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Kendra, regular version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Kevin Buist @kevinbuist.com ⋅ 2d
Ferric Fang @fangferric.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Paul Lê @paulle.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com ⋅ 3d
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Despite the old adage, sometimes comedy comes in ones.
It’s still in threes. The two silent panels are part of the joke
Your conjecture founders on the observation there are three silent panels.
The joke is three panels. The reaction starts with Sal’s look in the third panel.
The reaction starts with the fourth panel.
I am an greatest commenters.
Y’know I know what I meant but clearly I’m too tired to write. G’night everybody xD
Nye nyes Dara, hope you slept well.
This all read brilliantly to me, and I hope you’ve slept well.
There are FOUR reaction panels!
He’s not wrong
What I came to say, now there’s nothing for me to say so I’ll just be quiet.
This ^^
I want to agree and say same, but empirical evidence indicates that’s never stopped me before.
Point for style if not substance.
Dumbing of Age Book 13: Your Parents Suck
bonus: this could also be the title of the entire complete collection of Dumbing of Age comics
Dina’s parents seem okay from what we’ve seen of them, same with Dorothy’s and Mike’s, Hank is pretty cool…I guess Amber’s mom and Joe’s dad are fine (assuming he’s over his womanizing).
But Carol, Linda and Charles (mostly Linda), Danny’s mom (we know her name?), Ruth’s grandfather, Jason’s dad (assuming what we’ve heard of him is correct), and of course the Two Dead Dads all suck,
Meh, Hank gets a most improved medal but he was still pretty cringe early game. Anyone remember freshman family weekend?
Vaguely, that was 13 years ago.
There’s also Carla’s parents.
On one hand, they’re fully supportive of her in every way, shape and form we know, and not a single bad thing has been said of them, even by Carla.
On the other hand, they’re uber-wealthy gig industry capitalists.
So, yeah, still putting them up against the wall when the revolution comes, but they’ll at least get a blindfold.
And just as you’re about to pull the trigger they’ll mention that they designed and built the gun, and that it includes failsafes preventing it from being used on them.
And then while you’re looking at the gun trying to figure out where the Ruttech logo is and how you missed it, the drones swoop in and carry them off. Then extra drones dance a jig over your head blowing raspberries and saying “Gotcha! It’s not true!!
And a final drone hits you in the face with a pie.
that is when i shake my fist at the sky and yell “Ruuutteeeecch!..
(your comment brought the giggles)
At what point do people realise that Carla built the drones?
On the fly, out of somebody else’s stuff (possibly Mary’s, after shoving her into a closet)…
Carla’s parents are probably bad people but really good parents
Man, Charles gets a shit-ton of benefit of the doubt in these comments. Like, consistently. Because Linda speaks her mind more and Charles is more prone to silence? Hm.
We have never once seen him not actively or implicitly back Linda, except when encouraging Walky to date Amber (and let’s be real, if Linda had pulled Walky aside to say that, y’all would have chalked it up to racism without question, as if Sal didn’t accuse BOTH her parents of racism and Charles has done nothing to dispel that—not to mention if either kid has ever needed a quick “aside” from Linda, it’s been Sal, so it’s pretty clear both parents have a favorite). His biggest virtue is acting excited to see Sal when Linda has historically been stone-faced, but even then he has shown that he has a similarly low opinion of Sal and her choices (lamenting her natural hair and expressing surprise that Danny wasn’t a punk rocker with a cobra).
oh good it’s not just me thinking this.
also, he seems pretty judgmental of crimes when sal or someone she dates is involved but a white girl doing crimes to support walky is admirable? he barely met Lucy and tried to sway walky away from her.
Do you ever wonder if Charles feels hurt that Sal tends to repress the nappy hair that she got from him?
It’s possible there’s something repressed going on there, but since what he actually said when he saw her with natural hair is that he liked it better straight, it’s certainly not a straightforward read.
Good point. This stuff is too twisty for my brain.
This might stir some shit a little, but I kind of think Dorothy’s parents are some to blame for her issues.
I’m not ruling this out but I don’t recall any evidence of this. At freshman family weekend they seemed supportive of the president thing, but not a driving force. If anything they were a bit patronizing about it.
I think they’re mainly supportive people who love and believe in their child’s ability to accomplish a lot? That they appear to have missed the amount of pressure she is putting herself under is unfortunate.
