Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
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!
Empowered
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A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
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Between Failures
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The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
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A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Awaken
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Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
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A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Sam & Fuzzy
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Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
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A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
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Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
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WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
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Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Love Not Found
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Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
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Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
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A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
Demon's Mirror
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Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
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Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Wychwood
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When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
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In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
The End
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Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Caramel Corn
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Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Monster Pulse
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Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Kochab
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A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
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Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
This is Not Fiction
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What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
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Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
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A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
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Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
Cut Time
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Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
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A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
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Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Monsterkind
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Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
Goodbye to Halos
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Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
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Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
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An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
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Starhammer
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The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
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Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
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Never settle. There’s 8 billion people on this silly little planet, and one of them is bound to be exactly what you want. Or a murderer. It’s a coin flip.
See, I know nothing about what colours go together, but I distinctly remember being told that green and purple were a no-no unless you were a comicbook supervillain. Not that I listened.
I think Joe’s outfit looks fine, but then I also like Danny’s hat, so what do I know?
saturation and brightness are key. if you have like lime green and fluro purple, gonna look a little 1970s Marvel. But a dark purple shirt and green jeans for instance is p good.
Yes, I remember how sex negative Walky and Dotty were. Amazigirl is very sex negative with her always being prepared for anything. Sal hates sex. Ruth and Billie have not fucked in public on a gay demon altar. Dina’s scientific inquiry into sex is clearly sex negative.
Danny’s joke about being on brand is less about being sex negative and more about continuing (and commenting on) literally the oldest ongoing joke/character dynamic in the multiverse that dates all the way back to the very first Roomies! strip.
Dorothy, Walky, Dina, Mike (rip), Joe, Amber, Ethan—minor characters like Sierra, who is poly with several others. These characters all seem pretty sex positive to me, or at least neutral. Danny is a prude, maybe, and Becky and Joyce are programmed to feel extreme shame. Sal and Sarah seem defensive about sex.
Dorothy has her issues about sex – mostly about know that as a woman with ambitions for public life, she’ll be judged on it.
Not sure why Danny would be a prude. He’s had sex dangling from a grappling hook.:)
The only signs he might be that I can think of are aimed at Joe and Joe canonically has issues about sex and women. Being concerned about Joe’s attitudes isn’t being sex negative or prudish.
Necessary disclaimer: Yes, Joe is improving drastically and he was never as bad as he presented himself. Nonetheless.
Not all the time. I assume Walky and Amber had sex at least once based how astoundingly thirsty and attracted to each other they were, and most ever shown of them was implied dry humping and a few smooches. Asher and Jen have banged, we know this cause them possibly boning was used as a gag. I assume at this it’s very possible Jason and Ruth have shagged with how often he’s been seen in her room. Hookup don’t have to be shown every time, just because it’s a first time for the couple. Especially if it’s not a big deal like a possibly asexual dinosaur going Jurassic on her deeply repressed fundamentalist Christian girlfriend for the first time. Not every hook up is at that level. Sure Willis can de-confirm this if they want, but I chose to believe!
They’re SKETCHES Danny boyo, that’s what a sketch is, a shitty quick drawing, just like the comic you’re in when it was new, which was like 269 years ago in internet years!
Random unrelated musing: Y’all know how a person might get some sleep when they’ve got severe, debilitating, mental anguish-inducing sleep anxiety/paranoia? The kind where literally any amount of sensory input or lack thereof is completely unhelpful, ranging from headphones being impossible to keep on, to silence causing their brain to conjure up sounds/light/vibrations out of nothing, to dark rooms being too “empty”, to lit rooms being too stimulating, and so on and so forth, and even sleep-assist medicine doesn’t work most of the time? It’s for a book.
This is a good one! The character could try utterly exhausting their body, that sounds like a good active scene. (Handy if you need the character to run into anything, too.)
Oh yeah also I used to have a 100lb Akita named Hiro, who was a very good dog, and who decided it was his job to Protecc. He used to do his rounds in the night, checking every window in order, before settling in. Anything potentially unusual or dangerous would wake him right up — so if Hiro was asleep, that meant there was nothing dangerous anywhere around.
Most people have trouble falling asleep to somebody else’s snores, but for me, the sound of gentle snores — especially dog snores — is the most soothing sound in the world.
