Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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JOCELYNE BROWN WILL RETURN IN: THE NEW STORYLINES WHICH START TOMORROW
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June 22, 2026

Fluctuations

by David M Willis on February 1, 2025 at 12:01 am
  • 02 – The One Where Jocelyne Returns
└ Tags: jocelyne, john, jordan, joyce

Discussion (163) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    February 1, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    🥹🥹🥹

    *plays “Last Train Home” by Pat Metheny on hacked muzak*

    • Ray Radlein
      Ray Radlein
      February 1, 2025 at 12:51 am | #

      One of the first concerts I ever went to, almost 50 years ago

    • Matrix
      Matrix
      February 1, 2025 at 4:17 pm | #

      TO BE CONTINUED

  2. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    February 1, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    For once, this is so touching I am not going to say anything sarcastic at all.

  3. crys
    crys
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    THE FIRST JORDAN

    • Nono
      Nono
      February 1, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

      Jordan is the short one whose eyes are covered, right?

      • Dante
        Dante
        February 1, 2025 at 12:26 am | #

        The kid with the eyes covered wears glasses, which John does.

        I’m guessing the one on the left is Jordan 8D 8D 8D

        • Doopyboop
          Doopyboop
          February 1, 2025 at 2:00 am | #

          I think John, like Joyce, got glasses later in life. John’s the oldest so he’s on the left.

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            February 1, 2025 at 4:21 am | #

            I agree. John’s on the left, Jordan’s on the right.

      • KM
        KM
        February 1, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

        Has to be, john is on the left and is probably the one taking the photo selfie style, and Joyce and Jocelyn are in the center

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 1, 2025 at 4:55 am | #

      It’s like finding Bigfoot

  4. Thulcandran
    Thulcandran
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    Holy shit, the first appearance of Jordan!

  5. oyouej
    oyouej
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    BEST SISTERS!

  6. Wack'd
    Wack'd
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    joss brown will return
    in ‘dr endocrinology’
    in ‘from s.r.s. with love’
    in ‘narrowwrist’
    in ‘thunderball atrophy’
    in ‘you only transition twice’
    in ‘on her majesty’s secret wenis’
    in ‘dysphoria is for never’
    in ‘live as not-guy’
    in ‘the woman with the golden needle’
    in ‘the spy who muffed me’
    in ‘boobmaker’
    in ‘to take twice daily’
    in ‘newpussy’
    in ‘a view to an estradiol’
    in ‘the laser hair-bye’
    in ‘prescription to girl’
    in ‘never say deadname again’
    in ‘cryingeye’
    in ‘the boner doesn’t rise’
    in ‘the girl is not a cis’
    in ‘be another gay’
    in ‘the she/her royale’
    in ‘quantum of spironolactone’
    in ‘guyfail’
    in ‘spectrans’
    in ‘no t in i’

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      February 1, 2025 at 12:17 am | #

      claps hands slowly

    • jflb96
      jflb96
      February 1, 2025 at 12:24 am | #

      Somewhat implies the existence of a bi-weekly podcast where three of the whitest and most cis-het men analyse her adventures.

      Also, to anyone else thinking ‘There’s no way that Never Say Deadname Again is that recent’: correct, it should be between Newpussy and A View to an Estradiol.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 12:56 am | #

      That. Is an impressive list.

  7. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    The Universe has emotions?

    • ZerglingOne
      ZerglingOne
      February 1, 2025 at 12:59 am | #

      We’re part of it, we are it experiencing itself, so yes.

  8. Taigan
    Taigan
    February 1, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    Just enjoy the ride, Jocelyn. Believe me, it’s better than the alternative.

    • morleuca
      morleuca
      February 1, 2025 at 12:47 am | #

      And she should know better than to listen to the Dr’s when it comes to how e affects us. Particularly if it’s towards the early end of starting

      • Eff
        Eff
        February 1, 2025 at 12:12 pm | #

        And that caveate of “aren’t universally reported” isn’t saying it doesn’t happen, just that it doesn’t happen to everyone. I was already very in touch with my emotions before I started estrogen, but afterwards I reacted a bit quicker and tended towards a little more happy crying. All quite positive effects, of course!

