Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 12, 2026

Liberals

by David M Willis on April 11, 2012 at 12:01 am
  • 03 - The First Step Towards Recovery
└ Tags: joyce, mike, walky

Discussion (179) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Sensedog
    Sensedog
    April 11, 2012 at 12:02 am | #

    And thus, Joyce learns to understand Mike.

    • Undrave
      Undrave
      April 11, 2012 at 12:57 am | #

      He’s NEVER on anyone’s side. Except your mom’s.

      • Insomniac
        Insomniac
        April 11, 2012 at 1:08 am | #

        Your mom’s INside.

        • Blob Marley
          Blob Marley
          April 11, 2012 at 2:25 am | #

          Nickel, penis, faaace, femurs, psl, THIS PLEASES GALASSO

          • Jackson
            Jackson
            April 11, 2012 at 7:07 am | #

            Babies McIntyre?

            • PrincessCarlos
              PrincessCarlos
              July 10, 2012 at 6:39 pm | #

              Babies McItyre.

          • Mally
            Mally
            July 22, 2015 at 4:57 pm | #

            (and subs)

      • wererat
        wererat
        April 11, 2012 at 5:40 am | #

        he’s on any side you don’t WANT him on, baby.

  2. Jen Aside
    Jen Aside
    April 11, 2012 at 12:02 am | #

    NO ONE KNOWS, Joyce.

    • Jacob
      Jacob
      April 11, 2012 at 12:42 am | #

      But everyone knows which side he’s on. He’s on the side that you don’t want him to be on.

  3. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    April 11, 2012 at 12:02 am | #

    Oh Joyce…NEVER assume Mike is on your side.

    • Björn
      Björn
      April 11, 2012 at 1:50 am | #

      …or that he does not have ninjas at his disposal! (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

      • Flushmaster
        Flushmaster
        April 15, 2012 at 4:05 am | #

        Mike doesn’t need ninjas. He can just throw dead people at his foes.

  4. Wonder Wig
    Wonder Wig
    April 11, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

    You’ll never know till the end Joyce. Mike is Snape.

    • Rikushadow5
      Rikushadow5
      April 11, 2012 at 12:12 am | #

      He killed Dumbledore?

      • Paul
        Paul
        April 11, 2012 at 12:15 am | #

        No, he’s played by Alan Rickman.

        • Kernanator
          Kernanator
          April 11, 2012 at 12:18 am | #

          You’re both wrong. He teaches Potions and hates Harry Potter.

          • Valdrax
            Valdrax
            April 11, 2012 at 12:23 am | #

            Not in a lot of the fics I’ve heard about…

            • Bickendan
              Bickendan
              April 11, 2012 at 12:45 am | #

              Your AV suggests you’ve read a few.

              • RandomWebcomicsJunkie
                RandomWebcomicsJunkie
                April 11, 2012 at 1:52 am | #

                So does yours, Bickendan.

                • Blob Marley
                  Blob Marley
                  April 11, 2012 at 2:26 am | #

                  Turnabout is fair play, sir!

          • Broggly
            Broggly
            April 12, 2012 at 5:09 am | #

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=R2z5BoOuDI0#t=27s
            Potter you fool!

        • Wonder Wig
          Wonder Wig
          April 11, 2012 at 12:34 am | #

          Imagine Rickman as Snape reading Mike’s lines from the last panel as he looms over his morning newspaper and begins to smile with prospect.

          • Nim
            Nim
            April 11, 2012 at 5:42 pm | #

            I had to scroll up and re-read Mike’s lines in Rickman’s voice.

            It made my day. I’ll be grinning like a maniac at work…

            • ChompMonsta
              ChompMonsta
              April 11, 2012 at 11:33 pm | #

              Haha YYEESS.

        • Historyman68
          Historyman68
          April 11, 2012 at 12:40 am | #

          Mike would TOTALLY be played by Alan Rickman.

          Or… who else? I feel like there has to be one actor a little closer to Mike’s age who would be perfect for him.

          • David
            David M Willis
            April 11, 2012 at 12:43 am | #

            Fifteen years ago, I woulda said Matt Damon.

            • Sensedog
              Sensedog
              April 11, 2012 at 12:49 am | #

              That would work. And possibly Mark Wahlberg, also minus about fifteen years.

