In a ruin-abound town cursed with bad luck, Kai and Kalla--a young boy and a fledgling dragonbird spirit--take on a quest in hopes the reward will solve all of their problems.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
ARISE, YE SKELETON KING
Brian Clevinger, Escher Cattle, Lee Black
A troupe of wandering "adventurers" down to their last silver "acquire" a map only to find the real treasure was the fiend they dug up along the way.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Ozzie the Vampire
Eric Lide
Ozzie and her best friend Kimmy are your average everyday normal art students – except one is an immortal vampire with superpowers and the other possesses a magic talking grimoire. Also they have to save their town from a demonic invasion.
Monster's Garden
Ash G.
Champion pit fighter Kilo Monster was content to spend the rest of his days tending to his quiet garden alone... until he met a curious robot girl and her human family.
Sleepless Domain
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
In a world where magical girls and their battles are commonplace, loss has become all too common as well.
Novae
KaiJu
A historical romance with a touch magic and a dash of astronomy. It chronicles the romantic adventures of Sulvain, a sweet tempered necromancer and Raziol, a passionate 17th century astronomer.
Three Panel Soul
Matt Boyd, Ian McConville
It's a pretty rigid format but we keep the content loose, you know?
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Edison Rex
Chris Roberson
The adventures of the world’s greatest villain who, after defeating his superheroic nemesis, decides that he’s the only one left to defend the world.
Saint for Rent
Ru Xu
Saint Halliday runs an inn for Time Travelers. Unfortunately, he seems to attract other supernatural "guests," too.
Barbarous
Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
A crummy wizard and an anxious monster have to get over themselves and bring order to an apartment building full of misfits.
Darkling Bright
Chris Hazelton
Kieran Bright is a college student home for the summer and roped into an online reunion with his old neighborhood friends in the most recent update of their favorite childhood MMORPG.
At least, he was, and that was the idea...
Join Kieran and his friends as they are pulled into another reality that may or may not be real and are forced to confront their own identities, the nature of simulated universes and reality itself.
Freakshow
Scotty
A festival of broken people, blood flows in the center ring. Come one and come all, to the greatest show in all of Paris.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Lies Within
Lacey
Lysander's aimless and carefree life is turned upside down when he accidentally discovers that the cute boy next door, Simon, is a literal monster
Heroes of Thantopolis
Izzy Strontium Hall
A living boy fights to save the City of the Dead.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
The Weave
Rennie Kingsley
A young woman pursued by bad luck is witness to the murder of the Fairy Queen of Summer. Can she get to the bottom of this mystery?
Peritale
Mari Costa
A fairy godmother with no magic tries her best to successfully fulfill a Fairytale and win the respect of her peers.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
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.
Angel's Orchard
Harry Bogosian
After the events in Demon's Mirror, Gerda has accepted her role as a Demon Hunter, and Cezar has traveled back to the Demon City. Demons have existed alongside humans for millennia, so things begin to return to normal. But an impossibly powerful Relic has been taken by one of the Demon Masters, and a silent war enters its final stages.
Sakana
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Our heroes must navigate a hazardous dating scene, overcome personal anxieties, and wrangle unruly seafood in order to find love, peace of mind, and a paycheck.
The Golden Boar
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A young woman joins a group of summoners who call forth Guardian Beasts to protect their isolated magical island. Unfortunately, her Guardian Beast is nothing like she'd imagined, and he's about to change her life, and everything she thought she knew about herself...
Augustine
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August and her ragtag group are just like everyone else, simply surviving in the treacherous Crater... When they stumble into what may be an artifact of the ancient past, their lives are thrown into a much bigger loop as they trifle with bounty hunters, monsters and gods.
Not Drunk Enough
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Logan Ibarra is possibly the unluckiest repairman in the world. A late night job should not have landed him in the middle of a mad scientist's squabble, but he soon finds himself surrounded by monsters and further madness with little tools to get out.
Little Tiny Things
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Nigh Heaven & Hell
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Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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Lucy: I think, in the spirit of kindness, we should beg off and find the nearest empty, private area for me to suck your dick in. It’s just the right thing to do.
She’s not so much considerate as she is being political. She’s got to think about whether Jennifer still has any power in her social group to decide how much she wants to piss Jennifer off.
Did anyone else go to the previous comic to see if he had his hand in her pocket then?
Cause I did. And he didn’t. They were holding hands.
So Jacob stuck his hand in her pocket during this comic. My guess? Between panel 2 and 3.
Yeah, Jennifer is a character I generally have very little sympathy for lol. She’s the human equivalent of that meme where someone puts a stick through the spokes of their own bicycle and falls over.
Like, her relationship was great until her boyfriend wore ONE SHIRT and she decided that was a hardline breaking point. I am self-sabotaging af and I know what goes through her head because I’ve lived that and I still don’t feel bad for her lol. Especially so almost.
When she was dating Asher and hanging out with Raidah, she saw it as a return to the natural hierarchy where she is on top and Walky is just a geek. When her new friends and boyfriend didn’t reinforce those ideas, she was angry. If Asher had looked down on Walky she wouldn’t have cared what he was wearing.
Speaking from experience, self sabotage generally comes from self-hatred. If you identify with Jennifer and you hate yourself too, then of course you would enjoy watching her suffer, just like you do to yourself. the benefit of it being a fictional character is that hating her doesn’t trigger the “I hate my self” -> “hating myself is bad”-> “I hate myself for hating myself” spiral.
yep, seems kinda fair.
i mean, nobody should be sad, but if it’s by your own choices, at least you can let it be a lesson to you.
and while she HAS to suffer the consequences of her self-sabotaging breakup, she *could* protect herself from having to walk directly behind them.
Other people can’t stop being happy and pause their lives just because someone else is not happy.
Then again, i just remembered Jennifer lives with Lucy. So that *is* harder to avoid because she’s getting sexiled.
(although i think it’d be fine to ask your roommate “hey, would you maybe fuck your new boytoy in *his* room so i am reminded of my breakup less?“ No guarantees but it’s a fair ask if there’s no reason against going to his place.)
