Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 22, 2026

In-town

by David M Willis on January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am
  • 02 – The One Where Jocelyne Returns
└ Tags: jocelyne, joe, joyce

Discussion (265) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Dana
    Dana
    January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

    Happy Dummingversary to me and to anyone else who found DoA via questionablecontent.net filler ten years ago!

    • Jo_cubstar
      Jo_cubstar
      January 21, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

      I found DoA through Shortpacked!, but I found Shortpacked! because Willis and JJ did link swaps to each other, but their link text was them insulting each other… I honestly think it’s still like that, but I haven’t checked in ages lol

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        January 21, 2025 at 12:19 am | #

        I don’t recall when/how I got into QC, but I got into DoA when someone I know shared the “Girls Don’t Get Real Pockets?” strip.

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          January 21, 2025 at 12:30 am | #

          QC was big enough that I think if you were into webcomics at all back in the day you’re just going to be passively aware of it. Not quite Penny Arcade or XKCD levels but not far removed.

          Don’t know how true that is nowadays.

          • Slartibeast Button, BIA
            Slartibeast Button, BIA
            January 21, 2025 at 12:36 am | #

            I am pretty sure the first webcomic I got into was Megatokyo, and still my favorite, sorry DYW and Jeph.

            (And Megatokyo is still alive, if four story strips and two non-story strips in 2024 counts as alive.)

            • Slartibeast Button, BIA
              Slartibeast Button, BIA
              January 21, 2025 at 12:38 am | #

              Although come to think of it I was into Girl Genius, Dork Tower, and PvP back when they were actual dead treeware comic books before any of the above.

              • Michael Steamweed
                Michael Steamweed
                January 21, 2025 at 7:32 am | #

                Something*Positive, Girl Genius, and Questionable Content. Shortly after, xkcd, then Dumbing of Age, then others. Lo, from the Long Ago days.

                Archaeologists and Historians have studied those times. Clearly all those webcomic authors were good friends and roommates.

                • Breetzy
                  Breetzy
                  January 21, 2025 at 3:17 pm | #

                  8 Bit Theater, Penny Arcade, VG Cats, Something Positive, Devils Panties, LFG, Girl Genius… So many old webcomics. Dominic Deegan is still an old fave.

                • Slartibeast Button, BIA
                  Slartibeast Button, BIA
                  January 21, 2025 at 8:40 pm | #

                  Did ancient webcomic artists really wear red capes and goggles and draw in high-altitude balloons?

                • Decidedly Orthogonal
                  Decidedly Orthogonal
                  January 21, 2025 at 11:33 pm | #

                  S*P was my gateway drug, way back in the before times of December 2001. Quickly picked up (and have since stopped following some of) more comics than I can remember. But what I continue to love about them is that they aren’t beholden to parent corporations. The artists are independent (baring some collaborative ‘houses’), and anything goes.

            • JA
              JA
              January 21, 2025 at 12:49 am | #

              It’d be nice if it’d update more than like two times per year. I’ve been waiting 15(?) years for Volume 7 to come out.

            • Thag Simmons
              Thag Simmons
              January 21, 2025 at 2:53 am | #

              My gateway was Order of the Stick, and I thought it was updating slowly these days

            • MAC089
              MAC089
              January 21, 2025 at 5:07 am | #

              I am still a keen fan of QC but gave up on Megatokyo when I realised that I hadn’t the faintest idea what was going on.

            • Doug D
              Doug D
              January 21, 2025 at 9:48 pm | #

              I think the first web comic I *really* got into was “Goats”. This was back in the Before Time, when there was no patreon or anything, and you had to fund them by buying merch. I still have a “My Killer Robot Skull-Fucked Your Honor Student” t-shirt from those days!

            • Firseal
              Firseal
              January 25, 2025 at 9:53 pm | #

              My first webcomic was 8-Bit Theatre.

              I am pretty sure I didn’t get here from there, but I did get to one of the predecessor comics somehow from that.

          • Azrael
            Azrael
            January 21, 2025 at 5:54 am | #

            I found DoA via Shortpacked, which I found through someone sharing the “I’m Batman and I can breath in space!” strip. Though I dropped out of reading it for much of the run, and only came back to it in the last couple of years to catch up.

        • Furie
          Furie
          January 21, 2025 at 4:37 am | #

          I got into it via a comics app that it turned out was ripping images from feeds and adding their own ads to monetise other people’s content. Fuck those guys, obviously, but kinda thankful to have found it.

      • Formedras
        Formedras
        January 21, 2025 at 2:29 am | #

        Sadly, according to the DoA link in QC, Dave Willis no longer eats butts.

        • Slartibeast Button, BIA
          Slartibeast Button, BIA
          January 21, 2025 at 3:04 am | #

          Too many preservatives in them these days.

          • Clif
            Clif
            January 21, 2025 at 3:07 pm | #

            Goes off to Google “World’s largest collection of preserved butts.”

            Returns with link to “World’s Largest Collection of Fossilized Poop”
            https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/admire-the-worlds-largest-collection-of-fossilized-poop-at-the-new-poozeum-in-arizona-180985309/

            • Firseal
              Firseal
              January 25, 2025 at 10:03 pm | #

              That is a horribly missed opportunity for them to call the exihibit the syp-oozeum

      • Imp
        Imp
        January 22, 2025 at 3:31 am | #

        I found QC through Shortpacked, funnily enough.

      • The Lurker
        The Lurker
        January 23, 2025 at 2:09 pm | #

        I got here through It’s Walky. But I got to QC through Girls With Slingshots or the Whiteboard.

    • BarerMender
      BarerMender
      January 21, 2025 at 12:36 am | #

      I joined in 2014 by reference from Captain Cassidy’s blog.

      • BarerMender
        BarerMender
        January 21, 2025 at 12:36 am | #

        Oh,no! I’m a lizard! I hate it.

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          January 21, 2025 at 2:08 am | #

          that’s an iguana, Fuckface

          change the capitalization of your email for a new gravitar

          • Marianne
            Marianne
            January 21, 2025 at 2:21 am | #

            I love how, even if you know “Fuckface” is the name of the iguana, that still looks like you’re insulting someone for not being able to properly distinguish an iguana 😂

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              January 21, 2025 at 2:22 am | #

              woop you’re right LOOOL XD

              • clif
                clif
                January 21, 2025 at 3:00 am | #

                The real question is how do you distinguish an iguana improperly.

                • eh, whatever
                  eh, whatever
                  January 21, 2025 at 4:52 am | #

                  By being Australian and calling a monitor lizard a “goanna”.

                • Nymph
                  Nymph
                  January 21, 2025 at 7:54 am | #

                  that’s pretty distinguished, yeah.

            • Schpoonman
              Schpoonman
              January 21, 2025 at 1:28 pm | #

              “AND NGPZ COMES IN WITH A TIRE IRON TO THE ANKLE!”

              • NGPZ
                NGPZ
                January 21, 2025 at 6:36 pm | #

                😂

          • Wizard
            Wizard
            January 21, 2025 at 9:09 pm | #

            Just sayin’, iguanas are lizards.