              • iSaidCandleja-
                iSaidCandleja-
                April 11, 2012 at 2:11 am | #

                Mark Wahlber in The Big Hit seems almost perfect to me. Except that character couldn’t stand it when someone disliked him. But other than that, and a voice not quite deep enough, he is the Mike I imagine.

            • Historyman68
              Historyman68
              April 11, 2012 at 1:24 am | #

              Whoa. That’s actually kind of perfect.

            • Pagannerd
              Pagannerd
              April 11, 2012 at 9:55 am | #

              Mcauley Culkins’ brother. The one who played Wallace in the naff Scott Pilgrim adaptation. (Seriously, he was one of the few bright lights in that very dreary film.

              • Pagannerd
                Pagannerd
                April 11, 2012 at 9:56 am | #

                Arrgh I forgot to close the parentheses. I am filled with shame.

                • Shippy McShipper
                  Shippy McShipper
                  April 11, 2012 at 11:56 am | #

                  Here.)

              • shoeboxjeddy
                shoeboxjeddy
                April 11, 2012 at 11:31 am | #

                Scott Pilgrim described as “naff” and “dreary”? You’re on the list sir or madam. THE LIST

              • Historyman68
                Historyman68
                April 11, 2012 at 6:31 pm | #

                WHOA. He’s totally the other guy I was thinking of when I posted that. Though I also disagree that that movie was dreary, but I preferred the comic overall. I think.

              • Jen Aside
                Jen Aside
                April 11, 2012 at 11:56 pm | #

                Kieran Culkin?

            • ChompMonsta
              ChompMonsta
              April 11, 2012 at 10:42 am | #

              Oh, definitely! But seriously folks, more like Jamie and less like Casey. What an abomination.

  5. sockv
    sockv
    April 11, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    Mike is awesome.

    • GrateScott
      GrateScott
      April 11, 2012 at 12:39 am | #

      I’ve always thought so, in all his incarnations.

      • Druid
        Druid
        April 11, 2012 at 1:22 am | #

        Well he did kind of win the World of Willis. He’s the only character who survived and has been a significant character in every one of his most expansive and epic comics (It’s Walky, DoA, and Shortpacked). Only failing to make a real impact in Roomies and Joyce and Walky.

        • Historyman68
          Historyman68
          April 11, 2012 at 1:35 am | #

          I’d say kind of Robin, but she hasn’t had as big a part in DoA… yet.

          • Blob Marley
            Blob Marley
            April 11, 2012 at 2:27 am | #

            She’s had a big impact. It’s just been off-screen. I mean, come on. She’s a friggin CONGRESSWOMAN.

            • Aydr
              Aydr
              April 11, 2012 at 6:32 pm | #

              meh. She’s was congresswoman in Shortpacked! too. And in that one she also has superpowers and helped save the world.

              Also she managed to work at a toy store while in office and campaigning.

  6. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    April 11, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    Mike is on Mike’s side. And even then, only barely.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      April 11, 2012 at 12:07 am | #

      Mike only trusts Mike as far as he can throw him. And let’s be honest, Mike isn’t very trustworthy

      • Kelly
        Kelly
        April 11, 2012 at 1:22 am | #

        And he isn’t super-powered in this one.

        • Fred
          Fred
          April 11, 2012 at 9:45 am | #

          Yet.

          • Aydr
            Aydr
            April 11, 2012 at 6:39 pm | #

            Or is he?

  7. Tifanimi
    Tifanimi
    April 11, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    Oh god…I’m kind of thinking they should date now or at least hang out more…he might be good for her.

    Oh god.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      April 11, 2012 at 12:31 am | #

      In the same way burning your hand on the stove is a good way to learn to avoid fire.

      • George
        George
        April 11, 2012 at 1:45 am | #

        Except Mike is more like sticking that hand into the sun and setting off a nuke. If he realizes he’s doing something good for someone, he’ll just do the opposite of that. For example, if he were to convoke Joyce to aspire to being more than a housewife and accept that women are supposed to be an equal part of society now, he’d have to either crush those dreams so thoroughly that she ended up back where she started plus a few mental scars in order to still be Mike. Unless, of course, she shows an Amber-like jerk tolerance, in which case he will fall in love and oh god that is horrifying why did I type that.

        • Shippy McShipper
          Shippy McShipper
          April 11, 2012 at 11:59 am | #

          I just want to point out that, if you already stuck your hand into the sun, a nuke or a few thousand are not going to matter at all.
          It’s kinda like walking into the sea and bringing a glass of water.
          Only more so.

