Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
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Nonsense. When Dorothy has had enough, all she has to do is mention to Sal that for a small consideration she could be convinced to trade rooms (and thus roommates). Is Sal going to want to hang onto Malaya?
Does that mean I get to finally leave now? Or are just putting two punsters in a confined space together and expecting this to somehow reduce the amount of punning going on?
Becky is still my favorite character, but goddamn I hope she gets over this insecurity sooner than later. Or at least shows another reason beyond “Joyce so quickly making such a fast friendship threatens me.”
That being said, hot damn there are fantastic faces in every panel today.
It was cute the first few weeks. It’s been one week since you looked at me three months now. Joyce spent Winter Break with Becky. Self-parody or not, this is way past acceptable levels at this point.
Really, Becky should have leveled the first time Dorothy asked her what the issue was, but she’s awesome enough we gave her extra time.
Seriously, am I meant to find “I hate you! Only serious, I actually just hate you. Now go away forever- haha, that’s just a little inside joke I make when I want people to go away forever.” charming?
Yeah I got tired of this joke a long time ago. Dorothy has incredible patience if she’s been tolerating Becky making this unfunny joke for months without snapping at her.
Y’know what’s funny I feel like if Becky was MORE cruel it’d at least feel like “ok I can’t take her at face value”. At this point it’s just watching a girl being incredibly catty. And I have a limit on how much mean girl BS I can take before I just wanna be like “alright these two should throw hands already.”
It may have been funny a bit 5 years ago when the joke first started, but I am mainly referring to the fact that she still obviously thinks it’s funny.
Just because Mike’s gone now, Becky, that doesn’t mean that you have to take over the “designated asshole” spot in the line-up.
Or are you just trying to position yourself as Dorothy’s personal bête noire?
I’d rather use Carla in that example, since she’s less likely to deliberately antagonize Mary harass Mary in her happy naked place room over political nonsense.
We’ve seen Mary being an asshole for no good reason when Roz is just waking up or talking to someone else. Roz can be an asshole but I don’t think she’s the problem in that room.
Anyone else notice that a lot of Becky’s friendship with Joyce has classically involved her getting a rise out of Joyce to get an honest emotional reaction? Anyone else thinking she’s trying to do the same thing with Dorothy to see if she CAN be friends with this person or at least understand why Joyce is friends with a person so wholly closed off?
Just me?
Ok.
I am pretty sure if that’s what Becky’s trying to do it makes her look worse, since Dotty has done PLENTY to show that she’s a good friend…like helping one escape kidnapping for one.
Besides, while Dotty may be a bit emotionally closed off, she’s hardly a closed book. (Not least because she never closes her own.) She’s not really a mystery to be deciphered.
And a lot of the “getting a rise out of Joyce” has been because Becky has known her all her life and knows exactly what buttons to push, which is hilarious (to her at least). She’s smart enough that if she’s trying to do the same with Dorothy, you’d think she’d have noticed it’s not working by now. Some people just can’t be teased.
It’s an interesting thought and one I hadn’t considered. If this is how Becky friends, then it’s not meant as harassment, but as Becky trying to reach out.
It’s failing horribly of course, but the motivation is better at least.
Remember that Joyce was the best socialized of her home school group. Becky may just not be good at any of this. Though she’s been shown at being perceptive and good at the more casual side of making friends, so maybe not?
It depends on the person. With Dorothy, at least on it’s face, Becky’s approach doesn’t seem like a good match. On the other hand, Walky and Becky were made for each other. Except, obviously not romantically.
Am I the only one getting a very Calvin and Hobbes vibe off those first two panels? I feel like there was a C&H strip that involved very similar dynamics.
Doesn’t it feel ironic to purposely erect a statue to commemorate something crumbling? It’s like naming a boat after someone who sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
I’m wondering if Willis is intending for the readers to be pissed off at Becky or if he thinks they will find her “antics” just part of her personality?
I think that’ll depend on how Dorothy feels about it. If she doesn’t really mind, then it’s just harmless antics and friendly teasing. If she puts her foot down and Becky continues, then it becomes more of a problem
Is this what Boomer was created for? To take Becky down a notch? Maybe the Sr. Keeners could parent Becky a bit? I would think that a-Norphin could re acquire parental units. If one was kind and nice, perhaps Dorothy would share hers?
Aach! You’re right!
I haven’t read the archives of DYW’s ther comics, so at 12:30ish am, I’m apt to get things snafu-ed. Sorry, they’re a new character, I’ll do better. At lease I got the pronoun right.
Becky, when the other person is visibly annoyed with your attempts to annoy them, that’s when you knock it off for a while if you don’t actually want to make an enemy of them. Which isn’t a good idea when they’re your roommate and best friend’s other best friend.
You don’t have to be serious about it, even, since we all know you’re allergic to being serious. Just play your apology off as a joke, instead of rubbing salt into things by ostentatiously noting that you’ve finally annoyed them.
What bothers me more than this pretend feud motivated by jealousy over the mistaken belief that Dorothy’s friendship with Joyce is an obstacle for a relationship that will never exist is how this will ultimately affect Dina. At times it seems like she loves her more and Becky is just biding her time.
It’s like Willis is hand-crafting a character that I can’t stand in pretty much every way. Maybe in a couple weeks (or two years for us) Dorothy will finally have enough and move out to leave Becky to room with Mary and form a Horrible People Club.
It’s interesting to see comments that express genuine sympathy for Dorothy as the constant target of Becky’s microaggression, yet still call her “Dotty” at the same time.
That unwanted nickname was the first pebble in the shoe the day they met, right after “bony poindexter”.