Warp engine ambient sound loops usually work for me.
Then again, I generally don’t have a problem falling asleep unless it’s at a hotel. Fuck trying to sleep at hotels; even if the walls are insulated so you don’t hear the THUMPASPRUNG next door, it’s an unfamiliar environment previously inhabited by who-knows-who.
Currently, I’m a fan of headphones and long boring YouTube videos. Shut your eyes and listen. Prevents your own thought from keeping you awake and you drift right off. Needless to say, you don’t want it loud enough that it’s going to wake you during the night, just long enough to hear.There are a lot of academic videos out there that will do the trick.
As a paranoid/anxious type of person who has in fact had trouble sleeping on occasions due to constant running thoughts or overly fixating on sounds or light, it usually depends on what specifically is bothering me.
Is it a sound or level of light that is too stimulating? Then the best thing to do is turn off that thing. Even if that then makes it too quiet or too dark. It may not allow immediate sleep but after half an hour of adjustment can lead to sleep.
But an alternative may be that they just don’t have a sleeping at night pattern – they may sleep during the day where there is both a higher level of ambient light and noise to begin with because that is easier than ever trying to sleep at night.
If they have access to other technologies, night lights and white noise machines are commonly used by people to create the right ‘level’ of sound and light. But another option is a fan – some people find the exact noise level of certain fans to be helpful and soothing without being overwhelming.
Psychologically some approaches that might work are telling themselves they are lying down just to rest not to sleep over and over. When sleeping is no longer the goal, this can reduce anxiety and make it easier to fall asleep for some people.
Another method can be, depending on if the sleeping location is consistent, getting up after 30 minutes if not asleep to do things in other rooms and come back when tired again. This can be part of trying to recondition yourself to sleep in your bed when you have insomnia issues and would otherwise lie awake for hours.
If my thoughts are racing then it is also important to push them away. Engaging in them for me keeps me awake and makes it more difficult to fall asleep than going ‘nope, not now’.
But it also REALLY depends on what this character has available and WHY they are so anxious/paranoid. Because if they’re in danger, they’re more likely to have insomnia and be unable to decide somewhere is safe enough to sleep in the first place. And if they are somewhere safe but have urgent things they feel obligated to do or still feel too under threat, they may have broken sleep even if they do briefly fall into it, waking up in random mostly small chunks of 1 minute, 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 12 minutes etc..
Another thing that might help, assuming anti-anxiety meds aren’t an option, is to share a room or bed with a friend. Having someone nearby that they can trust could be a great comfort in feeling safer. Knowing there is someone nearby who can comfort you, could make it easier to sleep, reduce bad dreams/nightmares, and ultimately reduce the need for being comforted because you feel less anxious.
I’m very partial to long videos on YouTube with black screens and rain ambience. The ones with occasional thunderclaps may hurt, they may help, I’ve found that I prefer the videos with just rain.
Very unironically, Beneath the Mask -Rain- from the Persona 5 soundtrack is a gift, and I wish there were more videos of that track with rain ambience and a black screen.
Dark room with a light LED strip on somewhere to give it ambient light. An audiobook you don’t care about playing so soft you can’t quite make out what’s being said. A scent you like, a blanket you like, a cold pack on your chest (believe me, it helps so much), and a mind exercise like the following:
– Senses: From your place in bed, remember something in your house you can see, something you can hear, something you can smell, something you can touch.
– Counting: From your place in bed, remember something there is five of in your house, something there is four of, something there is three of, etc.
– Colour: From your bed, remember something in your house that is red, then orange, then yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black.
Don’t be afraid to sleep in unusual places and unusual ways. There’s nothing wrong with not sleeping in a bed perfectly straight the way “you’re supposed to” if it helps you. For a while when my anxiety was at it’s worst, I actually slept across the foot of the bed. I don’t know why it helped, but it really did. If your anxiety about sleep is related to something bad that happened to you while you were asleep/in bed/otherwise trusting and vulnerable, don’t be afraid to move your bed around so that you can sleep with your back to a wall for a bit as I found this limited my worries about where and how trouble could approach.