        • Merlanthe
          Merlanthe
          October 5, 2012 at 8:10 pm | #

          Am pretty sure Joyce already displayed an ‘Amber-like jerk tolerance’ throughout Its Walky. In which case that would mean that throughout Shortpacked Amber has been displaying a Joyce-like jerk tolerance…now im confused :S

    • TsunamiJane
      TsunamiJane
      April 11, 2012 at 8:02 am | #

      This strip totally made me ship them. You’re not alone. It’s the way they’re making eye contact.

      • Merlanthe
        Merlanthe
        October 5, 2012 at 8:07 pm | #

        I had already started quietly shipping them before this. Ever since Mike showed up as Joyces chaperone in fact.

        He has yet to exert as much if any effort on making her existence miserable or crushing her hopes and dreams the way he does with everyone else. Also his expression seems less frowny on the few occasions that he is looking at Joyce.

        Plus he may just be tagging along to gender studies to inflict misery upon Walky and Dorothy but he is also hanging out with Joyce quite amicably for Mike. Same thing kinda goes with the church later on.

  8. Mkvenner
    Mkvenner
    April 11, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    Well it’s not getting through the others ways.

  9. Tom
    Tom
    April 11, 2012 at 12:06 am | #

    Mike doesn’t take sides. He just stands back to watch the world burn.

    • Sensedog
      Sensedog
      April 11, 2012 at 12:24 am | #

      This makes sense. He doesn’t care for politics, it seems, but rather he appears to be more of an agent of chaos.

      • Henry
        Henry
        April 11, 2012 at 1:07 am | #

        Holy shit, Mike is the Joker.

        • Kernanator
          Kernanator
          April 11, 2012 at 1:15 am | #

          That makes far more sense than it should.

          • Historyman68
            Historyman68
            April 11, 2012 at 1:46 am | #

            Nah, the Joker smiles. Mike just scowls. Though his occasional smiles are scary as fuck.

          • George
            George
            April 11, 2012 at 1:46 am | #

            He’s too serious to be the Joker. There, now it only makes sense about halfway again.

            • Justin
              Justin
              April 11, 2012 at 2:03 am | #

              Mike is the love child of the Joker and Batman. He’s got Bats’ permanent case of the scowls, Joker’s outlook on life.

              • Blob Marley
                Blob Marley
                April 11, 2012 at 2:29 am | #

                New fan theory: Batman/Joker are actually the same person, and he/they has/have a Tyler Durden thing going on.

                Best theory, or most bestest theory?

                • CWR
                  CWR
                  April 11, 2012 at 2:51 am | #

                  You just wrote Batman slash Joker…wait, rule 34.

                  Do not want.

                • TsunamiJane
                  TsunamiJane
                  April 11, 2012 at 8:05 am | #

                  I like!

                • Telos
                  Telos
                  April 11, 2012 at 10:40 am | #

                  Alternate Theory: Mike is the Joker’s Tyler Durden.

                • Broggly
                  Broggly
                  April 12, 2012 at 5:19 am | #

                  Alfred is the Joker. This is canon.

                • Historyman68
                  Historyman68
                  April 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm | #

                  According to Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, it totally is!

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          April 11, 2012 at 2:13 am | #

          Mike is more like Batman but without the Bruce Wayne persona.

        • twobeef
          twobeef
          April 11, 2012 at 9:33 am | #

          And that’s the archenemy villain for Amazigirl right there.

    • Pat
      Pat
      April 11, 2012 at 2:17 pm | #

      Mike stands back?
      He’s an agent of chaos. He doesn’t watch, he creates.

  10. taekwondogirl
    taekwondogirl
    April 11, 2012 at 12:07 am | #

    Mike is great. I really like the slightly toned down assholeishness we see here in DoA.

  11. Darth Shadow
    Darth Shadow
    April 11, 2012 at 12:07 am | #

    Mike is his own side.

    • Kernanator
      Kernanator
      April 11, 2012 at 12:20 am | #

      He’s his own sovereign nation as well.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        April 11, 2012 at 2:16 am | #

        Like Vatican City? Well he does almost as evil as the Pope I guess. 😀

      • Joebo
        Joebo
        April 11, 2012 at 3:14 pm | #

        and his own unit of measure.

  12. Aydr
    Aydr
    April 11, 2012 at 12:08 am | #

    DoA Mike is the best misanthrope ever.

