Fun fact: Due to this comic’s composition, if you unfocus your eyes just right, you can merge panels 2 and 3 with panels 4 and 5 and get both skeptical Asma and come hither Joyce and Dorothy in 3d.
Like, cartoon 3d where they’re still flat but separated from their backgrounds. It’s a neat visual effect if one can pull it off.
“Stereogram”, back in the 90s there was a company selling posters like that. You can even do it with dual copies of monospaced text that hides a word or sentence in it from shifting with extra spaces. Neat stuff!
To be fair, Joyce’s post-nut realization was actually spot on. However, she’s still willing to outsource her critical thinking to Dorothy, who has her own baggage.
I do think there’s a useful way for them to discuss these issues with Asma. I absolutely am convinced that they have no idea what that is. (And it absolutely starts with a sotto voce, “So, is it okay to talk about the protest with you, and if so, do it here? We have questions, but we don’t want to impinge on you.”)
This strip in particular definitely does not help with my dislike of these two. Honestly the entire desire to “apologize to Asma” in and of itself feels kinda racist?
Like sure, Asma told them to go away and she had to risk herself to save their dumb asses. But Jocelyne also told them to leave. Robin and Leslie told them it’s unsafe. Amazi-girl fought off cops to protect them. And not ONCE did they say “oh we should apologize to those people for putting them in increased danger” Amber is currently nursing a bullet wound she got after fighting off the cops that were attacking them and Dorothy kinda just left her to it.
They only want to apologize to Asma specifically cuz she’s Muslim and they think the only thing they’re guilty of is Cultural Insensitivity. (Which don’t get it twisted. They ARE guilty of). As Joyce pointed out last strip it just feels so disingenuous. Less of a “we’ve reflected on our actions” and more of a “we want to make ourselves feel better”
Which I will try to avoid the metatextual implications of that conclusion.
Willis over the past several weeks seems to be flipping wildly between “YOUR HATE WILL FUEL JOYCE X DOROTHY FOR ANOTHER THOUSAND YEARS” and “Nooooo you can’t criticize how I implement this storyline because Jocelyne said it was cool, all the readers love Jocelyne!!!”
Sincere efforts to course-correct a story can still suck and still merit criticism.
By asking where you’re getting the impression that Willis is yelling at people to shut up and not criticize their stories, I am definitely not in any way telling you not to criticize their stories.
@Fail: I guess I don’t see that second thing as being an understandable type of sniping at your comment section, as well as really going against what I’ve personally seen Willis say, so I wanted to know if you had a source for multiple reasons.
I doubt you’ll see this cuz it’s been a couple days, but I felt like this merited a response. I was conveying my amusement at the binary avenues we’ve been given in polls and the sickos vs paladins debate to talk about our feelings regarding Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship. That’s not entirely on Willis, but I think they betray some degree of annoyance at how much discourse this has all generated, especially when you zoom out and remember “this is about a bunch of college freshmen.” I’ve been reading Willis since the Shortpacked days and I can tell you straight up this wouldn’t be the first time they sniped at the comments section over story choices. However, I don’t think any of it is malicious. If you can’t fuck around with your readers a little bit, what’s even the point of writing a story?
I’m sick of this conversation with Asma already — I can’t think of a single version of subsequent strips that won’t be painful to read.
As I said yesterday — the choice to have them kiss at a protest has already happened, and I didn’t like it at the time, but at least it’s DONE. I’d rather move on to other things than keep wallowing in it or having Dorothy & Joyce apologize for it.
Would feel a lot better about this if we just got to see more Asma organically, or maybe if they hadn’t sought her out for this. Asma getting a chance to voice her opinions isn’t the worst idea, but I intensely dislike this “seek her out and apologize” approach.
Right. The idea of “we need to get to see more Asma” is something I’d like to be divorced from “Genocide protest”. It’d be like if Sarah was a non-entity until a BLM protest or something. It’s also sorta why I dreaded Jocelyne coming back into the story. I didn’t want her presence to merely be a reason to stir up drama around her being trans rather than just exploring her as a person. Not saying those elements can’t BE part of their characters but it feels so limiting when characters exist only in reference to them being a minority.
The best way I can put it. I remember noticing long ago when watching adult cartoons that if they’re talking about someone white they’ll usually say “a guy” but if they mean someone black they’ll usually say “a black guy”. And I always hated that there was always a qualifier as if black guys aren’t also just “a guy”.
Yeah like a TV show with an all white cast is widely perceived as not being about race at all. But a show with an all black cast? Not so much.
its very usual for white people to not see themselves in terms of race, because it just so happens to be the race our society treats as the norm, the one whose customs/culture all others are expected to adopt as their “normal”
Love crazy ex girlfriend for that. The friend group has two joshes, one Filipino and one white. So they were Josh and White Josh. White Josh is also gay and someone suggested he be called Gay Josh instead, which he said was weird bc no one does that with anyone else.
The pacing of the comic feels especially bad today. Like the whole “its a daily comic! Maybe something will happen by the spring” is extra frustrating when 2/3 of the strip is just characters standing there.
I also don’t get, within the narrative, WHAT they were going for?? Like, they get her attention and then just smile at her, and when she appears confused, they just continue to smile. ??????
It’s a perfectly well-paced gag, but the issue is that we’ve gotten so much fluff of these two being cute lately that this kind of joke is much less tolerable.
Less hate than usual:
Alright, now if we can maintain this energy we might start actually having a good comic strip again instead of the Joyce and Dotty are Boring Show.
I have subscribed to Slipshine many times in my life, and I will do so again, I don’t need help finding the porn when I want porn as opposed to a good slice-of-life dram-edy.
Joe and Walky, other side of the lobby, to DoJo: “Hey, we saw you from across the lobby, and… just wanted you to know our vibe is immeasurably superior to yours. Do better.”
