Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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dorothy has a instagram full of sunrises, and all the replies are 'fuck you'
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May 22, 2026

Clear-eyed

by David M Willis on March 20, 2020 at 12:01 am
  • 03 - When It Crumbles
└ Tags: amber, carla, dina, dorothy, joyce, roz, ruth, sarah, ultra car

Discussion (111) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    March 20, 2020 at 12:05 am | #

    I would’ve been up, too

    but bc my kidneys wake me up in the middle of the night to excrete urine before making me unable to fall BACK asleep

    • Rose by Any Other Name
      Rose by Any Other Name
      March 20, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

      Ugh. I hate when that happens.

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        March 20, 2020 at 3:46 am | #

        DAMN IT

    • Sam
      Sam
      March 20, 2020 at 1:00 am | #

      It is your bladder that makes you do that as a result of your kidneys filling it because your blood doesn’t like contaminants and insists they be purged. Clearly the solution is to stop having blood.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        March 20, 2020 at 8:21 am | #

        It is a solution. Not having blood would certainly prevent you from waking up in the middle of the night.

      • Allandrel
        Allandrel
        March 20, 2020 at 9:17 am | #

        My body came up with a brilliant solution: Can’t wake up needing to pee if your kidneys don’t do anything!

        Of course, this means that I have to spend 12+ hours a week having my precious lifejuice run through a dialysis machine, but that’s a small price to pay for a full night’s sleep.

        • Liz
          Liz
          March 20, 2020 at 9:52 am | #

          The rest of us are stuck in 2020 while you’re out here living in 2352

          • Alan in DC
            Alan in DC
            March 20, 2020 at 10:05 am | #

            This semester probably won’t be over UNTIL 2352.

        • Ana Chronistic
          Ana Chronistic
          March 21, 2020 at 12:01 am | #

          I mean, until I found out it was multiple times a week, I wondered if dialysis was worth being able to eat meat again

          • Allandrel
            Allandrel
            March 21, 2020 at 9:28 am | #

            I can assure you that it is not worth it, and eating cows is one of my favorite activities.

  2. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    March 20, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

    Sarah is on point here, screw you and your healthy habits Dorothy. 😛

    • Mr D
      Mr D
      March 20, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

      Jogging with that cold? Ughhhh.

      Hrmm. Waking up at 4 to jog an hour and then come back to bed? That sounds nicer.
      I wish I didn’t live by a friggin highway so I could go out and do that stuff without worrying some drunk jackass will run me over.

      • Coma
        Coma
        March 20, 2020 at 2:30 am | #

        I don’t know – I personally definitely need to shower after a run and then going to bed after showering just to get up an hour or two later…

        And I’ve just checked (I’m used to celsius) and now I’m wondering how Dorothy isn’t in ice-block-form right now. If I can avoid it I don’t go for a run below 5°C, especially at night/morning, because the cold air literally hurts my nose while breathing.
        So yeah, Ughhhh.

    • abysswatcher1993
      abysswatcher1993
      March 20, 2020 at 12:30 am | #

      Don’t shame her for being productive. It’s our fault we sleep late and wake up late.

    • SuperZero
      SuperZero
      March 20, 2020 at 12:40 am | #

      Being up in the middle of the night isn’t exactly an inherently “healthy habit.”

  3. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    March 20, 2020 at 12:08 am | #

    Plot twist: Dorothy pulled the alarm as a joke because she knows she can outrun everyone else out there.

    • AntJ
      AntJ
      March 20, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

      cruisin’ rebelstyle, homeslice

    • Cattleprod
      Cattleprod
      March 20, 2020 at 12:23 am | #

      (Okay, sorry if I’m spamming at this point but this is the post I meant to reply to.)

      If (and it’s a big if) Dorothy were to actually pull the fire alarm as a prank she’d do in when the building was at its emptiest, in keeping with the whole ‘mildly subversive’ thing.

  4. Cholma
    Cholma
    March 20, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

    Dorothy gets up at 4AM to go jogging?! What time is her first class or how far does she run? I didn’t even get up that early for PT in the Army! :O

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

      Her first class is at 8:00, IIRC.

    • Cattleprod
      Cattleprod
      March 20, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

      If (and it’s a big if) Dorothy were to actually pull the fire alarm as a prank she’d do in when the building was at its emptiest, in keeping with the whole ‘mildly subversive’ thing.

      • Cattleprod
        Cattleprod
        March 20, 2020 at 12:21 am | #

        … replied to the wrong thing and there’s no delete button.

