Dumbing of Age Book Eleven

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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September 28, 2023

Rigorously

by David M Willis on August 31, 2020 at 12:01 am
  • 04 - Is a Song Forever?

└ Tags: amber, dorothy, joyce, sarah, walky

Discussion (111) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    August 31, 2020 at 12:04 am | #

    “This is Joyce-Lo. We raised her wrong on purpose. As a joke.”

    • chris2315
      chris2315
      August 31, 2020 at 12:14 am | #

      Face-to-foot style! How do ya like it?

      • Emily
        Emily
        August 31, 2020 at 12:15 am | #

        I’M FALLING! YOU’RE FALLING! WE’RE FALLING! MIIIIIIIKE

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      August 31, 2020 at 12:19 am | #

      “I’m bleeding, making me the victor.”

    • Bogeywoman
      Bogeywoman
      August 31, 2020 at 1:23 am | #

      Weeoeeeoweeee

    • A. Gorilla
      A. Gorilla
      August 31, 2020 at 3:29 pm | #

      My finger points!

    • Jimi
      Jimi
      September 5, 2020 at 12:32 am | #

      My nipples look like milk duds!

  2. Chris
    Chris
    August 31, 2020 at 12:04 am | #

    Triangle grin intensifies.

    • Stephen Bierce
      Stephen Bierce
      August 31, 2020 at 12:26 am | #

      In a moment it’ll be so bright people will mistake it for a UFO.

      • Khyrin
        Khyrin
        August 31, 2020 at 1:31 am | #

        No, it’ll just infect Sarah. She won’t be able to properly grump for a week!

  3. Mra
    Mra
    August 31, 2020 at 12:05 am | #

    I think that last panel is the most tender I have ever seen Sarah.

    • Lumino
      Lumino
      August 31, 2020 at 12:59 am | #

      It might tie with the “Little Sister” comment when she got Joyce home after nearly being raped by Roofie McScarredFace

      • Bicycle Bill
        Bicycle Bill
        August 31, 2020 at 7:05 am | #

        I think that ever since meeting Joyce Sarah looked upon her as a ‘little sister’, and the incident Lumino refers to is where she finally accepted and acknowledged the fact – especially when you look at some of the sniping and bantering back and forth, which is also in keeping with what one finds among siblings, real or self-appointed.

  4. BBCC
    BBCC
    August 31, 2020 at 12:05 am | #

    Welp, too late to put that genie back in the bottle, Sarah. Your own fault whatever happens next. 😛

    • Bogeywoman
      Bogeywoman
      August 31, 2020 at 1:25 am | #

      Including the sudden influx of joyrah fan art I’ve just been inspired to make in 2-30 years time

      • RacingTurtle
        RacingTurtle
        September 1, 2020 at 1:13 am | #

        Yeah, I’ve never shipped Joyce/Dorothy* but today I discovered I could totally go for an alternate universe where Joyce/Sarah is a thing

        *(apparently, despite Joyce’s theoretical bisexuality mirroring my own non-theoretical bisexuality, I am very invested in Straight Joyce? Like, for Becky’s sake? It wasn’t you, honey, she just isn’t into ladies! …If I thought this about real people, it would be uncool, but they’re fictional so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

      • Liam
        Liam
        September 2, 2020 at 7:25 am | #

        Oh my god please do

        do you have an account that you post that stuff on because please god enable me, I am addicted to cute gay romance

  5. Lingo
    Lingo
    August 31, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

    Comic up early, or is my clock just behind? Anyway, for Dorothy, her worser impulses include using the word “worser”.

    • Lingo
      Lingo
      August 31, 2020 at 12:06 am | #

      Huh, my clock says 11:59. Whatever.

    • Chris
      Chris
      August 31, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

      The server clock was adjusted a week or two ago. Posting time went from six minutes late to four minutes early.

      • Jamie
        Jamie
        August 31, 2020 at 12:42 am | #

        Oh, NTP drift. How you dog my steps.

