Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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phew finally able to draw sarah in the outfit i drew for her for this storyline
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July 11, 2026

Phone charging

by David M Willis on July 5, 2025 at 12:01 am
  • 04 – The Only Exception
└ Tags: becky, sarah

Discussion (83) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. butts
    butts
    July 5, 2025 at 12:02 am | # | Reply Report comment

    “you can’t interrogate this further if i run away!!!!”

    • Pocky
      Pocky
      July 5, 2025 at 1:49 am | # | Reply Report comment

      don’t have to roll persuasion with a successful disengagement

      • Aquila
        Aquila
        July 5, 2025 at 2:57 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Unless you’re trying to persuade yourself.

        • Clif
          Clif
          July 5, 2025 at 2:46 pm | # | Reply Report comment

          No, no. Disengagement works quite well there as well.

  2. Rose by Any other Name
    Rose by Any other Name
    July 5, 2025 at 12:03 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Becky: That is a very true and real thing I just said.

    • Clif
      Clif
      July 5, 2025 at 1:50 am | # | Reply Report comment

      No troubling behaviors. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-15/04-the-only-exception/dotty-are-you-ok/

  3. CandidCanid
    CandidCanid
    July 5, 2025 at 12:03 am | # | Reply Report comment

    She snapped and is wearing the hair vibrators.

    • CandidCanid
      CandidCanid
      July 5, 2025 at 12:06 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Dorothy, mentally, rn

  4. Hastur
    Hastur
    July 5, 2025 at 12:03 am | # | Reply Report comment

    A likely story.

  5. Doopyboop
    Doopyboop
    July 5, 2025 at 12:04 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Aaw Becky…

  6. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    July 5, 2025 at 12:04 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Roommate wellness check team-up? Roommate wellness check team-up.

  7. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    July 5, 2025 at 12:04 am | # | Reply Report comment

    I feel like the math on this ain’t that hard. They should both know about the protest and Becky should know Jocelyne is there. Use some critical thinking ladies.

    • Kyulen
      Kyulen
      July 5, 2025 at 12:09 am | # | Reply Report comment

      I may be remembering wrong, but I don’t think Joyce or Dorothy were planning to go to the protest before Joyce got a text from her dad with a picture of Jocelyne there. But they could’ve told someone they know as they were heading there.

      • Sirksome
        Sirksome
        July 5, 2025 at 12:23 am | # | Reply Report comment

        I guess we gotta chalk it up to the titular dumb in the title of this comic. Clearly Joyce and Dorothy were repressing too much mutual horniness to think clearly and tell even one friend where they were going. If every character made optimal decisions and had deductive reasoning skills we wouldn’t have a comic.

        • user18
          user18
          July 5, 2025 at 11:46 am | # | Reply Report comment

          Pretty sure J&D explicitly said in an earlier comic that neither of them had thought to tell anyone where they were going

        • Freemage
          Freemage
          July 5, 2025 at 12:17 pm | # | Reply Report comment

          Remember, Joyce is worried about Jocelyne being outed. Telling people why Straight and Narrow were going to a protest would’ve been too much opportunity for people to ask questions about why they were going. Furthermore, both are so sheltered that they haven’t really clocked how dangerous the protest might become. After all, it’s not like they’re leaving campus, right?

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            July 5, 2025 at 7:51 pm | # | Reply Report comment

            Though the most likely people to tell already know, right? Definitely Joe and Becky.

          • Proxiehunter
            Proxiehunter
            July 5, 2025 at 9:05 pm | # | Reply Report comment

            Although somehow they knew to leave their phones home. Not sure if I forgot Jocelyne or someone else mentioning that towards the start of this arc but it doesn’t sound like something that would be in their general knowledge base.

    • Thomas
      Thomas
      July 5, 2025 at 12:18 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Have they checked the laundry room? They should at least look for them in the laundry room. Maybe they’re doing laundry!

      • Risky
        Risky
        July 5, 2025 at 1:51 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Given Sarah’s unspoken initial assumption, logically they are off busily showering each other.