You can substitute basically any non-antagonist couple or unrelated pair of characters in here and it works, too.
like, metaphorically speaking, she isn’t going to stop this building from burning down, but if her snark is funny enough, it’s the equivalent of saving a really cool lamp from the fire, or something
“And they have biffed it in seconds! They should’ve just give[n] her two chocolate bars, thanked her for staffing the reception desk and been done with it.”
How hard can it be? Do you talk in the monotone you write in?
Oooo this is so much weird outrage and judgement for something as simple as a person refusing to “fix” the way they communicate to make it easier for you to interpret. It’s actually fine for people totypeinwhateverwaytheylike,regardles,of,how,hard,it,iz2reed.
How hard can it be to just mind your business instead of making a jab someone doing literally no harm?
I use a phone when typing in the comments. It’s a small text window its hard to see what I typed sometimes. I also have ADHD and dyslexia which makes writing difficult.
To add on there is no edit button for comments. In the past i havr apolgized for poor grammar and syntax the one time I don’t someone takes offense.
I don’t get why some people are being so anal about grammar and punctuation. If I could edit my comments I would, but I don’t have that option.
There is no need to be outraged over punctuation. If poor grammar and punctuation offends your sensibilities, you shouldn’t read comments.
Also: if anyone feels differently about criticizing Ursula’s typing now?
Something to remember for the future: you’re never going to know if the thing you’re about to make fun of is a disability or not, so maybe just don’t make fun of people for things that are so harmless.
As a fellow dyslexic, it’s really fucking hard to parse what I’m reading if there aren’t any inserted pauses. Which is why I abuse the shit outta commas. That’s why people are anal about punctuation. No one got outraged here but you, friend. Like I’m not gonna get on your ass about using punctuation but also don’t get mad if people express that they struggle to read without punctuation
I would bet that “Huh? [rewrites Ursula’s post without invitation] How hard can it be? Do you talk in the monotone you write in?” was not a polite request for more punctuation to improve readability.
@Zee I cannot edit comments, and I would really like to have that option. I am sorry if it is hard for you to read. I get it. But the people who got upset over grammar did not seem to be acting in good faith to help. It came across as rude over something very minor in a comment section.
I have also noticed that the text box does not correct grammar. I even went to a grammar AI to improve readability. (Grammarly free version if you’re wondering )
It also takes away from my point of Asma getting a well-deserved Chocolate bar, or other type of sweet confectionery, or tart treat, depending on her preferences.
“how hard” like they ever expressed difficulties
Like it’s a matter of something being too hard
Rather than just not something that happened
“It’s right there” yeah and it’s a mind control device
Punctuation enforcement is a method of oppression
State approved typography, grammar, it’s all designed to kill us
Slowly
The point isn’t whether it’s hard or not. The point is that it’s none of your fucking business if they use punctuation or not. Literally WHATEVER the reason they’re not using punctuation? Not anyone’s place to pressure or shame them for how they write.
Hey so appropros of nothing I was rereading the about/before you post link in the top bar. It mentions there was a depiction of a suicide attempt as a TW for the comic, but I’m actually blanking as to who that could have been. We’ve had boat loads of self harm where death was an acceptable outcome from Ruth, Billie, amazi girl. Ethan ig? But none of those were explicitly attempts, were they?
We had Becky’s mom, but I don’t think that would be described necessarily as an ‘attempt’ when listing out TWs. (Technically yeah yeah). Has there been an actual attempt depicted? If so, who am I forgetting? Oh, I guess there was Blaine’s “suicide”. Was that who the TW referred to?
Alternatively, it’s there ahead of time and all that foreshadowing from earlier might be paying off in the worst way soon.
I think Ruth was implicitly self harm? Like she was drinking with the expectation of it harming herself? I guess maybe it is referring to Becky’s mom in that it’s subtle enough it doesn’t really show the self harm itself? Or maybe it just refers to lines characters say that could trigger those feelings. Seems like a better safe than sorry kinda TW.
Ruth’s and possibly Jennifer’s (Billie’s) suicide attempt was implied rather than explicitly spelled out. But it was talked around. For example, Becky was upset with herself for not recognizing the symptoms with Jennifer. Ruth wasn’t allowed shoes with laces in the clinic afterwards. She told Dr. Beverly she was doing a bad job of selling being alive. Carla tells Billie that Ruth doesn’t need to be playing house with her and a death wish, and when Jennifer points out all the stuff that Ruth stands to lose, Carla points out, “Yeah, and she lives.” When Jennifer tells Walky to let Becky know she can use her bed, she then has to reasure Walky that she’s just spending the night in Ruth’s room and not anything else. Becky tells Jennifer that if I keep staring at you forever, you will never die. Dina sneaks into the clinic and relays the message, “Do not die,” and Ruth responds with “pass.”
Now no-one ever explicitly says it was a suicide attempt, but Rachel says Ruth is suicidal and Walky says that Billie was also kinda suicidal, perhaps, likely-ish. Grace told Sarah they were found both sprawled out on Ruth’s bed waiting to die. So it was a suicide attempt. And in fact it was well established in conversation that they had a lesbian suicide pact.
I hope it’s a reference to Ruth’s drinking so much that Billie pulled the fire alarm and made Ruth force herself to vomit. That was bad enough, so I hope it’s that and nothing more.
I’ve wondered when it comes to Becky’s mom, because part of Joyce thinking Becky’s mom died from cancer was remembering visiting her in the hospital ( https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/indebted/ ) , so it could be a suicide attempt, she didn’t die in THAT instance where Becky found her (probably because Becky found her), she was taken to the hospital but died due to complications after her attempt. That’s just my theory on it though I could be wrong.
Ugh, these two again. Can we go check in on the pizza guy? I’d honestly love to see what he’s up to rather than whatever nonsense these two trainwrecks are up to.
These to need to work their contrition face a bit more.
Mind you I am not entirely sure what they should apologise for exactly, as they are not the one who chose to put themselves on the front page and I sincerely doubt they are the only couple that formed during that protest.
I’ll agree it was definitely not the aim nor purpose of this protest, but I don’t see how it would be antithetical to it either.