I’m pretty sure now that Willis is planning to force a confrontation between Joyce and Becky over Joyce’s friendship with Dorothy. I don’t think that Becky is going to like the outcome.
I think I’m just gonna drop this comic until Becky stops being this stupid. Yeah yeah, dumbing of age, yadda yadda, I’m just out of spoons with the goddamn ‘nemesis’ plot.
Incidentally, has it been noted that Booster, AKA Boomer, has an updated, if still largely uninformative, entry on the cast page? Also Ethan and Jacob have snuck back on, with no mention of the fact that they died over the time skip.
I kind of am in awe of how Becky seems to tick off so many boxes that would make her likable, at least as a character— sad conflicted background, terrible family, several recent tragedies, her journey of coming out, her relationship with Dina who is just the best— while also making her consistently insufferable. She’s like the opposite of Carla. Carla don’t give a fuck, and loves broadcasting that, but she’s so genuine about it that she’s still likable. She’s an asshole. She knows it. But she’s got some genuine goodness under it. Becky thinks she’s a devil may care asshole, but it’s so obviously motivated to make herself feel cool and edgy. Even Mike pissed people off for a reason. Becky nettles people to give herself something to strut about. And clearly thinks of herself as a good person. Some empowered lesbian sassy-pants dunking on the rubes like Dorothy. The cool lesbian with the quirky girlfriend (I’m trying to put Becky’s perspective into words, not be flippant or disparaging about Dina, or lesbians) who absolutely adores her, no matter what. The awesome politically savvy lesbian who has the hottest takes, look at the scholarship to prove it. It all feels so….performative for Becky’s ego. Not being a lesbian, obviously, good God, that isn’t a bad thing or what makes her annoying. But Becky seems to crave understated drama around her, often by trying to get a rise out of people, to prove what a cool rad gal she is. And it was understandable, at first, when Becky was breaking out to accept herself. But now she seemingly just does it to keep the “I’m The Best” high going, and now it just makes her an asshole. And I hope Dorothy, or Dina, don’t have to reach a breaking point. Well…I kinda want Dorothy to, it she finally tells Becky off, but that’s the best outcome of that, so I don’t trust it to be that easy. And Dina only deserves nice things.
I think it’s a coping mechanism. Becky acts like a carefree but lovable jerk as a mask, burying negativity under a pile of wackiness.
She channels attention and energy away from the terrible things that have happened in her life (the toxic culture of her upbringing, potentially getting shipped off to conversion “therapy”, her parents dying, her friends getting kidnapped with their safety conditional on her surrendering herself) to a narrative she can control (“I hate my roommate lol jk or am I”).
That’s not the big difference between Becky and Carla. The big difference is that Carla DOESN’T STAY – she doesn’t keep pushing the saem button over and over and over and over again. She comes in, points out she’s the bestest, and then leaves. She cuts down the obnoxious into small amounts, which are therefore tolerated and, dare I say, might even be quirky at times. As Reltzik might put it, Carla’s a skate-by annoyance.
And also, Carla isn’t a bully in the process. Carla sees some stuff, she’ll call it out, but she doesn’t come looking for it.
Becky has singled out a target, doesn’t let her have peace, and goes out of her way to find and make up things to fight about. Just because Dorothy is handling it adroitly, doesn’t stop it from being what it is. I don’t think Becky honestly realizes what she’s doing. Maybe she doesn’t see how far she’s taking it, and maybe she doesn’t get what she is doing is wrong, but neither of those (or other excuses) make it ok for her to be bullying Dorothy.
Different way of phrasing the same idea, I think. Carla doesn’t stay to press buttons, because she doesn’t do it out of actual investment in it. She doesn’t give a fuck on a broad basis, and doesn’t hide it, regardless of who she’s talking to. But, to be fair to Carla, she does have the ability to care, she isn’t an asshole to everyone the same way Mike usually was. Carla doesn’t care enough about heckling any specific person to stick around and do it. Becky PRETENDS she insults Dorothy because Dorothy isn’t all that great, Dorothy is temporary, and Becky is more important to Joyce, but Becky does care about targeting Dorothy specifically, so she sticks around and keeps pushing at Dorothy.
Off topic, but I was going through the archives and realized that Ruth actually did tell Walky and Booster to be at their floor meeting. I don’t think it changes much about what happened but she did threaten to drag in their corpses.
This may also be due to my shoddy memory (though in my defense, I wasn’t the only person who forgot that) but I’m just not as bothered by Becky insisting on this nemesis thing as everyone else is. Up until now Dorothy has seemed unbothered by it and neither of them seemed to be taking it seriously. I’m expecting Dorothy to either tell Becky to knock it off or for her to decide to just trade insults with her.
It just doesn’t seem like it’s actually a big deal in universe yet and won’t be unless Dorothy decides to just ignore it now that it’s actually bothering her…
I feel like some of you might be projecting some of your own baggage onto this, because some of these reactions are excessive. Like, even if you find the joke annoying, Dorothy is mostly unbothered and it’s never gone beyond the realm of friendly teasing.
Yup. I tend to downplay it in my head because Dorothy doesn’t react, but I can never decide whether Becky only does it because she knows Dorothy won’t react, or if she really is trying to get under her skin.
Until now, when she does get under her skin, and her immediate reaction is “Score!” I mean, it’s still possible that she realised she went to far and is now trying to get it back to “performative annoyance that Dotty doesn’t care about”, but it seems less likely.
I’m curious as to why BarerMender believes there was any actual reading of papers vs. a rhetorical flourish for exaggeration. Does anybody actually believe that Dorothy actually keeps an organized 3-ring binder of her sublimated desires? Does it seem remotely likely?
