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.
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.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
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.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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!
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.
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I cannot for the life of me imagine what Joyce would look like as a real person. She just looks like Spongebob to me.
What is that hair color? Who has it?
It’s maybe one of the most common hair colours in northern Europe. So much that in my country it’s regarded as the single most boring hair colour in existence. We call it “municipality-coloured hair”.
Also, I have literally just found out that American popular media call it “bronde” and it was apparently the ‘it-colour’ 3-6 years ago (maybe still)?
I’ve met real life joyce. She was my best friend in 8th grade.
Very pretty, big smile, super religious. She would beat me with a ruler if I ever cursed around her and got mad at me for a whole day once because I said gay people are just born that way, then again because I said we don’t know what happened, in terms of creationism vs evolution (which, I was being charitable for her sake. Obviously we know evolution happened). I was only friends with her because we were friends years ago in ballet class and would run into each other periodically afterwards, I had no idea she was so brain washed. I worry about her a lot actually, she should be in some American Christian college by now, and I’m worried the same thing that happened to Joyce will happen to her.
She had a couple crushes and had to fend off boys a lot, but I don’t remember any warped ideas of love, just that she was really sexually repressed. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had iffy ideas of consent and women’s roles in marriage though.
Taylor Swift’s hair is generally blonder than how I’d envision Joyce’s hair, but I could see it being meant to be that color. It’s weird to me when Joyce is referred to as “blonde,” as I see her hair as brown, and that’s how I’d see the real-life equivalent too. I think “mousy” is a good description, but that always pairs with “brown” for me– “mousy brown hair.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Joyce is physically the strongest girl in this comic. Stronger than Sal, stronger than Amber. In the running for strongest period.
It’s kind of just a joke on my part. Joyce is in a rather unique situation where she sort of boasts the most amazing feats of strength in this comic. Sal and Amber are better fighters hands down but Joyce has a few standout moments.
Look at this shit! http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/strength-2/
I haven’t seen an official size chart but Ross looks like a huge fucking guy who obviously works out by the size of his arms and chest. Joyce knocked him flying in one punch. Sure adrenaline helps, but don’t try to pass some strength of god shit on me. That’s real power! Amber’s probably closest to her because she pounded the tar out of Blaine and I think Ross and Blaine might be comparable in size. I think Ross is bigger though.
People will say. “Oh that’s not hard.” I challenge you to go kick in a window frame and all and tell me how hard it’s not.
That’s about it really. Not much but more than most people who have only really done stuff like lift chairs. I think Ruth flipped Blaine once? Sal and Amber are great fighters but did send a huge guy flying with one punch? No. They were having trouble with Ryan and his legion of average sized dude bros. This isn’t a hardcore battle manga so stuff like that isn’t really the focus. I’m sure all of this can easily be disputed but until then Joyce kind of stands at the top of that small hill.
Becky said Toedad is around Sal’s height. So 5’7ish. He is a big guy, but if you’re good and pissed off and have adrenaline spiking, you can definitely knock him flying. She also describes him as ‘a fleshy shuttlecock’ so I suspect he’s not as much muscle as you’d think at first glance. Ditto for kicking in a window frame – especially since they’re specifically harnessing Joyce’s fury.
Ross is only 5,7? That seems low balling it to me. I mean I wasn’t thinking he was 6ft or anything but he seemed taller than 5,7. I’m also guessing around 300lbs. That’s a substantial amount. You can argue adrenaline sure but that doesn’t discount what happened. Still one of the most impressive feats in the comic. Mostly because no one else has gotten into many physical confrontations.
The window thing is more unclear. I’m not sure you can summon adrenaline on command and if you can I doubt Joyce has that ability. That power was hers. Becky couldn’t kick that window in and Jocelyn didn’t even try. Both of them definitely weaker than Joyce and so is Walky apparently.
When you believe you can do anything, you generally can do anything.*
*Within the range of limitations of a human body
**Which does not include walking on water. Attempts to walk on water end in sadness and hilarious Vines/YouTube fail videos. ^^;
I have a really good musical memory, and I can “hear” a piece of music in my head without any actual playback. I used to refer to this as my “internal Walkman.” Some years later, I called it my “internal iPod.” But now, I don’t have a meaningful reference. Because…
The idea of a separate handheld device just for playing music is pretty much gone. Radio is still important, and vinyl makes periodic resurgences, but mostly I listen to music on my computer when I’m at home, or on my phone when I’m not. And both of those devices are used for a lot of other things besides music.
I’m trying to remember what happened to my last boombox. I remember that I kept it because it was the only way for me to play cassette tapes, and then the cassette player stopped working and it was no longer of any use to me (computers had already taken over the CD playing role.)
So… I know that Walky was pretty immature earlier in the semester (Dorothy was insane to go out with a guy who expressed his feelings by throwing a toy at her head), but he’s had some development since then. He still has major character flaws (such as the way he handles his calc class) but he’s also showing development.
Even the calc thing is getting a little bit better. This story is kicked off by Walky not immediately taking an excuse to skip out on math, and trying to find out if it’s legit.
I mean I’ve said this multiple times before and I don’t want to rant. Short version is he’s immature, cartoonishly so. His problems get solved for him. He has it too easy if that makes sense. And he’s just annoying in general. He’s not someone I’d like in real life.
His problems also feel… small scale compared to most of the cast? I know, that’s not quite fair to Walky. But when people are freaking out about PTSD, accepting their sexuality, racial abuse, grounds for firing… Walky being unable to cope with bad grades and poor study habits just seem immature.
On the other hand, Walky’s problem is also very common and it’s nice seeing more run of the mill less serious issues. Maybe Walky’s not your style, but it’s also nice with other characters.
It makes him one of the most relatable to me because, hey, I dropped out of college after two years because depression crushed my academic ability so hard that I literally couldn’t do schoolwork. Maybe Walky’s not dealing with clinical depression, but that’s still some real shit to deal with.
I really don’t think its fair to draw that sort of comparison. It’s that kind of academic struggle that almost drove me to suicide in high school (I’m all good now). I get what you’re saying but its still a bigger problem than what he’s faced before and thus it will impact him negatively
Also something I can’t turn a blind eye to in light of last chapter. Walky was totally complacent in Sal’s treatment. I know he was a child for some of that, but it seems like he didn’t even have her back! That’s horrible, and it seems he was either ignorant or didn’t care and I don’t know which is worse. He caved when Leland threatened him after witnessing that little twerp nearly kill Marcie! Not a good look Walkman…not a good look.
College is a great time to learn that you’ve been privileged.
Iirc, Sal confronted Walky about it — although it was hard for him to accept for a couple days, he thought about it, sought more info from Billie, and realized Sal was right. Once he did, he made changes, and was angry on Sal’s behalf, which she appreciated.
