Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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height averages disagree, joe
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May 22, 2026

Backpedalin’

by David M Willis on March 15, 2022 at 12:01 am
  • 03 – Trial and Sarah
└ Tags: becky, dina, joe

Discussion (116) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    March 15, 2022 at 12:05 am | #

    why does Joe suddenly appear

    everytime you are near

    like Becky, he wants to be

    close to… lesbians

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      March 15, 2022 at 12:06 am | #

      Oh no, Ana’s taken up poetry. Her powers continue to grow unabated.

      • Clif
        Clif
        March 15, 2022 at 12:43 am | #

        Her powers have retroactively always continued to grow unabated.

      • Hrafn
        Hrafn
        March 15, 2022 at 2:25 am | #

        She’s gone from bad to verse. 😉

        • Sunny
          Sunny
          March 15, 2022 at 1:14 pm | #

          That was quite phunny, well done.

        • True Survivor
          True Survivor
          March 15, 2022 at 2:29 pm | #

          🙂

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        March 15, 2022 at 4:46 am | #

        …

        Have you never heard of The Carpenters?
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M268Csnue9I

        They made a ton of easy listening hits in the 70s, two of the greatest Christmas albums of all time, and one sci-fi fantasy TV special that was as corny as it was weird.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_gwA_hdKMs

        • Clif
          Clif
          March 15, 2022 at 1:06 pm | #

          Of course we’ve heard of the Carpenters. Going back in time and writing their lyrics to match today’s comment was one of Ana’s greatest triumphs.

          • Spencer
            Spencer
            March 15, 2022 at 1:16 pm | #

            I thought the Carpenters was that family Harry Dresden really likes.

        • Daibhid C
          Daibhid C
          March 15, 2022 at 3:14 pm | #

          (Flips chair backwards) Okay, but let me tell you about another carpenter who was easy to listen to and was a great part of Christmas…

          • Librain
            Librain
            March 17, 2022 at 5:20 am | #

            … Ron Swanson?

    • Carms
      Carms
      March 15, 2022 at 3:25 am | #

      This is EXTREMELY good thankyou

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      March 15, 2022 at 6:49 am | #

      And now I’m sad for Karen Carpenter from that.

  2. The Wellerman
    The Wellerman
    March 15, 2022 at 12:07 am | #

    Ah, behold the titans!

    This should be fun!

    • The Wellerman
      The Wellerman
      March 15, 2022 at 12:09 am | #

      *plays “Souls” by David Fenn on Joe’s Phone*

      • Adam Black
        Adam Black
        March 15, 2022 at 12:38 am | #

        thankyou.

        this is new to me

    • CrazyJ
      CrazyJ
      March 15, 2022 at 12:17 am | #

      “The giants of Charlton play host to the titans of Ipswich, making them both seem normal-sized” -Mitchell and Webb

      • Paul
        Paul
        March 15, 2022 at 5:17 am | #

        > “The giants of Charlton play host to the titans of Ipswich, making them both seem normal-sized”

        This is also why the Teletubbies’ rabbits are actually a breed called the ‘Flemmish Giant’. They are ridiculously (and unhealthily) large.

    • ThunderNight
      ThunderNight
      March 15, 2022 at 12:59 am | #

      Behold the joe-tan

  3. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    March 15, 2022 at 12:10 am | #

    Sky-height Joe is an outlier and should not be counted.

    • Frank M.
      Frank M.
      March 15, 2022 at 10:22 am | #

      As a 6’5″-er I have never felt this close to Joe.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      March 15, 2022 at 8:15 pm | #

      He’s a guy-scraper.

      (Am 6’3″, am allowed.)

  4. BBCC
    BBCC
    March 15, 2022 at 12:11 am | #

    As a Tiny Person, I agree with Dina. Joe is the aberration.

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      March 15, 2022 at 12:21 am | #

      How tall is Joe anyway? And what are the actual standard heights for men and women?

      • DailyBrad
        DailyBrad
        March 15, 2022 at 12:23 am | #

        I’m not sure if we have a number on it, but Joe’s one of the tallest in the cast, alongside Ethan and Jacob. On the gal side, guessing it’s Carla and Sierra that’d be at the top.

        • Kyrik Michalowski
          Kyrik Michalowski
          March 15, 2022 at 12:29 am | #

          Hopefully Willis gives us the numbers for their height, or at least something that shows their relative to each other heights.