          • BarerMender
            BarerMender
            January 22, 2025 at 1:46 am | #

            I say it’s a lizard, and I say to hell with it.

            • BarerMender
              BarerMender
              January 22, 2025 at 1:46 am | #

              With a tip of the hat to E.B. White.

        • Decidedly Orthogonal
          Decidedly Orthogonal
          January 21, 2025 at 11:35 pm | #

          There’s an article about Grav Roulette on the Walkypedia.

          https://walkypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Grav_Roulette

    • Armadillo
      Armadillo
      January 21, 2025 at 12:37 am | #

      I know I found this comic directly before the timeskip (literally the last comic of the first semester with the big group shot. But as to how I found it… I genuinely have no idea. Maybe someone posted a link to it somewhere?

    • Kim
      Kim
      January 21, 2025 at 3:50 am | #

      This might actually be how I found it! 😮✨ I can’t remember, but it was around that time! 💖✨

      Thanks for bringing it up. And hapy tenth to you! 🙂💖✨

    • Dara
      Dara
      January 21, 2025 at 5:33 am | #

      I started following DoA when it was announced on Shortpacked! but I don’t remember how I found Shortpacked! which is to bad I guess?

      I did go back eventually and read Actually Everything. It was a ride. xD

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 21, 2025 at 6:48 am | #

      I came here from It’s Walky! but I don’t recall how I found that. Maybe found a link at Wapsi Square?

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      January 21, 2025 at 7:52 am | #

      This is me, and I came to QC through Something Positive!

    • Ed Callahan
      Ed Callahan
      January 21, 2025 at 8:36 am | #

      Sorry Dana, I hit Report by mistake.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      January 21, 2025 at 8:58 am | #

      I found it from Jon Rosenberg reposting a lot of Willis’ twitter posts and I was, “guess I’ll see who this is”

    • Chokfi
      Chokfi
      January 22, 2025 at 6:09 pm | #

      You know what, that is where I found it. Though I think while catching up later

    • Thallo
      Thallo
      January 23, 2025 at 10:23 am | #

      …oh gods, that WAS how I found this wasn’t it? That…does not seem right time wise, noooo.

    • Azrael
      Azrael
      January 24, 2025 at 1:05 pm | #

      I found “Roomies” via Campbell’s “Fans!” and just followed Willis’ succession of comics along from that.

      Speaking of first webcomics, mine was “Sluggy Freelance”. Came across a reference to Bun-bun in another source and have been traveling down a roughly 25 year long rabbit’s hole since.

  2. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

    Real talk: grammatical perfection in fiction is unnatural, occasionally have grammar flubs in your dialogue to make it feel like real people talking

    /said for no reason in particular

    • Puppeteer Nessus
      Puppeteer Nessus
      January 21, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

      Me too

    • Queen Anthai
      Queen Anthai
      January 21, 2025 at 12:09 am | #

      I’m a proofreader and intellectually I understand that, but it also makes my brain itchy. XD

      • Mark
        Mark
        January 21, 2025 at 6:50 am | #

        I’ve never been a proofreader, or trained as one, but I tend to mentally re-compose disturbing grammar or usage as I read.

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 3:13 pm | #

          What’s the most disturbing grammar you’ve run across?

          Perhaps I should specify, in English.

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      January 21, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

      I think it depends on the character for me. Joyce and Jocelyne using largely “correct” grammar makes sense for them IMHO.

      Whereas if someone were to write, say, Sonic the Hedgehog or Knuckles the Echidna using articulate grammar all the time (with occasional crumbs of slang, but from no later than 1969), it would just feel like the writer didn’t understand the characters at all.

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      January 21, 2025 at 12:21 am | #

      Feels like this one does this, no? Guess it depends on if you think of “tunes” as, like, a collective uncountable concept, but I would generally think of it a countable noun (as opposed to “music,” for instance).

    • Rose by Any other Name
      Rose by Any other Name
      January 21, 2025 at 1:05 am | #

      Fully disagree.
      Grammar exists to emulate speech. If you can say it, you can write it with proper grammar.
      That includes slang and dialects.

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        January 21, 2025 at 1:40 am | #

        I’m not sure what Ana meant, but I was thinking of it in terms of how speakers do occasionally make grammar mistakes– not in using slang or dialects or not bothering with prescriptive rules, but in that sometimes you say something and it comes out slightly off. Like if you are saying multiple adjectives for something and they don’t come out in the typical order, and it sounds a little odd– you’d probably say it differently the next time or if you thought it through, but also whatever because it’s not that big a deal.

        But also, that’s a level of reality I’m fine with losing in written media because it stands out more (to me at least).

        • Decidedly Orthogonal
          Decidedly Orthogonal
          January 22, 2025 at 6:40 am | #

          Yup. It’s similar to how shows and writing rarely address defecating unless it’s relevant to the plot. We know characters would have to do it far more often than is portrayed. It’s just not necessary.

      • foamy
        foamy
        January 21, 2025 at 2:44 am | #

        Only via circularly defining correct grammar to be “anything that is said”, which isn’t particularly *useful*.

        • clif
          clif
          January 21, 2025 at 2:48 am | #

          To the contrary, I find it very useful.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:14 am | #

      No worries. The phrase comes from “passe tyme”. And “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

    • Amelie Wikström
      Amelie Wikström
      January 21, 2025 at 12:20 pm | #

      I thought this was a comment about the language the characters have been using for a while which has, at times, seemed unnaturally formal. Didn’t realize there was a phrase that could be taken as imperfect grammar until I read the comments about it. What boundless pedantry.

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 3:16 pm | #

        Welcome to the Internet, Amelie.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      January 21, 2025 at 12:32 pm | #

      It’d be hard to tell the difference by listening, but Dina can tell that sort of thing, when it’s important.

      • HueSatLight
        HueSatLight
        January 21, 2025 at 1:34 pm | #

        me, a intellectual, for my whole life: “It should be Past Time, because it has to be a traditional way, from the past, to spend your free time. Like baseball.”

        until I looked up pastime today

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 3:19 pm | #

          Appropriate gravatar for a born intellectual!

          • HueSatLight
            HueSatLight
            January 21, 2025 at 6:23 pm | #

            [knowing wink]

            • Aura
              Aura
              January 21, 2025 at 7:16 pm | #

              WITCHCRAFT!

  3. BBCC
    BBCC
    January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

    Amy Grant and Rebecca St James will also get you made fun of, Joyce. 😛

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

      Oh, that’s right, Willis ordered a new Search for Sal season. Let’s roll the dice!

      • clif
        clif
        January 21, 2025 at 2:17 am | #

        Sure.

  4. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    January 21, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

    re: $80,

    I’m ready with vodka, a thick Slavic accent, and desire to CRUSH CAPITALISM 😤

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      January 21, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

      Alcohol does sound really, really nice right now.

      • RassilonTDavros
        RassilonTDavros
        January 21, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

        Fuck yeah, new Grav!