  6. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    August 31, 2020 at 12:09 am | #

    I don’t know why but them all waxing philosophical on garbage roof feels like then end of story moment to me. Maybe with a stinger for the next chapter. Just saying.

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      August 31, 2020 at 12:10 am | #

      We have at least one more book coming, if you believe the archive tab anyway.

      • Sirksome
        Sirksome
        August 31, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

        Yeah I believe there’s still more story to tell, but this does feel like a big bookend to not just this story but an entire era of DoA to me. Most if not all of the characters have changed and are in a significantly different and in my opinion better place in their lives.

        • BBCC
          BBCC
          August 31, 2020 at 12:31 am | #

          Oh, for sure! The story’s going to take big turns. Everything’s changed.

    • Foxhack
      Foxhack
      August 31, 2020 at 12:19 am | #

      Each book chapter is about three months of strips, according to the archive. This chapter started on June 24, and it’s August 30.

      I know it feels like an end of book moment, but we still have about three weeks to go. And we still haven’t seen the repercussions of Blaine’s death on his family, or his former employers…

    • Merbrat
      Merbrat
      August 31, 2020 at 12:28 am | #

      They *usually* end with 2 or 3 characters in their beds, thinking, reading, etc.

    • Sporky
      Sporky
      August 31, 2020 at 1:23 am | #

      Well, it IS going to be the 10th anniversary of the first Dumbing of Age strip in less than two weeks.

      • Jo Giggles
        Jo Giggles
        August 31, 2020 at 1:56 am | #

        Oh gosh. Willis wouldn’t just end it on a cliff hanger with us all going, “damn you, Willis” would he!?

        • Norah
          Norah
          August 31, 2020 at 2:38 am | #

          Did everyone who’s thinking the strip is about to end happen to notice he has strips done through December 27? So even if it does end, we’ll at least have about four more months.

          • TheStranger
            TheStranger
            August 31, 2020 at 4:15 am | #

            I thought he’d said in the past he intends to do this strip for yeeeeeeeeeeeeears yet. Because twins to put through college, yo.

        • Inscrutablejane
          Inscrutablejane
          August 31, 2020 at 8:12 am | #

          I have three words for you:
          Soggies may rule

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      August 31, 2020 at 8:20 am | #

      IIRC Willis tweeted a while ago that the next book/chapter will be kind of a “soft reboot”, and that makes sense. We’ve seen some of the bigger conflicts of the first 10 years resolve (or start wrapping up), but there’s still unresolved plot threads. All the new art is winter-themed and there’s snow everywhere, which hints at a bigger time skip than we’ve seen before.

      • clif
        clif
        August 31, 2020 at 3:50 pm | #

        Surely we wouldn’t miss Halloween.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          August 31, 2020 at 11:38 pm | #

          It does seem like it’s happening, unless it’s a big meta fakeout. I’m not entirely sold on the idea. There’s so much in play a big time skip is going to be weird.

      • HeatherJean
        HeatherJean
        September 1, 2020 at 12:20 am | #

        So, soft reboot on the tenth anniversary? 9/10/20?

  7. DSL
    DSL
    August 31, 2020 at 12:12 am | #

    Book the whateverth: “Sometimes I feel like I was raised wrong, as a joke.”

    • AbelUndercity
      AbelUndercity
      August 31, 2020 at 6:44 am | #

      Hell, I want it on a t-shirt.

  8. TrueVCU
    TrueVCU
    August 31, 2020 at 12:15 am | #

    This is the most toxic wholesomeness I’ve ever seen

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      August 31, 2020 at 12:47 am | #

      Mmmmmaybe?

      …. I think maybe this is the most wholesome toxicity I’ve ever seen, and Billie/Ruth is the most toxic wholesomeness?

      • Chris Phoenix
        Chris Phoenix
        August 31, 2020 at 4:48 am | #

        Seriously. As toxicity goes, if Billie/Ruth are alcohol, this is like, not even marijuana.