Eat a carb heavy meal for dinner, take melatonin, go for walks outside in the middle of the day when it’s sunny (because this increases production of vitamin D which helps to regulate your sleep cycle). And, if you aren’t already, consider going to therapy to find the root of whatever is triggering that kind of severe mental anguish and anxiety.
Whatever the case, I am sorry you can’t get the sleep you need right now. I hope it improves.
Since tomorrow’s the last strip of the chapter, I bet Joyce is going to tape it to the wall near her other posters. Sarah can notice it and have that revelation DoA-tomorrow.
Well of course it’s bad; it’s a first step. I knew a professor of art who claimed that the reason figure studies were done in art class was because everyone starts out really really demoralized by how bad they are, and drawing, painting, sculpting, and photographing nude women was the only thing that could motivate most people to stick with until they were good.
It’s nothing but warm fuzzies this week. Joe is so happy! He told the girl he liked that he liked her and she smiled at him about it! A lot! Good times!
Did anyone else notice David add the pic of BATMAN in the first panel to honor the passing of Kevin Conroy? Nice touch good sir, and yes he can still breathe on the Moon…
I’m enjoying the fact that there doesn’t yet seem to be the same energy for Danny’s critique (which doesn’t even help Joe improve) and Joyce’s critique the other day (which, while blunt, was at least more helpful than “wow these are bad”.)
That is a cruel comment to a student artist. Even if they are Bad! don’t be harsh on the critique, lest the incipient artist quit altogether. Feel free to offer what you Do Like about the work, and save the criticism for the gallery or salon opening.
I mean yeah, that’s a bit harsh. But withholding negative criticism is just as bad as being overly harsh. A person must know how to deliver said criticism in a way that doesn’t seem like an attack.
i.e. Dan says that all of Joe’s sketches are terrible. How he should have said it would be something along the lines of, “It’s not great but there is room for improvement” followed by why he thinks the art is bad/where he could improve.
Have to say I’m really enjoying the positivity, the joy, the sheer niceness of the current Joe-Joyce storyline
Seeing the growth of change in both characters and growing maturity in both is a really good change of pace and hopefully it’ll continue for a good while yet
Im fine shilping Joe and Joyce. As long as it doesnt come out that Joe really only ever had sex with, like, 2 people or something. That trope has been beaten to death
That was in there since the very start of Roomies 25 years ago. Willis loved Kevin Conroy and the Batman he played so much, and he’s especially emotional about his death, as am I.
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
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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Well THAT sure was a mood whisplash
Really, thank you for that Danny
Honestly, this is why Danny is Joe’s best friend. Best friends are the people who will be bluntly honest with you.
Like when Joe said Danny’s hat was straight. Lesson didn’t stick, but the effort was there.
No one asked for a link to the strip but I just suddenly couldn’t rest until I found it so here it is
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/stufflikethis/
You! Are a scholar and a fine example of a human being!
Couldn’t find the scene but i’m reminded of that moment in Gravity Falls where Sooz mocks Lazy Susan’s makeup and Mabel and Wendy explode at him.
“He’s doing the best he can, Danny!”
Season 2, Episode 7, Society of the Blind Eye
prolly better than Douglas Reynholm’s tho
He was no Truman Capote.
Maybe if he turned it off and on again?
… is the Joyce pic in there? Is Danny about to see the Joyce drawing?
Danny actually getting to talk about feelings with his bff, I want this for them.
Seconded! They need a good genuine non-toxic bro-down.
I’m torn between “this is how he tells Danny” and “he gave that one to her”…
Dumbing of Age Book 13: I Dunno If Your Good Mood Is That Warranted, These Are All Pretty Terrible
Dumbing of Age Book 13: I Dunno If Your Good Mood Is That Warranted
that’s totally sufficent
Dumbing of Age book 13: I’ve spent the past hour in the presence of a naked woman.
Dumbing of Age book 13: Check Out My Sketches
So, a kind of anti-advertising?
Sorry, alt-text, Danny has best friend ribbing rights. Beginner status or no.
The sweetness is giving me a tooth ache. Look how happy he is!
Yeah but his happiness is probably “inherently predatory” or something equally stupid like that, so we’re not allowed to just enjoy it with him.