And Leland was much bigger and fightier than 13-yr-old Walky. (Plus, their parents have been very clear that their love is conditional on being a good kid, and not a hoodlum, so that doesn’t help him stand up to bullies, either.)
I understand the rationale and it’s fine and good that they made up, but that doesn’t really change anything. Walky didn’t have to fight Leland, especially since that kid was dangerous and crippled people with sharp rocks, but he damn sure could’ve spoken out! He was a witness. Sal doesn’t look so bad when she’s not the only one telling the story. That’s all water under the bridge now but it’s a big mark on Walky’s character to me.
I think it’s a little harsh to blame a kid for not wanting to speak up against a bully actively threatening them. That’s hard even for adults. That said, there were definitely times Walky made things worse for Sal, like him asking for cookies for being in bed, which drew even more attention to Sal not being. Some people read it as him trying to distract his mom, but at 12-13, he should’ve seen where that would go.
Yup, I read the cookies thing as Walky being a little jerk, as siblings generally are. (I have two brothers, and that read very realistically like getting on your sib’s nerves!)
I’m glad they’re finding new ways to relate to each other.
the zeitgeist contains a lot of arguments in the vein of “X is bad for not standing up to genuine evil bastard Y effectively enough” these days. y’know, this argument really depends upon X having a significant amount of agency and security to be valid.
sal was failed very badly by *nobody* having her back when she was in serious difficulty. however, multiple adult-type people around her were specifically invested with authority FOR THE OSTENSIBLE PURPOSE of the care-taking of children. walky was not one of those.
“He caved when Leland threatened him after witnessing that little twerp nearly kill Marcie!” hmmmm… I’m not sure how you intended that to sound, but it sure sounds like “he avoided confronting a guy who he knew was really dangerous”
I mean, I like Walky for a bunch of reasons including that he’s like a hyperbolic version of my best friend, but I understand that he’s disgusting and annoying and lacks a spine. But also, fighting Leland was Sal’s mistake, and I think Walky probably saw it that way too, like “why do you keep picking fights with this brute, Sal, just give him what he wants and then ignore him the rest of the time like I do”.
*sighs* Look I said I didn’t want to rant about this but I hope you realize that’s not a good thing. Bullies like Leland thrive in environments where no one stops them. He was that dangerous because he could get away with it. No fighting wasn’t the right call. I’m not asking for that. The whole message of last chapter was that violence only escalates. The real question was why was Sal forced to confront Leland in the first place. Because no one had her back. Her parents didn’t believe her (or more accurately they might of believed Sal but chose to shift blame to Marcie based on Linda’s opinion of her) and her own brother was too cowardly to back up her story.
Also just a side note: How the FUCK did that teacher not see Walky getting blatantly threatened right in front of her!?
Tattling is not hard and if somehow Walky faced some blowback for that from Leland then it probably would’ve gotten Leland in actual trouble since Walky is more favored than Sal. But Sal was the only one as implied here.
Disembodied principal voice says “Daughter” not “children”. Walky said nothing. Just ignoring him like the rest of us do is how Marcie got pushed down a pit into rocks and exposed bar in the first place.
(Also frankly…Billie might deserve a little disdain for that too. She was a witness as well. They all only get a pass because they’re kids.)
But that’s just a small part of the Walky annoyance package. Okay I’m done. Not gonna rant about this anymore. These are just my opinions. No offense toward you Loz or anyone that likes Walky.
OTOH as you say “How the FUCK did that teacher not see Walky getting blatantly threatened right in front of her!?”
It’s not really a side note. When the authority figure ignores the blatant threats, it just reinforces that “tattling” won’t help and will just get you in trouble without any consequences to the bully.
Tattling is actually hard. Even without the actual threat from the bully, social pressure against it is huge at that age.
Using my own evidence against me huh?…..*squints angrily*…Well played I guess. I’ve got nothing for that. I’d go on but like I said I’m done ranting. Still don’t like Walky but maybe he had good reasons to stay complacent even if I don’t agree with them.
I don’t think the takeaway from the last arc is supposed to be violence is bad. I don’t think we’re supposed to think it was wrong for Sal and AG to be beating the shit out of those guys who were trying to harass rape victims. I DO think we’re heading towards fighting smart though – finding ways to stop people like them without splash back on other people or escalating things (at least too much).
Walkie was not obligated to almost certainly getg beaten up to help Sal, especially when the teacher ignored blatent threats right in front of her. This does not mean Sal’s decision was wrong.
The school basically chose Leeland’s side.
Rereading the discussion with Sal’s parents. I think the school was saying even if Leeland was in the wrong and Sal was in the right we don’t care. Were going to pretend any harm that comes to Marcie didn’t happen because if she goes to anybody about it we believe she will get in more trouble than us, and if you bring this up with anyone else well what do you think will happen to her little friend. But Leeland’s parent has pull.
Taken off guard. Confused by the situation, and while she could probably handle a collision with a Walky-sized mass and stay on her feet, she isn’t expecting Joyce to just shove him at her.
Okay, so I was raised in a similar environment to the one Joyce was, and my first relationship legitimately WAS just this Nice Guy from church badgering me until I finally agreed to go out with him because my family and friends wanted me to. Honestly, all things considered, Joyce is un-brainwashing herself impressively fast, but also I want to wrap her in a blanket and tell her that a lot of romcom tropes are actually propaganda to excuse creepy and/or abusive behavior.
After Joyce’s horrific experience wherein some preacher’s son tried to force himself on her, you’d think that she would see just how wrong this type of behavior is. You don’t just physical cram two people together (or in this case shove someone hard into another being) and think that romance automatically blossoms.
Well I’m hoping this is an arc where Joyce starts to realize just how warped her views on relationships are, I’d hoped that it might have been the storyline with Jacob and Raidah where she learnt but better late than never
Maybe she’ll learn some from Dorothy’s reaction to all this? Dorothy’s preaching isn’t getting very far, but her natural reaction to finding out Walky moved on might lead to an epiphany of some sort for Joyce? She clearly doesn’t think Dorothy and Walky were classically “in love,” so Dorothy being…not unfazed might surprise her.
In fairness, this ends up being more of a criticism of the typical approach Hollywood (or young adult novels) has toward romance than it ends up being a criticism of Christian upbringing.
But the fact that the film industry mostly releases tropey, superficial, and utterly forgettable content isn’t news to anyone, I’m sure.
I was awaiting the inevitable “Dorothy gets hurt by Walky moving on so fast and for once drops her stoic rationalist facade,” but the more time that passes, the more I wonder if she’ll take THAT in stride–but be hurt when she finds out Joyce actively tried to facilitate it. Joyce is supposedly her friend and KNEW she loves Walky, but she’s ignoring that to service her fantasies of “love” and to ensure more time with Dorothy. It’s one thing to be supportive of Walky trying to move on, but *this* would be hurtful. And I don’t think Joyce realizes that, so I can easily see her proudly admitting this to Dorothy.