    • lightsabermario
      lightsabermario
      April 11, 2012 at 11:41 am | #

      Mike is the Gurg.

  13. Nexev
    Nexev
    April 11, 2012 at 12:11 am | #

    Mike is on whatever side you aren’t.

    Even if he is between two people arguing opposite viewpoints he is still against both of them.

    • Kensou
      Kensou
      April 11, 2012 at 12:18 am | #

      Normally I’d agree, but this once… I wonder if Mike hasn’t found a way to be on and against her side simultaneously? By his standards, that rejoinder was pretty… nice.

      • Valdrax
        Valdrax
        April 11, 2012 at 9:00 am | #

        What I like most about DoA Mike is that he’s the moments Mike has with Amber (in SP) in which he’s nice without being nice ALL THE TIME.

      • Pat
        Pat
        April 11, 2012 at 2:18 pm | #

        He’s on her side, he just doesn’t agree with her.
        Like with Ethan.

        Of course, given how well that worked out, maybe he just finds these morons entertaining.

  14. Jar
    Jar
    April 11, 2012 at 12:11 am | #

    Yes Joyce. That is definitely what Gender Studies and in fact all of feminism is about. We don’t advocate for, like, women to have the choice to be a housewife or not or anything.
    I wish I didn’t know people who think like that in real life.

    • lord of dance
      lord of dance
      April 11, 2012 at 1:14 am | #

      that may be true, but on the other side i’ve personally met more than a few “feminist” types that do openly and loudly disparage the housewife

      • Shade
        Shade
        April 11, 2012 at 1:39 am | #

        I’m sure we can all agree though a few minority extremists of any group does not reflect the actual group.

        • George
          George
          April 11, 2012 at 1:46 am | #

          But can Joyce?

        • Doom shepherd
          Doom shepherd
          April 11, 2012 at 10:51 am | #

          Sadly, the loud annoying people with issues tend to get all the attention, and win by default. When the rational people remain quiet in the face of the crazies, they cannot help but be perceived as agreeing. “Qui tacet consentit”

    • Zababcd
      Zababcd
      April 11, 2012 at 6:19 am | #

      As I’m currently studying Feminist Theory in my own Gender Studies class, I feel qualified to say that the ‘housewife vs career-woman’/’self-determination vs political obligation’ conundrum is not a modern concern. That’s second-wave feminism. Gender Studies has moved well beyond that by now… The problem is that Gender Studies is now a more obscure subject, so those who don’t study it themselves just have a snapshot of an earlier state of the theory that has long since been abandoned. By most.

      • davidbreslin101
        davidbreslin101
        April 11, 2012 at 11:09 am | #

        There does seem to be this seriously messed-up, strawman parody of feminism floating about in our culture. It basically goes, “Feminism says women shouldn’t do traditional woman stuff ‘cos woman stuff is contemptible.”
        Conservatives use this idea to attack feminism, and liberals get themselves confused by it.
        It should be obvious that it’s fine to be a housewife or househusband, but somehow it’s not.

    • DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
      DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
      April 11, 2012 at 11:57 am | #

      The ironic thing is the women who think like that tend to be very prone to treating their husband and kids (primarily the kids) like their personal marionettes, through getting their own way via raw emotion, using their one-sided perspective, and those very gender double-standards, as a shield once the ring’s on their finger and children enter the family.

      Sound like a certain super-adorable freshman with huge cyan eyes when the subject of matrimony comes up?

      • Usayasha
        Usayasha
        April 11, 2012 at 7:57 pm | #

        Danny’s eyes aren’t anywhere NEAR blue!

  15. Tristan J
    Tristan J
    April 11, 2012 at 12:13 am | #

    You know, Joyce, you didn’t have to sign up for that class.

    … Wait, why did she sign up for that class?

    • Thor
      Thor
      April 11, 2012 at 12:20 am | #

      She probably thought it was for studies appropriate to your gender, i.e., all the girls would be studying home ec, and all the boys would study farting auto shop.

      • Historyman68
        Historyman68
        April 11, 2012 at 12:51 am | #

        I wish I’d taken farting auto shop.

        • Tristan J
          Tristan J
          April 11, 2012 at 1:03 am | #

          I can’t count the number of times I need to fart my car into working. It’s such a useful skill to have.