SquidwardEverybody’sACritic.gif
He’s trying, dangit. Be more kind.
Whelp I guess he can’t draw. The idea of the complete package is a myth. Learn to settle people.
Never settle. There’s 8 billion people on this silly little planet, and one of them is bound to be exactly what you want. Or a murderer. It’s a coin flip.
One of them is bound to be the murderer you want.
Finally a way outta this shit-hole.
That went dark fast.
Eh you’ve gotta start somewhere.
Over-rating the Jeffepp comment below. (I do think it’s more underrated than over though).
“Plus, Joyce and I might be dating.”
“Who’s Joyce?”
Underrated comment.
It’s hard to rate it from above.
Joe needs a new hat and a blue art pad (blart pad) and then maybe Danny boy will accept him.
It should be said, purple is a good color on Joe.
Color wise Joe has great fashion sense, the purple with that shade of green is just *chef’s kiss*.
The eggplant-shirt is just a walking dick-joke though…
See, I know nothing about what colours go together, but I distinctly remember being told that green and purple were a no-no unless you were a comicbook supervillain. Not that I listened.
I think Joe’s outfit looks fine, but then I also like Danny’s hat, so what do I know?
saturation and brightness are key. if you have like lime green and fluro purple, gonna look a little 1970s Marvel. But a dark purple shirt and green jeans for instance is p good.
So what are the odds he forgot to leave his Joyce sketch out of the stack he handed Danny
I was assuming he left it in on purpose…. But maybe communicating feelings with TWO people is a lot!
I kinda hope Joyce kept it.
High, but I was kind of hoping he gave it to Joyce
Danny: professional Mood Killer
I kind of want to see the sketches too. I wonder if Willis did more of the model than the two partials we’ve seen.
Triangle smile, meet trapezoid grin.
Not proud I had to google trapezoid to check I was referring to the right shape
That’s what quick figure drawing is! They’re supposed to be kind of recognizable and not much more.
Joe’s infected with the Joyce Virus. Shame.
If everyone’s a critic, then I’m Jay Sherman
Do you want us to buy your book?
If a person didn’t want people to buy their book, they wouldn’t write a book in the first place.
Did you ever read “Steal This Book” by Abbie Hoffman?
But are they better than your BFFs drawing from kindergarten, Danny?
Everyone’s pretty sex negative in this strip except Roz.
Joe specifically can be pretty annoying though.
Yes, I remember how sex negative Walky and Dotty were. Amazigirl is very sex negative with her always being prepared for anything. Sal hates sex. Ruth and Billie have not fucked in public on a gay demon altar. Dina’s scientific inquiry into sex is clearly sex negative.
Danny’s joke about being on brand is less about being sex negative and more about continuing (and commenting on) literally the oldest ongoing joke/character dynamic in the multiverse that dates all the way back to the very first Roomies! strip.
I think it’s mostly since Danny’s been around him for a long time and is used to his shtick. Danny and Amazi-Girl certainly weren’t sex-averse.
Dorothy, Walky, Dina, Mike (rip), Joe, Amber, Ethan—minor characters like Sierra, who is poly with several others. These characters all seem pretty sex positive to me, or at least neutral. Danny is a prude, maybe, and Becky and Joyce are programmed to feel extreme shame. Sal and Sarah seem defensive about sex.
Dorothy has her issues about sex – mostly about know that as a woman with ambitions for public life, she’ll be judged on it.
Not sure why Danny would be a prude. He’s had sex dangling from a grappling hook.:)
The only signs he might be that I can think of are aimed at Joe and Joe canonically has issues about sex and women. Being concerned about Joe’s attitudes isn’t being sex negative or prudish.
Necessary disclaimer: Yes, Joe is improving drastically and he was never as bad as he presented himself. Nonetheless.
I sure hope Danny doesn’t think Joyce was the woman in question. That would be zany, but…
Danny, you fucked in a sound booth like 20 minutes ago. Brand or no brand, you’re the pervert here.
Huh. Say Taffy, if that really did happen, wouldn’t we get a slipshine or at least a Tumblr pin-up by now?
I don’t like to constrain myself with minor quibbles of that nature. The bun is in your mind.