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      January 21, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

      Yes let’s overthrow laissez faire Capitalism and instate Social Democracy!

      • clif
        clif
        January 21, 2025 at 2:50 am | #

        Have we really given anarchy a fair chance?

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          January 21, 2025 at 3:05 am | #

          given anarchism’s definitive opposition to social pyramids and especially the coercive means used to establish and perpetuate them, and socialism’s goal of ending capitalist coercion in particular,

          anarchism is very much compatible with socialism, but not so much with social democracy, at least given the latter’s goal is merely to *reform* capitalism without long-term intent to see it abolished

  5. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    January 21, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    I was going to suggest Joyce probably has a lot of Disney movie soundtracks, but actually I had an evangelical friend as a kid and he wasn’t allowed to watch most of those.

    Too much magic and such. Talking animals were technically allowed but considered very iffy. I remember the day I brought home The Lion King on VHS (naturally banned, whatever newsletter his mom got this stuff from was VERY against visions of Holy Ghost Lion Dads and Baboon Shamanism). We basically planned a multi-stage whole heist to sneak him over to watch it.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      January 21, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

      Joyce explicitly wasn’t allowed to watch Tangled and Frozen, so most likely not.

    • ian livs
      ian livs
      January 21, 2025 at 12:06 am | #

      That’s wild. I’ve heard from a friend who knew someone in that same boat, too. Many of my fundie-evangelical peers and I grew up on mostly just Disney/other old kids stuff (and no cable TV or internet, ofc) but I can see why the magical elements might make some people clutch their pearls.

      • Doctor_Who
        Doctor_Who
        January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

        The one that broke my brain was that he was explicitly forbidden from ever watching ET.

        Sci-Fi was NOT banned in his house, because if it’s science (even fictional science) it isn’t magic. Even when it clearly IS magic; he was allowed to watch Star Wars, though personally I suspect that’s because his dad (much more chill than his mom; very Carol and Hank now that I think about it) was a Star Wars/Trek fan.

        ET though? Apparently the evangelical scuttlebutt was that he represented Jesus. He heals people, comes back from the dead, ascends to the heavens, and I guess there was some popular artwork that depicted Jesus with a glowing heart.

        And they weren’t offended that ET might be a metaphor for Jesus, they decided that the movie was literally saying Jesus was just an alien, and therefore blasphemous.

        • clif
          clif
          January 21, 2025 at 2:52 am | #

          I bet they loved The Life of Brian.

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 21, 2025 at 7:38 am | #

          So, I’m betting they were completely opposed to Star Trek V: What Does God Need With A Spaceship.

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        January 21, 2025 at 12:22 am | #

        Was this before or after the highly unsuccessful call to boycott Disney for giving benefits to same sex partners of employees?

        • ian livs
          ian livs
          January 22, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

          Way before that

  6. mindbleach
    mindbleach
    January 21, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    You don’t have to ideologically agree with music to enjoy it.

    Slayer alone is four incompatible directions.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      January 21, 2025 at 7:59 am | #

      No, but I don’t think that was the point. I think it was more Joyse not wanting to listen to heavily religious music while dealing with religious trauma.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        January 21, 2025 at 8:00 pm | #

        Also, a lot of her music is stuff she listened to because it was heavily religious. Not just a cool song that happened to be religious, but part of her religious indoctrination.

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          January 21, 2025 at 9:49 pm | #

          Also this, exactly yes.

  7. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    January 21, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    I get the sense that something is about to go horribly wrong, and for once that feeling has nothing to do with my personal life.

    Any ideas what could/will happen, and how bad it will be?

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      January 21, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

      Gravatar changes? Noooooooo…

      Welp, the search begins anew.

      • Kyrik Michalowski
        Kyrik Michalowski
        January 21, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

        No Billie/Jennifer thank you

        • Kyrik Michalowski
          Kyrik Michalowski
          January 21, 2025 at 12:06 am | #

          Acceptable for tonight.

          • clif
            clif
            January 21, 2025 at 2:20 am | #

            Quiter. We are doomed to search until achieving Sal.

      • mindbleach
        mindbleach
        January 21, 2025 at 12:20 am | #

        Wait, these are mutable? How?

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          January 21, 2025 at 12:30 am | #

          You can add invisible chars to your e-mail addy or if you have G-mail you can add digits to the end of the part in front of the @ to get a still-valid addy that will change your avvie.

          • RassilonTDavros
            RassilonTDavros
            January 21, 2025 at 12:53 am | #

            Not sure if this works for non-Gmail users, but I personally re-roll the Gravs by changing the capitalization of various letters in my e-mail address.

            • RassilonTDavros
              RassilonTDavros
              January 21, 2025 at 12:53 am | #

              liKe So!

              • RassilonTDavros
                RassilonTDavros
                January 21, 2025 at 12:56 am | #

                Yeah, I’m thinking Becky’s a better fit. Might make another go tomorrow though.

                • clif
                  clif
                  January 21, 2025 at 2:21 am | #

                  Good luck!

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              January 21, 2025 at 7:15 am | #

              Changing capitalization is the easiest way and should work everywhere.

              Email addresses aren’t case sensitive, but the gravatar hashing algorithm is.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

      I’ll say that’s probably a common feeling right now.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      January 21, 2025 at 12:35 am | #

      Yes, I have been terrified for my Trans friends for the next 4 years (had to remove a sub-conscious typo of “tears”). I have more Trans friends than most people, because I have a habit of inviting homeless people into my home and a large proportion were Trans.

    • Dara
      Dara
      January 21, 2025 at 12:38 am | #

      How about a full declaration of war on trans, nonbinary, and intersex people today by the new administration?

      That’s pretty bad.

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        January 21, 2025 at 1:06 am | #

        helpful reminder that an executive order can very easily be stricken down by federal judges as unconstitutional, even if it’s not gonna completely stop it it can at least by our homies and allies some time

        the situation is VERY BAD, but not completely hopeless

        in any case do not obey in advance

        believe me in CA we’re are going to do EVERYTHING in our power to make sure trans, NB, queer and other vulnerable minorities are safe

        even if and when that comes down to drawing a line in the sand 👀

        • Dara
          Dara
          January 21, 2025 at 2:20 am | #

          Even they admit a lot of this requires changes in law, but they absolutely will go for maximum enforcement everywhere they can.

          I’ve been studying the fundamentalist movement Willis here escaped from for decades. I know their shit, I know who wrote this, I know what they mean by it.

          Big trip line will be if they start cancelling existing travel documents. Watch for that.

          • NGPZ
            NGPZ
            January 21, 2025 at 2:30 am | #

            if we must go as to far as California and surrounding states becoming our own country, with our own economy, and even our own army and navy if need be, to protect the rights of vulnerable people seeking refuge, so be it

            our human rights, are those we will protect by any means necessary ✊🏽

            • Dara
              Dara
              January 21, 2025 at 3:12 am | #

              As much of a fighter as I am, I really don’t see Americans being willing to do that.

              Straights wouldn’t even give up a chicken sandwich to stop funding anti-gay politics. They’re not about to give up the country.

