We’ve already been kidnapping people, meeting evil Brits, and offing parents. Dina clearly has a super power, Sal’s criminal history will make it hard to keep a job, and Dorothy’s started bad blood between Joyce and Walky.
Fuckface has already eaten the entire A-G outfit.
Everyone is relieved.
(Dorothy is always irritated ’cause she has to start over, but she’s also relieved.)
Déjà vu
I’ve just been in this time before
Higher on the beat
And I know it’s a place to go
Calling you and the search is a mystery
Standing on my feet
It’s so hard when I try to be me, yeah
This is such a good joke, because at first you see ”déja vù” and read the connection as being with something happening ”again”. Which seems natural, but just serves to lure you into the realization that it was all about the drift!💖😌
It’s not just just clock drift. I posted a comment on yesterday’s strip at 8 minutes past the hour by the server clock, and the comic had still not updated when it posted, though it did shortly thereafter.
I would argue that while it is fine to have real drama in comedy series, if it is something that serious that affects real people (Police raids, police violence in this case) it is okay not to undercut the drama with comedy even in a comedy. You can let the drama play out, Scrubs did that all the time, Dumbing of Age did it too, in other instances. Not every strip as to have a punchline.
If Willis intends to resolve this situation with wacky hijinks, then a punchline at this juncture is appropriate. Even if he doesn’t, this strip is hilarious, and as far as I’m concerned anything is justified if it makes me laugh.
I agree with you 100% that not every beat of every dramatic arc must have a comedic moment.
I also agree that not every dramatic arc must have a comedic moment.
While you haven’t explicitly said as much, I infer from you that you further mean: “No dramatic arcs should have comedic moments” to argue the stance “So THIS dramatic arc should not have THIS comedic moment.”
If that’s an accurate read on my post, then I disagree here. Perhaps this is the wrong best for a comedic moment. Perhaps it’s the right one. But you and I know only at best ⅔ of the story: the past and the present. But Willis also knows the third, the future.
So if I’m going to lay money on who’s most likely to be right at the end (to my own tastes, if not also for the general population), it’s gonna be on Willis.
Not because of anything personal with him. I just like to win.
Oh no, I do think that dramatic arcs can have very well-placed and fitting comedy beats, sometimes comedy can even enhance the drama. This one just did not work for me. Context further down the line might make it work, but as of now, it does not work for me. It clashes with the drama in a way that pulls me out of the story. Which is fine, not every strip has to work for me personally.
In my opinion the last-panel jokes and sight gags sometimes feel out of place, like they’re only there because every strip “has to” end with one. They don’t ruin the whole thing forever, but they can be disruptive to the flow if their tone clashes with the story in that moment.
I mean scrubs often mixed the two but honestly when it became one it did a pretty good job of separating the haha funny doctor shenanigans with the pain and stress of dealing with the sick and dying. Its not that you can’t be silly in a story that deals with serious issues but moreso learning the ebb and flow of comedy into these moments as to not minimize the seriousness of the events being portrayed.
Okay, smarty-pants, then answer this, since you’re such a good fucking writer. If there’s no police raid, who’s gonna trip over the fucking marbles in the hallway? Huh? Entire fucking bag of marbles, at least a hundred of the fucking things, all over the floor, and who the fuck do you think is gonna trip over them and skitter comedically down the fucking hallway? Everyone’s a critic, everyone’s so fucking clever, everyone thinks they know better than the author, but when it comes time to answer the question “Who’s gonna trip on these marbles” nobody has an answer, you all just think it should be someone other than who the author put there. Arrogant and childish, bringing up fake problems you made up to upset yourself and then calling it someone else’s bad writing. Be ashamed of what you’re letting yourself be, or maybe what you’re not letting yourself be.
Humor is subjective, possibly the most subjective genre you can write. Most people can in some way relate to dramatic elements like danger, grief, or stress, but if a joke doesn’t land that can be for a different reason for everyone that experiences it. So to me one of the most fair and valid criticisms you can make is that you didn’t find something funny. It doesn’t mean the writing is bad and arguing it’s a comedy doesn’t invalidate their opinion. It just means the joke didn’t land for the reader and that’s totally fine. Unless Willis wrote a joke inherently offensive which is not present here I think we can accept that some just don’t find this strip particularly funny. I kind of chuckled but so what is someone else didn’t?
In this case, I found the joke itself mildly amusing – like you said, I kind of chuckled, but it came at the expense of the characters doing something that made no sense, but also explicitly commenting on it making no sense and somehow pretending that it does, but with no reason.
It struck me as forced. In a very “the author is making a joke here” way rather than it coming out of the characters or situation.
This one doesn’t bother me. The “cops after Amazi-Girl” aspect of this situation is an aspect that’s not DoJo’s fault, and I sure as heck wouldn’t have known what to do in this situation when I was that age other than panic and flail around in a circle.
I think it’s too literal. Explicitly calling out that they’re doing it for no reason makes it funny, but also seems to break character just to be funny.
Honestly I’m 150% sure at this point there are some people who think “organized the containment thread” means “directly responsible for all negativity they don’t like”.
I agree, and I even feel this strip might work better if they just weren’t running in circles. Like, sometimes there’s an emergency and you just start running toward it or whatever even though realistically your speed in getting there makes no difference– and it might make steps like texting, which could have an actual impact, more difficult. But “emergency!run!” has been triggered in your brain.
Pointing that out could make an okay joke, but running in circles in the street just…doesn’t work for me.
Or Dorothy running in circles around a Joyce who’s standing still. I find that both of them running in circles in the road hits “antics” too hard for this moment.
Or you start in one direction and then get another idea and turn and than flip back to the first direction – gets the same effect, but less deliberate than “let’s just run in circles”.
Alt text reminded me of the very embarrassing fact that when I first read It’s Walky I was a big fan of Sal so I started writing in her accent online for like a year
Ah mean, ah type like that too, but it’s ’cause ah’m typin’ like ah talk. Nothin’ wrong with it, long as you know when t’back off a bit an’ drop it t’be serious. ~Anna-Marie
(The rest of the system approves this message, but would like to point out that only AM types/talks like that. The rest of us have better things to do than develop an exceptionally in-depth textual replication of our various accents.)