They’re right, you know.
They definitely banged. When the slip shine drops we’ll all pretend it was a surprise but we know the truth.
I dunno. How often do slipshines get published after the storyline in which they’ve taken place?
I doubt it honestly.
We usually get more indication of the first time a new couple has sex.
Not all the time. I assume Walky and Amber had sex at least once based how astoundingly thirsty and attracted to each other they were, and most ever shown of them was implied dry humping and a few smooches. Asher and Jen have banged, we know this cause them possibly boning was used as a gag. I assume at this it’s very possible Jason and Ruth have shagged with how often he’s been seen in her room. Hookup don’t have to be shown every time, just because it’s a first time for the couple. Especially if it’s not a big deal like a possibly asexual dinosaur going Jurassic on her deeply repressed fundamentalist Christian girlfriend for the first time. Not every hook up is at that level. Sure Willis can de-confirm this if they want, but I chose to believe!
You assume Walky and Amber, like you assume Sal and Danny.
Asher and Jen hooked up during the timeskip and how it happened is still backstory mystery, so that’s a very different situation.
Ruth and Jason is a fair case.
They’re SKETCHES Danny boyo, that’s what a sketch is, a shitty quick drawing, just like the comic you’re in when it was new, which was like 269 years ago in internet years!
The class probably moved beyond quick warm-up sketches. And I imagine there’s a wide range of quality even for those.
Seems art class has awakened something in Joe that isn’t in his pants.
So that isn’t a pencil in his pocket then?
Wait a sec .. has Danny seen the Joyce/Joe picture? Maybe he should before he criticizes the art.
It’s good to see Joe in a good mood, and not upset that Joyce didn’t immediately reciprocate his feelings.
No, no, Joe… tell him you and Joyce just spent an hour with a naked woman.
Yeah, not even a dragon
I’m not gonna take that kinda criticism from a guy in a hat.
What if the hat’s a beret, and he adopts a thick faux-French accent?
Random unrelated musing: Y’all know how a person might get some sleep when they’ve got severe, debilitating, mental anguish-inducing sleep anxiety/paranoia? The kind where literally any amount of sensory input or lack thereof is completely unhelpful, ranging from headphones being impossible to keep on, to silence causing their brain to conjure up sounds/light/vibrations out of nothing, to dark rooms being too “empty”, to lit rooms being too stimulating, and so on and so forth, and even sleep-assist medicine doesn’t work most of the time? It’s for a book.
My only real suggestion is serious physical exertion, possibly including enough sugar to induce a crash (preferably not including caffeine).
This is a good one! The character could try utterly exhausting their body, that sounds like a good active scene. (Handy if you need the character to run into anything, too.)
Are heavier sleep-inducing drugs an option?
Lots of descriptions online about what that can feel like.
Oh yeah also I used to have a 100lb Akita named Hiro, who was a very good dog, and who decided it was his job to Protecc. He used to do his rounds in the night, checking every window in order, before settling in. Anything potentially unusual or dangerous would wake him right up — so if Hiro was asleep, that meant there was nothing dangerous anywhere around.
Most people have trouble falling asleep to somebody else’s snores, but for me, the sound of gentle snores — especially dog snores — is the most soothing sound in the world.
Warp engine ambient sound loops usually work for me.
Then again, I generally don’t have a problem falling asleep unless it’s at a hotel. Fuck trying to sleep at hotels; even if the walls are insulated so you don’t hear the THUMPASPRUNG next door, it’s an unfamiliar environment previously inhabited by who-knows-who.
Currently, I’m a fan of headphones and long boring YouTube videos. Shut your eyes and listen. Prevents your own thought from keeping you awake and you drift right off. Needless to say, you don’t want it loud enough that it’s going to wake you during the night, just long enough to hear.There are a lot of academic videos out there that will do the trick.
loud enough*
As a paranoid/anxious type of person who has in fact had trouble sleeping on occasions due to constant running thoughts or overly fixating on sounds or light, it usually depends on what specifically is bothering me.
Is it a sound or level of light that is too stimulating? Then the best thing to do is turn off that thing. Even if that then makes it too quiet or too dark. It may not allow immediate sleep but after half an hour of adjustment can lead to sleep.