        • Some Ed
          Some Ed
          February 1, 2025 at 7:19 pm | #

          No, it’s not even saying that. It’s saying that not everyone reports them.

          It does not say anything about whether everyone has them. Some people may have them and not report them. Some people may not have them, but still report them. Some have them and report them (I know at least two in this category, so it’s not a maybe.) And of course, it could be that some people don’t have them and don’t report having them.

          That’s one of the problems with studying sentient subjects. They don’t always report everything honestly, but it’s not like you can attach monitors to them and expect that to go well.

  9. Rolf of Many Doors
    Rolf of Many Doors
    February 1, 2025 at 12:06 am | #

    Dang it, I need more Joyce and Joe! The drama just started!

  10. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    February 1, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    Just the cutest.

  11. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    February 1, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    🥹 Aww, it’s so swee[b]HOLY SHIT IS THAT JORDAN?[/b]

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      February 1, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      Oh god dammit formatting screw up

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 1, 2025 at 4:25 am | #

        It’s HTML here, not bbcode!

        (Also wow, bbcode! Hello, fellow Internet old person.)

  12. daeranilen
    daeranilen
    February 1, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

    God, I needed this today. Thank you. Good luck, Jocelyne. May there be much more joy ahead for you, and for all of us.

  13. Dawn
    Dawn
    February 1, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

    Is this Jordan’s first ever (partial) appearance?

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:19 am | #

      A bonus strip had him in full costume doing Hallowe’en trick-‘r’-treating. No face at all.

  14. Nono
    Nono
    February 1, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

    That’s a lot of missed calls, Jocelyne…

    • Alongcameaspider
      Alongcameaspider
      February 1, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

      Joyce isn’t the only one that puts off talking to her family until she has no choice it seems

    • CrimsonStorm
      CrimsonStorm
      February 1, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

      Yeah I was gonna say looks like Joyce isn’t the only sister with an “ignoring phone calls” problem

      • Queen Anthai
        Queen Anthai
        February 1, 2025 at 12:17 am | #

        If those calls are from her mother, the ignoring is the SOLUTION to the problem.

        • Decidedly Orthogonal
          Decidedly Orthogonal
          February 1, 2025 at 8:55 am | #

          👆

          Also, blocking numbers.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      February 1, 2025 at 1:00 am | #

      I mean, you have a number for long enough, your messages start to be largely junk. Not surprised she doesn’t read them all.

  15. StClair
    StClair
    February 1, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

    some of us get that without hormones or transitioning, just being alive.

    • StClair
      StClair
      February 1, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

      dang, that was the wrong grav for that one, let’s try another.

      • StClair
        StClair
        February 1, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

        making a note, but rolling again.

        • StClair
          StClair
          February 1, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

          ehhh.

          • StClair
            StClair
            February 1, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

            …

            • StClair
              StClair
              February 1, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

              last one today, really.

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      February 1, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

      And this doesn’t seem drastic… seems pretty in-line for what’s happened!

    • Dana W
      Dana W
      February 1, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

      Lucky you. Some of us didn’t. For some of us being alive is a constant trial, or many years of suffering and hurt. HRT was the first time in my life I didn’t feel like a zombie.

      • StClair
        StClair
        February 1, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

        Lucky? for most of my youth, I didn’t think so. Emotions and social needs I often didn’t understand or acknowledge, which caused me to embarrass myself and flee back to the lonely safety of solitude to lick my wounds. It wasn’t until my twenties that I started – started – to accept that part of myself.

        • Yumi
          Yumi
          February 1, 2025 at 12:42 am | #

          Yeah, like… having strong emotionality isn’t in contrast to experiencing trial, suffering, and hurt. I used to get in trouble for crying in 1st grade, so I started finding ways to hurt myself because that would sometimes help me stop myself from crying. And sometimes it wouldn’t, so there were still plenty of times I felt horrible because I was crying in front of people for “no reason.”