So the last time Asma saw Joyce and Dorothy was at the protest, and the last time anyone talked with her about these two was also related to the protest. Yet she thinks they came by to proposition her for a threesome, and not talk with her about the protest? What.
I think it’s because the last time she saw them they were sucking face hard, now these two women who never talk to her have approached her, leaning on each other and grinning ear to ear. I wouldn’t read them smiling like that as “we need to talk about the protest”, I too would be like “why the fuck are you smiling at me like that”.
Asma’s comment may be disingenuous. She may have said that because she knows Joyce and Dorothy (Jorothy?) are about to hit her with an annoying pandering apology with unintended racist subtext and she wants to establish tone and put them off-balance from the beginning.
God, I’m reminded of a “Recess” episode where main character TJ finds out there’s a kid in his school who doesn’t like him. TJ becomes obsessed with impressing the boy, including taking him on a harrowing adventure which the kid admits was pretty cool, but at the end the kid still doesn’t like TJ. TJ learns that some people just can’t be swayed and the best way to deal with them is to just avoid them. The difference between Asma and the boy in “Recess” is that the boy really had no reason for not liking TJ, he just didn’t like the vibe he was giving off, where as Asma has a WHOLE LITANY of reasons for not liking Dorothy and Joyce, and nothing Dorothy can do can fix it…
“Okay, we’ve basically alienated all of our friends thanks to our front page kiss. Who are we missing?”
“How about that one girl we upstaged who was kind of leading the protest?”
“Cool! Extra collateral damage! Let’s goooo!”
I normally really like these two kids. They make terrible decisions together. Normally, I can at least understand those terrible decisions, but here I’m struggling to imagine what they think they’re apologizing to Asma *for*. Yes, their presence at the protest was a problem, but not the sort of problem you go apologize to the nearest Muslim woman for. And unless Joyce thinks Asma is literally Jesus, there isn’t anything Asma can offer them forgiveness for. The only outcome Joyce Andhra Dorothy can be hoping for really is for Asma to do the emotional labor of assuaging their guilt. And that’s totally on brand for JoyDot, but it doesn’t work as well when Joyce just admitted minutes ago that she does, in fact, know that already.
I think Gotthammer above has the right of it. Doylist critique can’t always be met with a Watsonian response.
Ruth/Jason are my favorite terrible couple ever. I really want them to inexplicably manage to be end game. I want these idiots to end up married with the exact same level of affection and enthusiasm they show in their current relationship. I want it to be an accident and I want them to not realize it at first but then be too apathetic to the situation to actually get an annulment.
Mind you, I don’t want to see them more. Once or twice a year is perfect.
Btw been meaning to say, and esp since episode 3 drops today (I haven’t seen it no spoilers!!!!!), you have good taste in video game characters. You are cool and based.
Between Invisigal starting a joke, realizing she doesn’t have a punchline, pausing a bit to workshop it before saying the completed joke again, for no one’s benefit but her own. And blonde blazers…everything dear Lord that woman is so fucking autistic. Dispatch has the BEST Female nd rep I’ve ever seen. They just like me fr 😔
Hey, Melissa update (meant to post this morning but I wanted to go get a better idea for damages first and got distracted)
As expected the western side of the island has seen massive destruction, particularly At. Elizabeth. Houses were flooded to the rooftops in some areas, windows smashed by the wind, people have likely lost their roofs. It’s gonna be a little bit till I can find out the full extent of the damage but I can confidently say it’s bad. Lotta people are without power or water.
As for me and my family, as expected we’re fine. No damage to our house, just a loose solar panel, knocked over banana trees and other plants, and a lot of plant debris in our yard. Public electricity went out around 3am Tuesday morning but we have enough stored solar energy to last until it can get fixed, especially since we saw some sun today. It’ll be trickier if water goes out, since we do have our own tanks but running the pump for them takes a lot of power.
Thank you for your well wishes yesterday, it really warmed my heart seeing your compassion. I think we got the most intense direct hit since it weakened by the time it hit Cuba, but we’re not the only ones affected. At least four dead in Haiti and DomRep, Haiti in particular doesn’t have the same infrastructure as us and are going through other instability. And if course Cuba which was just hit today, and the Bahamas are in the projected path. Luckily it’s down to a category 2 now and seems to be moving faster. So alongside aid for Jamaica I’d really appreciate it if you all looked out for any aid to our neighbors as well.
philip defranco has better info than me
my mom actually contributed the pipe organ restoration for the church that was shown. we have a video of someone she knows playing it, it was beautiful. i love old red brick buildings like that. its basically in ruins now
In my mind, the Philip DeFranco Show is something from ten years ago (like, when its time ended), so it was kind of wild to learn that it’s still going.
Beyond that, glad your family is managing okay. Those in the country who my family knows made it through safely, though we don’t know about damages to their homes/businesses yet.
As someone who has done this exact dumb thing before and humiliated myself in the process: I think I may need to skip the next couple of strips to escape the secondhand embarrassment
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AWE GAWD IM DEAD 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well, now that you mention it …
The fact that that’s the FIRST place your mind went when you saw the two of them smiling at you.
Knowing even half the shenanigans that their floor gets up to, yeah, it’s not totally wrong.
Is this that alleged zillenial gaze/silence thing? Staring and not speaking despite it being their cue?
FACEPALM
misread the signlas but them signals are admittedly hard to shit to read lol
“Come back when one of you is Alice. Or, if you can somehow manage it, both.”
re: alt-text
“at least take me out to coffee first like WTF XD”
oh my god, they were roommates! ~<3
What?
oh no
Aaw I was gonna make the joke but hover text beat me to it
Fun fact: Due to this comic’s composition, if you unfocus your eyes just right, you can merge panels 2 and 3 with panels 4 and 5 and get both skeptical Asma and come hither Joyce and Dorothy in 3d.
Like, cartoon 3d where they’re still flat but separated from their backgrounds. It’s a neat visual effect if one can pull it off.
