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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 5h
A. A. Rubin @thesurrealari.bsky.social ⋅ 19h
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Celebrate Transformers Day 2025! 
has Liz even changed her clothes
or is she pulling a “my friend who once effectively stayed up the entire convention weekend and just hung out with alternating people and never changed or went to bed”
I think it’s still the same day.
But clearly enough time has passed that she should be long gone.
Look maybe she took a trip to the Zoo or something.
Does Bloomington have a Zoo?
Yelp says that it has a bird park.
They have something called…the Elizabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection?
Yeah, I looked for stuff you might do in the winter, and came up with that. Maybe Liz is into haute couture.
On the other hand, maybe we’re supposed to understand that she’s hanging out in Dan Akroid’s semi.
His ‘semi’ _what_, though?
His semiautomatic Fleshlight, outfitted with laser sights and a bump stock.
That is a _perfect_ answer with your Grav.
“with a compass on the stock, and this thing that tells time.”
Seeing a trip to the zoo in this comic would be really fun!
We do not, in fact, have a zoo.
It’s only about 4:30 or 5:00 PM the day after she showed up. We don’t know where (or if) she slept ‘last night’ after the failed hookup attempt with Joe.
One all-nighter is doable when you’re college age.
She’s wearing a coat, so she’d be wearing that over top even if she had changed clothes (I checked her prior appearances, she has that coat and takes it off earlier).
Lol I see that novelty sized mug in the background, Willis. Well played.
It is a convenience store. Makes sense.
Oooh, nice catch!
(for reference)
(context: https://www.itswalky.com/comic/hey-dina/)
Something the umbrella mouth gulper eel might make use of?
The big gulp or the XTREEME GULP?
They’re available at gas stations too! 96 ounces (2.84 liters)!
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/holdup/
Doesn’t Chekov’s Xtreeem Gulp require Walky to show up in tomorrow’s strip?
Novelty? Nah, that’s a real thing. They’re actually pretty practical in some situations, such as people who work outdoors and can’t just run to the coffee pot whenever they want a cup. Since the mug is insulated, it can stay warm for quite a while, and filling it up is cheaper than buying multiple small cups.
I’m pretty sure 96 oz (re:Needfuldoer’s link) is big enough to fit *several* coffee pots.
Not quite as good a freakout as “You! What are you, my harbinger of doom? The beating telltale heart of my foolish indiscretions?” but Joe’s probably not extra enough for that
How was that not the title of the book?
Wouldn’t fit on the cover
Have you… seen Book 9? That title’s got about 140 characters (not including spaces), while the Joe quote only has about 80. (Yes, I counted. I’m mildly insane that way.)
There was never a ride to Ball State people! Wake up!
I endorse this interpretation. The ride keeps appearing and disappearing according to how badly she wants to go or stay.
Boy Joe has had a very stressful 24 hours, huh.
Eh. Let’s keep this in context. In the last 24 hours he got to make out with and nearly had sex with a very attractive young lady and is still in good enough terms with her that she’s talking to him. To me that’s not really stressful. He’s just terrible at handling his emotions.
And in the process reinforced all his deepest insecurities
Good things can be stressful too! And if you think making out with a girl isn’t stressful you haven’t done it right. Or maybe I haven’t done it right. Maybe I’m never doing it right. Oh no, what if she hates it and is just too nice to say anything? What if she makes fun of me to her friends later about how bad at kissing I was? Damnit. Oh god my eyes have been open the whole time. I hope she doesn’t open her eyes. Oh god she opened her eyes. Now she sees me staring at her while we’re kissing. Maybe if I blink now she can think that we just happened to open our eyes at the same time. Now she’s gonna think I’m a creep aw jeez. Am I using the right amount of tongue? How much tongue is too much. I think our teeth touched. Should our teeth touch? When do we stop kissing? I want to keep kissing but we’ve been on this kiss for a while and I wanna take a quick break before the next kiss. But what if I end the kiss and she just doesn’t wanna rekiss anymore? What if this is the last kiss I have tonight? Well then I guess I should keep this kiss going as long as possible and hope for the be- oh she’s stopped kissing me.
What if she stopped kissing me because I was so bad at it?
That’s pretty normal.
