Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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hey did you know ethan and jacob are roommates
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May 12, 2026

Ex

by David M Willis on April 1, 2019 at 12:01 am
  • 03 - Sometimes the Sky Was So Far Away
└ Tags: ethan, jacob, thad

Discussion (121) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    April 1, 2019 at 12:01 am | #

    What really sank that ship is the argument over what colors Frenzy and Rumble are.

    Wars have been fought over that.

    • Touchfuzzy
      Touchfuzzy
      April 1, 2019 at 1:22 am | #

      FIBRIR

    • Dark
      Dark
      April 1, 2019 at 1:53 am | #

      They’re green.

    • Catman
      Catman
      April 1, 2019 at 3:29 am | #

      Now, my first exposure to G1 Transformers was a viewmaster™ that my parents had, and in it the cassette friend with the thumpy arms was purple.

      Where do I stand in this war?

      • Undrave
        Undrave
        April 1, 2019 at 2:16 pm | #

        RIBFIR side.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      April 1, 2019 at 2:35 pm | #

      While we never see it happen “on panel”, the IDW comic CLEARLY SHOWS that they can both change their colour schemes from one to the other, possibly at will. You never see them both the same colour at the same time, though, because that would be embarrassing.

  2. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    April 1, 2019 at 12:01 am | #

    Well YEAH, that’s a deal breaker right there 😒

    • Undrave
      Undrave
      April 1, 2019 at 2:17 pm | #

      It’s one thing to disagree on RIBFIR vs FIBRIR, but this is basically someone being insane!

  3. foamy
    foamy
    April 1, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

    Damnit Ethan.

    • DarkoNeko
      DarkoNeko
      April 1, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

      Ethan.. priorities…

      • timemonkey
        timemonkey
        April 1, 2019 at 12:14 am | #

        Are in order. Something are more important than a 45 minute long relationship.

        • DarkoNeko
          DarkoNeko
          April 1, 2019 at 11:35 pm | #

          I guess Ethan want to ravage a dog

      • C.T Phipps
        C.T Phipps
        April 1, 2019 at 12:16 am | #

        I tend to think his Shortpacked love interest probably didn’t actually like Transformers. He just didn’t bother commenting on it, sort of like my wife’s ambivalence to *looks at massive shelves of toys* everything.

        Or how I feel about the Bachelor.

  4. woobie
    woobie
    April 1, 2019 at 12:02 am | #

    Gotta have standards, right?

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      April 1, 2019 at 12:04 am | #

      Ethan’s Tinder profile says “Trukk and Munky” on it.

  5. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    April 1, 2019 at 12:05 am | #

    I…I have no idea who Ravage is. As much as I like Ethan, I don’t know how many guys he wants to just pitch out like this.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      April 1, 2019 at 12:06 am | #

      I have nearly witnessed a bar fight between the Rodgers and Hart faction and the Rodger and Hammerstein fans, however.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      April 1, 2019 at 12:09 am | #

      This is Ravage.

      As his personality in that panel makes abundantly clear, he is a kitty cat.

      • C.T Phipps
        C.T Phipps
        April 1, 2019 at 12:16 am | #

        Could be a robotweiler.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        April 1, 2019 at 12:26 am | #

        Thanks.

        Glad that knew enough about old movies when I met the Wizard of Oz geek who is now my wife. (And this was before the internet.)

        • Chris Phoenix
          Chris Phoenix
          April 1, 2019 at 2:17 am | #

          Hah. For my wife and me, it was Bloom County. She says when I said “Legs shaved?” and she said “Halfway,” that was the moment when – in hindsight – she knew we’d get married.

          • Charlie Spencer
            Charlie Spencer
            April 1, 2019 at 7:56 am | #

            Okay, that reference I got.

            So Ravage is a Transformer?

            • Zee
              Zee
              April 1, 2019 at 9:38 am | #

              If Ethan says a word you don’t recognize, it’s probably a transformer

              • Punaparta
                Punaparta
                April 1, 2019 at 6:39 pm | #

                If Punaparta says a word you don’t recognize, it’s probably a Pokémon.

      • 3oranges
        3oranges
        April 1, 2019 at 2:05 am | #

        And I here I thought Ravage was an alien robot.

  6. Madock345
    Madock345
    April 1, 2019 at 12:06 am | #

    In my experience this is only barely an exaggeration

  7. Nono
    Nono
    April 1, 2019 at 12:07 am | #

    Ethan/Thad slipshine???

