Seeing the mix of annoyance and jealousy in Jennifer’s face is somewhat cathartic after her whole arx of treating her friends like dirt. Oh; and Asher too, I guess .
Jen’s smile there in Panel 2 is definitely reading to me as “aw, dorks in love… they’re still standing there. Why are they just staring at me? Oh, hell, they want me to pretend this is groundbreaking and interesting for everyone and not just them.”
Jennifer’s smile is decreasing at a rate which will result in a scowl the likes of which is only known to be worn by Ruth is she doesn’t get away from them within five minutes
“I’m pretty sure this character is designed to be deliberately annoying, in which case, the author should be congratulated for doing his job so well, and tactfully reminded that deliberately annoying is still annoying.”
I’m pretty sure Willis writes multiple characters and allows those characters to have authentic reactions to things, rather than using characters to instruct the audience on how to feel…?
Like, your annoyance is a completely valid emotional response! I’m glad Jennifer has been providing folks with some catharsis. I personally continue to hope that she’s reacting this way because she cares about Walky.
In a metatextual sense, it’s probably also relevant that her first reaction when she realized Dorothy was trying to send a boob pic to someone OTHER than Walky was, “Thank god.”
(I wonder if she, you know, didn’t like the vibes she was getting from them as a couple, and this was her very “I refuse to admit I care about my stupid little brother” way of showing it.)
This stip is actually communicating something pretty interesting. Jennifer thinks they are actually pretty cute when they are kissing, but the moment they actually turn to face her she drops that and goes back to complaining.
I mean, that’s how I read it — “kay, kinda cute…why are they staring at me, oh no, they actually think they’re UNIQUELY cute and should be acknowledged.”
it’s an appropriate amount of reading into it, i’d say? jennifer’s face has a very quick transition from “aw that’s cute” and “oh my god they’re expecting a reaction”
I think it’s more than them being cute, they’re almost expectant.
As I said elsewhere but I’ll be more hater-ly about it here, it sure LOOKS like Jennifer’s overall vibe is “okay, cute… why are you acting like this is the most special relationship in ever and that everyone else should recognize and call it out, you’re just two more girls who figured out how to kiss while leaving a trail of emotional damage in your wake, not the second coming of Lesbian Jesus. Stop staring at me and expecting me to say something.”
I wonder. Originally I thought that Willis meant for us to read them as cute, but now I’m wondering if they are aware of how annoying they are to a lot of us. Billie seems to be channeling that.
She’s hardly the only one to respond negatively. Sarah, Lucy, Asma, Raidah (if anyone cares)… even Walky called her out not for what she did but how she did it.
The only in-universe character to respond positively was Agatha, and she responds positively to almost everything (I think Mary was the only exception).
Oops… meant to say Agatha was the only one other than Dorothy and Joyce. Although even Dorothy pointed out it wasn’t entirely a good thing they were doing.
You could see that Billie is genuinely happy for them… Ish, anyway.
But then they started staring at her expectantly for some kind of reaction which yeah, annoying. And then Joyce made it worse by pointing out the obvious.
As much as I don’t care for Becky being the way she is about Dorothy and Joyce, I’m very not fond of going from Dorothy looking sad about Becky’s situation right on back to this.
Not that I’m giving either of them flak, mind. I just really haven’t been caring for this set of arcs.
I was really hoping Joyce would have some meaningful realizations about how shitty she’s been behaving towards other characters lately, but now that Dorothy’s back with her again I’m gonna assume that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Dorothy seems to have recovered from being bummed out by Becky pretty quick
Joyce almost got a comment from Jennifer about being too much, but got cut off
Dorothy comments on how she’s glad Walky isnt there.
Its kind of like Willis is going “and here is where interesting dynamics/drama COULD be but instead what if its just switch back to fluff for another month or two”
So, Becky opened up to Dorothy and Dorothy got all uwu sad and then just…left?
The same thing happened with Amber. The comic focused on how Amber being miserable and in pain made *Dorothy* feel, and then that plot point was just dropped.
Yeah, what the heck is happening with pacing and consistency? Was the bit with Becky added later due to readers not reacting to the cute fluff like Willis expected? The tonal whiplash is real.
did you enjoy your break from needing to make these before Willis decided that he needed to stall the plot another few days to give us more of the lovebirds constantly gushing about how happy and in love they are and that all the miserable people around them don’t matter due to the power of their love?
UghhhhhHHHHHHH
get these two off my screen or I’m separating them with a crowbar. Anyone remember if they have any other classes on a Monday? Not together?