I had a dance partner leave the floor once because I guess I was <i<that bad at dancing. Nobody noticed- but she knew, and I knew.
“Good things can be stressful too!”
TOTALLY with you on this one bruh!
Yeah it looks like I myself am gonna be holding and diligently re-releasing my anxiety-obsession hose A LOT in my first relationship. (hopefully they’ll also have S.A.D. or at least some other kind of neurodivergence with this particular stripe we can relate to).
The allosexuals are not okay.
Others have adressed this specific example, but in general can we knock “I wouldn’t find that stressful, therefore you shouldn’t” on the head?
(Man, neurotypicals really do have trouble empathising with other people, don’t they?)
Don’t assume.
This response and Tans are golden
Hey before I go, I just wanna say I’m SO sorry if I caused anyone any stress in the comments section yesterday! 🥺
I can only speak for myself, but it’s just the comment section of a webcomic. Try not to worry about it.
I hope all is going well.
I hope you feel well-er, man
Thanks Yoto.
But I’m Genderfluid FYI
No hard feelings though.
tbf I was more making a name joke. That and I just use “man” or “dude” pretty interchangeably with any gender but if you ain’t into it I’ll keep it in mind.
Pun was kinda neat, i guess
I’m OK with “Dude”, and if you click my name you can see the rest of my preferred pronouns
“kinda neat, i guess”? don’t listen yoto it was hilarious imo
Didn’t know there was any drama yesterday, but I wouldn’t worry about it usually we all have a heated conversation here once every blue moon and we move on from it by the next day.
Yeah I get that but I was kinda talking about the ones where I was worried about coming off as calling others out on their anxieties and being socially challenged. I definitely didn’t mean to, and again I’m really sorry if I offended any of you!
I think you just caused yourself social anxiety by talking about about social anxiety…. it happens. I can relate to that! [briefly panics, then hits “post comment.”]
Yeah I know. As straining as it is for me, I really just people to understand me after so many years of being misunderstood, so unless I share I obsess on the possibility of people making hurtful assumptions about me, which is even MORE stressful
Online interaction like this is not nearly as stressful as in-person though, but I still worry when I’m met with awkward silence, wondering if I guessed wrong at a “””social cue”” or if I said something that upset someone.
I just wanted to see if I could better relate to the social challenges and anxiety complexes that some of you have, and I really thank you for trying to relate here 🥲
Also, SO sorry for the double post, but really wanting people not to fill in the blanks with hurtful stuff is also why I use seemingly excessive amounts of emojis.
(I’m just SO grateful I can make THESE faces WITHOUT exhausting a ton of my brain’s energy 🥲)
Don’t worry about it. I think you haven’t stressed anyone.
I don’t think you caused stress. At least none that I noticed.
Pretty sure you’re only causing yourself stress. Which is relatable.
Well, I know you mean no malicious intent, but I personally have come to read “cause yourself stress” as rather insensitive because of what I’ve been through.
All I really wanted was to try to better relate to others around here who also suffer from similar social challenges and anxiety complexes.
I get that. I’m sorry for my wording.
Thanks, it’s better now. At least by a little bit, anyway.
Also, thank you for trying to relate. That means a lot.
“Sexual Haunting” is the name of my next Civ 6 rock band
*gets the proton pack for Dan Aykroyd* No.
Dan (or Jon Hamm) could have been starred as Joe but, still, no.
I was beaten to the punch commenting on the X-TREEEM GULP, so, uh… “Why aren’t you meeting me at my level of freaking out?!” seems like a very Joyce thing.
Also a good title for the next book.
it is very much a Joyce thing: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/02-look-straight-ahead/joycelifeevents/
joes got an X-TREEEM dose of anxiety rn
Naw, Sis. The actual haunting is going on in front of the soda cooler.
Amber’s making those sodas really uncomfortable right now.
They know what they did.
As much as I find that last panel funny as hell and I still somehow like Liz, I feel like she’s blowing a lot of money on bus fair if she keeps missing her rides like this.
Well, but not until she actually leaves.
Hot in a hot kind of way or hot in a “Beverly Crusher’s grandma’s horny ghost” kind of way?
FINE, I get the subtext. You want me to draw Liz as a sexy ghost. You don’t have to tell me twice.