    • Nagev
      Nagev
      March 20, 2020 at 1:37 pm | #

      Unless she’s like me; gets up super early to do my healthy habit for the day, come home after an hour and sleep for 3 more hours till I have to go to work.

      But who are we kidding, Dorothy’s probably better then me.

      • ktbear
        ktbear
        March 21, 2020 at 12:21 am | #

        I suspect Dorothy is better than all of us.

  5. Vangeln
    Vangeln
    March 20, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

    So Amber didn’t complete the all nighter.

    • clif
      clif
      March 20, 2020 at 12:36 am | #

      ugh!

  6. Dafydd
    Dafydd
    March 20, 2020 at 12:11 am | #

    So…will Mike just show up? Or will this be when they notice he isn’t here?

    • FaerwenofValenwood
      FaerwenofValenwood
      March 20, 2020 at 12:18 am | #

      Could Amazi-Girl have pulled the alarm herself for that very purpose or is this theory too crackpot?

      • Adam Black
        Adam Black
        March 20, 2020 at 1:24 am | #

        no, the consensus is the pot ( plot ) is somewhere between wildly cracky and full on crack party pot.

    • brionl
      brionl
      March 20, 2020 at 12:58 am | #

      Plot twist, Mike has always been Amber’s imaginary “friend”…

      • Khyrin
        Khyrin
        March 20, 2020 at 1:39 am | #

        I’ll bite: how did Ethan and Walky interact with Mike?

        Did Amber make Mike real by wishing REALLY hard?
        Is Ethan somehow subject to Amber’s delusion?
        Is Mike a Long-Range Physical Stand and Amazigirl just hasn’t been trying hard enough to manifest HER Stand?

        • Cholma
          Cholma
          March 20, 2020 at 3:52 am | #

          Turns out Dumbing of Age is just the comic version of LOST. Sal *wasn’t* the one that got stabbed all those years ago: it was Amber, who is bleeding out on the store floor, imagining everything you’ve seen in DoA. Willis goes for the long con!

  7. Kyoulkoa
    Kyoulkoa
    March 20, 2020 at 12:13 am | #

    There is no Mike

    • Hmrc4evr
      Hmrc4evr
      March 21, 2020 at 12:04 am | #

      Only Zuul?

  8. CrazyJ
    CrazyJ
    March 20, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

    Goodbye Carla, the Queen of Rutten…

  9. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    March 20, 2020 at 12:18 am | #

    I think this is the scene when they do a headcount, realize Mike is missing, assume he’s shacked up in a different dorm building with an unknown fuckbuddy, and resume ignoring his absence.

    • SuperZero
      SuperZero
      March 20, 2020 at 12:24 am | #

      A headcount? They’re college students, mostly adults. They’re allowed to be places other than their dorm (Dorothy just said she was about to leave), so nobody knows how many people are supposed to have evacuated.

      • Jess
        Jess
        March 20, 2020 at 12:35 am | #

        wasn’t there a mention of a sign out sheet? My college had that for the specific reason of people being out of the building during a fire alarm

        • SuperZero
          SuperZero
          March 20, 2020 at 12:38 am | #

          In that case he never signed in, so counting the people who are supposed to be there wouldn’t notice his absence either.

      • Norah
        Norah
        March 20, 2020 at 1:37 am | #

        There must be some kind of a check though, to make sure someone didn’t sleep through the alarm and burn. Nothing to do with adults, just a safety matter.

        • Norah
          Norah
          March 20, 2020 at 1:38 am | #

          I mean, if it was a real alarm.

          • Dara
            Dara
            March 20, 2020 at 2:12 am | #

            I can’t speak for other schools, but some operate kind of like an apartment building, just with an RA on each floor. At mine, there was no such thing as resident sign out to keep up with who was in at the time. The only sign-in/sign-out our dorm had was for guests, and at 4am, the front desk would have been closed anyway. The dorm nearest to mine didn’t even have a front desk; they just a key card entry.

            We had the threat of being fined ($50, I think) if we didn’t leave during a fire alarm, regardless of whether it was for a real emergency, but since RAs had to evacuate with everyone else and when they banged on the door, all you had to do was just…not respond, it was kind of an unenforceable.

            Our RAs couldn’t open each person’s doors on their floor because there was only one set of master keys and that was for the RA on call, and that RA was NOT going to go through 8 floors of residents to make sure nobody stayed in their room.

            • SuperZero
              SuperZero
              March 20, 2020 at 11:12 am | #

              Making guests sign in is kind of pointless if the front desk closes.