          • CWR
            CWR
            April 11, 2012 at 2:53 am | #

            Is it really a teachable skill, though? More of a talent, I’d think.

            • Usayasha
              Usayasha
              April 11, 2012 at 7:58 pm | #

              I’d say it’s an invention.
              In Japan.

    • LiC
      LiC
      April 11, 2012 at 6:48 am | #

      I was wondering that same question.

  16. Ragnal
    Ragnal
    April 11, 2012 at 12:13 am | #

    I can’t tell who’s serious, and who’s sarcastic.

    Also, how long has Butt-Taco been up there?

    • Kernanator
      Kernanator
      April 11, 2012 at 12:16 am | #

      It’s always been there. Watching you.

      • BelOggy
        BelOggy
        April 11, 2012 at 12:18 am | #

        Like the Moon?

        • fellixe
          fellixe
          April 11, 2012 at 12:38 am | #

          A full moon.

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            April 11, 2012 at 2:18 am | #

            “Like a pubic pizza-pie, that’s amore!”

            • Kernanator
              Kernanator
              April 11, 2012 at 11:11 pm | #

              pubic

              What the hell kind of songs have you been listening to?

    • lucan
      lucan
      April 11, 2012 at 12:20 am | #

      More than a week I assume

    • taekwondogirl
      taekwondogirl
      April 11, 2012 at 12:47 am | #

      I only now saw it. Egads.

    • Blob Marley
      Blob Marley
      April 11, 2012 at 2:31 am | #

      I didn’t notice Butt Taco til you said something.

    • TsunamiJane
      TsunamiJane
      April 11, 2012 at 8:06 am | #

      I noticed it a few weeks ago. Been hoping someone would say something. 🙂

      • Valdrax
        Valdrax
        April 11, 2012 at 9:02 am | #

        I’ve been pointedly ignoring it.
        Scatalogical humor just isn’t my thing.

  17. Joebo
    Joebo
    April 11, 2012 at 12:14 am | #

    Mike is on no one’s “side.” He merely is.

  18. Kernanator
    Kernanator
    April 11, 2012 at 12:15 am | #

    Oh Joyce. Mike is on whatever side will amuse him the most at any given moment.

  19. Daeva
    Daeva
    April 11, 2012 at 12:15 am | #

    Mike doesn’t take sides. He sits his ass on the fence and hocks the biggest possible loogies he can onto everything in your yard, shits on your lawn, and promptly convinces you the dog did it whether or not you actually have a dog.

    • Kernanator
      Kernanator
      April 11, 2012 at 12:17 am | #

      This is the best possible analogy.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      April 11, 2012 at 12:23 am | #

      It’s like you managed to embody mike in a sentence.

  20. BelOggy
    BelOggy
    April 11, 2012 at 12:16 am | #

    Bah! Mike Tells the truth in a way the listener can understand. . . . And if he’s usually a prick about it, well that seems to be the only way most people are able to learn. Through pain. And if they sometimes don’t understand untill too late, hey, they should have thought it over more carefully. I mean it’s Mike. And he does it for your own good. And his amusement.

    Mike is the oracle of DeeOhAy!

    • Pat
      Pat
      April 11, 2012 at 2:21 pm | #

      I’d agree, but he hasn’t been great at the “in a way the listener can understand” part recently.

  21. Icalasari
    Icalasari
    April 11, 2012 at 12:18 am | #

    …I wonder when Faz will appear in DoA?

    • Henry
      Henry
      April 11, 2012 at 12:40 am | #

      I’m still dreading that inevitability.

  22. Wack'd
    Wack'd
    April 11, 2012 at 12:20 am | #

    Mike may be a dick, but a lot of his less broadly misanthropic stuff usually helps people come around to some sort of internal understanding.

    I can’t wait until we find out he’s trying to become a therapist.

    • Wack'd
      Wack'd
      April 11, 2012 at 12:21 am | #

      Well, at least in the Walkyverse it does.

    • Thor
      Thor
      April 11, 2012 at 12:23 am | #

      I know. You get by reading his tweets, you get the feeling that he’s really all about caring and understanding.

      http://twitter.com/#!/Shortpacked/dumbingofage

    • Kernanator
      Kernanator
      April 11, 2012 at 12:23 am | #

      Mike would be the best therapist ever.
      “It seems to me that you believe that other people are at fault for not getting along with you, when the real problem is that you’re a dick.”