Head cheerleaders don’t *need* things, that’s for nerds. She’s fine the way she is. But also please validate me or I will literally die. I didn’t say that btw.
Not surprised to find Jennifer is in a slow spiral. However, as someone who loves characters making bad decisions, I’m zipping into the kitchen to make popcorn for when Raidah finds out Asher and Jennifer are done and cuts her out of the friend group. Guess what Billie! That thing Walky said at lunch happened! Rationalize this somehow!
Not sure that would happen and it says even worse things about Raidah’s networking priorities than I expect. The Billingsworths have serious legal money. Asher’s relatives are mobsters. If Raidah’s only using Jennifer to get at Asher’s connections?
I do kind of hope Lucy gets to another Raidah get together and brings her new boy – all without mentioning names.
If Jennifer is going to act like a spoiled child (because, you know, that’s what Billie *is*) then there’s no reason for Raidah to keep friendship with her. She’s cut Chan out for similar reasons. She probably thinks she can get along better by replacing her with Walky, who’s fun and easy to get along with, since he knows the dean and Roz’s political dynasty, which…now that I think about it is exactly the sort of plot turn that would cause Billie to have a total meltdown, so that can’t not be coming.
Also, thing I typed out but forgot to include when revising — Raidah has shown deep contempt for Jennifer the whole time, she just hides it to keep good vibes and the group going. If she’s introducing drama for no reason (which, well, again, this is Billie we’re talking about) she’s going to run out of reasons to keep her.
“Head cheerleaders don’t *need* things, that’s for nerds. She’s fine the way she is. But also please validate me or I will literally die. I didn’t say that btw.”
I smelled your rage from here. hahahah
well, raidah doesn’t have anything against lucy (unless she’s like “you’re only walky’s bf and since he’s not with us anymore/using his connections you’re out of our group”) but it’s not like she did anything esp underhanded when she hookedu pwith jacob
Raidah doesn’t have anything for Lucy either. She was Walky’s plus one. The only time she said something to Lucy was when Raidah was redirecting the conversation to Walky.
I get that everyone hates her and thinks she’s worse than the devil, but her stance on Jacob was pretty clear when she was dating him: “If he cheats on me, fuck him, he’s not worth me”.
Raidah might have some lingering vengefulness towards Jacob, but honestly the biggest impact I see Lucy and Jacob’s relationship having there is Raidah immediately thinking less of Lucy for lowering herself to his level.
Raidah created an entire villainous plan to isolate Joyce and Sarah because of the Jacob thing. She thinks Jacob BELONGS TO HER or at least OTHERS ARE NOT OBJECTIVELY WORTHY OF HIM. She has stated as much. This isn’t about JACOB. This is about HER. What SHE deserves.
I honestly don’t see how people can view Raidah’s behavior in context of the entire strip and conclude that she is a good person.
well tehy did hookup pretty fast tho even if it’s tech a ‘rebound’ idk if lucy would want it to stay as a one night stand
plus hopefully this will be stable/normal/healthy for lucy to where even if they do break up in the long run she can move on more easily and find someone perfect for her lol
Thank you, Alt Text. I now have Meatloaf’s voice in my head singing, “Well let me sleep on it, baby baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I’ll give you an answer in the morning…” (“Paradise By The Dashboard Lights” for those who don’t know)
While I understand the “to be kind” thing in a conceptual level, I think it’s more unkind to expect people to act less happy when you’re in a bad mood. That’s just being a downer and dragging them under with you.
Upset people are known not the level-headed enough to be kind. When you ask someone who is upset to be kinder than those who are not upset, you’re basically asking someone with blistered feet to win a foot race against the two healthy people.
I mean they did not say upset people has to be kind. Just that the expectation of making yourself look less happy to be kind to someone upset is a bit unreasonable.
It rubs me the wrong way, maybe for what you’ve described. Is that what she expected from people a couple of days ago? And it feels kind of… ? showy? They’re demonstrating they’re sacrificing for her how? She’s feeling sour, she’s going to keep feeling sour. If she thought it was too much to be around, she can go another way, wait, or go in front. I get superficially what the kindness is supposed to be, but to be cynical it’s more like they’re using her as a prop to show each other how kind they are.
… which would annoy me less, if I were in Jennifer’s spot
I think Lucy and Jacob are just naturally nice and considerate people, but sometimes being nice and considerate isn’t the right move, especially when the person likely doesn’t deserve it and also you’re just running on assumptions of how someone feels instead of just asking them. Their conversation is a nice sentiment but it might rub someone the wrong way because like Jennifer don’t need that shit. And I’m saying that as someone who likes Jen! They should probably just be making out instead.
I understand all that and partially agree (Specifically the part where there is really no need to be any kinder to Jennifer since she brought her own misery onto herself) and still think it’s a weird take to make about this specific situation. Like it’s something performative and not just what these characters would naturally want to do.
Yeah, she got dumped, not “Asher suddenly died in a car crash/DUI reminiscent of her own” to where ppl would feel like walking on eggshells around her
be interesting if it’s like “i’m gonna have lunch with raidah as usual, do you mind if jacob joins us?” asking jen, tho idk how raidah feels/if they’re still considered on friendly terms after their break up as opposed to Jacob keeping his distance
This “she got dumped” misinterpretation is part of the proble. Jennifer dumped Asher, or more accurately negged and gaslighted him into thinking they were dating when she was likely just using him as a boyfriend prop whenever she desired. That difference is highly important to whether Jen is even feeling bad in this scenario to justify any potential eggshell walking.
I feel like these two are being laid on this thick, this fast, in a way that kind of makes me anticipate that this will not be a long-lived relationship. So, even if they’re not my first choice, I kind of am warming to it in the here in now, enjoying the ride.
It would be completely in character (for Lucy at least) to be engaged before the end of the school year. And Jacob also seems like a very serious person who will commit himself wholeheartedly. Plus if his brother got engaged and married young he will want to be just like his brother.