I like the way you think, but I don’t remember Charlie Brown turning down the little red haired girl who’d always had a crush on him and then making out with Linus
The comments section needs more people like you. People who genuinely enjoy what’s going on without feeling the need to intrude in on other people expressing their dissatisfaction peacefully.
Heh, I try. I think there are enough folks on both sides taking the occasional pot shot that guards have been going back up, though I continue to appreciate Dot’s efforts at making a centralized location for, as she puts it, kvetching.
Doesn’t mean I won’t participate in arguments, obviously, but I’d like to think stuff like “is Joyce really being inappropriate with this specific group of friends by chattering about her new sex life” is something we can discuss… neutrally, for lack of a better word. 🙂
One step at a time. First Joyce and Dorothy get together, then Jennifer makes out with them, then Danny gets a contract with a record company, then Mary is revealed to be a robot, then Other Rachel challenges Rachel to a walnut and postage stamp competition for the position of primary Rachel, then the Granblue Fantasy collab, then Ethan eats a turkey sandwich, and then Amazi-Girl joins the polycule.
I do, too. I also like the bigger, dorkier grin in the last panel. I like to think it’s a little bit feeling-awkward because Joyce expressly asked Jennifer if she’d been watching the kiss, and a little bit feeling-shy-and-pleased because Joyce is so clearly proud of being her girlfriend, and we now know she’s spent some amount of time being sure that would never happen.
So Becky opened up about her feeling empty because she’s lost the comfort of her mum looking down on her and Dorothy just… left? Or any further conversation wasn’t shown in favour of this?
Nobody has a conversation about anything important for more than a minute before just randomly leaving or saying something faux-profound as they turn and walk off. Then we cut back to strips like this.
48 hour curse joking aside it’s frustrating because I keep hoping something will happen. That, as has been said by many, that Willis is cooking. But nope it’s another skipped conversation, another non-reaction, another calm rationalisation and nothing has actually happened. The story’s in exactly the same place it was and has been for what feels like forever.
I’m too lazy to check if it’s always been this way but I felt this most keenly during Joe and Rachel’s conversation where at the end I was like “This was a bunch of ‘mic drop’ nonsense pretending to be a conversation.”
This is even funnier somehow because Dorothy was teary eyed from Becky talking about her dead mom to this.
It’s almost like what we saw of that conversation was setup for something Dorothy is going to do later. Like talk to Joyce about it Becky’s feelings, or Dina about what’s actually going on with their relationship/breakup.
Dorothy doesn’t believe in God so she can’t give Becky any comfort there. She never believed in God so she can’t even speak to the feelings that Becky might be having. It is an outside context problem.
“it’s being set up to-”
“this is clearly leading somewhere”
“they’re going to talk about-”
“this is building to-”
It’s always later, later, later until it looks like something might happen – but then it’s two strips that get called setup for something to happen later.
Or it’s completely skipped, like Jocelyn and Hank’s talk, and then we’re back to the story equivalent of styrofoam.
We actually have seen one narrative consequence for cheating. It just happened pretty quick so I don’t blame you for not noticing. Joyce wants to talk about sex and she can’t with the friends that would actually been interested in that. Joe specifically was mentioned. She can’t talk with him because she cheated on him and broke up with him!
There’s your consequence for cheating folks!🥳 Was it everything you wanted?!
Now maybe that’s not exactly a cathartic or morally satisfying consequence in comparison to Joyce and Dorothy’s actions but it’s what we got. Also Walky kind of snapped at Joyce a little bit so maybe that counts too? I don’t really count that since it’s misplaced but it was something kind of.
I genuinely think those two things are just the start of stuff.
I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to wait any longer, but Joyce’s whole friend-group was kind of cold-shouldering her for like five strips, and everyone but Jennifer seems to have left without saying goodbye to her.
My exact thoughts, Li. Until recently the friend group had a routine of meeting up before/after classes, getting lunch together and exchanging pleasantries. We’re not seeing that as much now and aside from the initial “congrats for coming out and finding your True Love”, there has been a level of noticeable avoidance towards DoJo from the friend group. I’m looking forward to how the rest of their week/classes go.
Again: full sympathy for folks who are long past impatience with this. It’s a slowburn, for sure, and I’m sure that’s made much worse if you actively dislike Joyce and Dorothy’s new dynamic.
I’m also not trying to convince anyone that the incoming Consequnces are going to have been worth the wait to them — that’s highly subjective, and tbqh I’ll be very surprised if “Aw yeah! That was TOTALLY worth the last seven months!” winds up being a popular opinion. Seven months of mostly not enjoying a daily web comic is just. Hard to make up for.
