Dumbing of Age Book Eleven

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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September 18, 2023

Ivory tower

by David M Willis on February 10, 2020 at 12:01 am
  • 02 - To Remind You of My Love

└ Tags: jennifer, lucy, nash, rose, ruth, zaph

Discussion (99) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    February 10, 2020 at 12:02 am | #

    I SAID CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS

    • clif
      clif
      February 10, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

      Don’t mind me. I just came to check if Mike was back.

      • Shane
        Shane
        February 10, 2020 at 1:12 am | #

        “One of these years, I think” – V’s spouse

        • Doctor_Who
          Doctor_Who
          February 10, 2020 at 1:53 am | #

          Plot twist: Mike wound up in the OOTS verse.

          He and Belkar will get along well.

    • Keulen
      Keulen
      February 10, 2020 at 2:22 am | #

      “If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.”

      • He Who Abides
        He Who Abides
        February 10, 2020 at 6:31 am | #

        “Hooray, I keek a touchdown!”

        • anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
          anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
          February 10, 2020 at 10:13 am | #

          Is this American sportsball?

      • Michael Haneline
        Michael Haneline
        February 11, 2020 at 11:09 pm | #

        I once briefly ran a sci-fi tabletop RPG where Zap was the captain of the ship and all the PCs were members of his crew.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      February 10, 2020 at 8:07 am | #

      “Checkmate!”
      “Actually, I can still move here.”
      “G – fine, CHECKMATE!”
      “No, can still move here.”
      “Gaah, fine, NOW CHECKMATE!!”
      *silently takes her queen*
      “GAAAAAH!!”

  2. shadowcell
    shadowcell
    February 10, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    Master Fisto would be so disappointed

  3. Suet
    Suet
    February 10, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    “Checkmate. Next faaaaaaaaace, er, game”

  4. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    February 10, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    You’ll always have Lucy, Billie.

    Seriously, after the Kit Fisto thing, girl’s gonna sew herself to you.

    • abysswatcher1993
      abysswatcher1993
      February 10, 2020 at 12:41 am | #

      Or be like spongebob tied to squidward through some abnormal biological link.

  5. BBCC
    BBCC
    February 10, 2020 at 12:03 am | #

    Goddammit, I thought it was about coming clean.

    Billie’s first therapy session can’t be soon enough.

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      February 10, 2020 at 12:38 am | #

      Indeed. I didn’t catch the self-sabotage angle until now either, but I think Ruth has a point. I’m pretty sure there were ways Billie could’ve said ‘I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and being a cheerleader encouraged them’ that could’ve worked WITHOUT going straight to ‘here’s my completely unprocessed trauma!’

      But, standard jokes about this not being Smarting of Age. But also, Billie is REALLY GOOD at hiding her depressive and self-destructive symptoms under a happy veneer where they’re ALMOST socially acceptable and the worse stuff is probably just a whim, right? She’s fine. (It’s impressive except in how it’s awful.) That said, I think this was more impulse than calculated – she can do the reflexive self-loathing/sabotage thing depressingly well, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen much of Billie admitting vulnerability compared to ‘I’m Head Bongo Cheerleader’ or more hyperbolic ‘I am Garbage’ sort of stuff. Add in her clearly NOT having processed it at all (even ‘holy shit I almost killed myself and my friend’) and I could see this slipping out. But we’ll see. Like I said, Billie’s really good at masking and part of that IS consistently choosing self-destruction, conscious or not.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 10, 2020 at 2:14 am | #

        Masking all her unprocessed trauma behind the “alpha bongo head cheerleader” front has been her coping mechanism since the comic started. Getting ostracised from the college version of her high school social group dinged the mask, but I think this is one of the first times we’ve really seen it slip around others.

        • Miri
          Miri
          February 10, 2020 at 4:22 am | #

          I think this was her taking it off, flinging it onto the ground then dancing on it. But while it might have come from a place of self-destructiveness, not being worshipped by the creepy ones seems like a good thing and better for her mental health overall?

          • Seregiel
            Seregiel
            February 10, 2020 at 10:14 am | #

            Yeah. Making a person into a weird idol is gross. If this was about pushing away those types of people even if it was always what she wanted…. self destruction seems to be coming with a healthy dose of more aware of meaningful interactions now.