    • JessWitt
      JessWitt
      April 1, 2019 at 12:57 am | #

      I think Ethan said nothing sexual happened in the last panel so unlikely unless it’s an April Fools panel…

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        April 1, 2019 at 1:04 am | #

        They were snogging a bit in public (not in a dorm bldg); so unless they made fairly direct steps in the 45 minutes, no Slipshine.

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/flashing/

    • ESM
      ESM
      April 1, 2019 at 1:10 am | #

      “Goddamn it, Ravage is a cat”, said Ethan, sensual energy charging every word

      “Babe”, said Thad, penisly, “Ravage was only in the original cartoon that ended nearly two decades before I was born, you’re going to need to give me some slack that I’m even humoring this conversation, let alone that I vaguely of know what you’re talking about.”

      Ethan sighed lustily, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt “He was also in some of the Michael Bay movies. Didn’t you read the Shattered Glass comics?”

      Thad unveiled his thick, throbbing truth in Ethan’s face “Dude, “mainstream” American comic books haven’t been culturally relevant since the Raten administration”

      “D….did you mean the ‘Reagan’ administration?”, asked Ethan, quivering.

      “Yeah, whatever, high school history only goes up to reconstruction”

      • AntJ
        AntJ
        April 1, 2019 at 1:50 am | #

        “said Thad, penisly”

        hahahahaha

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        April 1, 2019 at 2:03 am | #

        Wouldn’t that be Evan and Chad in the Julia Gray universe?

      • Keulen
        Keulen
        April 1, 2019 at 2:30 am | #

        You need to continue this. This is the best.

      • Deathjavu
        Deathjavu
        April 1, 2019 at 5:49 pm | #

        A+, ““said Thad, penisly” is a masterwork of hilariously bad “literature”.

  8. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    April 1, 2019 at 12:07 am | #

    *the hacked Muzak plays a live version of David Bowie’s “Young Americans”*

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      April 1, 2019 at 1:57 am | #

      The “he coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang” part gets a Transformers reference awkwardly shoehorned in.

  9. Tacos
    Tacos
    April 1, 2019 at 12:09 am | #

    Goddammit Ethan.

  10. ShinyNeen
    ShinyNeen
    April 1, 2019 at 12:09 am | #

    Aww. I guess Ethad was too beautiful (or, um, non-Transformers-fact-friendly) for this world.

    At least it’s sinking was relatively peaceful. Casual Ethan is pretty great!

    • RacingTurtle
      RacingTurtle
      April 1, 2019 at 5:53 pm | #

      Farewell, Ethad! At least you didn’t break my heart like in Shortpacked!

  11. C.T Phipps
    C.T Phipps
    April 1, 2019 at 12:14 am | #

    Ethan’s love life will be like a wonderful gay Spiderman’s, except without the horrible death and Satanism.

    • Catman
      Catman
      April 1, 2019 at 3:33 am | #

      Uhhhhhh explanation?

      I mean I’m about to Google it but what?

      • C.T Phipps
        C.T Phipps
        April 1, 2019 at 3:55 am | #

        Spiderman famously lost his first love interest to the Green Goblin. Gwen Stacy stayed dead except for the awesome Spidergwen in an alternate universe–unlike every other character in comics ever.

        Secondly, because they felt the character was aging too much by being married and having a kid, Marvel comics had a supervillain kill off his baby daughter (or kidnap her–its unclear) then erased the marriage entirely by having Peter Parker make a deal with Mephisto.

        Aka Satan.

      • Catman
        Catman
        April 1, 2019 at 4:01 am | #

        I found nothing please explain

        • Spaz
          Spaz
          April 1, 2019 at 6:52 am | #

          He’s talking about One More Day, happened during Civil War.

          TL:DR–Spiderman got soft rebooted without his marriage to MJ–the event just before it was AMAZING. the follow-up fell horribly, horribly flat.

          Basically Spiderman took Iron Man’s side in the Civil War, flipped sides, then decided to run.

          Kingpin put a hit out on Parker (who had outed himself, crashing the entire internet [including the porn sites] as billions of people searchd for him online), Aunt May got hit instead.

          Spiderman took up the black costume, and Peter Parker (not Spiderman) beat the shit out of Kingpin, promising that if May died, he’d be back.

          …….then Mephisto showed up, showed him alternate Parkers, and the daughter-that-wasn’t-yet was wished away by Peter/MJ saying “Save May” instead of their marraige, which led directly into the shitty-ass reboot that retconned 20-30 years of marriage away and was a disaster IMHO.

