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Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
The Otherknown
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Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Paint the Town Red
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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.
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.
Countdown to Countdown
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Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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!
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Blindsprings
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Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Slightly Damned
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Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
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I’mma drink me a drank
Then i’mma take you long with me
I got money in the bank
Dawtty whachu think bout that
I’ll be in the place Becky works
We in the bar like
Ooh ooh ohh, ooh ooh
We in the bar like
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh
I’m heading to university this year and I am almost positive I will never do “a college” unless you count having a terrible sleep schedule and studying all night in which case I’ve been doing a college for years.
Also very clever tactics, Joyce. You can always get someone to come along if you’re in danger and they’re impulsively protective.
Honestly, I thoroughly recommend doing a college. Yeah a lot of them are not going to be as much fun as you hope, but occasionally something will come along and completely change the your entire life. If I hadn’t gone to the uni I did, joined the clubs I did, met the people I did… my life would be so different as to be unrecognisable.
Sure I made mistakes, but that’s how you learn. How you grow. How you become a better person.
Always have a designated mom friend lol (tho i wonder how many designated drivers actually feel like they’re acting like a parent/older sibling on the times they go out with friends and don’t drink or they just kinda chill and go after the after math of them throwing up in the bathroom so they don’t have an accident in their car )
When I was the non-drinking friend at university, I’d keep a few large trash bags in the trunk, and break a neck-sized hole in the bottom, belt the drunkies students in my back seat, a bag pulled over each one like a gown, heads out the open windows, and get them back to the dorms safely. Why was I the non-drinking friend? I’d had earlier experience with alcohol, and discovered that when I drank enough, I started fights and broke furniture. No drinkie for me.
As a responsible adult I can’t in good faith encourage anyone to drink. But I can say that college taught me to be comfortable around alcohol. That has proved to be a very valuable life skill socially, economically, and from a safety perspective.
It’s worth trying at least once. Drunk/high people can be pretty fun company even when you’re completely sober. And if you’re not liking their company when you’re sober you probably won’t like it when you’re not.
Also, you probably won’t have time for it after your first year or two. And grad school is so stressful most people just drink alone.
I believe the full term is “badonkadonk.” She’ll need to start doing a few more squats and maybe up her calorie intake a bit, though, the rest of Joyce wasn’t even visible as she walked out the door.
Compromise: I want this to 95% succeed and help Dorothy get back to a fairly healthy place, but for the remaining 5% to come back and bite everyone in the ass in hilarious and unexpected ways.
I want them to kiss and then Joyce has to be like “uh oh oops” and Dorothy is like “Good I am the superior partner” and Joe is like *sad puppy face* but then Joyce is like “Why choose” and dates them both but then Dorothy and Joe have a rivalry going on and have a shenanigan filled secret conflict
As far as I can tell, at the moment, Joyce’s definition of successful is “get Dorothy to open up and relax”, whereas Dorothy’s definition of successful is “nothing catastrophic happens and Joyce gets home safely”. They’re not the same, but they’re not incompatible.
Other people WERE definitely drinking at the party, though. Including Billifer, who was kinda-sorta supposed to keep an eye on her and didn’t do a very good job as a result. My best guess is that Joyce specifically has trauma around alcohol at parties, and Dorothy’s failing to pick up on that nuance? I’m not sure that entirely makes sense, but it’s the best I can come up with.
I’m not confidant joyce has either? She obviously has trauma about That party, but i can’t remember any instances of her having problems with alchohol that we’ve seen. There might have been something at the party where Dina kissed becky but i feel like if anything that was dorothy being worried on her behalf.
Good point – Joyce, it is possible to get fudgin’ sloshed at the karaoke bar, if we can believe anime on this method of “Doing a college”.
Much safer when you have better control on who can (easily) participate.
And who else wants to see drunk Dorothy and Joyce singing romantic ballads to each other?
Joyce showed trauma about parties months ago, not long after the incident while she was still afraid to walk alone outside.
She’s gotten over a lot since then. The idea that she’s necessarily still traumatized by even parties with strangers, much less any contact with alcohol at all isn’t really textual.
Well, he had most of his face removed with a box cutter without anesthesia. Other than actually impairing his functions rather than “improving” his appearance I don’t see how he could get much worse and still be among the living. And killing him would be much too good for him given what he did and was trying to do to Joyce.
Actually, the last time Joyce drank alcohol she was at an Episcopalean church, no one sanitized the cup between parishioners, and that morning gave Joyce multiple panic attacks.
Yeah, people shouldn’t have to associate alcohol with chance of getting roofied. Which is exactly why vigilantes like Amazi-Girl exist to confront those perpetrators ’cause law enforcement is next to worthless there.
It was, to be fair to me, an honest (and spontaneous) answer. (I wasn’t trying to get out of jury duty, honestly! Also the trial lasted like 45 minutes.)
(That said, I will admit to bringing in a copy of Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed as my permitted reading material to a pool that was going to be for a possibly-six-month-long corporate legal case because I wasn’t gonna sit through that if I didn’t have to. That time, I absolutely was trying to get out of jury duty. xD)
Once upon a time I tried. It took me a couple of years to realize I was allowed to stay my weird self while drinking – and that was when I started to have fun for real while surrounded by other people. I like parties nowadays /o/
This. I feel so normal, so confident, everybody does talk to me, hug me…
I’ve read in some place, or in a video that explain alchool effect in some neurodivergent people.
Yes, it’s a dangerous way of think. But, anyway.
Dorothy’s got a tremendous ass, guess the running does the trick.
Seriously, though, I do kind of wonder if this is going to be an ultimately good thing for Dorothy. At the least, Joyce recognizing there is a problem is probably a good thing, though Walky and Ruth so far have only been able to do so much to help, so Joyce may have her work cut out for her.