              • Dara
                Dara
                March 21, 2020 at 4:25 pm | #

                I never understood that, either. I worked the midnight – 4 am shift several days/week and I think the desk reopened at 7 or 8.

                It also meant if you’d left your card key in your room or something and got back after the desk closed, you’d have to call one of your friends who lived there to let you in. Or use the external phone to call the RA on call and hope they weren’t the ones who’d fill out the lock-out form to charge you a $5 fine. (Most RAs would just stagger downstairs and let you in and go back to bed, but there were a couple by-the-book-always who would do the form every time)

        • Norah
          Norah
          March 20, 2020 at 1:52 am | #

          Crap, I wish I could edit my post. What I meant was, the RA could have a sheet with the names of all the people in the dorm. They could go down the list. The reason for this wouldn’t be to find out if someone had come home or was sleeping in another dorm, or any other “parent” type things. The reason would be to make sure someone hadn’t slept through the alarm and, if it was a real fire, would now be in danger.

          In this case, when they got to Mike, Walky would say he hadn’t come back that night.

          Of course, I don’t know if this is how things are handled or not. I was only in dorms a year and we didn’t have any alarms in that time. I do know that after the Nisqually earthquake in 2001, the company I worked for at the time instituted a rule that in case of an earthquake, fire or other reason to evacuate the building, each department head would do a roll call or head count of their department to make sure no one was stuck inside. This was because after the earthquake, no one checked on a guy who had a broken leg, and he had a hard time getting down the stairs and out of the building when we evacuated.

          • SuperZero
            SuperZero
            March 20, 2020 at 11:11 am | #

            They do that by checking the rooms. The list wouldn’t tell them anything since most “missing” students weren’t there in the first place.

            Also a dorm with no fire alarms for a year? That is.. an outlier.

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              March 20, 2020 at 2:42 pm | #

              Remember Billie and drunken Ruth hiding in the half-bath when Billie pulled the fire alarm?

  10. Bryy
    Bryy
    March 20, 2020 at 12:22 am | #

    Of course the dark shit happens on an early morning fire alarm pull.

  11. ThatGuyNamedSam
    ThatGuyNamedSam
    March 20, 2020 at 12:25 am | #

    Lmao, fantastic alt-text today

  12. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    March 20, 2020 at 12:25 am | #

    Carla is fucking great.

  13. a/snow/mous/e
    a/snow/mous/e
    March 20, 2020 at 12:26 am | #

    Dina looks pretty alert as well.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      March 20, 2020 at 8:52 am | #

      She gets a GREAT night’s sleep on the Velociplushie.

  14. abysswatcher1993
    abysswatcher1993
    March 20, 2020 at 12:28 am | #

    Dorothy would get along with Solaire of Astora and Ferdinand Von Aegir. No need to shame her, Sarah. It’s your fault being an antisocial jerkass.

    Also, is that Roz with a new fling.

    Nice pun, Carla.

  15. dorothykeener
    dorothykeener
    March 20, 2020 at 12:35 am | #

    🌅

    • Suet
      Suet
      March 20, 2020 at 12:36 am | #

      joyce_brown 🌅
      its_walky 🌅
      dina_saruyama 🌅

      • Suet
        Suet
        March 20, 2020 at 12:39 am | #

        *rechecks alt-text* Darn it, Willis, now my skit is ruined! (among others)

  16. BigDogLittleCat
    BigDogLittleCat
    March 20, 2020 at 12:36 am | #

    I am worried about Fuckface. Malaya’s reassurances to him are foreboding.

  17. King Daniel
    King Daniel
    March 20, 2020 at 12:39 am | #

    At least Dorothy’s in a good enough headspace to start jogging again?

  18. Kinoko
    Kinoko
    March 20, 2020 at 12:41 am | #

    People reply “fuck you” to sunrise photos? How bitter do you have to be? Just let others be happy.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      March 20, 2020 at 4:32 am | #

      Like, Sarah level bitter?

      • He Who Abides
        He Who Abides
        March 20, 2020 at 8:40 pm | #

        When we work, Mrs. Abides and myself are typically going to bed when the sun comes up. It’s not bitterness so much as not comprehending people who pretend night shifts don’t exist.

        Plus, we always see ones from my sister-in-law, who puts captions on them designed to irritate non-morning people. She’s even told us that she gets worried when we don’t send a friendly “fuck you” before a post-work sunrise picture shows up.

        • Kinoko
          Kinoko
          March 21, 2020 at 11:48 am | #

          Hah, if it’s friendly then that’s all good!
          I don’t post sunrise photos because I don’t get up *that* early, but I go running in the morning when I’m able. The online running community is also super positive and encouraging of each other, so the idea of someone hating on another person’s morning workout really bothers me because it’s been ingrained into me to be supportive.