But OTOH, she told them to their faces that she wants more for herself than they ever accomplished, in a “your experiences and observations are irrelevant and do not relate to mine” sense – at this point I think all they can do is love her and be there to pick up the pieces if/when needed
Anything else would just be rejected out of hand. And she is technically an adult and their respecting that isn’t wrong in any way, and is right in several, but it does sound like they may be missing how hard she is likely to crash… Strip where she puts down her parents pretty rudely but lovingly, as only a young, confident, person who hasn’t yet met with the concept of failure can
Hear, hear!
Maybe they are good parents, but not for Dorothy?
My brain sorts most of the parents in this comic into one of two categories- “actively harmful” and “doing their best but aren’t perfect humans”. Dorothy’s parents fall into the second category. Sure, maybe they could have done a better job noticing how far Dorothy was stretching herself past her healthy limit, but at the same time Dorothy purposely puts on a good face to hide that fact. The Keeners were doing their best to know and support their child’s ambitions without stifling them, and that’s a hard line to draw correctly, especially when your child is shifting into a young adult. The Keeners drew the line out a little too far, but I feel like it was clearly out of love and support, not their own ambitions.
The actively harmful category is for parents like Blaine, Carol, Linda, and my personally most disliked parent, Naomi. They’re letting their own bullshit hurt their kids in ways that are openly aggressive or demeaning, and in many cases their kids have actively told them about the hurt and harm but not seen any change. Hank is currently uncategorized.
It really could.
Save that title for the omnibus volumes.
That avatar was a blast from the past, memory unlocked xD
I still haven’t adopted any comatose teenagers, however.
Danny’s a good egg. Spiraling Sal averted for the moment.
Aaaaawwwweeee Danny’s so supportive!!! 🥹
Great birthday strip!!! 🥳 🪅
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday to you!
Hoppy bird, d’eh? Two ewes!
happy birthday ngpz <3
They don’t suck. The Walkertons are easily a strong 4/10. That’s almost half way to a decent set of parents right there. You could do much worse.
i feel like your standards are very low
Walky and Sal are both alive and getting paid rides through college. That requires a bare minimum of parenting competence we know for a fact some still failed to reach. 4/10 although I could be talked down to a 3.5.
The fact that Sal and Walky survived childhood is a bare minimum of parenting competence that entitles Charles and Linda to a 1/10 instead of a 0/10. Sal and Walky getting paid rides through college has exactly shit-all to do with parenting competence; that’s just wealth.
And yet we know a guy wealthy enough to pay his daughter’s tuition that orchestrated and enacted and entire kidnapping scheme, specifically to not to. I’m open to arguments, but I think they get points for that compared to actions of other parents we’ve seen. They also haven’t shown up to campus with a shotgun cause they don’t like the gender of human their kids like kissing.
Not actively choosing to commit (those specific) crimes against your children does not earn points. No one earns points just for the fact that worse exists. We are not grading on a curve. Getting every question wrong on the test is still a failure, even if the person next to you got every question wrong and also peed on the test.
it kind of feels like you are grading on some sort of curve, if you don’t think 4/10 is below average.
4/10 is just slightly below average. I don’t think we’ve seen one of those, yet. I’d put the Walkertons at a 2 or 3, myself; they’re not just casually bad at parenting (honestly, I’d have to check the archives to confirm, but I’d almost put Amber’s mom in that category for failing to get her daughter out from Blaine sooner, so yes, I’d stick her at 4), but they are also actively engaging in toxic conduct, with both unconscious racism and encouraging sibling rivalry with their rather blatant favoritism.
I could have this wrong but as I understand it, if you’re grading on a curve the best parent is at the top of the curve at 10, the worst parent is at the bottom with 0, so yes, 4/10 is, by definition, below average.
If you’re grading on an absolute scale, on the other hand, it’s possible there aren’t any 10/10 parents (even Dorothy’s aren’t perfect, probably), which would ding the average down slightly.
Their kids are alive. Their kids are fucked up but not in the worst way, they just have issues. The kids learned some form of ethics, the kids are still capable of empathy, social connection, learning, etc.
I don’t know what your 10/10 would look like, but it seems to me that even flawless parenting, i.e. parenting that doesn’t leave any scars could at most score a 6/10 on your scale. I’d give them 3/10.
“I don’t know what your scale looks like” is the basic problem with the entire concept, really.
Not to make the discussion even more complicated for no good reason (jk, I absolutely am), but I think Blaine should get negative parenting points.