        And for wholesomeness, I’d say this even beats … hmm… Jacob taking Joyce to his church? Naaah, silly comparison, never mind.

        (Disclaimer: Last I saw, marijuana may be significantly harmful to brains under 25 years old, which seems ironically unfair.)

  9. Dave Van Domelen
    Dave Van Domelen
    August 31, 2020 at 12:15 am | #

    Sarah needs to discover that “Stockholm Syndrome” was largely made up by a guy who twisted the facts of the case study because he couldn’t accept that the hostage in question (a woman, of course) was right and the cops were wrong. Clearly, her disagreement with the police was because she’d formed an unhealthy psychological bond with the criminals, not because the cops were about to get everyone killed out of stupidity.

    • March
      March
      August 31, 2020 at 12:26 am | #

      That really was a fascinating case when the details became more publicly known, in the sense of “How To Completely Fail at Your Jobs”. It was bungled from start to finish by a staggering combination of incompetence and arrogance.

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      August 31, 2020 at 12:32 am | #

      I’ve never heard of this! Would you mind explaining more?

      • clif
        clif
        August 31, 2020 at 12:43 am | #

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norrmalmstorg_robbery

      • Jamie
        Jamie
        August 31, 2020 at 12:51 am | #

        Scanning the Wikipedia article on Stockholm Syndrome, I’m gonna highlight:

        1) there’s a 2020 book that makes thes same accusation Dave is making, so it’s a likely source for his claims;
        2) the DSM has never included it, but not necessarily because it’s not a thing;
        3) the Wikipedia article is really badly designed, having decided to drop an entire section on child psychology into the mix to give the entire concept some semblance of weight.

        As a completely untrained rando, I’m inclined to agree with Dave. It’s caught on in popular imagination, but there appears to be no real scientific basis for it, and certainly no rigorous definition for it.

        • CJ
          CJ
          August 31, 2020 at 3:11 am | #

          Sometimes, stuff gets called after events that do not really fit in the end.
          There a a number of reported cases of kidnapping victims cooperating with their captors (Patty Hurst comes to mind) and, you know, it sounds like a survival strategy that might even make sense under certain circumstances. Circumstances most people fortunately never encounter.

        • BootsyBoom
          BootsyBoom
          August 31, 2020 at 6:09 pm | #

          I was going to make a comment similar to Dave’s if he hadn’t, so here’s the relevant excerpt from the aforementioned book See What You Made Me Do: https://twitter.com/jessradio/status/1252579349187817473

      • March
        March
        August 31, 2020 at 12:54 am | #

        Well, for one, none of the hostages married their captors. One of the men did have many admirers after he was sentenced, because he was considered rather good-looking and the case was well-publicized. The woman he became engaged to while in prison was a woman who wrote to him while he was in prison. That’s actually not even that interesting. It happens with a lot of famous criminals.

        The entire situation was just….not well handled. The hostages did sympathize with the robbers, but when looked at without the romanticism and urban legends that sprang up around the case, it becomes much more cut-and-dried. While they did threaten the hostages, the hostages said the robbers never actually did much to them. They were more afraid of law enforcement, who kept escalating the situation, to the point that they overtook the bank by using tear gas. And the robbers weren’t criminal masterminds. They were criminals, yes, but they were pretty much just average men. While holed up together, the two parties developed a rapport, is all. And one woman did have a friendship with one of the robbers afterwards.

        There was no “falling in love with their captors”. There was no “insanity”. It was some hostages being critical of how law enforcement handled it, and not believing the robbers were the spawn of the devil. However, law enforcement was not looking good after the situation (the usage of tear gas, how long it went on, etc), and now the victims weren’t falling down on their knees praising them, so the reports got spun into “well obviously they just went crazy and we are Right and Infallible”. If I remember right, the doctor who coined the term never even spoke with the hostages beyond one conversation.