          Going numb sucks too, and decades of that sounds horrible; it just doesn’t mean a different experience is a fun one.

          • StClair
            StClair
            February 1, 2025 at 1:06 am | #

            I built my identity around being “smart” and “rational”. Feelings were messy and the enemy of “reason”; they popped up when I didn’t want them, and I didn’t know (or want to learn) how to express them in a healthy way, so it was all deny deny deny, repress repress repress, until that built-up pressure exploded in some form of acting out and started the whole miserable cycle over again.
            I’m better now, really. It took a long time, though.

            For bonus irony, I aspired to “Vulcan logic” for years before I really understood the totality of Vulcans and why they’re like that.

            • Dana W
              Dana W
              February 1, 2025 at 11:18 am | #

              You and I could be twins. Oh I SO understand! I didn’t deal with myself till I was 35 and THAT was 25 years ago.

              I went intellectual Neo-Conservative! I could pin people in a corner for hours and extol the “virtues” of Ayn Rand, and the glories of Capitalism till you wanted to just hit me with a sock full of horse crap. I was so deep in the closet, if I farted it smelled in Narnia.

              I was so much “better” than everybody! First I found out I wasn’t. Then found out I didn’t want to be.The. I found out the people who think they are are pretty much unbearable to anybody with an actual life.

              • Proxiehunter
                Proxiehunter
                February 1, 2025 at 1:39 pm | #

                Honestly that wouldn’t have taken long. The sock comes out at the first mention of the virtues of Ayn Rand.

                • Dana W
                  Dana W
                  February 2, 2025 at 3:35 am | #

                  Hey, I got better

            • Dante
              Dante
              February 1, 2025 at 4:42 pm | #

              Oh, this happened to me. Relating to Spock too, even! And since my emotions were too strong and I acted out… I got the idea the only valuable thing in me was my brain. Smarts and creativity, because as a person I clearly sucked? It was the only thing I was praised about anyway :’DD

              Went through The Horrors, including the numbness, gave myself permission to cry at like 24 and life started to get better like. Only then tbh. Therapy and the right meds make a world of difference, which is why I always go “fam, if your neurotransmitters are limping along, storebought is fine.”

              (It turned out I had combined neurodivergencies in an age people went “oh, gifted child” instead of “oh, this child needs help.” The world has, at least in that sense, gotten better.)

              Anyway I love Jocelyne and this strip was stupidly moving ;AAA;

        • Dana W
          Dana W
          February 1, 2025 at 11:10 am | #

          Understood, I’m autistic too, (Doctor Diagnosed) with a good dose of Trauma. I was just saying for some of us things like HRT are not optional.

          • Proxiehunter
            Proxiehunter
            February 1, 2025 at 1:40 pm | #

            I’m not spotting where someone said they were optional.

            • Aura
              Aura
              February 1, 2025 at 6:44 pm | #

              FWIW, I can see why Dana took that the way they did, for someone reading the strip with the context of having the pretty common experience of emotional shutdown prior to starting HRT, and the relief that comes from having access to your full emotional range again, the original comment in this thread came across as pretty dismissive of that.

              • Yumi
                Yumi
                February 1, 2025 at 6:58 pm | #

                I don’t think it was dismissive when you consider it’s not being commented on as a pro in this strip. I get why she might have misread it, but it took me a minute of squinting to see what she might have been referring to.

                • Aura
                  Aura
                  February 2, 2025 at 11:35 pm | #

                  I don’t think it was intended to be dismissive at all, I just think StClair and Dana are reading this from very different contexts, and that leads to this sort of thing where it’s really easy for someone with Dana’s context to read things into StClair’s comment they didn’t intend, whereas to someone without that context Dana’s comments could feel like non sequiturs.