(Clarification: I can easily imagine folks being glad they stuck it out as other storylines come back into prominence: I just can’t imagine the narrative consequences for Joyce and Dorothy ever being worth that kind of wait.)
…but also, I think “clearly Joyce will never experience any consequences for cheating” is — well, just a very different reading of the last five Joyce strips.
Ditto to the idea that we’re just never gonna circle back around to Joe, or that it won’t in any way matter that Joyce let Dorothy think she and Joe had fully and completely and unambiguously broken up, when she’d actually promised to finish that specific conversation later.
Again: FULL sympathy for folks where it’s just been too long a wait, made worse by entirely too many strips of Joyce and Dorothy’s NRE.
I would just draw a gentle line in the sand at “and nothing interesting is ever gonna happen again,” heh.
Yeah I just wanna put it out there that actually still have full confidence that we’re gonna get there eventually. I just. Really like the potential man meme and it was right there. Like, 50/50 jokes and genuine annoyance
I also know you were replying to sirk not me I just have. The autistic need to never be misinterpreted
I getcha. I also feel a pretty intense need to be understood, it often keeps me replying to a thread long past the point where I was enjoying a conversation or had any hope of reaching some kind of consensus. “I don’t need or even want you to agree with me at this point, I just want you to understand what I was trying to say…!”
How long can “The start of stuff” truly last, though? It’s been “the start of stuff” for months? Can we finally, at long last, GET to “stuff?”
I know you acknowledge that folks are valid for getting impatient, but my goodness I just don’t feel like this excuse works any more. I can only get edged so long before I wanna cum!
I laid it out in pretty excruciating detail to Elf grrl above, heh, but while I would never ever ever argue with anyone who just said, “This is taking too long,” I am genuinely a little incredulous about comments to the effect of: “well, obviously nothing interesting is EVER going to happen here.”
Which I thought Sirksome’s comment edged into.
Also, reading the comment section over the last couple of days especially, I have started getting the distinct impression that some folks are so convinced that Willis just isn’t gonna ever do anything with all the various narrative balls currently in the air that they genuinely missed the actual vibe of Joyce with the friend-group.
Or maybe it’s just a case of “some readers are feeling so hostile to Joyce right now that when they see other characters be slightly less hostile to Joyce, it looks like neutrality”. No one explicitly told Joyce to shut up and stop being annoying, so there definitely wasn’t a strong subtext of all her ‘friends’ wanting her to shut up and stop being annoying.
And in the spirit of “please don’t misunderstand me”:
For me, “making excuses for the writing being bad” (‘bad’ here as a stand in for any more specific criticism) is something that can only be done by a person who agrees with you, even if only deep down in their heart of hearts, that the writing is bad and needs excuses.
I genuinely do not agree. I have genuinely not experienced this storyline as having pacing problems. I’ve enjoyed what I have experienced as a slowburn. For me, as an audience member, the only thing I would actually have Willis change is the protest backdrop for Joyce and Dorothy’s kiss and some of the more awkward attempts to address it (though for my part I’m glad we’re getting more Asma as a result).
I fully respect that this has not been your experience, to put it extremely mildly, and I can sympathize with being tired of being told to be patient.
But I am decidedly not telling you to be patient. I am only arguing with Sirksome’s sarcastic assertion of “but there WERE consequences! You probably blinked and missed them. I hope Joyce being sad for one panel that she can’t talk to Joe anymore is good enough!”
I agree that Dorothy being here right after that last scene with Becky clearly in despair feels a little abrupt. The implication she just walked out on Becky while she was in tears feels like uncharacteristically cold of Dorothy, but I’m willing to believe that was just a small pacing error. It can be hard to find the proper moment to end a scene organically. I can believe that there were bits of conversation we just didn’t see because they were less important and that Dorothy isn’t some sociopath. But it does read like an awkward transition.
It’s so hypocritical of me to suggest this given my established thoughts on the pacing of this storyline but I think maybe a reaction strip of Dorothy leaving her room looking busted up, before composing herself and walking off with renewed determination to clean up her messes, might have been a good idea.
Just out of curiosity, what did you expect the rest of that conversation to look like? Because all i can imagine happening is Dorothy spends a strip or two failing to offer Becky any meaningful comfort because she can’t relate to losing faith or losing a parent. It’s not exactly engaging content and it takes away from the revelation that Becky is re grieving the loss of her mother.
Yes Dorothy, thank goodness Walky has “already bolted” thus saving you from being uncomfortable with the way you’ve treated him the past week or so. Or really, your entire relationship with him.
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the smilers! the adorable smilers!!!