(Also, wondering if Amber is so happy to see Walky because it’s the next day, and she assumed his sister already told him what went down so she’s taking his appearance as a sign he’s cool with it all?)
That’s not a bad point, Joyce has certainly tested Dorothy’s boundaries recently what with tracking her down on the toilet and Joyces behavior towards Raidah at the restaurant so it might be interesting to see what Dorothy thinks about it all
Whatever. Dorothy broke up with Walky so she can freaking deal with him dating something else. I don’t care about these kids’ stupid dating “problems”.
Just because Dorothy broke up with him doesn’t mean she’s not allowed to be sad about it or regret it later, especially if she finds out he moved on quickly. Now if she’s rude to either of them or tries to sabotage the relationship, that’d be crappy, but if Dorothy does so, I’ll eat my metaphorical hat.
Ok. It’s imperative for this to work but Walky MUST fall into her tiddies. Either land his face in her cleavage or land with a hand on them. Or both. And if Amber doesn’t go “Kyaaaa” and blush while enacting cartoonish physical violence, they’re doomed.
I am more interested in the “unexpected romance between a hero a former villain that no one saw coming but you are glad it happened”. That is the butter of my daily toast.
I also like “healthy relationship that isn’t the main focus of the story, and because of that it can survive the drama of the plot”.
I’m staying with my family for a week of pre-holidays, and my dad, being A Dad, was watching The Rat Patrol, which is a stereotypically 1960s-era “badass war heroes” show. All I could think of, watching the American/German leaders confront each other, was, like… were they actually going for barely-disguised sexual tension? Because that’s all they’re portraying on the screen. Pure foe-yay.
I think the mutually-respecting hero-villain dynamic basically calls for that kind of unexpected romance.
As horrifying as Joyce’s romcom ideas are, it’s interesting that she’s not putting a gender on who has to be the creep.
Are there movies where the girl badgers the boy into True Love?
Bringing Up Baby. It’s one of the all-time greats of the “screwball comedy” genre. (Also the first instance of someone using “gay” to mean “homosexual” in a movie.)
Same. Even beyond the baggage–and there’s a ton of it–I personally am not really invested because I don’t see this relationship as good for either of them. They’re happy and attracted to each other, but they ultimately just give each other excuses to stay in stasis, the same stasis that makes them hate themselves when the other isn’t around to distract them.
I agree he didn’t go full self-loathing until the break-up, but given that he was able to appreciate “garbage roof” well before the breakup because his grades sent him into crisis indicates those tendencies were always there.
You say “keep avoiding/hiding from” I say “stop obsessing futilely over”.
Basically, what I’m hearing here is that people with issues shouldn’t do things that make them happy; they should be miserable all the time until they’ve resolved the issues. The trouble is, people who are miserable all the time don’t resolve their issues, they (and by “they” I mean “we”) just sit there being miserable.
Basically, what I’m hearing here is that commenters take everything to the most extreme level.
No one wants them to be miserable until they resolve their problems. Some of us are concerned that putting two people with established patterns of avoiding/hiding from their problems are going to amplify and excuse those tendencies in each other. And we’ve already seen signs of that, most notably the whole “changing the grades” thing.
Just because the relationship didn’t cause their avoidance issues, doesn’t mean it’s not making it worse. And it is, mostly for Walky. Amber *actively encouraged* avoiding the grades issue by offering to just change his grades, and when he rightly decided he didn’t want to go through with it, she did it anyway. That is the exact kind of behavior that makes Walky’s #1 issue much more of a problem (we’ll assume, even if it’s probably not true, Amber has effectively solved the heartbreak problem). Plus, good for Amber that Sal just handed her a coping mechanism for her problems, but she wasn’t going to get that from Walky, and she clearly needed someone to help her find an outlet.
I doubt the coping mechanism is going to fix everything too. Amber needs serious therapy, and things aren’t going to get better until she does.
But yeah, it’s worth pointing out if anyone finds out she hacked those grades, both Amber and Walky are getting kicked out of school. Which is why nobody with authority is gonna find out, because that would make it very hard for them to stay in the main cast.
All that time Walky spent on the roof with Amber almost certainly was a major part of why Walky ended up changing his mind. He was finally comfortable enough with his limitations that he stopped freaking out about failing.
I don’t see what doing roller derby with Sal has to do with Amber and Walky’s relationship at all. Being in a relationship with someone does not mean it is your duty to try to solve all their problems. Amber even explicitly does not want that from him.
The fact that she found a coping mechanism somewhere besides her boyfriend is good and healthy.
I think Walky and Amber are good for each other, potentially, but I also think they’re going to need more outside help then they can give each other (and, for that matter, than roller derby can give Amber).
Well, he explicitly says the primary reason he changed his mind, and it was very clearly a follow-up from Sal. I’m sure all Walky’s life experiences in the weeks since college started led him to that decision, but garbage roof was at list third on his list of reasons to do the right thing here–frankly, I don’t buy that was a part of it at all, given that his garbage roof partner was the one orchestrating the whole thing.
And, ugh, I knew I should have clarified this right away, and I’m kicking myself because I *knew* someone would accuse me of implying it was Walky’s job to fix Amber’s problems, and I *knew* I should tack on a clarification–my point was that Walky would have enabled Amber to regress into avoidance habits too, but (given the tone of the comic a few days ago) it seems something else may start to help her (although, for the record, I agree with BBCC Amber need therapy, but I was giving roller derby the benefit of the doubt to focus on the thing I find MOST problematic about the relationship)
I get that. I have my doubts about roller derby as a coping mechanism, but I think it’s a definitive step in the right direction that she wants to look for other outlets and get better.
…I’m guessing you mean without all the “I stabbed your sister and also changed your grades after you told me not to and we could both get kicked out of school” baggage?
That doesn’t mean Walky will be comfortable dating someone who stabbed his sister. Or, heck, even if he manages to go ‘it’s okay, they’ve made peace, it’s cool’ that he’ll STAY cool when he finds out about the grade swapping.
You know, Joyce, what you describe in the fifth panel, some people would call that harassment. Or stalking. Or manipulation. Get you some relationship education girl.
FWIW, I’m wondering if Amber and Walky are going to attempt to deprogram Joyce’s weird ideas of an ideal romance and it’s going to end up with her wondering if she’s ever known what love really is supposed to be like.
Possibly, they’re going to explain what they think romance is and Joyce is going to be freaked out by how closely that matches the description of several of her closest friendships.
No, Joyce. The Step 2 you describe is how you end up with two bitterly unhappy married people who fight all the time and/or wind up cheating on each other. Trust me, I know, because this is exactly what happened to my parents.
I’ve said it many times – I’m sure I’ll have cause to say it again: For me, the best parts of this comic is Joyce and her two ladies. So many wonderful, adorable and hilarious moments!
I also like the next comic when Dorothy walks back her snark and makes sure to leave on a high note.