                  Personally, for me I was a little taken aback by St Clair’s comment, but I assume they’re simply unaware of how great a relief this sort of experience can be after a lifetime of not being able to access all your emotions and not meaning to invalidate the experiences of those to whom this is actually a big deal (or to imply we shouldn’t need hrt or other forms of transition to feel things).

      • morleuca
        morleuca
        February 1, 2025 at 12:51 am | #

        The sheer range of emotions on hrt vs either the fugue or blinding rage.

      • Heavensrun
        Heavensrun
        February 1, 2025 at 5:05 am | #

        Drastic emotional fluctuations are almost never a lucky get, kiddo. I think you’ve fundamentally misread what was being said there.

    • Marisa Mockery
      Marisa Mockery
      February 1, 2025 at 12:47 am | #

      Idk it was kind of hilarious

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 1, 2025 at 4:53 am | #

      Everyone has hormones, they come free with being a human

    • Some Ed
      Some Ed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:31 pm | #

      It’s my understanding if you’re human and you have exactly 0 hormones, you die. Or more likely, you’re probably already dead. I get that you’re talking about not having supplemental hormones, but I’ve had issues from being low on natural hormones and thought it was important to clarify this. Supplemental hormones are designed to act like natural hormones as much as feasible, so there’s absolutely nothing that says the natural ones can’t do this also.

      That said, part of transition also suppresses some of the natural hormones that can do that, so it’s all complicated, much like anything in life. (To be clear, my low hormone issues were not part of any kind of transition, but rather stuff going wonky inside me all on its own. As I understand it, people who go through regulated hormone therapies usually don’t have the kinds of issues I had, and most of the time they do it’s for reasons kind of like what I had that just happen to coincide at the same time as mucking with other things. You don’t need to worry about life-threatening hormone loss as part of transition processes, except under the current administration and those would be more likely due to non-medically induced factors.)

  16. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    February 1, 2025 at 12:09 am | #

    LoreFail: Who is that to the right in the picture?

    What was the birth order of the Brown Children again?

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      February 1, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

      John, Jocelyn, Jordan, Joyce.

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        February 1, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

        Thnx.

  17. RacingTurtle
    RacingTurtle
    February 1, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

    🥹

  18. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    February 1, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

    Jordan’s first appearance outside of this bonus strip also found in book 9 if I’m counting right.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 1:00 am | #

      To go trih-tree-ing but not actually accept any candy. Jordan is indeed Jordan.

  19. Dana W
    Dana W
    February 1, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

    Oh Crying is the gift. That first year it was so good at finally and at long last to just CRY. I cried and cried for months. I got 35 years of not crying out in one summer. I got cold feet and quit mones for a week, and the crying started to dry up. Was so happy to go back on.

  20. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    February 1, 2025 at 12:22 am | #

    The crying is infectious beyond the confines of the panel here.

  21. Taffy
    Taffy
    February 1, 2025 at 12:26 am | #

    Jesus Christ, who’s about to die? I don’t trust this entire week of strips, something is about to go down.

    • Bryy
      Bryy
      February 1, 2025 at 12:49 am | #

      The sit-in.

    • morleuca
      morleuca
      February 1, 2025 at 12:53 am | #

      If something happens to Joycelyn, I swear to Morrigan I will lose it.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        February 1, 2025 at 12:57 am | #

        She’s practically looking at a photo of her family she keeps in a locket around her neck. She’s talking about buying a slice of pizza with portobellos. She’s telling Polnareff she won’t save him once they enter DIO’s mansion.

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          February 1, 2025 at 1:02 am | #

          She pulls out a picture of her fiance. She says she’s just a few days from retirement.

          • Charles Phipps
            Charles Phipps
            February 1, 2025 at 1:43 am | #

            Ridiculous amounts of horrors happened in two quarters of college at Dumbing of Age.

            Kidnappings, murders, and mafia hits.

            And none of it is as bad as the current crisis in RL. I’d rather my nieces be at DOA college than their current one.