              Doesn’t mean don’t fight back, believe me, I’ve been in this a long time. We won last time, and that’s literally why they abandoned rational thought and empiricism to fight the fight again under new, dumber rules. I think we can win, but it’s gonna be a vicious, ugly fight, and it’ll depend upon keeping meaningful elections, which they absolutely want to eliminate (and are eliminating, anywhere they can).

              • NGPZ
                NGPZ
                January 21, 2025 at 3:43 am | #

                *Hopefully* it won’t have to come to becoming our own country.

                Even then, what exactly is “giving up the country” anyway?

                If anything, providing reduge to vulnerable minorities would be upholding the promise of a country which is *supposed* to be about freedom and equality, and with it MAXIMUM right to call themselves “Americans”.

                And if the bigoted assholes on the other part of the continent don’t like that, THEY are the ones who can dare to succeed again and see what happens.

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 21, 2025 at 3:44 am | #

                  *refuge to vulnerable minorities

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 21, 2025 at 4:11 am | #

                  *secede again

                • thejeff
                  thejeff
                  January 21, 2025 at 7:22 am | #

                  Hopefully it won’t come to that because any attempt at secession will lead to civil war and that will get really bad, really fast.

                  There’s an awful lot states can do to mitigate damage short of that, though at the same time one of the worst consequences will be the feds letting loose the worst impulses of the more regressive states.

                • Nymph
                  Nymph
                  January 21, 2025 at 8:17 am | #

                  Right, but the point isn’t “that’s a bad idea” although I think it is. The point was: people won’t do that. They won’t give up the most basic shit to defend us by-and-large, they aren’t going to go to war and secede.

                  People overwhelmingly voted for Trump. It’s a fucking nightmare and I wish it wasn’t true, but the FACT is that people had an easy way to make sure this didn’t happen and they were either complete morons who voted for him or they failed to vote. (Or they voted third party in a two party system, which is also just a terrible idea).

                  It’s important to focus on things you can actually affect, on help you can actually offer, rather than pipe dreams of California becoming its own country. I know we’re all stressed, but sweeping assurances of things that absolutely will not happen aren’t helpful. Sorry.

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 21, 2025 at 2:38 pm | #

                  whether or drawing a line in the sand happens de jure, it’s almost certainly gonna happen de facto

                  one thing’s for sure, official secession and the gruesome shit that come with it ain’t needed for the masses to acknowledge that at this point, this country is “United” in name only

                  the other side use words like “freedom”, “equality”, “individual rights”,

                  they may be using the same “English” words and grammar, but they are in fact speaking a very different language than we are

                  more literally so than you may think.

                  Over in Europe, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Croatian and Serbian all used to be the same language, Serbo-Croatian, and to this day they all use majorly the same vocabulary and grammar as they did before

                  but yet they all ardently affirm they speak different languages. Why? It is because their speakers all have very different and fiercely incompatible views on government and civics, important political and cultural differences which are extremely important to them but may be unintelligible to outsiders

                  no less over here, it is not so much a matter of fostering official division, but of doing away with the Illusion of Unity

                  we may not be able to affect the government-drawn lines defining *official* territory, but we don’t (or rather *shouldn’t*) even need to

                  for some of the greatest power of our liberation fronts, and one of the most important elements of a bloodless revolution, via the work of activists and creators alike, comes from long-term mass promotion of a shift in mentality

                • Uly
                  Uly
                  January 21, 2025 at 2:51 pm | #

                  Nymph: People overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

                  “Overwhelmingly” is a bit of an exaggeration. He got 49.8% of the popular vote. Harris got 48.3%.

                • Clif
                  Clif
                  January 21, 2025 at 3:29 pm | #

                  Not even the states voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

                  If people want to do something effective about the next four years, they can join the ACLU. This would actually be useful, while talk of succession is not.

                • thejeff
                  thejeff
                  January 21, 2025 at 7:58 pm | #

                  NGPZ: Not sure exactly what shift in mentality you’re talking about when you bring up secession, but regardless of mentality, those government drawn lines defining territory are going to continue to matter, since the federal government will continue to enforce its laws (and executive orders).

                  Which doesn’t mean, as I said, that there isn’t a lot states can do to resist.

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 21, 2025 at 9:33 pm | #

                  indeed, for the sake of resistance, it will very much pay for allies to know the difference between what legal fiat says must *officially* be (de jure) and how effectively them laws can actually be enforced in *practice* (de facto)

                  for instance, albeit US public schools were de-segregated in 1954 de jure, for the longest time afterwards they were still very much segregated de facto, on account of long-standing economic disparities and cultural circumstances sustaining the practice

                  during the Prohibition, alcohol production and consumption were illegal *de jure* (with sparse exceptions such as in medicine and industrial use) but those VERY much continued *de facto* on account that the law was virtually impossible to enforce in practice, if only because breaking those laws was largely supported by it’s whole own culture defining the “Roaring 20s”

                  As we are also reminded in works like On Tyranny, most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.

                  If we know that, we can use that.

                • Nymph
                  Nymph
                  January 21, 2025 at 9:54 pm | #

                  @NGPZ – I’m not reading that many paragraphs when I already have the vibe of what you’re saying, so apologies for that I just don’t have the spoons right now.

                  I think it’s important to focus on things that are actually going to help people. If you think it’s important to talk in these grandiose ways about shit that just isn’t going to happen, and even if they did they would start a literal war, that’s totally for you to decide. I disagree with you, but what else is new.

                  @Uly – Fair. I’ll admit I was thinking of the electoral votes and not the popular vote when I spoke on that. The rest of my point still stands.

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 21, 2025 at 10:25 pm | #

                  uh, what exactly isn’t going to happen, how would it start a war, and how do you know it’s what I’m saying given you said you didn’t read the paragraphs?

                  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                  But given you said you don’t have the spoons, completely understandable.

                • Nymph
                  Nymph
                  January 22, 2025 at 12:50 am | #

                  California seceding.
                  Because America doesn’t like secession.
                  I started reading and skimmed a bit, just didn’t read in detail.

                  Remembering why I usually don’t bother responding to you. 🙄🙄Good bye again.

      • Dana W
        Dana W
        January 21, 2025 at 2:12 am | #

        I like how they claim its becose they care about women. They do horrible things to women, they don’t even want them to vote. They just think this will play well with gullible leftists of they use what they see as feminist buzzwords.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          January 21, 2025 at 7:23 am | #

          “Women must be protected, even if they have to be controlled.” Really it’s the other way around of course, but it’s an approach that even appeals to many women.

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 21, 2025 at 7:59 am | #

          We should expect that the new administration will do everything it can to (1) control women and (2) force birth rates up. They are scared about future population declines.

          • Nymph
            Nymph
            January 21, 2025 at 8:18 am | #

            Yeah, I’ll admit that I had a really horrible creeping feeling about any extra reasons WHY they’re defining male and female by which half of the baby-making we are.