I’m suspecting that others have been suggesting Dorothy drink copiously so she can forget while what Joyce actually wants is to get her to drink just enough to loosen up to the point she’s willing to actually talk to her about what’s wrong instead of repressing it and trying to hide it from everyone.
Joyce is not exactly an analytical person, if that really works, there is also the risk that Dorothy will reveal information that is too personal, but it will also serve to get to know the girl better.
You know, I think you’ve just helped me realize WHY I’m so optimistic about this particular escapade, despite it’s superficial similarity to many other, disastrous, hijinks that have happened in the comic before.
Ruth and Walky tried to help Dorothy, because they wanted her to go back to normal. But Joyce is trying to help Dorothy, out of GENUINE CONCERN FOR HER WELL-BEING. Dorothy is currently being crushed under the weight of her expectations, but everyone who’s tried to help her so far has done nothing but place even more expectations on her, because they just couldn’t look past their own assumptions. Joyce, in contrast, has immediately started off HER attempt to help by dropping a tactical nuke on every expectation Dorothy had for BOTH herself and Joyce. And instead of demanding Dorothy do something “for her own good”, she just explains what she’s going to do, does it, and let Dorothy follow along if she so chooses.
Joyce may have her many social foibles and flaws, but in this particular case? I think she’s gonna do GREAT!
other than some ‘weekly open party’ set up by a frat or whatever i half expect the mto end up drinking back in sarah andjoyce’s room lol. Or end up drinking with joe and sal/dannny
I only assumed that in my comment yesterday, but it seems that Joyce is only lying so that Dorothy can regain her spirits.
Let’s be honest, I don’t know if this is good, bad or a little of both, but if with this Dorothy can move forward a little little more… go ahead, yes, I’m going out on a limb to believe that possibly Joyce can help here.
Y’know, I’ve been wondering exactly how long this spiral that Dorothy is going through has been going on.
We know that Raidah’s remark really kicked it into overdrive, but that was what, less than a week ago? But the other stuff like her not jumping onto Yale has been going on for a while now.
Question is… has Becky noticed anything? Despite her general Beckyness and being absorbed in her new girlfriend, Becky is also usually very sharp.
I came to think that Becky would show a little more concern for Dorothy and would do a lot more to help and create a sense of jealousy in Joyce and bring back the conflict. But I think she (like Walky) thinks they’re just “temporary problems.”
Honestly, I wish Raidah would pay for putting more salt in Dorohty’s wound.
Agreed in both accounts. If Becky thought it was serious, she would be doing more, I’d like to think. I went to re-read that strip and fff.
Dorothy wasn’t alright and Raidah swooped in and broke her. It was gratuitous, I’m pretty sure she knew what she was doing, and it happened right after the talk with Becky.
I think every time Dorothy thought she had a handle on a situation and she didn’t, it fed into the eventual spiral, starting with Joyce getting drugged. Obviously a big one was when she was trying to turn the kidnappers against each other, and Blaine killed Ross in front of them. We only saw Halloween, for the time between, but she was probably teetering the whole timeskip.
Dorothy’s whole plan of being president fit with her idea of herself of knowing what’s best for everyone in any situation. And she keeps seeing that’s really not true at all. She thinks to make it true, she has to protect Joyce, where she thinks she failed before.
I expect Becky has noticed, especially after their talk about Yale. She might not have figured out to what degree though.
I’m just wondering where Joyce is planning to get booze to drank. Is she going to drag Billie and her fake ID (which is now claiming that she’s 30) into this shenanigan?
Be hilarious if they ended up buying like, rum cakes (i doubt it’d ever be enough to get anyone drunk unless ur like, 2 years old but rum raisin is an ice cream and i’ve seen ‘strawberry champagne’ but i doubt anyone would actually need an id to buy ice cream)
I went on a distillary tour when I was fifteen and it was perfectly legal for me to get whisky ice cream. It was not advisable for me to get whisky ice cream, because it tasted horrible.
I did some cursory websearch, and as far as I can tell, most recipes for making your own alcohol-flavoured ice cream involve less than a glassful.
Cakes are something else again; as I understand it, all the alcohol boils away long before they’re baked. (78 degrees C.)
Fruitcakes can be deadly. Some (I’m thinking in particular of one that Neiman Marcus used to sell ages ago, that was soaked in brandy after cooking and then packaged in an airtight container) are spiritous enough to get you buzzed after a couple of slices…
Maybe there’s a strip club that doesn’t card, and that’s where Lucy went for lunch and she’s still there.
“Pickles: we don’t card. if you’re a cop you have to tell us”
Joyce is how old — eighteen, maybe nineteen? I see another story arc coming up in which Joyce and Dorothy both get cited for underage consumption. That too is a part of ‘doing a college’.
18-20 being underage for anything but like, car rentals is insane. (The military and gun owning ages should be pushed up imo but eh, that’s not gonna happen)
At least you don’t have the compulsory military service. They are really starting to consider it over here in Europe, or at least in the eastern NATO flank countries.
Well, if nothing else this will probably get Dorothy to actually talk about and acknowledge her problems! So yeah, I guess I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. Which is not the stance I expected to take because I don’t even drink myself.
Ok, guess i was wrong last strip. My immediate thought was no, no! But there’s honestly ways to go get a bit drunk that that aren’t terribly unsafe. Will Joyce be able to figure those ways out? Well……
Dorothy going “you don’t do this for a very important reason!!” like Joyce wouldn’t be the first person to be aware (and isn’t the one who CHOSE THIS PLAN) is exactly the kind of behavior I’m praying she learns to let go of tbh. So maybe this will kill several birds with a single stone? Both of them deserve a “you do not have to be good, let the soft animal of your body loves what it loves” fun night!
