The Dumbing of Age Book 13 Kickstarter blew past $25K, despite the moon eating and then pooping the sun, and that means we’ve both funded and reached our first stretch goal! In addition to A BOOK 13!!!! there’s also now a DERBY AMAZI-GIRL MAGNET tier, and that gets you a 3″x4″ character magnet plus a signed Book 13!
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*plays “Bad To The Bone” by George Thorogood & The Destroyers on hacked muzak*
B-B-B-Baaaad to the bonnnnne!
so, is that a “no” on streaking
My sweet winter child,
Or something like that.
So that’s why they call them “hot” chicks. Not because of their attractiveness but because of their higher internal body temperature! It makes sense now!
But the hotter their internal temperature, more cold they will feel without cover. If they had a cold internal temperature, they would be more comfortable in the cold.
Or they could have a layer of fat beneath the skin.
lol that would be a ‘tactic’/excuse to use to cuddle up with someoen but i’d rather do that with a friend i already know and maybe ok with being flirty with than a random stranger
Whoa it’s hard to recognize Joyce in the last panel
Carla took it very seriously and ta da
Once she can put those deer-under-a-headlight eyes under control, she’ll be unrecognisable.
Nice job of illustrating the eye makeup in this low light level.
Jugs needs to show a little more skin for God’s sakes. Does that mean Not-Jugs should cover up?
Hot chicks have perky nipples
At the very least I’d want hot cocoa near mine in the middle Indiana’s winter 🥶☕
h-hot cocoa near your nipples? oddly specific
Nearby is ideal, isn’t it? If you’ve got ~210°F liquid directly on them, you’ll probably get burnt and wind up with Ripplenip Syndrome later in life*. Putting it in a mug, preferably on the other side of a lovely sweater or hoodie, helps to keep it close to them but safely away from the sensitive skin.
*It’s real, look it up.
Instructions unclear, read a r34 “the incredibles” fanfiction
[Citation requested] “Looking up” ‘ripplenip syndrome’ returned four results: 2 patents, a page about errors in french and your comment. If you got me, you got me, I’m just genuinely curious.
doesn’t sound real. if it’s referencing a real thing, i’m sure that’s not the name for it… maybe “nipple rip syndrome”?
Bruh, I meant like warming my chest up with the residual heat from the hot cup of cocoa. LOL
I thought it would be cold chicks who have the perky nipples.
idk ifi t’d stick out with a black top but i can imagine she’d wear a normal or sports bra underneath or so , or just suddenly realizing it after someone pionting it out and then being embarassed and then hiding in the bathroom for an hour lol
Panel two, I don’t think Joyce needs to go without glasses. More skin definitely needed to sell the look though
There is this completely wrong idea that glasses make a lady less attractive. See, for example, all those movies where the ugly girl gets a makeover that pretty much consists of taking off her glasses and letting her hair down… Imagine doing that for other disability aids (yes, glasses are a disability aid, even if they’re an incredibly common and normalized one). “Don’t worry, Jessica, we’ll make that boy you like notice you. First you just have to lose the wheelchair.”
Jessica becomes robocop. Hijinks ensue.
Luckily the guy is into it.
Literal thighs of steel
It depends on the glasses. Looking back on stuff from like the 2000s so many people were wearing frames that didn’t suit their face. I’m guessing it’s bc nice looking glasses were way less accessible than they are now, and in general information about how to find stuff that suits you in fashion was less accessible pre modern internet? So, you will look better without ill-suited glasses on. Good frames tho, I treat my glasses like some other girls treat their makeup, I’m not dressed without them, I’m not as cute without them, I can’t tell if my outfit ties together until I put them on (and not just because the mirror is blurry)
Different frames would absolutely sell it. Her regular glasses work better with her everyday look.
Is Joyce really not going to finish putting lipstick on her bottom lip?
Bottom lips are non-canon.
“Have you been drawing nostrils again?”