Yeah, but “swoon” is an active verb, not a stative verb. For example, “I swooned at their charm” is correct, but “I have been swooned by their charms” is bizarre, if clear-enough, I suppose.
At first, I was wondering “why are these girls running around in circles instead of actually going back to the dorm and getting the costume themselves?!“ but then I just remembered and I was like “oh yeah, the pictures of them making out during the protest are obviously on the front page of the school paper and I wouldn’t even be surprised if there are a few videos uploaded onto the Web. So if they went back to the campus, they would definitely get caught, detained and questioned by the police or arrested”😓
This is so awful. Why does the first panel have a recap? Why is this being treated with a “wacky hijinks” tone? Why would Sal be stupid enough to hide the costume in her room?
Like, seriously. Take it from someone who has had issues with this comic in recent years. This is literally nothing to complain about and doing so reflects nothing but a desire to be inflammatory.
eh, I agree with her. I really enjoyed this kind of thing in It’s Walky and Shortpacked but it feels worse applied to police brutality than like… aliens or baby canons etc. Not the worst thing but not the best.
Perhaps had Tricia opened with “I think this is really stupid” rather than “This is so awful”, her comment might have gone uncriticized. As it is, the “criticism” is extremely mild, so I am uncertain what you mean by “weirdly defensive” in this context.
How dare a person not like a strip, or a few strips in a row, or even an entire storyline, and express that in the comments. It seems like some folks here don’t want to hear any expressions of dislike or criticism at all.
3. Sal is like 19 years old. She is not a hardened criminal, experienced at concealing misdoings from investigators. She likely thought concealing the costume was only necessary because Amber/AG does have a history of going to do derring-do when it’s really inadvisable, as we can see with Amber standing on a narrow ledge outside her window.
Hahaha… huh.
That… that actually feels possible.
We know very little about DoA Tony, other than his parentage, general distaste for “shenanigans”, and that he’s a sports guy.
His father is the Dean of Students, which is a pretty solid reason for not wanting chaotic disruptive forces (such as a self-appointed superhero) to remain at the school.
His distaste for shenanigans lines up with, again, not wanting some fool running around in their pajamas beating up cops.
Looking outside of DoA, Historical Tony’s core personality was basically “Law and Order and the safety of others above all else, including my personal well-being.”
Which, bereft of aliens to fight, matches pretty well with “pass along information to the police officers who have been assaulted.”
I’m probably overlooking a lot, but that all feels pretty in character.
Huh. IF – and it’s a BIG if – that we’re true… Perhaps Tony found out in advance when the results would be, and made plans with Sarah to try “swooning” someplace TO AW away from Reed Hall.
I really don’t think there needs to be a student behind the raid. The fact that Amazi-Girl beat up a bunch of cops and she’s been seen most often and most recently at this dorm is enough of an explanation.
It depends whether they’re really going to just break down all the doors and search every room or if they’ve got a specific target.
The story seems to be implying the first and also that they haven’t bothered with getting any kind of legal permission.
Tony is the BBEG, but he’s not revealed as such until his dramatic double-cross at the end. Then Sarah is the only person that can save everyone from being lowered in to the shark pit, and she must war with her traitorous libido.
why is she narrating what is happening in the first panel? we in the audience have object permanence, and if someone is coming in late, they can hit the comic back button
this feels like the Suicide Squad (the bad one) when towards the end of the movie they repeat that the way to defeat Enchantress is to get to her heart. Yeah man, we know, it’s been stated multiple times
I agree that Dorothy saying all of this out loud is a clunky way to get the information across – and horrible opsec when the police are around! I think it would have been better to show a text from Dorothy in the first panel to someone who doesn’t know what’s going on, rather than saying it out loud to Joyce, who should be up to speed.
I feel like this could have been a lot better if it was just shown as a text bubble instead. No need for her to be saying it out loud, she just told Joyce all of this yesterday
Hmm. Who else is available? Texting Walky or Joe would be (darkly, to me) hilarious at this moment in time, but I think both of them are currently in class, so that’s not happening. Is it going to be Jennifer? Ruth?
The only class we see Walky take is math, which is over now.
We know he has other classes, but we never see them (probably because they don’t involve the rest of the cast, like we saw in last year’s Gender Studies).
I believe he eats lunch after math.
Regardless, when I read this strip, my first thought was that Walky will be the one to get the suit and bad things will happen.
I wonder if the cops even know which room to look for the Amazi-Girl costume, or are they just searching every room in the residence hall? What would they do if they find it in a room, but the students for that room aren’t there? Would they try to find those students on campus? And I’m still wondering who told the cops that Amazi-Girl might be in this residence hall.
The raid is on the two women’s wings of Read, Clark and murmemrmemr. There’s a report in the paper a few days ago about AG showing up again, in Read. Paul also knew to fish for AG in Read. Hell, even without the paper from earlier in the week, it could be that Paul tipped the cops off.
Won’t they be surprised when they find out that we’ve used the Sun Device to complete the merger of the Murmemrmemr and the Chenjesu, and they have to fight a bunch of Avatars…
There is a standard procedure to handle this type of situation. First you carefully determine which students reside in that room. Then you beat the crap out of all of them for resisting arrest. Then you arrest them for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.
Curious what exactly Dorothy texted them. Hopefully she didn’t explicitly say anything to the effect of “our friend Amber, who is Amazi-Girl, is in trouble, can you retrieve her paraphenalia which you previously concealed on purpose?” over text.
It feels kind of bizarre to me that Sal would hide the amazi-girl costume in her dorm. I’m pretty sure she’s aware that at least one person thinks she’s amazi-girl?
Anyway, this is going bad places. Getting ready for the loudest “damn you Willis” of my life.