… And I promise I don’t mean it in a necessarily shippy way.
Look, I’d love it if they had a fun night with no repercussions that left them off more rattled than before. But if Willis didn’t want me to ship them, he shouldn’t have made Dorothy be the first to make Joyce come.
Reminder: Joyce is also in a relationship, with which she has given zero indication she is unhappy. I’m not sure why so many people’s default right now is ‘woo cross your fingers for cheating!’
If you are referring to the ship that many insist on, I assure you that I am not a fan of it, I mean that Joyce is the type of person who takes risks without considering the consequences.
Like, I’m v ace, and I often get impatient with “temptation to cheat” plot lines.
But this comment section has me SO exasperated lmao. I might just start unironically rooting for all future cheating plotlines in this comic out of spite.
Honestly Joe is just SO not a factor in my interest in seeing Joyce and Dorothy kiss while drunk.
He might be kinda into it. He might expect to be into it but actually be hurt. I’m sure Joyce will feel bad, for all sorts of reasons, if she likes such a kiss. I think Dorothy would also feel bad if she instigated.
I am thinking this also. Joyce probably is aware Dorothy’s inability to let go is hurting her, and this is the moment where she teaches her to stop trying to control everything.
Ironically, her years of being a devout Christian and surrendering control to a higher power have probably made her a little more comfortable with not being in control!
Fam, I love the way you’ve framed this. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now I’m convinced you’re right, it’s a core trait, and both their arcs involve learning to deal with control (of the self, their lives, and other people’s perceptions’) in ways that make them foils.
It occurs to me that Joyce might have actually consulted Sarah about safe drinking habits before beginning this shenanigan. Sarah was present at the “uh-oh” moment and probably asked for clarification.
I seriously doubt that she intentionally suggested this course of action, but she has been around during the setup that we just skipped.
Plus, does Joyce even know how and where to get alcohol? Even if it’s not Sarah she almost certainly has an accomplice for this plan if it has any chance of actually working
If she strikes out at all three, she’ll silver Sharpie a few hairs and go to that pub Jason and Walky went to that time, and start loudly complaining about millennials.
I for one just love the absolute college-ness of this plan, it honestly is the kind of thing you come up with when you’re getting exposed to the world for the first time, want to help a friend and have some big picture of how you’ll accomplish a goal but haven’t worked out the finer details.
I kinda find Dorothy’s logic flimsy .”You got drugged by some asshole once, therefore, Alcohol is off-limit” seems like it’s Joyce who would be “punished” for the actions of someone else. “No fun allowed because predator exists” just doesn’t seem like a valid approach. She almost speak as if it’s Joyce who has drinking problems.
I had the same reaction with Sarah, back in the original arc. “You know bad stuff can happen in parties so don’t ever go to parties ever”, it’s like, I don’t know, just put the girl in a tower and never let her out… Even after what happened, I never felt like Sarah earned a “I told you so”, it’s just ridiculously too restrictive.
As an aside, I was sure that instead, Dotty was going to say that Joyce isn’t of legal age to drink alcohol yet, unless Indiana is one of the few states that still allow drinking at 18? Do states like that still exist in the US? Wait, what is the legal drinking age in Washington DC and Porto Rico?
No state (or D.C.) has a purchasing age lower than 21. The Feds extorted everyone into that in the ’80s by holding highway funding hostage. Drinking age is baaaasically universally 21, too, but there are a bunch of weird exceptions, variable by state, that allow underage drinking in private or with alcohol furnished by parents or spouse or for religious reasons or whatnot.
i was in college then (though I didn’t drink); so was my brother
he got caught under the rising-1-year-per-year age limit while it was being adjusted upwards
I think that’s what Joyce is relying on. She can forgive Dorothy’s controlling and ‘must fix’ personality when it’s positive, but it’s very clearly hurting her so this is Joyce weaponizing something that can’t hurt her anymore — her trauma from being roofied has more or less been handled — to try and get her to calm down.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only person or the first person to comment thus.
Dorothy been getting time out there sublimating via exercise, maybe?
That shirt and those jeans look very good on her – lot of loving care from David.
Hypotheses for the future developments: For everyone’s big surprise, Joyce has an above-average natural ability to handle alcohol. So she’ll be perfectly lucid when Dorothy, completely drunk, starts hugging her, telling her she loves her and tries to kiss her.
Ok, Dorothy has no right to tell Joyce she cant drink. Joyce wasnt even drinking alcohol when she was drugged, and even if she was, it wasnt her fault. She shouldnt be punished for what someone else did to her.
In Dorothy’s head, survivors of sexual assault can’t possibly want to drink alcohol, therefore Joyce can’t possibly want to drink alcohol. She’s not trying to PUNISH Joyce (of course, she knows that victim blaming of sexual assault survivors is Not Allowed, according to all the book & articles she’s read), but merely correct her inexplicable failure to live up to Dorothy’s expectations!
I’m not sure if this is intentionally clever, on Joyce’s part, or not. She knows that her friends are always shielding her from the outside world, whether she wants it or not. So, why not take advantage of it? “Hey, I’m gonna do a bar run, you in? No? Well, I’ma gonna do it anyway; so, if you want to continue to keep me safe…”
Happy Stupid Egg Holiday, for those whose families celebrate and make them join in, despite no one involved being of any religion that would reasonably observe it.
naw it’s chocolate and food day, we celebrate chocolate and food day by painting boiled eggs then kicking them down a hill and seeing which egg reaches the bottom the fastest, bonus points if more than 50% of the original egg makes it down.
sometimes it’s just nice to celebrate and enjoy time with the people you love doing some silly ritual, doesn’t always need to be zombies or babies involved.