“Stop making up anatomy”
She and Carla are taking tips from Kim Possible
The shego lips IS a thing. It takes (preferably dark) lipstick, some lip gloss and patience. Look it up, it’s one of my favorite looks to try
The comment section is invariably educational.
maybe they’d look too big if on both but other than booster (and occasionally sarah) makeup aside i don’t think most show their bottom lips
either it’s a stylistic chocie or maybe it’s easier to just show expressions if it’s one half done
Dorothy, allow me to introduce you to my mother’s motto: hypothermia isn’t sexy.
My mom had a similar motto: “Cute’ll kill you.”
i mean, unless they pump up the ac on purpose i’d assume the club inside would be warmer versus someone having to wear a jacket all night or so and then taking it off after it’s hot b/c i wouldn ot trust a club’s coat check versus wrapping it around my waist
Nothin’ hotter’n a girl who can’t see good.
Movies taught me that.
“Just walk as if you can see, and the angels won’t notice you.”
So that is why Cryptotora thamicola is the sexiest of all the fish. And hey, it even comes with a pelvic girdle.
Ahhh they’re so cute! 😍
What’s going on with that billboard? It looks like a fancy Cadbury egg and maybe a cot?
It says “He is Risen”, typical of a billboard in Jesus-Land, specifically this one:
https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/1705024213109658004/photo/1
Aha, thank you. Maps was no help at all, because I was looking for a liquor store near campus and there’s apparently a Big Red every hundred feet on campus.
try bars and/or comedy clubs.
I still can’t tell what it is. It doesn’t make any sense.
I needed the actual photo from twitter linked above (thanks NGPZ!) to work it out.
It’s the view from the empty tomb with the entrance stone rolled away, which is a pretty classic motif in christian symbolism. Sunrise from the outside is the source of the glare and is doubling up as a visual metaphor and wordplay (the Son, i.e. Jesus, is risen).
Ah yes, the empty tomb, and the entrance stone. The ones everyone knows about inherently, the tomb and stone, those ones, yeah.
I read this post in Kuzco’s voice.
“Ah yes, the empty tomb. The tomb, that’s empty. The tomb empty of anything. That tomb.”
So, it’s a reference to this Palestinian guy who was executed by the occupying power for inciting revolt, nevermind that they had to make up stories to arrest and condemn him.
After his death his body isn’t buried straight away but placed in a cave closed by a huge boulder and guarded by soldiers, so that the people won’t steal his body to make into a symbol of the unjust regime they live under.
But 3 days after his death, one of his comrades comes by the cave and finds the soldiers gone, the boulder rolled to the side and the cave empty. She then tells everyone in the guy’s resistance movement that their martyred hero was alive. (“He is risen [from the dead]”).
Some people take this literally apparently? You could make a religion out of this.
Jesus was Jewish, and was killed by the occupying Romans.
Funny how the logical conclusion should have been “ah, the Romans just claimed they’d hide the body here, but they went to hide it somewhere else now. Guess it’s gone. ” u
Hasn’t Willis joked enough about “He is Risen” for that to be recognizable? Or was that only a SP! thing?
I’m just sad he couldn’t get the timing right to have this post on Easter, since it’s so close.
I’ve been told that they didn’t dig holes to bury bodies back there and then; these chambers were fitted out with shelves for the recently deceased, and after a while the bones would be moved to a box on another shelf to make room for new deceased.
There were guards precisely to prevent someone disappearing the body to make it look like a miracle, because then people would…well, you can see the result.
@Leorale he was a Jew from the territory now known as Palestine, yes. A place where many Jews have lived for millenia, alongside other populations. Funny how people from not-Palestine show up and take control of the place over and over
@mark Traditionally, crucified criminals were left to hang on the cross for animals to pick at and then thrown into mass graves. The humiliation and denial of a proper burial was part of the punishment.
It’s very likely that the “empty tomb” tradition was a later embellishment, long after the disciples claimed he’d been resurrected. I don’t believe Paul mentions a tomb and he’s by far the earliest source.
@milu Crossroads of empire. That’s what happens when you’re in a strategic spot.
Palestine derives from Philistine though, which Jesus like any Jew of his day would have denied being.
Oh, and here I was thinking it was a billboard for a strip club (couldn’t make sense of the image).