          • King Daniel
            King Daniel
            March 15, 2022 at 12:50 am | #

            Amber is canonically five-foot-two: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/find/

            • King Daniel
              King Daniel
              March 15, 2022 at 12:52 am | #

              And adding on to say, per Amazi-Girl her boots add an additional three inches: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/vandals/

            • Z
              Z
              March 15, 2022 at 6:39 am | #

              Based on this I’d say Dorothy is about 5’5 (couple inches taller than amber) if I can find Becky on level with Dorothy or Amazigirl then we’ll have a solid guess for Dorothy.

              https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/composited/

              I suspect Dina is 5′ or shorter. She reminds me of the 4’10 girls I’ve known.

      • Proxiehunter
        Proxiehunter
        March 15, 2022 at 12:48 am | #

        Average is 5’9″ for American men and 5’4″ for American women according to a quick google. I would assume Joe is at least 6′ and possibly north of that.

        • Kyrik Michalowski
          Kyrik Michalowski
          March 15, 2022 at 12:53 am | #

          Is it really only 5’9″ for men? I’m about 6’2″ myself, though I tend to stand in a way that makes me appear shorter. No idea why.

          • Robert
            Robert
            March 15, 2022 at 1:09 am | #

            It was surprising to me, as well. Reverse Uno, though, because I’m 5’7″. I’ve had excellent posture since my teens, and never thought of myself as short until I married my husband. He’s 6’1″. Now we have two large adult sons who arime 6′ and 6’2″.

            I’m less than 25% of Walker-Smiths by both weight and volume.

          • Jamie
            Jamie
            March 15, 2022 at 1:43 am | #

            I’m that height and I cultivated my slouch very deliberately to avoid notice and minimize the intimidation factor.

            And now I pay for that.

            • Daibhid C
              Daibhid C
              March 15, 2022 at 3:17 pm | #

              Yeah, I very much identified with the bit in the Discworld novel Reaper Man that described Ludmilla Cake as one of those people who spends much of their life trying not to loom.

          • Rabid Rabbit
            Rabid Rabbit
            March 15, 2022 at 2:29 am | #

            Donald Sutherland has a stoop because of how used he is to talking to people shorter than him. And also to be able to stay in frame. It’s all about beingable to maintain eye contact, really.

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            March 15, 2022 at 4:49 am | #

            Huh. I’m almost exactly 6′ and sometimes I still feel like I’m short…

        • Keulen
          Keulen
          March 15, 2022 at 10:59 am | #

          Wait, I’m average height? I thought I was little shorter than average.

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            March 15, 2022 at 3:22 pm | #

            I’m slightly below average height for my weight.

    • Eldritchy
      Eldritchy
      March 15, 2022 at 11:01 am | #

      You all just need to drink more milk!

  5. Thag Simmons
    Thag Simmons
    March 15, 2022 at 12:12 am | #

    Everyone who is shorter than you is tiny and everyone who is taller than you is a freak. This is how heights are judged.

    • The Wellerman
      The Wellerman
      March 15, 2022 at 12:18 am | #

      Humans…. go figure.

    • woobie
      woobie
      March 15, 2022 at 12:19 am | #

      Other drivers are slowpokes or maniacs.

      • Doom Shepherd
        Doom Shepherd
        March 15, 2022 at 12:33 am | #

        Everyone younger than me is a naive childish ingénue. Everyone older than me is a senile, doddering fool. And this has been true for at least the past 30 years…

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          March 15, 2022 at 1:06 am | #

          Everyone is stupid except me

          • Decidedly Orthogonal
            Decidedly Orthogonal
            March 15, 2022 at 1:14 am | #

            Usually I try and hold onto “everyone is stupid” and let it be at that. I know what I’ve done, and so do many other people.

          • Bicycle Bill
            Bicycle Bill
            March 15, 2022 at 1:20 am | #

            George Carlin said it best: “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

            • Needfuldoer
              Needfuldoer
              March 15, 2022 at 4:50 am | #

              He truly was one of America’s great philosophers.

