RACHEL’s character magnet is unlocked! Go find the RACHEL MAGNET tier if you want just her, or consider her for your PICK THREE or PICK FIVE MAGNETS tiers! And, of course, if you got COMPLETE MAGNET POWER, she is added to your pile.
Also, there’s now the new DIGITAL PLUS MAGNET tiers, if you want just a magnet and a PDF, not a physical book!
What’s next to unlock? I’ll let you know when I get back home. I’m on the road for a day.
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Okay, that’s a look I can really get behind. There’s just something about a cool jacket that does stuff for your self-confidence.
I can get behind, in front of, or underneath. Joyce, let me wipe you off a seat. *Wipes mustache*
If Carol sees Joyce like that, she’ll shit a squealing worm 40 feet long.
You have defeated Ana Chronistic in temporal battle, and now you have all her powers. Them’s the rules.
Not the first time, but still impressive.
*ahem*
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang
I think Joyce falls under the category of adora-sexy in Becky’s book now.
Which, honestly, when I see a girl in a biker jacket, I understand exactly how Becky feels.
Now Joyce can stand against the wall with one knee picked up, like the cook kids.
Love Becky in the last panel.
that sure is a look
also what Joyce is wearing
Becky used Leer.
It hurt itself in it’s confusion!
(d’ohh, can’t believe I made the apostrophe mistake)
Joyce used oblivious.
You’re with Dina Becky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Becky may be on a diet, but the menu looks mighty fine.
Becky loves Dina, but she also spent yeeeeeears with Joyce as her best friend and who she was in love with. That is difficult for her to put to rest entirely, and is probably going to be a process.
So far, Becky has only allowed that she likes Dina. Well, likes-likes. Is that the same as love?
She’s rebounding on dina. It popped up every now and then. Perhaps we are finally addressing it. It’s a rebound that might work out in the end but she’ll have to deal with her feelings for Joyce for that.
For now, yes.
Can confirm it’s been 15 years since I was last with my ex, we’ve been comfortably friends for at least a decade, but seeing a photo of him still makes me squee a bit inside. Sometimes it isn’t getting over as much as it is dealing with what’s left.
I’ve only recently begun staying friends with my exes*, and it’s encouraging to know that dealing with what’s left is a common experience. Learning that it can linger for 15 years is less encouraging…
*Dealing with love triangles, staying friends with exes, reliably getting matches on dating sites – I’m learning all kinds of things in my 40s that seem better suited to the 20s and 30s.
Mh. In my experience, a lot depends on how it ended for you. I’m friends with two exes. First one, we actually got along pretty well, but he found someone he liked better. It hurt for about three years. Second one, relationship was getting worse and worse until I ended it. I think it took a year until it didn’t really matter anymore. For me, at least.
There were less regrets and what-ifs for me. Less feeling like I had missed something, I tried everything to make it work and it didn’t work.
What helps me is to not try and avoid the pain. First, mourning period. Keeping distance can be useful to process the ending. Afterwards, I don’t try and keep it painless for me. For example, I don’t avoid pictures or stories of the next woman. It hurts and I let it hurt, I’ve cried a lot. But each time, it hurts a bit less. And eventually, it’s fine. The difficult part is to tell your ex if you need a bit of time to process something without dumping your pain on them. It’s not their job to care for my breakup wounds. And it will get difficult, for both parties. Especially that moment when a new partner appears. It gets better.
Not sure if that is applicable to other people though.
Sexy is Sexy whether you’re in a relationship or not
Your wife is right
Bike ride?
Hey what?
GOOD POINT, BECKY.
Of course, by the last panel it looks like it was pushed out of her head.
Yeahhhhhh, depending how she goes about it, this has a lot of potential for hurt feelings.
you’d think the obvious thing to point out would be “ASK MARCIE FIRST.” buuuuut
I mean, she still might. She hasn’t actually acted on this plan yet.