But an alternative may be that they just don’t have a sleeping at night pattern – they may sleep during the day where there is both a higher level of ambient light and noise to begin with because that is easier than ever trying to sleep at night.
If they have access to other technologies, night lights and white noise machines are commonly used by people to create the right ‘level’ of sound and light. But another option is a fan – some people find the exact noise level of certain fans to be helpful and soothing without being overwhelming.
Psychologically some approaches that might work are telling themselves they are lying down just to rest not to sleep over and over. When sleeping is no longer the goal, this can reduce anxiety and make it easier to fall asleep for some people.
Another method can be, depending on if the sleeping location is consistent, getting up after 30 minutes if not asleep to do things in other rooms and come back when tired again. This can be part of trying to recondition yourself to sleep in your bed when you have insomnia issues and would otherwise lie awake for hours.
If my thoughts are racing then it is also important to push them away. Engaging in them for me keeps me awake and makes it more difficult to fall asleep than going ‘nope, not now’.
But it also REALLY depends on what this character has available and WHY they are so anxious/paranoid. Because if they’re in danger, they’re more likely to have insomnia and be unable to decide somewhere is safe enough to sleep in the first place. And if they are somewhere safe but have urgent things they feel obligated to do or still feel too under threat, they may have broken sleep even if they do briefly fall into it, waking up in random mostly small chunks of 1 minute, 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 12 minutes etc..
Another thing that might help, assuming anti-anxiety meds aren’t an option, is to share a room or bed with a friend. Having someone nearby that they can trust could be a great comfort in feeling safer. Knowing there is someone nearby who can comfort you, could make it easier to sleep, reduce bad dreams/nightmares, and ultimately reduce the need for being comforted because you feel less anxious.
I’m very partial to long videos on YouTube with black screens and rain ambience. The ones with occasional thunderclaps may hurt, they may help, I’ve found that I prefer the videos with just rain.
Very unironically, Beneath the Mask -Rain- from the Persona 5 soundtrack is a gift, and I wish there were more videos of that track with rain ambience and a black screen.
Dark room with a light LED strip on somewhere to give it ambient light. An audiobook you don’t care about playing so soft you can’t quite make out what’s being said. A scent you like, a blanket you like, a cold pack on your chest (believe me, it helps so much), and a mind exercise like the following:
– Senses: From your place in bed, remember something in your house you can see, something you can hear, something you can smell, something you can touch.
– Counting: From your place in bed, remember something there is five of in your house, something there is four of, something there is three of, etc.
– Colour: From your bed, remember something in your house that is red, then orange, then yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black.
Don’t be afraid to sleep in unusual places and unusual ways. There’s nothing wrong with not sleeping in a bed perfectly straight the way “you’re supposed to” if it helps you. For a while when my anxiety was at it’s worst, I actually slept across the foot of the bed. I don’t know why it helped, but it really did. If your anxiety about sleep is related to something bad that happened to you while you were asleep/in bed/otherwise trusting and vulnerable, don’t be afraid to move your bed around so that you can sleep with your back to a wall for a bit as I found this limited my worries about where and how trouble could approach.
Eat a carb heavy meal for dinner, take melatonin, go for walks outside in the middle of the day when it’s sunny (because this increases production of vitamin D which helps to regulate your sleep cycle). And, if you aren’t already, consider going to therapy to find the root of whatever is triggering that kind of severe mental anguish and anxiety.
Whatever the case, I am sorry you can’t get the sleep you need right now. I hope it improves.
Actual prescription medication from a doctor was the only thing that helped me.
Night light, prescription medication, white noise, ear plugs, clean but not minimalist room…
Healthy diet and exercise. Avoid taking antipsychotics for sleep (the side effects aren’t worth it, and there are less risky options.)
All really good ideas, thanks y’all! I’ll be sure to screenshot this thread and keep it handy.
I often put on a feel-good nostalgic show during moments like this, until I feel calm enough to sleep. Either a cartoon or something like Scrubs.
Joe might look the most adorable he’s ever looked with his grin in panel 1
But is the one of him and Joyce in there, or did he give that one to her?
Joyce would put it on her fridge if she had one.