    • Thing 2
      Thing 2
      July 5, 2025 at 2:12 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Give ’em a chance, it’s only been a few seconds…

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        July 5, 2025 at 9:11 pm | # | Reply Report comment

        No. Instant and perfect comprehension of all possibilities or else.

  8. Kyulen
    Kyulen
    July 5, 2025 at 12:06 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Dorothy and Joyce really should’ve told at least their roommates where they were going. Or their boyfriends, or any one of their friends, for safety reasons if nothing else.

    • Dread Pirate Robin
      Dread Pirate Robin
      July 5, 2025 at 12:08 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Yeah the whole ordeal was pretty hopelessly spontaneous.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      July 5, 2025 at 12:56 am | # | Reply Report comment

      A million things they should have done differently

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        July 5, 2025 at 4:01 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Can comments become book titles?

      • Freemage
        Freemage
        July 5, 2025 at 12:18 pm | # | Reply Report comment

        … or simply not done at all.

    • anon
      anon
      July 5, 2025 at 4:13 pm | # | Reply Report comment

      well the text from dad was pretty sudden so i don’t think they would’ve thought to be like “Hey, dad got a pick of jocelyne at the protest so i’m going there to see if she’s ok”, even if they left their phones behind (tho surprise dorothy wouldn’t leave some kinda note but she’s prolly used to not teling becky anything)

      • Freemage
        Freemage
        July 5, 2025 at 4:33 pm | # | Reply Report comment

        I do wonder why they left their phones. Not saying there aren’t reasons for it, but I’m wondering what their reason was. They may have just thought it was a faux pas, in that phones are cameras and protestors don’t want to be on film. If so, this would fit with their general failure to appreciate the danger before they got there.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          July 5, 2025 at 7:49 pm | # | Reply Report comment

          I’m not sure if Jocelyne explicitly told them on panel, but they knew Jocelyne was leaving hers elsewhere and they didn’t understand the reasons for that didn’t really apply to them.

        • anon
          anon
          July 5, 2025 at 9:02 pm | # | Reply Report comment

          it’s pretty common for ppl to say “don’t bring phones/give info on signup sheets for protests” but idk if other than amazigirl if there’d be tracking disabled from others

  9. Dread Pirate Robin
    Dread Pirate Robin
    July 5, 2025 at 12:07 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Sarah: *sighs* “I’m going to have to dig out my bat again, aren’t I?”

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      July 5, 2025 at 8:00 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Amber should help create Sarah a costume. The Fort Wayne Slugger is worthy of good drip.

  10. KM
    KM
    July 5, 2025 at 12:08 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Ok here’s my prediction

    Tony is going to offer or be asked to to use his dad to call in some favors to get Joyce and Dorothy off the hook and this will implode the relationship with Sarah, in the former because the whole thing is too much moral and ethical ambiguity for them both to stay together, and in the latter because he refuses and the moral and ethical ambiguity etcetera.

    • Tan
      Tan
      July 5, 2025 at 12:26 am | # | Reply Report comment

      If Tony & Sarah gets rugpulled in their first week, I’m burning down everything.

    • BorkBorkBork
      BorkBorkBork
      July 5, 2025 at 2:14 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Tony’s dad is literally the face of the university, which is responsible for sending police to arrest everyone.

      There’s two ways this goes: either Tony and his dad don’t see eye to eye, in which case he’d go hero-mode but without his dad’s help, or he’s a chip off the old block, meaning that he’ll figure they had ample time to leave after the policy change, and that they chose to trespass.

      I hope for something different, but my gut is that “Other people suck” Tony isn’t going to be particularly sympathetic.

  11. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    July 5, 2025 at 12:10 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Joyce is the one who, oddly enough, is more behaving in a way that could get her killed right now

  12. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    July 5, 2025 at 12:10 am | # | Reply Report comment

    “It’s not as if we have any precedent where both are unaccounted for and unreachable at the same time because they’re in trouble, such as a group kidnapping. Nope, don’t have to worry about nothing at all.”