Hopefully if Sal’s planning to follow through on this, she will inform Marcie of what’s happening. Wouldn’t mind getting some clarification on that, though, because I could see it going the more needlessly dramatic route.
That’s what I’m hoping for.
Less likely but I will also take is if that ‘oh hell’ expression was actually her realizing her own feelings aren’t platonic. It’s almost certainly not gonna happen, but it might on AO3 sometime in summer. 😉
Becky’s gonna need some looser pants.
…for her LADY BONER
… wait, is THAT how she’s hurting herself in her confusion?
…. just when I thought I had a rough idea how lady parts worked…
Howard: OMG!!!
Ruth: Just… please stop believing anything american sex ed has taught you.
That *is* a nice jacket, though. Good choice, Joyce!
Rachel really is the hottest girl you’ve ever drawn.
Anyways, I’m living for Jacket Joyce.
I feel very bad for Becky here, and I am also amused by her reaction. Yay for storytelling causing emotional contradictions!
all together now:
Dumbing of Age Book 9: It Hurt Itself In Its Confusion!
Oh.. are we saving “Grab Yerself” for the Slipshine release, then? 😛
is this an anti-joyce reference?
That’s what I thought of, but I just realized that It’s Walky *finished* sometime around 2005… so the original Anti-Joyce storyline was almost two decades ago.
How many current readers were readers back then? … for that matter, how many current readers were *alive* back then? What’s the teen demographic around here? Why do I suddenly feel so old?
I was alive, but I started reading a year or two after Anti-Joyce, so nope.
Two decades ago I was in high school and super excited for the first new Star Wars I was old enough to see in theatres.
……. um….
I was 9 in 2005.
But but but… reading your comments I look *up* to you! Stop being younger than me!
If it makes you feel better, I routinely find some truly awesome people who are younger than I am making really great points. Age shouldn’t dictate who you look up to.
Thank you though! That’s really sweet to read first thing online. 😀
My last boss was the same age as me, and he was a hell of a role model 🙂
…
Wait, you’re younger than me? That still seems weird ;p
samesies!
ugh I’m gonna comment that word anyways but this is a “hurt itself in it’s confusion” moment
*puts hand up*
I got to IW! a little later than Anti-Joyce, but wound up reading back at least that far. And in ’05, I was already in my 30s.
Same here on both counts. That first archive dive was a doozy.
At the time Anti-Joyce appeared, telling me you could read comics on the internet would have blown my mind.
I graduated high school in 2005, but only started reading a couple years into Shortpacked.
… I was six in 2005…
I was already twenty but the internet was still young in my country.
I was a reader back then too 🙂
I was 22 and a fuckup in college in 2005. Honestly that whole year can get fucked anyway.
Hell, I was reading IW from as long as I can remember. I was in my mid twenties when it wrapped up and I’m still here. Anti-Joyce was… oh.
Cuz I’m a lil shit, I’ll have you know I was 5 in 2005. Weird to think I was in kindergarten while some of you started reading DWs stuff
… I think i’m one of the youngest here. I was 3 in 2005
Oh, I totally understand. I was still doing kegstands in 2005. Oh how the years have flown… and those born at the turn of the century are old enough to vote now, and soon enough… old enough to drink. I am not sure how all these years added up.
Nah, anti-Joyce was always about revealing skin.
The first thing I thought of was the orange and black jumpsuit Willis put on Joyce when he was doing the It’s Walky! character re-designs for fun.
Awwww! This is super cute.
Sal, hush, you could kill that jacket. Joyce, you look great. Becky…oh honey. Do you need a hug? From Dina?
Depending on how Becky’s inner self works, a hug from Dina might make her feel worse because a) she might feel guilty that she’s still harboring feelings for Joyce while she’s dating Dina, and b) the hug’s not from Joyce. :/
This is not Becky’s fault, but I feel a bit sorry for Dina in all this. Hope she doesn’t get hurt.
an oddly interesting part in this is that Dina *does* know that she’s a rebound I think and has acknowledged it
True enough but I’m choosing to think positive!
