairs as possible and ignores Billie to focus on them. IIRC, she’s also rarely home.
So, her parents both suck but like….at least her dad is trying? Failing horribly, but trying?
…yeah, no, who am I kidding, you know shit’s bad when Linda and Charles frigging Walkerton are a step up.
I see what you’re doin there, Willis! Trying to start another meme! Drilling a new catchphrase into our heads! Using repetition! I’m onto your games! I’m not falling for it! So forget it! You can just… stow it, Pollyanna!
When you think about it, it’s kind of sad that Sal regards ‘always unfeasibly cheerful’ as an insult!
I don’t think she does, since she calls Joyce Pollyanna when she’s in a good mood, too
Lots of people have shouted at each other, but is this the first non-costumed incident? This is serious. Walk away Joyce.
Hm. I read it as emphasizing her words not shouting. The type isn’t any larger. Sal doesn’t look beleigerant, just annoyed.
She isn’t shouting…more like a pissed-off growl.
Carla looks so genuinely happy, it’s adorable
Aw, Joyce. You’re adorable. And your idealized version of Sal might be, too, but Sal doesn’t seem to like it.
I think that Sal is too aware of her flaws (which are manifold) and the ways in which she feels she has failed and is failing. Because of that, she feels unworthy of Joyce’s admiration and even feels a little frustrated that her ‘fangirl’ doesn’t seem to realise that she’s giving admiration to a garbage person.
I think some of it is also a feeling of being idealized which has backfired before when people realize she’s not what they want her to be. It’s the other side of the coin of her being treated like the bad kid – either way they don’t see all she is.
This reminds me a bit of when I started talking to my family about my anxiety problems. They became supportive eventually but the initial reaction was disbelief and laughter. “But you always seem so laid back and confident! You don’t complain about things much.” As is true in many cases, it was very annoying to have to convince people about something I already felt nervous sharing.
I don’t know why but this comic has made me want nothing more than for Sal and Carla to smooch.
i just love them both so much
Well, Sal, you are not exactly the easiest person to get to know!