Seeing the mix of annoyance and jealousy in Jennifer’s face is somewhat cathartic after her whole arx of treating her friends like dirt. Oh; and Asher too, I guess .
Joyce isn’t wrong.
From the alt-text… if Dorothy is “the Belle”, does that make Joyce “the Beast”? … **new nickname unlocked** xD
Joyce’s is nearly breaking into an all-teeth grin. Dorothy’s is very cute and I don’t know we’ve seen that exact one on her .
It is pretty cool!
Joyce & Dorothy are absolutely adorable in all three of last panels, even got a bit of a smile from Jennifer in panel 2.
That’s not a smile from Jen.
I’m seeing it as a smile and you can’t stop me.
If you cover the left side (our left) of Jennifer’s face, the right side is smiling. If you cover the right, the left side is sad and lonely.
A Dreamworks Smile is still a smile, Kevin.
Yes, I agree, I love how into each other those two dorks are.
Jen’s smile there in Panel 2 is definitely reading to me as “aw, dorks in love… they’re still standing there. Why are they just staring at me? Oh, hell, they want me to pretend this is groundbreaking and interesting for everyone and not just them.”
DAT ALT TEXT
As is well known, puns are the highest form of humor.
Jennifer’s smile is decreasing at a rate which will result in a scowl the likes of which is only known to be worn by Ruth is she doesn’t get away from them within five minutes
Or Sarah 85% of the time.
It is pretty cool
*exasperated sighhhhh*
Back to the empty fluffs of nothing strips, I guess.
I like that Jennifer is also annoyed by them
I don’t think I’ve ever been this aligned with Jennifer before
I can honestly say that I’ve never been exactly this aligned.
At least, judging by other characters responses to Joyce, its now abundantly clear its meant to be read as annoying
To paraphrase one Yahtzee Croshaw…
“I’m pretty sure this character is designed to be deliberately annoying, in which case, the author should be congratulated for doing his job so well, and tactfully reminded that deliberately annoying is still annoying.”
Joyce has always been meant to be read as annoying. esp to Billie
I’m pretty sure Willis writes multiple characters and allows those characters to have authentic reactions to things, rather than using characters to instruct the audience on how to feel…?
Like, your annoyance is a completely valid emotional response! I’m glad Jennifer has been providing folks with some catharsis. I personally continue to hope that she’s reacting this way because she cares about Walky.
In a metatextual sense, it’s probably also relevant that her first reaction when she realized Dorothy was trying to send a boob pic to someone OTHER than Walky was, “Thank god.”
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/02-the-one-where-jocelyne-returns/pathetic/
(I wonder if she, you know, didn’t like the vibes she was getting from them as a couple, and this was her very “I refuse to admit I care about my stupid little brother” way of showing it.)
This stip is actually communicating something pretty interesting. Jennifer thinks they are actually pretty cute when they are kissing, but the moment they actually turn to face her she drops that and goes back to complaining.
I think you’re reading a lot into an ambivalent facial expression tbh.
Eh, I think that reads as endeared. The gag doesn’t really work if it isn’t
There’s a gag other then the one I’m currently having?
that’s just a problem of experience
wait, what were we talking about?
The gag is they’re annoying.
I mean, that’s how I read it — “kay, kinda cute…why are they staring at me, oh no, they actually think they’re UNIQUELY cute and should be acknowledged.”
it’s an appropriate amount of reading into it, i’d say? jennifer’s face has a very quick transition from “aw that’s cute” and “oh my god they’re expecting a reaction”
“I want what they have- oh god they’re still Joyce and Dorothy”
Bingo.
No, she doesn’t
Yup.
oooooooh NOOOOOOOOOOOO
they’re back together agaiiiin aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa @-@
How can anyone be mad at those two nerds?
Easy, watch this
😡
Ooo very nice anger, I’m glad I stuck around to watch.
uwu
OOW, gauntlet thrown.
ok Walky stans, How do you even exist ?
Sure Joes watching this crying in his milk , …
Because I see a lot of myself in Walky?
A possibly bisexual, undiagnosed ADHD kid who is struggling through his first year of college and who had a roommate who died/killed himself?
I would love it if Walky stopped being everyone’s punching bag.
Easily.
Super easy, barely an inconvenience
Well, in my case, I wanted twizzlers and got these instead.
I’m so glad I caught up last night cuz I would’ve gone mad having to wait 15 years for these two dorks to get together.
It was a long near decade and a half of waiting for me, for sure.
It was a little over four years for me (I jumped on sometime around the time skip) so… honestly I kinda think I got the best of both worlds?
”jumped on”. When people say this, does it mean they haven’t read the whole comic?