  19. deathjavu
    deathjavu
    March 20, 2020 at 12:44 am | #

    Unless you’re going to bed at around 8 PM, going on a 4 AM run to start the day isn’t really that healthy Dorothy…

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      March 20, 2020 at 4:32 am | #

      But it’s productive!

  20. Agemegos
    Agemegos
    March 20, 2020 at 12:48 am | #

    What’s the usual time of year for high-school proms?

    • Norah
      Norah
      March 20, 2020 at 1:41 am | #

      Late spring, usually. There are other dances, but the one called “prom” is usually sometime in May, or maybe early June.

      • Agemegos
        Agemegos
        March 20, 2020 at 2:05 am | #

        Likely to be cancelled this year, then.

        • Delicious Taffy
          Delicious Taffy
          March 20, 2020 at 5:26 am | #

          Nothing of value will be lost, there.

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      March 20, 2020 at 3:10 am | #

      Depends on the year. I THINK mine was in April or May, but our school year went until June so it could be later.

  21. All-Purpose Guru
    All-Purpose Guru
    March 20, 2020 at 12:52 am | #

    Looks like Roz was with some guy at 4am. Hmmm.

    • Agemegos
      Agemegos
      March 20, 2020 at 1:20 am | #

      Where’s Mary?

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        March 20, 2020 at 2:14 am | #

        At Peter’s, for maximum hypocrisy.

    • Keulen
      Keulen
      March 20, 2020 at 3:47 am | #

      I was wondering why that guy in the hoodie didn’t have a name in the tags.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        March 20, 2020 at 11:35 am | #

        Other Other Tag, the hoodie guy.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      March 20, 2020 at 4:24 am | #

      By the look on her face she was done doing sexythings and just trying to get some goddamn sleep

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        March 20, 2020 at 8:28 am | #

        OTOH, they seem to be walking away from the rest. Maybe it’s “We’re up now, so why not …”

        Or just heading to his dorm where there isn’t a fire alarm.

  22. Author X
    Author X
    March 20, 2020 at 1:09 am | #

    “Hey, I’ve been out since that cover of Newsweek”

    Oof. I wonder if she revelled in the attention, or if her revelling in attention (and loudly declaring how much she doesn’t give a crap what other people think about her, etc) is partly a reflex from being in the spotlight whether she wanted to or not.

    • He Who Abides
      He Who Abides
      March 20, 2020 at 6:19 am | #

      Guessing it’s that second one.

      • MrBookBoy
        MrBookBoy
        March 20, 2020 at 10:39 am | #

        I’d actually say it’s the first one, given how comfortable she is with herself in other situations. For her, I think the Newsweek cover is sorta like the Carla Laser Light Show, but on a national scale.
        I mean, come on. She loves to brag about herself. How better than to get oo the cover of a giant magazine?

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          March 20, 2020 at 2:39 pm | #

          Which is all the reflex from being in the spotlight whether she wanted it or not.

          For so many of these characters, the surface persona is all defense mechanism.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      March 20, 2020 at 7:20 am | #

      Wait, Newsweek is still being published?

      Every magazine I pass by in the stores is some clip show of something or someone who was famous no later than the 1980s. Did you know this year will be the 51st anniversary of Woodstock?

  23. Chris Phoenix
    Chris Phoenix
    March 20, 2020 at 1:29 am | #

    When klaxons sound, the students leave their beds
    And stumble, one by one, into the cold.
    They rub their eyes to clear their sleepy heads
    And argue, sometimes, contra what they’re told.
    The darkness emphasizes their distress
    (And boosts their peril, which they don’t yet know).
    They only want to sleep, forget the mess,
    It’s back to bed they’re longing now to go.

    See Sarah grumble now at Dorothy
    Who, lone among them all, had been alert;
    Her exercise routine keeps her healthy
    And ready too to deal with others’ hurt.
      The sleep she’s lost, she counts as modest gain;
      The others merely feel their loss as pain.

  24. Icalasari
    Icalasari
    March 20, 2020 at 1:32 am | #

    Meanwhile if I was there:

    “Yeah, I was about to get ready to go to bed”

    • Keulen
      Keulen
      March 20, 2020 at 3:51 am | #

      I probably would have still been up at 4 a.m. when I was in college, or just getting ready to go to bed. And now I tend to stay up even later than that. I don’t get much sleep.