    • Steamweed
      Steamweed
      July 5, 2025 at 8:02 am | # | Reply Report comment

      “Never been a problem before. Don’t see why it should be a problem now.”

  13. Radiance
    Radiance
    July 5, 2025 at 12:16 am | # | Reply Report comment

    It speaks volumes of how rattled Becky is that she can’t even muster up her patented “deflecting suspicion” grin.

    (And likewise, Sarah’s so worried that she gets thought bubbles.)

    • Steamweed
      Steamweed
      July 5, 2025 at 8:02 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Can’t say I recall ever seeing thought bubbles before in this comic.

      • NickG
        NickG
        July 5, 2025 at 10:45 am | # | Reply Report comment

        There are loads of (green) thought bubbles in ‘Walking With Dina’, including the one that names ‘ToeDad’.

      • anon
        anon
        July 5, 2025 at 4:14 pm | # | Reply Report comment

        @steamweed: there was some thought bubbles of walking imagining dorothy as a puppy? XD; as well as dannys thought bubble he said out loud before putting his foot in his mouth infront of ehan xD

  14. M!a
    M!a
    July 5, 2025 at 12:31 am | # | Reply Report comment

    “So anyway, that was how the entire main cast wound up in El Salvador…”

    • Kimi
      Kimi
      July 5, 2025 at 1:14 am | # | Reply Report comment

      It is concerning how much of a “not a joke” this is becoming IRL.

  15. DJTsurugi
    DJTsurugi
    July 5, 2025 at 12:38 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Willis building this up a lot, it’s starting to really worry me this is another dramatic story where someone is either going to die or be hospitalized… ~<3

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      July 5, 2025 at 1:00 am | # | Reply Report comment

      This moment does seem to be a structural parallel to Toedad showing up for the first time

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2025 at 1:22 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Don’t worry, the future fairies told me nobody dies, but apparently someone does lose something very dear to them.

      • Steamweed
        Steamweed
        July 5, 2025 at 8:05 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Amber loses her phone? Oh no! :O

        • Proxiehunter
          Proxiehunter
          July 5, 2025 at 9:07 pm | # | Reply Report comment

          Worse, she loses her AO3 account.

          • Steamweed
            Steamweed
            July 6, 2025 at 8:30 am | # | Reply Report comment

            THE HORROR!!!! :O

      • Steamweed
        Steamweed
        July 5, 2025 at 8:05 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Or worse! Danny loses his uke! :O :O

  16. dorjojoe
    dorjojoe
    July 5, 2025 at 12:53 am | # | Reply Report comment

    This will go well!!!

  17. Vaishino
    Vaishino
    July 5, 2025 at 1:21 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Normally Dorothy would be sensible enough to leave a note, but I guess she was temporarily acting under the influence of Joyce.

  18. Taffy
    Taffy
    July 5, 2025 at 1:23 am | # | Reply Report comment

    I’m kinda glad nobody knows where they are. Sometimes it’s okay to not know where somebody is.

    • Annarchy
      Annarchy
      July 5, 2025 at 1:32 am | # | Reply Report comment

      lol. Correct.

    • Risky
      Risky
      July 5, 2025 at 1:56 am | # | Reply Report comment

      Becky is worried because of Dorothy’s recent troubling behavior. Sarah is worried because it seems weird, and now there are two of them. This is getting out of hand.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        July 5, 2025 at 2:07 am | # | Reply Report comment

        Becky should do the Fusion Dance with Sarah and become Sarky about it.

        • NickG
          NickG
          July 5, 2025 at 10:48 am | # | Reply Report comment

          THe Garnet/Pearl ‘Apache’ fusion dance with Sarah domming Becky.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        July 5, 2025 at 8:18 am | # | Reply Report comment

        It is okay for Becky and Sarah to be worried. It’s also okay for Joyce and Dorothy to go off without telling them.

    • StClair
      StClair
      July 5, 2025 at 2:03 am | # | Reply Report comment

      What do you think this is, the 20th century??

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        July 5, 2025 at 2:44 am | # | Reply Report comment

        I sometimes wish for the surveillance state’s tech to get reversed at least as far back as 1990. We don’t need all this.