  6. LeslieBean4shizzle
    LeslieBean4shizzle
    February 10, 2020 at 12:04 am | #

    To be fair, Ruth, I think it STARTED as introducing you to them and just… kinda… spiraled.

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      February 10, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

      Also, they weren’t the best new relationships to begin with.

      • Norah
        Norah
        February 10, 2020 at 12:56 am | #

        Yes, even though this went to far and isn’t coming from a good place, at least they’ll stop with the bizarre worship stuff. Ugh.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        February 10, 2020 at 1:10 am | #

        In fact, they were horrible: bad now, and headed for disaster.

      • zee
        zee
        February 10, 2020 at 5:05 pm | #

        it was the closest thing to an in person parasocial relationship ive ever seen

    • Seregiel
      Seregiel
      February 10, 2020 at 10:15 am | #

      I think it wa as the awwwwws. Femur crushing girlfriend was supposed to be the nerd equivalent of vampire garlic.

  7. Shiro
    Shiro
    February 10, 2020 at 12:05 am | #

    Okay but. When those relationships were built on a misconception, especially one that was partially based in a period of Billie’s life that was pretty toxic and that she’s trying to heal from, isn’t taking them apart kind of a step forward? Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree here but it feels like this is a good sign for Billie’s self-awareness, that she’s realizing this dynamic isn’t a good thing for her.

    • Norah
      Norah
      February 10, 2020 at 1:02 am | #

      That’s the thing. Everything that Billie was saying about how she was just a regular person who wears galaxies, loves her girlfriend, and even used to be a nerd, was being met with cries of “Awwww!” and more worshipful stuff. It’s almost as if she had to add the worst thing she ever did in order to get them to stop.

      • Norah
        Norah
        February 10, 2020 at 1:04 am | #

        Wears “glasses”, not “galaxies”.

        • Agemegos
          Agemegos
          February 10, 2020 at 1:12 am | #

          Galaxies are very fashionable

          • Paul
            Paul
            February 10, 2020 at 1:18 am | #

            The Galaxy Is on Orion’s Belt

            • Geneseepaws
              Geneseepaws
              February 10, 2020 at 7:33 am | #

              OMG, it’s full of stars!

              • sillygoose
                sillygoose
                February 10, 2020 at 9:12 am | #

                Who can blame them for worshipping someone who just casually wears star-spangled galaxies?

                • DSL
                  DSL
                  February 10, 2020 at 5:14 pm | #

                  Well, this is spiraling out of control.

      • KJ
        KJ
        February 10, 2020 at 5:31 pm | #

        Yea, this is how I felt reading this, too. Relationships built on idolization eventually fail, anyway, because the idolizer eventually realizes their idol doesn’t actually exist. I can’t say I blame Billie for wanting to head it off rather than wait for the image to fall apart. Hell, she’s probably had experience with the latter based on her past.

    • Norah
      Norah
      February 10, 2020 at 1:05 am | #

      Maybe once they get over the shock they’ll treat her as a regular, though deeply flawed person, rather than some kind of princess or goddess.

      • Shane
        Shane
        February 10, 2020 at 1:45 am | #

        Although if memory serves, Billie kinda nurtured this whole thing at the start, even though she’s (rightly) trying to stop it now.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          February 10, 2020 at 2:19 am | #

          Yuuuuuup.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/salacious/

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          February 10, 2020 at 6:07 am | #

          She did. That’s why it’s important that she’s trying to stop it.

  8. Derek
    Derek
    February 10, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

    oh no, the pod people don’t get to act like BILLIE made this awkward after they have been acting like borderline stalker weirdos since they met her. gah!

    • Geneseepaws
      Geneseepaws
      February 10, 2020 at 8:11 am | #

      For We know which one’s your room,
      And Lucy tells us what you do;
      … are you snacking down at the Y? with someone who loves you?
      Tell Us how to win your Love, for we Really have not a clue.
      But let us start by worsh-shipping you.

  9. Bagge
    Bagge
    February 10, 2020 at 12:07 am | #

    Now Lucy and Billie can be Former Popular People together!

    • Nono
      Nono
      February 10, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

      Lucy was never really popular though.

      • King Daniel
        King Daniel
        February 10, 2020 at 12:20 am | #

        She mentioned before that she briefly felt “popular” here in the dorm, until Billie came along.

    • Tacos
      Tacos
      February 10, 2020 at 12:19 am | #

      Fine but they can still be Kit Fisto fanfic BFFs thought.