      “…”

      “Also, I fucked your mom.”

      • Wizard
        Wizard
        April 11, 2012 at 12:40 am | #

        Plus, he only charges a nickel for his services. Just like your mom.

    • Historyman68
      Historyman68
      April 11, 2012 at 1:55 am | #

      At first I read that as “Mike may be a duck,” and thought “it all makes sense now!”

  23. Joe
    Joe
    April 11, 2012 at 12:22 am | #

    Mike is on the Audience’s side.
    Think: Has he ever had sex with your mother for a nickel? No?
    Then he’s shown you more kindness than any cast member in any area of the walkyverse.

    • George
      George
      April 11, 2012 at 1:49 am | #

      That… makes way too much sense. He only does things that entertain us, he’s mean to everybody but us, and as a cross-universal constant force he’s probably aware of us so… wow, that actually works.

  24. Brendan
    Brendan
    April 11, 2012 at 12:22 am | #

    Oh, Joyce…

    NO.

  25. Uniqueantique
    Uniqueantique
    April 11, 2012 at 12:28 am | #

    As an old time liberal feminist, I do not ‘look down on women who chose to be housewifes’. Women should have the same rights as men in that regard. Some men chose career over marriage, so do some women. Big deal. I did crewel embrodery for a side hobby for awhile, and my favorite framed one states my opinion pretty well, “Women belong in the home, and they should go there directly after work”. As for Mike, I think Mike dosn’t mess around with people who are stable. Not sure that is best way to say what I mean. But Joyce is firmly grounded in what she believes in-religion, her world view of ‘get a husband’. Mike’ if he respects anything,MAY respect ‘groundedness’. Or not.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      April 11, 2012 at 12:30 am | #

      To be honest I’d rather be a stay-at-home dad so I can bond with mah kids and draw some comics. But i’m just a stupid kid.

    • Ridureyu
      Ridureyu
      April 11, 2012 at 12:36 am | #

      Thank you.

      My mom is an old-school feminist, and she chose to be a housewife. She’s just happy that she COULD choose to do so. And she is awesome.

    • Pat
      Pat
      April 11, 2012 at 2:24 pm | #

      Wait, you mean that Joyce is *wrong*?

  26. Tristan J
    Tristan J
    April 11, 2012 at 12:31 am | #

    You know, the backgrounds in this strip are really nice. I like panel 3 best.

    • Wilkie
      Wilkie
      April 11, 2012 at 12:40 am | #

      I was just about to say this! The details of the campus are gorgeous and impeccable.

    • Leorale
      Leorale
      April 11, 2012 at 12:49 pm | #

      Yeah! It adds so much to the world and the experience of reading. Opposite-of-Damn-You, Willis!

  27. Henry
    Henry
    April 11, 2012 at 12:41 am | #

    Mike is on nobody’s side but his own. And his own side demands that he be a tremendous asshole to everyone.

    Also, I fear I may have just had a vision of a feasible JoycexMike. And it is terrible.

  28. Ter
    Ter
    April 11, 2012 at 12:46 am | #

    That’s how Mike rolls, Joyce.

    And I’m sorry, but for a second there I thought it might be easy to ship them.

  29. Brasca1
    Brasca1
    April 11, 2012 at 12:50 am | #

    Friggin’? Crap? I hope Joyce isn’t turning into a potty mouth while she’s at school.

    • davidbreslin101
      davidbreslin101
      April 11, 2012 at 10:55 am | #

      It’s amazing how many people think the first of those is just a cutesy euphemism for the “F word”.

      • begbert2
        begbert2
        April 11, 2012 at 3:47 pm | #

        It’s amazing that you don’t. What’s your theory?

        • davidbreslin101
          davidbreslin101
          April 12, 2012 at 8:59 am | #

          At least ’round here (northern England), “frig” is the female equivalent of “wank.” I think it turns up in James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” too.

          • davidbreslin101
            davidbreslin101
            April 12, 2012 at 9:01 am | #

            …but, yeah. Note to self: “Avoid condescending tone.”

  30. NCP19
    NCP19
    April 11, 2012 at 12:52 am | #

    Really? Really? No one’s made the “Mike will be in your inside…for a nickel” or something of that nature? I admit I botched it, but really, I expected a dozen variations of Mike’s “side” IS being “inside your mother…for a nickel.” It’s like the group matured overnight and I’m left rehashing old memes…I…I need a minute here.