        • khn0
          khn0
          March 15, 2022 at 3:18 am | #

          “You, the newly born asses,
          Innocent asses,
          Young asses
          Who, don’t deny it,
          Take the fathers
          For asses.
          You, the ancient asses,
          Asses well experienced,
          The senior ass
          Who, you may confess it,
          Take the little pest
          For asses.
          Reflect on the impartial message
          From someone who is between the ages”

          From Le temps ne fait rien à l’affaire (Age has nothing to do with it )

          You may think that’s a whole of ass(es), but in original version, the word has the equivalent to conga but without the frankly misogynic undertone (there *is* a misogynic undertone, but it’s not frank, bc nobody remembers it has anything to do with female anatomy anymore, so the song is not misogynistic per se, even if the author should not be counted as a feminist lest by his era standards… that are low)

      • StClair
        StClair
        March 15, 2022 at 12:38 am | #

        cap-reference.gif

    • foamy
      foamy
      March 15, 2022 at 12:24 am | #

      Procrustes had the right idea.

      • Clif
        Clif
        March 15, 2022 at 12:46 am | #

        And the bed to prove it.

      • Bicycle Bill
        Bicycle Bill
        March 15, 2022 at 1:23 am | #

        Now there’s an obscure reference for ya.

        • Agemegos
          Agemegos
          March 15, 2022 at 3:56 pm | #

          It’s only obscure if you don’t know it:

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      March 15, 2022 at 12:34 am | #

      It’s all about your stuff, versus someone else’s shit.

  6. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    March 15, 2022 at 12:13 am | #

    The Man’s too big…
    The Man’s Too Strong!
    –Dire Straits

  7. True Survivor
    True Survivor
    March 15, 2022 at 12:19 am | #

    Wait… How did Joe get into the room? Isn’t the door locked?

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      March 15, 2022 at 12:21 am | #

      I believe they are in the hallway now.

      • True Survivor
        True Survivor
        March 15, 2022 at 12:34 am | #

        Oh, good. Ghost Joe would have not quite been alliteration but would have been fully terrifying. Though in retrospect somewhat inventible: if your life goal is to bang all the chicks, you are going to have unfinished business when you die (likely from STDs).

        • PirateTawnee
          PirateTawnee
          March 15, 2022 at 1:18 am | #

          Ghost Joe’s jorts just go gently to gaol? I think I have that in a gif somewhere…

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      March 15, 2022 at 1:07 am | #

      They left their room and are in the public hallway

    • Sombrero
      Sombrero
      March 15, 2022 at 5:33 am | #

      God, I mean, Joe is everywhere.

      • Ed Callahan
        Ed Callahan
        March 15, 2022 at 7:54 am | #

        So is Roy Kent.

  8. Rose by Any Other Name
    Rose by Any Other Name
    March 15, 2022 at 12:22 am | #

    Sudden twist – this Joe is actually not Joe from Its Walky but rather Historic Jesus.

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      March 15, 2022 at 12:36 am | #

      If you believe in Trinity, it would explain why he is both exactly like and very different from his father.

      • The Wellerman
        The Wellerman
        March 15, 2022 at 12:45 am | #

        Ha ha nice point you got there True!

        Speaking of which, are we that much clear on whether or not Willis’s particular sect believed in the Trinity?

        • King Daniel
          King Daniel
          March 15, 2022 at 12:54 am | #

          Willis was raised nondenominational Protestant (like Joyce), so yes.

    • Mturtle7
      Mturtle7
      March 15, 2022 at 2:03 pm | #

      Nah…Historical Jesus is really short (more like Dina’s size than Joe’s).

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      March 15, 2022 at 3:40 pm | #

      Dina stares at Jesus and says:
      – Evidences, motherfucker! Do you have it??

  9. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    March 15, 2022 at 12:23 am | #

    I have no concept of what should be the “correct” height. I know that I generally stand in a way that makes me look shorter though I don’t know why I do it.

  10. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    March 15, 2022 at 12:25 am | #

    I’m 6ft 7inches and 100% agree with Joe! Y’all’s just small.

    • brionl
      brionl
      March 15, 2022 at 12:29 am | #

      I had a captain in the Army who was 6ft 11in. He was the youngest and shortest of 4 boys. Only about an inch, but it was enough for them to razz him about being the baby of the family.
      When his son was about 6, the boy said he wanted to grow up to be 6ft 20.

      • Eldritchy
        Eldritchy
        March 15, 2022 at 11:02 am | #

        You were cooperating with Adeptus Astartes?

  11. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    March 15, 2022 at 12:25 am | #

    Our Joe is an Awesome Joe
    He reigns from heaven above
    His last name’s Rosenthal
    Our Joe is an Awesome Joe

    • StClair
      StClair
      March 15, 2022 at 12:28 am | #

      and this is an awesome filk verse.