“Stereogram”, back in the 90s there was a company selling posters like that. You can even do it with dual copies of monospaced text that hides a word or sentence in it from shifting with extra spaces. Neat stuff!
*adjusts eyes for stereogram*
holy AAAAAAAH
I know it’s spooky season but COME ON at least warn me first before letting me in on an optical illusion of creepy ass smiling white girls XD
Joyce: “No no, I’m planning that for Joe!”
Dorothy: “What??!!”
Us Poly-Joyce shippers are awaiting this development!
Putting more Asma in was the best idea ever.
you can say that again XD
Putting more Asma in was the best idea ever.
That again
She’s very good
Joyce is a hussy but not like THAT
…unless?
not the worst possible response.
Well this is off to a swimmingly start. Can only go up from here?
I’m betting Asma is going to tell them to fuck off with their post-nut realizations.
To be fair, Joyce’s post-nut realization was actually spot on. However, she’s still willing to outsource her critical thinking to Dorothy, who has her own baggage.
I do think there’s a useful way for them to discuss these issues with Asma. I absolutely am convinced that they have no idea what that is. (And it absolutely starts with a sotto voce, “So, is it okay to talk about the protest with you, and if so, do it here? We have questions, but we don’t want to impinge on you.”)
All im hearing is that it was on your mind girl
Asma, run while there’s still time. They’re already exhausted, they can’t catch up with you.
Asma is like: you remember my name?!
Talk about your red flag.
Hater containment thread ⬇️
Yeah Asma that’s the expression I have when I see these two lately too
She’s just trying to reaaaad
A-yup.
You can almost HEAR the “Oh, for FUCK’S sake.” in panel five.
This ^
they’re basically spongebob and patrick except they’re white women XD
(am i doing this right?)
You’re doing your best buddy!
name ain’t buddy but thanks <3
No, no, there’s no comma. You are doing your best buddy the same way Mike is doing your best buddy’s mom.
Commas are important people!
Indeed. Commas are very important people.
So Asma is Squidward in this situation?
ya got it
I want to say they’re Leslie and Ann but I don’t know who should be whom.
i could never have thought of this on my own but now that you’ve actualized it…
it’s so disturbingly close. i don’t even hate them or anything, but that comparison hits like a truck
In this moment, we here in the hater thread are ALL Squidward.
u smell /s
This strip in particular definitely does not help with my dislike of these two. Honestly the entire desire to “apologize to Asma” in and of itself feels kinda racist?
Like sure, Asma told them to go away and she had to risk herself to save their dumb asses. But Jocelyne also told them to leave. Robin and Leslie told them it’s unsafe. Amazi-girl fought off cops to protect them. And not ONCE did they say “oh we should apologize to those people for putting them in increased danger” Amber is currently nursing a bullet wound she got after fighting off the cops that were attacking them and Dorothy kinda just left her to it.
They only want to apologize to Asma specifically cuz she’s Muslim and they think the only thing they’re guilty of is Cultural Insensitivity. (Which don’t get it twisted. They ARE guilty of). As Joyce pointed out last strip it just feels so disingenuous. Less of a “we’ve reflected on our actions” and more of a “we want to make ourselves feel better”
Which I will try to avoid the metatextual implications of that conclusion.
Willis over the past several weeks seems to be flipping wildly between “YOUR HATE WILL FUEL JOYCE X DOROTHY FOR ANOTHER THOUSAND YEARS” and “Nooooo you can’t criticize how I implement this storyline because Jocelyne said it was cool, all the readers love Jocelyne!!!”
I am curious about where you are getting that second impression?
Like did Willis say something?
Also let me add:
Sincere efforts to course-correct a story can still suck and still merit criticism.
By asking where you’re getting the impression that Willis is yelling at people to shut up and not criticize their stories, I am definitely not in any way telling you not to criticize their stories.
I wouldn’t bother replying to them like this Li,
this kinda pot-shoting, coming right in with accusations is just about a surefire sign that these remarks are not being made in good faith (-_-)
which isn’t to say, you aren’t right about this in general
Okay. Well, you’re both entitled to feel that way about it, but I was in fact asking in good faith.
no no no I was referring to their remarks not being made in good faith, not yours!
sorry for the miscommunication
like really Fail’s idea that Willis be like “oh no they hate this new pairing but Jocelyne loves it and the readers love Jocelyne”?
it don’t make no sense at all, right up there with DoA reddit’s theory that Taffy is actually Willis’s alt account XD
Ohhh, okay. Phew.
(Miscommunication, especially coming across as disingenuous or manipulative when I’m just trying to be clear, is one of my nightmares sob.)
awe 🫂
@Fail: I guess I don’t see that second thing as being an understandable type of sniping at your comment section, as well as really going against what I’ve personally seen Willis say, so I wanted to know if you had a source for multiple reasons.
I doubt you’ll see this cuz it’s been a couple days, but I felt like this merited a response. I was conveying my amusement at the binary avenues we’ve been given in polls and the sickos vs paladins debate to talk about our feelings regarding Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship. That’s not entirely on Willis, but I think they betray some degree of annoyance at how much discourse this has all generated, especially when you zoom out and remember “this is about a bunch of college freshmen.” I’ve been reading Willis since the Shortpacked days and I can tell you straight up this wouldn’t be the first time they sniped at the comments section over story choices. However, I don’t think any of it is malicious. If you can’t fuck around with your readers a little bit, what’s even the point of writing a story?
Yeah it’s still a racist thing to do
Asma aint the arbiter of Muslims affected by the issue overseas, anymore than Jesse Jackson is the emperor of black people
Wait you’re telling me Jesse Jackson isn’t the emperor of black people anymore? What happened? Did he get voted out? Did he abdicate?
I think at 84 your forced to retire.
It is absoulutely NOT the best look right now
It’s been firmly established there were no bullets, Amber was stabbed.
I think what we’re seeing is that Doylist critique can’t always be met with a Watsonian response.
Perfectly said.
