A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
There are a few variations, like the half-frames Roz wears, but most of the characters’ glasses are either ovals (Dorothy, Joss, John, Lucy, Billiefer) or square/rectangular (Ruth, Carla).
They’re probably easier to draw consistently that way.
I don’t know… given the way her eyes are drawn (bright blue, larger size) I thought she’d look better with a larger pair… do a better job at ‘framing’ her eyes.
After more than 45 years in aviators I went with the tiny ovals because I can see pretty good close-up without them, so I bought frames with lenses I could peek under and avoid the costs of bifocals.
Aviator frames are no good if you have a strong prescription, as the weight of the lenses drags the glasses down your nose. This probably isn’t something that Joyce has to worry about (yet).
That would just make Jacob sad, I think. We haven’t seen those 2 interact since the timeskip, but the way they parted seemed pretty final, and Jacob seems like the type to stick to his guns when he makes a moral decision.
I agree. The Joyce/Jacob ship was sunk and I doubt there will be a plot twist life raft when Joyce did a lot of wrong things he may have been complicit in, but did not endorse as a practice. Now that he has distance from it, friendship might be on the table again one day but he doesn’t have to be willing to be friends either with how it went last time. Just as Ethan doesn’t have to make up with Danny for what he said at the hospital.
I agree, and while i do hope they can become friends again, Jacob is definitely under no obligation to extend the olive branch. It would have to come from Joyce, if reconciliation happens at all.
Bang on, Joyce! That was my first thoughts as well, as I wore my new glasses in High School for the first time. “How do people wear these things?” I wondered as they seemed to sit so heavily on my nose. Now, I often forget I’m even wearing them. I’ve literally gasped and said, “I forgot my glasses!” while driving down the road, only to put my hand to face and hit the glasses.
or the fun opposite of that “oh my glasses must be dirty” but actually everything is blurry because you’re not wearing your glasses and then you poke yourself in the eye by accident
Same as the frames on the side. You hear complaints about new glasses wearers – “I can’t see, the frames get in the way!” – but after a few weeks you just don’t see the frames.
The Joyce in the mirror is cute. Glasses work well for her. I don’t even remember what she looks like without them. Clearly, this is the real her.
…Oh, that doesn’t actually work when she can’t hear me? And probably wouldn’t even if she could? Ah, well. Joking aside, glasses do work well for her.
That said, if I were Joyce, I’d actually be getting annoyed with Dorothy by this point. I get she’s trying to be reassuring, but it’s not what I’d find comforting, and doesn’t seem to be what Joyce finds comforting. Still, good work in getting her to get her eye issues resolved.
There’s a message in the wire
And I’m sending you this signal tonight
You don’t know how desperate I’ve become
And it looks like I’m losing this fight…
As I posted once before (Oct 18, 2019), we celebrate DUMBING DAY on whatever date (month and day) in real life that happens to correspond to the current in-story date of DoA, according to the deductions and assumptions of the DOA wiki — and, in this case, on deductions and assumptions I’m making. In particular, I’m assuming that this storyline is set on the first day of classes, that it’s a Monday, and that it’s scheduled when IU usually schedules the spring semester (in non-pandemic years), i.e. the second week of January. Thus, if the wiki dating is correct in that the first day of DOA was on a Sunday, August 29, then the first day of the spring semester would fall on Monday, January 10. (Of course, we’re currently on a Sunday, whereas the DOA storyline isn’t, but we ignore that part.)
Time will tell if these assumptions will fall in line with Willis’s own storytelling plans (I figure we’ll at least get to Valentine’s Day before another giant time skip).
What’s the date of the next Dumbing day so that I can prepare to celebrate properly? Oh wait, it depends on how many in-comic days pass. So probably around Jan 15, 2022 then.
Since (barring mentioned-in-narration-box timeskips) one chapter equals one in-universe day we’ll probably be able to see the next Dumbing Day at least a few weeks to a month or so in advance, but yeah, we don’t know when the next is currently.
or it could be Dumbing Day tomorrow, in which case Happy Dumbing Eve!
i still assert there’s no reason to think this would be the 2011 calendar; timeskip changes everything
Hm, an additional thought.
She’s used to being the only Brown sister. The only girl, in a family of boys. (She’s not, but she doesn’t know that – yet.) And, until now, the only one who doesn’t wear glasses.
So now she’s having to give that bit of uniqueness up as well.
My bet with Jocelyne is ‘dramatically upped her timeline for coming out to Joyce and Becky, cautiously optimistic about Hank, but not out yet because this made it abundantly clear Carol cannot EVER know and that Steps Need To Be Taken to ensure safety from Carol before going No Contact.’ (By which I mean: when your mother is backing the man who kidnapped your sister with a mobster in his SECOND attempt to kidnap and de-gay his daughter? Do not let her know where you live. And ensure she can’t ‘casually’ bump into you around town.) Not that the divorce delayed it so much as the ‘welp, Mom is actively dangerous to me’ factor.
That said, I still think she’s coming out sooner rather than later. (Or at least, I hope so.) Maybe not immediately, but I’m hoping by the end of next book, at least.
I feel like Joyce will take to contacts like a slug takes to salt but maybe if Dorothy suggests them then Joyce will realize glasses aren’t that bad. Or at least not that bad for her.