      • Clif
        Clif
        March 15, 2022 at 12:41 am | #

        I’m just disappointed that Rosenthal doesn’t rhyme with mean, median or mode.

        • seregiel
          seregiel
          March 15, 2022 at 4:24 pm | #

          but it does with normal. Plus I’m sure Joe is all about the standard deviant… I mean deviation.

  12. Bryy
    Bryy
    March 15, 2022 at 12:44 am | #

    The name of this strip is glorious.

    • King Daniel
      King Daniel
      March 15, 2022 at 1:51 am | #

      Don’t you be backpedalin’ on this comment now

  13. Tiger
    Tiger
    March 15, 2022 at 1:06 am | #

    As someone who is at minimum 6″ taller than everyone I work with Joe is absolutely correct

  14. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    March 15, 2022 at 2:03 am | #

    On that day Becky received a Grim Reminder.

  15. Francoinblanco
    Francoinblanco
    March 15, 2022 at 2:45 am | #

    “I AM YOUR GOD NOW! BRING ME YOUR VIRGINS!”

    • Z
      Z
      March 15, 2022 at 3:12 am | #

      After his last experience with a virgin I think Joe would prefer to avoid virgins but keep on with the ladies that like to film it.

  16. Segnosaur
    Segnosaur
    March 15, 2022 at 3:01 am | #

    Took me a second to realize that they were in the hall already. Wondered why Joe was suddenly in their room…

  17. Darkoneko
    Darkoneko
    March 15, 2022 at 3:23 am | #

    Batman chin included

    • Segnosaur
      Segnosaur
      March 15, 2022 at 9:23 am | #

      Should Joe’s chin stubble be given its own tag?

  18. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    March 15, 2022 at 4:47 am | #

    I don’t know about other christians, but I think it’s awkward to pray in front of other people…

    • The Wellerman
      The Wellerman
      March 15, 2022 at 5:19 am | #

      To my knowledge, many human earthlings in America have fought for the right to pray in public, and the issue as become very much an icon here over the last century.

    • eh, whatever
      eh, whatever
      March 15, 2022 at 6:46 am | #

      It’s an American thing to do that.

    • JBento
      JBento
      March 15, 2022 at 7:40 am | #

      It’s actually anti-biblical to pray in public, where Jesus literally says that praying in public is what hypocrites do and prayers are to be kept private.

      • Delicious Taffy
        Delicious Taffy
        March 15, 2022 at 9:23 am | #

        I’ve long suspected that most American Christianity is almost entirely performative. They pray in public so everyone else can see that they’re definitely really Christian, why are you asking, what, you think I’m not a real Christian, look at how holy I’m acting.

        • thumb
          thumb
          March 15, 2022 at 9:29 am | #

          Or maybe she’s doing a quick check-in with the man upstairs ’cause she did a swear and had lewd thoughts and it’d be weirder to step aside for it when the only person around (as far as she knew) was her girlfriend who knows what she’s about.

          • Delicious Taffy
            Delicious Taffy
            March 15, 2022 at 11:35 am | #

            I said not a single word about Becky in specific. I made an observation based on real people, whose behavior actually matters to my life.

        • BorkBorkBork
          BorkBorkBork
          March 15, 2022 at 11:02 am | #

          Close, Taffy. The American Christianity that you see is entirely performative. And yeah, sometimes that can mean an entire church, when that church is lead by a cheesy car salesman-type pastor.

          But by obvious definition, those who pray by themselves, or only with other believers in solitude, don’t get noticed, because they’re doing it in quiet. They’re not going to advertise this, because that’s the point of humility. They don’t go shouting down others or being brash or denouncing others’ faults and ‘sins’ because those are all things you’re not supposed to do – amongst Christians, you’re supposed to talk to someone privately from a place of patience and love, and you’re outright not supposed to judge nonbelievers, as any Christian is AT LEAST as sinful, if not moreso.

          Ironically, the best way to be noticed as a “Christian” is to do it completely 100% wrong.

        • Spencer
          Spencer
          March 15, 2022 at 12:14 pm | #

          Christianity in North America, as a cultural institution, is completely performative, yeah.

          CPC PM candidate Pierre Poilievre gets to run ads depicting his ghoulish mug next to Christian iconography and that’s just normal and acceptable because Canada also has the entrenched problem of right-wing populism, and so a Good Christian Man is just displaying his faith in a way that anyone who was not deliberately taking the piss could tell would otherwise not be allowed.