This is unusual, but I think Sarah will get over Jacob relatively quickly. She is rejected and that can be liberating sometimes. Now Sarah can meet her future soulmate, Arnold.
I dunno, sometimes you just hit it off with someone. Lucy and Walky had a long lead-up, but it flamed out because she always liked him more than he liked her.
I get that, in-universe, I am meaning more in the case of the comic itself.
Granted, a short-lived relationship in DoA can still be months of comic time, but all the same, this does feel like Willis maybe letting the two have their fun for now because it won’t last.
True, there does have to be some drama or it would be uninteresting. But perhaps the drama will be with Sarah and how she reacts to all this? She will want revenge, but she’s a good person who will understand that Lucy didn’t actually do anything to deserve it.
Even narratively, it’s not necessarily the drama, but that it feels unearned. If this is supposed to be a long-term/end game pairing, neither of them really struggled to get to it. If you squint you can call Lucy’s shift around breaking up with Walky character growth, but it seems kind of small.
I mean, I don’t see how or why it need to be “earned” or “struggled for”, can’t these two characters just be compatible and try something for fun? I like them individually and I like them together now, I think that should be enough. Sometimes in slice of life things are just normal.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s more or less where I am on it. I can believe in the pairing making sense, it pays off a missed connection of sorts in Shortpacked, and I feel like Lucy kind of needed it. All of that said, I just kind of expect it to come apart through one reason or another.
Oh, I don’t anticipate revenge from Sarah. What I am expecting is actually that Raidah will become a problem for Lucy, either spiting her due to Jacob, or that she will try to rope Lucy into her friend group due to her being with Jacob upgrading her to “winner” status, and Lucy’s susceptibility to flattery making her easy for Raidah to pull the strings and make her dance.
Speaking as someone who went from “timid religion-obsessed virgin” to “fuck it, we having sex now… wait, this is awesome, why did I ever not do this?” in the space of a weekend back in sophmore year… yeah, no, I 100% buy this from Lucy, at least.
I mean I think they’re pretty compatible which is why I think the ship is boring, and why I think they hooked up so quickly, but it would be interesting if they actually weren’t even if they seem perfect for each other on paper.
Goddamnit, you two, you gotta wait til you’re inside to be this horny! It’s not anywhere NEAR the first of May in strip time! God! And Dina called dibs on doing it in violation of the law anyway!
I’m still a bit confused why Jennifer who showed no real interest in Asher would be upset about a breakup she initiated and his relationship status that she didn’t even care about or consider until Raidah told her to. Like is she just annoyed for the sake of it? For the love of the game?
Maybe, but she seemed more angry he isn’t bragging about moving on more than any desire to be with him. Like she wants a break up relationship? Is that a thing? Also she wanted him to change for her, which he did and she still rejected him. I just don’t get the motivation at this point.
I think Jennifer really did enjoy her relationship with Asher but she was angry over his t-shirt and decided that he needed to be “cool and edgy” again. So, she went to her Ruth bag of tricks. The idea that she should neg him and make him feel like crap to try to win her approval.
It failed miserably.
But yes, I’m an anti-Ruth/jennifer shipper so always support any relationship other than them.
100%. Her scenes with Asher where she wasn’t being a self-sabotaging jerk were honestly sweet and cute. If she was willing to be vulnerable with Asher and make him feel as wanted by her as she felt from him, then they’d be in a great spot.
Unfortunately, Jennifer’s a giant pile of self-destruction and issues squeezed into a single body. She just has to be in control as much as possible, and doesn’t realize until its too late that its driving people away (and then only blames others for them being driven away).
I think the problem is that you are looking for some kind of logic and greater intent behind Jennifer actions when most of everything she does is based on her emotional reactions and pre-established biases. It doesn’t really makes sense because it isn’t supposed, these are not well though of decisions. (I hope I explained myself well).
This comic pretty effectivley illustrates what her plan was. She was expecting him to come back and put herself in a better position as a result of it. She’s been mostly trying to wrestle with the fact that her plan didn’t work since then.
True, that seems likely. Also she doesn’t like being the uncool, single roommate. While the geeky nerd she despised gets the most handsome man in their class.
I think, like Lucy, Jennifer has an idealized version of a relationship in her head. Or several idealized versions, that contradict. And when things are close to how she imagines, she doesn’t feel the way she expects about it. She is like the majestic eagle, perpetually disgruntled because of how confused she is.
If I were to theorize I think this is hopefully leading to Jennifer unlearning the hard way all the toxic relationship habits she internalized from dating Ruth and the superficially being “better off” doesn’t make you feel better or get you what you want. But she’ll just as likely double down again. Reinvent herself a third time, start going by the nickname “Worthy” and pick up smoking instead of drinking.
Three re-inventions later, she takes more LSD than she intends, goes through ego-death and joins a cult, only to find out later that she’s the cult leader.
i guess it’s just the leftover ‘queen bee’/head cheerleader popularity she wanted to bask in, she must’ve been interested enough to have agreed to ‘date’ asher in the first place as opposed to “This is just a booty call”
I think Jennifer has the same ideas about romance as an inept teenage boy. Treat them mean to keep them keen, and maintain maximum aloofness. It doesn’t work…
Lately, I’ve also been toying with the idea that she wants to both be Anakin and date Anakin. Or at least have that kind of weird romance/intensity.
Asher was supposed to come crawling back, not actually leave.
You see, Jennifer treats relationships like a game where if someone pushes, you’re supposed to pull. You’re not supposed to exit the game. And if you do exit the game, she gets pissed off about it as this isn’t how things were supposed to go in her mind.
Ignoring the fact of course, that she’s the one with issues who can’t handle it if people get along with Walky or are too ‘dorky’/similar to Walky. Because Walky is supposed to be a lame-ass dork that people hate, not think he is fun to chill with and funny.