I personally love my contacts and couldn’t wait to stop wearing glasses, because I feel like I look stupid in glasses. I also sleep in my contacts even though I’m not really supposed to because I hate feeling blind when I wake up.
Even so, I think it might be worth fumbling around a bit every morning to preserve your eye health. You only have two eyes, and wearing contacts 24/7 seems like it could be very bad for them!
I used to do that too. Then I ended up with an infection that could have cost me my eyesight. It was incredibly painful and one of the scariest moments ever for me. The proteins built up and I still have a small scar on my eye to this day. This was when I was 19 and I’m 35 now and it still haunts me. Please please please please don’t go blind in one of your eyes for the sake of a couple minutes of blindness in the morning. If you know your contact prescription you can get a pair of glasses from Zenni optical for $10-20 if you go bare bones.
I also hate wearing glasses but will never again risk that. I use them for maybe 15 minutes a day total now. A few minutes at bedtime and when I wake up or if I need something in the middle of the night.
Yeah, I’m bad enough that it was always tricky. The realization a couple years back I could take pictures using my cell phone and compare them was a game-changer.
I know she’s trying to help, but with how bad she’s doing at it, it feels like Dotty is either incredibly out of sorts, or is actively trying to make Joyce not want glasses.
Also no they shouldn’t feel noticeably heavy or pinchy (though the pinchiness might be fixed by getting her own and having the optometrist fit them), she should try a different pair.
The heavy I can see for your first pair since you’re going from nothing there to something, but yeah if its pinchy the optometrist can adjust those on your pair.
I’ve had straight-line bifocals since I was a kid. The hard transition between “distance” and “reading” is reassuring.
Been considering the no-line progressive lenses this time around though, because reading the dashboard without tilting my head down at it is getting difficult.
Joe’s gonna lose his mind. Maybe have an awakening. Or at least a reckoning. An actual proper one.
Either way, Joyce’s complaints about “look like one of my brothers” is valid coming from a sibling, though at this point I look like my sister WITHOUT the glasses.
Also, Joyce has a point on the Dorothy indoctrinating. A bit of a hyperbole, but I think Dorothy is making her points quite well without having to hammer them in too deep.
As soneone who wears glasses, no, they are not supposed to pinch or feel heavy. Dorothy, I know you’re trying to be encouraging, but it’s not working right now. To Joyce, no doubt this feels like ludicrous speed. You gotta slow down.
Eh, they always have for me. The feeling of them on my nose isn’t something I ever got used to, even when I had the nose piece perfectly measured. At home i usually wedge the arms under my headphones so they sort of hover over my nose
I b’lieve a presidential thingy was passed 6-7 months ago, that’s it is an automatic 10 years for rioters damaging federal property.
The irony took me a day to figure out.
Joyce’s last speech would just about tear it for me if I were Dorothy. “Joyce, if I can’t offer advice without hearing ‘indoctrination,’ I’m walking away from you.”
Honestly, I don’t think I’d actually care about getting glasses that much, but I’m kinda agreeing with Joyce here. What Dorothy’s saying that at some point you’ll get used to them and you’ll think you don’t look like yourself without them, and this complete reversal of how your brain processes things, changing how you think, is completely out of your control and will happen whether you like it or not. That’s weird! I like having control over my own thoughts about things thank you very much, not having them decided by an outside force. Of course, this is a major exaggeration of what is actually happening, and minor changes that affect how you think happen all the time and aren’t a big deal at all, but having the fact that even your own mind isn’t fully under your control pointed out so directly does feel kinda weird. At least, that’s why I feel weird about it, maybe Joyce’s reason is actually completely different.
Pretty sure that the only control you usually have over your own thoughts is that you usually hide most of them from yourself. This is not exactly cutting news.
Well, you at least feel like you have the opinions you do for a reason, and that they make sense, right? And if your opinion changes it’s usually because you think about it and consciously change your mind, so that’s some sort of control I’d think.
Idk, I guess this is basically just saying that people’s opinions can change, which is obvious. I guess the weird part is being told that your opinion WILL change, without knowing why it will change and cause your current opinion to not make sense anymore when it makes perfect sense to you right now. It brings up thoughts of like, what if what I believe right now is right and the other way is wrong and now I’m gonna be forced to be wrong for the rest of my life. Or, my current opinion doesn’t actually make any more or less sense than the other one and my internal reasoning is actually meaningless, so I can never actually know if what I believe is right and makes sense. But I guess that’s probably more just a personal fear of my thoughts turning out to be objectively wrong and bad, even though that’s not actually how it works. But I don’t even know why I’m writing this still since the new post is already up and no one’s gonna see this, I guess it’s just to get my thoughts written out.
So get yourself some glasses with big dark frames,
With lenses so dark they won’t even know your name,
And try to stop sedition from the masses,
And get yourself some cheap sunglasses.
it might trigger a little bit of disphoria, but I feel like Jocelyn has been REALLY good at tamping down on her own issues to help a hurting sibling. It might be helpful or it might hurt, but I feel like Jocelyn thoughtlessly complimenting Joyce before getting a hold of herself might improve Joyce’s attitude vis-à-vis glasses.
I doubt they’re that bad. The flat placeholder lenses they come with weigh nothing. It’s just that she’s not used to wearing any at all, and the off-the-rack demo pair hasn’t been adjusted for her.