          • NGPZ
            NGPZ
            January 21, 2025 at 1:33 pm | #

            the whole “population decline” thing is just bullshit

            same with “overpopulation”, REAL experts predict that the world population will level off at around 10 billion people, extrapolating shit from the average global birthrate comes from the fundamental error of assuming each country started industrializing at exactly the same time 9-9

            • Charles Phipps
              Charles Phipps
              January 21, 2025 at 7:22 pm | #

              Note that Malthusian economics was the early environmentalist movement but also linked with fascism.

              Because it wasn’t, “Too many people.” It was “too men of THOSE people.”

              It justified the Irish Famine’s response.

              • NGPZ
                NGPZ
                January 21, 2025 at 7:35 pm | #

                yep, very easily goes with the marked obsession with “social decadence” definitive of fascist mentality, as also seen in Mary’s recent attempt at recruiting Joyce (-_-)

                https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/01-love-dares-you-to-change/advances/

            • Dana W
              Dana W
              January 21, 2025 at 7:55 pm | #

              I used to be a conservative Republican, its not the birth rate in general they are scared of its the decline in WHITE children they are afraid of. They know that white Americans are not having children fast enough to replace themselves. And THAT terrifies them. They assume that if they become a minority they will be treated the way they treated everybody else.

              • Charles Phipps
                Charles Phipps
                January 21, 2025 at 8:41 pm | #

                That helped move me from being a conservative as well.

                Especially when I realized what the real reason for a lot of anti-choice people’s takes were. Because they sure as shit weren’t concerned for the mother or what happened to the child after birth.

    • Charles Phipps
      Charles Phipps
      January 21, 2025 at 9:13 am | #

      The weirdest comfort I can offer is from a trans friend. “I’m cautious but I believe that the massive changes the fascists want would require them to be a different combination of stupid, lazy, and corrupt than they are right now. Infighting will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the next four years.”

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        January 21, 2025 at 1:17 pm | #

        I mostly find hope in recognizing that the communities I care about have been in worse situations before and have gotten through them before. Now, that’s not meant as “everything will be fine”– there will be needless suffering, for many people, and it may take a long time to start to make progress again. It’s not a short-term hope for me, but a long-term hope that communities will continue on.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          January 21, 2025 at 7:21 pm | #

          1407 days until it’s over.

  8. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    January 21, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    What music is even hip with kids today? Billie Eilish?

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      January 21, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

      The Beatles? That’s what the kids listen to; right?

      • Mada
        Mada
        January 21, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

        The Beatles put out a new single a couple years ago and the kpop fans went apoplectic and bought so many BTS singles it pushed the Beatles out of the top 10 completely.

    • ian livs
      ian livs
      January 21, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      A lot of the teenagers I know are going through a phase where they listen to the same pop-punk stuff that a lot of us grew up with, oddly enough? idk if it’s because the teen librarian is also in my age group or what, but I’m not complaining

      • Dana W
        Dana W
        January 21, 2025 at 2:08 am | #

        I saw a kid today, a teen wearing an AC/DC Back in Black shirt. I was 15 when this came out in 1980. I am now 59. I’m not against it, its great to see the shirts, I just don’t get it. Its like if in 1980 I was wearing a T shirt for Johnny Ace or the Ink Spots.

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      January 21, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

      Recent students of mine love this song.

      • Mada
        Mada
        January 21, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

        (Together Forever is better.)

        Also he does a decent cover of “Everlong”

        • Yumi
          Yumi
          January 21, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

          The kids weren’t requesting those.

        • Dara
          Dara
          January 21, 2025 at 3:23 am | #

          [finds Together Forever]

          …this isn’t a Pokémon song? How is this not a Pokémon song? Is it just me? It can’t be just me. This just screams Pokémon to me.

        • Schpoonman
          Schpoonman
          January 21, 2025 at 1:10 pm | #

          His cover of Everlong is pretty fantastic. Just him and a guitar was fantastic, imagine him as a frontman with Dave on drums.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 21, 2025 at 8:01 am | #

        That. Shall. Live. Forever.

        • Schpoonman
          Schpoonman
          January 21, 2025 at 1:21 pm | #

          I got got, I’ll admit it. Yumi, are they actually asking to listen to that or did you just style on everyone who clicked the link?

          • Yumi
            Yumi
            January 21, 2025 at 1:29 pm | #

            They did honestly love Rick Rolling. These were kids who were like 10 to 12, and I was kind of amazed by the longevity of it. One of my students had the song come on in the middle of his talent show performance.

      • ian livs
        ian livs
        January 22, 2025 at 12:06 am | #

        It genuinely slaps

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      January 21, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

      I don’t know, I wasn’t hip with the music of the teens even when I was a teen.

      • clif
        clif
        January 21, 2025 at 3:02 am | #

        Same. But then the Beatles improved.

        • Dara
          Dara
          January 21, 2025 at 3:25 am | #

          How, by breaking up?

          (kidding, kidding…)

          • Schpoonman
            Schpoonman
            January 21, 2025 at 1:08 pm | #

            The devastation that would come to the world of popular music from letting Ringo back into their band was only outdone by Lars Ulrich staying in Metallica all these years.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        January 21, 2025 at 4:48 am | #

        Pretty sure when I was a teenager, everyone was listening to They Might Be Giants, folk music, the Cats soundtrack, and that Discworld album by Dave Greenslade. The charts just didn’t reflect this because of the squares, man.

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          January 21, 2025 at 5:48 am | #

          That week when everyone got really into old sea shanties was the first time I knew what it felt like to be in touch with the musical zeitgeist

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            January 21, 2025 at 7:25 am | #

            I’m so far out of touch with the musical zeitgeist that even though I’m into old sea shanties, I missed that week until I found out about it a year or more later.

          • Michael Steamweed
            Michael Steamweed
            January 21, 2025 at 8:02 am | #

            I’m still fond over discovering Gregorian chants, along with tens of millions in my age group.

      • Looney
        Looney
        January 21, 2025 at 10:33 am | #

        me too. i was in high school in 2015 and i was only just then discovering the foo fighters about twenty years late. i have no idea what is on the radio right now.

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 3:34 pm | #

          Doesn’t matter. Most people aren’t listening to their music on the radio.

    • Uly
      Uly
      January 21, 2025 at 2:55 pm | #

      Probably… Taylor Swift? I’m gonna say Taylor Swift.

      But my niece is, inexplicably, a fan of 90s music. We discovered a mutual appreciation of Postmodern Jukebox three days before they came here on concert, and she was both the youngest and also by far the most enthusiastic person in that crowd. A whole bunch of people in their 40s and 50s, two teens.

  9. jeffepp
    jeffepp
    January 21, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

    Go meet Sal, and that one dude that hangs out with her, who’s name escapes Joyce.

    • Dean
      Dean
      January 21, 2025 at 12:17 am | #

      Nightguy?

      • clif
        clif
        January 21, 2025 at 3:04 am | #

        –

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 21, 2025 at 8:03 am | #

          Perfect gravatar choice is perfect.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      January 21, 2025 at 7:25 am | #

      Hat?

  10. Jeremiah
    Jeremiah
    January 21, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    Never pasa the aux to Joyce. She will thank you for this later.