  10. Jabberwocky
    Jabberwocky
    August 31, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

    Joyce has seen Kung Pow?

  11. fire_daws
    fire_daws
    August 31, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

    Big Sis.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      August 31, 2020 at 9:56 am | #

      and little sis <3

  12. Badgermole
    Badgermole
    August 31, 2020 at 12:16 am | #

    No Dorothy, the ‘rona doesn’t exist in DoA and we have to keep it that way…

  13. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    August 31, 2020 at 12:17 am | #

    D’aww, it’s so nice to see Sarah and Joyce being cute together. Albeit in small doses, I like Sarah to be 80% sarcasm and 20% realness.

    Also the fact that Joyce thinks she might have been raised wrong is interesting. I wonder just how much she’s going to push in the opposite direction?

    • March
      March
      August 31, 2020 at 12:39 am | #

      I feel as though Joyce has come to the realization that the narrow world-view she was raised with is so far from reality, it might as well have been like being raised in a box. Everyone seems to just know things she doesn’t. Parents are not infallible, divorce is not that bad, sex is a personal choice, etc. Things most eighteen-year-olds already know, she’s just learning, and I imagine she’s not only angry with her parents for everything that’s happened, but for not preparing her for how big the world really is, i.e. ‘raised wrong’.

      But Joyce has a lot of kindness and empathy in her, and the ability to grow and learn. So some parts of her were ;raised right’. She just has to learn which parts those are, and which parts she’ll have to outgrow.

      • Jo Giggles
        Jo Giggles
        August 31, 2020 at 1:59 am | #

        ^this

  14. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    August 31, 2020 at 12:18 am | #

    If the screen doesn’t pan over to Walky and Amber aggressively playing tonsil Hockey…

    • Lingo
      Lingo
      August 31, 2020 at 1:28 am | #

      Heh, I was thinking the same thing.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      August 31, 2020 at 8:56 am | #

      That seems just about right for how Danny’s night is going.

  15. Jezi
    Jezi
    August 31, 2020 at 12:19 am | #

    …alright, I know y’all trade in snark, but I’ve got all kinds of warm fuzzies for Sarah letting herself have friends again.

  16. March
    March
    August 31, 2020 at 12:20 am | #

    I love Sarah and Joyce’s relationship. There’s a lot of cynicism on Sarah’s part (for very good reasons, and honestly, will probably be very helpful when she’s a practicing lawyer), and a lot of naivete and fumbling from Joyce, but there’s also a lot of trust between them at this point, and genuine affection despite their differences. They’ve ended up being a good match for one another.

  17. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    August 31, 2020 at 12:21 am | #

    Sarah and Joyce sassing each other’s great.

  18. JediMB
    JediMB
    August 31, 2020 at 12:23 am | #

    The Sarah and Joyce stuff is so, so cute. 💜

  19. The Coolest Child
    The Coolest Child
    August 31, 2020 at 12:29 am | #

    It’s like a musical.
    “I’m the one who hates all the people”
    “I’m the one who renders that feeble”
    “Together we’re the Roomies!”

  20. HeinousActsZX
    HeinousActsZX
    August 31, 2020 at 12:30 am | #

    Just about ready to tie it up in a bow.

  21. clif
    clif
    August 31, 2020 at 12:33 am | #

    I’m never sure if the alt-text is referencing Dorothy or Amber.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      August 31, 2020 at 12:50 am | #

      Whoever it is, she is not one to be trifled with, that is all you ever need know.

    • Cholma
      Cholma
      August 31, 2020 at 1:21 am | #

      Well, since Joyce is quoting Wallace Shawn’s character, Vizzini, in The Princess Bride, as is the Alt-text, I’d say it’s referring to neither Dorothy nor Amber, but Joyce instead.