I feel like it would be very hard to have one’s drink drugged if one is consuming alcohol (or drinks in general) in a room that contains only trustworthy people.
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.
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 ⋅ 3d
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?"
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
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I’mma drink me a drank
Then i’mma take you long with me
I got money in the bank
Dawtty whachu think bout that
I’ll be in the place Becky works
We in the bar like
Ooh ooh ohh, ooh ooh
We in the bar like
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh
Reported for sick beatz!
*plays “To The GateWay” from Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack CD on hacked muzak*
these hacks are getting more impressive as we go along…
I am more impressed with the storage capacity of that jukebox.
Perfect Easter episode.
Concern is risen indeed!
I’m heading to university this year and I am almost positive I will never do “a college” unless you count having a terrible sleep schedule and studying all night in which case I’ve been doing a college for years.
Also very clever tactics, Joyce. You can always get someone to come along if you’re in danger and they’re impulsively protective.
Doing a college is overrated. Did a few, never enjoyed it as much as I hoped, always regretted it the next day.
The sleep schedule thing though, 100%. I worked nights.
Honestly, I thoroughly recommend doing a college. Yeah a lot of them are not going to be as much fun as you hope, but occasionally something will come along and completely change the your entire life. If I hadn’t gone to the uni I did, joined the clubs I did, met the people I did… my life would be so different as to be unrecognisable.
Sure I made mistakes, but that’s how you learn. How you grow. How you become a better person.
Always have a designated mom friend lol (tho i wonder how many designated drivers actually feel like they’re acting like a parent/older sibling on the times they go out with friends and don’t drink or they just kinda chill and go after the after math of them throwing up in the bathroom so they don’t have an accident in their car )
When I was the non-drinking friend at university, I’d keep a few large trash bags in the trunk, and break a neck-sized hole in the bottom, belt the drunkies students in my back seat, a bag pulled over each one like a gown, heads out the open windows, and get them back to the dorms safely. Why was I the non-drinking friend? I’d had earlier experience with alcohol, and discovered that when I drank enough, I started fights and broke furniture. No drinkie for me.
As a responsible adult I can’t in good faith encourage anyone to drink. But I can say that college taught me to be comfortable around alcohol. That has proved to be a very valuable life skill socially, economically, and from a safety perspective.
Don’t forget your Freshman 15!
That definitely counts. Congratulations on being ahead of the curve…I think?
It’s worth trying at least once. Drunk/high people can be pretty fun company even when you’re completely sober. And if you’re not liking their company when you’re sober you probably won’t like it when you’re not.
Also, you probably won’t have time for it after your first year or two. And grad school is so stressful most people just drink alone.
That was savage, nicely done Joyce.
It’s impressive.
I don’t know that it was a good thing to do, but it was done very skillfully.
Oh, Joyce has learned to weaponize her damage.
Becky, your as–your an–your evaluation of Dorothy’s ‘donk is a little inaccurate.
Would you say her donk qualifies as badonka?
I believe the full term is “badonkadonk.” She’ll need to start doing a few more squats and maybe up her calorie intake a bit, though, the rest of Joyce wasn’t even visible as she walked out the door.
Well you know what they say is 20/20,
She got that bubble butt
Bubble butt
Bubble bubble bubble butt
Lil’ Jon’s Get Low was about doing squats for that bubble bubble bubble butt.
In your face deniers! (I’m just kidding, I’m sure most of you were just joking)
I want this to be successful so badly. Just for Dororthy’s sake.
I want this to be fail so badly. Because I love drama.
Hey you two, stop commenting on webcomics, grab your harp and pitchfork, and get back on my shoulders where you belong.
Time Angels
–Dave, don’t have blinked
Compromise: I want this to 95% succeed and help Dorothy get back to a fairly healthy place, but for the remaining 5% to come back and bite everyone in the ass in hilarious and unexpected ways.
I think you are onto something…
I want them to kiss and then Joyce has to be like “uh oh oops” and Dorothy is like “Good I am the superior partner” and Joe is like *sad puppy face* but then Joyce is like “Why choose” and dates them both but then Dorothy and Joe have a rivalry going on and have a shenanigan filled secret conflict
With Danny providing a backing track to their shenanigans on the Ukulele
joyce and dorothy’s definition of ‘successful’ might be diff XD
As far as I can tell, at the moment, Joyce’s definition of successful is “get Dorothy to open up and relax”, whereas Dorothy’s definition of successful is “nothing catastrophic happens and Joyce gets home safely”. They’re not the same, but they’re not incompatible.
It was just a drank, bro
OK but last time she wasn’t drinking alcohol, she was drinking soda. Anything she should feel safer around alcohol than soda right now.
/THIS COMMENT IS A JOKE, TRAUMA IS REAL AND RYAN WAS A DICKBAG
I mean you’re comment is a joke but makes a good point, she has no real reason to associate alcohol with that moment
Also Ryan is a dickbag and deserves far worse then what he got
Other people WERE definitely drinking at the party, though. Including Billifer, who was kinda-sorta supposed to keep an eye on her and didn’t do a very good job as a result. My best guess is that Joyce specifically has trauma around alcohol at parties, and Dorothy’s failing to pick up on that nuance? I’m not sure that entirely makes sense, but it’s the best I can come up with.
Dorothy has trauma about Joyce around alcohol. She thinks it’s her fault because she invited Joyce and left her alone.
I’m not confidant joyce has either? She obviously has trauma about That party, but i can’t remember any instances of her having problems with alchohol that we’ve seen. There might have been something at the party where Dina kissed becky but i feel like if anything that was dorothy being worried on her behalf.