Also, she’s literally the only one with a criminal record and would have much more serious ramifications for anything illegal. Let’s hide evidence of a crime in the room of the most likely to be searched!
my top 3
1 walky (twin, knows A-girls secret, likely to be onsite, eating mcnuggets)
2 asher(ethan) (already knee deep in it, maybe have making out with ethan when recieving tipoff about raid, likely smart enough to guess sal would’ve stashed the gear)
3 whitebread (sal’s troubadour, A-girls ex, also good chance to be near.
as i was about to post joe popped into my head but i don’t think joyce has the awareness atm to involve him and the 3 above could all be brought into this via the others currently in the chat
The only one who knows Asher helped with the mafia doctor is Sal, and she made a big point of not letting Amber reveal herself around him (probably a moot point, but she did try).
So Asher is not supposed to know Amber is AG, he’s rarely been to Read (only been messing with Ethan for about 2 weeks), been to the girls’ wing even less, and has never been shown to visit Sal’s room (does he even know where it is?).
Also, he and Ethan are seen outside as often as they are inside, so I don’t think Asher would be on the list, let alone near the top of the list.
asher dated billie previously for indeterminate amount of time. we also do not have confirmation that asher doesnt live in the dorms. asher doesnt need to know amber is a-girl for him to know that a-girls stuff is in sals closet and needs to be moved. also asher being involved in re-hiding a-girls stuff both helps him for those who think he’s setting this all up to get a-girl in debt to him, as well as another oppourtunity for him to prove he is a “good guy” for those who want him to be.
also as i said this in my wild guesses as to who they get to do it.
(ethan and asher have been seen inside doing it, just as often seen outside)
Yes, Asher dated Jennifer, but she had already moved from Read by then and wasn’t hanging with her friends then either (remember how she acted at the beginning of the semester).
We do have confirmation that Asher doesn’t live in Read: Walky punched him at his dorm last semester and Sal confronted him, Jennifer, Raidah, and Carl at his dorm this semester.
No he does not need to know Amber is AG, but I feel they would trust the job with someone who did know rather than someone who did not.
I really don’t feel there’s a need to bring Asher further into the story when you already have more involved people, like Walky (who is both more involved with Sal and with Amber, and has featured more in this storyline than Asher), who actually live on the same floor in the same dorm.
My point about Asher and Ethan being outside is that when he comes to Read for Ethan (because, again, he does not live there), they just as often leave; in other words, he’s not like Amber or Walky where one could usually expect to find them in the dorm when not in class, not a homebody.
Anything is possible.
Not everything is likely, tho.
It’s possible Sal asks Asher to help, and thumbs up to you if that is the case.
But it’s more likely that they’d exhaust the members of their friend group who both live in the dorm and know AG’s identity, first.
Asher is not part of their friend group, does not live in the dorm, and, to their knowledge, does not know AG’s identity.
Asking Asher for help feels more like a Hail Mary than a wild guess, especially since Dorothy seems to be the one looking for help.
I think someone is trying to signal that wacky hijinks will save the day. What wacky hijinks?
3) Mary steps up and offers full cooperation. The cops look in her room and find creepy manga art and Roz’s sexual advocacy stuff. Turns out that a bunch subscribe to Roz’s OnlyFans. Embarrassment causes them to blush and flee. Exuent omnes, pursued by Mary trying to get them to come back. They do not.
2) Carla steps up, and pulls a “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” Money talks and bullshit walks, and in this case, the bullshit is the cops.
1b) Malaya locks the doors and refuses to open it without a search warrant for that specific room. The cops have nothing.
1a) Sal and Malaya’s room isn’t locked, and Malaya has Fuckface on her head. The cops come in, stare for a few beats at the noble and hypnotic iguana, and then silently leave without searching further.
Are they all in a group chat, or are these all separate responses to a text/voice/video message that’s been sent repeatedly? It’s not super clear, but considering how much time Dorothy’s spent fucking around lately, I’m guessing separate messages.
I don’t think these kids have the efficiency of a group chat. Remember the latest party, they had to text everyone individually to come. Get a damn group chat damn it, what kinda friends are you
If they’re anything like me, they’re the kind to mute any and all group chats and always forget about them unless someone messages me individually to tell me to check it.
Did anyone wind up with an extra Dina Tricerahoodie plush they’d be willing to sell me? I live in a city and the delivery company just left mine on the street outside my building so of course it got stolen.
Dorothy’s the one doing the texting, and she’s seemingly texting in the order of who she believes is most able to help/most willing to bother.
Sal, who could have been right there on the scene and is the one responsible for its current location.
Dina, who has dinosaur ninja powers.
Sarah, who could have been right next door.
Amber, who is injured, but is right down the hall and the owner of the costume.
She could text Ruth, since she knows Ruth knows AG’s identity, but she might not feel comfortable involving her considering she’s an RA (not that she’d think Ruth would rat, but that it’s an extra complication if she got caught).
I can’t remember if Carla knows, plus I don’t think Dorothy would want to involve the trans girl in messing with the police, despite her family being super rich.
And I think, other than Becky, that would exhaust the girls in their dorm that she’d trust with this (Jennifer doesn’t live there, could be anywhere, and is not likely to be in Read since almost know one she spends time with is currently there).
Of course, she could and should try Becky, but, as I said at first, I think she’s texting in order of she’s willing to bother as well as who she thinks can help, putting Becky low on her list.
I think she won’t want to involve Becky for similar reasons as to not want to involve Carla, plus how badly she feels with everything that’s happened, but when she does, since Becky could still be looking for her lesbian moms, she might not be on the spot.
After running out of trustworthy girls, that leaves the boys, and it could be a toss up between Danny and Walky, but with Walky actually having narrative moments in this story arc, I’m going Walky.
I actually liked this strip, it’s nice seeing a bunch of characters (even if they aren’t interacting together) and the joyrothy joke at the end was funny and a nice change of them just saying how much they love each other to each other (and othered)
If it’s Becky, she’ll definitely be trained by Hellsing Ultimate Abridged Andersen, not the regular one from the manga…or the other one from the tv show…or the one from the OVAs.