I don’t think it’s that Asher moved on, per se, so much as that she’s just really not been happy lately. It’s overwhelmingly clear that she is not over Ruth, and she was very frustrated with Raidah’s courting of Walky to the group, or attempt at it, and now, Raidah basically pressuring her to try to keep Asher. Lucy getting laid and all blissful just kind of rubs it in for her that she’s not in a great spot, and it’s only about to get worse, likely.
Jennifer is one of the many people in this comic that think reality has objective determinism. It’s far worse than Dorothy, though, who is currently refusing to learn that it doesn’t. It’s a little below Raidah, who is by far the worst offender.
I don’t know why you think your personal preferences are a problem for shippers. Like… others aren’t sitting around waiting to see if you approve of their ships and then giving up when you don’t.
Also no one is stopping you from taking a sock. It sounds like a more productive use of your time.
I mean, idk if they’re doing anything wrong so far but they can’t be the only happy couple on campus rn, it’s not as if they’re just giong outta their way to make out in front of her/blocking her way lol
At the very least i’d rather them just be chill as opposed to the ‘sexile’/and being booted out or so, b/c idk if lucy had a talk with her after wards or so
I think that taking 10% off the PDAs for the duration of their walk to class isn’t a terrible thing. Yeah, they’re under no obligation to do it, it’d just be them trying to be nice to her, but its not like their relationship is going to collapse or they’re changing themselves massively if they just ease up a bit for a few minutes.
let her pass. They’re walking with their arms around each other, that’s probably slower than a single able bodied person. And probably taking up most of the width of the sidewalk.
Talking to her isn’t going to make her feel better, probably just annoy her. It might make them feel better, but they’re already feeling great.
Surprised she’s not wearing a scarf but i guess a muffler would hide her sulking expression (tho i’m sure she’d be ‘heated up’ with her barely contained rage [although that would be an interesting experiment, within reason, like if you’re ‘worked up’ to see how far you can go on a brisk walk without needing to put on a coat in the cold as opposed to sweating in heat and relieving stress by cooling off after, other than seasonal affective disorder , it’d be interesting if like just suddenly being exposed to cold calmed down someone angry, i’ve heard of ‘cold showers’ but that’s more for sexual reasons again, tho i know some countries do have like ‘cold dips’ where they’re jumping into a frozen lake or so lol])
As a Midwesterner, I’m gonna say it’s not that unusual for these characters not to be wearing face warmers of some kind. It’ll be -5°F out (that’s around -20°C for the rest of you) and I’ll see people walking around with no hat or scarf, and sometimes they’re wearing shorts.
And on the opposite end, it’ll be 40°C outside (that’s about 104°F) and I’ll see people wearing thick pants and sweatshirts/hoodies in direct sunlight, acting like that’s normal to do.
Cold to a Midwestern is like rain to someone from Seattle. No local cares up to a certain point. And if you have an umbrella or bundle up respectively you out yourself as an outsider.
Yeah, we don’t really fuck with rain that much either, at least not in Southern Illinois. A light drizzle isn’t an obstacle, and we don’t even speed up our walking pace until you can properly hear the drops splashing in the puddles. I tend to only pack an umbrella if I know I’ll be walking for more than about five minutes or it’s like, actually coming down nice and proper.
ah I’d forgotten about the ‘motorcycle to class factor’. Walking on foot like a meer mortal again must also be making it sink in that alot of her new identity was tied to Asher. I think on some level Jennifer forgot it wasn’t her personal power. Now I’m wondering if we’ll see Jennifer try to learn how to ride to prove she’s cool on her own.
Like when I think of Sarah and Jacob getting together I just imagine it would be incredibly stressful for him to constantly try and only sometimes success in helping her open up and bring the walls down. I like seeing him being openly flirty and affectionate and receiving no push back or intense reaction. (Don’t take this as bashing Sarah, she is great but she does have her issues when it comes to felling and being close to people)
“I’m just going to say it, shame on any of us who throws a trans child under the bus for thinking they’re going to get elected. That child deserves our support. Don’t worry about the pollsters calling it distractions, because we need to be the party of human dignity.”
Minnesota Star Tribune@startribune.com ⋅ 1d
Gov. Tim Walz is doubling down on trans rights — and criticizing members of his party who are retreating — at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and back home in Minnesota.
they managed to get the arms and thighs to be different grays, which I wasn't sure they'd be able to do, the way the mold's set up
though maybe they're just producing a lot of extra thighs and/or arms in the wrong colors and throwing those away, i dunno
Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com ⋅ 1d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
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Lucy’s considerate, but not that considerate.
She’s considering it.
Lucy: I think, in the spirit of kindness, we should beg off and find the nearest empty, private area for me to suck your dick in. It’s just the right thing to do.
She’s just being considerate of Jacob. It’s the warmest place around for his hand.
She’s a little considerate.
She’s consid.
She just doesn’t want to it to be too obvious to Jennifer of course! so considerate Lucy is.
She’s not so much considerate as she is being political. She’s got to think about whether Jennifer still has any power in her social group to decide how much she wants to piss Jennifer off.
A subtle butts disease joke?
Subtly is not generally a feature of butts disease.
Nor is it an asset of butts disease.
though butts disease does have many ASSets
He’s going to catch butt fingers disease. (It’s a variant of toe aids.)
“really it’s more billie’s problem than ours”
“and adversity builds character”
Did anyone else go to the previous comic to see if he had his hand in her pocket then?
Cause I did. And he didn’t. They were holding hands.
So Jacob stuck his hand in her pocket during this comic. My guess? Between panel 2 and 3.
Um you may wanna think fast Lucy.
The way Jennifer looks a pursuit seems imminent. XD
*plays “Face First” by The Paranoyds on hacked muzak*
Exit, pursued by a Billingsworth.
Nah I think they should amp it up. Jennifer can learn to deal.
Yeah, Jennifer is a character I generally have very little sympathy for lol. She’s the human equivalent of that meme where someone puts a stick through the spokes of their own bicycle and falls over.
Like, her relationship was great until her boyfriend wore ONE SHIRT and she decided that was a hardline breaking point. I am self-sabotaging af and I know what goes through her head because I’ve lived that and I still don’t feel bad for her lol. Especially so almost.