“Walky, what’s Joyce doing here?”
“She thinks we need her to get us together. Joyce, sweetie, we love you. Now fuck off. These are our lives. Go take care of your own.”
I always want to write new dialogue. Fortunately, I don’t get to. It wouldn’t be funny.
The problem is that she is not actually aware that this is abusive, only that she has been socially conditioned to consider it ‘cute’ and even normal. Look at the desperation on her face when she gives Walky a shove: This is a matter of success of failure of the entire enterprise, in her mind!
Television applies this same lesson to most non romantic relationships instead of just romance, which might be part of the reason Lucy is the way she is.
Probably because they’re also cliche romcom tropes and she was allowed to watch those (well, some of them anyways. Probably clean Christian ones. On the other hand, she was also allowed to watch Twilight so).
Twilight is Safe Mormon Erotica (TM), intentionally aimed at teenagers. The particularly sheltered are if anything the primary audience, and Stephanie Meyer shows clear signs of being formerly among them; the only thing particularly likely to trip up the standard fundagelical defenses is the “Mormon” part, and that’s subtle*.
*Read: Is likely to fly right by a fundagelical audience because they don’t know shit about any minority religion.
Willis said Joyce was allowed to watch it because of the strong ‘wait until marriage’ theme, similarly to how he was allowed to watch Narnia because, even though it had magic, it had Christian themes his mother felt were important.
“I have observed enough human dating rituals to understand this is how people meet…”
Joyce, with the drama YOU have been involved in, I would kinda think you are more aware then your “I am blerg nog, humonoligist!” Routine here would suggest.
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rip tumblr
Speaking of Butts, whose is that in your avatar?
It’s Billie Booty if I recall.
Yup. Billie flopping down next to Ruth after escaping Lucy’s perpetual morning-person sunshine.
Nine days ago: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/bagel/
Further speaking of (B/b)utts, nice Walky posterior in panel 4.
i thought about taking it, but i’m kinda really holding out for ethan
jacob would also be acceptable
Don’t worry I got it handled
Thanks for reminding me
look, she jumped off the bed, no need for additional trajectory
Joyce is annoying
Annoyce
noice
I cannot for the life of me imagine what Joyce would look like as a real person. She just looks like Spongebob to me.
What is that hair color? Who has it?
It’s blonde-brown hair. It’s not that uncommon.
I have blonde-brown hair. I don’t recall ever seeing Joyce’s hair color on a human.
I’ve seen it a lot. It’s just hard to classify because it’s right on the line between blonde and brown.
My family calls it mousy. My brother and father went though this shade as they were growing up, born blond, became mousy, now a solid medium brown.
It’s maybe one of the most common hair colours in northern Europe. So much that in my country it’s regarded as the single most boring hair colour in existence. We call it “municipality-coloured hair”.
Also, I have literally just found out that American popular media call it “bronde” and it was apparently the ‘it-colour’ 3-6 years ago (maybe still)?
I’ve met real life joyce. She was my best friend in 8th grade.
Very pretty, big smile, super religious. She would beat me with a ruler if I ever cursed around her and got mad at me for a whole day once because I said gay people are just born that way, then again because I said we don’t know what happened, in terms of creationism vs evolution (which, I was being charitable for her sake. Obviously we know evolution happened). I was only friends with her because we were friends years ago in ballet class and would run into each other periodically afterwards, I had no idea she was so brain washed. I worry about her a lot actually, she should be in some American Christian college by now, and I’m worried the same thing that happened to Joyce will happen to her.
She had a couple crushes and had to fend off boys a lot, but I don’t remember any warped ideas of love, just that she was really sexually repressed. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had iffy ideas of consent and women’s roles in marriage though.
TSwift has it.
Taylor Swift’s hair is generally blonder than how I’d envision Joyce’s hair, but I could see it being meant to be that color. It’s weird to me when Joyce is referred to as “blonde,” as I see her hair as brown, and that’s how I’d see the real-life equivalent too. I think “mousy” is a good description, but that always pairs with “brown” for me– “mousy brown hair.”
Well that’s just like your opinion.
“badger the other rele-” this isn’t going to lead to Joyce having any revelations about her feelings toward Billie or Sal, is it?
Damn, Joyce is stronger than she looks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Joyce is physically the strongest girl in this comic. Stronger than Sal, stronger than Amber. In the running for strongest period.
I’m intrigued. Why do you think this?
It’s kind of just a joke on my part. Joyce is in a rather unique situation where she sort of boasts the most amazing feats of strength in this comic. Sal and Amber are better fighters hands down but Joyce has a few standout moments.
Look at this shit!
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/strength-2/
I haven’t seen an official size chart but Ross looks like a huge fucking guy who obviously works out by the size of his arms and chest. Joyce knocked him flying in one punch. Sure adrenaline helps, but don’t try to pass some strength of god shit on me. That’s real power! Amber’s probably closest to her because she pounded the tar out of Blaine and I think Ross and Blaine might be comparable in size. I think Ross is bigger though.
Then there’s this.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/frame/
People will say. “Oh that’s not hard.” I challenge you to go kick in a window frame and all and tell me how hard it’s not.
That’s about it really. Not much but more than most people who have only really done stuff like lift chairs. I think Ruth flipped Blaine once? Sal and Amber are great fighters but did send a huge guy flying with one punch? No. They were having trouble with Ryan and his legion of average sized dude bros. This isn’t a hardcore battle manga so stuff like that isn’t really the focus. I’m sure all of this can easily be disputed but until then Joyce kind of stands at the top of that small hill.
Becky said Toedad is around Sal’s height. So 5’7ish. He is a big guy, but if you’re good and pissed off and have adrenaline spiking, you can definitely knock him flying. She also describes him as ‘a fleshy shuttlecock’ so I suspect he’s not as much muscle as you’d think at first glance. Ditto for kicking in a window frame – especially since they’re specifically harnessing Joyce’s fury.
Ross is only 5,7? That seems low balling it to me. I mean I wasn’t thinking he was 6ft or anything but he seemed taller than 5,7. I’m also guessing around 300lbs. That’s a substantial amount. You can argue adrenaline sure but that doesn’t discount what happened. Still one of the most impressive feats in the comic. Mostly because no one else has gotten into many physical confrontations.
The window thing is more unclear. I’m not sure you can summon adrenaline on command and if you can I doubt Joyce has that ability. That power was hers. Becky couldn’t kick that window in and Jocelyn didn’t even try. Both of them definitely weaker than Joyce and so is Walky apparently.
ross is a short little dude, yes
Okay, I have to ask, how would one determine which girl has the strongest period?
THE POWER OF JESUS COMPELS HER
No seriously I’ve met a lot of Christian girls that are strangely stronger than they appear.