It’s abridged or nothing for our girl!
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Once again, when a hero is needed mosf,
One way or another
A broken heart gets in the way…
😖😖😖
*plays “A Grim Fate” from DBZ Kai on hacked muzak*
Speaking personally, my heart is broken by Sal’s lack of devotion to the bit. How hard can it be to shift one letter?
*mosg
Good on Dina for still refusing to employ contractions.
Welp, Sal’s going on the lam. Maybe soon she’ll be abducted by aliens!
Probably a bad idea to shift gears into full It’s Walky! mode but I would still be very curious to see it
What a crazy reveal to be like “haha this was all the equivalent of Roomies!, time to do all of the walkyverse again but 8x longer”
I’m in.
Me too. Buckle up.
We’ve already been kidnapping people, meeting evil Brits, and offing parents. Dina clearly has a super power, Sal’s criminal history will make it hard to keep a job, and Dorothy’s started bad blood between Joyce and Walky.
Come on. We just need a giant
monkeyape.Got to be careful using the M word to refer to apes, or the last word you hear may be “Ook”.
Ooook, ook oook!
Signed: The librarian
Up vote.
i can’t wait for 16k strip shortpacked 2 to debut in 2050
Welp, I don’t know what comes next, but I doubt it’s good.
Is anyone going to make it in time? And if they do, how are they going to hide it?
…Deus Ex Malaya? Would be really funny if she somehow helped this situation purely because she hates cops.
I totally forgot she was my avatar, lol
More likely Deus Ex Billie because she’s the only one who knows Sal is Amazigirl, so of course she’d go hide the costume from Sal’s room.
Omg you’re right
That’s very funny 😀
I have no idea why people are not dropping everything.
The cops are already IN the building. If they aren’t there, there is no way they could get there in time without being seen.
Fuckface has already eaten the entire A-G outfit.
Everyone is relieved.
(Dorothy is always irritated ’cause she has to start over, but she’s also relieved.)
Server clock is drifting (again?), dang.
Déjà vu
I’ve just been in this time before
Higher on the beat
And I know it’s a place to go
Calling you and the search is a mystery
Standing on my feet
It’s so hard when I try to be me, yeah
This is such a good joke, because at first you see ”déja vù” and read the connection as being with something happening ”again”. Which seems natural, but just serves to lure you into the realization that it was all about the drift!💖😌
No, you see “déjà vu”, the actual French for “already seen”.
Well now that’ll be in my head for a week thank you
Bless this post.
It’s not just just clock drift. I posted a comment on yesterday’s strip at 8 minutes past the hour by the server clock, and the comic had still not updated when it posted, though it did shortly thereafter.
I blame the Hubble Tension. Astronomers are fighting over how fast time is increasing in spots of the universe.
one must imagine dorothy running on a little hamster wheel
Lol
okay now it works haha
About 20 minutes after midnight before the comic updates, is that a new record?
i feel like the server clock offset has been more than an hour at its worst, but idk
Are they texting each person individually, or is there a group chat?
It’s a group chat called “How to incriminate your friends and loved ones if the cops check your phone”
I really really hope this results in Jennifer grabbing it. It’s too good a set up
Alright, the antics are wearing a little thin now
that last panel would be funny, if it weren’t so sad 😐
God forbid the comedy comic is comedic
If he wants it to be a “comedy comic”, don’t introduce a fucking police raid into the plot.
It’s a DRAMEDY.
And this is a dramatic moment. Trying to introduce slapstick into the middle of it creates tonal whiplash.
dromedary
yeah, totally. Scrubs shouldn’t have introduced any dramatic elements, since its a comedy. /s
I would argue that while it is fine to have real drama in comedy series, if it is something that serious that affects real people (Police raids, police violence in this case) it is okay not to undercut the drama with comedy even in a comedy. You can let the drama play out, Scrubs did that all the time, Dumbing of Age did it too, in other instances. Not every strip as to have a punchline.
If Willis intends to resolve this situation with wacky hijinks, then a punchline at this juncture is appropriate. Even if he doesn’t, this strip is hilarious, and as far as I’m concerned anything is justified if it makes me laugh.
Nothing makes this justified, its just a bad joke awkwardly glued to the end of a good comic.
It’s a great joke! I love Joyce and Dorothy being adorable dorks, and them literally running around in circles while panicking is perfect.
I agree with you 100% that not every beat of every dramatic arc must have a comedic moment.
I also agree that not every dramatic arc must have a comedic moment.
While you haven’t explicitly said as much, I infer from you that you further mean: “No dramatic arcs should have comedic moments” to argue the stance “So THIS dramatic arc should not have THIS comedic moment.”
If that’s an accurate read on my post, then I disagree here. Perhaps this is the wrong best for a comedic moment. Perhaps it’s the right one. But you and I know only at best ⅔ of the story: the past and the present. But Willis also knows the third, the future.
So if I’m going to lay money on who’s most likely to be right at the end (to my own tastes, if not also for the general population), it’s gonna be on Willis.
Not because of anything personal with him. I just like to win.
Oh no, I do think that dramatic arcs can have very well-placed and fitting comedy beats, sometimes comedy can even enhance the drama. This one just did not work for me. Context further down the line might make it work, but as of now, it does not work for me. It clashes with the drama in a way that pulls me out of the story. Which is fine, not every strip has to work for me personally.
In my opinion the last-panel jokes and sight gags sometimes feel out of place, like they’re only there because every strip “has to” end with one. They don’t ruin the whole thing forever, but they can be disruptive to the flow if their tone clashes with the story in that moment.
I’d argue this is ridiculous, Dr. Strangelove turned a nuclear war into a comedy, including jokes while nuking cities. It is hilarious.
You are being very silly.
Dr. Strangelove had good writing and knew when to mix them properly.