God, imagine if she hung that up without alerting Sarah in any way. She’d be very confused.
Since tomorrow’s the last strip of the chapter, I bet Joyce is going to tape it to the wall near her other posters. Sarah can notice it and have that revelation DoA-tomorrow.
But without context, she’d think Joyce drew it
Ohh like Joyce, Joe is learning to make fun of his own stereotype as he moves away from it,
Apropos of nothing other than I am rereading DoA at the moment, Willis draws a hot clavicle
next panel: joe angrily explaining what gesture drawings are
Well of course it’s bad; it’s a first step. I knew a professor of art who claimed that the reason figure studies were done in art class was because everyone starts out really really demoralized by how bad they are, and drawing, painting, sculpting, and photographing nude women was the only thing that could motivate most people to stick with until they were good.
It’s nothing but warm fuzzies this week. Joe is so happy! He told the girl he liked that he liked her and she smiled at him about it! A lot! Good times!
Did anyone else notice David add the pic of BATMAN in the first panel to honor the passing of Kevin Conroy? Nice touch good sir, and yes he can still breathe on the Moon…
I’m enjoying the fact that there doesn’t yet seem to be the same energy for Danny’s critique (which doesn’t even help Joe improve) and Joyce’s critique the other day (which, while blunt, was at least more helpful than “wow these are bad”.)
That’s all, have a good day.
Dude even folded his sketchs and put in the pocket, hahahaha.
Yes, Danny, he’s trying.
Do these two have Long-Married Couple energy?
“You guys are a little married, huh?” -Jacob, approximately three minutes after meeting them.
For sure!
is danny being a good bro by being honest?
or being a bad bro by not being supportive?
ah, but joyce kept the drawing he made of her, right?
Yep. This is the beginning of Joe’s artistic career. He will go to that class and follow every lesson next to Joyce.
Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww.
That’s all I’ve got, I’ve been rooting for these two for a hot minute.
That is a cruel comment to a student artist. Even if they are Bad! don’t be harsh on the critique, lest the incipient artist quit altogether. Feel free to offer what you Do Like about the work, and save the criticism for the gallery or salon opening.
I mean yeah, that’s a bit harsh. But withholding negative criticism is just as bad as being overly harsh. A person must know how to deliver said criticism in a way that doesn’t seem like an attack.
i.e. Dan says that all of Joe’s sketches are terrible. How he should have said it would be something along the lines of, “It’s not great but there is room for improvement” followed by why he thinks the art is bad/where he could improve.
I think it’s pretty on-brand for Joe and Danny’s friendship.
Also for Danny in general. Like his whole thing rn is saying exactly what comes into his head
Have to say I’m really enjoying the positivity, the joy, the sheer niceness of the current Joe-Joyce storyline
Seeing the growth of change in both characters and growing maturity in both is a really good change of pace and hopefully it’ll continue for a good while yet
Im fine shilping Joe and Joyce. As long as it doesnt come out that Joe really only ever had sex with, like, 2 people or something. That trope has been beaten to death
wait so are we shipping joe and dorothy or no?
i mean joe and joyce lol
Most likely, yes.
But don’t take my word for it. My brain is currently melted by a day worth of coding for DoA fan games 🫠
Hmmmm. Batman poster on wall in first panel. Apropos right now.
Sure, Dan, and you were an expert uke player from the first day you picked it up. *eyeroll*
Holy shit, I caught up!
Started reading around the beginning of Autumn (which was kinda neat being basically the same time of year as the comic up until the timeskip).
Just in time to wait with baited breath for potential league of the Joeyce ship sailing, haha.
Anyway, fantastic webcomic you have here, really been enjoying it!
*each potential league
First comment and I’m already failing to proofread… X.X
No worries. And that’s fantastic!!!
Hello and welcome to the comments section! We’re a diverse community that likes discussing things and screwing around and having fun!
Also great music!
*plays “Welcome Mitsuha Tsugaku” on hacked muzak*
Is that Batman pic a tribute to Kevin Conroy?
That was in there since the very start of Roomies 25 years ago. Willis loved Kevin Conroy and the Batman he played so much, and he’s especially emotional about his death, as am I.
o7 RIP to a legend.