They gotta be when they’re fightin’ SATAN HIMSELF
When you believe you can do anything, you generally can do anything.*
*Within the range of limitations of a human body
**Which does not include walking on water. Attempts to walk on water end in sadness and hilarious Vines/YouTube fail videos. ^^;
I live in northern Alberta, I can walk on water about six months of the year.
I know. Let’s see you do that on the Sea of Galilee.
Boombox: It’s like a MP3 player, only huge and ugly.
Boombox: It’s like a Bluetooth speaker, only with a radio and a tape cassette deck included–and no Bluetooth.
But then people will ask what the heck is a tape cassette deck.
That thing old cars have, with the cable coming out of a big slot that you have to plug into your phone because Bluetooth wasn’t invented yet.
Looks like it has big bug eyes, eats your tapes, electrocutes you, can’t be trusted.
I had several of those.
I have a really good musical memory, and I can “hear” a piece of music in my head without any actual playback. I used to refer to this as my “internal Walkman.” Some years later, I called it my “internal iPod.” But now, I don’t have a meaningful reference. Because…
The idea of a separate handheld device just for playing music is pretty much gone. Radio is still important, and vinyl makes periodic resurgences, but mostly I listen to music on my computer when I’m at home, or on my phone when I’m not. And both of those devices are used for a lot of other things besides music.
I’m trying to remember what happened to my last boombox. I remember that I kept it because it was the only way for me to play cassette tapes, and then the cassette player stopped working and it was no longer of any use to me (computers had already taken over the CD playing role.)
Internal Spotify/app of choice? (I know that’s not the point.)
To be fair, this is pretty cute
Oh jesus christ someone please give this girl a DRASTIC intervention on relationship health.
Rom coms aren’t great examples of how romance and relationships work in real life…..Also I hate Walky. Never not a good time to say that.
So… I know that Walky was pretty immature earlier in the semester (Dorothy was insane to go out with a guy who expressed his feelings by throwing a toy at her head), but he’s had some development since then. He still has major character flaws (such as the way he handles his calc class) but he’s also showing development.
What do you hate about him?
Even the calc thing is getting a little bit better. This story is kicked off by Walky not immediately taking an excuse to skip out on math, and trying to find out if it’s legit.
I mean I’ve said this multiple times before and I don’t want to rant. Short version is he’s immature, cartoonishly so. His problems get solved for him. He has it too easy if that makes sense. And he’s just annoying in general. He’s not someone I’d like in real life.
His problems also feel… small scale compared to most of the cast? I know, that’s not quite fair to Walky. But when people are freaking out about PTSD, accepting their sexuality, racial abuse, grounds for firing… Walky being unable to cope with bad grades and poor study habits just seem immature.
On the other hand, Walky’s problem is also very common and it’s nice seeing more run of the mill less serious issues. Maybe Walky’s not your style, but it’s also nice with other characters.
It makes him one of the most relatable to me because, hey, I dropped out of college after two years because depression crushed my academic ability so hard that I literally couldn’t do schoolwork. Maybe Walky’s not dealing with clinical depression, but that’s still some real shit to deal with.
I really don’t think its fair to draw that sort of comparison. It’s that kind of academic struggle that almost drove me to suicide in high school (I’m all good now). I get what you’re saying but its still a bigger problem than what he’s faced before and thus it will impact him negatively
Plus, he doesn’t bathe regularly nor wash his underwear. He’s too lazy to tie his shoes, forchrisesake.
Yeah this, because of the way he was brought up hes just an unlikable person. I’m not surprised he doesn’t have any male friends at all.
Yeah, sometimes around here we forget that Linda and Charles ruined two kids.
The fact they’re not doing Billie any favours either but they’re still the best parental figures she has hurts me deeply.
Also something I can’t turn a blind eye to in light of last chapter. Walky was totally complacent in Sal’s treatment. I know he was a child for some of that, but it seems like he didn’t even have her back! That’s horrible, and it seems he was either ignorant or didn’t care and I don’t know which is worse. He caved when Leland threatened him after witnessing that little twerp nearly kill Marcie! Not a good look Walkman…not a good look.
College is a great time to learn that you’ve been privileged.
Iirc, Sal confronted Walky about it — although it was hard for him to accept for a couple days, he thought about it, sought more info from Billie, and realized Sal was right. Once he did, he made changes, and was angry on Sal’s behalf, which she appreciated.
And Leland was much bigger and fightier than 13-yr-old Walky. (Plus, their parents have been very clear that their love is conditional on being a good kid, and not a hoodlum, so that doesn’t help him stand up to bullies, either.)
Lazy, though, yeah. Definitely can’t argue that.
I understand the rationale and it’s fine and good that they made up, but that doesn’t really change anything. Walky didn’t have to fight Leland, especially since that kid was dangerous and crippled people with sharp rocks, but he damn sure could’ve spoken out! He was a witness. Sal doesn’t look so bad when she’s not the only one telling the story. That’s all water under the bridge now but it’s a big mark on Walky’s character to me.
I think it’s a little harsh to blame a kid for not wanting to speak up against a bully actively threatening them. That’s hard even for adults. That said, there were definitely times Walky made things worse for Sal, like him asking for cookies for being in bed, which drew even more attention to Sal not being. Some people read it as him trying to distract his mom, but at 12-13, he should’ve seen where that would go.
Yup, I read the cookies thing as Walky being a little jerk, as siblings generally are. (I have two brothers, and that read very realistically like getting on your sib’s nerves!)
I’m glad they’re finding new ways to relate to each other.
the zeitgeist contains a lot of arguments in the vein of “X is bad for not standing up to genuine evil bastard Y effectively enough” these days. y’know, this argument really depends upon X having a significant amount of agency and security to be valid.
sal was failed very badly by *nobody* having her back when she was in serious difficulty. however, multiple adult-type people around her were specifically invested with authority FOR THE OSTENSIBLE PURPOSE of the care-taking of children. walky was not one of those.
“He caved when Leland threatened him after witnessing that little twerp nearly kill Marcie!” hmmmm… I’m not sure how you intended that to sound, but it sure sounds like “he avoided confronting a guy who he knew was really dangerous”
I mean, I like Walky for a bunch of reasons including that he’s like a hyperbolic version of my best friend, but I understand that he’s disgusting and annoying and lacks a spine. But also, fighting Leland was Sal’s mistake, and I think Walky probably saw it that way too, like “why do you keep picking fights with this brute, Sal, just give him what he wants and then ignore him the rest of the time like I do”.
*sighs* Look I said I didn’t want to rant about this but I hope you realize that’s not a good thing. Bullies like Leland thrive in environments where no one stops them. He was that dangerous because he could get away with it. No fighting wasn’t the right call. I’m not asking for that. The whole message of last chapter was that violence only escalates. The real question was why was Sal forced to confront Leland in the first place. Because no one had her back. Her parents didn’t believe her (or more accurately they might of believed Sal but chose to shift blame to Marcie based on Linda’s opinion of her) and her own brother was too cowardly to back up her story.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/landed/
Also just a side note: How the FUCK did that teacher not see Walky getting blatantly threatened right in front of her!?