      • clif
        clif
        February 10, 2020 at 12:25 am | #

        They could be Kit Fisto Companions. And sell chickens on the side.

  10. Cmasta1992
    Cmasta1992
    February 10, 2020 at 12:07 am | #

    Aaaaand called it. Knew this wasn’t coming from a healthy place. People don’t change so quickly

    • clif
      clif
      February 10, 2020 at 12:28 am | #

      Dunno if it was from a healthy place or not, but some things ya got to nuke from orbit.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        February 10, 2020 at 1:17 am | #

        It’s the only way to be sure.

  11. Doopyboop
    Doopyboop
    February 10, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

    I agree in principle, although I think Billie’s execution and her motives are what leaves much to be desired. Is she trying to be more honest with herself and others, or did their worship finally lose steam and she wanted to cut ties with them all before they got TOO close and ‘discovered’ her true nature for themselves on terms that weren’t her’s? For me, if this means those girls will stop acting like pod people, I’m for it.

    • Doopyboop
      Doopyboop
      February 10, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

      AW GEEZ THIS WAS MEANT AS A REPLY TO SHIRO.

      I DANNED IT UP

    • clif
      clif
      February 10, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

      Hey there. We pod people have feelings too.

  12. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    February 10, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

    And then in tomorrow’s campus newspaper…

    • clif
      clif
      February 10, 2020 at 12:13 am | #

      Campus Vigilante Wanted for Murder

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        February 10, 2020 at 1:19 am | #

        But they aren’t dead! Mike is holding then in durance in a dry well.

        • clif
          clif
          February 10, 2020 at 2:20 am | #

          My tin-foil-hat theory is better than your tin-foil-hat theory.

          • Geneseepaws
            Geneseepaws
            February 10, 2020 at 7:50 am | #

            I dunno, both theories look like solid gold to me.
            Back in the old days, car tires had tubes, and a flat tire was just swap-out the tube situation. …which meant you needed tire irons. Lotta things you can do with a tire iron. Or a bat. … Real handy. Lotta things you can hit with a bat.

            • Stephen Bierce
              Stephen Bierce
              February 10, 2020 at 1:46 pm | #

              Nothing like a nice tire iron. When I got my driving license, the first thing I bought was a big new tire iron for my car. I’ve had it ever since.

  13. electriccombines
    electriccombines
    February 10, 2020 at 12:13 am | #

    Honestly the only person I liked from the Forest Quad gang was Nash, but even if Billie sort of erupted, I totally understand her frustration. Having people idealize you as though you’re infallible and goddess-like is fucking garbage. I would have been really upset too. I’m also really hoping that Lucy does more of her straight talking – I really like her dynamic with Ruth and her refusal to let Billie be a dick. And above all PLEASE BILLS, GO TO THERAPY.

  14. Gudrun Amedick
    Gudrun Amedick
    February 10, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

    It’s refreshing to see Ruth being the voice of reason when being confronted with self destructive behaviour. I mean, yes, they idealised her, but that could have been corrected in a less wrecking-ball-ish way.

  15. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    February 10, 2020 at 12:15 am | #

    On the one hand, being placed on a pedestal can be annoying certainly, but on the oyher hand Billie did not handle it the right way in trying to end it. And it wasn’t really fair when it was supposed to be about introducing Ruth.

    Is Billie scheduled for therapy? She needs it.

    • Sam
      Sam
      February 10, 2020 at 12:37 am | #

      She has therapy she should be attending but hasn’t attended at all.

      • Regalli
        Regalli
        February 10, 2020 at 12:41 am | #

        I think she DID indicate in the last couple in-strip days that she’s finally going to start going. (Trying to catch up with and be a reasonable partner for Ruth, mainly. The sexy lesbian suicide pact really has come quite a way from its awful beginnings if it’s inspiring Billie to try.)

        • Norah
          Norah
          February 10, 2020 at 1:07 am | #

          She really, really needs to start going.