I’m sick of this conversation with Asma already — I can’t think of a single version of subsequent strips that won’t be painful to read.
As I said yesterday — the choice to have them kiss at a protest has already happened, and I didn’t like it at the time, but at least it’s DONE. I’d rather move on to other things than keep wallowing in it or having Dorothy & Joyce apologize for it.
Would feel a lot better about this if we just got to see more Asma organically, or maybe if they hadn’t sought her out for this. Asma getting a chance to voice her opinions isn’t the worst idea, but I intensely dislike this “seek her out and apologize” approach.
Right. The idea of “we need to get to see more Asma” is something I’d like to be divorced from “Genocide protest”. It’d be like if Sarah was a non-entity until a BLM protest or something. It’s also sorta why I dreaded Jocelyne coming back into the story. I didn’t want her presence to merely be a reason to stir up drama around her being trans rather than just exploring her as a person. Not saying those elements can’t BE part of their characters but it feels so limiting when characters exist only in reference to them being a minority.
The best way I can put it. I remember noticing long ago when watching adult cartoons that if they’re talking about someone white they’ll usually say “a guy” but if they mean someone black they’ll usually say “a black guy”. And I always hated that there was always a qualifier as if black guys aren’t also just “a guy”.
About that last part?
Yeah like a TV show with an all white cast is widely perceived as not being about race at all. But a show with an all black cast? Not so much.
its very usual for white people to not see themselves in terms of race, because it just so happens to be the race our society treats as the norm, the one whose customs/culture all others are expected to adopt as their “normal”
in other words, social privilege, go figure
Love crazy ex girlfriend for that. The friend group has two joshes, one Filipino and one white. So they were Josh and White Josh. White Josh is also gay and someone suggested he be called Gay Josh instead, which he said was weird bc no one does that with anyone else.
Nice avatar.
The pacing of the comic feels especially bad today. Like the whole “its a daily comic! Maybe something will happen by the spring” is extra frustrating when 2/3 of the strip is just characters standing there.
I also don’t get, within the narrative, WHAT they were going for?? Like, they get her attention and then just smile at her, and when she appears confused, they just continue to smile. ??????
It’s a perfectly well-paced gag, but the issue is that we’ve gotten so much fluff of these two being cute lately that this kind of joke is much less tolerable.
Less hate than usual:
Alright, now if we can maintain this energy we might start actually having a good comic strip again instead of the Joyce and Dotty are Boring Show.
I think the “good comic strip” you’re looking for is on Slipshine. There’s an ad to the left.
I have subscribed to Slipshine many times in my life, and I will do so again, I don’t need help finding the porn when I want porn as opposed to a good slice-of-life dram-edy.
Joe and Walky, other side of the lobby, to DoJo: “Hey, we saw you from across the lobby, and… just wanted you to know our vibe is immeasurably superior to yours. Do better.”
You can substitute basically any non-antagonist couple or unrelated pair of characters in here and it works, too.
What’s even the point
Theyre awful at being gay
Correction: “Awful at being actively, intentionally gay.”
Correction to the correction: “Awful at being actively intentionally, openly gay.”
They’re FINE at being gay. They’re awful at being NORMAL about it.
I mean that’s every babygay ever. “Awful at being normal about being gay” is a definitional part of it.
They’re awful at a lot of things.
Name 27.
Oh good lord they’re actually doing this
Asma can still save this.
But, does she want to?
how.
Even more snark.
I feel like that would pointedly not be saving this.
for a certain definition of “saved”
like, metaphorically speaking, she isn’t going to stop this building from burning down, but if her snark is funny enough, it’s the equivalent of saving a really cool lamp from the fire, or something
Shutting them down at the start would be nice
My patience for these myopic dipfucks is wearing so thin oml……
🎶 3 More Days to Halloween, Halloween, Halloween 3 More days to Halloween, Silver Shamrock 🎶
Thank you for the dopamine hit.
YEEEESSS!!!! ^-^
*plays “Bustin” by Neil Cicierega on hacked muzak*
Well, I might have a crush now.
And here I thought about posting something yesterday about Asma’s reaction being either envy or giving them the stinkeye.
Omfg, never mind I take back every criticism I had, this punchline killed me bahahahahahaha
Alas, poor Bittersweet. We knew him, hardly at all, actually.
Fun fact: This comic is not aesthetic at all. The whole thing is set in Asma’s personal hell.
Please you two, just leave this poor woman alone. You’ll scare away the bongos (the bongos being Alice)
Alice seems attracted by … Well, let’s just say she has a type.
This is the funniest thing to come from this pairing so far.
…they still didn’t take a shower, or did the laundry, right?
Nope! You can see the bag of dirty laundry between them! They took a detour to apologize/harass this poor woman lmao
And smell the funk from 40 feet away.
They did shower, at least, over two months ago.
I mean, less than a day ago.
So…they’re airing their dirty laundry in public?
Urge to draw stink lines wafting off of them increasing.
…. do it.
i mean of course they smell like sex they just had it XD
They’re working on it; give them time
Roast their asses, Asma.
Not here, she’ll set the paperwork on fire.
She’ll have to escort them outside first.
Asma, aiming The Flamethrower™ at these two idiots: “You understand why this has to happen, right?”
It was always going to end this way…
ZE FLAMMENWERFER, ASMA, GET ME ZE HEAVY FLAMMENWERFER!
Sapphics outside like “Haha nooooo, don’t werf me with your flammen 😳🥵” and then they just stand there drinkin their Starbucks.
This, too, is yuri?
I’m having the worst (best) flashbacks to The Thing…
And they have biffed it in seconds they should’ve just giver her two chocolate bars thanked her for staffing the reception desk and been done with it.
Punctuation would be welcome. Easier to read.
Then don’t read.
Punctuation is theft.
Or something like that.
Punctuation is the thief of time.
Huh?
“And they have biffed it in seconds! They should’ve just give[n] her two chocolate bars, thanked her for staffing the reception desk and been done with it.”