“I’m keeping a file of things that annoy you” is not ‘friendly teasing’. It’s very, very Becky-eccentric but it isn’t ‘friendly’ for all it is bizarre.
Every single time one of these characters does something obnoxious to another character, there’s always somebody in the comments saying something that reads like “All of you are overreacting. Being bothered by this is actually evidence of some deep-seated emotional damage you’re shoving into the narrative where it doesn’t belong.” It’s rude, if nothing else.
By reacting to, and exagerating everything UnfrozenNeanderthal said… you *maaaybe* kind of are proving their point.
To be fair your response isn’t specifically claiming that UfN is doing what you claim, but since you’re directly replying to their post there is a rather heavily implied intent.
Ironically, I always feel the other way around – whenever a character is an asshole to another and people go “oh, this is nothign serious” my first thought is “JFC, who hurt you that you’d think THIS is normal human interaction?”. And then I remember most of the commentariat is USAmerican and go “oh, right”.
When you stop coup’ing, comitting war crimes and destabilising entire areas of the world for the sake of your bottom line dragging other countries into illegal wars under false pretenses and then having the gall to cry “foreign interference” when somebody says mean things about a candidate on twitter, you get to be left out. Until then, you can take all the seats and shut the fuck up.
You barely just not-elected Trump (5 million votes SOUNDS like a lot, but it’s just 1.5% of your population) and you keep claiming Obama was great*. At one point one just has to pull out the doll and ask where you’ve been touched.
(in case that wasn’t clear, it’s the second)
* I mean, he’s great in comparison to the two he’s sandwiched between (no need to thank me for that image), but let’s face it, so is a literal turd – if someone had walked into the oval office, pulled down their pants and took a dump in the presidential chair, that’d still be a better governance than either GWB of Trump.
Please tell me that you did not just compare the first black president of the United States to a literal turd. He was, in fact, the third most effective president in my lifetime, the first being LBJ.
After the things our CIA gets up to, I will admit that calling propaganda on an international medium “election interference” seems rather strange.
Well, Becky starts to become annoying because she seems to be stuck about this. It was nice to watch for some time, but now, it starts to exceed narrative necessity. Feels like stalling on the plot.
And on the list of people I‘d like to know in real life, Dotty always was much higher up than Becky, anyway.
IIRC, Dorothy *has* expressed annoyance and confusion about it in the past. My take is that she’s trying to be understanding, and turning the other cheek (ahem) to the formerly homeless and traumatized orphan. Letting Becky act out. Hell, I think she hinted as much just a few strips ago, something like “no matter how much you try to annoy me, I’ll react gracefully”.
I mean, she’s annoyed right here in this strip. Becky even points it out.
Now that she knows it, maybe she’ll avoid similar barbs in the name of keeping this at play hate, but I can’t blame Dorothy if she’s getting tired of it.
Y’know, I’m used to David being all “Come at me, your hate only sustains me” to the haters, but this is the first time I can think of that a critique like “Becky is obnoxious” has been turned into an actual plot point.
TBC, I love Becky despite her weaknesses being very much on display here. Which means I’m concerned about what’ll inevitably come to pass when she discovers that acceptance letter on Dorothy’s desk, the one she’s keeping secret for one of several possible reasons, all of which are emotionally sensitive. Maybe Becky’ll be smart enough to recognize that’s a bear and it should not be poked, but I can’t say the odds of that look very good.
I made several comments that appear above Clif’s post in the thread as it gets presented, and only one that appeared below it. (Two now, with this reply). I wrote
It’s because the name of the comic is “poking of bear”, not “smarting of age”.
Why is this something that Becky needs to do? And something that needs to be focused on?
I understand giving someone a fault and not making them perfect but all this focus on Becky trying to make Dorothy her rival or whatever is just making Becky look BAD, not weak.
She still wants Joyce. I’m sure of that much. She still dreams of Joyce and their perfect lesbian couple life with the white picket fence and 2.4 adopted kids. This makes me sad for Dina’s sake and makes me realise that, at some point, Joyce will get a lasting relationship and Becky’s heart will be broken to the point where I wonder if she’ll ever be able to talk to Joyce again without feeling agonising pain.
Without zooming in first it seemed like Becky had accidentally discovered Dorothy’s secret about her transfer, but nah, it was just more of the running gag on Becky not liking her.
Becky is not always fan service. She can be gay and a bit of a dick too.
Better buckle in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. This is clearly the direction DYW is taking the strip. He’s got the killing / kidnapping out of his system. He’s not going back to first semester hijinks. All the kids are a little old, a little more mature and are a long way from high school now.
And Joyce, not Becky, was the most socialized of the parish group.
I mean honestly when Joyce said that I pondered if whoever told her that really meant that she was the one most likely to not ‘stray from the path’ (and well look how that turned out). But, wow it really seems like they were right.
I mean granted we haven’t met any of the others but…
I don’t think it really registers much on Dorothy’s radar. She’s got bigger fish to fry. I think the real problem is Becky’s casual insight into people is highly likely to begin chipping away at the question Dotty’s trying to avoid, of whether what she expects of herself is actually what will make her happy.
Honestly I think the problem here is that even when it’s small potatoes stuff it can become like a sort of water droplet torture when you’re living with someone. (Random possible theory: that’s partly why Rachel is bitter, it was more constant undercurrent of awfulness of a level worse than Becky reaches rather than major events, though perhaps there may have been one or two as well as just the emotional exhaustion of bracing yourself for what would happen next. We’ll see I guess.).