      • Bicycle Bill
        Bicycle Bill
        August 31, 2020 at 1:37 am | #

        Actually, the alt-text is quoting Wesley’s line to Vizzini just before he responds with “Wait till I get going!”
        Did I ever mention that ‘The Princess Bride’ is one of my favorite guilty-pleasure movies?

        • Ed Rhodes
          Ed Rhodes
          August 31, 2020 at 1:22 pm | #

          A “guilty pleasure” is a movie you KNOW is garbage, but you enjoy it any way.
          The Princess Bride is in no way, shape or form any sort of “guilty pleasure!” It’s a great film and you have every right to enjoy it. (It is, in fact, that very rare occurrence where the film might actually be a little better than the book! The book is a classic, but tends to meander. The movie is tight.)

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            August 31, 2020 at 2:56 pm | #

            They’re both awesome in different ways.

            I really miss the framing device for the book, but the asides describing what was left out just wouldn’t work in a movie.

  22. Buggman
    Buggman
    August 31, 2020 at 12:42 am | #

    “Wait ’till I get going! Where was I?”
    “Australia.”

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      August 31, 2020 at 9:33 am | #

      “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The First is, Never Get Involved With A Dad With A Gun, but the second, only slightly less well known: Never Go Up Against A Member of The Korean Mob When DEATH Is On The Line!! Mahwhahaha! Ahahahahaaa! Ahhahahaha! Ah-”

      *Blaine falls over dead*

      Becky: “To think, the whole time it was YOUR Dad who was the most poisonous!”

      Amber: “Actually, both Dads were equally poisonous. I’ve spent the last few years building up an immunity to poisonous Dads.”

      • Buggman
        Buggman
        August 31, 2020 at 11:36 pm | #

        *sigh* Why doesn’t this forum have a “like” feature? Preferably one I could smash repeatedly to give your post the recognition it deserves?

  23. Qube
    Qube
    August 31, 2020 at 12:45 am | #

    sarah’s worst impulse is smiling where other people can see it

  24. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    August 31, 2020 at 12:46 am | #

    #tsundsarah

  25. Bagge
    Bagge
    August 31, 2020 at 12:46 am | #

    awwww, Dorothy in panel 3. That whole “Believe in people of our chosing” thing is really powerful

  26. TemporalShrew
    TemporalShrew
    August 31, 2020 at 12:57 am | #

    “Worser” is bothering me *far* more than I feel like it should be.

    • Lingo
      Lingo
      August 31, 2020 at 1:29 am | #

      Don’t even get me started on people who confuse “worse” and “worst”!

    • Keulen
      Keulen
      August 31, 2020 at 2:43 am | #

      Likewise, even if it’s a real word my brain doesn’t like it.

    • Ray Radlein
      Ray Radlein
      August 31, 2020 at 3:52 am | #

      This is Garbage Roof

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        August 31, 2020 at 8:23 am | #

        Up here, our grammar can be garbage.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      August 31, 2020 at 4:14 am | #

      I don’t know why. It’s a perfectly cromulent word.

  27. june gloom
    june gloom
    August 31, 2020 at 2:40 am | #

    Oof, but panel 2 is a mood.

  28. CJ
    CJ
    August 31, 2020 at 3:04 am | #

    Ahhhwww 🙃

  29. AGV
    AGV
    August 31, 2020 at 3:34 am | #

    I know that their relationship is sisterly

    But now I feel like shipping Sarah and Joyce

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      August 31, 2020 at 9:38 am | #

      #sistership – Sistershipping is a thing, right?

  30. BenRG
    BenRG
    August 31, 2020 at 3:57 am | #

    It may be my preference showing, but I think it’s cute that Dorothy likes Joyce just how she is. Maybe eve more than like too!

    Panel 5 is so wonderful, though. I’m betting that Sarah never expected to get a beloved baby sister out of college but she seems to have done so! The world always seems better for having a triangular smile therein!