You mean you haven’t already?
A sexy ghost? Never heard the like.
“Oh, a Ghost Foursome! I’ve done that.”
What HASN’T Joe done?
Hmm, okay, so we’ve got a tall Jewish boy, a black woman with curly hair, and an Amber having a social freakout. What could possibly go wrong?
This sounds like the setup to a bar joke.
“A Jewish guy, a black lady, and a white chick with issues walk into a convenience store. Now, I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. This is weird premise for a joke.”
Joe is a boy, Liz is a woman?
Sounds about right to me.
I wouldn’t call Liz something to imply she was somehow more mature a person of her gender than Joe at this point, but yeah I guess?
Yeah I was unintentionally inconsistent there. Was comparing Joe to Ethan, and Liz to Sal — but Sal was of course a girl at the time.
There’s no knife in the picture, so it can’t go that specific flavour of wrong again
They’re always lurking, just off-screen.
Have you ever been stabbed in the hand with a soda can?
Before or after it’s been dranked?
I imagine there are plastic knives around….
But more seriously, I was thinking Amber might launch a pre-emptive attack this time around.
I feel like Willis is winding up to add Liz to our roster indefinitely
and i don’t know if I like her enough for that. Yet. So far she’s mostly been part of the catalyst of the Joyce Events + Joe events. She’s super duper cute in design but
she feels like a plot device. a bit.
She’s here to continue to not have sex with Joe. She brings up sex with Joe but only to remind Joe and the audience that she will not be having sex with Joe. And that she is getting a bus. She’s here to not bang Joe and also get on buses that never come. Speaking of not coming, Joe Rosenthal!
Unlike other characters who will not have sex with Joe, Liz almost had sex with Joe. This is important because it tortures Joe knowing that sex was a possibility but not anymore. You know what isn’t a possibility? This ride. Because it doesn’t exist. Speaking of rides, Liz didn’t get to ride Joe…or maybe Joe didn’t get to ride Liz. I’m not sure how that metaphor really applies. It was a metaphor for sex by the way. Y’know the thing Joe’s didn’t have with Liz? That’s why she’s here by the way. To remind Joe about the sex they will not be having.
When she was introduced, I honestly thought she was going to be a one-and-done character who was introduced to drop a drama bomb on the plot, burn some bridges, and skedaddle. This is already a lot more Liz than I expected we’d get.
I can actually see her transferring to main cast status now. Especially since she’s started establishing a connection to multiple characters now. It’s not just Joyce and Sarah now. It’s Joyce, Sarah, Joe, Amber, Becky, Dorothy, and even Dina is aware of her. It’s a lot more story potential than a one-off character would usually get. I wouldn’t be surprised if a Ball State transfer happens.
I got Becky vibes and she’s running away from something.
I’m getting the impression her flaky behavior up to this point is because she’s about ready to have a meltdown due to some drama back at her school….And given her family’s knack for neurosis, this is how she deals with it: By trying to distract herself and avoid facing it until it all boils up to the surface…..
This is really harshing my JoexJoyce
I still believe JoexJoyce is endgame. And while I don’t think it is at ALL possible, JoycexJoexLiz makes me happy. To be fair I just want all the characters hook up.
I respect your endgame, but I’m still super holding out on JoycexDorothy. But JoexJoyce would at least be interesting.
Fine. We can work with that.
DorothyxJoycexJoexLiz
Liz is really cute, but yeah, how is she this bad at getting back to her school?
What we don’t know is the Campus is actually at Rock Bottom and the only way home is to catch a bus or run up a 90 degree angle.
Well, we saw in an earlier comic that Walky thought his campus was an “Escher Print”….Maybe that’s why Liz is trapped there.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/escher/
Bad sense of direction maybe
Well, she’d have to actually want to go back first…
Perhaps it’s a bit of a Becky situation. She dropped or flunked out, and for whatever reason, she thinks hanging around until Sarah catches her will be less awkward than fessing up to her folks.
I wonder if her Atheism was somehow outed to her religious parent and said parent was the one paying for her to go to college
I’m starting to wonder if she actually intended to go back at all.