          Personally it would have been a more interesting story if May had been allowed to die. I love May, but she’s been 80-90 years old for what, 40-50 years now? Exploring the consequeces of her death would have been….fascinating.

          • C.T Phipps
            C.T Phipps
            April 1, 2019 at 7:36 am | #

            With great power comes great “duck the consequences of your mistakes by making a pact with Satan.”

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              April 1, 2019 at 10:42 am | #

              With decades of publishing come horrible editorial decisions.

          • BBCC
            BBCC
            April 1, 2019 at 12:02 pm | #

            Honestly, Civil War was pretty shitty too, but One More Day did not improve it.

            • C.T Phipps
              C.T Phipps
              April 1, 2019 at 5:10 pm | #

              It’s a weird effect if you were a long time Spidey fan from the 80s and 90s and saw Into The Spiderverse. You see the adult, 37 year old “Peter B. Parker” and go, “Oh hey, I haven’t seen you in awhile. You know, we used to be friends. What happened to you, man?”

              “Quesada.”

              • BBCC
                BBCC
                April 1, 2019 at 5:34 pm | #

                Always Quesada.

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      April 1, 2019 at 4:34 pm | #

      There is a hyphen.

      • C.T Phipps
        C.T Phipps
        April 1, 2019 at 5:11 pm | #

        I mentally assume hypenated Spider-Man is when you’re being formal. 🙂

  12. Vabolo
    Vabolo
    April 1, 2019 at 12:15 am | #

    Oh my god they were roomates

    • UniqueSnowflake2
      UniqueSnowflake2
      April 1, 2019 at 12:46 am | #

      No, roommates. “Roomates” means that they share a pouch.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        April 1, 2019 at 8:20 am | #

        Sooo… ‘Roomies’ actually means ‘Brothers From Another Marsupial’?

  13. Stu
    Stu
    April 1, 2019 at 12:15 am | #

    Methinks he took Weird Al’s “Close, But No Cigar” at face-value – https://youtu.be/PtMU8nvZzOs

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      April 1, 2019 at 8:24 am | #

      I thought after all these years of searching around
      I’d found my soulmate finally
      But one day I found OUT she actually owned a copy
      Of “Joe Dirt” on DVD – Oh, no!

  14. timemonkey
    timemonkey
    April 1, 2019 at 12:16 am | #

    Now, Ethan, just find a nerdy guy who will care about your interests and learn these important facts.

    • C.T Phipps
      C.T Phipps
      April 1, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

      But…nerds can be nerdy about DIFFERENT THINGS!

    • Spaz
      Spaz
      April 1, 2019 at 6:54 am | #

      The Dumbiverse NEEDS CATMAN!

      • timemonkey
        timemonkey
        April 1, 2019 at 9:41 am | #

        Maybe the real Catman.

  15. BBCC
    BBCC
    April 1, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

    Oh, Ethan. Honey. You dork. I love you.

  16. tim gueguen
    tim gueguen
    April 1, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

    What’s even worse is that Thad thought they were talking about Ravage 2099.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravage_2099

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      April 1, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

      An unforgivable sin.

    • Chris Phoenix
      Chris Phoenix
      April 1, 2019 at 2:19 am | #

      “He’s so un-hip, when you say Dylan, he thinks you’re talking about Dylan Thomas. Whoever he was. The man ain’t got no culture!”

  17. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    April 1, 2019 at 12:17 am | #

    Ooh, Jacob, looking cool in the Miles shirt.

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      April 1, 2019 at 12:26 am | #

      I know! I love Jacob’s Marvel nerdy and am pleased to see it reappear.

    • 3-I
      3-I
      April 1, 2019 at 6:29 pm | #

      What’s UP, danger?

  18. Bagge
    Bagge
    April 1, 2019 at 12:22 am | #

    That’s fair

  19. Antonio Tyler
    Antonio Tyler
    April 1, 2019 at 12:36 am | #

    I had tons of exes. Some of them I even dated.

  20. thebatman22
    thebatman22
    April 1, 2019 at 12:39 am | #

    Sometimes Ravage looks more like a dog than a cat. Depends.

  21. Meta
    Meta
    April 1, 2019 at 12:39 am | #

    Oh my god they were roommates

  22. miz
    miz
    April 1, 2019 at 12:42 am | #

    …incompatible orientations aside, ethan and joyce really were made for each other, huh.

  23. JohnInCA
    JohnInCA
    April 1, 2019 at 12:55 am | #

    Yeah, that sounds like college.