I mean granted this is one of various reasons why I don’t hate Roz like many do. Girl has to live with Mary and she’s somehow not committed murder.
Thing is, living with Mary, lets Roz feel superior. It makes her able to ignore her own flaws, and look down on her roommate,. Which for someone like Roz, feels like a good thing.
I see there are currently 8,325 votes in the poll. While there are certainly a wide cast of commenters, I can’t shake the suspicion that someone may have voted twice.
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“You should include ‘making up stupid shit like your beef with me'”
“WOW, TWO PAGES!”
Becky has a really weird way of making friends.
But I wouldn’t put money on it not working.
Except that doesn’t seem to bother Dotty. Not even slightly. Or if it does, she’s made a decision not to let Becky know about it.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/bff/
I was mostly saying it in a Sarcastic Dotty voice
“You should include how your whole ‘knowing Joyce since birth’ schtick is gumming up my plot to be Joyce’s bestie 5EVAR”
Better watch out, Becky. If you keep putting things in binders, you could end up like Dotty.
Becky can give these Binders Full of WomenTM to Dorothy’s political opponent when she runs for POTUS.
Becky will BE Dotty’s opponent!
Yeah, they’ll both be Dems. Primary competition’s a thing. At least, it used to be…
Becky will be a logcabin/tokenqueer Republican.
I really want to know what’s in Dorothy’s binder now XD
Pics of butts. Lots & lots of butts. She’s got Butts Disease real bad.
I hear character ontogeny recapitulates Willis.
I love this! Keep it up, ladies.
You love one teenager “playfully” bullying another teenager?
Weird flex but okay.
I was more liking the sass they had with each other, but I get your point.
Becky.
Please.
I appreciate Willis’ forshadowing!
I mean, I assume in like a week that’ll be the murder weapon when Dorothy snaps and beats Becky to death.
You don’t give Dorothy enough credit… 2 weeks probably.
Nah, one. Dorothy’s not one to procrastinate.
Fro the 3-ring binder finisher move it snaps closed on the sternum and you yank out the whole ribcage.
Would the 3-ring Binder move be considered a Mathality in Mortal Kombat or-?
Nonsense. When Dorothy has had enough, all she has to do is mention to Sal that for a small consideration she could be convinced to trade rooms (and thus roommates). Is Sal going to want to hang onto Malaya?
“Hey Roz, I’ll trade ya.”
Becky, why must you be the way you are?
Jealousy
ooh, Dotty’s got a mountain of a hat
Props for Becky’s use of props
BZZZZT!
Two minutes penalty in the pun time-out box!
Does that mean I get to finally leave now? Or are just putting two punsters in a confined space together and expecting this to somehow reduce the amount of punning going on?
Let the punnishment begin.
Hi Clif, I didn’t expect to see you here in the box, but on hindsight I totally should
Hey, I’m just the ghost of a Solanum tuberosum. You know, specter-tater.
a’prop’os of props and punning, is the prop a proxy for punning, or just a pfoxy pfilter?
(And yes, my emphloyment of phassonance is phositively phascinating.)
Sigh. another one for the box. It’s getting crowded in here.
Becky is still my favorite character, but goddamn I hope she gets over this insecurity sooner than later. Or at least shows another reason beyond “Joyce so quickly making such a fast friendship threatens me.”
That being said, hot damn there are fantastic faces in every panel today.
I can see Becky using the clearly inferior circle ring binders, just because they are a little cheaper.
I’m just surprised it’s not a Trapper Keeper.
Also easier to draw.
I really think people should stop taking Becky so seriously. She is at intentional self parody levels.
And it’s really not funny.
“Haha, I’m so rude to you all the time! Isn’t that soooo funny?”
It was cute the first few weeks. It’s been
one week since you looked at methree months now. Joyce spent Winter Break with Becky. Self-parody or not, this is way past acceptable levels at this point.Really, Becky should have leveled the first time Dorothy asked her what the issue was, but she’s awesome enough we gave her extra time.
Thank you for that. You made my night.
Well done!
Am I like…not allowed to be annoyed by an unfunny joke that boils down to “I don’t like you and I’m going to remind you every second I get”???
Of course you’re allowed to be annoyed.
You just aren’t allowed to admit to being annoyed.
Seriously, am I meant to find “I hate you! Only serious, I actually just hate you. Now go away forever- haha, that’s just a little inside joke I make when I want people to go away forever.” charming?
Yeah I got tired of this joke a long time ago. Dorothy has incredible patience if she’s been tolerating Becky making this unfunny joke for months without snapping at her.
Y’know what’s funny I feel like if Becky was MORE cruel it’d at least feel like “ok I can’t take her at face value”. At this point it’s just watching a girl being incredibly catty. And I have a limit on how much mean girl BS I can take before I just wanna be like “alright these two should throw hands already.”
Wait for it.
The denial in this comment . . . it’s at Rudy Strongwell fan levels.
I think there was a musical number from one of the Cat In The Hat cartoons from the Seventies about this. Though I could be mistaken about that.
Okay Becky, the joke stops being funny when you start violating your roommate’s personal private space. That’s not cool.
Was the joke ever really funny? I’ve always found it grating.
It may have been funny a bit 5 years ago when the joke first started, but I am mainly referring to the fact that she still obviously thinks it’s funny.
It wasn’t.
The joke stopped being funny long ago, if it ever was funny to begin with.
Damnation, Becky! Give it a freakin’ REST!
Can Dorothy do some horrible stuff to justify Becky’s enimity?
Agreed. I wanna see some blood.
Dorothy has it filed under B.