Tattling is not hard and if somehow Walky faced some blowback for that from Leland then it probably would’ve gotten Leland in actual trouble since Walky is more favored than Sal. But Sal was the only one as implied here.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/liability/
Disembodied principal voice says “Daughter” not “children”. Walky said nothing. Just ignoring him like the rest of us do is how Marcie got pushed down a pit into rocks and exposed bar in the first place.
(Also frankly…Billie might deserve a little disdain for that too. She was a witness as well. They all only get a pass because they’re kids.)
But that’s just a small part of the Walky annoyance package. Okay I’m done. Not gonna rant about this anymore. These are just my opinions. No offense toward you Loz or anyone that likes Walky.
OTOH as you say “How the FUCK did that teacher not see Walky getting blatantly threatened right in front of her!?”
It’s not really a side note. When the authority figure ignores the blatant threats, it just reinforces that “tattling” won’t help and will just get you in trouble without any consequences to the bully.
Tattling is actually hard. Even without the actual threat from the bully, social pressure against it is huge at that age.
Using my own evidence against me huh?…..*squints angrily*…Well played I guess. I’ve got nothing for that. I’d go on but like I said I’m done ranting. Still don’t like Walky but maybe he had good reasons to stay complacent even if I don’t agree with them.
I don’t know whether I’d say “good” or not, but understandable, especially for an elementary school kid.
I don’t think the takeaway from the last arc is supposed to be violence is bad. I don’t think we’re supposed to think it was wrong for Sal and AG to be beating the shit out of those guys who were trying to harass rape victims. I DO think we’re heading towards fighting smart though – finding ways to stop people like them without splash back on other people or escalating things (at least too much).
Walkie was not obligated to almost certainly getg beaten up to help Sal, especially when the teacher ignored blatent threats right in front of her. This does not mean Sal’s decision was wrong.
The school basically chose Leeland’s side.
Rereading the discussion with Sal’s parents. I think the school was saying even if Leeland was in the wrong and Sal was in the right we don’t care. Were going to pretend any harm that comes to Marcie didn’t happen because if she goes to anybody about it we believe she will get in more trouble than us, and if you bring this up with anyone else well what do you think will happen to her little friend. But Leeland’s parent has pull.
I imagined Amber bring sturdier than that, but I guess in the moment…
*being
She rolled with it.
Taken off guard. Confused by the situation, and while she could probably handle a collision with a Walky-sized mass and stay on her feet, she isn’t expecting Joyce to just shove him at her.
Well, she should be.
Who wouldn’t be confused by Joyce? She lives in an alternate universe, congruent but not identical with our own.
Oddly, I find that applies to many people. Reassuringly it doesn’t seem to be the same alternate universe.
Oh you damn well she let it happen.
Cue the chirpy pop rock.
Joyce, I know you love showing off your work, but you are in the middle of a scheme.
Nice callback.
Thanks, I’m proud of that one
That girl needs *help*.
I dunno, I think Amber’ll be fine.
Sure, now she will, when Joyce is helping her get together with Walky.
Okay, so I was raised in a similar environment to the one Joyce was, and my first relationship legitimately WAS just this Nice Guy from church badgering me until I finally agreed to go out with him because my family and friends wanted me to. Honestly, all things considered, Joyce is un-brainwashing herself impressively fast, but also I want to wrap her in a blanket and tell her that a lot of romcom tropes are actually propaganda to excuse creepy and/or abusive behavior.
(Meet Cutes, on the other hand, are an excellent trope.)
Thank you for not linking to the great time sink of the universe from which few return.
Hahaha, brilliant line there. That website is so wonderful.
Gonna be real, I was tempted. But I’ve probably spent months total in that great time sink, so I wouldn’t do that to you guys.)
There now you two are where Garbage belongs, on the floor where you both can be a beutifal mess together.
WHATEVER A BOOMBOX IS!
Willis is now officially an Old Fart.
One of these days he’ll retweet something about an Atari 2600, as if some of us didn’t have a freaking ADM-3A as our first “gaming console.”
Actually, now that I think about it, a DECWriter was my first gaming console. “Hammurabi, I beg to report to you….”
My first gaming console was a Sigma 7 and you submitted punch cards.
How many acres do you wish to plant with seed?
Ffft, Atari 7800, I’m not THAT old
Doesn’t anybody in this comic besides Dina understand the concept of boundaries? Just asking.
Well Walky could have said something but being that hes a passive little nothing I guess its not surprising
Well, it’s college. Boundaries are a weird thing to expect.
You want visceral? Wait’ll those two start making out on the floor. There’s your visceral.
How did you steal my comment? I hit “send” and everything. You must be some form of internet wizard.
No, obviously he’s a time traveler.
He could be both.
Well I am ageless.
I still get carded when going to the movies or buying video games ~_~”
So much cuteness contained here
Now just start making out and see how far you can go before Joyce gets uncomfortable and leaves.
Joyce just no. No. NOooooooo. This is actually even less healthy than the purity culture garbage you’ve also imbibed since birth.
After Joyce’s horrific experience wherein some preacher’s son tried to force himself on her, you’d think that she would see just how wrong this type of behavior is. You don’t just physical cram two people together (or in this case shove someone hard into another being) and think that romance automatically blossoms.
Well I’m hoping this is an arc where Joyce starts to realize just how warped her views on relationships are, I’d hoped that it might have been the storyline with Jacob and Raidah where she learnt but better late than never
Maybe she’ll learn some from Dorothy’s reaction to all this? Dorothy’s preaching isn’t getting very far, but her natural reaction to finding out Walky moved on might lead to an epiphany of some sort for Joyce? She clearly doesn’t think Dorothy and Walky were classically “in love,” so Dorothy being…not unfazed might surprise her.
The story with Jacob and Raidah isn’t over yet.
I hope the storyline goes differently this time, Joyce was such a nasty, selfish little bongo in the one
Yep.
That was a yep to BBCC.
Yeah, she’d decided to back off, but that hasn’t been tested by actually seeing Jacob again.
Always amusing to be reminded of the ways in which Joyce was raised to think the world works. Amusing, and also low-key horrifying >.>
Christian fundamentalism and Twilight are bad role models. How is it that she likes vampires but doesn’t like biological sciences?
In fairness, this ends up being more of a criticism of the typical approach Hollywood (or young adult novels) has toward romance than it ends up being a criticism of Christian upbringing.
But the fact that the film industry mostly releases tropey, superficial, and utterly forgettable content isn’t news to anyone, I’m sure.