          The status quo works for you when you are the status quo.

      • Keulen
        Keulen
        March 15, 2022 at 11:07 am | #

        I’m pretty sure most Christians in the US have either not read that passage, or forgotten about it, because so many of them sure do love their public prayers.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          March 15, 2022 at 3:25 pm | #

          Or as BorkBorkBork says above, at least those US Christians that you usually notice as Christian. The ones who go about their Christianity without making a big fuss about it don’t draw nearly so much attention.

    • Blue
      Blue
      March 15, 2022 at 2:01 pm | #

      I think she wanted to include Dina in her religious moment.

      • Spencer
        Spencer
        March 15, 2022 at 6:45 pm | #

        Huh, y’think Becky might try what she’s doing to Joyce on Dina at some point?

        That’s a total doomscroller prediction, natch, the circumstances for Becky trying to drag Joyce back to God (because that’s her Joyce she relies on and needs to maintain as a buffer) are entirely different from any she has with Dina where the two of them thinking the other is incredibly, deeply wrong about the origin of the universe is just a funny quirk. I wonder if, as it sinks in that Becky’s Joyce is gone forever, she’d double down and do something stupid and harmful to Dina to try and get that safety back.

        I don’t think something that like would happen, but it was kinda fun to guess about.

  19. Nathan
    Nathan
    March 15, 2022 at 4:56 am | #

    As an abnormally tall person, I relate very strongly with Joe in this one.

  20. Spencer
    Spencer
    March 15, 2022 at 7:20 am | #

    “I had the sudden suspicion Joyce had a headache so I brought some medicine and soothing music.”

  21. Beau Kirin Maysey
    Beau Kirin Maysey
    March 15, 2022 at 8:20 am | #

    My eyes wandered this strip to the last panel where Joe said “whore”, my mind skipped, I then squinted and lo!- the apostrophe appeared, and I breathed a sigh of relief

  22. Darkoneko
    Darkoneko
    March 15, 2022 at 10:43 am | #

    it’s ok, Joe is used to being called that in bed too.

  23. Ashley
    Ashley
    March 15, 2022 at 11:48 am | #

    I would climb Joe like a tree.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      March 15, 2022 at 3:26 pm | #

      Dina already has, that’s how she subdued him.

  24. crow
    crow
    March 15, 2022 at 1:28 pm | #

    Too close, Joe

    • alongcameaspider
      alongcameaspider
      March 15, 2022 at 2:10 pm | #

      It looks like Becky backed into Joe, so it’s Becky who is too close to Joe

  25. Bagge
    Bagge
    March 15, 2022 at 2:08 pm | #

    Joe is God, confirmed

    • BorkBorkBork
      BorkBorkBork
      March 15, 2022 at 2:52 pm | #

      Nah. Already confirmed that both Dina and Becky are wrong – God exists, but as the reclusive eccentric millionaire who created the ‘Dexter and Monkey Master’ series, and lives in a cliffside mansion with a lawn made of gold.

      They’re both wrong on the age of the Earth, too – it’s not 4.5 billion years, or 6000 years, but more like four and a half months, give or take.

      • Spencer
        Spencer
        March 15, 2022 at 3:34 pm | #

        A cartoonist who draws your universe as it’s happening has gotta be some Grant Morrison shit.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        March 15, 2022 at 3:39 pm | #

        If we’re going that route, then surely it’s eleven and a half years old, it’s just that only four and a half months has passed in that time?

        • BorkBorkBork
          BorkBorkBork
          March 15, 2022 at 3:57 pm | #

          I’unno. I’m a bored personality on the Internet, not a theoretical physicist. That’s some next level space/time shennanigans there.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      March 15, 2022 at 3:48 pm | #

      Loki, right? Or Zeus (that explain the sexual appetite)?

      • King Daniel
        King Daniel
        March 15, 2022 at 5:23 pm | #

        If Joe is Loki, I cannot wait for the chapter where he gets knocked up and gives birth to an eight-legged horse baby which Amazi-Girl then proceeds to ride into action.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        March 15, 2022 at 8:44 pm | #

        The Mighty Thoe.

  26. JA
    JA
    March 15, 2022 at 10:46 pm | #

    As a tall person, everyone else is short/small.

  27. Smooti
    Smooti
    March 15, 2022 at 11:12 pm | #

    Finally, a strip at the correct height

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