It’s not working yet, but I’ll let you all know when it does!
Unfortunately the top doesn’t help but can be written off as an attempt at Harley-Davidson orange.
*the hacked Muzak continues playing SRV and/or surfer guitar tunes*
Harley-Davidson – cosplay for dads.
-Regular Car Reviews
Okay, this is already shaping up to be one of my favorite storylines. It’s a fun milestone in Joyce’s growth and I’m really enjoying the way this strip in particular is executed.
I love Joyce emphasizing that she’s finding herself, not emulating Sal.
I love that she finds a jacket that Sal hasn’t used before (it’s kind of convenient, but perfectly believable)
I love Sal being invested in Joyce trying new things, and how she’s just kinda been chill in general lately (cuz it’s a great milestone of her own growth, of course)
And I really love that Joyce does a pose that’s probably meant to be Sal-esque, and comes off very Joyce-like at the same time.
And there’s still plenty of storyline to go!
I agree. There is so much to love – and the day has just begun
I am anticipating the reactions Joyce might get to her new look
I also like how it shows Sal to be changed. More relaxed and less outwardly abrasive.
The pain Becky’s feeling is heartache.
Also I love teal too. Ain’t nothing wrong with that color.
OK that is a VERY nice jacket.
“Joyce used Lesbian Melter.
It’s super effective!”
How many jackets that she doesn’t like did Sal bring to college, anyway?
I mean, she was living in Tennessee the past five years. I’d guess she brought most of, if not all her stuff. It’s not like she’d not be used to dorm space limits.
If anything, her college dorm room might well be larger than her boarding school room.
The pictures of dorm interiors I saw looked pretty cramped, yeah.
And yet all the seasonal “dorm stuff” flyers from department stores make it look like you get the equivalent of a master bedroom worth of space for yourself. It’s a big racket, I tells ya!
I mean, yeah, it’s a part of college and/or a high school with a dorm.
Anti-Joyce arrives!
Ah yes, there it is
Anti-Joyce!
“Ah insist”.
Remember how just a few strips ago, Joyce was showing respect for Sal’s boundaries? And remember earlier than that how Joyce, when rightfully chastised by Sal, responded by admitting Sal was right, and that her behavior was unacceptable?
Well, Sal’s noticed that Joyce isn’t just empty words. Joyce -is- treating her differently than she used to already. Joyce -is- showing Sal the basic respect of just being a human being.
And that is exactly why Sal’s offering her those gloves. That’s why Sal is -insisting- she tries those gloves. Because she understands that this Joyce will not freak out over Sal removing the gloves from her hands.
This has turned from hero worship to a real mutual friendship. And I couldn’t be happier about that.
Sal wasn’t wearing the gloves when Joyce came in, but the larger point is right – they’re making actual friends now and I’m dead from cute.
Seriously though, Joyce collects sisters the way Steven Universe collects moms and it is the cutest motherfucking thing.
that’s the best metaphor i’ve heard in a long time. thank you for that :3
No problem! Joyce’s growing group of sisters and Steven’s thirty thousand moms are some of my favourite things.
I kinda always only thought of Pearl in a motherly role for Steven. Garnett always struck me more as the cool aunt, and Amethyst as the rebellious big sister. Felt like all the other characters fell into different forms of friendship or siblings. (with the exception of Connie, who is the best) Granted I am pretty sure I have missed a new batch of episodes so things may have changed.
I always saw the Crystal gems as different kinds of moms. Amethyst is a very young mom who still wants to have fun and play pranks, but she steps up when she has to. Garnet’s a mom in the closet who’s a lot more open and happier once she tells her kid what’s up, and Pearl is a card carrying member of the helicopter mom club. 😛
As BBCC says, your larger point is right.
But as a pedant, I have to point out that: a) Sal hasn’t worn gloves since the night she confronted Amber; and b) Joyce has already freaked out over Sal not wearing gloves.