            • Michael Steamweed
              Michael Steamweed
              February 1, 2025 at 7:17 am | #

              Hear ya, feel ya, and hug ya.

          • butting
            butting
            February 1, 2025 at 4:23 am | #

            Two and a half? three and a half? years from now, Dorothy is just two days from graduating, when—

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            February 1, 2025 at 4:28 am | #

            Is said fiancée breaking a bottle of champagne on the bow of their new boat, the SS Live Forever?

            • Michael Steamweed
              Michael Steamweed
              February 1, 2025 at 7:18 am | #

              They’re gonna take a quick 3-hour tour around the islands.

      • Jon
        Jon
        February 1, 2025 at 2:10 am | #

        I think if Jocelyn died immediately after coming out to Joyce the fanbase would straight-up revolt.

        Short of dying, though…damn you, Willis.

        • Bryy
          Bryy
          February 1, 2025 at 12:18 pm | #

          Yeah, I don’t see Willis pulling another Mike.

        • Morleuca
          Morleuca
          February 1, 2025 at 2:15 pm | #

          that is a looooooooooooooooooot of wiggle room for bad things. And so many of those bad things become so much worse considering her status as a trans person.

    • DashWallkick
      DashWallkick
      February 1, 2025 at 12:27 pm | #

      Judging by the preview he posted on socials and the way we left Jennifer, I imagine Billie is in for a real rough story arc.

  22. SvenTS
    SvenTS
    February 1, 2025 at 12:30 am | #

    Never tell me the odds… they’ll make me cry!

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:29 am | #

      They deleted that line from SW ep4.

  23. Wendy
    Wendy
    February 1, 2025 at 12:34 am | #

    Big sis, baby sis. :’)

  24. Thing2
    Thing2
    February 1, 2025 at 12:34 am | #

    Wait, who is who, left to right in that pic?

    • ProjectXa3
      ProjectXa3
      February 1, 2025 at 12:48 am | #

      well Jocelyne is the older sister in this chronology, so

    • a/snow/mous/e
      a/snow/mous/e
      February 1, 2025 at 2:28 am | #

      John, Jocelyne, Joyce, Jordan

      • a/snow/mous/e
        a/snow/mous/e
        February 1, 2025 at 2:30 am | #

        (at least it would appear the one on the right is Jordan, judging by height)

    • KM
      KM
      February 1, 2025 at 2:31 am | #

      Seems to be john, Jocelyn, Joyce, Jordan

  25. staszu13
    staszu13
    February 1, 2025 at 12:38 am | #

    Time for the feels

  26. ProjectXa3
    ProjectXa3
    February 1, 2025 at 12:48 am | #

    Certainly is a lot of missed calls there…

  27. Bryy
    Bryy
    February 1, 2025 at 12:49 am | #

    I love that Jocelyn is sticking around for at least the next two arcs.

  28. Michael Steamweed
    Michael Steamweed
    February 1, 2025 at 12:54 am | #

    Aaaand of COURSE we cut away from boob pics, Joyce, et al, and check in with Jocelyne just in time for the arc to end. 😛

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      February 1, 2025 at 10:04 am | #

      Is kind of weird that doesn’t pay off at all until tomorrow morning? No one looks at the tweet after all the set up?

    • Cass
      Cass
      February 1, 2025 at 6:13 pm | #

      First strip of the next arc is one second after that, when Jocelyne gets the tit pic because Dotty managed to accidentally switch the the last contact she added.

  29. Florence
    Florence
    February 1, 2025 at 1:04 am | #

    Alright, this is one of the few things I’m okay with cutting away too 🥹

  30. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    February 1, 2025 at 1:35 am | #

    Hope alt-caption is just ironic, because I’ll cry if Jocelyne Will only appears another one year after

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      February 1, 2025 at 3:32 am | #

      It says she’ll appear in the storyline starting tomorrow, I’m not clear on where you’re getting the year thing?