Don’t try it, you two
I was somewhat supportive of Hookup Attempt #1, albeit with some concerns. If Hookup Attempt #2 occurs, I will facepalm so hard I’ll have to go into concussion protocol
Honestly, I’d welcome a few facepalms over the drinking game I’ve made out of the crazier patterns in the cast lol
Unless Liz gets the key to the restroom and takes Joe with her. I’m down for that.
Sometimes you just have to get absolutely nasty in a public bathroom. The employees aren’t getting paid enough to make sure your stank doesn’t get all over the next person to go in there, so they probably won’t care very much.
Especially if you’re among the employees
With the number of times Liz has happened to Not Leave, it makes me wonder if she’s planning to go back to Ball State at all. I’m curious to find out what exactly is going on with her.
Sounds like Sarah’s the focus of the next chapter, we’ll probably find out then.
Yep…Something’s up.
Hi, Liz! Glad you’re both into this haunting thing. XD
r is she pulling a “my friend who once effectively stayed up the entire convention weekend and just hung out with alternating people and never changed or went to bed”
Man, I miss having that sort of energy. And conventions. And my friends.
(Okay, I’m going to go lie down for a bit. That went directions I didn’t expect.
)
I really hate that I understood the alt text immediately.
I’m starting to wonder if she got kicked out or dropped out and is too scared to tell her anyone remotely connected to her “hardworking on the road to success” sister.
Yeah, I too find myself wondering what the fuck is going on and why she’s still around.
Your theory definitely sounds plausible, maybe came to visit her sister because it was easier than going home to face the music.
No one commented Joe’s choice of “friend” for Amber? Vs. sister?
Could we remotely say that they were friends before their parents married?
Could be, but I don’t think that it has any major implications
Could just be ‘explaining that our parents got married like two months ago after meeting during Freshman Family Weekend and I expect this to fall apart messily at any point is way too involved for a friend’s sister at a convenience store.’
The last time this whole “never going back to their school” thing happened it’s because Becky dropped out/was kicked out of her school and was on the run from her dad. WHAT DARK SECRET ARE YOU HIDING, LIZ?
She hung the toilet paper roll the wrong way back at Ball State, and fled for fear of being found out.
So what you’re saying is, she’s a terrorist and needs to be brought in at all costs to society.
Right way is subjective based on household pets… like cats and ferrets.
If you have a cat, there’s no predicting what that little monster will do next. I’ve had cats who liked to just tear up the entire roll to the point of being unusable before, regardless of how said roll was placed. Underhand, overhand, on the counter, on the back of the toilet, under the sink, stacked vertically, it didn’t matter. Not even a closed door will stop a cat whose sole mission in life is to make sure your butt isn’t quite clean enough.
Under the category of “Willis really does his homework”, I’ve pinned down this particular convenience store as the Village Pantry at the corner of S. Jordan and 3rd Street, about a block west of Galasso’s/Mama Bear’s. And they sell their fountain drinks under as “Gulps”, and the Xtreme Gulp (like Joe is standing alongside of) does come in a red reusable cup…
But does it come in an X-TREEEEM size?
*looks closer*
It is!
(Note to self: coffee first, then comments.)
The exterior is from Bloomington, but the interior is from photo reference I took at my local Circle K because I haven’t been to Bloomington in two years because of Obvious Reasons.
i didn’t understand how that was hot and then i remembered about goths, and I hope that’s the direction liz takes tbh. we could use more goths in the cast.
Yes goth please
Be careful what you wish for.
Emothan may look hot on the outside, but he’s deliberately toxic on the inside. Plus if Amber gets the impression that she can “make” people hot like him, she might be willing to BREAK others to see it happen.
That’s a valid point. In the words of Thanos, who we all know is a moral paragon of good, “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
Goth and emo aren’t the same thing.
I would like to elaborate on this, but I’m generally clueless about subcultures, so I can’t. I’ve definitely heard it stated repeatedly, though.
Goths and emo are different.
Goth culture is rooted in Goth music from the 80’s.
Emo culture has roots in Emo music starting in the 1990s.
Both are based in post-punk, with Goth having more initially morose, nihilistic energy in it’s music and carrying into its aesthetic, as well as critiquing more of society At Large, whereas Emo was more deeply emotionally charged and carried more introspection and lamentation on ones feelings.