Just because Mike’s gone now, Becky, that doesn’t mean that you have to take over the “designated asshole” spot in the line-up.
Or are you just trying to position yourself as Dorothy’s personal bête noire?
Yeah Becky, Booster ALREADY is Mike 2.0, we don’t need another!
It seems like now that Mike is dead, several characters are competing to take his place as the designated asshole.
I think it’s more the case that Mike was such an asshole that it takes more than one character to adequately fill the void he left.
Becky was never seen again…
She was found inside wild dogs on the outskirts of town.
Dorothy: “Perhaps I should switch to a more reasonable roommate, like Mary.”
Hey. That’s uncalled for.
At least nobody expects basic decency out of Mary.
Being mildly obnoxious and actively hateful aren’t the same thing
Just because you’re being “wacky” about it doesn’t mean you aren’t straying close to actively hateful.
Nobody’s saying they are. Two things of differing severity can both be bad.
The question here is whether Mary can hate you *quietly*, without rubbing it in your face every minute.
Based on her interactions with Roz, no, she cannot.
I’d rather use Carla in that example, since she’s less likely to
deliberately antagonize Maryharass Mary in herhappy naked placeroom over political nonsense.We’ve seen Mary being an asshole for no good reason when Roz is just waking up or talking to someone else. Roz can be an asshole but I don’t think she’s the problem in that room.
I can only assume Becky’s dedication to this bit is now at least in part a bid to see if she can match Dorothy’s.
Anyone else notice that a lot of Becky’s friendship with Joyce has classically involved her getting a rise out of Joyce to get an honest emotional reaction? Anyone else thinking she’s trying to do the same thing with Dorothy to see if she CAN be friends with this person or at least understand why Joyce is friends with a person so wholly closed off?
Just me?
Ok.
I am pretty sure if that’s what Becky’s trying to do it makes her look worse, since Dotty has done PLENTY to show that she’s a good friend…like helping one escape kidnapping for one.
I didn’t say it was a GOOD tactic.
Maybe she and Carla should form a club, “LGBTQ Peeps Who Want Attention And By God We Will Get It”.
Honestly, if someone’s father held me hostage and threatened my life, I’d consider it a big friendly gesture to not constantly bring it up.
Maybe at first, but this many months on?
Besides, while Dotty may be a bit emotionally closed off, she’s hardly a closed book. (Not least because she never closes her own.) She’s not really a mystery to be deciphered.
And a lot of the “getting a rise out of Joyce” has been because Becky has known her all her life and knows exactly what buttons to push, which is hilarious (to her at least). She’s smart enough that if she’s trying to do the same with Dorothy, you’d think she’d have noticed it’s not working by now. Some people just can’t be teased.
But she has noticed. She specifically points out that this is the first time she’s gotten a response from her.
It’s an interesting thought and one I hadn’t considered. If this is how Becky friends, then it’s not meant as harassment, but as Becky trying to reach out.
It’s failing horribly of course, but the motivation is better at least.
Remember that Joyce was the best socialized of her home school group. Becky may just not be good at any of this. Though she’s been shown at being perceptive and good at the more casual side of making friends, so maybe not?
It depends on the person. With Dorothy, at least on it’s face, Becky’s approach doesn’t seem like a good match. On the other hand, Walky and Becky were made for each other. Except, obviously not romantically.
Is it still allowed to consider intent? I thought the only thing that counted anymore was how the receiver took it.
They both matter.
Of course intent matters, but you just can’t use it as an excuse for being shitty.
As so many whose intent is obviously either malicious or at least dismissive often do.
I don’t really like it when she does it to Joyce, either.
Am I the only one getting a very Calvin and Hobbes vibe off those first two panels? I feel like there was a C&H strip that involved very similar dynamics.
Maybe it was a different comic, I dunno…
Doesn’t it feel ironic to purposely erect a statue to commemorate something crumbling? It’s like naming a boat after someone who sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
I mean I’m pretty sure both of those are decently common.
After all, we’ve all heard of the famous cruise liner, HMS Titanic II.
Apparently you haven’t heard, but yeah, they are building one.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_II
I’m not sure how common it is, but you’ve obviously never sailed on the Edward John Smith.
Of course not. If man were meant to stand on water we would have water strider feet.
I’m wondering if Willis is intending for the readers to be pissed off at Becky or if he thinks they will find her “antics” just part of her personality?
I think that’ll depend on how Dorothy feels about it. If she doesn’t really mind, then it’s just harmless antics and friendly teasing. If she puts her foot down and Becky continues, then it becomes more of a problem
Didn’t Dorothy already ask Becky “what’s your problem?” idk that seems like pretty clear “buzz off” language.
even if dorothy doesnt mind it, that doesnt make any less annoying and mean
It kinda does though.
Nah, Willis just enjoys anticipating our arguments in the comment section. Almost as much as he enjoys subverting them.
Eh, it’s something to do, in between feeding on our tears.
we get it, becky. we get it.
But do you really?
Becky continues to be an incredibly shitty person.
Next arc, please.
Scruffy: Second
Careful what you ask for.
Is this what Boomer was created for? To take Becky down a notch? Maybe the Sr. Keeners could parent Becky a bit? I would think that a-Norphin could re acquire parental units. If one was kind and nice, perhaps Dorothy would share hers?
Boomer is the dog from Independence Day.
If we don’t get at least one “okay, Booster” out of this, I’ll be disappointed.
Aach! You’re right!
I haven’t read the archives of DYW’s ther comics, so at 12:30ish am, I’m apt to get things snafu-ed. Sorry, they’re a new character, I’ll do better. At lease I got the pronoun right.