      • walnut duology
        walnut duology
        February 1, 2025 at 11:26 am | #

        I assume they took “tomorrow” in comic time, not real time. which very well could equal to a year. I read it the same way you did though

        • Bryy
          Bryy
          February 1, 2025 at 12:19 pm | #

          Yup. That wascally wabbit.

  31. Danae Jay, Local Gay
    Danae Jay, Local Gay
    February 1, 2025 at 1:36 am | #

    yeah we all believed that line about emotional changes at first jocelyne

    • Aura
      Aura
      February 1, 2025 at 4:26 am | #

      I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much… :/

  32. Just_IDD
    Just_IDD
    February 1, 2025 at 1:56 am | #

    Universally reported is not universally occurs

    Also male – female needs to push through that societal stigma about men showing feelings even though no longer Seeing themselves as male.

  33. BBCC
    BBCC
    February 1, 2025 at 2:28 am | #

    Not universal does not mean RARE, Joss.

    • BBCC
      BBCC
      February 1, 2025 at 2:28 am | #

      Oh, FUCK no. Not doing Blowjob Cat.

      • BBCC
        BBCC
        February 1, 2025 at 2:29 am | #

        GDI. Not doing Julia either.

  34. Pylgrim
    Pylgrim
    February 1, 2025 at 2:39 am | #

    Aww she didn’t lose her, after all. I guess it was a reasonable fear.

  35. a/snow/mous/e
    a/snow/mous/e
    February 1, 2025 at 2:40 am | #

    Accidentally fat-finger reporting several comments tonight oops 😐 (apologies for my inability to navigate on mobile phone)

    • Mel
      Mel
      February 1, 2025 at 3:54 am | #

      Yeah that happens to me so often I’m reluctant to reply. I wish they’d change the location of the report link

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        February 1, 2025 at 4:56 pm | #

        Accidentally reporting a comment isn’t a big deal! It take five reports, I believe, for a posted comment to go to moderation, and if it’s a regular comment, Willis will probably have it back up fairly quickly.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:27 am | #

      “Report” is _right next to_ the “Reply”. Yeesh.

  36. Arianod
    Arianod
    February 1, 2025 at 3:14 am | #

    They grow up so fast… TwT

  37. Icalasari
    Icalasari
    February 1, 2025 at 3:23 am | #

    I am so tired I thought she was Dorothy for a moment and was going, “…Is… Is Dorothy pregnant? What is going on? What? HOW DID WHAT!?”

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:27 am | #

      It was another time skip. They’re sophomores now. 😀

  38. alice
    alice
    February 1, 2025 at 4:09 am | #

    ok given everyone’s reactions i’m clearly supposed to know who the fuck jordan is. is this some sorta broader walkyverse lore? is this someone who’s been discussed onscreen but not shown and i’ve just forgotten?

    • alice
      alice
      February 1, 2025 at 4:19 am | #

      ok research complete. jordan is mystery estranged brother, got it. horrible task idea: go back and index all the comics by characters *mentioned* in addition to present

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        February 1, 2025 at 7:26 am | #

        You gotta re-read the entire series from September 10, 2010 (Behold! Hwaet! Lo!) to today. 5,100+ strips. Should take ya a few days.

      • HueSatLight
        HueSatLight
        February 1, 2025 at 1:31 pm | #

        Jordan mentions:
        undeclared
        squeezing
        laws
        trickortreating
        cablenews
        bonus strip for May 2019 (linked from seeyou)
        If I linked them all directly, the comment would get auto-moderated. Just add the strip name to the end of dumbingofage.com

        • HueSatLight
          HueSatLight
          February 1, 2025 at 1:36 pm | #

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/cablenews doesn’t mention Jordan directly, it’s in my list because it and trickortreating are together, and they create ambiguity over the birth order of Jocelyn/Jordan, but the other strips show Jocelyn is older.