The timeline is confused a bit by John Dowland, an emo singer-songwriter who travelled back in time to the 16th century.
The difference is that a goth will share their weed and watch old horror movies with you, while an emo will show up to movie night blitzed out on K2 with one of those VHS tapes you can record stuff on, except they forgot to record anything and also just realized they’re not wearing underpants. Unless that’s not universal, in which maybe bring a warding charm of some kind to movie nights, just in case.
That explains your new Player 2 Pallet Swap Ruth gravatar!
Speaking of color pallete swaps, funny story.
Yesterday I was tweaking the colors of my avatar till they felt right to me, and then the day later I was scrolling through a game mod wiki and found a character who’s colors were based on the Bi and NB flags.
I thought that was interesting and then I scrolled the comments section and began noticing that some of you have flags like that in the background too, and also that some characters color schemes were based on those flags too, like Becky’s colors being based on the Lesbian flag!
I thought this was all really cool, and it inspired me to find the genderfluid flag and incorporate its colors into my avatar! But just when I was adding them in the background, I took a closer look and realized that I had ALREADY used all five colors of the Genderfluid flag completely by accident!!!
Pretty funny huh?
If I could put Ruth in Super Smash Bros., I would.
It is, a little.
going up someone saying “come help my friend’s neuroses” seems like a very screwing way to approach the problem, or is it just me ?
It’s dismissive, but maybe also a way to make it more approachable
It’s a bad way of phrasing it, but the basic instinct is all right — “Hey, it’s not your fault you’re involved, but my friend’s having a panic attack, could you help me defuse it?” And even then, phrasing it as Joe does gives Liz (assuming she actually was some random person) an out, in that she can could how seriously to take it. If she’s hugely empathic, she can go “OMG that’s terrible here let me help…” If she’s not, she can roll her eyes and tell Joe that his friend should get over herself. If she’s Booster, they can go “Ooh, a new case study!” And so on.
As ever, Joe is a Hufflepuff who believes he’s a Slytherin (and sort of wants to be one). The Hufflepuffness will out, but he’s not very good at it yet.
“Meet me at my level of freaking out” sounds like a Joyce thing. They really are more alike than they realize!
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/02-look-straight-ahead/joycelifeevents/
Oh no. Willis’s starting synchronizing his feelings to make a romantic ark with Joyce.
*Adds it to The List*
Joe raised a good point – she’s still here?
I smell a mystery… *Ralph Dibny’s nose is twitching*
Liz is haunting Joe AND the campus. Why she’s doing this is unknown, but it begins to become creepy. But c’mon Joe, introduce your sister to her. I’m sure Amber would be able to help you to make Liz leave once for all.
Hmm… so the phantom of the storyline is Liz, the ghost maiden forever haunting IU campus?
Somehow this strip made me think of that Bill Cosby movie where he died and haunted his kids…
The Fat Albert movie?
No, I think the title was Ghost Dad.
And here I thought Mike was the phantom.
We have an abundance of phantoms.
You might even call it a phantom menace
I it just me or does Liz come off as a shallow blonde?
Just you, I think.
Or more accurately, she may be trying to come off that way, but I think there’s something deeper going on. She’s definitely been posing as far more worldy and experienced than she actually is, while covering up a lot of inner doubts.
And Joe’s not wrong about something being up with her not leaving.
Okay, maybe I’m not paying close enough attention (I know–I’m a bad fan!), but only with this strip did I realize Joe didn’t know it was Liz at the store.
It does seem a bit off since she presumably walked by him when he was standing by the entrance. Or she was already in this small store and he somehow failed to notice her when he came in.
The last panel and alt text made me think of this song.
Interesting that Joe refers to Amber as “friend” rather than “stepsister” or “sister,” especially so since she just referred to him as her brother.
Seems easier, since they don’t really look alike, and people might get confused, or wonder why.
To me it came off as do your newly minted “family” obligations thing vs Joe doing a more generous bestowing of “I will actually call you a friend now.” Especially since her family includes the estranged Faz while he has actively come to her for emotional advice before this.
Joe is asking the real questions. Liz, are you the new Becky??? Where are you sleeping???
ok I ship it now
I say haunting, you say stalking. Same difference.