I love her but I love her in the same way I love Wile E. Coyote, I am not rooting for things to work out for her.
I guess more accurately I’m rooting for things to go well enough for her that her misfortunes are funny rather than depressing.
I am all for her misfortune to be depressing. I eat that drama up!
AFAIK, I think the shirt was the last the last straw in a bad day for her. Too many comparisons to Walky, I think? If anyone can get under her skin on a GOOD day, “It’s Walky!”©
When she was dating Asher and hanging out with Raidah, she saw it as a return to the natural hierarchy where she is on top and Walky is just a geek. When her new friends and boyfriend didn’t reinforce those ideas, she was angry. If Asher had looked down on Walky she wouldn’t have cared what he was wearing.
Speaking from experience, self sabotage generally comes from self-hatred. If you identify with Jennifer and you hate yourself too, then of course you would enjoy watching her suffer, just like you do to yourself. the benefit of it being a fictional character is that hating her doesn’t trigger the “I hate my self” -> “hating myself is bad”-> “I hate myself for hating myself” spiral.
yep, seems kinda fair.
i mean, nobody should be sad, but if it’s by your own choices, at least you can let it be a lesson to you.
and while she HAS to suffer the consequences of her self-sabotaging breakup, she *could* protect herself from having to walk directly behind them.
Other people can’t stop being happy and pause their lives just because someone else is not happy.
Then again, i just remembered Jennifer lives with Lucy. So that *is* harder to avoid because she’s getting sexiled.
(although i think it’d be fine to ask your roommate “hey, would you maybe fuck your new boytoy in *his* room so i am reminded of my breakup less?“ No guarantees but it’s a fair ask if there’s no reason against going to his place.)
I mean, he’s got a roommate too, but at least last night, Ethan and Asher were in Amber’s bed, for reasons.
Or, you know, hustle past them so she doesn’t have to watch.
I mean really, no one’s FORCING her to follow three paces behind them.
True, but it seems that Jennifer will look for anything to get attention
But it can’t look like she’s trying to get attention, because appearances or something.
Head cheerleaders don’t *need* things, that’s for nerds. She’s fine the way she is. But also please validate me or I will literally die. I didn’t say that btw.
Not surprised to find Jennifer is in a slow spiral. However, as someone who loves characters making bad decisions, I’m zipping into the kitchen to make popcorn for when Raidah finds out Asher and Jennifer are done and cuts her out of the friend group. Guess what Billie! That thing Walky said at lunch happened! Rationalize this somehow!
Not sure that would happen and it says even worse things about Raidah’s networking priorities than I expect. The Billingsworths have serious legal money. Asher’s relatives are mobsters. If Raidah’s only using Jennifer to get at Asher’s connections?
I do kind of hope Lucy gets to another Raidah get together and brings her new boy – all without mentioning names.
If Jennifer is going to act like a spoiled child (because, you know, that’s what Billie *is*) then there’s no reason for Raidah to keep friendship with her. She’s cut Chan out for similar reasons. She probably thinks she can get along better by replacing her with Walky, who’s fun and easy to get along with, since he knows the dean and Roz’s political dynasty, which…now that I think about it is exactly the sort of plot turn that would cause Billie to have a total meltdown, so that can’t not be coming.
Also, thing I typed out but forgot to include when revising — Raidah has shown deep contempt for Jennifer the whole time, she just hides it to keep good vibes and the group going. If she’s introducing drama for no reason (which, well, again, this is Billie we’re talking about) she’s going to run out of reasons to keep her.
Oh she definitely doesn’t like Jennifer, but she’s keeping her around for some reason. I don’t think that reason changes based on Jennifer’s actions.
Raidah also doesn’t like “that stunted manchild”, so I don’t think she’ll switch to Walky because he’s “fun and easy to get along with”.
“Head cheerleaders don’t *need* things, that’s for nerds. She’s fine the way she is. But also please validate me or I will literally die. I didn’t say that btw.”
I smelled your rage from here. hahahah
I think you could count all the good choices Jennifer has made on one hand. She ain’t gonna start now.
feels like it could be a punchline if she tried to ‘powerwalk’ past them and slip on the snow
Heh, with that expression in the third panel, it will be a big challenge. (Also Lucy took her out of the room)
Panel 3: Jennifer has never tried harder to see if she possesses command of The Force. And she tries a LOT.
I think they need to do A/B testing. Today, hands in pants, tomorrow, no hands, no pants.
I think they did that test last night.
But it is important to reproduce results.
Nah, last night was hands, no pants.
But it wasn’t PRIMARILY hands.
How’s that one work, again? Isn’t it:
A = Hands
a = No hands
B = Pants
b = No Pants
AB = Hands and Pants
Ab = Hands and No Pants
aB = No Hands and Pants
ab = No Hands and No Pants
Jacob and Lucy are good for each other
When is this going to go up in flames? Before or after the other healthy relationships burn?
can’t wait for sarah’s reaction hopefully she won’t try to purposefully mess it up or so
It’s not Sarah nor Jennifer they have to watch out for.
It’s Raidah.
well, raidah doesn’t have anything against lucy (unless she’s like “you’re only walky’s bf and since he’s not with us anymore/using his connections you’re out of our group”) but it’s not like she did anything esp underhanded when she hookedu pwith jacob
Raidah doesn’t have anything for Lucy either. She was Walky’s plus one. The only time she said something to Lucy was when Raidah was redirecting the conversation to Walky.
What does Raidah have to do with this?
I get that everyone hates her and thinks she’s worse than the devil, but her stance on Jacob was pretty clear when she was dating him: “If he cheats on me, fuck him, he’s not worth me”.
Raidah might have some lingering vengefulness towards Jacob, but honestly the biggest impact I see Lucy and Jacob’s relationship having there is Raidah immediately thinking less of Lucy for lowering herself to his level.
People’s stated stances aren’t actually their real feelings.