  39. Kyulen
    Kyulen
    February 1, 2025 at 4:30 am | #

    First appearance of Jordan in DoA. Hopefully someday we’ll get to see him in more than just an old photo Jocelyne has on her phone.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:22 am | #

      Second photo. First was him, in a bonus strip, in full-masked Hallowe’en costume. No face.

      • Kyulen
        Kyulen
        February 1, 2025 at 7:44 am | #

        I never saw that bonus strip, so this is my first time seeing Jordan in DoA.

  40. Boomer Gonzales
    Boomer Gonzales
    February 1, 2025 at 4:56 am | #

    Oh no no no. Please let Jocelyne have her happy ever after.
    Joyce has been through so much already, she doesn’t need survivors guilt on top of that.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      February 1, 2025 at 5:03 am | #

      Where the heck did that come from?

      • Serendipity
        Serendipity
        February 1, 2025 at 8:41 am | #

        We transfolk are in hell IRL and with how the shifting timeline goes it’s unfortunately possible that she gets imprisoned/killed by the state by dint of being trans.

        • walnut duology
          walnut duology
          February 1, 2025 at 11:23 am | #

          she’s actually in luck on account of not being a real person. I’d even say it’s nigh impossible for her to be imprisoned by the state just from what I know about Willis as a writer.

          • Proxiehunter
            Proxiehunter
            February 1, 2025 at 1:49 pm | #

            I mean, she might be locked up overnight due to participating in the sit in but I’m pretty sure I have a better chance of winding up in a camp than one of the Dumbing of Age characters.

            Kind of a risk that comes with being a disabled labor union supporting anarchist/communist that speaks out against authoritarianism on social media while their country goes down the far right shitter.

            • Proxiehunter
              Proxiehunter
              February 1, 2025 at 1:52 pm | #

              And before anyone writes an angry reply, yeah there are people in this country and on this forum who have a higher chance than I do. That’s not my point. My point is that my personal chances are non-zero while I’m pretty sure that for the foreseeable future the chances of Willis writing one of these characters into a camp is close enough to zero to be indistinguishable.

              • Charles Phipps
                Charles Phipps
                February 1, 2025 at 2:05 pm | #

                *Jocelyn gets shoved into black van ala Becky*

                • Charles Phipps
                  Charles Phipps
                  February 1, 2025 at 2:07 pm | #

                  Oops.

                  Hit enter.

                  *Amazi-Girl, Becky, and others all rescue her*

                  *Robin becomes President and saves America*

                • Slartibeast Button, BIA
                  Slartibeast Button, BIA
                  February 1, 2025 at 4:43 pm | #

                  Via Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs?

  41. Veronica
    Veronica
    February 1, 2025 at 5:38 am | #

    I’ve been on hormones for like five years and I’ve never once experienced an emotion

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      February 1, 2025 at 7:21 am | #

      You forgot to opt-in on the cookies. (i recommend chocolate chip.)

  42. Amelie Wikström
    Amelie Wikström
    February 1, 2025 at 6:26 am | #

    I was on hormones for a bit under a year seven years ago and I have never stopped feeling. Also I got really sensitive to onion tear gas, that was weird

  43. thumb
    thumb
    February 1, 2025 at 6:31 am | #

    good alt-text too

  44. chuckroast
    chuckroast
    February 1, 2025 at 6:57 am | #

    Is that a bunch of missed calls or rejected calls? Or nothing, I don’t know.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      February 2, 2025 at 4:33 am | #

      family, ugh

  45. peat_moss
    peat_moss
    February 1, 2025 at 7:15 am | #

    Lol, I don’t know what she’s been reading, but we’re all weepy bongoes from what I’ve heard

  46. Zamperla
    Zamperla
    February 1, 2025 at 7:34 am | #

    if it helps I swear this ALSO happens with testosterone. Everyone worries about it making you a rage monster. It does not, that stuffs BS and tied up in Wierd Ideas about hormones. But hand to god it made me cry a lil easier.