  16. RacingTurtle
    RacingTurtle
    February 10, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

    Hey, Billie started out trying to be gentle with her neighbors. Losing one’s temper with the confines of idol worship is pretty reasonable, actually

  17. Tacos
    Tacos
    February 10, 2020 at 12:22 am | #

    I think it probably did start out as her wanting to introduce them to Ruth before quickly turning into getting them to stop with their creepy fan worship/idolization they had of Billie. I’d say that’s not a bad thing either.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      February 10, 2020 at 6:19 am | #

      The two were always linked though, since part of the early fan worship was her description of Ruth as a sexual conquest, not a romantic relationship (however screwed up.)
      Originally she was hiding the truth about Ruth from this floor to keep the creepy fan worship. Sabotaging that is a good thing, right?

  18. abysswatcher1993
    abysswatcher1993
    February 10, 2020 at 12:39 am | #

    BoJack Horseman just ended, Billie. No need for another self sabotaging jerk, Billie. We already have Walky, Amber, Joyce… I know the title is dumbing of age, but it seems pretty scary that many of these characters are actively trying to ruin their own oportunities of being good, moral and happy people. If this is a recreation of Willis’ college years, then I feel bad about him.

    • mrnoidea
      mrnoidea
      February 10, 2020 at 12:48 am | #

      I’m sure Willis has learned a lot from other people’s college experiences.

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      February 10, 2020 at 12:51 am | #

      I’m pretty sure Joyce will start course-correcting soon enough (not entirely, but some.) But based off what he’s said in the Walkyverse reruns and the ‘Joyce is autobiographical’ stuff, I suspect he gave a lot of them kernels of himself, yeah. Anxiety and depression can SERIOUSLY fuck you up, and speaking from experience being away from home and accountability is a way for them to get worse fast. Add in gifted kid burnout/a possible undiagnosed learning disability or the process of going from fundamentalist to however Joyce ends up and it’s… not difficult, for things like that to escalate.

      If it makes you feel better, this is pretty realistic for college kids apparently. Really high rates of stress and mental illness! Lots of twice exceptional kids (gifted and in some way needing accommodations – learning and developmental disabilities, mental illness, whatever) fly under the radar until college or later because we’re ‘smart’ and just need to apply ourselves! (It is hell.)

  19. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    February 10, 2020 at 12:43 am | #

    Things are rarely binary, so this kinda works out as as both a healthy and unhealthy thing in the end.

  20. Shane
    Shane
    February 10, 2020 at 12:53 am | #

    Stopping drinking wasn’t the start and end of it.
    Now we’re looking at the Why behind the drinking.

  21. Cyrus
    Cyrus
    February 10, 2020 at 12:56 am | #

    Sure, she sabotaged some relationships, but in the process, she also strengthened her relationship with the one person in this dorm who actually saw her as a human being, so on balance, I’d call this a win!

    • Rotunda
      Rotunda
      February 10, 2020 at 1:15 am | #

      Exactly! And she has abruptly grown out of her preference to be worshipped rather than befriended. This is not a bad choice, unpleasant as the immediate social reaction may be.

  22. Adam Black
    Adam Black
    February 10, 2020 at 1:31 am | #

    I hope this makes you happy, Lucy

    • Deadjolras
      Deadjolras
      February 10, 2020 at 1:51 am | #

      Yes, because Lucy wanted this to happen. It was all part of her devious plan!

  23. Agemegos
    Agemegos
    February 10, 2020 at 1:31 am | #

    If I remember correctly, Ruth doesn’t know what Billie told the pod-people and encouraged them to assume about their relationship. Breaking that news to Ruth would have been awkward too.

  24. Sam
    Sam
    February 10, 2020 at 1:55 am | #

    This was kind of both constructive and destructive as these were toxic relationships that maintained her ego so she could pretend she was fine so they needed to be reshaped and also kind of burned down a lot of their respect for her at the same time which is more destructive but does make their view of her more honest and truthful to who she is.

  25. BenRG
    BenRG
    February 10, 2020 at 2:05 am | #

    I suspect that Ruth and Lucy will have a conversation now in which Ruth will surprise herself by being in agreement with Lucy: Billie needs help and it’s the sort of help that hugs really aren’t sufficient to provide.

  26. Keulen
    Keulen
    February 10, 2020 at 2:20 am | #

    Does this mean checkmate is the new face? Funny how long ago that strip was and yet it’s only been a few months in-comic.

    • King Daniel
      King Daniel
      February 10, 2020 at 3:30 am | #

      Checkmate, faaaaaaaaaace.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      February 10, 2020 at 12:34 pm | #

      Genuinely asking: Has it been even three months?