    • lawzlo
      lawzlo
      April 11, 2012 at 12:58 am | #

      Mike is on your mother’s side… for a nickel.

      Does that make you feel better?

      • NCP19
        NCP19
        April 12, 2012 at 1:07 am | #

        Yes, yes it does.

    • TsunamiJane
      TsunamiJane
      April 11, 2012 at 8:08 am | #

      Some of it happened above.

      • NCP19
        NCP19
        April 12, 2012 at 1:08 am | #

        It hadn’t when I posted. I’m really glad that it did eventually happen. I was worried.

  31. waldosan
    waldosan
    April 11, 2012 at 12:59 am | #

    mike isn’t even on his own side, he’ll do anything good or bad as long as it allows him to punch somebody in the face.

  32. iSaidCandleja-
    iSaidCandleja-
    April 11, 2012 at 2:23 am | #

    Something tells me only Schrodinger knows which side Mike is on.

  33. Plasma Mongoose
    Plasma Mongoose
    April 11, 2012 at 2:27 am | #

    Yes Joyce, we cannot have too many women choose the fulltime housewife route, if that happens, many businesses will be forced to hire just about anyone willing to work for them instead of having over three dozen applicant for every position to choose from.

    It will be end of civilization as we know it. 😛

  34. NF
    NF
    April 11, 2012 at 3:12 am | #

    I so want to see Joyce have a radical feminist phase. It would be hilariously out of character.

    • Jackson
      Jackson
      April 11, 2012 at 7:11 am | #

      DoA!Anti-Joyce.

  35. Aesir
    Aesir
    April 11, 2012 at 4:36 am | #

    I call it now, Joyce will get with Mike in this universe

    • Maycroft
      Maycroft
      April 11, 2012 at 8:26 am | #

      I second that pairing.

  36. Zababcd
    Zababcd
    April 11, 2012 at 6:28 am | #

    Re panel 2:
    I care about Gender Studies. Actually, it seems to me that everyone taking Gender Studies cares about Gender Studies. Although to be fair, the people I encounter who are taking Gender Studies are pre-filtered according to who actually shows up at lectures/tutorials.

  37. Zorpheus
    Zorpheus
    April 11, 2012 at 7:37 am | #

    Mike was on your mom’s side. All night long. For a nickel.

  38. Cathy Garrett
    Cathy Garrett
    April 11, 2012 at 8:21 am | #

    The last time I was at the Showalter Fountain…

    It didn’t sit inside a circle. It sat inside a square that was used as a roundabout in front of the theatre. (That actually makes sense if you don’t think about it too hard. It was also paved with decrepit, crumbling asphalt.

    • drs
      drs
      April 11, 2012 at 4:46 pm | #

      You might check Google Images…

  39. mechaqua
    mechaqua
    April 11, 2012 at 8:47 am | #

    Mike’s is on nobodys’ side, beacuse nobody is on his side.

  40. Maus
    Maus
    April 11, 2012 at 9:42 am | #

    I’m a gender studies major T_T

  41. drs
    drs
    April 11, 2012 at 11:33 am | #

    As someone who went to IU OH GOD IT’S THAT FRIGGING CLOCK. Those red clocks — there’s multiple — were put up like 5 years ago or something, a ‘gift’ from a senior class maybe? Thing is, when they chime, the sound is annoying, goes on for like 2-3 minutes, and DOES NOT TELL YOU THE TIME. I stopped hanging around the arboretum because of them. I never did write a letter complaining about them, but I hate them.

  42. HiEv
    HiEv
    April 11, 2012 at 1:49 pm | #

    I always shake my head when conservatives try to slander/libel someone by calling them a liberal. Seriously guys, read a dictionary.

    Being liberal is all about progress and reform. It’s about protecting personal freedoms and civil liberties. It’s about being open minded, tolerant, and free of bigotry. How can anyone be against those things?

    • Ray
      Ray
      April 11, 2012 at 3:11 pm | #

      Whether or not the conservative/liberal labels are truly descriptive or not is a matter of much debate and semantics. However a non-zero amount of modern-day leftists or whatever you prefer to call them do not live up to the open mindedness, tolerance, and bigotry-free standards that you apparently automatically assign to them. A non-zero amount of right-wingers also do not live up to these things. Mostly they are the fringe element, the greatest mistake is to paint a large group with a broad brush and assume they all conform to the views of the fringe.