BOOMER WILL LI- WE’LL GETCHA ANOTHER BOOMER.
*insert Captain America: I understood that reference Meme*
Becky, when the other person is visibly annoyed with your attempts to annoy them, that’s when you knock it off for a while if you don’t actually want to make an enemy of them. Which isn’t a good idea when they’re your roommate and best friend’s other best friend.
You don’t have to be serious about it, even, since we all know you’re allergic to being serious. Just play your apology off as a joke, instead of rubbing salt into things by ostentatiously noting that you’ve finally annoyed them.
What bothers me more than this pretend feud motivated by jealousy over the mistaken belief that Dorothy’s friendship with Joyce is an obstacle for a relationship that will never exist is how this will ultimately affect Dina. At times it seems like she loves her more and Becky is just biding her time.
It’s like Willis is hand-crafting a character that I can’t stand in pretty much every way. Maybe in a couple weeks (or two years for us) Dorothy will finally have enough and move out to leave Becky to room with Mary and form a Horrible People Club.
It’s interesting to see comments that express genuine sympathy for Dorothy as the constant target of Becky’s microaggression, yet still call her “Dotty” at the same time.
That unwanted nickname was the first pebble in the shoe the day they met, right after “bony poindexter”.
Nicknames stick like shit to a blanket.
It’s why bestowing demeaning nicknames is such an effective bullying tactic.
I’m pretty sure now that Willis is planning to force a confrontation between Joyce and Becky over Joyce’s friendship with Dorothy. I don’t think that Becky is going to like the outcome.
I’m expecting there to be confrontation between Becky & Dorothy first, now that Becky’s managed to actually irritate her.
I do wonder if Joyce’s new atheism/agnosticism is going to come out in that conversation between Becky and Joyce though.
Yeah, Dorothy is athletic. As the English say, she wouldn’t have any problem sorting her out.
Nor will Dina.
Can’t tell if this is making them fight eachother or deepening their bond
Yes.
I think I’m just gonna drop this comic until Becky stops being this stupid. Yeah yeah, dumbing of age, yadda yadda, I’m just out of spoons with the goddamn ‘nemesis’ plot.
Bye.
Incidentally, has it been noted that Booster, AKA Boomer, has an updated, if still largely uninformative, entry on the cast page? Also Ethan and Jacob have snuck back on, with no mention of the fact that they died over the time skip.
It has not.
*goes to check it out*
I’m afraid that will probably be quite a while.
I kind of am in awe of how Becky seems to tick off so many boxes that would make her likable, at least as a character— sad conflicted background, terrible family, several recent tragedies, her journey of coming out, her relationship with Dina who is just the best— while also making her consistently insufferable. She’s like the opposite of Carla. Carla don’t give a fuck, and loves broadcasting that, but she’s so genuine about it that she’s still likable. She’s an asshole. She knows it. But she’s got some genuine goodness under it. Becky thinks she’s a devil may care asshole, but it’s so obviously motivated to make herself feel cool and edgy. Even Mike pissed people off for a reason. Becky nettles people to give herself something to strut about. And clearly thinks of herself as a good person. Some empowered lesbian sassy-pants dunking on the rubes like Dorothy. The cool lesbian with the quirky girlfriend (I’m trying to put Becky’s perspective into words, not be flippant or disparaging about Dina, or lesbians) who absolutely adores her, no matter what. The awesome politically savvy lesbian who has the hottest takes, look at the scholarship to prove it. It all feels so….performative for Becky’s ego. Not being a lesbian, obviously, good God, that isn’t a bad thing or what makes her annoying. But Becky seems to crave understated drama around her, often by trying to get a rise out of people, to prove what a cool rad gal she is. And it was understandable, at first, when Becky was breaking out to accept herself. But now she seemingly just does it to keep the “I’m The Best” high going, and now it just makes her an asshole. And I hope Dorothy, or Dina, don’t have to reach a breaking point. Well…I kinda want Dorothy to, it she finally tells Becky off, but that’s the best outcome of that, so I don’t trust it to be that easy. And Dina only deserves nice things.
I think it’s a coping mechanism. Becky acts like a carefree but lovable jerk as a mask, burying negativity under a pile of wackiness.
She channels attention and energy away from the terrible things that have happened in her life (the toxic culture of her upbringing, potentially getting shipped off to conversion “therapy”, her parents dying, her friends getting kidnapped with their safety conditional on her surrendering herself) to a narrative she can control (“I hate my roommate lol jk or am I”).
That’s not the big difference between Becky and Carla. The big difference is that Carla DOESN’T STAY – she doesn’t keep pushing the saem button over and over and over and over again. She comes in, points out she’s the bestest, and then leaves. She cuts down the obnoxious into small amounts, which are therefore tolerated and, dare I say, might even be quirky at times. As Reltzik might put it, Carla’s a skate-by annoyance.
And also, Carla isn’t a bully in the process. Carla sees some stuff, she’ll call it out, but she doesn’t come looking for it.
Becky has singled out a target, doesn’t let her have peace, and goes out of her way to find and make up things to fight about. Just because Dorothy is handling it adroitly, doesn’t stop it from being what it is. I don’t think Becky honestly realizes what she’s doing. Maybe she doesn’t see how far she’s taking it, and maybe she doesn’t get what she is doing is wrong, but neither of those (or other excuses) make it ok for her to be bullying Dorothy.