  24. Plasma Mongoose
    Plasma Mongoose
    April 1, 2019 at 1:09 am | #

    Citations count as foreplay

  25. abysswatcher1993
    abysswatcher1993
    April 1, 2019 at 1:16 am | #

    Ethan’s fanboyism can get annoying, and even Shortpacked! Tadd made a “reason you suck” speech about Ethan using his lore knowledge to be condescending.

    Maybe the reason Ethan and Danny have a nice romantic chemistry is because their previous incarnations and themselves are condescending nice guys that have difficulties standing for what they want (Ethan standing against his mom and Danny standing to be respected).

  26. Rikunda
    Rikunda
    April 1, 2019 at 1:21 am | #

    I am not sure it counts as a relationship, but there have been marriages that lasted less.

  27. AntJ
    AntJ
    April 1, 2019 at 1:51 am | #

    Not upset. I was happy Ethan ended up with somebody but Thad kept calling him “poor baby” which really grated me

    • Daisy
      Daisy
      April 2, 2019 at 3:20 pm | #

      Yeah it didn’t seem like a good or solid basis for a relationship and any survivors of Shortpacked! need their happy, non-zombie Thevan.

      (Ethan doesn’t get Evan because a) selfcest and b) he seems weirdly into the prosthetic.)

  28. AntJ
    AntJ
    April 1, 2019 at 1:53 am | #

    Also, should’ve predicted Ethan would turn up a day after a strip featuring a “Mexo Loco” sign… we all know what that’s one letter away from

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      April 1, 2019 at 2:33 am | #

      Mexo Loch, the Mexican/Scottish fusion eatery?

      • AntJ
        AntJ
        April 1, 2019 at 2:52 am | #

        One of my favorite strips: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/disappoint/

  29. auroki
    auroki
    April 1, 2019 at 2:00 am | #

    You made the right choice Ethan. Now If he got Frenzy’s colors wrong, that there is grounds for justified execution

  30. BenRG
    BenRG
    April 1, 2019 at 2:11 am | #

    Something tells me that it’s going to take Ethan a while to sufficiently acclimatise himself to others’ opinions so that he can handle having a relationship!

    • StClair
      StClair
      April 1, 2019 at 2:22 am | #

      Well, that’s not going to happen, because everyone else’s opinions are wrong.

  31. Keulen
    Keulen
    April 1, 2019 at 2:27 am | #

    Of course Ethan would break up with someone over a disagreement about Transformers.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      April 1, 2019 at 3:01 am | #

      Do college students really get that wrapped up about Transformers yet?
      And incidentally, I had to Google “ravage is a dog” to find out just whatthehell he was talking about in the first place.

      • BenRG
        BenRG
        April 1, 2019 at 4:31 am | #

        This is a major character quirk for Ethan. He’s a Transformers franchise megafan and gets very prickly about people who give even casual opinions about the franchise that are not thoroughly researched.

      • Lori
        Lori
        April 1, 2019 at 8:38 am | #

        College students in general? No. Transformers fans? Definitely.

      • RacingTurtle
        RacingTurtle
        April 1, 2019 at 5:51 pm | #

        Not all college students. Just Ethan.

        • RacingTurtle
          RacingTurtle
          April 1, 2019 at 5:59 pm | #

          Oops, I forgot I’d left this page open since last night because I wanted to read the comments. Ah, well, at least my unnecessary reply adds a subtextual joke about Ethan’s old fear that he was unique and therefore destined to die alone.

  32. Holly
    Holly
    April 1, 2019 at 2:29 am | #

    Did… Jacob choose this shirt because it is Halloween? Are we heading towards a party?

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      April 1, 2019 at 2:34 am | #

      It’s October 16th-ish, so maybe?

  33. brasca1
    brasca1
    April 1, 2019 at 3:21 am | #

    No April Fools surprise it would seem.

  34. JepMZ
    JepMZ
    April 1, 2019 at 3:40 am | #

    Yay! Now I can ship Ethan with you-know-who!

    • Delicious Taffy
      Delicious Taffy
      April 1, 2019 at 3:53 am | #

      He’s been dead for years, just say Voldemort.

      • BenRG
        BenRG
        April 1, 2019 at 5:19 am | #

        AVADA KEDAVRA! *Apperates out*

  35. Shane Wegner
    Shane Wegner
    April 1, 2019 at 4:15 am | #

    It’s good when you can clear up fundamental incompatibilities early on.