    • clif
      clif
      January 21, 2025 at 3:09 am | #

      I have decided to believe that aux is Italian for ox.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        January 21, 2025 at 2:06 pm | #

        Your mom is Italian for ox!

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 3:36 pm | #

          That’s what Mike said.

  11. Queezle
    Queezle
    January 21, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

    I love how well Jocelyne knows her sister. Does Gravatar change mean we could get Jocelyne?

    • ian livs
      ian livs
      January 21, 2025 at 12:09 am | #

      asldkfj that’d be so neat! (but hey, at least I’m Joyce’s *other* sister, hehe)

    • Sirksome
      Sirksome
      January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

      There has to be a Jocelyne one right? I mean even Lyle gets a grav and we only saw him like one time.

      • AMagicalDuck
        AMagicalDuck
        January 21, 2025 at 12:29 am | #

        I had to check the wiki because I straight up could not remember who Lyle is despite having read both series he’s in like 5 times

      • AMagicalDuck
        AMagicalDuck
        January 21, 2025 at 12:35 am | #

        Turns out there is a Jocelyne

  12. Queen Anthai
    Queen Anthai
    January 21, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

    Awww, I want to go back to being Blowjob Cat. 🙁

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 21, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

      change the capitalization of your email 😉

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

        Is Blowjob Cat still in the pool?

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          January 21, 2025 at 12:18 am | #

          of course? why wouldn’t they be? XD

          • Thag Simmons
            Thag Simmons
            January 21, 2025 at 12:25 am | #

            I hadn’t been seeing them, and I know sometimes new avatars replace older ones.

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              January 21, 2025 at 12:27 am | #

              heck I saw Needfuldoer with them just yesterday LOL

              • clif
                clif
                January 21, 2025 at 2:30 am | #

                Blowjob cat is easy. Sal is hard.

                • Thag Simmons
                  Thag Simmons
                  January 21, 2025 at 5:49 am | #

                  I’m glad to see it’s still in the pool, it’s a good avatar

              • Needfuldoer
                Needfuldoer
                January 21, 2025 at 7:32 am | #

                What?

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

      You could copy the picture you want and actually set it as your Gravatar; that way it could be the same even long after the current Gravatar cycle.

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        January 21, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

        Yeah, I did that with the Bloodrose avatar after it got removed from the pool.

        • HueSatLight
          HueSatLight
          January 21, 2025 at 10:39 pm | #

          :O there was a Bloodrose avatar?

  13. JD
    JD
    January 21, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

    “woof $80!” is always a fun activity with friends.

    • clif
      clif
      January 21, 2025 at 3:11 am | #

      Expensive after a while though.

  14. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    January 21, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

    Poor Jocelyn doesn’t realize Joyce may soon start to snark back.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:05 am | #

      The real snark has been inside her all along.

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 6:18 pm | #

        I thought it was the snark she made along the way.

  15. Steve
    Steve
    January 21, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

    By the sliding time scale, Rich Mullins and dctalk are college kids’ parents’ music. No idea what Christian or recently ex-Christian college kids listen to these days.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:07 am | #

      Is…Is that a Spanky? Lo, I have not seen of the Our Gang in decades!

    • CWA
      CWA
      January 22, 2025 at 10:26 am | #

      I think Joyce would listen to her parent’s music. I think that is right up her alley.

  16. Cheshrin
    Cheshrin
    January 21, 2025 at 12:17 am | #

    I have nothing constructive to add to the comment section, I just saw everyone else talking about the Gravatar pool getting re-rolled and I didn’t want to dig through the archives to see what my new roulette-assigned internet face is.

    • Cheshrin
      Cheshrin
      January 21, 2025 at 12:18 am | #

      Sad Ethan! I think Ethan was one of my first ever gravs nearly a decade ago (MFW the passage of time) so this feels right.

  17. Suet
    Suet
    January 21, 2025 at 12:23 am | #

    Will Jocelyne see more of Joyce’s art? meet Sarah? None of the above and hi-jinx happen instead?

    “yo pass the aux cord” “u better not play Rich Mullins” “…”

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      January 21, 2025 at 4:27 am | #

      [ Hammered dulcimer intensifies ]

  18. AMagicalDuck
    AMagicalDuck
    January 21, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

    Need a new gravitar

    • AMagicalDuck
      AMagicalDuck
      January 21, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

      No

      • AMagicalDuck
        AMagicalDuck
        January 21, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

        Did you know Gravitar is the name of an Atari game

        • AMagicalDuck
          AMagicalDuck
          January 21, 2025 at 12:33 am | #

          It came out in 1982 in arcades and was released on the 2600 the following year

          • AMagicalDuck
            AMagicalDuck
            January 21, 2025 at 12:34 am | #

            I just realised I’ve been spelling Gravatar wrong which makes the connection to the video game far more tenuous

            • clif
              clif
              January 21, 2025 at 2:36 am | #

              Maybe you’ve been spelling it right and the Gravatar people spelled it wrong.

              • Mark
                Mark
                January 21, 2025 at 7:05 am | #

                Maybe they spelled it that way because (a) it’s more appropriate to their function and (b) please don’t sue us Atari!

        • Dana W
          Dana W
          January 21, 2025 at 2:05 am | #

          I remember. I’m old.

          • Clif
            Clif
            January 21, 2025 at 3:40 pm | #

            I’m old, but I keep forgetting.

  19. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    January 21, 2025 at 12:58 am | #

    Despite coming out today, reading this comic feels like discovering a meme template which you’ve seen used for years and only just discovered the source. It just feels “meme template”.

  20. Ike
    Ike
    January 21, 2025 at 1:17 am | #

    What’s the etiquette of informing Willis of mistakes in this comic? I’ve never been early enough to catch one before. Or is it not a mistake and saying “pass time” instead of “pastime” is an American cultural difference?

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 21, 2025 at 1:19 am | #

      is cultural difference pretty sure

    • clif
      clif
      January 21, 2025 at 2:45 am | #

      “Pass time” is short for “a way to pass time.” A pastime is an activity.

      • eh, whatever
        eh, whatever
        January 21, 2025 at 5:28 am | #

        And that’s what a popular pastime is.

        Why pastime isn’t spelled passtime is beyond me, though. Must be the same stinginess that gave us fulfill…

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 21, 2025 at 8:11 am | #

        The phrase came from “passe tyme”. So “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 3:44 pm | #

          Something something analogy pasgass.

    • Stacyswirl
      Stacyswirl
      January 21, 2025 at 3:40 am | #

      I wondered the same thing, it seems to me to be one of those commonly mis-said phrases, like “for all intensive purposes” instead of the correct “for all intents and purposes”. The “a way to pass time” definition seems like a retroactive justification for it. It really stood out to me as a wrong thing for Joe to say, and also so strange because part of why it is commonly mis-said is that it sounds the same, but I’ve never seen it written down, just spoken.

      • eh, whatever
        eh, whatever
        January 21, 2025 at 5:28 am | #

        It can’t be missaid if it’s pronounced the same. That’s logically impossible.