Different way of phrasing the same idea, I think. Carla doesn’t stay to press buttons, because she doesn’t do it out of actual investment in it. She doesn’t give a fuck on a broad basis, and doesn’t hide it, regardless of who she’s talking to. But, to be fair to Carla, she does have the ability to care, she isn’t an asshole to everyone the same way Mike usually was. Carla doesn’t care enough about heckling any specific person to stick around and do it. Becky PRETENDS she insults Dorothy because Dorothy isn’t all that great, Dorothy is temporary, and Becky is more important to Joyce, but Becky does care about targeting Dorothy specifically, so she sticks around and keeps pushing at Dorothy.
> Becky nettles people to give herself something to strut about. And clearly thinks of herself as a good person.
Well, she *was* raised by a community of assholes who think they’re good people. Maybe she takes after them more than she realizes.
And just as they had a selective reading of the Bible, so she has a selective take on her upbringing.
Vs. Joyce, who seems to have realized “the fruit is poisonous, the whole tree has to go, even if I hate it”.
Off topic, but I was going through the archives and realized that Ruth actually did tell Walky and Booster to be at their floor meeting. I don’t think it changes much about what happened but she did threaten to drag in their corpses.
This may also be due to my shoddy memory (though in my defense, I wasn’t the only person who forgot that) but I’m just not as bothered by Becky insisting on this nemesis thing as everyone else is. Up until now Dorothy has seemed unbothered by it and neither of them seemed to be taking it seriously. I’m expecting Dorothy to either tell Becky to knock it off or for her to decide to just trade insults with her.
It just doesn’t seem like it’s actually a big deal in universe yet and won’t be unless Dorothy decides to just ignore it now that it’s actually bothering her…
Don’t do it, Becky. Once you start down the Binder Path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Dorothy.
I feel like some of you might be projecting some of your own baggage onto this, because some of these reactions are excessive. Like, even if you find the joke annoying, Dorothy is mostly unbothered and it’s never gone beyond the realm of friendly teasing.
Reading Dorothy’s private papers is beyond friendly teasing.
Yup. I tend to downplay it in my head because Dorothy doesn’t react, but I can never decide whether Becky only does it because she knows Dorothy won’t react, or if she really is trying to get under her skin.
Until now, when she does get under her skin, and her immediate reaction is “Score!” I mean, it’s still possible that she realised she went to far and is now trying to get it back to “performative annoyance that Dotty doesn’t care about”, but it seems less likely.
I’m curious as to why BarerMender believes there was any actual reading of papers vs. a rhetorical flourish for exaggeration. Does anybody actually believe that Dorothy actually keeps an organized 3-ring binder of her sublimated desires? Does it seem remotely likely?
“I’m keeping a file of things that annoy you” is not ‘friendly teasing’. It’s very, very Becky-eccentric but it isn’t ‘friendly’ for all it is bizarre.
It’s Mike-lite. If Dorothy cries, I wouldn’t put it past Becky to pull out a tape recorder.
Every single time one of these characters does something obnoxious to another character, there’s always somebody in the comments saying something that reads like “All of you are overreacting. Being bothered by this is actually evidence of some deep-seated emotional damage you’re shoving into the narrative where it doesn’t belong.” It’s rude, if nothing else.
By reacting to, and exagerating everything UnfrozenNeanderthal said… you *maaaybe* kind of are proving their point.
To be fair your response isn’t specifically claiming that UfN is doing what you claim, but since you’re directly replying to their post there is a rather heavily implied intent.
Ugh. Wrong word. Not intent… linkage? maybe? connection? Narative or logical continuity?
Aaand more amateur psychoanalysis.
Were you subjected to amateur psychoanalysis in your childhood? How did it make you feel?
Acknowledging that somebody spoke, even if you respond to them, isn’t proof that what they said is correct.
Ironically, I always feel the other way around – whenever a character is an asshole to another and people go “oh, this is nothign serious” my first thought is “JFC, who hurt you that you’d think THIS is normal human interaction?”. And then I remember most of the commentariat is USAmerican and go “oh, right”.
Well, the important thing is, you managed to work Americans into it.
When you stop coup’ing, comitting war crimes and destabilising entire areas of the world for the sake of your bottom line dragging other countries into illegal wars under false pretenses and then having the gall to cry “foreign interference” when somebody says mean things about a candidate on twitter, you get to be left out. Until then, you can take all the seats and shut the fuck up.
I mean, you have a point. On the other hand, I don’t think many of the regulars here are especially supportive of all those things.
Unless you’re saying we’ve all been desensitised by all of that, in which case I 100% agree.
You barely just not-elected Trump (5 million votes SOUNDS like a lot, but it’s just 1.5% of your population) and you keep claiming Obama was great*. At one point one just has to pull out the doll and ask where you’ve been touched.
(in case that wasn’t clear, it’s the second)
* I mean, he’s great in comparison to the two he’s sandwiched between (no need to thank me for that image), but let’s face it, so is a literal turd – if someone had walked into the oval office, pulled down their pants and took a dump in the presidential chair, that’d still be a better governance than either GWB of Trump.
Please tell me that you did not just compare the first black president of the United States to a literal turd. He was, in fact, the third most effective president in my lifetime, the first being LBJ.
After the things our CIA gets up to, I will admit that calling propaganda on an international medium “election interference” seems rather strange.
Who was the second?
@Clif: No, I compared the other two to a literal turd, and they come up lacking. Might not have been entirely clear, because it’s getting late here.
So what enlightened country are you from?
Well, that escalated.
Yes, the comments section of a webcomic is exactly the appropriate place to adress your various judgements on strangers who happen to be American.
No.
Simple as that, no.
Well, Becky starts to become annoying because she seems to be stuck about this. It was nice to watch for some time, but now, it starts to exceed narrative necessity. Feels like stalling on the plot.