And this one says ‘He is Risen’ at the place where Mike fell…
It sure looks like the fire escape, doesn’t it.
Maybe the bartender will be a blond guy with hair that sticks straight forward like a fistful of uncooked spaghetti.
Now that would be a pleasant shock.
lol i thought it was some ironic/hipstery sign for a club bc i can totally imagine that being like a name for a gay club lol
this month I learnt from TwiXtter
that the corresponding phrase used in many trad-black churches
is instead “HE GOT UP!”
if this piece of trivia iswrong
i don’ wanna be right
please tell me a bread company in an area that has those billboards has realized the opportunity for the funniest ad possible.
I truly hope so.
That would be awesome.
IIRC there is a bread company (not sure — Sunbeam?) that actually played off the “man does not live by bread alone” thing on a billboard, complete with cute little girl munching on a slice of yummy bread.
Have you not seen the meme with the Pillsbury Doughboy?
Panel 1: He is Risen! Happy Easter
Panel 2: (with a matzo look) He is Not! Happy Passover!
Panel 3: He is off limits until sundown! Happy Ramadan!
It’s a great meme, yes, but they could also make a great billboard with it.
Prediction: Joyce gets let in. Dorothy gets bounced. Both freak.
I got a different version, the bar on the first floor is closed Monday nights, but the comedy club on the second floor has open mic night. Dorothy gets tipsy and goes on stage for a five minute set. 50/50 chance if we get to see her breaking down and also realizing she has a crush on Joyce and telling her and the aftermath. Or just like karaoke we don’t see how it resolves.
WHATS THE DEAL WITH HAVING A CRUSH ON YOUR BEST FRIEND! (that’s probably really in seinfeld right? i’m sure there’s an episode where Jerry and George look longingly into each others eyes)
Even though Dorothy is giving Joyce complete confidence in doing this, uncertainty is inevitable, the third panel makes it clear, and, wow, that worried face looks really beautiful.
“Then I guess I got hurt.”
A lot of confidence on your part, Brown, on the one hand understandable, but be careful what you wish for because it may come true.
And Dorothy is right, you should put up with that cold, you’re supposed to be the bad girl today.
Well, if we learned anything from the first altercation, it’s that Joyce can dish it out when necessary. I’m not betting against her.
For someone who no longer wants to be President, Dorothy sure does a good impression of William Henry Harrison.
Starting to get at one of Dorothy’s issues in panel 3. And continuing to circle another in panel 5.
wait, that fire escape… Is that Mike’s fire escape? Is Mike he who is risen?!
She agreed to this moment, but it is inevitable that problems will manifest. And regarding that fire escape, possibly there were witnesses and something happens later. And ironically Mike will be Joyce’s guardian angel tonight.
No, Mike fell from the fire escape on one of the academic buildings on the east side of Dunn’s Woods in the Indiana University campus. This fire escape is on 4th Street just east of Walnut in downtown Bloomington.
Thanks. I’m very impressed that anyone could identify which real-world building it is. (I was also going “Is it Mike’s fire escape?” Because that would be such a Willis touch, putting that billboard on that fire escape.
I use Google Earth. Downtown Bloomington isn’t very big.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1655903,-86.5333639,3a,90y,343.56h,91.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQ0sT8BGKXLzBpfcglk7a2w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
(it’s a setup for resurrected Mike joke, the buildings don’t even look the same)
Under the rust, all fire escapesare the same.
Dorothy just really held herself too responsible for horrible things completely outside of her control. No wonder she started spiraling.
Well, let’s hope that this moment helps her lighten her load a little more, but Joyce’s confidence… let’s see what happens.
Give me the something to something something and something the things I can’t control, and the wisdom to tell the difference. Dorothy, you can’t control whether someone gets hurt. Plus, those are learning experiences. Hmm. Maybe for both of you. You can’t control another person, even with the best of intentions.
might be a chance to have a ‘parallel’ of dorothy being the one to get reckless and drunk and hurt in some way and joyce taking care of her the rest of the night assuming it doesn’t end up in some self-hatred spiral
Yeah the dream really… drove that home for me.