During that whole sequence, while her opposition to Joyce was certainly justified, her approach was underhanded and manipulative
Raidah created an entire villainous plan to isolate Joyce and Sarah because of the Jacob thing. She thinks Jacob BELONGS TO HER or at least OTHERS ARE NOT OBJECTIVELY WORTHY OF HIM. She has stated as much. This isn’t about JACOB. This is about HER. What SHE deserves.
I honestly don’t see how people can view Raidah’s behavior in context of the entire strip and conclude that she is a good person.
People didn’t like Joyce going after Jacob and therefore decided that Raidah must be the good guy.
Even the thing with Dana does not justify Raidah’s bullshit legion of doom plan.
Jennifer is actually behind them to get a better view of Jacob’s hands in her pants.
Also I guess they’re confirming themselves as a couple now instead of ‘that was a good night and now a walk’. They move fast.
I mean, neither of them have ever really seemed interested in casual hook-ups. They both seem pretty firmly in the monogamous camp.
well tehy did hookup pretty fast tho even if it’s tech a ‘rebound’ idk if lucy would want it to stay as a one night stand
plus hopefully this will be stable/normal/healthy for lucy to where even if they do break up in the long run she can move on more easily and find someone perfect for her lol
All that it really takes to become a couple is mutual intent. And they clearly both like each other a lot.
She’ll be fine, let her be cranky, it’s morning. Plus she’s about to pass them anyways.
Um, why do you say that?
She keeps getting closer.
Thank you, Alt Text. I now have Meatloaf’s voice in my head singing, “Well let me sleep on it, baby baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I’ll give you an answer in the morning…” (“Paradise By The Dashboard Lights” for those who don’t know)
I need to know right now!
Hmmmm, this comic could use more Phil Rizzuto in it…
While I understand the “to be kind” thing in a conceptual level, I think it’s more unkind to expect people to act less happy when you’re in a bad mood. That’s just being a downer and dragging them under with you.
Upset people are known not the level-headed enough to be kind. When you ask someone who is upset to be kinder than those who are not upset, you’re basically asking someone with blistered feet to win a foot race against the two healthy people.
I mean they did not say upset people has to be kind. Just that the expectation of making yourself look less happy to be kind to someone upset is a bit unreasonable.
It rubs me the wrong way, maybe for what you’ve described. Is that what she expected from people a couple of days ago? And it feels kind of… ? showy? They’re demonstrating they’re sacrificing for her how? She’s feeling sour, she’s going to keep feeling sour. If she thought it was too much to be around, she can go another way, wait, or go in front. I get superficially what the kindness is supposed to be, but to be cynical it’s more like they’re using her as a prop to show each other how kind they are.
… which would annoy me less, if I were in Jennifer’s spot
This rubs ME the wrong way, that is just a really weird conclusion to derive from this.
I think Lucy and Jacob are just naturally nice and considerate people, but sometimes being nice and considerate isn’t the right move, especially when the person likely doesn’t deserve it and also you’re just running on assumptions of how someone feels instead of just asking them. Their conversation is a nice sentiment but it might rub someone the wrong way because like Jennifer don’t need that shit. And I’m saying that as someone who likes Jen! They should probably just be making out instead.
I understand all that and partially agree (Specifically the part where there is really no need to be any kinder to Jennifer since she brought her own misery onto herself) and still think it’s a weird take to make about this specific situation. Like it’s something performative and not just what these characters would naturally want to do.
It might be because they’re having this conversation while Jennifer is nearby, although I think that’s kind of the webcomic of it all.
(I guess “It might be…” is not particularly clear. I’m referring to HSL feeling like it’s performative / being rubbed the wrong way.)
I mean I assume she is far enough away that she can’t hear the details of their conversation unless they raise their voices.
ok.
Yeah, she got dumped, not “Asher suddenly died in a car crash/DUI reminiscent of her own” to where ppl would feel like walking on eggshells around her
be interesting if it’s like “i’m gonna have lunch with raidah as usual, do you mind if jacob joins us?” asking jen, tho idk how raidah feels/if they’re still considered on friendly terms after their break up as opposed to Jacob keeping his distance
This “she got dumped” misinterpretation is part of the proble. Jennifer dumped Asher, or more accurately negged and gaslighted him into thinking they were dating when she was likely just using him as a boyfriend prop whenever she desired. That difference is highly important to whether Jen is even feeling bad in this scenario to justify any potential eggshell walking.
The thing here though is that it’s not Jennifer expecting them to act less happy, they’re considering it on their own.
I agree it would be lousy for her to want them to, but that doesn’t mean it would be lousy for them to try to tone it down a bit.
I feel like these two are being laid on this thick, this fast, in a way that kind of makes me anticipate that this will not be a long-lived relationship. So, even if they’re not my first choice, I kind of am warming to it in the here in now, enjoying the ride.
It would be completely in character (for Lucy at least) to be engaged before the end of the school year. And Jacob also seems like a very serious person who will commit himself wholeheartedly. Plus if his brother got engaged and married young he will want to be just like his brother.
I expect them to be rather happily boring and off-stage while the rest of the cast has lots of drama.
I’m with the people who think they will last a VERY short time.
Even in comic terms.
Maybe, but I think Sarah will completely avoid Lucy and, at worst, be more hostile.
This is unusual, but I think Sarah will get over Jacob relatively quickly. She is rejected and that can be liberating sometimes. Now Sarah can meet her future soulmate, Arnold.
Honestly I’m just happy Jacob has stuff to do again
I dunno, sometimes you just hit it off with someone. Lucy and Walky had a long lead-up, but it flamed out because she always liked him more than he liked her.
I get that, in-universe, I am meaning more in the case of the comic itself.
Granted, a short-lived relationship in DoA can still be months of comic time, but all the same, this does feel like Willis maybe letting the two have their fun for now because it won’t last.
True, there does have to be some drama or it would be uninteresting. But perhaps the drama will be with Sarah and how she reacts to all this? She will want revenge, but she’s a good person who will understand that Lucy didn’t actually do anything to deserve it.