She’s also completely done with the whole situation, so she’s predisposed to knee-jerk negativity right now.
I want Joce to come out, transition fully, and give Joyce a hug as long as both of them clearly need. LIFE HAS CHEATED BOTH OF THEM OFF ONE, OK. Joyce doesn’t know she’s not the only Brown sister, she’s stated before she would’ve loved to have one, and maybe that way she’ll realize family resemblance while female doesn’t mean Looking Like Her Mom. Or that wearing glasses doesn’t make her look like John, or Jordan who’s been banished (which probs means good things) – Something that also plays into her fears.
While a part of me really wants to see her in the Julia Gray shades, I don’t think those are what she picks. WHAT WILL IT BE? For both thematic and characterization reasons I doubt it’ll be contacts :’)
(that is, i don’t think Joyce would come up with the idea organically. being in the closet, you can act pretty normal and nobody [even family members] will have the idea you’re hiding something without you telling them, unless they start actively spying on you)
(ok i guess i could have been more careful not to have lewd chats when not in my room)
So, I got a pair of Oakley Airdrops in 2019 and they are literally the most comfortable glasses I have ever worn. This year when I was trying to spend down my FSA and get a new pair of glasses, I tried some other pairs of frames and they just couldn’t reach the same level of comfort, so I ended up buying a second pair of the exact same frames.
I have 4 pairs, two current and two last prescription. Because I need a pair in the car, one at work, one at home, one for when I misplace one of the others, and (5) one that is reading prescription on the entire lens.
Last time I got new frames, I liked the first pair I pulled off the rack. Turns out they were literally the same exact frames I walked in wearing. Same model, color, everything.
(Assuming you’re not joking) Flexible Spending Account.
When you set your health plan up with your employer during open enrollment, you can opt to have pre-tax money deducted from your check and put into what’s effectively a checking account with a debit card. You can then use that card to pay out of pocket health care expenses.
It’s kind of like getting a 30% discount because you’re not paying income tax on it, but there are some downsides. They’re strict about what you can pay for with it (no booze and scratch-offs), you have to provide paperwork and receipts and justify everything paid with the card, and you can only carry a few hundred dollars over year to year if you’re lucky. (The surplus is forfeit and may as well just evaporate into the ether.)
It’s either a great way to save money on the overpriced American healthcare industry, or a pain in the ass red tape scam, depending on how much you use it and which carrier your employer foists upon you.
Personally, I would have recommended rectangular ones to try first. I just like the look of rectangles better for glasses despite not wearing any myself.
The thing that amazes me the most is that this is happening right now even to Kat in “Heart of the city” as well. But Kat makes way fewer complaints about the glasses she tries on.
I continue to sympathise with Joyce, only backwards.
As I mentioned before, I got used to glasses being part of “what I look like” at a very early age. But the last time I got new glasses, I was given a selection of stylish unobtrusive frames. And in the back of my head a voice was screaming “No! I wear glasses that take up half my face like pre-makeover Amber! That’s my thing!” I got over it eventually.
When I went from attention grabbing frames to no-rim with titanium wisps.
And I started to wear the old pair when using a fbp2 mask, because they are heavier and not hoisted so much by the mask (multifocals lifted are a real pain)
Speak for yourself. With light frames you stop being able to tell the difference between wearing and not wearing your glasses until you try to look at something far away/close up (depending on the correction needed).
Joyce’s reaction implies she’s never worn even a pair of sunglasses before. I guess that’s possible (Willis didn’t show her wearing them while driving or at the “beach”), but at least where I live it seems odd. Maybe the sun isn’t as bright in Indiana. I can understand Willis not wanting to bother drawing them, but the implication is that it’s never happened even “off screen”.
I have sunglasses that don’t have the nose parts of normal glasses (it is one solid piece with foldable legs) but I also don’t regularly wear sunglasses, which is possibly true for Joyce too.
LOL i always hated that so eventually i got the frames that didn’t have the ‘pinchy’ thing in the middle haha XD; (at the very least joyce should be able to find ones that are more adjustable b/c sometimes there are stuff that’s too small/pinchy)
Can confirm after more than 60 years in glasses not wearing them feels like public nudity. And after 30 years as a practicing Witch I know what public nudity feels like. I have led more than a few skyclad rituals, both with and without my glasses.
“I have led more than a few skyclad rituals, both with and without my glasses.”
Does that mean you’re doubly nude at certain times? Are you like, the fusion-danced doublemint twin of nudity? Double the nudity, double the fun (under the sun! Well, I’d hope- moon just doesn’t have the same rhyme appeal).
Hmm. Though perhaps Mentos is the better slogan reference point for this..
“Stay Fresh!”
Actually, thanks to this topic, I’ve just discovered that “NUDE” brand mints exist [just google “nude mints”, or go to nudemints.com for a flavor listing midway down the page]. Whelp, guess we can firmly lock in your breath freshening brand association, then..
Bright side, you can now refer to yourself as “Sexy Spearmint” and “Mad Melon”. I think we can count that as a win. ^.^
I’d have to argue with what Dorothy is peddling, there. The nosepads on the metal frames never got familiar, due to how exceedingly uncomfortable they are, even after decades. Plastic frames that sit right on the nose are a massive pain to align right but, hell if they aren’t a heck of a lot more comfortable and much easier to feel familarity/comfort with having on. Frankly, I gotta imagine this is some kind of weird masochistic fetish specific to Dorothy..
a plague has hit our house
both children singing billie eilish's "what was i made for" but entirely in "meows"
we can't get them to stop
it's been weeks
please send help
The plantation burning reminds me of when the residential school burnt down in Shubenacadie.