  36. Amelie
    Amelie
    April 1, 2019 at 5:12 am | #

    The Reverse Bechdel! Sort of feels like an April fool’s, at this point.

  37. Lone Duck
    Lone Duck
    April 1, 2019 at 5:26 am | #

    Compelling evidence why Ethan and Amber were friends, few other people share the intensity of their interests. Current likely ships include Ethan/Danny, the less desirable Ethan/Mike, and the infinitely improbable Ethan/Jocelyn ship. The last one is mainly for the imaginary shocked Joyce face.

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      April 1, 2019 at 6:03 am | #

      Here’s what I’d like: At the end of DoA, several of the main characters are still single and there is an epilogue chapter where Joyce summarises the rest of their college careers and what happened to them afterwards. I’d like at least a few to meet their life partners after graduation because Willis is working on realism here.

      I’d like for one panel to be a grown-up looking Amazi-Girl and Sal standing in superhero poses on a roof-top at night with the caption. “As for Indianapolis…? There is… justice, of sorts there.”

      • BBCC
        BBCC
        April 1, 2019 at 2:36 pm | #

        They’re not in Indianapolis. They’re in Bloomington.

        • BenRG
          BenRG
          April 1, 2019 at 2:43 pm | #

          It’s my post-IU headcanon: Amber and Danny move to Indianapolis to start a software company; not ACTUAL canon yet, of course.

          • BBCC
            BBCC
            April 1, 2019 at 2:46 pm | #

            Ahhhhh! I see. My bad!

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        April 1, 2019 at 7:12 pm | #

        Just an image montage like at the end of “Daria”. Or was it the “Daria” movie?

  38. Katherine
    Katherine
    April 1, 2019 at 5:56 am | #

    Sounds like Ethan is living his best life right now. He wants his nerdiness to be more important than his sexuality, and he’s prioritising accordingly. Or am I overremembering from Shortpacked?

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      April 1, 2019 at 6:10 am | #

      Ethan didn’t realise he was gay until about midway through Shortpacked!

      However, yes, it took him a long while to realise that his somewhat-fanatical treatment of this hobby interests were turn-offs for some people and that he has to deprioritise his interests if he wanted a relationship to work.

      • Poofdepoof
        Poofdepoof
        April 1, 2019 at 12:40 pm | #

        I thought that what he learned was that it was worth it to find someone who didn’t need him to dial down his interests.

  39. fire_daws
    fire_daws
    April 1, 2019 at 7:21 am | #

    Wow, Ethan’s more dysfunctional at dating than I am.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      April 1, 2019 at 9:32 am | #

      I really am digging your “Claire for each occasion” gravatar system.

      • fire_daws
        fire_daws
        April 1, 2019 at 11:06 am | #

        ^.^ I try to match right Claireface for the mood of the comment, however this one is from a very recent QC strip so I wanted to try it out.

        • ValdVin
          ValdVin
          April 1, 2019 at 11:53 am | #

          I’d like to say I in no way identify with what Claire’s going thru this week. But I can’t even type that with a straight face, so…

          • fire_daws
            fire_daws
            April 1, 2019 at 12:15 pm | #

            If I’m reading the subtext right good luck and knock ’em dead 🙂

            • ValdVin
              ValdVin
              April 1, 2019 at 2:02 pm | #

              Nah, no subtext, it was (mumblemumble) years ago. But thanks.

  40. The Other Mike
    The Other Mike
    April 1, 2019 at 7:42 am | #

    Well, considering Megatron once got him a bone for Christmas…

    • JBento
      JBento
      April 1, 2019 at 8:54 am | #

      Megatron? More like MegaTROLL, amirite?

  41. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    April 1, 2019 at 9:24 am | #

    Oh well, on to the next ship: The S.S. Ethvan.

  42. RaulTsi
    RaulTsi
    April 1, 2019 at 9:30 am | #

    I thought it was tres kinky what they were doing with that honey

    • ǝ snow ʍousɐ
      ǝ snow ʍousɐ
      April 1, 2019 at 10:28 am | #

      was that a Slipshine? i’m not a member, but honey is slippery so that would make sense.

  43. Jade
    Jade
    April 1, 2019 at 11:20 pm | #

    I luv the spiderverse shirt so much

  44. Aggrax
    Aggrax
    April 1, 2019 at 11:34 pm | #

    Of course he’s not a dog.

    He’s a Transformer.

  45. BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
    BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
    April 11, 2019 at 2:01 am | #

    Goddamnit, Ethan

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