I was awaiting the inevitable “Dorothy gets hurt by Walky moving on so fast and for once drops her stoic rationalist facade,” but the more time that passes, the more I wonder if she’ll take THAT in stride–but be hurt when she finds out Joyce actively tried to facilitate it. Joyce is supposedly her friend and KNEW she loves Walky, but she’s ignoring that to service her fantasies of “love” and to ensure more time with Dorothy. It’s one thing to be supportive of Walky trying to move on, but *this* would be hurtful. And I don’t think Joyce realizes that, so I can easily see her proudly admitting this to Dorothy.
(Also, wondering if Amber is so happy to see Walky because it’s the next day, and she assumed his sister already told him what went down so she’s taking his appearance as a sign he’s cool with it all?)
God, that would be the most Amber way to handle the situation: pretend she doesn’t have to.
That’s not a bad point, Joyce has certainly tested Dorothy’s boundaries recently what with tracking her down on the toilet and Joyces behavior towards Raidah at the restaurant so it might be interesting to see what Dorothy thinks about it all
Whatever. Dorothy broke up with Walky so she can freaking deal with him dating something else. I don’t care about these kids’ stupid dating “problems”.
Just because Dorothy broke up with him doesn’t mean she’s not allowed to be sad about it or regret it later, especially if she finds out he moved on quickly. Now if she’s rude to either of them or tries to sabotage the relationship, that’d be crappy, but if Dorothy does so, I’ll eat my metaphorical hat.
That must be frustrating.
“these stupid kids’ dating problems” are like half the comic.
The rest is Amber and Sal punching people.
AND Sarah knocking the shit out of rapists with ball bats.
I refuse to let anyone ever forget that moment. It was GLORIOUS.
Man, must suck to have to read a drama comic about college kids then huh?
She dumped him, yeah, but she’s allowed to have feelings yknow
…So, the second “O” on Walky’s ROBOTS shirt has been replaced by Also known as “the Machine Hell.”
I’m not sure if that’s a visual pun, a total accident, or some very dire foreshadowing.
Well, damn, you’d think I would get better at this as time went on, instead of worse.
Here’s the page I was trying to link to:
https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Phyrexia
replaced by the symbol of Phyrexia
Ok. It’s imperative for this to work but Walky MUST fall into her tiddies. Either land his face in her cleavage or land with a hand on them. Or both. And if Amber doesn’t go “Kyaaaa” and blush while enacting cartoonish physical violence, they’re doomed.
That barely worked in Gurren Lagann. Only case where the male protagonist isn’t accused of being a pervert.
You are forgetting Neon Genesis Evangelion, where Rei is iirc just like “would you please get down from me”
I think Joyce is going the american romcom route rather than the Japanese anime route but similar enough ideas
Yeah, pretty sure anime wasn’t allowed.
Especially not the brand Yotomoe is referencing that relies heavily on fanservice and women responding to unwanted advances from men with violence.
Though I doubt her parents would have looked closely enough to know the difference.
They probably saw/took part in some of those anime = porn ideas.
Or his head has to somehow be inside her panties.
I am more interested in the “unexpected romance between a hero a former villain that no one saw coming but you are glad it happened”. That is the butter of my daily toast.
I also like “healthy relationship that isn’t the main focus of the story, and because of that it can survive the drama of the plot”.
I am such a Karkat Vantas.
I’m staying with my family for a week of pre-holidays, and my dad, being A Dad, was watching The Rat Patrol, which is a stereotypically 1960s-era “badass war heroes” show. All I could think of, watching the American/German leaders confront each other, was, like… were they actually going for barely-disguised sexual tension? Because that’s all they’re portraying on the screen. Pure foe-yay.
I think the mutually-respecting hero-villain dynamic basically calls for that kind of unexpected romance.
As horrifying as Joyce’s romcom ideas are, it’s interesting that she’s not putting a gender on who has to be the creep.
Are there movies where the girl badgers the boy into True Love?
Not usually. When that’s the case the girl is usually labelled crazy and actually treated like a stalker
Bringing Up Baby. It’s one of the all-time greats of the “screwball comedy” genre. (Also the first instance of someone using “gay” to mean “homosexual” in a movie.)
Ehhh I still can’t get on board with Walky/Amber. Still makes me cringe.
Same. Even beyond the baggage–and there’s a ton of it–I personally am not really invested because I don’t see this relationship as good for either of them. They’re happy and attracted to each other, but they ultimately just give each other excuses to stay in stasis, the same stasis that makes them hate themselves when the other isn’t around to distract them.
I feel the same way. I want to be happy for them, I really do, but I just can’t bring myself to root for them like other commenters do.
I never viewed walky as self loathing except during the time he was post breakup. Pre dating I would not say he hated himself.
I agree he didn’t go full self-loathing until the break-up, but given that he was able to appreciate “garbage roof” well before the breakup because his grades sent him into crisis indicates those tendencies were always there.
Nah, they’re cute and happy and play video games together. I wish I could have a relationship like theirs.
One that enables them to keep avoiding/hiding from their serious unresolved issues?
You say “keep avoiding/hiding from” I say “stop obsessing futilely over”.
Basically, what I’m hearing here is that people with issues shouldn’t do things that make them happy; they should be miserable all the time until they’ve resolved the issues. The trouble is, people who are miserable all the time don’t resolve their issues, they (and by “they” I mean “we”) just sit there being miserable.
Basically, what I’m hearing here is that commenters take everything to the most extreme level.
No one wants them to be miserable until they resolve their problems. Some of us are concerned that putting two people with established patterns of avoiding/hiding from their problems are going to amplify and excuse those tendencies in each other. And we’ve already seen signs of that, most notably the whole “changing the grades” thing.
Both of them already had bad habits of avoiding serious problems before they ever got together.
Being in a relationship didn’t cause that. It just hasn’t magically fixed it, either.
Just because the relationship didn’t cause their avoidance issues, doesn’t mean it’s not making it worse. And it is, mostly for Walky. Amber *actively encouraged* avoiding the grades issue by offering to just change his grades, and when he rightly decided he didn’t want to go through with it, she did it anyway. That is the exact kind of behavior that makes Walky’s #1 issue much more of a problem (we’ll assume, even if it’s probably not true, Amber has effectively solved the heartbreak problem). Plus, good for Amber that Sal just handed her a coping mechanism for her problems, but she wasn’t going to get that from Walky, and she clearly needed someone to help her find an outlet.
I doubt the coping mechanism is going to fix everything too. Amber needs serious therapy, and things aren’t going to get better until she does.
But yeah, it’s worth pointing out if anyone finds out she hacked those grades, both Amber and Walky are getting kicked out of school. Which is why nobody with authority is gonna find out, because that would make it very hard for them to stay in the main cast.
All that time Walky spent on the roof with Amber almost certainly was a major part of why Walky ended up changing his mind. He was finally comfortable enough with his limitations that he stopped freaking out about failing.
I don’t see what doing roller derby with Sal has to do with Amber and Walky’s relationship at all. Being in a relationship with someone does not mean it is your duty to try to solve all their problems. Amber even explicitly does not want that from him.