        It can only be miswritten, misspelled, as it has been here.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      January 21, 2025 at 4:25 am | #

      No you’re right, it should be “pastime”.

      • Zaxares
        Zaxares
        January 21, 2025 at 5:03 am | #

        Yep. In this particular context it should indeed be “pastime” that Joe’s saying. It doesn’t really bother me enough to raise a fuss about it, but it IS an error. XD

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      January 21, 2025 at 5:55 am | #

      That doesn’t really matter.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:11 am | #

      No worries. The phrase is originally “passe tyme”. So “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

    • Suet
      Suet
      January 21, 2025 at 11:07 am | #

      popular pass (nah, I’ll pass if we’re going to do that) time

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      January 21, 2025 at 1:40 pm | #

      In Joe’s head, it’s two words, so his speech bubble is fine.

    • Barf Ninjason
      Barf Ninjason
      January 26, 2025 at 10:33 pm | #

      It’s supposed to be “pastime” even in ‘Murica, so either Willis or Joe has it wrong. Although, to be fair to either, it DOES sound more like “pass time.”

  21. Dana W
    Dana W
    January 21, 2025 at 2:04 am | #

    Hey I LIKE the mall! But my Mall is the Mall of America.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:12 am | #

      That thing is huge.

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 3:49 pm | #

        It has to be in order to hold America.

        What?

        • Aura
          Aura
          January 21, 2025 at 7:49 pm | #

          This America’s faulty, can we please return it?

        • Dana W
          Dana W
          January 21, 2025 at 11:59 pm | #

          Google it, its so big the center has an indoor amusement park with multiple coasters.

          • Jess
            Jess
            January 22, 2025 at 12:35 am | #

            And an aquarium underneath it!
            Damn I miss camp snoopy.

  22. zims
    zims
    January 21, 2025 at 2:36 am | #

    Someday Joyce will graduate to Skillet.

  23. darkoneko
    darkoneko
    January 21, 2025 at 2:49 am | #

    It’s all Js today

  24. clif
    clif
    January 21, 2025 at 2:55 am | #

    Sal achieved!!!

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 21, 2025 at 8:13 am | #

      Congrats! May your newfound gravatar identity reign long!

  25. Daibhid C
    Daibhid C
    January 21, 2025 at 4:44 am | #

    Someone revising the thing they just said but in the exact same tone (or in the case of comics, in the exact same pose, so you know they said it in the exact same tone) is one of my favourite jokes ever.

  26. Doopyboop
    Doopyboop
    January 21, 2025 at 5:42 am | #

    Oh man, the third panel takes me back. That desire to have nice school affiliated shirts and accessories but everything is WAY overpriced.

  27. Acebender
    Acebender
    January 21, 2025 at 5:52 am | #

    Someone get Joyce a more diverse music taste

  28. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    January 21, 2025 at 7:45 am | #

    Great double-take punchline, and totally in character.

  29. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    January 21, 2025 at 8:54 am | #

    Having left christianity and still listening some christian songs. From any reasons, from nostalgia to your love from key-change-songs….

    Like, who never??

  30. Kammon
    Kammon
    January 21, 2025 at 8:56 am | #

    Time for Jocelyne to meet Carla?

    • Da Boy
      Da Boy
      January 21, 2025 at 5:49 pm | #

      Would be funny if Ruttech was supplying military gear to whatever conflict Jocelyne is protesting. The sweet sweet drama.

  31. ADD
    ADD
    January 21, 2025 at 9:09 am | #

    Hey now, this is the new Joyce. This is the Joyce who isn’t afraid to try new things. Some of it could be PFR!

    • Clif
      Clif
      January 21, 2025 at 3:53 pm | #

      PFR = Pretty Far Rout

  32. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    January 21, 2025 at 9:10 am | #

    The third panel is Joyce’s plots world domination face.

  33. staszu13
    staszu13
    January 21, 2025 at 9:38 am | #

    I love Joyce’s self confident Joyce Face

  34. Pergola
    Pergola
    January 21, 2025 at 10:48 am | #

    I will not play gravatar roulette.

    • Clif
      Clif
      January 21, 2025 at 12:46 pm | #

      Well, I don’t have Robin, Amber, Amazigirl, or Jacob yet, so I’m going to keep going. Usually Sal is the last one I get, but she showed up early this time.

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 6:25 pm | #

        Update. Have Amber and Jacob. Still no Robin and … have I seen Amazigirl this time around? I mean I can understand retiring Mary, for example, but Amazigirl?

        • Clif
          Clif
          January 21, 2025 at 6:48 pm | #

          Argh. Reviewed common avatars from the last few days. No Amazigirl. However it appears that I have not yet found Robin, Ruth, Becky or Ethen. Ruth appears to be the rare one this time instead of Sal

          • HueSatLight
            HueSatLight
            January 21, 2025 at 10:42 pm | #

            I’ll keep an eye out for AG

          • Clif
            Clif
            January 21, 2025 at 10:43 pm | #

            I am mistaken. Going back a few days there are a number instances of Amazigirl.

            • Clif
              Clif
              January 21, 2025 at 10:49 pm | #

              At this point I have Robin and Ruth, but have added Liz and Amazigirl to the list. Additionally there are two different avatars I was counting as Lucy. I’m going to have to seek some clarity.

              • Clif
                Clif
                January 21, 2025 at 10:59 pm | #

                And now I’ve got Liz. So Becky, Ethan and Amazigirl to go.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      January 21, 2025 at 3:28 pm | #

      Yes, you will. 🪓

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 6:50 pm | #

        and may have already won.

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 21, 2025 at 4:41 pm | #

      Fair, Malaya a pretty good one anyway ^^

  35. Kyulen
    Kyulen
    January 21, 2025 at 12:03 pm | #

    Sounds like Joyce needs to try listening to new music and expand her music taste.

    • Charles Phipps
      Charles Phipps
      January 21, 2025 at 2:39 pm | #

      I imagine it would go like her experiences with sushi.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      January 21, 2025 at 3:49 pm | #

      Joyce will get really into Weird Al, but won’t know any of the original songs.

      • Da Boy
        Da Boy
        January 21, 2025 at 5:51 pm | #

        I wonder what her take on Amish Paradise would be

      • Mark
        Mark
        January 21, 2025 at 5:55 pm | #

        Heh, it took me a long while to figure out that some of his stuff was parody of specific songs*: I’d never heard the originals. E.g. Another One Rides the Bus. Others I had heard, and recognized (I Love Rocky Road).

        ———-
        * As opposed to parody of styles/genres, like Those Were the Good Old Days or Christmas at Ground Zero.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          January 21, 2025 at 7:20 pm | #

          That is actually fairly common as I understand it. So much so it’s called “The Weird Al Effect” by TV tropes.

  36. ZerglingOne
    ZerglingOne
    January 21, 2025 at 5:09 pm | #

    Joyce needs power metal in her life. Stories of valiant knights slaying dragons and riding unicorns to syncopated minor scales.