I mean scrubs often mixed the two but honestly when it became one it did a pretty good job of separating the haha funny doctor shenanigans with the pain and stress of dealing with the sick and dying. Its not that you can’t be silly in a story that deals with serious issues but moreso learning the ebb and flow of comedy into these moments as to not minimize the seriousness of the events being portrayed.
Okay, smarty-pants, then answer this, since you’re such a good fucking writer. If there’s no police raid, who’s gonna trip over the fucking marbles in the hallway? Huh? Entire fucking bag of marbles, at least a hundred of the fucking things, all over the floor, and who the fuck do you think is gonna trip over them and skitter comedically down the fucking hallway? Everyone’s a critic, everyone’s so fucking clever, everyone thinks they know better than the author, but when it comes time to answer the question “Who’s gonna trip on these marbles” nobody has an answer, you all just think it should be someone other than who the author put there. Arrogant and childish, bringing up fake problems you made up to upset yourself and then calling it someone else’s bad writing. Be ashamed of what you’re letting yourself be, or maybe what you’re not letting yourself be.
The problem is the sudden punchline in what is clearly supposed to be a strip intended to raise the dramatic tension of the situation
Like, separate from any other issues with the comic recently theres a bit of tonal whiplash going on with this strip
Willis handles the whiplash as a fine tool. Always has.
I’m more bothered by the fact Sarah doesn’t look swooned. She obviously needs swooning lessons.
Yeah, kinda classic Willis Whiplash, especially peak during It’s Walky!.
That’s what real life is like.
Can the comedy be funny at least
NO
Humor is subjective, possibly the most subjective genre you can write. Most people can in some way relate to dramatic elements like danger, grief, or stress, but if a joke doesn’t land that can be for a different reason for everyone that experiences it. So to me one of the most fair and valid criticisms you can make is that you didn’t find something funny. It doesn’t mean the writing is bad and arguing it’s a comedy doesn’t invalidate their opinion. It just means the joke didn’t land for the reader and that’s totally fine. Unless Willis wrote a joke inherently offensive which is not present here I think we can accept that some just don’t find this strip particularly funny. I kind of chuckled but so what is someone else didn’t?
In this case, I found the joke itself mildly amusing – like you said, I kind of chuckled, but it came at the expense of the characters doing something that made no sense, but also explicitly commenting on it making no sense and somehow pretending that it does, but with no reason.
It struck me as forced. In a very “the author is making a joke here” way rather than it coming out of the characters or situation.
This one is fine? Like it’s still them but there’s other characters involved and there’s some plot progression.
I bet Jennifer is available.
This one doesn’t bother me. The “cops after Amazi-Girl” aspect of this situation is an aspect that’s not DoJo’s fault, and I sure as heck wouldn’t have known what to do in this situation when I was that age other than panic and flail around in a circle.
Well, it’s not a consequence of Dorothy and Joyce getting together. And it’s not Joyce’s fault. Joyce didn’t tell AG to ignore her better judgment.
bein swooned is serious to Sarah! 😛
Still, she’s not doing it right.
I mean, she’s not even fanning herself.
See, though, I like this one — (literally) running around in circles while accomplishing nothing useful is very on brand for Thing 1 and Thing 2.
They *should* get those shirts, actually!
I think it’s too literal. Explicitly calling out that they’re doing it for no reason makes it funny, but also seems to break character just to be funny.
People are getting really weirdly defensive about this one. It’s a pretty mild criticism I feel! It’s not even a containment thread!
It does feel like people just see you post and forget how to act right, sometimes
People see you post and immediately lose their marbles, regardless of the context.
Taffy says the marbles are all over the hallway floor for the cops to trip on. So I guess a lot of people be tripping here.
Honestly I’m 150% sure at this point there are some people who think “organized the containment thread” means “directly responsible for all negativity they don’t like”.
I am surprised *how many* replies that post spawned, looking back on it the next day
I agree, and I even feel this strip might work better if they just weren’t running in circles. Like, sometimes there’s an emergency and you just start running toward it or whatever even though realistically your speed in getting there makes no difference– and it might make steps like texting, which could have an actual impact, more difficult. But “emergency!run!” has been triggered in your brain.
Pointing that out could make an okay joke, but running in circles in the street just…doesn’t work for me.
Or Dorothy running in circles around a Joyce who’s standing still. I find that both of them running in circles in the road hits “antics” too hard for this moment.
I do think that would be better, yeah.
Or you start in one direction and then get another idea and turn and than flip back to the first direction – gets the same effect, but less deliberate than “let’s just run in circles”.
Wait wait wait, does this now count as a SECOND panel in which Sal uses “I’m”?
Written, as mouseover text points out.
It’s all written!
…from a certain point of view
What was the first?
Oh god AmaziGirl is gonna have to do everything herself
But Sal already texted that she’s not there.
Billie knows where the costume is, has anyone thought to ask her to retrieve it?
I continue to think Sal will not consider this an ideal solution. Of course Dorothy doesn’t have to ask Sal first.
Counterpoint: It would be extremely funny.
also i know its be gay do crimes but like,
certainly there are better, smarter crimes to do then texting while running
especially in a bunch of circles like that
shm
The running in circles must keep there from being a digital trail, they’re already infosec experts.
Well, I guess that eliminates Sarah as a source of the original warning text
Most likely Asher.
Hmm, guess Sal really did hide it in her room.
Disappointing.
Alt text reminded me of the very embarrassing fact that when I first read It’s Walky I was a big fan of Sal so I started writing in her accent online for like a year
We all need to know how old you were. For science.
Ah mean, ah type like that too, but it’s ’cause ah’m typin’ like ah talk. Nothin’ wrong with it, long as you know when t’back off a bit an’ drop it t’be serious. ~Anna-Marie
(The rest of the system approves this message, but would like to point out that only AM types/talks like that. The rest of us have better things to do than develop an exceptionally in-depth textual replication of our various accents.)
“Being swooned”?
Did she mean “wooed”?
Swooned: to feel a lot of pleasure, love, etc. because of something or someone.
Seems accurate to me.