Good point – Joyce, it is possible to get fudgin’ sloshed at the karaoke bar, if we can believe anime on this method of “Doing a college”.
Much safer when you have better control on who can (easily) participate.
And who else wants to see drunk Dorothy and Joyce singing romantic ballads to each other?
Joyce showed trauma about parties months ago, not long after the incident while she was still afraid to walk alone outside.
She’s gotten over a lot since then. The idea that she’s necessarily still traumatized by even parties with strangers, much less any contact with alcohol at all isn’t really textual.
Well, he had most of his face removed with a box cutter without anesthesia. Other than actually impairing his functions rather than “improving” his appearance I don’t see how he could get much worse and still be among the living. And killing him would be much too good for him given what he did and was trying to do to Joyce.
Well, my mistake. It appears to either be a lockback or regular hunting knife, kinda hard to tell with most of the handle covered in fist.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/wellyikes/
It was a phone.
Actually, the last time Joyce drank alcohol she was at an Episcopalean church, no one sanitized the cup between parishioners, and that morning gave Joyce multiple panic attacks.
Yeah, people shouldn’t have to associate alcohol with chance of getting roofied. Which is exactly why vigilantes like Amazi-Girl exist to confront those perpetrators ’cause law enforcement is next to worthless there.
Joyce weaponizing Dorothy’s over protectiveness.
I notice Dorothy didn’t get her coat.
Or her shoes.
Overrated!
Maybe they’re going drinking with Sierra. That sounds like fun and also a scene without troublemakwrs.
What Dorothy can do about this? To cut Joyce’s allowance???
Omg, this is wonderful…
oh shit i love this scheme
Don’t worry. The worst that can happen is Joyce, during the drinking, to turn herself neurotypical.
I’ve never been that drunk.
You can GET that drunk?!
Well, if you drink until you pass out, then you are now in the same headspace as a NT would be in the same situation.
I certainly become much more able to talk to people
Still weirdly though
The sweet part is, drunk people don’t care if I’m weird!
I got thrown off a jury once for answering “What words come to mind when you think of intoxicated people?” with “unintentionally entertaining”
(defense team cracked up. prosecutor gave me The Look and I was like “whelp I’m out” xD )
Damn, great way to get out of jury duty
It was, to be fair to me, an honest (and spontaneous) answer. (I wasn’t trying to get out of jury duty, honestly! Also the trial lasted like 45 minutes.)
(That said, I will admit to bringing in a copy of Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed as my permitted reading material to a pool that was going to be for a possibly-six-month-long corporate legal case because I wasn’t gonna sit through that if I didn’t have to. That time, I absolutely was trying to get out of jury duty. xD)
Once upon a time I tried. It took me a couple of years to realize I was allowed to stay my weird self while drinking – and that was when I started to have fun for real while surrounded by other people. I like parties nowadays /o/
well there are anxious ppl that use alcohol as a ‘social lubricant’ it’s fine as long as you don’t overdo it
That’s the thing, I don’t trust myself not to overdo it so I only drink NA.
This. I feel so normal, so confident, everybody does talk to me, hug me…
I’ve read in some place, or in a video that explain alchool effect in some neurodivergent people.
Yes, it’s a dangerous way of think. But, anyway.
Dorothy’s got a tremendous ass, guess the running does the trick.
Seriously, though, I do kind of wonder if this is going to be an ultimately good thing for Dorothy. At the least, Joyce recognizing there is a problem is probably a good thing, though Walky and Ruth so far have only been able to do so much to help, so Joyce may have her work cut out for her.
I’m suspecting that others have been suggesting Dorothy drink copiously so she can forget while what Joyce actually wants is to get her to drink just enough to loosen up to the point she’s willing to actually talk to her about what’s wrong instead of repressing it and trying to hide it from everyone.
Joyce is not exactly an analytical person, if that really works, there is also the risk that Dorothy will reveal information that is too personal, but it will also serve to get to know the girl better.
As you mention, everyone contributed what they could, but I don’t know, it’s very risky to assume that Joyce is the key to helping Dorothy.
And yes, exercising gives good results, and Dorothy….ufff, beautiful lady
Most runners I know burn off all their fat and have no butt left! Dorothy’s butt is a true miracle.
Isn’t it distance v. sprint? The former are lean and the latter built bigger?
Maybe she adds other routines to complement her training.
Everyone knows that proper ‘donk requires just the right balance of squats and ice cream.
You know, I think you’ve just helped me realize WHY I’m so optimistic about this particular escapade, despite it’s superficial similarity to many other, disastrous, hijinks that have happened in the comic before.
Ruth and Walky tried to help Dorothy, because they wanted her to go back to normal. But Joyce is trying to help Dorothy, out of GENUINE CONCERN FOR HER WELL-BEING. Dorothy is currently being crushed under the weight of her expectations, but everyone who’s tried to help her so far has done nothing but place even more expectations on her, because they just couldn’t look past their own assumptions. Joyce, in contrast, has immediately started off HER attempt to help by dropping a tactical nuke on every expectation Dorothy had for BOTH herself and Joyce. And instead of demanding Dorothy do something “for her own good”, she just explains what she’s going to do, does it, and let Dorothy follow along if she so chooses.
Joyce may have her many social foibles and flaws, but in this particular case? I think she’s gonna do GREAT!
Go back and put on shoes, Dotty.
So
Joyce is trying to break Dorothy into finally losing it, right?
It’s not a great idea, but it’s at least… Plan?
I risk believing that this could help Dorothy, but it’s true, Joyce may have good intentions, but she’s not exactly an analytical person.