NEW LOCATIOOOOOOON
Drove through Ohio and Indiana to see the eclipse today, and saw lots of similar but often much worse billboards. Not worse in their messaging, necessarily, just in their graphic design.
I drove up to Cleveland, and all the way up in Ohio there were those traffic-condition signs saying
SOLAR ECLIPSE
TOMORROW
PLAN YOUR ROUTE
(paraphrasing on the last line because I don’t recall exact wording)
aw I was hoping for a montage where everyone in the floor pitches in with a little bit of the look and/or running mary interference
Dorothy now undressing Joyce for the second time this week.
It gets easier each time she dares.
Second time today. Probably second time the past hour
I was talking real-world time. ‘Cause, yeah, comic time it’s been like thirty seconds since the last time Dorothy helped Joyce out of her clothes.
alcohol from the age of 21? These Americans are crazy
As an Italian who had his first taste of wine around 6, this still baffles me.
I’ve been told such — that, in other countries, children are introduced to wine early and taught how to handle alcohol.
Here we just say, “ah, you’re old enough now, you magically know how to take care of yourself, good luck!” With no training. That’s the crazy bit.
Funnily enough my dad let me have a little sip of his beer when I was a kid… didn’t even think about touching alcohol until I was around 18.
Ditto, and frankly, I thought it tasted *quite* gross. (And in some cases I still do – I continue to not get the appeal of beer, also wine, and I don’t generally drink except when a trusted friend offers me a sip of their drink that might be interesting.) I don’t think that was specifically *why* I wasn’t interested in alcohol – that was more my personal philosophy, as I wasn’t interested in having my faculties reduced or artificially changed. The only real interest I have in it is that it some liquor has interesting and unusual tastes, and occasionally I get curious.
Also, as I found out a few years ago, it seems that getting even mildly tipsy makes me nauseous, so all the better. Which is good – I spend enough money on juice and bubble tea as it is, so if I don’t need to spend money on alcohol, all the better.
Americans can’t be trusted with alcohol. Our culture is built around it and obsessed with it in a lot of ways, so naturally we’re largely fucking weird about it, in ways that don’t make a lot of sense to anyone, including ourselves.
The exact same is true about sex in the US.
…and guns.
…and religion.
That’s probably in large part because it’s a forbidden fruit you’re not allowed to touch till well after adulthood, and even then you can’t do it outside. Same reason y’all (as a country) are so obsessed with sex, it’s a taboo which breeds obsession.
Also afaik American bars don’t serve meals? Which is wild? Drinking on empty stomachs. From what I can tell the education on how to not fuck yourself up with booze isnt really there, again like sex
No, there are plenty of bars with food. Where’d you get that idea? Bar food is usually pretty decent, from what I’ve had. Burgers, barbecue, chicken wings, sometimes even salad bars if you’re lucky.
It varies by region. Some places, you can’t take kids in the front door. Others, the actual bar is in the back, and the front is a family-friendly restaurant even by puritanical US standards. Being from one region and vacationing in another was a small adventure for this reason alone.
What’s really interesting is the restaurants where there’s “bar” and “other” seating in essentially an open area, so there are some tables you can’t take your kids to (usually fenced off together). At peak times they’ll ask a group of adults whether they are willing to be seated in the bar (if there’s an open table there), or will they wait a bit.
And, to top off the craziness, you can get wine even if your table’s outside the bar area.
In New York State in the 1980s I was told it was illegal to have a bar that didn’t serve food. I was told that if someone got all legalistic on us after the kitchen closed, to sell them a cheese sandwich for a buck.
Is that an Asterix reference
It was either that or build walkable cities.
God forbid people can get places
If people could walk places, the wrong sort of people (who can’t afford cars) would be able to get close to the good people, and we can’t have that, can we?
i never saw the appeal of drinking young/underage, i know most are ‘acquired tastes’ (tho i’d rather have coffee or tea) , can understand if ppl are stressed from exams and stuff but other than it being ‘taboo’ and stuff feels like teens could have fun at a normal party without it depending on the friend group , plus other than like stealing their parents beer or sneaking a super cheap six pack at a self checkout i dont’ think they’d be able to get enough to get drunk or so unless they’re lightweights
(or within reason , maybe more parents can give a kid a sip of wine/beer for them to be ‘ew gross’ and like not rly be in a rush to drink more)
I read the title in the voice of Strong Bad narrating a cartoon van running over a stick figure.