      • HiEv
        HiEv
        April 12, 2012 at 9:16 pm | #

        I’m sorry, but where exactly did I do anything to indicate that I automatically assign them those traits? In fact, I do not. I was only talking about the meaning of a word, and how something that is such a positive thing is treated as though it is a bad thing by some people.

        Is everyone who is called a liberal really a liberal? No. Of course not. And I wasn’t making that claim. Saying I was is just a straw man. Heck I’d go so far as to say that many, if not most, conservatives are actually liberals, whether they realize it or not.

        My point is, that some get so caught up in the rhetoric that the actual meaning of words they’re using is ignored when trying to insult the other party, and I think it’s absurd that most people just accept this.

        I just hope that people begin responding to accusations of being a “liberal” with, “You’re damn right I care about progress, reform, personal freedom, and civil liberties! Don’t you?!?“

  43. ProfessorZoot
    ProfessorZoot
    April 11, 2012 at 2:41 pm | #

    This is my ship, my beautiful beautiful ship. Nothing could ever sail more majestically that the Miyce!

  44. Ray
    Ray
    April 11, 2012 at 2:54 pm | #

    Bravo, Willis, for touching on the issue in a way that avoids angering either side and/or angers both sides equally.

    Honestly though, I support both women who want to be housewives AND women who want equality in the workplace. There’s really no reason to be against either thing nor does either thing negate the other.

  45. Random Guy
    Random Guy
    April 11, 2012 at 4:07 pm | #

    Mike is on his own side, and if you cross the imaginary line he bites your head off.

  46. Kryss LaBryn
    Kryss LaBryn
    April 11, 2012 at 6:59 pm | #

    Is– is it just me, or do the paving stones in the first panel kiiind of look like Optimus? Upside down? (Walky’s standing on his chest). I’d say it was just me, but it’s Willis-art… >.>

  47. Blur
    Blur
    April 11, 2012 at 7:27 pm | #

    It’s just a title. Does Republican and Democrat mean what they originally meant?

    • Kernanator
      Kernanator
      April 11, 2012 at 7:52 pm | #

      Not really, no.

    • Broggly
      Broggly
      April 12, 2012 at 5:21 am | #

      No. Republicans are still radical feminists who hate alcohol, and Democrats are still pro-slavery and pro-silver.

    • Asuka L.S.
      Asuka L.S.
      April 12, 2012 at 9:56 am | #

      The Democrats were traditionally a party for the impoverished and people seeking diminished federal influence in states’ affairs. The Republicans, meanwhile, were mostly the business party. Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the composition of both parties (and thus their approaches) have dramatically shifted. Where once the Democrats held an incredibly tight grip over white southern males, that power is now held by the Republican Party. And the northeast, which used to be a Republican bastion, has been a Democratic mainstay for a very long time now.

      Nixon’s campaign team developed something called the “Southern Strategy”, a plan to try to secure the southeastern USA for the Republicans as one solid block. This involved focusing on “states’ rights” as an issue, and thus was born the Republican soundbite “let the states decide”. This strategy still lives on today, and it works very, very well in the southeast. It doesn’t work every time, but it works a LOT of the time.

  48. Hitoshi
    Hitoshi
    April 11, 2012 at 8:24 pm | #

    Ah Mike, you do care!

  49. wynne
    wynne
    April 12, 2012 at 2:04 pm | #

    “The Venn Diagram of guys who don’t like smart women and guys you don’t want to date is a circle.” – John Green

  50. Hinoron
    Hinoron
    December 12, 2012 at 12:37 am | #

    I think it’s more like
    The last centuries civil rights advances,
    and the last couple decades’ civil rights revokement.

  51. Treb Meister
    Treb Meister
    July 22, 2013 at 7:12 pm | #

    WALKY’S SWEATER HANGS DOWN LIKE A MASSIVE DICK!!

  52. newllend
    newllend
    August 14, 2013 at 7:34 pm | #

    He’s on nobodies side, ok rite now is the perfect time mike blow her mind, tell her about you gay fried ,no no tell her about walky, no wait tell her about both

  53. ProjectXa3
    ProjectXa3
    October 2, 2013 at 11:45 am | #

    Hey, that’s a familiar location!

  54. acoraz
    acoraz
    May 6, 2015 at 4:07 pm | #

    Mike is on nobody’s side, because nobody is on Mike’s side.

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