How hard can it be? Do you talk in the monotone you write in?
Seriously why do you even care? The person who I replied to didn’t.
Oooo this is so much weird outrage and judgement for something as simple as a person refusing to “fix” the way they communicate to make it easier for you to interpret. It’s actually fine for people totypeinwhateverwaytheylike,regardles,of,how,hard,it,iz2reed.
How hard can it be to just mind your business instead of making a jab someone doing literally no harm?
I dunno, how hard can it be for them to reach for a period or question mark occasionally? They’re right there on the keyboard…
I use a phone when typing in the comments. It’s a small text window its hard to see what I typed sometimes. I also have ADHD and dyslexia which makes writing difficult.
To add on there is no edit button for comments. In the past i havr apolgized for poor grammar and syntax the one time I don’t someone takes offense.
I don’t get why some people are being so anal about grammar and punctuation. If I could edit my comments I would, but I don’t have that option.
There is no need to be outraged over punctuation. If poor grammar and punctuation offends your sensibilities, you shouldn’t read comments.
ACAB includes grammar police, is the thing about it.
Also: if anyone feels differently about criticizing Ursula’s typing now?
Something to remember for the future: you’re never going to know if the thing you’re about to make fun of is a disability or not, so maybe just don’t make fun of people for things that are so harmless.
As a fellow dyslexic, it’s really fucking hard to parse what I’m reading if there aren’t any inserted pauses. Which is why I abuse the shit outta commas. That’s why people are anal about punctuation. No one got outraged here but you, friend. Like I’m not gonna get on your ass about using punctuation but also don’t get mad if people express that they struggle to read without punctuation
I would bet that “Huh? [rewrites Ursula’s post without invitation] How hard can it be? Do you talk in the monotone you write in?” was not a polite request for more punctuation to improve readability.
I was more referring to the unfair amount of heat barermender was approached with for just “this is hard to read without punctuation.”
@Zee I cannot edit comments, and I would really like to have that option. I am sorry if it is hard for you to read. I get it. But the people who got upset over grammar did not seem to be acting in good faith to help. It came across as rude over something very minor in a comment section.
I have also noticed that the text box does not correct grammar. I even went to a grammar AI to improve readability. (Grammarly free version if you’re wondering )
It also takes away from my point of Asma getting a well-deserved Chocolate bar, or other type of sweet confectionery, or tart treat, depending on her preferences.
“how hard” like they ever expressed difficulties
Like it’s a matter of something being too hard
Rather than just not something that happened
“It’s right there” yeah and it’s a mind control device
Punctuation enforcement is a method of oppression
State approved typography, grammar, it’s all designed to kill us
Slowly
The point isn’t whether it’s hard or not. The point is that it’s none of your fucking business if they use punctuation or not. Literally WHATEVER the reason they’re not using punctuation? Not anyone’s place to pressure or shame them for how they write.
They didn’t ask for a fucking editor.
I too support the right to be incoherent. 😉
Oh no are they doing it anyway? I was really hoping joyce talked them out of a bad decision… but yay, asma!
I mean Dorothy immediately (snd not cery convincely) rejected that notion.
Hey so appropros of nothing I was rereading the about/before you post link in the top bar. It mentions there was a depiction of a suicide attempt as a TW for the comic, but I’m actually blanking as to who that could have been. We’ve had boat loads of self harm where death was an acceptable outcome from Ruth, Billie, amazi girl. Ethan ig? But none of those were explicitly attempts, were they?
We had Becky’s mom, but I don’t think that would be described necessarily as an ‘attempt’ when listing out TWs. (Technically yeah yeah). Has there been an actual attempt depicted? If so, who am I forgetting? Oh, I guess there was Blaine’s “suicide”. Was that who the TW referred to?
Alternatively, it’s there ahead of time and all that foreshadowing from earlier might be paying off in the worst way soon.
I think Ruth was implicitly self harm? Like she was drinking with the expectation of it harming herself? I guess maybe it is referring to Becky’s mom in that it’s subtle enough it doesn’t really show the self harm itself? Or maybe it just refers to lines characters say that could trigger those feelings. Seems like a better safe than sorry kinda TW.
Ruth’s and possibly Jennifer’s (Billie’s) suicide attempt was implied rather than explicitly spelled out. But it was talked around. For example, Becky was upset with herself for not recognizing the symptoms with Jennifer. Ruth wasn’t allowed shoes with laces in the clinic afterwards. She told Dr. Beverly she was doing a bad job of selling being alive. Carla tells Billie that Ruth doesn’t need to be playing house with her and a death wish, and when Jennifer points out all the stuff that Ruth stands to lose, Carla points out, “Yeah, and she lives.” When Jennifer tells Walky to let Becky know she can use her bed, she then has to reasure Walky that she’s just spending the night in Ruth’s room and not anything else. Becky tells Jennifer that if I keep staring at you forever, you will never die. Dina sneaks into the clinic and relays the message, “Do not die,” and Ruth responds with “pass.”
Now no-one ever explicitly says it was a suicide attempt, but Rachel says Ruth is suicidal and Walky says that Billie was also kinda suicidal, perhaps, likely-ish. Grace told Sarah they were found both sprawled out on Ruth’s bed waiting to die. So it was a suicide attempt. And in fact it was well established in conversation that they had a lesbian suicide pact.
It’s definitely unambiguous enough to warrant a trigger warning and it’s usually better to oversell those than to undersell them.
I hope it’s a reference to Ruth’s drinking so much that Billie pulled the fire alarm and made Ruth force herself to vomit. That was bad enough, so I hope it’s that and nothing more.
I’ve wondered when it comes to Becky’s mom, because part of Joyce thinking Becky’s mom died from cancer was remembering visiting her in the hospital ( https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/indebted/ ) , so it could be a suicide attempt, she didn’t die in THAT instance where Becky found her (probably because Becky found her), she was taken to the hospital but died due to complications after her attempt. That’s just my theory on it though I could be wrong.