    • Clif
      Clif
      January 21, 2025 at 6:53 pm | #

      That … sounds interesting. Is that actually a thing.

      • Clif
        Clif
        January 21, 2025 at 7:01 pm | #

        Holy Cow!!! It is a thing! Currently listening to Best Of POWER METAL Songs – Compilation Vol.1. Thank You, oh ZerglingOne!!!!!!!!!!

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          January 21, 2025 at 9:53 pm | #

          Check out the movie version of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme, if you want a real jam.

          • Clif
            Clif
            January 21, 2025 at 10:53 pm | #

            Will do. I give about 50% chance you are taking advantage of my gullibility.

  37. Mr.Morningstar
    Mr.Morningstar
    January 21, 2025 at 5:54 pm | #

    We could hang out and smoke some weed, and fill our bellies with DIET soda and play burnout revenge for the PS2

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 21, 2025 at 7:06 pm | #

      ngl that actually sounds perfect ^^

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May 3, 2025 - FCBD @ Laughing Ogre Comics in Columbus, Ohio

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David M Willis!
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Ryan North @ryannorth.ca ⋅ 2h
I experience comedy as it was intended: as a blurry screenshot of an original post then shared by a unrelated sketchy aggregrator account and finally posted as an image on cracked dot com
it's the post threaded below, if you click through the individual images have alts. it's better
ryannorth.ca's user avatarRyan North @ryannorth.ca ⋅ 1m
I'm so used to bar bathrooms with cutesy signs that I had to stop here and ask myself if I was a Mario or a Wario
a sign with an M on it that is definitely Mario adjacent
an upside down m, also known as a
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2h
kid asked what "sexy" means we said oh that's when somebody is looking or acting in a way that makes you want to be romantic with them, in a kissing way, not a friendly way kid: oh so like how turk and jd are like on scrubs
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kc g reen @kcg.bsky.social ⋅ 2h
TODAY is the BIRTHDAY of my brother from the red clay of oklahoma: @wigu.org !!!!!!!! LOVE THAT MAN@!!!!!
me and jeffrey!!!
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Fuck it. Trans folks need MATERIAL SUPPORT. @distributeaid.org is launching an HRT Harm Reduction Toolkit that provides 1 year of medical supplies needed to take injection-based HRT. We were planning to go live in January, but I'm not waiting. Fund the kits here: distributeaid.org/hrt-harm-red...
HRT - Harm Reduction Toolkit

A white first aid kit icon with a pastel pink cross, overlaid onto a pastel blue background. 

Distribute Aid Logo

Link to the fundraiser (available in the post text).
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they/them might be giants ☭ @babadookspinoza.bsky.social ⋅ 6m
I block all accounts on sight. Nothing personal, just don’t like accounts and the things they post.
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www.ebay.com/itm/23610735... Cliffjumper's donezo in two hours
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8h
can feel this writer's delight in pretending the ninth season didn't exist
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🏳️‍⚧️ Alexandra Merideth Erin [she/her] @alexandraerin.com ⋅ 16h
Victor Frankenstein, inventor of making up a guy to get mad at
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8h
APPS!!!!!
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
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Kel McDonald @kelmcdonald.bsky.social ⋅ 20h
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Sorcery 101 is 20! Here is Danny with a cake
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Hagai Palevsky (he/him) @dialhforhagai.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
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Gale Galligan @galegalligan.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
choose your fighter
Simply drawn comic in black and white with blue-gray spot color.

Panel 1: A rabbit looks at a book. 
Rabbit: this comic is very popular, but i don't like it!

Panel 2: The rabbit flips through the book.
Rabbit: that's cool! i wonder what about it is resonating with people
SFX: flip

Panel 3: White text on black background spans the width of the page.
Caption: why don't i like it?
Caption: what would i do differently?
Caption: what can i learn from this?

Panel 4: Borderless panel. Sequential drawings of the rabbit reading the book.
Rabbit 1: flip
Rabbit 2: hm!
Rabbit 3: huh
Rabbit 4, looking up from the book: comics are neat!
Two panel comic drawn simply with black lines and blue-gray spot color.

Panel 1: Rabbit looks at a book.
Rabbit: this comic is very popular, but i don't like it!

Panel 2: The rabbit closes the book with a peaceful smile.
Rabbit: well, good for them!
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Olivia Stephens @oliveoilcorp.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
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Excerpt from a Comicsbeat article by E.B. Hutchins about Alex Graham's racist ass comic:  

Is there somewhere in this article where I could talk about the very real feeling of jealousy and how it can make even the nicest people into assholes? No, that’s not this article. It’s not this article because we’ve let appealing to white people’s comfort get in the way of progress to the point where our culture, democracy, and future is at stake. Appealing to white people’s comfort is how we got to where BIPOC and LGBT people are being erased from history all together because the dark history of this country makes white people uncomfortable.
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It's Bigger Than Alex Graham's Comic: An Instagram post has stirred up a hornet's next of controversy by suggesting that comics by marginalized groups are overrated
header image - Commentary: It’s Bigger Than Alex Graham’s Comic (With An Update)
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Commentary: It’s Bigger Than Alex Graham’s Comic (With An Update)
An Instagram post by Alex Graham has stirred up a hornet's next of controversy
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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
And only Luigi is being charged with murder
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If you’re lost, in a nutshell, artist Alex Graham posted a whiny little comic about how comics she thinks are bad win acclaim because of the white guilt of comic readers bsky.app/profile/jesn...
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Darren M. A. Calvert @dmacalvert.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Finally I created a perfect blend of Popeye and Donald Duck:
A blend of Popeye and Donald Duck with Popeye's face and skin colour and Donald Duck's body shape and clothing.  He looks great.
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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
"Calarts Style" is the "woke" of shitty cartoonists Doesn't really mean anything other than "I don't like it, but I'm going to pretend my objection is moral/cultural to make it feel important"
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
i wake up everything's calarts style this rug is calarts style your face is calarts style the sky is calarts style the increasing crescendo of calarts style from beneath the floorboards, i can hear its symphony whispering to me its awful refrain: "get something real to hate"
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
This shirt where the inked Marvel profile character arts are recolored in cartoon colors is an abomination.
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
tfw you see a round cartoon mouth
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
A story about why Democrats are losers, in four parts.
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I won the Think of a Decepticon challenge by thinking of Predacon Scorponok, AMA
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
i wake up everything's calarts style this rug is calarts style your face is calarts style the sky is calarts style the increasing crescendo of calarts style from beneath the floorboards, i can hear its symphony whispering to me its awful refrain: "get something real to hate"
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Bill Corbett @billcorbett.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
I wrote in to Reddit about my addiction. Ok, now back to having AI call me gay.
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Having left wing beliefs is hard because you have to listen to different types of people and give up saying slurs and read articles all the way through, wouldn’t you rather just watch youtube shorts of bald podcasters and believe any old bullshit
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Wack'd @wackd.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
i need money and have a flintstone cel i do not want. if you need a flintsone cel and have money you do not want, please click here, thank you ebay.us/m/XdPL0q
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
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