  25. Dracke
    Dracke
    March 20, 2020 at 1:41 am | #

    It was that brat…the senator’s sister, i forgot her name, trying to do a mess to Destroy her sister’s campaign again…(she is there)
    Or it was the Murderous duo…i prefer it to be the bongoy girl…who would have gotten expelled if it wasn’t for her sister intervening

    • NinjaNick
      NinjaNick
      March 20, 2020 at 2:11 am | #

      Roz?

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      March 20, 2020 at 4:23 am | #

      “That brat” is really not specific enough in this comic.

  26. saltchocolate
    saltchocolate
    March 20, 2020 at 1:51 am | #

    Is Ultra Car always listed when Carla appears? If not, what gives?

    • saltchocolate
      saltchocolate
      March 20, 2020 at 1:52 am | #

      Never mind. I caught it. Door decoration!

  27. CMasta
    CMasta
    March 20, 2020 at 2:36 am | #

    4am is usually when I go to sleep so me and Dorothy just exchange watches

  28. Nenja
    Nenja
    March 20, 2020 at 2:52 am | #

    If she gets up at 4am I hope she goes to bed early so she gets enough sleep.

    • CJ
      CJ
      March 20, 2020 at 4:58 am | #

      No, she just read too many books on how successful people don’t need much sleep.

  29. BenRG
    BenRG
    March 20, 2020 at 3:00 am | #

    I think that Amber pretty much sums up my reaction to a situation like that at a time like that.

  30. BBCC
    BBCC
    March 20, 2020 at 3:12 am | #

    I admire Dorothy, but I am totally Sarah here.

  31. PiotrW
    PiotrW
    March 20, 2020 at 3:15 am | #

    It was Amber who pulled the alarm, right?

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      March 20, 2020 at 4:23 am | #

      …or amazi-girl?

  32. Keulen
    Keulen
    March 20, 2020 at 3:45 am | #

    DoA Book 10: Ugh

    • Tan
      Tan
      March 20, 2020 at 8:42 pm | #

      Dumbing of Age Book 10: OUT

  33. Bagge
    Bagge
    March 20, 2020 at 4:22 am | #

    Dorothy continue to be the envy of her peer group… in her dreams.

    I’m just sad she isn’t in her jogging dress.

    https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/cheating/

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      March 20, 2020 at 6:10 am | #

      I’m not sure that Joyce’s reaction in panel 4 is ‘envy’. If anything, I’m surprised that she didn’t glomp Dotty on sight, based on the width of her smile.

    • vlademir1
      vlademir1
      March 20, 2020 at 3:25 pm | #

      She may be in the fall weather equivalent I think. Shorts and a tanktop like she had on are fine in warmer weather, but a hoodie, tee shirt and either sweatpants or trackpants, as here, are pretty much ideal for comfort once it gets below 50°F.

  34. thumb
    thumb
    March 20, 2020 at 7:20 am | #

    Hmmm.
    Did Amber come in from the dorms? Or . . .
    elsewhere?

  35. Falconer
    Falconer
    March 20, 2020 at 9:01 am | #

    Fuck, it’s Blaine. Blaine pulled the fire alarm.

    Fuck, it’s Blaine. Blaine pulled the fire alarm.

    Fuck, it’s Blaine. Blaine pulled the fire alarm.

    The only time someone grins as widely as Joyce is grinning when they see someone after being woken up at 4 am by a pulled fire alarm is if they see someone they want to hanky-panky with.

    Fuck, it’s Blaine. Blaine pulled the fire alarm.

    • MrBookBoy
      MrBookBoy
      March 20, 2020 at 10:42 am | #

      What about, you know – Joyce seeing Dorothy?
      Any situation, any time, any place.
      We’re going to get the smile.

    • Dr. T
      Dr. T
      March 20, 2020 at 2:49 pm | #

      Blaine can’t get in the building. He’s locked out.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        March 20, 2020 at 9:31 pm | #

        But Asher could.

  36. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    March 20, 2020 at 10:25 am | #

    Seriously Dorothy? I’m totally with Ruth here.

  37. Leorale
    Leorale
    March 20, 2020 at 10:32 am | #

    Looks like Amber may have fallen asleep, which would put Amazi-Girl as the alarm-puller.

  38. Jasmijn
    Jasmijn
    March 20, 2020 at 10:43 am | #

    legendary carla

    • Jasmijn
      Jasmijn
      March 20, 2020 at 10:44 am | #

      also which email address did i use for commenting? i’m not supposed to be mike!

  39. Julez
    Julez
    March 21, 2020 at 8:45 am | #

    Huh, the person with Roz isn’t tagged.

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