Yeah, but “swoon” is an active verb, not a stative verb. For example, “I swooned at their charm” is correct, but “I have been swooned by their charms” is bizarre, if clear-enough, I suppose.
*plays "Swoon.exe" from Super Paper Mario on Xtra hacked muzak*The consequences of not having a way to ping @all through texts
WHEN IN DANGER WHEN IN DOUBT
RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT
Sound advice. Particularly the screaming and shouting part.
Came here to say that, left satisfied.
…wait: “when in danger or in doubt” of course.
Am I crazy? I didn’t see Amber in previews for a while…
Ohshit, Amber, no! No!
At first, I was wondering “why are these girls running around in circles instead of actually going back to the dorm and getting the costume themselves?!“ but then I just remembered and I was like “oh yeah, the pictures of them making out during the protest are obviously on the front page of the school paper and I wouldn’t even be surprised if there are a few videos uploaded onto the Web. So if they went back to the campus, they would definitely get caught, detained and questioned by the police or arrested”😓
I guess neither Joyce or Dorothy have Malaya’s number huh? That’s too bad.
Sam would, though
*Sal
Possibly Sam too, in one of his many pockets.
Don’t trust cute boyfriends.
Joe does, but that’s 3 degrees of awkward.
quick someone goad malaya into throwing it out or to perhaps flush it down the toilet as a prank
And in comes Danny and Joe with a steel cha–I mean, snagging Amazi-Girls’ costume
I feel like there’s a reason they didn’t text a single dude.
Well yes, because it’s the girls’ dorm being raided. Circumstances may end up pushing them there if no one actually responds though.
same dorm, different wing. It’s a bend in the hallway. The reason is the bridges they’ve been burning.
As much as I’d like to believe you, I don’t think the comic is going there yet.
This is so awful. Why does the first panel have a recap? Why is this being treated with a “wacky hijinks” tone? Why would Sal be stupid enough to hide the costume in her room?
Does one never get bored of such pointless bile?
Like, seriously. Take it from someone who has had issues with this comic in recent years. This is literally nothing to complain about and doing so reflects nothing but a desire to be inflammatory.
Being inflammatory is bassically everything Tricia does.
eh, I agree with her. I really enjoyed this kind of thing in It’s Walky and Shortpacked but it feels worse applied to police brutality than like… aliens or baby canons etc. Not the worst thing but not the best.
No brutality has happened juuuuust yet.
True, they might be here to give her a medal for bravery!
Amazigirl got shot. What do you want?
However Amazi-Girl’s injuries may have happened, she explicitly did not get shot.
People are allowed to express displeasure with the page, Jesus Christ chill out
People get like weirdly defensive when you just say “this page doesn’t work for me”
Perhaps had Tricia opened with “I think this is really stupid” rather than “This is so awful”, her comment might have gone uncriticized. As it is, the “criticism” is extremely mild, so I am uncertain what you mean by “weirdly defensive” in this context.
A lot of people want the comment section to be entirely positive and get bristly at even the smallest hint of otherwise.
How dare a person not like a strip, or a few strips in a row, or even an entire storyline, and express that in the comments. It seems like some folks here don’t want to hear any expressions of dislike or criticism at all.
Eat exactly four mackerel patties about it.
That sounds delicious. How critical do *I* need to be to get mackerel patties?
i figured dotty was using voice to text
1. Why not?
2. Daily comic strip. See “comic”.
3. Sal is like 19 years old. She is not a hardened criminal, experienced at concealing misdoings from investigators. She likely thought concealing the costume was only necessary because Amber/AG does have a history of going to do derring-do when it’s really inadvisable, as we can see with Amber standing on a narrow ledge outside her window.
Surprise twist: Tony is responsible for the raid.
Hahaha… huh.
That… that actually feels possible.
We know very little about DoA Tony, other than his parentage, general distaste for “shenanigans”, and that he’s a sports guy.
His father is the Dean of Students, which is a pretty solid reason for not wanting chaotic disruptive forces (such as a self-appointed superhero) to remain at the school.
His distaste for shenanigans lines up with, again, not wanting some fool running around in their pajamas beating up cops.
Looking outside of DoA, Historical Tony’s core personality was basically “Law and Order and the safety of others above all else, including my personal well-being.”
Which, bereft of aliens to fight, matches pretty well with “pass along information to the police officers who have been assaulted.”
I’m probably overlooking a lot, but that all feels pretty in character.
Huh. IF – and it’s a BIG if – that we’re true… Perhaps Tony found out in advance when the results would be, and made plans with Sarah to try “swooning” someplace TO AW away from Reed Hall.
I really don’t think there needs to be a student behind the raid. The fact that Amazi-Girl beat up a bunch of cops and she’s been seen most often and most recently at this dorm is enough of an explanation.
It depends whether they’re really going to just break down all the doors and search every room or if they’ve got a specific target.
The story seems to be implying the first and also that they haven’t bothered with getting any kind of legal permission.
Tony is the BBEG, but he’s not revealed as such until his dramatic double-cross at the end. Then Sarah is the only person that can save everyone from being lowered in to the shark pit, and she must war with her traitorous libido.
Ah yes, the “run around like a chicken with its head cut off” maneuver. An old classic.
When in worry, when in doubt…
why is she narrating what is happening in the first panel? we in the audience have object permanence, and if someone is coming in late, they can hit the comic back button
this feels like the Suicide Squad (the bad one) when towards the end of the movie they repeat that the way to defeat Enchantress is to get to her heart. Yeah man, we know, it’s been stated multiple times
what even is this comparison
Suicide Squad is a series of cameos and bad acting with CGI and pop music tracks tacked on
this isn’t even near that fuckin level
Where did you get this ridiculous notion that this audience has object permanence?
I know. Right?
Object Permanence is something for people without ADHD!
This is a Monday strip, they have to recap for all the readers whose newspapers don’t carry the Sunday comics.
it’s showing that they’re texting to let others know
She’s reading the texts out to Joyce. Like… Joyce isn’t using a phone, so she’s relying on Dorothy to let her know what’s happening.