As a fellow pedant, I’d like to point out that my post was indeed referencing that strip you’re linking, when I said that the Joyce we see in today’s strip was the Joyce that would not freak out, thus implying that there once was a Joyce who would and did.
I crave Your Imperial Majesty’s pardon. The Emperor is great and I am a bug, and I say that with awed certainty!
We are feeling generous today, so all we require for penance is that you reread the storyline of Becky wanting to see Dina without her hat.
Ankylosaurus…
Brachiosaurus…
Centrosaurus…
Joyce on a motor cycle…
NO, THINK OF DINOSAURS!
Is this Becky when she’s making a list of sexy things to think about?
Or possibly when she’s trying to avoid to think of a specific sexy thing
By thinking of other sexy things instead.
Win-win
Soon she’ll be thinking of dinosaurs wearing leather jackets on a motor cycle.
So, Kamen Rider?
GROWTH
just one strip and this plan is already working out great.
I was about to ask which plan, the Marcie one or the ‘handle girls better than Leslie’ plan, but the last panel makes it kinda obvious.
Becky? Whatever your plans for the day were, ditch them and find Dina for some hot and heavy making out pronto before things get worse.
#prontosaurus.
Becky and Dina don’t do heavy making out, but instead gentle repeated smooching.
Okay, fine, Becky should drape herself over Dina’s head instead.
I approve of this.
or cuddle up for a heart to heart – talking it out may be better for the both of them
What’s this…Joyce is evolving!?
If only she believed in evolution. Also, as MatPat says, the right term in Pokemon should be metamorphosis
MatPat doesn’t get to claim that one.
MatPat doesn’t get to claim anything.
It’s just a theory, dudes.
So she get’s to be a spider?
Nice!
Ah, yes, “Evolution.” *finger wag* We have rejected these claims.
*Reapers come to kill us all*
Quick, give her an everstone!
That is indeed a look. Also, gloves are hot, so course it works.
Sal: “Ya feelin’ alright there Becks..?”
Becky: “F-Fine… just remembered I still have to shower t’day…”
…
dang
oh, becky noooo. :C
Okay, the transformation is almost complete. Now existentialist Joyce needs to draw dinosaurs and make a review of Fight Club.
No Jesus, zero stars, wouldn’t watch again.
“Tyler Durden was Jesus all along.”
So, this made me think of Bagge’s “Jocelyne Noir,” and then I thought that somebody should write a Sartre pastiche with Joyce as the main character. And then I thought, the person who suggests, volunteers, and then I thought, gotta get everything ready for the U-Haul in a week, gotta finish taxes before then, and just no.
So unless someone else wants to take it up — hint, hint — expect “The Joycing of Nothingness” in, I dunno, March of 2020.
I look forward to it 🙂
Awwww. Panel 1 Becky doesn’t LIKE to be the voice of reason, but if no one else steps up she might have to.
One more thing you have in common with Becky.
Heh, I’m not rad enough to be a Becky
Oh, we all know that already.
But while you’re nowhere near rad enough, you still have a few certain… Becky-esque traits. A baby Becky, so to speak.
That’s all one can aspire to 🙂
A diet coke Becky?
It’s Julia Gray! (or Julia Teal)
+1
It could be; Julia is obviously a SI character so it isn’t beyond possibilities that Joyce is modelling this outward persona on her.
I LIKE it.
How the tables have turned – today is SAL dresses JOYCE-day
Maybe Sal is also getting an insight into how Joyce works on a social level. To her, grooming each other and dressing each other is just part of friendship… and it is fun.
OK, my heart just melted.
Kinda put the shower-jugs Carla helped her with in a new and even MORE adorable light
First Billie, then Sarah, now Sal.
Everyone gets a turn to dress Joyce!
You have seen JOYCE DRESS EVERYONE-DAY
Now get ready for the sequel – EVERYONE DRESS JOYCE-DAY!
When is Becky’s turn?
Like every second day during their entire childhood, I suppose.