Unclear if that “what the hell” is a “what’s going on” or a “screw it, we’re doing this.”
Or both!
Both is good.
Por que no los dos?
The preceding “Jesus Christ” and forgetting her shoes tells me it’s the former
I can’t tell if Joyce is chessmastering this or goofing up. Panel 2 makes me lean towards chessmaster.
other than some ‘weekly open party’ set up by a frat or whatever i half expect the mto end up drinking back in sarah andjoyce’s room lol. Or end up drinking with joe and sal/dannny
By chessmaster, that includes that she may be lying to get Dorothy to follow her.
This can only lead to drunken making out. As Joyce intends. Even if she doesn’t know she intends. She knows, though.
I only assumed that in my comment yesterday, but it seems that Joyce is only lying so that Dorothy can regain her spirits.
Let’s be honest, I don’t know if this is good, bad or a little of both, but if with this Dorothy can move forward a little little more… go ahead, yes, I’m going out on a limb to believe that possibly Joyce can help here.
“… so that Dorothy can regain her spirits.”
ISWYDT.
JOYCE NO
Who knew it, I thought it would be impossible to find those two words together, but here it is. FINALLY
Alcohol might not be /the/ solution, but it’s A solution lol
in b4 it becomes a … precipitate situation
JOYCE YES
also please wake up naked together in the best way
JOYCE YES
but wake up half naked together because that’s cuter. And funnier.
When they wake up half dressed, which of them is still wearing a top, and which of them is still wearing the bottoms?
and are they wearing each others
Y’know, I’ve been wondering exactly how long this spiral that Dorothy is going through has been going on.
We know that Raidah’s remark really kicked it into overdrive, but that was what, less than a week ago? But the other stuff like her not jumping onto Yale has been going on for a while now.
Question is… has Becky noticed anything? Despite her general Beckyness and being absorbed in her new girlfriend, Becky is also usually very sharp.
Beck did find the acceptance letter and basically tried to give Dorothy her blessing to go to Yale. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/doublepissed/ So she definitely has noticed!
I came to think that Becky would show a little more concern for Dorothy and would do a lot more to help and create a sense of jealousy in Joyce and bring back the conflict. But I think she (like Walky) thinks they’re just “temporary problems.”
Honestly, I wish Raidah would pay for putting more salt in Dorohty’s wound.
Agreed in both accounts. If Becky thought it was serious, she would be doing more, I’d like to think. I went to re-read that strip and fff.
Dorothy wasn’t alright and Raidah swooped in and broke her. It was gratuitous, I’m pretty sure she knew what she was doing, and it happened right after the talk with Becky.
Raidah is already very hated, but after what she did, now I hate her more
I think every time Dorothy thought she had a handle on a situation and she didn’t, it fed into the eventual spiral, starting with Joyce getting drugged. Obviously a big one was when she was trying to turn the kidnappers against each other, and Blaine killed Ross in front of them. We only saw Halloween, for the time between, but she was probably teetering the whole timeskip.
Dorothy’s whole plan of being president fit with her idea of herself of knowing what’s best for everyone in any situation. And she keeps seeing that’s really not true at all. She thinks to make it true, she has to protect Joyce, where she thinks she failed before.
I expect Becky has noticed, especially after their talk about Yale. She might not have figured out to what degree though.
In fact, there are many details that we may not yet know and this “plan” of Joyce’s is 50/50… so
I’m just wondering where Joyce is planning to get booze to drank. Is she going to drag Billie and her fake ID (which is now claiming that she’s 30) into this shenanigan?
She gave that ID up when Ruth showed up at the bar with a rash from alcohol combining with her medicine.
Be hilarious if they ended up buying like, rum cakes (i doubt it’d ever be enough to get anyone drunk unless ur like, 2 years old but rum raisin is an ice cream and i’ve seen ‘strawberry champagne’ but i doubt anyone would actually need an id to buy ice cream)
I went on a distillary tour when I was fifteen and it was perfectly legal for me to get whisky ice cream. It was not advisable for me to get whisky ice cream, because it tasted horrible.
I did some cursory websearch, and as far as I can tell, most recipes for making your own alcohol-flavoured ice cream involve less than a glassful.
Cakes are something else again; as I understand it, all the alcohol boils away long before they’re baked. (78 degrees C.)
Fruitcakes can be deadly. Some (I’m thinking in particular of one that Neiman Marcus used to sell ages ago, that was soaked in brandy after cooking and then packaged in an airtight container) are spiritous enough to get you buzzed after a couple of slices…
She thinks she got away with something because the clerk at the grocery store let her buy O’Doul’s.
Maybe there’s a strip club that doesn’t card, and that’s where Lucy went for lunch and she’s still there.
“Pickles: we don’t card. if you’re a cop you have to tell us”
“(In which case this poster is a joke ha ha)”
Guess that’s one way to do it. Maybe it’ll be their first keg stand.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/andwereback/
Dumbing of Age, Book 17: We Are Doing A College
I think you meant
Dumbing of Age book 14: Jesus Christ What the Hell
winner winner whisky dinner
Since they may be talking about the topics from Dorothy’s nightmare, you can find it quickly by using the tag horse.
I miss Horse :,(
Well, that’s one way to get her outta the room.
Also, this poll, dude.
I think that clearly Joyce must be talking about taking Dorothy back to that sushi place.
Not drinking! That would be silly!
Joyce is how old — eighteen, maybe nineteen? I see another story arc coming up in which Joyce and Dorothy both get cited for underage consumption. That too is a part of ‘doing a college’.
Joyce is 18, assuming her birthday’s the same as in the other universe. Dorothy is 19.