I was very young. Not understanding why we were all there watching a scary looking building burning. Cars lined up all over both sides of the road. It seemed like the entire rez population (1)
Someone is citing the MA constitutional provision explicitly allowing the state to impede federal marshals enforcing the fugitive slave act, DAMN the average citizen is radicalized
you’re laughing. the largest antebellum plantation house burned down & there are brides who will not get to spiritually absorb the poisoned spectral energy of the land for their big day, & you’re laughing.
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
Dana Simpson 
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Loading ...
oh no family resemblance to family *shock*
Yaaaas! Go for the Joss look!
Twist: not actually one of her brothers. I wish we could see this soon, but since it’ll be a long time I’ll settle for a glasses montage.
ikr? “No, hon, you look like your sister.” xD
To be fair, John wears the same style of glasses, and we don’t know what Jordan’s glasses looked like.
There are a few variations, like the half-frames Roz wears, but most of the characters’ glasses are either ovals (Dorothy, Joss, John, Lucy, Billiefer) or square/rectangular (Ruth, Carla).
They’re probably easier to draw consistently that way.
“Glasses montage.”
I love being alive in the age of the internet, elsewise I might think my attraction to women* in glasses is rarer than it is.
(*That’s just me, of course. Both megane and meganekko exist for a reason.)
That was my first thought: “Huh, so that’s what Joss would look like with long hair.”
Well, they look good on her
I must admit, I thought the glass trying on montague was going to be off screen.
What about the glass trying on capulet?
Careful Mercutio, it doesn’t end well for Romeo’s comedian.
Damn you, tablet autocorrect.
Embrace the unintentional comedy of the auto carrot.
Are you implying that I’ll be found a grave man, should any ask for me tomorrow?
This joke is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but ’tis enough, ’twill serve.
exit left, pursued by bear
A pun o’ both your houses!
I don’t know… given the way her eyes are drawn (bright blue, larger size) I thought she’d look better with a larger pair… do a better job at ‘framing’ her eyes.
They do, but personally I feel like some colored frames might fit her better due her large blue eyes.
oh my god i did not realize how cute she was about to be because i am a dummy
She’s ADORABLE in glasses!!
Go for Julia Gray aviators.
they’re real cool, some people say
After more than 45 years in aviators I went with the tiny ovals because I can see pretty good close-up without them, so I bought frames with lenses I could peek under and avoid the costs of bifocals.
Aviator frames are no good if you have a strong prescription, as the weight of the lenses drags the glasses down your nose. This probably isn’t something that Joyce has to worry about (yet).
I’m already anticipating Joyce in glasses to highly confuse, scare and/arouse any of Becky, Joe, Walky and/or Ethan.
1) Roomies (or maybe it was a Roomies cameo in IW) already did that storyline.
2) Joyce already confuses, scares, and arouses Joe.
Danny has a glasses fetish. That could cause some awkwardness.
What about…Jacob?! :-/
That would just make Jacob sad, I think. We haven’t seen those 2 interact since the timeskip, but the way they parted seemed pretty final, and Jacob seems like the type to stick to his guns when he makes a moral decision.
I agree. The Joyce/Jacob ship was sunk and I doubt there will be a plot twist life raft when Joyce did a lot of wrong things he may have been complicit in, but did not endorse as a practice. Now that he has distance from it, friendship might be on the table again one day but he doesn’t have to be willing to be friends either with how it went last time. Just as Ethan doesn’t have to make up with Danny for what he said at the hospital.
I agree, and while i do hope they can become friends again, Jacob is definitely under no obligation to extend the olive branch. It would have to come from Joyce, if reconciliation happens at all.
Bang on, Joyce! That was my first thoughts as well, as I wore my new glasses in High School for the first time. “How do people wear these things?” I wondered as they seemed to sit so heavily on my nose. Now, I often forget I’m even wearing them. I’ve literally gasped and said, “I forgot my glasses!” while driving down the road, only to put my hand to face and hit the glasses.
or the fun opposite of that “oh my glasses must be dirty” but actually everything is blurry because you’re not wearing your glasses and then you poke yourself in the eye by accident
I can’t see my hand in front of my face without glasses.
I once lost my glasses on my face and didn’t wonder why I could see well if they were “lost”.
ADHD is a trip.
Same as the frames on the side. You hear complaints about new glasses wearers – “I can’t see, the frames get in the way!” – but after a few weeks you just don’t see the frames.
Never really bothered me. I was just happy to be able to see.
The Joyce in the mirror is cute. Glasses work well for her. I don’t even remember what she looks like without them. Clearly, this is the real her.
…Oh, that doesn’t actually work when she can’t hear me? And probably wouldn’t even if she could? Ah, well. Joking aside, glasses do work well for her.
That said, if I were Joyce, I’d actually be getting annoyed with Dorothy by this point. I get she’s trying to be reassuring, but it’s not what I’d find comforting, and doesn’t seem to be what Joyce finds comforting. Still, good work in getting her to get her eye issues resolved.