The fact that she found a coping mechanism somewhere besides her boyfriend is good and healthy.
I think Walky and Amber are good for each other, potentially, but I also think they’re going to need more outside help then they can give each other (and, for that matter, than roller derby can give Amber).
Well, he explicitly says the primary reason he changed his mind, and it was very clearly a follow-up from Sal. I’m sure all Walky’s life experiences in the weeks since college started led him to that decision, but garbage roof was at list third on his list of reasons to do the right thing here–frankly, I don’t buy that was a part of it at all, given that his garbage roof partner was the one orchestrating the whole thing.
And, ugh, I knew I should have clarified this right away, and I’m kicking myself because I *knew* someone would accuse me of implying it was Walky’s job to fix Amber’s problems, and I *knew* I should tack on a clarification–my point was that Walky would have enabled Amber to regress into avoidance habits too, but (given the tone of the comic a few days ago) it seems something else may start to help her (although, for the record, I agree with BBCC Amber need therapy, but I was giving roller derby the benefit of the doubt to focus on the thing I find MOST problematic about the relationship)
I get that. I have my doubts about roller derby as a coping mechanism, but I think it’s a definitive step in the right direction that she wants to look for other outlets and get better.
Yeah. I’d want a partner I could have fun with, not someone constantly concerned about my issues.
…I’m guessing you mean without all the “I stabbed your sister and also changed your grades after you told me not to and we could both get kicked out of school” baggage?
Naturally, plus the “still in love with ex” carry-on. Always a classic.
Hey, they’re good with Sal now
That doesn’t mean Walky will be comfortable dating someone who stabbed his sister. Or, heck, even if he manages to go ‘it’s okay, they’ve made peace, it’s cool’ that he’ll STAY cool when he finds out about the grade swapping.
Or after his next meeting with Amazi-Girl.
Wonder who Amazi-Girl will see next? Him or Sal? Plenty of potential either way.
If the latest pattern holds, probably Sal. AG seems to be going out when Amber’s meant to be asleep.
Retreating to a rooftop for multiple days and liking each other a bunch is no basis for a system of gov- er, I mean a relationship!
You have to wait for the sword throwing watery bint to show up.
I know. It’s all moistened tarts lobbing scimitars around these days.
That smile Amber gave is a good sign
Yeah, the way Willis draws her face lighting up like that shows what her real internal reaction is to his presence.
You know, Joyce, what you describe in the fifth panel, some people would call that harassment. Or stalking. Or manipulation. Get you some relationship education girl.
Yeah.. movies have long perpetuated this notion. It needs to be denormalized.
And Joyce continues to be both incredibly adorable and cringeworthy at the same time.
I know it’s like watching a middle schooler
At least she’s not doing Fortnight dabs or making farting unicorn doll unboxing videos, or whatever it is the kids do these days.
As long as it’s not on my lawn, I don’t really care.
In which Walky and Amber suddenly realise that Joyce’s entire understanding of ‘romance’ seems to be entirely based on cliché romcoms.
I hope Joyce soon learns that romcom behavior is not healthy and in fact pretty creepy.
And bad cliche romcoms at that.
Well, yeah, it’s what she was allowed to watch.
That and Twilight.
I thought they might just start making out on the floor in front of Joyce
oh I *WISH*.
FWIW, I’m wondering if Amber and Walky are going to attempt to deprogram Joyce’s weird ideas of an ideal romance and it’s going to end up with her wondering if she’s ever known what love really is supposed to be like.
Possibly, they’re going to explain what they think romance is and Joyce is going to be freaked out by how closely that matches the description of several of her closest friendships.
I wonder which of them said that in the last panel
Sounds like Walky.
Turns out straight love sleuthing is not the lesbian love sleuth’s specialty
Sad but true.
No, Joyce. The Step 2 you describe is how you end up with two bitterly unhappy married people who fight all the time and/or wind up cheating on each other. Trust me, I know, because this is exactly what happened to my parents.
I just realised the perspective on that second panel and Willis clearly does not believe in doing things the easy way.
He gets a lot of milage from those bunk beds.
This is my favourite example
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/cheating/
Oh god I forgot how adorable that strip was
They have their bad moments but ultimately I adore Joyce and Dorothy’s friendship
I’ve said it many times – I’m sure I’ll have cause to say it again: For me, the best parts of this comic is Joyce and her two ladies. So many wonderful, adorable and hilarious moments!
I also like the next comic when Dorothy walks back her snark and makes sure to leave on a high note.
Playing around with angles does reward the reader, and the effort is appreciated.
The window’s open – quick, someone push Joyce out of it.
“Walky, what’s Joyce doing here?”
“She thinks we need her to get us together. Joyce, sweetie, we love you. Now fuck off. These are our lives. Go take care of your own.”
I always want to write new dialogue. Fortunately, I don’t get to. It wouldn’t be funny.
Pfff please, like Walky would ever call Joyce sweetie and say he loves her
See what I mean? Keep me away from the dialogue.
Wow… I know she subconsciously advocated for abusive-type relationships, but never thought she’d flat-out admit it.
The problem is that she is not actually aware that this is abusive, only that she has been socially conditioned to consider it ‘cute’ and even normal. Look at the desperation on her face when she gives Walky a shove: This is a matter of success of failure of the entire enterprise, in her mind!
Television applies this same lesson to most non romantic relationships instead of just romance, which might be part of the reason Lucy is the way she is.
“Look, Joyce, you just pushed one of us on top of the other… and we decided we’re going to go with it. So maybe you and Dina should go see a movie.”
she was so sheltered she wasn’t allowed to watch Frozen, how the hell does she know all these cliche anime tropes?
Probably because they’re also cliche romcom tropes and she was allowed to watch those (well, some of them anyways. Probably clean Christian ones. On the other hand, she was also allowed to watch Twilight so).
Twilight is Safe Mormon Erotica (TM), intentionally aimed at teenagers. The particularly sheltered are if anything the primary audience, and Stephanie Meyer shows clear signs of being formerly among them; the only thing particularly likely to trip up the standard fundagelical defenses is the “Mormon” part, and that’s subtle*.
*Read: Is likely to fly right by a fundagelical audience because they don’t know shit about any minority religion.
Willis said Joyce was allowed to watch it because of the strong ‘wait until marriage’ theme, similarly to how he was allowed to watch Narnia because, even though it had magic, it had Christian themes his mother felt were important.
The same tropes make their way into Christsploitations, including Christian Rom-Com stuff.
I dunno Joyce. This love story has a total lack of alien invasions, British ninjas, and memory wipes. Lacks something visceral…
Okay this is so cute my head going to explored but somehow that’s a good thing?
“I have observed enough human dating rituals to understand this is how people meet…”
Joyce, with the drama YOU have been involved in, I would kinda think you are more aware then your “I am blerg nog, humonoligist!” Routine here would suggest.