I agree that Dorothy saying all of this out loud is a clunky way to get the information across – and horrible opsec when the police are around! I think it would have been better to show a text from Dorothy in the first panel to someone who doesn’t know what’s going on, rather than saying it out loud to Joyce, who should be up to speed.
I feel like this could have been a lot better if it was just shown as a text bubble instead. No need for her to be saying it out loud, she just told Joyce all of this yesterday
semi-clunky dialogue but I think Dot’s just panicking so she’s quickly running down what’s happening and what they have to do for her own sake
OK so Im now caught up with the past few weeks of episodes.
Holy mackerel.
But now you have to go back and read the last two weeks of comment section.
That’s just cruel.
Do not listen to Clif in this instance.
Uh, I wouldn’t.
‘I’m not Amazigirl I’m just holding it for a friend… who was holding it for me… well not me but me….’
Hmm. Who else is available? Texting Walky or Joe would be (darkly, to me) hilarious at this moment in time, but I think both of them are currently in class, so that’s not happening. Is it going to be Jennifer? Ruth?
The only class we see Walky take is math, which is over now.
We know he has other classes, but we never see them (probably because they don’t involve the rest of the cast, like we saw in last year’s Gender Studies).
I believe he eats lunch after math.
Regardless, when I read this strip, my first thought was that Walky will be the one to get the suit and bad things will happen.
Ah, the famous consequences. Of course they hit Walky, the hated villain.
/s but only barely
Not Walky
NIGHTGUY
Just had a thought: what if they search and find NightGuy’s stuff and grab Walky just because he also has a super suit? A guilt-by-association deal.
“Sheriff, this is no time to panic.”
“This is the perfect time to panic!”
— Buzz and Woody, Toy Story (1)
Dorothy needs to heroically take the heat by claiming to be Amazi-Girl!
I’ll take “What’s the worst that could happen?” for the daily double.
We’re not I’m Spartacusing this.
Malaya is in huge trouble
The closet is safe. Malaya has a guard Iguana.
Swained? Mooned? Wined n dined, Spooned? Stained? Wound? Swined? Stoned? Scrooed? Goosed?
….
Do you charge for free associating?
Wouldn’t be free then, would it?
Courted? Assignationed? Gentleman callered?
I wonder if the cops even know which room to look for the Amazi-Girl costume, or are they just searching every room in the residence hall? What would they do if they find it in a room, but the students for that room aren’t there? Would they try to find those students on campus? And I’m still wondering who told the cops that Amazi-Girl might be in this residence hall.
Dorothy did. In the newspaper.
The raid is on the two women’s wings of Read, Clark and murmemrmemr. There’s a report in the paper a few days ago about AG showing up again, in Read. Paul also knew to fish for AG in Read. Hell, even without the paper from earlier in the week, it could be that Paul tipped the cops off.
Won’t they be surprised when they find out that we’ve used the Sun Device to complete the merger of the Murmemrmemr and the Chenjesu, and they have to fight a bunch of Avatars…
is it time for *dancing*?
There is a standard procedure to handle this type of situation. First you carefully determine which students reside in that room. Then you beat the crap out of all of them for resisting arrest. Then you arrest them for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.
This is so true that it’s painful just reading it. :/
Curious what exactly Dorothy texted them. Hopefully she didn’t explicitly say anything to the effect of “our friend Amber, who is Amazi-Girl, is in trouble, can you retrieve her paraphenalia which you previously concealed on purpose?” over text.
Drug dealers at my college would do everything over Snapchat. Who knows how unsuspecting kids these days are about being surveilled.
Something like “Amber needs you to move her laundry” would be good.
SAL: “No thanks, I’m not into girls.”
Her exact message to everyone is “Our dog, Brian Griffin, is dead”
Never say anything incriminating over text. Doesn’t even matter if it’s illegal or not.
It feels kind of bizarre to me that Sal would hide the amazi-girl costume in her dorm. I’m pretty sure she’s aware that at least one person thinks she’s amazi-girl?
Anyway, this is going bad places. Getting ready for the loudest “damn you Willis” of my life.
Be ready
Also, she’s literally the only one with a criminal record and would have much more serious ramifications for anything illegal. Let’s hide evidence of a crime in the room of the most likely to be searched!
When in panic when in doubt! Run in circles scream and shout!
ok, wild guessing as to whom they send to get it.
my top 3
1 walky (twin, knows A-girls secret, likely to be onsite, eating mcnuggets)
2 asher(ethan) (already knee deep in it, maybe have making out with ethan when recieving tipoff about raid, likely smart enough to guess sal would’ve stashed the gear)
3 whitebread (sal’s troubadour, A-girls ex, also good chance to be near.
as i was about to post joe popped into my head but i don’t think joyce has the awareness atm to involve him and the 3 above could all be brought into this via the others currently in the chat
I don’t think Asher would even be on the table.
The only one who knows Asher helped with the mafia doctor is Sal, and she made a big point of not letting Amber reveal herself around him (probably a moot point, but she did try).
So Asher is not supposed to know Amber is AG, he’s rarely been to Read (only been messing with Ethan for about 2 weeks), been to the girls’ wing even less, and has never been shown to visit Sal’s room (does he even know where it is?).
Also, he and Ethan are seen outside as often as they are inside, so I don’t think Asher would be on the list, let alone near the top of the list.
asher dated billie previously for indeterminate amount of time. we also do not have confirmation that asher doesnt live in the dorms. asher doesnt need to know amber is a-girl for him to know that a-girls stuff is in sals closet and needs to be moved. also asher being involved in re-hiding a-girls stuff both helps him for those who think he’s setting this all up to get a-girl in debt to him, as well as another oppourtunity for him to prove he is a “good guy” for those who want him to be.
also as i said this in my wild guesses as to who they get to do it.
(ethan and asher have been seen inside doing it, just as often seen outside)
Yes, Asher dated Jennifer, but she had already moved from Read by then and wasn’t hanging with her friends then either (remember how she acted at the beginning of the semester).