    • Da Boy
      Da Boy
      February 1, 2025 at 7:51 am | #

      The funny thing about testosterone is that it’s both low and very high levels of it that cause anger issues in men, normal levels keep you chill. And the high levels are primarily about people who take steroids and other drugs to be beefier.

      • Zamperla
        Zamperla
        February 1, 2025 at 10:25 am | #

        yeah pretty much. mixed in with it very much serving misogyny for men to be thought of as Inherently Violent.

  47. Serendipity
    Serendipity
    February 1, 2025 at 8:39 am | #

    The branch shadows make it look like she’s put down roots, found a source of stability.

    An accepting sibling can do just that.

  48. Serendipity
    Serendipity
    February 1, 2025 at 8:45 am | #

    Please don’t fridge her. Please. I need at least one trans person, even if she’s fictional, to have a good, long life. Please.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      February 2, 2025 at 4:32 am | #

      More than one. Three or four, because we already have Carla.

  49. Shakes
    Shakes
    February 1, 2025 at 10:52 am | #

    I know times are bad but I wouldn’t fear about Jocelyne being fridged or anything. DoAverse is not 1:1 with reality.
    Also Willis is no fool and knows which side the bread is buttered from years of Patreon strip votes.

    • Li
      Li
      February 1, 2025 at 12:18 pm | #

      Also Willis does not seem like they’d want to fridge Jocelyn? Or kill her off in any way? Or send her to a camp?

      Willis is nonbinary themself. And also like, a person with a heart. “Damn you Willis” is a fun meme and all but like every good writer, they’ve outgrown the urge to do things like kill characters off just for shock value.

      • Charles Phipps
        Charles Phipps
        February 1, 2025 at 6:51 pm | #

        Have they? Have they really?

        Like George R.R. Martin, they must destroy their lives to let them know they love them.

  50. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    February 1, 2025 at 12:20 pm | #

    So sweet. Jocelyne looks so happy, her little sister still loves her. This is amazing!

  51. Scolopendra
    Scolopendra
    February 1, 2025 at 1:14 pm | #

    Awwwwwwww Jocelyne ily <33333

  52. Proxiehunter
    Proxiehunter
    February 1, 2025 at 1:55 pm | #

    Have you checked to see if they were multiversally reported?

  53. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    February 1, 2025 at 2:09 pm | #

    Timeskip 2020: two and a half months
    Timeskip 2025: A few hours on a Thursday evening.

  54. King_Salty
    King_Salty
    February 1, 2025 at 3:22 pm | #

    Just spent the past week re-reading from the start, and coincidentally caught back up right in time for a new storyline, perfect timing.

  55. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    February 1, 2025 at 4:27 pm | #

    I don’t think this emotional fluctuation can be blamed on HRT

  56. S.R.
    S.R.
    February 1, 2025 at 7:23 pm | #

    Yeah, sorry, puberty’ll do that however many times you go through it.

  57. Thomas
    Thomas
    February 1, 2025 at 7:36 pm | #

    Jocelyne – being an intellectual – breaks out the big words to obscure that she’s getting emotional.

    I dunno, I don’t buy her getting all sesquipedalian instead of more directly emotional, but the idea that she tries to mask it in her own specific way somehow rings true.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      February 1, 2025 at 8:29 pm | #

      Well, she IS a writer.

      • StClair
        StClair
        February 1, 2025 at 10:47 pm | #

        We do that, can confirm.

  58. Deathstalker
    Deathstalker
    February 2, 2025 at 6:27 pm | #

    Love You Willis.

    Thank you.

    (Also, They are universally reported for this comic. Either this type or the DYW. 🙂 For at least the past 20 years.)

  59. Nevermaker
    Nevermaker
    February 9, 2025 at 7:20 pm | #

    This IS very sweet, but I don’t like all those missed call notifications Jocelyn has: I feel like her mom has found out about her and is NOT happy

    • Jess
      Jess
      February 21, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

      Joss and Joyce do seem to have ignoring phone calls in common, though…

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