She’s totally going to put on the fanfic sunglasses and just bump into everything for weeks.
“They’re prescription!”
There’s a message in the wire
And I’m sending you this signal tonight
You don’t know how desperate I’ve become
And it looks like I’m losing this fight…
HAPPY (probable) DUMBING DAY!
As I posted once before (Oct 18, 2019), we celebrate DUMBING DAY on whatever date (month and day) in real life that happens to correspond to the current in-story date of DoA, according to the deductions and assumptions of the DOA wiki — and, in this case, on deductions and assumptions I’m making. In particular, I’m assuming that this storyline is set on the first day of classes, that it’s a Monday, and that it’s scheduled when IU usually schedules the spring semester (in non-pandemic years), i.e. the second week of January. Thus, if the wiki dating is correct in that the first day of DOA was on a Sunday, August 29, then the first day of the spring semester would fall on Monday, January 10. (Of course, we’re currently on a Sunday, whereas the DOA storyline isn’t, but we ignore that part.)
Time will tell if these assumptions will fall in line with Willis’s own storytelling plans (I figure we’ll at least get to Valentine’s Day before another giant time skip).
Anyway, Happy Dumbing Day 2021!
Happy Dumbing Day to you too.
Happy Dumbing Day!
Dumming Day, Hurrah, huzzah, rah, rah, rah!
Only with confetti.
After Dumbing Day 2020 was cancelled (due to the timeskip, but still another thing that accursed year took from us), this is nice.
*noisemaker* WHEEEEE! Happy Dumbing Day!
Wooo! WE’VE BEEN HERE FOR TEN YEARS, GO US! What a cute idea ^^
FYI, the previous Dumbing Days:
Oct 18, 2019
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 10, 2017
Oct 4, 2016
Sep 27, 2015
Sep 23, 2014
Sep 18, 2013
Sep 12, 2012
Of those, I believe Dumbing Day 2019 is the only one to have been actually celebrated day-of, if I recall.
Yeah, I didn’t come up with the idea until 2019, and in any case the dates weren’t really nailed down until the October 1 storyline.
What’s the date of the next Dumbing day so that I can prepare to celebrate properly? Oh wait, it depends on how many in-comic days pass. So probably around Jan 15, 2022 then.
Since (barring mentioned-in-narration-box timeskips) one chapter equals one in-universe day we’ll probably be able to see the next Dumbing Day at least a few weeks to a month or so in advance, but yeah, we don’t know when the next is currently.
As I said last time, guessing when the next Dumbing Day will be is part of the celebration of Dumbing Day! Put me down for January 15, 2022.
Oh you already guessed January 15! Okay, I’ll go with January 16.
Happy Dumbing Day!
or it could be Dumbing Day tomorrow, in which case Happy Dumbing Eve!
i still assert there’s no reason to think this would be the 2011 calendar; timeskip changes everything
Grow numb to them, I guess. Or have a new persona.
*plays I Can See Clearly Now by Jimmy Cliff on my way back*
*brings up the Dorothy clone counter to 2*
Or adjust them to SUMMON a persona.
But first you have to confront your Shadow! THE TRUE SELF!
Hm, an additional thought.
She’s used to being the only Brown sister. The only girl, in a family of boys. (She’s not, but she doesn’t know that – yet.) And, until now, the only one who doesn’t wear glasses.
So now she’s having to give that bit of uniqueness up as well.
Also Joyce totally has the idea that she’s different from the Brown brothers factory because she’s the girl, doesn’t she?
Hasn’t yet realized she’s not the only Brown sister.
If anything, the impending divorce probably delayed Joss coming out to anyone in the family.
Unless she’s like ‘fuck it, they’re splitting up anyway’
which I’m hoping for because I don’t want to wait five-ten more years for her to come out (at least to Joyce. She can take her time with anyone else).
My bet with Jocelyne is ‘dramatically upped her timeline for coming out to Joyce and Becky, cautiously optimistic about Hank, but not out yet because this made it abundantly clear Carol cannot EVER know and that Steps Need To Be Taken to ensure safety from Carol before going No Contact.’ (By which I mean: when your mother is backing the man who kidnapped your sister with a mobster in his SECOND attempt to kidnap and de-gay his daughter? Do not let her know where you live. And ensure she can’t ‘casually’ bump into you around town.) Not that the divorce delayed it so much as the ‘welp, Mom is actively dangerous to me’ factor.
That said, I still think she’s coming out sooner rather than later. (Or at least, I hope so.) Maybe not immediately, but I’m hoping by the end of next book, at least.
I feel like Joyce will take to contacts like a slug takes to salt but maybe if Dorothy suggests them then Joyce will realize glasses aren’t that bad. Or at least not that bad for her.
I personally love my contacts and couldn’t wait to stop wearing glasses, because I feel like I look stupid in glasses. I also sleep in my contacts even though I’m not really supposed to because I hate feeling blind when I wake up.
Don’t you have a pair of glasses to wear when your contacts aren’t in?
I used to, but now I don’t think I have a pair of glasses. If I do, the prescription is way out of date
Even so, I think it might be worth fumbling around a bit every morning to preserve your eye health. You only have two eyes, and wearing contacts 24/7 seems like it could be very bad for them!
You’re welcome for the unsolicited advice.