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      August 31, 2020 at 6:01 am | #

      Dorothy has always been more focused on the good parts of Joyce than the bad parts, which might be one of the reasons Joyce has fallen for her so hard.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/mysterious/

  31. Beef
    Beef
    August 31, 2020 at 4:26 am | #

    I love them 🥺Even if they did do something pretty shitty earlier

  32. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    August 31, 2020 at 4:58 am | #

    d’aaaw

  33. K/S
    K/S
    August 31, 2020 at 6:27 am | #

    Sarah and Joyce’s friendship is easily one of the best, most wholesome dynamics/relationships in this comic and part of why I keep reading, even though this comic, while genius and awesome, gets very intense.

    • K/S
      K/S
      August 31, 2020 at 6:27 am | #

      Also heck yes I got Dina!

      • He Who Abides
        He Who Abides
        August 31, 2020 at 7:04 pm | #

        There wasn’t a new roulette, was there?

        • He Who Abides
          He Who Abides
          August 31, 2020 at 7:05 pm | #

          Oh good. I really didn’t want to spend time figuring out how to unlock Formal Dina again.

  34. Valerie
    Valerie
    August 31, 2020 at 6:53 am | #

    I love this

  35. Josh Spicer
    Josh Spicer
    August 31, 2020 at 8:32 am | #

    SARAH CARES! SO MUCH! I LOVE!

  36. MightyPinto
    MightyPinto
    August 31, 2020 at 9:38 am | #

    That last panel is just so goddamn precious I don’t know what to do

  37. Newllend(henryvolt)
    Newllend(henryvolt)
    August 31, 2020 at 9:46 am | #

    Joyce’s hair looks fantastical in the wind.

  38. Seregiel
    Seregiel
    August 31, 2020 at 9:47 am | #

    Sarah is the best big sister. <3

  39. bcb
    bcb
    August 31, 2020 at 9:49 am | #

    Ah, quarantined! What a nice thing to be.

    Getting ready to teach virtual classes starting Wednesday. Hmm, come to think of it, if IU had been doing virtual classes then Jason and Peggie might still have their jobs (until the rolling timeline moves the story past the deployment of a vaccine and then they retroactively go back to in-person teaching.)

  40. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    August 31, 2020 at 10:16 am | #

    Awwww…. Finally Sarah allow herself to be friendly and sweet♡.

  41. LiterallyJustSomeGuy
    LiterallyJustSomeGuy
    August 31, 2020 at 11:13 am | #

    Sarah is showing positive emotions on Garbage roof (around people in addition to Joyce)??? What’s next? Will she admit she likes Halloween?!?

  42. Spencer
    Spencer
    August 31, 2020 at 12:10 pm | #

    This is the Sarah content I love to see.

  43. Dinaforever
    Dinaforever
    August 31, 2020 at 2:54 pm | #

    Man I really need a Trash Roof…

  44. Throwatron
    Throwatron
    August 31, 2020 at 3:01 pm | #

    i had to suppress a level of squealing which would surely have gotten me evicted

  45. Dr. T
    Dr. T
    August 31, 2020 at 6:30 pm | #

    I gotta tell you, that wind-swept look for both Joyce and Dorothy is pretty sweet. I wonder if it is too much work on Willis’ part to make it a permanent look.

    • Captain Oblivious
      Captain Oblivious
      August 31, 2020 at 7:09 pm | #

      It’s not the artwork, but trying to structure the plot so that there’s always wind around to tousle their hair that causes the real problems. Those big fans are EXPENSIVE to run.

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        August 31, 2020 at 10:29 pm | #

        To be fair, they are both big fans of the other, so that can be pretty easily sorted out

  46. BarerMender
    BarerMender
    August 31, 2020 at 10:43 pm | #

    “Worser?” I know Joyce didn’t go to a real school, but surely Dorothy did.

  47. gq
    gq
    September 1, 2020 at 7:29 pm | #

    “raised wrong as a joke” #SAMEHAT ouch
    lmfao

    awww sis cuddles

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