Fairly certain it’s just about the time we started reading it.
I binged this bad girl in like a week.
HATER CONTAINMENT THREAD EMERGENCY ALERT, THE PROBLEM CHILDREN HAVE REUNITED
KVETCH HERE ⬇️
Billie getting progressively more annoyed as they jus keep being nothing but cute and fluffy is such a mood
We love a problematic queen?
It’s like buying a box of your favorite kids cereal and realizing its just soggy sugar lumps and a creepy looking mascot.
Last time I disliked a character this much, it was Mike.
Should I worry about these two?
I think it’s more than them being cute, they’re almost expectant.
As I said elsewhere but I’ll be more hater-ly about it here, it sure LOOKS like Jennifer’s overall vibe is “okay, cute… why are you acting like this is the most special relationship in ever and that everyone else should recognize and call it out, you’re just two more girls who figured out how to kiss while leaving a trail of emotional damage in your wake, not the second coming of Lesbian Jesus. Stop staring at me and expecting me to say something.”
I’m just imagining Willis as a drill sergeant like the one from Full Metal Jacket, yelling “YOU WILL FIND THESE TWO CUTE.”
Fucking hell, it’s like if a bowl of prison gruel was sprinkled with Wonka nerds.
“SHOW ME YOUR AWW FACE!”
I wonder. Originally I thought that Willis meant for us to read them as cute, but now I’m wondering if they are aware of how annoying they are to a lot of us. Billie seems to be channeling that.
She’s hardly the only one to respond negatively. Sarah, Lucy, Asma, Raidah (if anyone cares)… even Walky called her out not for what she did but how she did it.
The only in-universe character to respond positively was Agatha, and she responds positively to almost everything (I think Mary was the only exception).
Oops… meant to say Agatha was the only one other than Dorothy and Joyce. Although even Dorothy pointed out it wasn’t entirely a good thing they were doing.
You could see that Billie is genuinely happy for them… Ish, anyway.
But then they started staring at her expectantly for some kind of reaction which yeah, annoying. And then Joyce made it worse by pointing out the obvious.
Wouldn’t be Billifer a moment if she didn’t switch it up on a dime lol
As much as I don’t care for Becky being the way she is about Dorothy and Joyce, I’m very not fond of going from Dorothy looking sad about Becky’s situation right on back to this.
Not that I’m giving either of them flak, mind. I just really haven’t been caring for this set of arcs.
I was really hoping Joyce would have some meaningful realizations about how shitty she’s been behaving towards other characters lately, but now that Dorothy’s back with her again I’m gonna assume that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Considering Jennifer got cut off, you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up for another month or two.
Damn, I think you’re right. Dotty is here, so Joyce doesn’t have to think about anything other than horny pink fluff.
And, I mean, we could still focus anywhere else while that’s happening. We could focus on Joe, or Carla, or Sarah…
But True Love is more important than anything else so we gotta sit through more of the OTP “being cute”.
Dorothy seems to have recovered from being bummed out by Becky pretty quick
Joyce almost got a comment from Jennifer about being too much, but got cut off
Dorothy comments on how she’s glad Walky isnt there.
Its kind of like Willis is going “and here is where interesting dynamics/drama COULD be but instead what if its just switch back to fluff for another month or two”
He can’t keep getting away with this
So, Theocracy (yes, that’s the official ship name) is at the annoying-everyone-around-them-with-obnoxious-cuteness stage.
… this stage lasts, what, a week at most? More like 4 days? Maybe as little as 3? Someone help me bargain this down a bit further.
so on our side, we might – might – see some motion on this as soon as… March?
maybe.
So, Becky opened up to Dorothy and Dorothy got all uwu sad and then just…left?
The same thing happened with Amber. The comic focused on how Amber being miserable and in pain made *Dorothy* feel, and then that plot point was just dropped.
Yeah, what the heck is happening with pacing and consistency? Was the bit with Becky added later due to readers not reacting to the cute fluff like Willis expected? The tonal whiplash is real.
Nooooo they’re back together already?? I was really hoping (and for some stupid reason, expecting) them to be away from each other for longer.
did you enjoy your break from needing to make these before Willis decided that he needed to stall the plot another few days to give us more of the lovebirds constantly gushing about how happy and in love they are and that all the miserable people around them don’t matter due to the power of their love?
I suspect your use of the word “days” is overly optimistic
Perhaps it’s days in comic time. Therefore we got about 6 months
UghhhhhHHHHHHH
get these two off my screen or I’m separating them with a crowbar. Anyone remember if they have any other classes on a Monday? Not together?