There’s the strip Ghosts where Becky flashbacks to finding her mother unconscious with a pill bottle.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/ghosts/
It is an attempt because Joyce remembers her visiting her “dying of cancer” in the hospital.
Then there is Ruth just going catatonic and being hospitalized as a suicide risk.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/rolled/
Yeah, even disregarding the stuff with Ruth the Becky’s mom flashback is enough to warrant a trigger warning.
It’s talking about Walky’s attempt to end his existence with chicken nuggets…
Okay, no, the others are right, it’s about Ruth drinking herself into a near-coma and Becky’s mom in the flashbacks.
Oh jesus they’re doing it. This thing needs a warning on it for second-hand cringe.
Is Second Hand Cringe a band name and why not?
Not yet, because my Rock Band 4 band just changed its name to Hyberbolic Vituperation a week or so ago.
“We saw you across the room and honestly we HATED your vibe but that’s actually what we’re looking for in a third.”
“We saw you across the room and we can tell that you hate our vibe, so we make a 47 point list of reasons you should change your mind.”
*made
With charts that Faz provided.
They look like they’re about to sell me lawn care on a local news network
Ugh, these two again. Can we go check in on the pizza guy? I’d honestly love to see what he’s up to rather than whatever nonsense these two trainwrecks are up to.
“Look, the polycule already tried, and I’m not into hate sex so…”
“WHAT”
Now, come back with Alice, and you might have a shot.
The straight answer is, “the quiet desperation.”
Well. The direct answer.
To be fair, at least they start calling her by her name instead of “Front Desk Girl”. That has to count for something.
That’s where they’re messing up. They aren’t using her correct title.
correction “have started calling her”
The idea of poly continues to me transmitted!
How incredible would it be if the polycule was with Asma instead of Joe
Incredible is a cromulent word.
That would certainly be less than credible!
Exactly!
This conversation is a terrible idea and they should have listened to Joyce. However, I absolutely love the goofy smiles.
Oh this is going to be a disaster to distract form the disaster already happening. Please put the spotlight back on Walky or joe or anyone else.
These to need to work their contrition face a bit more.
Mind you I am not entirely sure what they should apologise for exactly, as they are not the one who chose to put themselves on the front page and I sincerely doubt they are the only couple that formed during that protest.
I’ll agree it was definitely not the aim nor purpose of this protest, but I don’t see how it would be antithetical to it either.
Agreed. They also didn’t do anything until the protest had already been called off and the cops had started attacking.
didn’t expect that…would that make the apology more or less awkward?
what
So the last time Asma saw Joyce and Dorothy was at the protest, and the last time anyone talked with her about these two was also related to the protest. Yet she thinks they came by to proposition her for a threesome, and not talk with her about the protest? What.
I think it’s because the last time she saw them they were sucking face hard, now these two women who never talk to her have approached her, leaning on each other and grinning ear to ear. I wouldn’t read them smiling like that as “we need to talk about the protest”, I too would be like “why the fuck are you smiling at me like that”.
Asma’s comment may be disingenuous. She may have said that because she knows Joyce and Dorothy (Jorothy?) are about to hit her with an annoying pandering apology with unintended racist subtext and she wants to establish tone and put them off-balance from the beginning.
I don’t know what a “receptive third propositionee” is but I’m gonna assume it’s a sex thing.
naw it’s chill, you got it in one
Yess!
“someone who is receptive to being propositioned as a third” might be clearer
So, a sex thing ^^
yes, I just thought it might be clearer what kind of sex thing
Panels 2&4 make a GREAT “spot the difference” game!
Kudos for not simply cutting and pasting! 🙂 )
Asma: raises eyebrow (inquisitive)
Asma: raises eyebrow (silently furious at shenanigans)
LMAO okay has she always been this level of snarky because I need more of this, so much more.
From her very first appearance, yeah.
I genuinely don’t know where this ranks on the “Worst Ideas Dorothy Has Ever Had” scale but it has got to be near the top, right?
Undoubtedly top three.
Please don’t apologise. This is awkward enough as it is, just ask how she’s doing and just, follow your own advice. XD
I hope it’s not get more cringe I was expecting it will be.
Dorothy’s gotta learn the hard way that sometimes the best apology is fucking off forever
God, I’m reminded of a “Recess” episode where main character TJ finds out there’s a kid in his school who doesn’t like him. TJ becomes obsessed with impressing the boy, including taking him on a harrowing adventure which the kid admits was pretty cool, but at the end the kid still doesn’t like TJ. TJ learns that some people just can’t be swayed and the best way to deal with them is to just avoid them. The difference between Asma and the boy in “Recess” is that the boy really had no reason for not liking TJ, he just didn’t like the vibe he was giving off, where as Asma has a WHOLE LITANY of reasons for not liking Dorothy and Joyce, and nothing Dorothy can do can fix it…
“sometimes the best apology is fucking off forever”
Title of the next anthology.
Makes me wonder what Asma’s been reading…
Porn. She’s reading porn.
Asma needs to call security on these two.
For what? What rules are they breaking?
Maybe not security, but definitely the anti-makeouts broom she used to break up Ruth and Billie way back when.
Almost like the twins from The Shining! 😛
“Okay, we’ve basically alienated all of our friends thanks to our front page kiss. Who are we missing?”
“How about that one girl we upstaged who was kind of leading the protest?”
“Cool! Extra collateral damage! Let’s goooo!”
Asma wasn’t leading the protest. She was just there.
I guess she could have been, but we haven’t seen any evidence of it.
Aww, c’mon, Asma! They like your vibe! 😀
I am so curious to know what these two awkward weirdos are gonna do in this conversation ~ I hope Joyce leads with “we’re sorry for smooching”
Never apologize for smooching.
I love Dorothy’s orange + mint green color combo.
This is an interesting way to tell people to leave.
When I do this, they just linger.