Children’d!
Ow, my not-being-run-over!
If we wanted to show her more skin, then we should have grabbed a tube top. But yanno, alcohol might warm her up even more.
*goes up the stairway* Now I am Risen!! *furiously stirs a bowl of mac n’ cheese*
I know I’m late, but just have to comment on this, because there’s a dangerous misconception that alcohol makes people warmer; it doesn’t. It makes them feel warmer, due to it triggering some of the body’s cooling mechanisms as a side-effect.
Of course, because you’re not actually warmer but your body’s doing stuff to cool itself, you end up colder — especially if you respond to feeling warm by removing “excess” clothing to help cool down. This can result in hypothermia and has, in come cases, been fatal.
i’m fine showing off my arms and legs but other than a super hot summer day idk if i’d go out in just a tube top/sports bra and shorts, even if i had a’ flatter’ tummy i think the wind/open air exposure would give me a stomach ache easily lol
As a person from a country where the legal age for drinking is 18, this storyline just feels extra hilarious. You can vote! You can drive! You are adults!
(I get it, they’re both pretty sheltered, but lol)
The last time they were near a bunch of people who were drinking Joyce almost did get hurt, in a very real way. It’s natural that Dorothy has some anxiety around it. And it’s good that Joyce is helping her push through it
Yeah, I get it. But it was also the dorm party when Billie brought in alcohol as well – didn’t Dorothy drink then too? So not the last time, but still.
I get the anxiety around it, I just find it kind of exotic that these two legal adults haven’t been exposed to alcohol more.
Yeah, also while alcohol is dangerous in ways, it seems whack to blame the drinks for what happened with Ryan. Blame it on Ryan himself, blame it on misogyny and rape culture, but the alcohol was basically just there.
She wasn’t even drinking alcohol; IIRC he slipped something into her Sierra Mist.
(Or would that be “Starry” now, since they reformulated and renamed it to more closely imitate Sprite?)
That makes it even sillier for boozahol to be the bogeyman here. Nobody involved had even a sip on-panel. It’d make more sense for Joyce to be wary of 7-UP.
It’s not Dorothy’s place to police Joyce about alcohol, but there is a reason why alcohol even though Joyce wasn’t dosed in alcohol. Roofies and alcohol are both sedatives. Being dosed like that can make a person want not to be sedated recreationally.
It’s not her place and I think it’s being presented as such, but what it is showing is that she’s got trauma about that night, as well as some of the other first semester events.
Not as extreme as Joyce had in the aftermath, but we can see the effect in her behavior since. She blames herself for bringing Joyce into the dangerous situation and not watching out for her and she’s extending that blame to alcohol in general – or at least in similar situations.
It’s not her place, but her trauma don’t care.
Ok. It’s still stupid that them trying to drink is illegal
Okay, I should have said last time they were near a bunch of STRANGERS drinking alcohol. It wasn’t because of alcohol, but alcohol is going to be linked to the trauma in Dorothy’s mind. Anxiety isn’t rational.
Hang there! *hanging there*
Dorothy does like the I statements
Dorothy 2 – Joyce 4 in this strip.
Context matters
What’s the significance, to you?
That Dorothy is really close to identifying what the real issue is but can’t quite get there just yet
“Then I guess I get hurt.” Joyce again hitting what Dorothy needs to hear.
I think the thing the bouncer will be most skeptical of is why someone like Joyce is hanging out with someone like Dorothy
Nah, every friend group has a bubbly sexy friend and a stern mom friend
i’d think that most ppl would assume they were acouple within like 5 mins of hearing their vbanter haha
making new friends as adutls are prolly harder but there aer prolly friend groups that’d be unlikely/you’d never see if they weren’t class mates in shcool/college unless they had some common interest in joining the same team/sport or so lol
I doubt it would happen but… imagine Joe seeing them all dolled up trying to get into a club and assuming they are there to pick up guys. And he looks at Dorothy with this “I thought better of you look”. The sheer tables turning and whiplash from that would probably cause Dotty’s head to explode.