      • King Daniel
        King Daniel
        February 10, 2020 at 5:48 pm | #

        Nope! We haven’t even hit two months yet, as Halloween is yet to come.

  27. not someone else
    not someone else
    February 10, 2020 at 2:37 am | #

    Is it just me wondering how much of this is having Sal’s Mom and Dad as a surrogate putting her up on a pedestal for being the Nice Half-Asian Girl they wished their daughter was?

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      February 10, 2020 at 6:21 am | #

      Maybe some. Probably more her own parent’s absence.

  28. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    February 10, 2020 at 4:55 am | #

    I’M FEELING SO HAPPY NOW — Billie

  29. JBento
    JBento
    February 10, 2020 at 7:15 am | #

    GOOD DAY, MADAM!

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      February 10, 2020 at 8:13 am | #

      I SAID GOOD DAY

      • Makkabee
        Makkabee
        February 10, 2020 at 9:40 am | #

        Good day, sunshine?

  30. Geneseepaws
    Geneseepaws
    February 10, 2020 at 7:28 am | #

    Walky strikes me as a mess, like a knotted shoelace.
    Sal strikes me as a mess, like a vinyl garden hose that’s tangled up.
    Amber strikes me as if she were a messed-up tangled ball of yarn the cat has played with.
    And Billie? Billie is what’s left of twemty miles of telephone cable after an Oklahoma tornado. Or something like that.

    • Liquid Len
      Liquid Len
      February 10, 2020 at 8:10 am | #

      Showing my age, but I imagine it as the cassette that got eaten by the car stereo, thrown out the window, with miles of tape dangling out.

  31. Sombrero
    Sombrero
    February 10, 2020 at 8:49 am | #

    Mikemate.

    …

    I said CheckMike!

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      February 10, 2020 at 9:22 am | #

      MikeCheck!

      Test 1… test 2…

      …. okay, this Mike is dented. WHO DROPPED THE MIKE?

  32. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    February 10, 2020 at 9:38 am | #

    I think Billie has do the right thing. Everyone was always around her in ecstasy and she was losing herself. It’s good to say everyone to go away.

  33. ziggy78eog
    ziggy78eog
    February 10, 2020 at 10:01 am | #

    I SAID GOOD DAY, SIR!!!!!!

  34. Happilychaotic
    Happilychaotic
    February 10, 2020 at 10:21 am | #

    Okay, so the girls in this dorm now strike me as kind of assholes. First they creepily worship Billie (and start ignoring poor Lucy over that), then Billie tries to open up to them and show them she is a real person, including that she makes mistakes… like basically every person in the world. I admit that she said it quite grumpily, like she does. But that they would then turn away from her when she tried to show them that she is just human, over the one mistake she made years ago… Well, that’s just harsh.

    • Spriteless Girl
      Spriteless Girl
      February 10, 2020 at 11:30 am | #

      *Less than a year ago, actually. And they’ve had all of 30 seconds to process it.

      Comic time!

  35. MutantSentry
    MutantSentry
    February 10, 2020 at 10:45 am | #

    In another new city, Pittsburgh to be precise,

    The man once known as Mike sweeps up in a low rent bar and the last patrons stagger out. We watches as a sleezy dude drops something in a woman’s drink. His eyes narrow.

  36. Daibhid C
    Daibhid C
    February 10, 2020 at 1:53 pm | #

    Yeah, like many in these comments, I’d feel “Billie is sabotaging her relationship with her dormmates” more if that relationship had ever been presented as anything other than creepy, unhealthy and built on … not even lies, because Billie never actually lied to them, but bizarre self-deception on their part.

  37. Sporky
    Sporky
    February 10, 2020 at 7:09 pm | #

    Honestly, if I were Billie I wouldn’t want to be friends with most of the people in this dorm anyway. They kind of suck.

  38. Moo
    Moo
    February 10, 2020 at 8:01 pm | #

    I’m kind of baffled by the fact that everyone seems to be forgetting that Billie encouraged them kissing her **** . I don’t think this is a particularly healthy or exciting development for her. I think she intentionally built a fan club but didn’t like the emptiness that went with having to maintain a false image and destroyed it. I don’t think the destruction of that is necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t think the way Billie went about this is particularly insightful or healing. And poor Ruth, who was so genuinely excited to seem accepted and valued but then discovered that Billie is still too self-absorbed to be able to sustain that kind of selfless, giving attention and love.

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