But
PDA will continue until morale improves
If Joyce is Charlie Brown, Dottie is Linus. Billie is Lucy. Becky is the little red haired girl. Sal is Peppermint Patty.
Fuckface is Snoopy
Blowjob Cat is the Kite-Eating Tree
I endorse these both.
I like the way you think, but I don’t remember Charlie Brown turning down the little red haired girl who’d always had a crush on him and then making out with Linus
And who is Joe, then? Um… Pigpen maybe?
Danny is Schroeder? Because ukelele. Billie almost slept with him that one time, so that almost fits?
If Sal is Peppermint Patty then Marcie is Marcie, of course. But if Joyce is Charlie Brown, then Jocelyne is his sister Sally?
Also, who is Walky?
Uhhhhh. I don’t know, Woodstock?
I think he’s Pig Pen.
I’m not quite sure where Joe fits in. This cast is a bit bigger, as far as regulars go.
Joe is Shermy.
One of the original Peanuts line up – friend of Charlie Brown… who got less and less used as time went on…
(Seems almost prophetic, given the suggestions above! 🙂 )
“Still pretty cool!”
-Dumbing of Age
I’m about to abstract, I stg.
nooooooo but we wuv you Taffy TT~TT
You should cubism instead
Genuinely enjoying both sides of this strip. Jennifer’s adorable grumpy pout AND Dorothy and Joyce’s happy doofus smiles.
The comments section needs more people like you. People who genuinely enjoy what’s going on without feeling the need to intrude in on other people expressing their dissatisfaction peacefully.
Heh, I try. I think there are enough folks on both sides taking the occasional pot shot that guards have been going back up, though I continue to appreciate Dot’s efforts at making a centralized location for, as she puts it, kvetching.
Doesn’t mean I won’t participate in arguments, obviously, but I’d like to think stuff like “is Joyce really being inappropriate with this specific group of friends by chattering about her new sex life” is something we can discuss… neutrally, for lack of a better word. 🙂
those two girls as a pair make me understand why malaya couldn’t stand lucy
But Malaya can’t stand anything
she can stand fuckface and marcie
Live Jennifer Reaction
Those two are adorable.
Hot take: Billie’s expression is because she’s realizing she wants Dorothy to be kissing her instead.
Not the first time there’s been sexual tension between these three.
finally, the polycule everyone’s been hoping for
If it hasn’t got AmaziGirl, is it really the one we were hoping for?
she can join in too!
One step at a time. First Joyce and Dorothy get together, then Jennifer makes out with them, then Danny gets a contract with a record company, then Mary is revealed to be a robot, then Other Rachel challenges Rachel to a walnut and postage stamp competition for the position of primary Rachel, then the Granblue Fantasy collab, then Ethan eats a turkey sandwich, and then Amazi-Girl joins the polycule.
I like Dorothy’s little ‘u’ smile.
I do, too. I also like the bigger, dorkier grin in the last panel. I like to think it’s a little bit feeling-awkward because Joyce expressly asked Jennifer if she’d been watching the kiss, and a little bit feeling-shy-and-pleased because Joyce is so clearly proud of being her girlfriend, and we now know she’s spent some amount of time being sure that would never happen.
both of dorothy’s smiles in this strip are the greatest thing to grace god’s green earth
So Becky opened up about her feeling empty because she’s lost the comfort of her mum looking down on her and Dorothy just… left? Or any further conversation wasn’t shown in favour of this?
Nobody has a conversation about anything important for more than a minute before just randomly leaving or saying something faux-profound as they turn and walk off. Then we cut back to strips like this.
48 hour curse joking aside it’s frustrating because I keep hoping something will happen. That, as has been said by many, that Willis is cooking. But nope it’s another skipped conversation, another non-reaction, another calm rationalisation and nothing has actually happened. The story’s in exactly the same place it was and has been for what feels like forever.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
I’m too lazy to check if it’s always been this way but I felt this most keenly during Joe and Rachel’s conversation where at the end I was like “This was a bunch of ‘mic drop’ nonsense pretending to be a conversation.”
This is even funnier somehow because Dorothy was teary eyed from Becky talking about her dead mom to this.
Dorothy has a lot on her mind.
She’s not…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…the only one.
Maybe ask…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…why that is.
Perhaps having a full conversation…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…will help.
Maybe there’s a reason…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…she’s got nobody to talk to.
If only the plot…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…did something with that.
But instead we get…
*turns and starts to walk away*
…more of this.
It’s almost like what we saw of that conversation was setup for something Dorothy is going to do later. Like talk to Joyce about it Becky’s feelings, or Dina about what’s actually going on with their relationship/breakup.