        • StClair
          StClair
          July 5, 2025 at 3:01 am | # | Reply Report comment

          When the Web was only a year old, TNG was in its third season, and the Berlin Wall had just come down…

          • Astariel
            Astariel
            July 5, 2025 at 2:03 pm | # | Reply Report comment

            Everything seemed so hopeful back then. Damn, I miss the ’90s.

            • Taffy
              Taffy
              July 5, 2025 at 5:58 pm | # | Reply Report comment

              I have no nostalgia for the ’90s, myself. I mainly remember the cartoons and video games, which never went away. Some might say they should have gone away at some point, though.

              • Annarchy
                Annarchy
                July 5, 2025 at 7:06 pm | # | Reply Report comment

                Put away, not gone away.

                Didymus: Goodbye Sarah and remember fair maiden, should you need us?

                Hoggle: Yes…should you need us, for any reason at all?

                SARAH: I need you Hoggle.

                HOGGLE: ya…you do?

                SARAH: I don’t now why, but every now and again in my life, for no reason at all… I need you, all of you….

                HOGGLE: uh, you do? well…why didn’t you say so

                DIDYMUS: I say, anyone up for a game of scrabble?

  19. Thing 2
    Thing 2
    July 5, 2025 at 2:17 am | # | Reply Report comment

    They are watching Monkey master in jail.

    • Steamweed
      Steamweed
      July 5, 2025 at 7:53 am | # | Reply Report comment

      And their food isn’t touching other foods.

  20. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    July 5, 2025 at 3:51 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Joyce will ask what Bulmeria is and who is killing it.

  21. Tessea
    Tessea
    July 5, 2025 at 4:15 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Good job, Becky. Very smooth. Sarah won’t worry at all now.

    • Willoughby Chase
      Willoughby Chase
      July 5, 2025 at 4:42 am | # | Reply Report comment

      “I don’t mean to worry you but “

  22. Florence
    Florence
    July 5, 2025 at 5:56 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Becky runs out of the room, the implications haunting her

    • Freemage
      Freemage
      July 5, 2025 at 4:37 pm | # | Reply Report comment

      No, that’s just her mom. Or maybe Mike (although really, Mike is just looking for a nickel, to give her mom).

  23. Steamweed
    Steamweed
    July 5, 2025 at 7:52 am | # | Reply Report comment

    It’ll be fine. I’m sure they’re both fine. Everything’s fine.

  24. Andy
    Andy
    July 5, 2025 at 8:38 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Everything is …..fine?
    https://youtu.be/IIPx8ZBFQDo?si=j_dMwBk1KF153Mp-

  25. AnonGrouch
    AnonGrouch
    July 5, 2025 at 8:48 am | # | Reply Report comment

    Yeaaaah ‘It Was Just a Trauma Response’ is definitely the sub-title for this chapter

  26. Micki
    Micki
    July 5, 2025 at 10:34 am | # | Reply Report comment

    CALLED IT!

  27. Caro
    Caro
    July 5, 2025 at 11:55 am | # | Reply Report comment

    good sarah faces at the end

  28. Pergola
    Pergola
    July 5, 2025 at 2:44 pm | # | Reply Report comment

    And no one comments on Sarah’s new outfit. I guess that means a compliment to Willis’ storyline…

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2025 at 4:54 pm | # | Reply Report comment

      It’s kinda just a black top, some pants, and some basic shoes. Sarah’s hot in anything, so this doesn’t really stand out for me.

    • KM
      KM
      July 5, 2025 at 10:27 pm | # | Reply Report comment

      I don’t get it. what is there about her outfit that bears commenting on? is that not everyday clothes for most people?

  29. Yeet
    Yeet
    July 5, 2025 at 2:48 pm | # | Reply Report comment

    I know becky wasn’t allowed a phone forever but she’s gotta know that’s a little odd

  30. Suet
    Suet
    July 6, 2025 at 10:23 am | # | Reply Report comment

    it’s the end of the DoA as we know it

    and Dotty’s feelin’ fine

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