US is so whacky for this, drinking at 21 but you can drive at 16…
18-20 being underage for anything but like, car rentals is insane. (The military and gun owning ages should be pushed up imo but eh, that’s not gonna happen)
At least you don’t have the compulsory military service. They are really starting to consider it over here in Europe, or at least in the eastern NATO flank countries.
Well, if nothing else this will probably get Dorothy to actually talk about and acknowledge her problems! So yeah, I guess I’m cautiously optimistic about this one. Which is not the stance I expected to take because I don’t even drink myself.
Ok, guess i was wrong last strip. My immediate thought was no, no! But there’s honestly ways to go get a bit drunk that that aren’t terribly unsafe. Will Joyce be able to figure those ways out? Well……
This sounds like a job for trial and error!
joyce is devious
Joyce knows Dorothy feels better when she takes care of her, and now we get to see Joyce be her devious self in pursuit of that.
Dorothy! Your coat! Your shoes!!!
On the plus side, Joyce now has Joe to pick her up and carry her off if she gets too drunk and its time for bed.
Dorothy going “you don’t do this for a very important reason!!” like Joyce wouldn’t be the first person to be aware (and isn’t the one who CHOSE THIS PLAN) is exactly the kind of behavior I’m praying she learns to let go of tbh. So maybe this will kill several birds with a single stone? Both of them deserve a “you do not have to be good, let the soft animal of your body loves what it loves” fun night!
… And I promise I don’t mean it in a necessarily shippy way.
It’s a 50/50 possible outcome.
Look, I’d love it if they had a fun night with no repercussions that left them off more rattled than before. But if Willis didn’t want me to ship them, he shouldn’t have made Dorothy be the first to make Joyce come.
Joyce has two hands and everything.
Believe me, if this works just to pass the time, no problem, but keep in mind that Joyce is enthusiastic….too enthusiastic
Reminder: Joyce is also in a relationship, with which she has given zero indication she is unhappy. I’m not sure why so many people’s default right now is ‘woo cross your fingers for cheating!’
If you are referring to the ship that many insist on, I assure you that I am not a fan of it, I mean that Joyce is the type of person who takes risks without considering the consequences.
Also, some of us just support cheating in general
Like, I’m v ace, and I often get impatient with “temptation to cheat” plot lines.
But this comment section has me SO exasperated lmao. I might just start unironically rooting for all future cheating plotlines in this comic out of spite.
i’m cheering for cheating out of chaotic energy mostly, but spite’ll do it =)
Honestly Joe is just SO not a factor in my interest in seeing Joyce and Dorothy kiss while drunk.
He might be kinda into it. He might expect to be into it but actually be hurt. I’m sure Joyce will feel bad, for all sorts of reasons, if she likes such a kiss. I think Dorothy would also feel bad if she instigated.
BUT THE DRAMA WOULD BE AMAZING.
oh yeah, i mean, same, i really don’t care about Joe. he’s boring? idk. meh!!!
It’s a fun little twist and we’re allowed to have a treat sometimes. Don’t worry, it doesn’t actually reflect on our IRL morals.
I am thinking this also. Joyce probably is aware Dorothy’s inability to let go is hurting her, and this is the moment where she teaches her to stop trying to control everything.
Ironically, her years of being a devout Christian and surrendering control to a higher power have probably made her a little more comfortable with not being in control!
!!!
Fam, I love the way you’ve framed this. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now I’m convinced you’re right, it’s a core trait, and both their arcs involve learning to deal with control (of the self, their lives, and other people’s perceptions’) in ways that make them foils.
It could conceivably result in the death of some birds, yes.
This is Great!
It occurs to me that Joyce might have actually consulted Sarah about safe drinking habits before beginning this shenanigan. Sarah was present at the “uh-oh” moment and probably asked for clarification.
I seriously doubt that she intentionally suggested this course of action, but she has been around during the setup that we just skipped.
Plus, does Joyce even know how and where to get alcohol? Even if it’s not Sarah she almost certainly has an accomplice for this plan if it has any chance of actually working
She’ll ask Ruth!
Or Carla!
Or Jennifer!
If she strikes out at all three, she’ll silver Sharpie a few hairs and go to that pub Jason and Walky went to that time, and start loudly complaining about millennials.
Dorothy, wait! your shoes!!
I for one just love the absolute college-ness of this plan, it honestly is the kind of thing you come up with when you’re getting exposed to the world for the first time, want to help a friend and have some big picture of how you’ll accomplish a goal but haven’t worked out the finer details.
I kinda find Dorothy’s logic flimsy .”You got drugged by some asshole once, therefore, Alcohol is off-limit” seems like it’s Joyce who would be “punished” for the actions of someone else. “No fun allowed because predator exists” just doesn’t seem like a valid approach. She almost speak as if it’s Joyce who has drinking problems.
I had the same reaction with Sarah, back in the original arc. “You know bad stuff can happen in parties so don’t ever go to parties ever”, it’s like, I don’t know, just put the girl in a tower and never let her out… Even after what happened, I never felt like Sarah earned a “I told you so”, it’s just ridiculously too restrictive.
As an aside, I was sure that instead, Dotty was going to say that Joyce isn’t of legal age to drink alcohol yet, unless Indiana is one of the few states that still allow drinking at 18? Do states like that still exist in the US? Wait, what is the legal drinking age in Washington DC and Porto Rico?
Wisconsin has some stuff for if your parents are there and supervising.
Your parents can buy alcohol and legally let you drink it in a bar or restaurant. They are serving the parents not the minor. Wisconsin!
I read that as “supervillaining”.
which, in this comic…
No state (or D.C.) has a purchasing age lower than 21. The Feds extorted everyone into that in the ’80s by holding highway funding hostage. Drinking age is baaaasically universally 21, too, but there are a bunch of weird exceptions, variable by state, that allow underage drinking in private or with alcohol furnished by parents or spouse or for religious reasons or whatnot.