I normally really like these two kids. They make terrible decisions together. Normally, I can at least understand those terrible decisions, but here I’m struggling to imagine what they think they’re apologizing to Asma *for*. Yes, their presence at the protest was a problem, but not the sort of problem you go apologize to the nearest Muslim woman for. And unless Joyce thinks Asma is literally Jesus, there isn’t anything Asma can offer them forgiveness for. The only outcome Joyce Andhra Dorothy can be hoping for really is for Asma to do the emotional labor of assuaging their guilt. And that’s totally on brand for JoyDot, but it doesn’t work as well when Joyce just admitted minutes ago that she does, in fact, know that already.
I think Gotthammer above has the right of it. Doylist critique can’t always be met with a Watsonian response.
Also, I think Chris Fleming fits here
https://youtu.be/DTsdKycVZZ4?si=R8LHGwbgy2ZmsjOZ
Why… why was that your first assumption, Asma?
Has that happened to you before? Has it happened with enough regularity that it’s now the first thing you assume?
Did you accept the offer one time and now everyone mistakenly assumes you’re down the clown all the time?
Spice must flow, and tea must be spilled.
It probably has happened to Asma before, multiple times.
I feel like that might be flattering the first time, but would quickly grow very annoying with repetition.
They look like the cover for a sitcom you’ve vaguely heard about in passing but never actually seen on tv
This is startlingly accurate. Well played.
God they’re so white it hurts……
Statistically they’re the whitest couple currently together in the strip, it must be said.
I guess there’s Ruth/Jason, but I barely count them as a couple
Ruth/Jason are my favorite terrible couple ever. I really want them to inexplicably manage to be end game. I want these idiots to end up married with the exact same level of affection and enthusiasm they show in their current relationship. I want it to be an accident and I want them to not realize it at first but then be too apathetic to the situation to actually get an annulment.
Mind you, I don’t want to see them more. Once or twice a year is perfect.
[I am still very partial to Billifer/Ruth]
Btw been meaning to say, and esp since episode 3 drops today (I haven’t seen it no spoilers!!!!!), you have good taste in video game characters. You are cool and based.
Between Invisigal starting a joke, realizing she doesn’t have a punchline, pausing a bit to workshop it before saying the completed joke again, for no one’s benefit but her own. And blonde blazers…everything dear Lord that woman is so fucking autistic. Dispatch has the BEST Female nd rep I’ve ever seen. They just like me fr 😔
This is battling Taylor Swift saying “keep it 💯 on the land, the sea, the sky” for whitest moment of 2025
right? like good lord you’d find less whiteness in a barrel of marshmallow fluff XD
yeah…
ay
OK, but looking at the two of them and those big S eating grins, that wasn’t an unreasonable conclusion to jump too.
Correct
snorts softly.
fair.
Poor Dorothy. Just can’t get rid of the cop energy
Hahah, Asma fucking owns.
Also, they brought the whole laundry bin with them? Asma’s desk is on the way to laundry? That seems like a long way to walk for laundry
A quick pivot to hitting on Asma instead might be less cringe than whatever their plan is, lol.
And we looked at her
And she looked at us
And we looked at her
and She looked at us!
Huh. They are giving off that vibe aren’t they
Hey, Melissa update (meant to post this morning but I wanted to go get a better idea for damages first and got distracted)
As expected the western side of the island has seen massive destruction, particularly At. Elizabeth. Houses were flooded to the rooftops in some areas, windows smashed by the wind, people have likely lost their roofs. It’s gonna be a little bit till I can find out the full extent of the damage but I can confidently say it’s bad. Lotta people are without power or water.
As for me and my family, as expected we’re fine. No damage to our house, just a loose solar panel, knocked over banana trees and other plants, and a lot of plant debris in our yard. Public electricity went out around 3am Tuesday morning but we have enough stored solar energy to last until it can get fixed, especially since we saw some sun today. It’ll be trickier if water goes out, since we do have our own tanks but running the pump for them takes a lot of power.
Thank you for your well wishes yesterday, it really warmed my heart seeing your compassion. I think we got the most intense direct hit since it weakened by the time it hit Cuba, but we’re not the only ones affected. At least four dead in Haiti and DomRep, Haiti in particular doesn’t have the same infrastructure as us and are going through other instability. And if course Cuba which was just hit today, and the Bahamas are in the projected path. Luckily it’s down to a category 2 now and seems to be moving faster. So alongside aid for Jamaica I’d really appreciate it if you all looked out for any aid to our neighbors as well.
I am also very lucky that my area didn’t lose telecommunications! And since we had back up power we never lost wifi
philip defranco has better info than me
my mom actually contributed the pipe organ restoration for the church that was shown. we have a video of someone she knows playing it, it was beautiful. i love old red brick buildings like that. its basically in ruins now
In my mind, the Philip DeFranco Show is something from ten years ago (like, when its time ended), so it was kind of wild to learn that it’s still going.
Beyond that, glad your family is managing okay. Those in the country who my family knows made it through safely, though we don’t know about damages to their homes/businesses yet.
I’m glad your loved ones made it through too, I know they got hit worse than me.
glad to hear you and your folks are alright after what I hope is the worst of it ;-;
really sorry to hear about this, the damage sounds DEVASTATING TT~TT
Aw jeez 😞 😞 😞 Glad you and your family are okay, but jeez. 😞
I’m just popping in to say I’m really glad you’re okay and I hope Jamaica and the other nations affected can recover asap.
yessss, asma. making joyce/dorothy comics a delight for shippers & haters alike
I love Asma.
This is so much better and interesting than checking up on Joe, Becky, Walky or Dins
Or Dina for that matter
As someone who has done this exact dumb thing before and humiliated myself in the process: I think I may need to skip the next couple of strips to escape the secondhand embarrassment
they’re smiles say it all
run
RUN
*nyooms away*
It’s not gay if it’s in a three-way.
Even if all participants are the same gender. I don’t make the rules, Samberg and Timberlake did.
Am I the only one who read the “Hello, Asma!” in the same cadence as the Animaniacs saying “HELLOOOO NURSE!”?