Even narratively, it’s not necessarily the drama, but that it feels unearned. If this is supposed to be a long-term/end game pairing, neither of them really struggled to get to it. If you squint you can call Lucy’s shift around breaking up with Walky character growth, but it seems kind of small.
And it just completely fell into Jacob’s lap.
I mean, I don’t see how or why it need to be “earned” or “struggled for”, can’t these two characters just be compatible and try something for fun? I like them individually and I like them together now, I think that should be enough. Sometimes in slice of life things are just normal.
There’s also the fact that it’s been five seconds, so any precognition about “end game pairing” is a little early and a big leap.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s more or less where I am on it. I can believe in the pairing making sense, it pays off a missed connection of sorts in Shortpacked, and I feel like Lucy kind of needed it. All of that said, I just kind of expect it to come apart through one reason or another.
That’s your prerogative I guess. I wait until we actually see them having any issues to make that judgement.
Oh, I don’t anticipate revenge from Sarah. What I am expecting is actually that Raidah will become a problem for Lucy, either spiting her due to Jacob, or that she will try to rope Lucy into her friend group due to her being with Jacob upgrading her to “winner” status, and Lucy’s susceptibility to flattery making her easy for Raidah to pull the strings and make her dance.
Speaking as someone who went from “timid religion-obsessed virgin” to “fuck it, we having sex now… wait, this is awesome, why did I ever not do this?” in the space of a weekend back in sophmore year… yeah, no, I 100% buy this from Lucy, at least.
It’s not that it’s not in character, it’s that it might well also be in character for this to blow up fairly quickly. They barely know each other.
I mean I think they’re pretty compatible which is why I think the ship is boring, and why I think they hooked up so quickly, but it would be interesting if they actually weren’t even if they seem perfect for each other on paper.
It could be interesting, but I don’t know if I can take another two to four years of trudging through Lucy’s relationship being a bad match.
Goddamnit, you two, you gotta wait til you’re inside to be this horny! It’s not anywhere NEAR the first of May in strip time! God! And Dina called dibs on doing it in violation of the law anyway!
Jennifer can’t be in a breakup because Asher was never her boyfriend.
think long and prosper
No no no. Hand stays in pants. Until class. Okay maybe until a little before class. Because reasons. Nice, round reasons.
I’m still a bit confused why Jennifer who showed no real interest in Asher would be upset about a breakup she initiated and his relationship status that she didn’t even care about or consider until Raidah told her to. Like is she just annoyed for the sake of it? For the love of the game?
Psssht, she was only pretending not to be interested because she doesn’t know how to express emotions or how to handle real feelings. /whisper
Maybe, but she seemed more angry he isn’t bragging about moving on more than any desire to be with him. Like she wants a break up relationship? Is that a thing? Also she wanted him to change for her, which he did and she still rejected him. I just don’t get the motivation at this point.
I think Jennifer really did enjoy her relationship with Asher but she was angry over his t-shirt and decided that he needed to be “cool and edgy” again. So, she went to her Ruth bag of tricks. The idea that she should neg him and make him feel like crap to try to win her approval.
It failed miserably.
But yes, I’m an anti-Ruth/jennifer shipper so always support any relationship other than them.
100%. Her scenes with Asher where she wasn’t being a self-sabotaging jerk were honestly sweet and cute. If she was willing to be vulnerable with Asher and make him feel as wanted by her as she felt from him, then they’d be in a great spot.
Unfortunately, Jennifer’s a giant pile of self-destruction and issues squeezed into a single body. She just has to be in control as much as possible, and doesn’t realize until its too late that its driving people away (and then only blames others for them being driven away).
I think the problem is that you are looking for some kind of logic and greater intent behind Jennifer actions when most of everything she does is based on her emotional reactions and pre-established biases. It doesn’t really makes sense because it isn’t supposed, these are not well though of decisions. (I hope I explained myself well).
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/material/
This comic pretty effectivley illustrates what her plan was. She was expecting him to come back and put herself in a better position as a result of it. She’s been mostly trying to wrestle with the fact that her plan didn’t work since then.
True, that seems likely. Also she doesn’t like being the uncool, single roommate. While the geeky nerd she despised gets the most handsome man in their class.
I think, like Lucy, Jennifer has an idealized version of a relationship in her head. Or several idealized versions, that contradict. And when things are close to how she imagines, she doesn’t feel the way she expects about it. She is like the majestic eagle, perpetually disgruntled because of how confused she is.
If I were to theorize I think this is hopefully leading to Jennifer unlearning the hard way all the toxic relationship habits she internalized from dating Ruth and the superficially being “better off” doesn’t make you feel better or get you what you want. But she’ll just as likely double down again. Reinvent herself a third time, start going by the nickname “Worthy” and pick up smoking instead of drinking.
Three re-inventions later, she takes more LSD than she intends, goes through ego-death and joins a cult, only to find out later that she’s the cult leader.
i guess it’s just the leftover ‘queen bee’/head cheerleader popularity she wanted to bask in, she must’ve been interested enough to have agreed to ‘date’ asher in the first place as opposed to “This is just a booty call”
I think Jennifer has the same ideas about romance as an inept teenage boy. Treat them mean to keep them keen, and maintain maximum aloofness. It doesn’t work…
Lately, I’ve also been toying with the idea that she wants to both be Anakin and date Anakin. Or at least have that kind of weird romance/intensity.
Asher was supposed to come crawling back, not actually leave.
You see, Jennifer treats relationships like a game where if someone pushes, you’re supposed to pull. You’re not supposed to exit the game. And if you do exit the game, she gets pissed off about it as this isn’t how things were supposed to go in her mind.
Ignoring the fact of course, that she’s the one with issues who can’t handle it if people get along with Walky or are too ‘dorky’/similar to Walky. Because Walky is supposed to be a lame-ass dork that people hate, not think he is fun to chill with and funny.
Yuuuup.