Puerto Rico is 18.
i was in college then (though I didn’t drink); so was my brother
he got caught under the rising-1-year-per-year age limit while it was being adjusted upwards
Well, yes. “Joyce’s friends are overprotective” is absolutely one of the core themes of the strip.
She wasn’t even drinking alcohol when she got drugged so the logic is even flimsier. Wasn’t it a sprite?
(Like… I get Dorothy’s concern for sure, but alcohol was NOT a primary factor in that scenario…)
I think underage drinking is legal in Indiana if one is driving with a Bible and a gun.
I think that’s what Joyce is relying on. She can forgive Dorothy’s controlling and ‘must fix’ personality when it’s positive, but it’s very clearly hurting her so this is Joyce weaponizing something that can’t hurt her anymore — her trauma from being roofied has more or less been handled — to try and get her to calm down.
Way to exploit loopholes, Joyce!
The last panel is me
Dorothy’s donk is DONKIN’ ♥
I’m glad I wasn’t the only person or the first person to comment thus.
Dorothy been getting time out there sublimating via exercise, maybe?
That shirt and those jeans look very good on her – lot of loving care from David.
Dorothy! Shoes and coat!
Hypotheses for the future developments: For everyone’s big surprise, Joyce has an above-average natural ability to handle alcohol. So she’ll be perfectly lucid when Dorothy, completely drunk, starts hugging her, telling her she loves her and tries to kiss her.
Man what a take on the mom-friend override.
Dumbing of Age, after 10 years: Joyce is getting drunk and Dorothy is invoking Christ about the Hell.
What a moment, friends, what a moment…
#damnyouwillis
I, for one, support women’s wrongs
RIGHT
sounds like you’re the one with trauma here, dorothy
You’ve heard of weaponized incompetence.
You’ve heard of tough love.
But coming soon to a webcomic near you, we give you:
Weaponized Love!
Ok, y’all do know this is just a setup for April Fools Day, yeah?
i … do not know what i am like when drunk, because afaik i never have been
i do have some hypotheses – several of which contribute towards the not doing of it
also:
dorothy: why, this is hell, nor am i out of it
joyce: fear not, for i shall be your virgi(n/l) guide
She takes them to Galasso’s, which, naturally enough, DOES have a sign out front saying “abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong with this play, and I unreservedly endorse it.
There are so many things that could go wrong with this play, and I unreservedly endorse it.
Joyce is taunting Dorothy in a friendly, flirty kinda way and I am SO into it.
Joyce, running across campus huffing and puffing: “This is called character development, THIS IS CALLED CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Dorothy: “Joyce get BACK HERE”
I’m glad Willis remembered to mention Jesus Christ and Hell today
Very important people don’t forget about that stuff on Deviled Egg Day.
did you mean: Zombie Savior Day
Ok, Dorothy has no right to tell Joyce she cant drink. Joyce wasnt even drinking alcohol when she was drugged, and even if she was, it wasnt her fault. She shouldnt be punished for what someone else did to her.
In Dorothy’s head, survivors of sexual assault can’t possibly want to drink alcohol, therefore Joyce can’t possibly want to drink alcohol. She’s not trying to PUNISH Joyce (of course, she knows that victim blaming of sexual assault survivors is Not Allowed, according to all the book & articles she’s read), but merely correct her inexplicable failure to live up to Dorothy’s expectations!
I’m not sure if this is intentionally clever, on Joyce’s part, or not. She knows that her friends are always shielding her from the outside world, whether she wants it or not. So, why not take advantage of it? “Hey, I’m gonna do a bar run, you in? No? Well, I’ma gonna do it anyway; so, if you want to continue to keep me safe…”
Clever, manipulative. Tomato, tomahto.
y’know what
I’m willing to bet that she doesn’t actually plan on going drinking, she’s just wanting to get Dotty out
if you know what she means
and we think you do
And now for about 10 strips where they either talk to people who can’t or won’t get them alcohol, because Dorothy and Joyce are both “good eggs.”
Happy Stupid Egg Holiday, for those whose families celebrate and make them join in, despite no one involved being of any religion that would reasonably observe it.
Leaving out two extra bowls full of hard-boiled eggs for departed companions, and then eating them in silence.
In my culture we observe Half-price Chocolate Monday (tomorrow) (except this year, cuz i’m broke :()
that is one of my favorite holidays.
naw it’s chocolate and food day, we celebrate chocolate and food day by painting boiled eggs then kicking them down a hill and seeing which egg reaches the bottom the fastest, bonus points if more than 50% of the original egg makes it down.
sometimes it’s just nice to celebrate and enjoy time with the people you love doing some silly ritual, doesn’t always need to be zombies or babies involved.
I had a dream that for some kind of milestone, Willis published a full year of comics all at once, including a full interactive map of Bloomington.
Obviously my subconscious is doing a lot of work on Willis’s buffer.
Joyce making big-brained plays here. If there’s one thing that will pull Dorothy out of this slump, it’s being needed.
Happy Easter and also Trans Day Of Visibility. And one from my religion: Never again the Burning Times.
It’s also the 25th Anniversary of The Matrix!
Never again
*blinks solemnly and sadly*
Dave, alas, never again is RIGHT NOW
Point of order: Joyce was not drinking alcohol when she was drugged, and Dorothy isn’t keeping her away from Sprite.
this is where it happens i can feel it this is how we win
I feel like it would be very hard to have one’s drink drugged if one is consuming alcohol (or drinks in general) in a room that contains only trustworthy people.