Sure beats “Carol dresses Becky-day”
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/interactions/
Everyone dresses Joyce day? A-all at once??
Shit! OK, how much HP did Becky start with? If it’s not too bad we can still turn thus around.
Can we switch her out for another LGBT+mon, or does Joyce have Arena Trap or something?
(Been replaying HeartGold. Instinct kicked in.)
No shame in bailing. 😛
Get Dina in here, administer Lovely Kiss, then Snore or Sleep Talk her way through her confusion turns.
Nah, better play it safe and switch out for Newdanny. He’s stage 1 with type effectivity and Oblivious, so we can just set up to sweep.
‘Sides, we should really be grinding for the Ukelanny evolution, pixilate hyper-voice is completely broken.
I love you.
Thank you, thank you, I’m available for pokemon parodies until Late 2019 or I move to somewhere with a League again.
You kidding? Joyce in this form CLEARLY has Mold Breaker and has gained the Dark type! Danny doesn’t stand a chance
But Newdanny is Fairy/Normal, so either she’ll have to swap out to get back to standard form or risk a Dazzling Gleam coming through. I’d be worried about an Attract, but she’s about two levels too low. NTM, with 55 atk, we shouldn’t be any more concerned about Confusion than Paralysis.
Worst comes to worst, we’ve got Ethanium equipped, with his stats we can pretty much guarantee Awkward Affection will be a KO.
This comment thread is my favorite thing today.
Or go with the Judas Priest leatherdaddy look. Unf. Grandpa Rob can change my gears any day of the week.
Big mood
Joyce, my girl! You are looking great!
Is Sal giving away her gloves? Like, permanently? What’s going on here???
She owns more than one pair. These ones apparently are the ones that go with that jacket.
Forget violent video games, its romantic sitcom hijinks that our kids are at risk of trying to replicate in the real world.
Possibly even more dangerous.
Even worse: Dating sims.
Even worser, dating sims by Key.
Joyce is one Devil Trigger pull away from putting Becky in the morgue.
Sorry, *Pokemon Center.
All of these thoughts running through my head
I’m on fire, face burning red
Frustration is getting bigger
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Pull my Devil Trigger
Embrace the darkness that’s within me
No hiding in the shadows anymore
When this wickedness consumes me
Nothing can save you
And there’s no way out
Joyce in DMC cosplay when?
So is this how Anti Joyce from Here’s Walky! gets represented? I like it
Joyce is looking cute with a side of edgy.
She’s a REBEL now
Just like her fic character!
I don’t know if it’s just because she’s only been portrayed as mean (for good reasons, sure) but I definitely don’t agree with your wife’s assessment of Rachel.
Granted, should probably still make the top ten if you asked me to list them, if only because it’s so hard to think of a lot of these characters as anything but ‘adorable’.
Poor Becky! I don’t think that she ever imagined that Joyce could do that to her without knowing it! Becky’s problem is not friends fake coming on to her but friends being attractive to her without really realising it!
FWIW, my guess is that this experiment won’t last long before Joyce decide that it’s too different from ‘her’ or even the directions that she wants to go. However, until then, I suspect that she’s going to find out just what it’s like to be one of the girls who do not lack for male (and female) attention.
Watch out, Jacob, here she comes.
Ooooh, the poor sod won’t know what hit him
Heh. Next strip. Sarah and Sal with a content expression, silently watching Jacob being floored when he see the new Joyce
She’s a man-eater!
That outfit is looking pretty rad, but Sal also mentioned boots in panel 1, so now I want to see what boots Joyce wears with that jacket and gloves.
IMO, her usual Uggs work well enough if she’s looking to be ‘Joyce mk2’ rather than ‘Sal mk2’.
When I first clicked onto the comic, I wondered what Walky was doing in Sal’s room. Then I read the dialogue and realised it was Sal. Occasionally, we are reminded that they are twins!
I like this new Sal. Not necessarily because she’s less abrasive, but because she seems more at ease with herself, and hence more easygoing.