I know real-life parents who make their kids take out loans when they could easily afford to pay their way because they picked a major they didn’t like. While I personally think parents owe it to their children to help all they can with college regardless of their choices (if only because, right or wrong, the government assumes parents will help when assessing kids’ need for aid), this is not a common opinion. As unfairly and prejudiced-ly low of an opinion Linda and Charles have kept of Sal, the fact that they are willing to pay for her tuition with apparently no strings attached (and Walky too), puts them automatically at a 3/10 for me.
I’d probably give them a 2 simply because sending your kid to one of those troubled teen industry schools that are really abuse camps is one of the worst things I can think of doing to your kid
My only reason for a bit of leeway there would be if it was what they worked out as the only alternative to prison.
I mean, the Walkertons are arguably the least-evil parents regularly featured in Dumbing of Age, in that they are not actively trying to kill their children
Combined from Linda being a 1/5 and Charles being a 3/5?
Came in about ten minutes to late to make this joke.
It’s actually pretty accurate though. `
Do you mean 1/10 and 3/10? Because 1/5 and 3/5 combines to 4/5, or 8/10.
It was a compromise.
They don’t sum, they average. Two 4/5 parents don’t make a 16/10 set, after all.
(I’d argue that parenthood is more nuanced than a single dimension and 4/5 parents may make a couple that’s worse or maybe even better than 8/10, but I don’t have much experience in this regard.)
That’s not a passing grade
I think 4/10 is fair, but “they suck” is still applicable. They are toxic in small, insidious ways rather than abusive. There isn’t an objective measure for parenting so if we’re going to give someone points out of ten, I do think we have to look at the best and worst possible examples.
They are not (to our knowledge at least) physically abusive. The whole “golden child/scapegoat” setup they’ve got with Sal and Walky is 110% a form of emotional abuse.
Danny showing a lil bit of comedic genius right there
I love Danny and Sal’s dynamic. I sometimes miss Danny/Amazi-Girl, in truth, but I mean, this is far from chopped liver, and I am really glad these two got together.
Agreed. I want them to travel the world, solving murders and trading quips
Yeah, I’ve been backing this particular pairing hard since I saw how well they work together, and… well, I know Willis is just going to break my heart on it…..
I mean you’re still accurate even just stopping there.
I can’t tell who’s racking up more boyfriend points right now, Danny or Joe.
They’ve both made great strides in character development; they deserve some points for that alone.
Keeper
Could anyone please explain the alt-text?
Thank you!
Luis Guzmán is a Puerto Rican actor who stared in films like Turbo and Journey 2
Yeah i lost on that too XD
Old movie review…
It’s a reference to the episode of Community where the Dean directs a commercial for the college. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZp9pG4TI1o
Man, what an accurate username.
But also one that would fit me, I read the hover text in the Dean’s voice right away.
Oh my god that episode was so good.
Thank you!
Got it. Thank you!
Wonder if itemising your feelings is something Danny picked up from Dorothy, or if this is all his own dweebiness?
Def. Dorothy!
Dear everyone who expected Danny to put his foot in his mouth:
This.
Thank you, that is all.
(Danny is a good egg)
I mean HE’S NOT WRONG.
…How about a silly game?
Danny is a certified Good Egg (TM).
What is your favorite way to make (or eat) eggs? For the non egg-eaters, what is your favorite alternative to egg, and how do you like to prepare (or eat) it?
I have so many…
I love my mother’s deviled eggs.
I love my father’s microwave scrambled eggs.
I love my spouse’s egg-in-the-hole pan-fried toast.
I love to make egg drop soup in the microwave.
I love to spread egg whites out on a hot cast-iron skillet and cover them with cheese and spinach and spices. I love them covered with mushrooms! I love folding the egg sheet over to make a pan-fried cheese and veggie omelette.
I used to make egg quiche once or twice a week, when I was a kid.
I have a strange memory of eating whole raw quail eggs somewhere. In my memory they were…blue?
I love egg custard nigiri.
I love eating salmon roe.
I love fresh-laid eggs hidden in the grass that you have to hunt for to find.
I love enormous hard-boiled goose eggs! With a pat of butter, bacon bits, and salt and pepper on top.
I love dyeing Easter Eggs with wax batik designs and layered rubber bands to make tie-dye stripes.
I love making potato latkes with eggs on a hot electric griddle. With apple sauce and sour cream!
I love eggs over easy on toast.
So many, many, happy egg reminiscences.
…What are some of yours?
Oops! That one ran away from me! 🤪
Hey, reading the list was worth it.