Dorothy doesn’t believe in God so she can’t give Becky any comfort there. She never believed in God so she can’t even speak to the feelings that Becky might be having. It is an outside context problem.
Are you familiar with the potential man meme?
“it’s being set up to-”
“this is clearly leading somewhere”
“they’re going to talk about-”
“this is building to-”
It’s always later, later, later until it looks like something might happen – but then it’s two strips that get called setup for something to happen later.
Or it’s completely skipped, like Jocelyn and Hank’s talk, and then we’re back to the story equivalent of styrofoam.
Give me liberty
Give me fire
Give me 4 more months of fluffslop or I retire
0 satisfying narrative consequences for cheating
0 resolved serious conversations
7 strips of DoJo cuddling and getting punished for being gay
Normally id keep this to the kvetching thread but the opportunity was right there. I couldn’t not. This is mostly a joke
We actually have seen one narrative consequence for cheating. It just happened pretty quick so I don’t blame you for not noticing. Joyce wants to talk about sex and she can’t with the friends that would actually been interested in that. Joe specifically was mentioned. She can’t talk with him because she cheated on him and broke up with him!
There’s your consequence for cheating folks!🥳 Was it everything you wanted?!
Now maybe that’s not exactly a cathartic or morally satisfying consequence in comparison to Joyce and Dorothy’s actions but it’s what we got. Also Walky kind of snapped at Joyce a little bit so maybe that counts too? I don’t really count that since it’s misplaced but it was something kind of.
I genuinely think those two things are just the start of stuff.
I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to wait any longer, but Joyce’s whole friend-group was kind of cold-shouldering her for like five strips, and everyone but Jennifer seems to have left without saying goodbye to her.
My exact thoughts, Li. Until recently the friend group had a routine of meeting up before/after classes, getting lunch together and exchanging pleasantries. We’re not seeing that as much now and aside from the initial “congrats for coming out and finding your True Love”, there has been a level of noticeable avoidance towards DoJo from the friend group. I’m looking forward to how the rest of their week/classes go.
Yep.
Again: full sympathy for folks who are long past impatience with this. It’s a slowburn, for sure, and I’m sure that’s made much worse if you actively dislike Joyce and Dorothy’s new dynamic.
I’m also not trying to convince anyone that the incoming Consequnces are going to have been worth the wait to them — that’s highly subjective, and tbqh I’ll be very surprised if “Aw yeah! That was TOTALLY worth the last seven months!” winds up being a popular opinion. Seven months of mostly not enjoying a daily web comic is just. Hard to make up for.
(Clarification: I can easily imagine folks being glad they stuck it out as other storylines come back into prominence: I just can’t imagine the narrative consequences for Joyce and Dorothy ever being worth that kind of wait.)
…but also, I think “clearly Joyce will never experience any consequences for cheating” is — well, just a very different reading of the last five Joyce strips.
Ditto to the idea that we’re just never gonna circle back around to Joe, or that it won’t in any way matter that Joyce let Dorothy think she and Joe had fully and completely and unambiguously broken up, when she’d actually promised to finish that specific conversation later.
Again: FULL sympathy for folks where it’s just been too long a wait, made worse by entirely too many strips of Joyce and Dorothy’s NRE.
I would just draw a gentle line in the sand at “and nothing interesting is ever gonna happen again,” heh.
Yeah I just wanna put it out there that actually still have full confidence that we’re gonna get there eventually. I just. Really like the potential man meme and it was right there. Like, 50/50 jokes and genuine annoyance
I also know you were replying to sirk not me I just have. The autistic need to never be misinterpreted
I getcha. I also feel a pretty intense need to be understood, it often keeps me replying to a thread long past the point where I was enjoying a conversation or had any hope of reaching some kind of consensus. “I don’t need or even want you to agree with me at this point, I just want you to understand what I was trying to say…!”
Unfamiliar with the meme, though. I’ll google.
How long can “The start of stuff” truly last, though? It’s been “the start of stuff” for months? Can we finally, at long last, GET to “stuff?”
I know you acknowledge that folks are valid for getting impatient, but my goodness I just don’t feel like this excuse works any more. I can only get edged so long before I wanna cum!
It’s… not an excuse?
I laid it out in pretty excruciating detail to Elf grrl above, heh, but while I would never ever ever argue with anyone who just said, “This is taking too long,” I am genuinely a little incredulous about comments to the effect of: “well, obviously nothing interesting is EVER going to happen here.”
Which I thought Sirksome’s comment edged into.