And on the list of people I‘d like to know in real life, Dotty always was much higher up than Becky, anyway.
IIRC, Dorothy *has* expressed annoyance and confusion about it in the past. My take is that she’s trying to be understanding, and turning the other cheek (ahem) to the formerly homeless and traumatized orphan. Letting Becky act out. Hell, I think she hinted as much just a few strips ago, something like “no matter how much you try to annoy me, I’ll react gracefully”.
Found it: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/bff/
I mean, she’s annoyed right here in this strip. Becky even points it out.
Now that she knows it, maybe she’ll avoid similar barbs in the name of keeping this at play hate, but I can’t blame Dorothy if she’s getting tired of it.
My point was it’s come up *before*, and Becky’s still doing it.
Ahhh, okay. Fair enough.
Dear gods she is obnoxious. Can Becky be the next to fall off a tall structure?
Y’know, I’m used to David being all “Come at me, your hate only sustains me” to the haters, but this is the first time I can think of that a critique like “Becky is obnoxious” has been turned into an actual plot point.
TBC, I love Becky despite her weaknesses being very much on display here. Which means I’m concerned about what’ll inevitably come to pass when she discovers that acceptance letter on Dorothy’s desk, the one she’s keeping secret for one of several possible reasons, all of which are emotionally sensitive. Maybe Becky’ll be smart enough to recognize that’s a bear and it should not be poked, but I can’t say the odds of that look very good.
I’m feeling boredom and fatigue more than hate.
I’m with Agemegos below.
I can’t tell which of his messages you’re referring to.
I made several comments that appear above Clif’s post in the thread as it gets presented, and only one that appeared below it. (Two now, with this reply). I wrote
It’s because the name of the comic is “poking of bear”, not “smarting of age”.
Poking of Bear would be a brilliant name for a comic. And is also a very apt reply to T Campbell’s point.
Becky, noo
Why is this something that Becky needs to do? And something that needs to be focused on?
I understand giving someone a fault and not making them perfect but all this focus on Becky trying to make Dorothy her rival or whatever is just making Becky look BAD, not weak.
She still wants Joyce. I’m sure of that much. She still dreams of Joyce and their perfect lesbian couple life with the white picket fence and 2.4 adopted kids. This makes me sad for Dina’s sake and makes me realise that, at some point, Joyce will get a lasting relationship and Becky’s heart will be broken to the point where I wonder if she’ll ever be able to talk to Joyce again without feeling agonising pain.
I’m of half a mind that this whole shebang is going to end like this:
Joyce: Why are you so mean to Dorothy?
Becky: BECAUSE I’m STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU, JOYCE! D’:
Dina, unnoticed in a corner: :'(
It’s not like Dina is unaware of the situation, she and Sarah have discussed it already.
It’s also not like every interaction with Dina or about Dina has shown she’s in love with Dina.
That she’s still got unresolved feelings for Joyce is neither surprising nor does it have to be a problem.
That should be “hasn’t shown”. Her love for Dina is clear.
It’s because the name of the comic is “poking of bear”, not “smarting of age”.
“Poking of Bear” can be the name of the Slipshine where Hank gets it on with Mama Bear.
I apologize for nothing.
Without zooming in first it seemed like Becky had accidentally discovered Dorothy’s secret about her transfer, but nah, it was just more of the running gag on Becky not liking her.
That part (probably) comes later.
Ugg, can Becky just stop already. I am quickly beginning to dislike her.
Becky is not always fan service. She can be gay and a bit of a dick too.
Better buckle in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. This is clearly the direction DYW is taking the strip. He’s got the killing / kidnapping out of his system. He’s not going back to first semester hijinks. All the kids are a little old, a little more mature and are a long way from high school now.
And Joyce, not Becky, was the most socialized of the parish group.
Oh God she was that right I completely forgot that Joyce was.the most socialized.
Dear god
I mean honestly when Joyce said that I pondered if whoever told her that really meant that she was the one most likely to not ‘stray from the path’ (and well look how that turned out). But, wow it really seems like they were right.
I mean granted we haven’t met any of the others but…
Probably a bit of both.
<3<
I don’t think it really registers much on Dorothy’s radar. She’s got bigger fish to fry. I think the real problem is Becky’s casual insight into people is highly likely to begin chipping away at the question Dotty’s trying to avoid, of whether what she expects of herself is actually what will make her happy.
Honestly I think the problem here is that even when it’s small potatoes stuff it can become like a sort of water droplet torture when you’re living with someone. (Random possible theory: that’s partly why Rachel is bitter, it was more constant undercurrent of awfulness of a level worse than Becky reaches rather than major events, though perhaps there may have been one or two as well as just the emotional exhaustion of bracing yourself for what would happen next. We’ll see I guess.).
I mean granted this is one of various reasons why I don’t hate Roz like many do. Girl has to live with Mary and she’s somehow not committed murder.
Thing is, living with Mary, lets Roz feel superior. It makes her able to ignore her own flaws, and look down on her roommate,. Which for someone like Roz, feels like a good thing.
Does it though?
We haven’t seen much of their interaction, but we do know that Roz made her play for RA mostly just to get out of that room.
I mean, wouldn’t you?
If Becky will be able to learn everything useful Dorothy is doing, she will be unbeatable!!!
Someday Becky’s going to appear in attack ads
Play to your strengths.
This whole “Becky hates Dotty” thing is getting reeaaaally old.
Dorothy’s really missing a “do you think this is what a good Christian would do” comeback here.
these 2 are adorable
I see there are currently 8,325 votes in the poll. While there are certainly a wide cast of commenters, I can’t shake the suspicion that someone may have voted twice.