I don’t think it’s that Asher moved on, per se, so much as that she’s just really not been happy lately. It’s overwhelmingly clear that she is not over Ruth, and she was very frustrated with Raidah’s courting of Walky to the group, or attempt at it, and now, Raidah basically pressuring her to try to keep Asher. Lucy getting laid and all blissful just kind of rubs it in for her that she’s not in a great spot, and it’s only about to get worse, likely.
Time and place you two. Outside while walking to class is wrong on both counts.
What are you a cop? Buzz off/j
In her PANTS??? Jacob lowkey a freak fr
pretty sure that means “pocket”.
Yeah… I really do not like Lucy and Jacob together.
(Still better than any potential Sarah/Jacob thing, though.)
Jennifer looks more and more prepared to kill someone every time we’ve seen her lately.
Jennifer is one of the many people in this comic that think reality has objective determinism. It’s far worse than Dorothy, though, who is currently refusing to learn that it doesn’t. It’s a little below Raidah, who is by far the worst offender.
Jacob with sock continues to win. Take that, Lucy fans and Jacob/Lucy shippers! I would take a sock, not even a pair of socks, over Lucy.
Weird.
I don’t know why you think your personal preferences are a problem for shippers. Like… others aren’t sitting around waiting to see if you approve of their ships and then giving up when you don’t.
Also no one is stopping you from taking a sock. It sounds like a more productive use of your time.
I feel like it’s a little soon to be referring to themselves as a ‘Happy Couple.’
They are a couple. They are currently happy.
idk seems accurate.
It is too early in a sense.
But it’s also not at all surprising for a pair full of NRE to see it that way.
Okay Google gives me nothing, what is NRE?
Niel, Ready to Eat
“New Relationship Energy”
You’re happy and you want to cool it because Jennifers in a bad mood?
Don’t go changing yourself for other people
there’s “changing yourself for other people”,
and then there’s mitigating the chance at being chased and tackled by someone who’s pissed either way
I mean, idk if they’re doing anything wrong so far but they can’t be the only happy couple on campus rn, it’s not as if they’re just giong outta their way to make out in front of her/blocking her way lol
At the very least i’d rather them just be chill as opposed to the ‘sexile’/and being booted out or so, b/c idk if lucy had a talk with her after wards or so
I think that taking 10% off the PDAs for the duration of their walk to class isn’t a terrible thing. Yeah, they’re under no obligation to do it, it’d just be them trying to be nice to her, but its not like their relationship is going to collapse or they’re changing themselves massively if they just ease up a bit for a few minutes.
That is true . (Though I am completely in favor on them disregarding that’s and continue amping it up)
I agree. But it’s all awkward: They should move faster? Or talk to Jennifer to easier her mood? Or just ask her to leave? What can we do in this case?
let her pass. They’re walking with their arms around each other, that’s probably slower than a single able bodied person. And probably taking up most of the width of the sidewalk.
Talking to her isn’t going to make her feel better, probably just annoy her. It might make them feel better, but they’re already feeling great.
i mean flirtiness/sexual undertones aside, good friends should be able to put each others hands in their pockets for warmth 8D;
fair
I hear Indiana’s winters are HELLA cold T_T
Surprised she’s not wearing a scarf but i guess a muffler would hide her sulking expression (tho i’m sure she’d be ‘heated up’ with her barely contained rage [although that would be an interesting experiment, within reason, like if you’re ‘worked up’ to see how far you can go on a brisk walk without needing to put on a coat in the cold as opposed to sweating in heat and relieving stress by cooling off after, other than seasonal affective disorder , it’d be interesting if like just suddenly being exposed to cold calmed down someone angry, i’ve heard of ‘cold showers’ but that’s more for sexual reasons again, tho i know some countries do have like ‘cold dips’ where they’re jumping into a frozen lake or so lol])
As a Midwesterner, I’m gonna say it’s not that unusual for these characters not to be wearing face warmers of some kind. It’ll be -5°F out (that’s around -20°C for the rest of you) and I’ll see people walking around with no hat or scarf, and sometimes they’re wearing shorts.
And on the opposite end, it’ll be 40°C outside (that’s about 104°F) and I’ll see people wearing thick pants and sweatshirts/hoodies in direct sunlight, acting like that’s normal to do.
Cold to a Midwestern is like rain to someone from Seattle. No local cares up to a certain point. And if you have an umbrella or bundle up respectively you out yourself as an outsider.
Yeah, we don’t really fuck with rain that much either, at least not in Southern Illinois. A light drizzle isn’t an obstacle, and we don’t even speed up our walking pace until you can properly hear the drops splashing in the puddles. I tend to only pack an umbrella if I know I’ll be walking for more than about five minutes or it’s like, actually coming down nice and proper.
lol, my dad always said, don’t worry, there’s no soap in it.
ah I’d forgotten about the ‘motorcycle to class factor’. Walking on foot like a meer mortal again must also be making it sink in that alot of her new identity was tied to Asher. I think on some level Jennifer forgot it wasn’t her personal power. Now I’m wondering if we’ll see Jennifer try to learn how to ride to prove she’s cool on her own.
Did Jennifer and Asher even have a breakup convo? Or was it like …war of attrition type thing?
3rd panel. Audible guffaw. Scared cat.
Oh My! :-3
Pocket? Or Ass? Could be interesting in whether they make it to class or not, Jennifer be damned.
The really interesting thing is, he could easily pick her up by the ass and carry her. She seems light.
“Is that a hole in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” XD
Let’s not be too hasty Jacob. No need to go that far.
Jennifer looking like a T-1000 whose mission is self-sabotage.
I’m sad for Jennifer. I shouldn’t, I know. But, still…
JACOB!!! lol
Now, now, let’s not be hasty ^^
damn. sorry sarah but these two are adorable lol
Like when I think of Sarah and Jacob getting together I just imagine it would be incredibly stressful for him to constantly try and only sometimes success in helping her open up and bring the walls down. I like seeing him being openly flirty and affectionate and receiving no push back or intense reaction. (Don’t take this as bashing Sarah, she is great but she does have her issues when it comes to felling and being close to people)
wholeheartedly agreed. these two are good together