Oh, that makes me so glad!
What about you, clif… any faves?
I love your enthusiasm about eggs!
I also LOVE a fried egg sandwich with melty provolone cheese, aspinach arugula blend for greens, and spicy mustard, all on toasted multigrain bread.
Ooooh! Dish delish! :-9
My ideal egg meal is an Omurice or Japanese Rice Omelet. It’s an omelet surrounding a combination of rice, ketchup, soy sauce, chicken stock and any number of veggies and meats.
One of these days I might try to make Oyakodon (lit. “parent-and-child donburi”), in which chicken breast and eggs and green onion are simmered together with umami soup stock (dashi), served over rice.
Also i love an over-easy egg with burger, really yummy with curry sauce and mustard
I knew you would say that! I can’t wait to make a rice omelette of my own! Tomorrow morning, for sure!
Lemme know how it turns out!!!
For lunch imma have a hotdog seared in butter, with mustard and over-easy egg
Yummers! :-9
Listen, since you’re already frying up the hot dog, consider this: toast the bun a little in that same skillet.
Well, I couldn’t tolerate eggs today… stomach still queasy … but I did have a lovely cup of sticky white rice with coconut-amino “soy” sauce. Comfort food…
(And tummy only queasy because of a silly culinary experiment yesterday! *Facepalm* )
I became allergic to eggs in my teens but GOD do I miss French toast. Thick slices of bread, soaked in egg and milk, with spices, fried on a griddle with butter until crisp out the edges and custardy in the inside. Yum. It’s the only egg food I miss.
That sounds wonderful. Happy memories.
Just in case, I’m sure you’ve seen these before, but have you tried these egg-free French toast recipes?
https://www.momables.com/egg-free-french-toast-recipe/
Or more fully vegan…
https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-french-toast/
Using corn starch and milk slurry rather than egg. Or arrowroot powder, but corn starch is easier to find.
Just a thought…
Happy snacking!
Soy eggs. Soft-ish boiled, just enough for it to be custardy but not runny, bc yolk is disgusting. And then soaked in soy sauce and mirin for at least a few hours. Its such an addicting snack
I love hard to custardy boiled eggs in general though. Just the right texture for neuron activation. Was one of the only snacks I could have when I got my wisdom teeth out that stopped me from going insane on a pure liquid and mush diet.
Overcooked sunny side up too. Put a lid on the pan and it’ll only take like a minute or two to cook the yolk. Runny yolk is aesthetic but so a vile sin upon this earth
Mmm…. that mirin sounds mouthwatering!
I remember back in the start of the comic when everyone couldn’t stand Danny.
I think having a little confodence has done him some good. He’s a good egg when he’s not so unsure of his own foot placement that he ends up tripping.
I think Danny past another boyfriend test. Good on him.
Sal’s expression had me worried for a moment, until I got to the last panel.
When did Danny become likable? How did that happen? Whose responsible this?
Mike. It was all part of Mike’s plan.
His final message: be good, goodbye
Act with integrity!
Yeah, these two are gonna be just fine.
Well dannyed, little man.
2) Walky sucks.
Luis Guzman?! Lights, Camera, DAN
Let’s note that many cartoonists would have done a straight copy-paste of those three panels but David Willis did not.
I’ve only caught him doing that once, and it was part of the strip’s joke that Malaya had absolutely zero response to Marcie’s nuzzling. And maybe I was wrong about that one.
I love Sal’s face in the last panel, and I hope to see that one more often, going forward.
Is this the same Danny who blew up his relationship with Ethan? I’m ready to write off his actions then as the result of trauma and lack of sleep. I believe in character development but his Ethan blowup seems out of character now.
To me that fight with Ethan was the start of Danny becoming likeable. He started saying what he really thought instead of being a people pleaser all the time. It obviously went over poorly, but he didn’t just buckle and act like Mike was a good guy. He said his piece and stood by it.
Yeah, IMO he spoke a truth that happened to be badly timed and not what his audience wanted to hear.
(Mike often did the same, but even worse!)
I dunno about worse.
Mike once told Amber she was destined to turn into Blaine.
Just in case anyone is dealing with anxiety as I am right now, here’s a soft, soothing playlist…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuL1kYFgB0w
On the hacked office computer speakers.
Plays “Lo-Fi Keep You Safe” for my fellow anxious/nervous/stressig types, hacking the music of the spheres through the aether.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsWACxHMWBI
Sometimes a one-item list is all you need