We do have confirmation that Asher doesn’t live in Read: Walky punched him at his dorm last semester and Sal confronted him, Jennifer, Raidah, and Carl at his dorm this semester.
No he does not need to know Amber is AG, but I feel they would trust the job with someone who did know rather than someone who did not.
I really don’t feel there’s a need to bring Asher further into the story when you already have more involved people, like Walky (who is both more involved with Sal and with Amber, and has featured more in this storyline than Asher), who actually live on the same floor in the same dorm.
My point about Asher and Ethan being outside is that when he comes to Read for Ethan (because, again, he does not live there), they just as often leave; in other words, he’s not like Amber or Walky where one could usually expect to find them in the dorm when not in class, not a homebody.
again i said wild guesses as too who they get to do it, and i could easily see sal mssging asher to get him to grab the stuff
Anything is possible.
Not everything is likely, tho.
It’s possible Sal asks Asher to help, and thumbs up to you if that is the case.
But it’s more likely that they’d exhaust the members of their friend group who both live in the dorm and know AG’s identity, first.
Asher is not part of their friend group, does not live in the dorm, and, to their knowledge, does not know AG’s identity.
Asking Asher for help feels more like a Hail Mary than a wild guess, especially since Dorothy seems to be the one looking for help.
Asher is for sure gonna stash it if it gets stashed, huh?
well fckk!!!!
These are def not going to be very merry xmas… :////////// :_((((((
Texting and Driving? ❌
Texting and Running? ⭕
ah’m gonna not assume that Sal couldn’t do that, alt
I think someone is trying to signal that wacky hijinks will save the day. What wacky hijinks?
3) Mary steps up and offers full cooperation. The cops look in her room and find creepy manga art and Roz’s sexual advocacy stuff. Turns out that a bunch subscribe to Roz’s OnlyFans. Embarrassment causes them to blush and flee. Exuent omnes, pursued by Mary trying to get them to come back. They do not.
2) Carla steps up, and pulls a “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” Money talks and bullshit walks, and in this case, the bullshit is the cops.
1b) Malaya locks the doors and refuses to open it without a search warrant for that specific room. The cops have nothing.
1a) Sal and Malaya’s room isn’t locked, and Malaya has Fuckface on her head. The cops come in, stare for a few beats at the noble and hypnotic iguana, and then silently leave without searching further.
what are the odds they get a whiff of the dinosaur bed to regret it instantly?
Isn’t Malaya already outside the room?
I like all of these!
all glory to the HYPNO-IGUANA!!!!!
Are they all in a group chat, or are these all separate responses to a text/voice/video message that’s been sent repeatedly? It’s not super clear, but considering how much time Dorothy’s spent fucking around lately, I’m guessing separate messages.
I don’t think these kids have the efficiency of a group chat. Remember the latest party, they had to text everyone individually to come. Get a damn group chat damn it, what kinda friends are you
If they’re anything like me, they’re the kind to mute any and all group chats and always forget about them unless someone messages me individually to tell me to check it.
Will it go ’round in circles
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky
Oof, thats a lot of evidence suddenly on everyones phones.
One hopes that these modern teens have learned what Signal is
chill, people: it’s hard to think while running
Did anyone wind up with an extra Dina Tricerahoodie plush they’d be willing to sell me? I live in a city and the delivery company just left mine on the street outside my building so of course it got stolen.
Sorry to hear, that’s awful!!!
Why would somebody steal Dina?!?!?!
🦕🥺😭😭😭😭🫂
I’m betting Walky.
Dorothy’s the one doing the texting, and she’s seemingly texting in the order of who she believes is most able to help/most willing to bother.
Sal, who could have been right there on the scene and is the one responsible for its current location.
Dina, who has dinosaur ninja powers.
Sarah, who could have been right next door.
Amber, who is injured, but is right down the hall and the owner of the costume.
She could text Ruth, since she knows Ruth knows AG’s identity, but she might not feel comfortable involving her considering she’s an RA (not that she’d think Ruth would rat, but that it’s an extra complication if she got caught).
I can’t remember if Carla knows, plus I don’t think Dorothy would want to involve the trans girl in messing with the police, despite her family being super rich.
And I think, other than Becky, that would exhaust the girls in their dorm that she’d trust with this (Jennifer doesn’t live there, could be anywhere, and is not likely to be in Read since almost know one she spends time with is currently there).
Of course, she could and should try Becky, but, as I said at first, I think she’s texting in order of she’s willing to bother as well as who she thinks can help, putting Becky low on her list.
I think she won’t want to involve Becky for similar reasons as to not want to involve Carla, plus how badly she feels with everything that’s happened, but when she does, since Becky could still be looking for her lesbian moms, she might not be on the spot.
After running out of trustworthy girls, that leaves the boys, and it could be a toss up between Danny and Walky, but with Walky actually having narrative moments in this story arc, I’m going Walky.
I feel like the obvious person to text and bring in on this would be Carla.
Asma could do it.
Just realized Amber has Mario shroom pants.
I actually liked this strip, it’s nice seeing a bunch of characters (even if they aren’t interacting together) and the joyrothy joke at the end was funny and a nice change of them just saying how much they love each other to each other (and othered)
they’re really going to arrest sal for being amazigirl aren’t they
Oh my god it’s gonna be Billie isn’t it
And she’ll keep thinking that sal is amazi-girl
Maybe Becky can get it. Unless she’s already been sent back to Anderson…
https://www.itswalky.com/comic/too-much-beer/
Anderson? Alexander Anderson? Next time we see her she’ll be slaying vampires FOR THE LORD!
If it’s Becky, she’ll definitely be trained by Hellsing Ultimate Abridged Andersen, not the regular one from the manga…or the other one from the tv show…or the one from the OVAs.
It’s abridged or nothing for our girl!
Help them Charlie; you’re their only hope
what’s with panel 1 being a reprise of yesterday’s strip