I used to do that too. Then I ended up with an infection that could have cost me my eyesight. It was incredibly painful and one of the scariest moments ever for me. The proteins built up and I still have a small scar on my eye to this day. This was when I was 19 and I’m 35 now and it still haunts me. Please please please please don’t go blind in one of your eyes for the sake of a couple minutes of blindness in the morning. If you know your contact prescription you can get a pair of glasses from Zenni optical for $10-20 if you go bare bones.
I also hate wearing glasses but will never again risk that. I use them for maybe 15 minutes a day total now. A few minutes at bedtime and when I wake up or if I need something in the middle of the night.
maybe gold wire frames would kinda slap
I dunno, I kinda wanna see her with some thick-framed glasses myself.
“Girl, please… “
Let’s try that again….
Gurl, please… “
Those are still “grouchy, nearly retired school lunch lady” glasses, regardless of bright pastel colors and who’s wearing them.
Hey don’t blame me, I didn’t put them on every Miss Finster in pop culture throughout the 80s and 90s.
I wanna see her in big round gold frames
…totally not just because that’s what I wear
I see coming out wasn’t a thing during the time skip. I guess we still have something to look forward to.
Worst part of getting new frames: you don’t really know how you look in them, because your lenses aren’t in.
She’s nearsighted, so she can see that much.
And not enough that she has to mash her face in the mirror (yet, anyway).
Yeah, I’m bad enough that it was always tricky. The realization a couple years back I could take pictures using my cell phone and compare them was a game-changer.
I know she’s trying to help, but with how bad she’s doing at it, it feels like Dotty is either incredibly out of sorts, or is actively trying to make Joyce not want glasses.
Also no they shouldn’t feel noticeably heavy or pinchy (though the pinchiness might be fixed by getting her own and having the optometrist fit them), she should try a different pair.
The heavy I can see for your first pair since you’re going from nothing there to something, but yeah if its pinchy the optometrist can adjust those on your pair.
And in a few decades, she can freak out over bifocals.
I’ve had straight-line bifocals since I was a kid. The hard transition between “distance” and “reading” is reassuring.
Been considering the no-line progressive lenses this time around though, because reading the dashboard without tilting my head down at it is getting difficult.
Trifocals is also a thing.
Aaaand I just realized a part of why she doesn’t want this is she *doesn’t* want to look like the rest of her family because, you know, the trauma.
Oh, yeah. That. Poor Joyce.
It begins!
Oh, hey there.
Carla is still cutest glasses girl, but room for one more.
Joe’s gonna lose his mind. Maybe have an awakening. Or at least a reckoning. An actual proper one.
Either way, Joyce’s complaints about “look like one of my brothers” is valid coming from a sibling, though at this point I look like my sister WITHOUT the glasses.
Also, Joyce has a point on the Dorothy indoctrinating. A bit of a hyperbole, but I think Dorothy is making her points quite well without having to hammer them in too deep.
As soneone who wears glasses, no, they are not supposed to pinch or feel heavy. Dorothy, I know you’re trying to be encouraging, but it’s not working right now. To Joyce, no doubt this feels like ludicrous speed. You gotta slow down.
She could have properly educated her then about the nose pads being adjustable.
Exactly. The only way you stop noticing, is when they’re probably adjusted.
Joyce should dye her hair to distinguish herself from the rest of the family.
I can’t imagine what Joyce might look like with a different hair color.
It’s hard to picture.
YES YES YES. A fantasy color! Pink would look striking on her
Joyce with PINK hair? That’s like one of my Japanese animes.
But what if she has pink hair AND glasses? That seems thoroughly, truly, and altogether inconceivable!
Joyce with glasses, as expected, looks very little different. Joyce with pink hair works surprisingly well.
Eh, they always have for me. The feeling of them on my nose isn’t something I ever got used to, even when I had the nose piece perfectly measured. At home i usually wedge the arms under my headphones so they sort of hover over my nose
I’ve been half expecting something to happen to Joyce’s hair, tbh.
ObPolitics:
“Divide the country?”
“Yes – jail the seditionists.”
I b’lieve a presidential thingy was passed 6-7 months ago, that’s it is an automatic 10 years for rioters damaging federal property.
The irony took me a day to figure out.
Trump Monument Executive Order.
Irony is taking selfies of yourself to prove you were committing insurrection.
That’s not ironic, that’s just ill-advised.
Joyce’s last speech would just about tear it for me if I were Dorothy. “Joyce, if I can’t offer advice without hearing ‘indoctrination,’ I’m walking away from you.”
I could be wrong, but I doubt Dorothy has heard the word ‘indoctrination’ leave Joyce’s lips before.
Good friends are the people you like in spite of their annoying imperfections. Well, that and the fact that they are willing to ignore yours.
Honestly, I don’t think I’d actually care about getting glasses that much, but I’m kinda agreeing with Joyce here. What Dorothy’s saying that at some point you’ll get used to them and you’ll think you don’t look like yourself without them, and this complete reversal of how your brain processes things, changing how you think, is completely out of your control and will happen whether you like it or not. That’s weird! I like having control over my own thoughts about things thank you very much, not having them decided by an outside force. Of course, this is a major exaggeration of what is actually happening, and minor changes that affect how you think happen all the time and aren’t a big deal at all, but having the fact that even your own mind isn’t fully under your control pointed out so directly does feel kinda weird. At least, that’s why I feel weird about it, maybe Joyce’s reason is actually completely different.