I hope Joe gets to see how nicely Joyce cleans up, because holy dang she does.
Where did you come from, where did you go
Where did you come from, Heart-Eyed Joe.
This is gonna end midly poorly
Not for Big Popcorn.
No make-up for Dorothy, sadly.
i’m sure all the stress lately and her demeanor could make her look older. but like given how surprisingly babyfaced some ppl are and if they’re aged well you could pass for younger at 25 lol. I was asked if i was a middle schooler when i was stil 30 ish but i’m asian and am short/not that much taller than a middle school boy in this city so yaeh
I wonder the context of the billboard, the place where Mike suffered the accident, Joyce going to get drunk first time and Trystan’s storyline.
different fire escape. Mike’s had windows and red brick.
oops, not red brick, but still a different wall. and railing.
Is it like “Jesus is watching you”? God acting as a antagonist against Joyce?
It is about Tristan’s storyline, and Joyce choosing to drink. I mostly agree with Hof below. I don’t think this is zero about Dorothy, but the plan to go out drinking is about being different than how she was before.
Really? Because Joyce took this initiative here: <a href="https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/changemore/"https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/changemore/.
Yes, it was right after she looked into Tristan’s Facebook account, when she was confronted with her christian past.
But why is Dorothy here, with her?
Sorry about my double negative. I think it is some about Dorothy.
Thanks. Don’t worry about it.
I love how Dorothy is giving hot chick advice.
It’s like Billie.
“You were cool back in high school but have no experience in the real world.”
I mean clubs/partying isn’t her scene but she does have more experience overall “I’ve slept with like 3 ppl” that’s gotta count for something
and she might not be ‘hot’ to bouncers/club goers the same way sal or billie would be ,but i can imagine them letting in ‘average’ ppl in just b/c they’re women versus men for ppl who’d be too intimidated to hit on ppl out of their league, drunkness aside
and depending on the type of nightclub, other than like showing skin/large cleavage i don’t think you’d be able to see faces that clearly on the dance floor in low lighting anyways (plus i imagine stereotypically for some guys i’m sure some can appreciate faces but they aren’t rly gonna pay attention to your lipgloss versus your overall outfit)
Frankly, I’m hoping we don’t see the worst case (Joyce getting busted, and the cops contacting Carol).
There are even worse scenarios than that…
Technically, yes, but I am not expecting Willis to repeat any storylines.
wouldn’t they report to the school first? joyce is technically an adult/at least 18 right? So other than contacting a relative for bail money idk if the parents would get involved, or her just telling them to contact her dad first
This is not about Dorothy at all. It about Joyce seeing the Tristan path and feeling the need to reject it thoroughly. That’s why we see the billboard. She’s being very brave here, when being the home schooled girl was safe.
I imagine Tristan is probably there, boinking underage girls.
Because people who talk like Tristan online are monstrous hypocrites.
Nice. And Joyce’s looking to the billboard…
actually mike’s gonna climb out of there like “WOW guess you’re going for drinks instead of being SAD ABOUT YOUR DEAD FRIEND HUH”
He is Rizzin!
He is Risan. Do you seek jamaharong?
If with all this suspense this night doesn’t become something unforgettable for both what a disappointment! Let’s hope they can go in that bar, have fun, maybe meet someone they know who shouldn’t be there (Jennifer, for example). If they can’t get in, Let’s hope they can still have a nice night together.
Lucy, who’s spent her whole day since lunch there.
Wow…. THAT would be Amazing!
I mean, it’s clearly a billboard for some movie. And almost certainly that movie is terrible.
Why do you assume that a movie based on Mike’s life would be terrible?
Semme got his spark burried hundreds of feet under the earth somewhere.
Sorry Joyce, you can be warm or you can be HOT.
PRAISE THE LOAF!