Also, reading the comment section over the last couple of days especially, I have started getting the distinct impression that some folks are so convinced that Willis just isn’t gonna ever do anything with all the various narrative balls currently in the air that they genuinely missed the actual vibe of Joyce with the friend-group.
Or maybe it’s just a case of “some readers are feeling so hostile to Joyce right now that when they see other characters be slightly less hostile to Joyce, it looks like neutrality”. No one explicitly told Joyce to shut up and stop being annoying, so there definitely wasn’t a strong subtext of all her ‘friends’ wanting her to shut up and stop being annoying.
And in the spirit of “please don’t misunderstand me”:
For me, “making excuses for the writing being bad” (‘bad’ here as a stand in for any more specific criticism) is something that can only be done by a person who agrees with you, even if only deep down in their heart of hearts, that the writing is bad and needs excuses.
I genuinely do not agree. I have genuinely not experienced this storyline as having pacing problems. I’ve enjoyed what I have experienced as a slowburn. For me, as an audience member, the only thing I would actually have Willis change is the protest backdrop for Joyce and Dorothy’s kiss and some of the more awkward attempts to address it (though for my part I’m glad we’re getting more Asma as a result).
I fully respect that this has not been your experience, to put it extremely mildly, and I can sympathize with being tired of being told to be patient.
But I am decidedly not telling you to be patient. I am only arguing with Sirksome’s sarcastic assertion of “but there WERE consequences! You probably blinked and missed them. I hope Joyce being sad for one panel that she can’t talk to Joe anymore is good enough!”
Damn this comment slaps, made me come out of retirement on commenting on this terrible arc to tell you good job.
Cook this potential arc. Fraud allegations are not being beaten.
I agree that Dorothy being here right after that last scene with Becky clearly in despair feels a little abrupt. The implication she just walked out on Becky while she was in tears feels like uncharacteristically cold of Dorothy, but I’m willing to believe that was just a small pacing error. It can be hard to find the proper moment to end a scene organically. I can believe that there were bits of conversation we just didn’t see because they were less important and that Dorothy isn’t some sociopath. But it does read like an awkward transition.
It’s so hypocritical of me to suggest this given my established thoughts on the pacing of this storyline but I think maybe a reaction strip of Dorothy leaving her room looking busted up, before composing herself and walking off with renewed determination to clean up her messes, might have been a good idea.
Just out of curiosity, what did you expect the rest of that conversation to look like? Because all i can imagine happening is Dorothy spends a strip or two failing to offer Becky any meaningful comfort because she can’t relate to losing faith or losing a parent. It’s not exactly engaging content and it takes away from the revelation that Becky is re grieving the loss of her mother.
*vibrating intesifies*
Panel 3 is my favorite
Awwwwwww. They are just so sweet!!!
Honeymoon still going. (dun dun dun!!!?)
Even Jennifer on second panel caught some cute.
Jennifer on rest panels is a comment section mood. 😛
She thought they were cute for a split second and then they started talking 😭
^ This! The rapid expression change! LOL
Actually, her expression changed as soon as she good be seen — Billie’s problems are internal, lol
So Billie represents some of us readers then. I feel seen.
>:(
c:
C:
Sirenengesang
Billie is currently partnerless so you better watch yourself cause patience for bullshit was never her strong suit XD
Can we please have someone just tell Joyce “We get it. You two are fucking. Quit being annoying about it.”
I think in response they should diaul up the annoyance even more.
PLEASE JUSY MAKE BECKY OKAY ;_;
Awww, schmoopy moopy woopy schmoopy
Yes Dorothy, thank goodness Walky has “already bolted” thus saving you from being uncomfortable with the way you’ve treated him the past week or so. Or really, your entire relationship with him.
I want Billie to punch them now.
If she aims really well, she can probably get both of them with one hit.
Something like this?
Looks like Jennifer is feeling “grated” again. She had the same look around Lucy and Jacob. She so needs to say yes to being happy with ****.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/terrible-2/
panel 3 looks like jennifer is the friendpilled visitmaxxer and i love it
Jesus… please don’t spread effing incel-slang. Gross.
They’re not. theyre referring to this meme making fun of incelspeak and Internet brainrot
Its called friendpilled visitmaxxer. Specifically they’re saying Jennifer is the one staring at the other guy like he’s a freak for what he just said
Source Material Andy
Straight up sourcing it. Never beating the citing allegations.
I’m looking so tired at my phone screen outside in the cole at night right now thinking “yup.. thats the love of my life..”
(◠‿・)—☆
https://bsky.app/profile/damnyouwillis.bsky.social/post/3mabgpvqmec2u
I love Willis so much.