Pretty sure that the only control you usually have over your own thoughts is that you usually hide most of them from yourself. This is not exactly cutting news.
Well yeah, but I’m used to hiding that from myself.
Well, you at least feel like you have the opinions you do for a reason, and that they make sense, right? And if your opinion changes it’s usually because you think about it and consciously change your mind, so that’s some sort of control I’d think.
Idk, I guess this is basically just saying that people’s opinions can change, which is obvious. I guess the weird part is being told that your opinion WILL change, without knowing why it will change and cause your current opinion to not make sense anymore when it makes perfect sense to you right now. It brings up thoughts of like, what if what I believe right now is right and the other way is wrong and now I’m gonna be forced to be wrong for the rest of my life. Or, my current opinion doesn’t actually make any more or less sense than the other one and my internal reasoning is actually meaningless, so I can never actually know if what I believe is right and makes sense. But I guess that’s probably more just a personal fear of my thoughts turning out to be objectively wrong and bad, even though that’s not actually how it works. But I don’t even know why I’m writing this still since the new post is already up and no one’s gonna see this, I guess it’s just to get my thoughts written out.
So get yourself some glasses with big dark frames,
With lenses so dark they won’t even know your name,
And try to stop sedition from the masses,
And get yourself some cheap sunglasses.
I’m doing all right, getting good grades
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can, so I can
Watch you weave then breathe your story lines
Jocelyn (?) wears glasses right? She is going to FREAK. imagine seeing yourself in your little sister like that. That’s ME. why is Joyce ME?
Joyce can be her Mini-Me.
All right, here are 5 upvotes. Fine.
it might trigger a little bit of disphoria, but I feel like Jocelyn has been REALLY good at tamping down on her own issues to help a hurting sibling. It might be helpful or it might hurt, but I feel like Jocelyn thoughtlessly complimenting Joyce before getting a hold of herself might improve Joyce’s attitude vis-à-vis glasses.
No, it’s NOT supposed to feel all heavy and pinchy. Heavy glasses cause my sinuses to clog. Keep looking, Joyce. Don’t pick uncomfortable glasses.
I doubt they’re that bad. The flat placeholder lenses they come with weigh nothing. It’s just that she’s not used to wearing any at all, and the off-the-rack demo pair hasn’t been adjusted for her.
She’s also completely done with the whole situation, so she’s predisposed to knee-jerk negativity right now.
I want Joce to come out, transition fully, and give Joyce a hug as long as both of them clearly need. LIFE HAS CHEATED BOTH OF THEM OFF ONE, OK. Joyce doesn’t know she’s not the only Brown sister, she’s stated before she would’ve loved to have one, and maybe that way she’ll realize family resemblance while female doesn’t mean Looking Like Her Mom. Or that wearing glasses doesn’t make her look like John, or Jordan who’s been banished (which probs means good things) – Something that also plays into her fears.
While a part of me really wants to see her in the Julia Gray shades, I don’t think those are what she picks. WHAT WILL IT BE? For both thematic and characterization reasons I doubt it’ll be contacts :’)
Becky will have another of those “Hurt itself in its confusion” moments when she sees Joyce in glasses, won’t she?
99% chance.
I suspect Becky, Joe, and Danny will all have one of those moments at some point.
Let’s add Jacob to the set
Let’s not add Jacob to anything, and be better off that way.
I’m sure he will be allowed to enjoy a nice, drama free time at campus, because that’s totally how anyone’s life work in this comic.
Beef and Tony have that market cornered (and after what they went through in the Walkyverse, they deserve it).
This storyline reminds me I need an eye appointment and new bifocals.
That doesn’t look so bad.
Oh no
Megane Joyce is powerful
I wasn’t ready
Yay, finally Joyce looking cute wearing glasses!
By the way, this may be my favorite song about girls with glasses.
Me, to myself: “Huh. Does it feel wrong to me when my nose isn’t being pinched?”
Me: *takes off glasses for a moment*
Me: “AAAAAAA I CAN’T SEEEEEEEE!!!!”
Me: *puts glasses back on*
Me: “Oh, whew, I can see again. What was it I was trying to check?”
JOYCE: “Oh gosh! I look like Joshua!”
That night, after having run into Booster at in the canteen, Joyce starts wondering if she actually looked like one of her brothers at all…
Yes, I’m wondering we’re at the very beginning of Joyce finding out the truth about Jocelyn.
i doubt it, but hopefully this is setting up for more Jocelyn in the near future?
(that is, i don’t think Joyce would come up with the idea organically. being in the closet, you can act pretty normal and nobody [even family members] will have the idea you’re hiding something without you telling them, unless they start actively spying on you)
(ok i guess i could have been more careful not to have lewd chats when not in my room)
JOYCE just cut your hair and style it a lil and youll look like Dotty in those glasses
So, I got a pair of Oakley Airdrops in 2019 and they are literally the most comfortable glasses I have ever worn. This year when I was trying to spend down my FSA and get a new pair of glasses, I tried some other pairs of frames and they just couldn’t reach the same level of comfort, so I ended up buying a second pair of the exact same frames.
Such a waste.
Having a spare pair of glasses is never a waste.