I think it helps that things are going pretty well lately. She’s got Joyce to stop objectifying her (and Joyce is actually working at it which means a lot), she’s trying to bury the hatchet with Amber, Ethan and Marcie both forgave her and Walky’s showed he’s actually thinking about her and her feelings. Things are going pretty well! I’m sure she’ll still be snarky and a little abrasive, but she’s got pretty good reason to be in a good mood lately.
What are you talking about? She’s rooming with Malaya. Everything is shit
But Marcie’s talking to her again.
Yep, and Marcie’s esteem is worth at least a Malaya and a half. 😉
“‘Course ya do,” she says, wearing teal.
Pretty sure that’s meant to be blue.
I mean, teal is blue, when it’s not busy being green.
Teal is a shade of blue-green, but ‘teal’ is generally used for a darker shade than this. Most colour pedants would call Sal’s shirt turquoise. 😛
I thought a teal was a kind of duck.
I’m very confused.
Okay but imagine Becky going to see Captain Marvel? She’d have to be dragged out of there the second Carol put on the mannequin clothes.
Considering the real time to comic time ratio in DoA, how long would it be until we had the chance to see that happen?
Next year.
Due to the workings of comic time and it being mid-October combined with the March release date, there will never be an opportunity for her to see it new in theaters (unless Willis particularly wants to shift the release date in the Dumbingverse). However, she’ll probably be able to pick up the blu-ray (or some sort of streaming) by the end of 2019, and by the following year it’ll be right up there with Frozen on ‘things she missed while she was under her father’s thumb and wants to catch up on’
Remember, it’s always ‘current year’ (with some rounding and massaging) even though only 2 months have passed in-comic.
Yep, so next year it’ll be something she could have snuck out and seen.
Sal insists. Joyce looks pretty af. This strip is everything I need.
I love Sal so much!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand there it is.
Fuck.
The butterflies never really go away, do they, Becky?
*hug*
One of the most exciting and favorite lines for me so far from Joyce: “I want to find who I am”. Yay!
Yes, yes! It’s so cool to see Joyce be excited about change and exploring who she is and discovering what she likes and how she wants to present herself and *haaaaaaa*
Suddenly trying to figure out how Head Alien fits into this canon.
I believe that he is one of the title characters in Walky’s favourite cartoons, Dexter and Monkey Master. Most of the exotic characters from the Walkyverse are fictional here, including Ultra Car and The Cheese.
Joyce gained a Hidden Ability: Cute Charm!
And for the second time on a row… Oh, Becky…
Joyce used Greaser, it was super effective.
Hold your head high
Take a deep breath and sigh
Goodbye to Sandra Dee…
:clap:
It does look kickarse, but… is Joyce larger than Sal ? I don’t think that jacket can close
I do think that Joyce is heavier around the hips and chest than Sal, yes.
To me, Sal’s expression in Panel 5 seems uncertain: “I don’t know if this is going to work out” seems to be the message.
Joyce used, “Bad Girl”, on Becky. Becky became confused.
I really like this, Sal letting Joyce try her stuff and (Sal) even having fun with it
I didn’t understand the dialogue box.
That’s because I’m old.
There are days I don’t understand the dialogue box. Today is not that day. Somewhat cool Grandpa away!
It’s a Pokemon reference. Given that Pokemon’s been popular for over 20 years….
…. also it’s a callback to this comic, less than a week ago.
Oh crap, the look’s so dangerous that Becky’s spider-sense went off.
Of course.
Joyce is a Rebel now
What? No yellow stripe?
I don’t know how, but Joyce pulls off the punk look decently well. I’d be down to see her in biker gear.
If you asked me, Carla and Sal are the hottest girls you’ve drawn 😛 Also my crush on both Sal and Joyce is increasing exponentially with this storyline.
Poor Becky, though. I’ve only dealt with the very mildest level of feelings-for-a-friend and I know it hurts. I can only imagine what she’s going through, with the intensity of their friendship and all the baggage around her sexuality.