I have 4 pairs, two current and two last prescription. Because I need a pair in the car, one at work, one at home, one for when I misplace one of the others, and (5) one that is reading prescription on the entire lens.
Last time I got new frames, I liked the first pair I pulled off the rack. Turns out they were literally the same exact frames I walked in wearing. Same model, color, everything.
So now I have two identical frames.
FSA? field service allowance?
(Assuming you’re not joking) Flexible Spending Account.
When you set your health plan up with your employer during open enrollment, you can opt to have pre-tax money deducted from your check and put into what’s effectively a checking account with a debit card. You can then use that card to pay out of pocket health care expenses.
It’s kind of like getting a 30% discount because you’re not paying income tax on it, but there are some downsides. They’re strict about what you can pay for with it (no booze and scratch-offs), you have to provide paperwork and receipts and justify everything paid with the card, and you can only carry a few hundred dollars over year to year if you’re lucky. (The surplus is forfeit and may as well just evaporate into the ether.)
It’s either a great way to save money on the overpriced American healthcare industry, or a pain in the ass red tape scam, depending on how much you use it and which carrier your employer foists upon you.
Sorry, Joyce, you look like all of your brothers.
and, y’know… Her SISTER.
Eh, maybe Joyce doesn’t think she looks like her.
Personally, I would have recommended rectangular ones to try first. I just like the look of rectangles better for glasses despite not wearing any myself.
You actually look very much like your sister, Joyce
The thing that amazes me the most is that this is happening right now even to Kat in “Heart of the city” as well. But Kat makes way fewer complaints about the glasses she tries on.
I continue to sympathise with Joyce, only backwards.
As I mentioned before, I got used to glasses being part of “what I look like” at a very early age. But the last time I got new glasses, I was given a selection of stylish unobtrusive frames. And in the back of my head a voice was screaming “No! I wear glasses that take up half my face like pre-makeover Amber! That’s my thing!” I got over it eventually.
When I went from attention grabbing frames to no-rim with titanium wisps.
And I started to wear the old pair when using a fbp2 mask, because they are heavier and not hoisted so much by the mask (multifocals lifted are a real pain)
Haha, she’s had enough indoctrination. In college
Technically speaking, glasses should rest on your nose, not pinch it, but obviously adjustments can be made.
They’re a sample pair fresh off the rack, that hasn’t been adjusted to fit her at all.
Definitely somebody’s first time picking out frames!
That mirror is haunted! Get out of there Joyce!
as a glasses wearer myself, I can definitely say that it feels wrong when I’m not wearing them, and not because I have vision troubles ^^
Speak for yourself. With light frames you stop being able to tell the difference between wearing and not wearing your glasses until you try to look at something far away/close up (depending on the correction needed).
Joyce’s reaction implies she’s never worn even a pair of sunglasses before. I guess that’s possible (Willis didn’t show her wearing them while driving or at the “beach”), but at least where I live it seems odd. Maybe the sun isn’t as bright in Indiana. I can understand Willis not wanting to bother drawing them, but the implication is that it’s never happened even “off screen”.
I have sunglasses that don’t have the nose parts of normal glasses (it is one solid piece with foldable legs) but I also don’t regularly wear sunglasses, which is possibly true for Joyce too.
Please get her into contacts. Out of character, but damn it will be hilarious to see joyce touch her eyeballs.
One of us , one of us, one of us
That panel #4 Joyce though…
LOL i always hated that so eventually i got the frames that didn’t have the ‘pinchy’ thing in the middle haha XD; (at the very least joyce should be able to find ones that are more adjustable b/c sometimes there are stuff that’s too small/pinchy)
I’m legitimately surprised that Willis resisted giving Joyce glasses for as long as he did.
Get Joyce army style glasses, know to many as “birth control devices”. It’ll help her stay a virgin, though some wear them ironically now. Not like beer goggles. https://taskandpurpose.com/history/brief-history-militarys-unsightly-birth-control-glasses/
Can confirm after more than 60 years in glasses not wearing them feels like public nudity. And after 30 years as a practicing Witch I know what public nudity feels like. I have led more than a few skyclad rituals, both with and without my glasses.
Missed a digit there, I have only been wearing glasses since 12, not since age 2.
“I have led more than a few skyclad rituals, both with and without my glasses.”
Does that mean you’re doubly nude at certain times? Are you like, the fusion-danced doublemint twin of nudity? Double the nudity, double the fun (under the sun! Well, I’d hope- moon just doesn’t have the same rhyme appeal).
Hmm. Though perhaps Mentos is the better slogan reference point for this..
“Stay Fresh!”
Actually, thanks to this topic, I’ve just discovered that “NUDE” brand mints exist [just google “nude mints”, or go to nudemints.com for a flavor listing midway down the page]. Whelp, guess we can firmly lock in your breath freshening brand association, then..
Bright side, you can now refer to yourself as “Sexy Spearmint” and “Mad Melon”. I think we can count that as a win. ^.^
I’d have to argue with what Dorothy is peddling, there. The nosepads on the metal frames never got familiar, due to how exceedingly uncomfortable they are, even after decades. Plastic frames that sit right on the nose are a massive pain to align right but, hell if they aren’t a heck of a lot more comfortable and much easier to feel familarity/comfort with having on. Frankly, I gotta imagine this is some kind of weird masochistic fetish specific to Dorothy..