Whaaaaaat, when has an older white man ever grabbed something from a minority, especially an Asian person since… oh, let’s say about 2020-ish for Some Reason, and then attacked them, all in public? Why, what an unusual occurrence that would be, in this day and age, when there’s so little anti-Asian sentiment in the United States of America, especially in rural and semi-rural areas.
Gods and heroes I am hoping she pulls that band-aid off quick, if the reaction is going to be negative at least it is better to know sooner and in a public venue then later and potentially in private.
Closet for the moment. She knows her father will, at beast, need a bit of a run-up to accept this.
Note that this is the same coat that Jocelyne was considering wearing when meeting Joyce as herself for the first time, but opted not to wear. She’s definitely hiding it from her father, but I don’t think she’s going to stay hidden for the entirety of the conversation (note the glimpse of what she’s wearing *under* the coat).
Jocelyn that said “when I am truly myself the world bends” and went to a protest knowing the risks, and introduced herself to Joyce with no problem… The closet was burnt
Jocelyn is wearing a long jacket. Underneath that jacket is a dress that we’ve seen before. The jacket is open several inches, and not hanging in a way that suggests the bottom is not any more buttoned than the top is.
Jocelyn is already out; the only thing left to resolve is if she says the words before or after Hank (whom this arc has shown is not blind) looks a few degrees downward.
Joyce and Dorothy contacted Jocelyne to warn her that Hank was here looking for her and Jocelyne decided to confront him to hopefully prevent him from seeing the front page picture
NGL, I was hoping to get Hank seeing the kissing, asking Becky why they would keep that secret from him, and then Becky explaining through a trauma-lens why a daughter would be afraid to tell their dad about this sort of thing, buuuut…we’re getting a Jocelyne appearance instead, so I can’t be mad!
Jocelyne is still early enough on that she can still boymode semi-effectively, thankfully(?)
Well, good for her safety here at least. She’s been doing it for years though so it sucks that she has to do it again, even if she’s probably used to it.
Could be, but only if Hank just gets a passing glance at the photo. Any closer and he’ll see Joss’ face in the crowd.
Then again, Jocelyne is coming with a very open “Here I am.” I think there’s a chance she’ll open up. If not because she already intended to, then also because she can take the heat off her sister.
If it’s a fuzzy enough picture, he might assume his eyes are playing tricks on him. Isn’t it more likely the photo shows his son the writer, who can’t afford a haircut, kissing a girl? And isn’t that a less stressful thought for Hank to consider right about now?
Though on second viewing here, that’s not an intentionally masc coat; that’s just what Jocelyne was wearing the day previously, at the protest. And she’s got it somewhat open, showing the clothes underneath.
I just hope that Hank gets told the truth, and has the opportunity to choose how he will respond.
Blurry photo, family resemblance, and cognitive dissonance could do it. I’m not saying I expect it to go this way. But this series is full of slow burns.
I spent a while last night just staring at that, sure that there was a Scooby-Doo reference i there somewhere, but unable to make it make sense in any way.
John, Jocelyne, Jordan, Joyce, that he definitely has DNA with. Becky by default since he was the nearest remotely bearable parental figure when she became legally eligible for Robin-hood.
I did not expect this turn of events— I had expected tonight’s strip to either be Hank seeing the newspaper or a cut to another scene— but in hindsight I really should have.
Gonna be biting my nails these next 24, I really really hope this goes well for Joss but with the way things have been going thus far… I really don’t know.
Of course the poor guy has no idea what’s going on. He’s just Ken. Anyone else would be certain, but it’s his destiny to live and die a life of incomprehensibility.
I kinda want it to be a running gag that Ken keeps appearing as an incidental part of major moments, and *only* as that. That he just has the worst/weirdest luck and timing. 😀
I can’t blame you for the confusion, I actually was a bit confused too. I think based on last strip and this one ( https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-16/01-not-so-smooth-criminals/handle-4/ ) Hank caught sight of the front page picture in yesterday’s strip and the reason they are now behind Ken instead of in front is because Ken was walking past them.
I’m thinking Genesis 22:1. Might not be what DYW had in mind, but there it is.
(KJV)
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
And then, verse 2:
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
and you never have been tempted
by a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now,
your hatchets blunt and bloody,
you were not there before,
when I lay upon a mountain
and my father’s hand was trembling
with the beauty of the word.
Yes, that’s what I was thinking of. This motif starts with Adam (to YHWH) after the apple, again with Abraham and Isaac, again with Joseph and Jacob. (Probably a bunch of other times as well.). Really nicely done here.
Hank is also already well aware that crushing and demanding grip on one child’s identity cost him that child: the ever-unseen and no-contact Jordan. I would suspect he’ll be motivated to try and GET TO okay with trans kid and bi kid, just because he has already gone through the bad ending of the Not Okay scenario.
Except he’s practically adopted a gay kid already. He’d have issues with it, just like he does with Becky, but not enough to make him stop loving his kids.
Ugh I’m so emotional. Jocelyne looks so much like Joyce in this panel.
Whatever happens, I’m glad she may get to say what she needs to say to him on her own terms and isn’t just outed to her dad by the paper.
(I’m sure continuing to ply Hank with increasingly convoluted lies in an option, however, Jocelyne tends to come across as mostly of age and thereby exempt from the same dumbing as the rest of the cast.)
Jocelyne: *Anakin voice* I killed them. I killed them all. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals.
It’s hard to tell, but it kinda looks like Jocelyne has on a dress under her fairly generic looking jacket – but whether it is or not, her top definitely has a very feminine cut to it. So, I’m guessing we’re going to see Jocelyne coming out to Hank tomorrow. I’m hoping that we’ll get her coming out, then see Hank’s reaction immediately afterwards, but… I could honestly see her coming out then switching over to some other part of the story for a bit to keep the emotional tension going for a while. It would suck to deal with as someone who is rather invested in this particular portion of the story (and was rather unhappy about the significant shakeup that happened in the Halloween party being relegated to a flashback a fair while after the time skip happened) – but I understand that it’s a solid writing technique that can keep tension up for longer. Especially if this ends up having a happy ending with Hank going, “Huh, I did not see that one coming… Well, I’m glad you’re able to be your authentic self, then!” I could see wanting to keep the tension up as long as possible beforehand.
But as a reader, I’d much rather this particular plotline have a happy ending for a change – we’ve had enough of bad parents taking these sorts of revelations extremely poorly (though Ethan’s mom did take finding out he’s gay better than expected), it would be nice to have the parent of a main character react positively to learning about how their kids have changed recently.
Um, Ethan’s mom spent the entire time between his prom and the September 26th 2024 strip blaming Amber for being such a bad girlfriend she turned Ethan gay, before deciding that his depression was bad enough that she would, on a purely interim basis, give him permission to be gay.
I honestly believe Hank is already further along than that, although possibly not to “actual acceptance”.
True. “Better than expected” really did a LOT of heavy lifting there – and given the reaction we had previously to that was, “Pull his daughter out of college and try to kidnap her to force her to go to a conversion camp before being manipulated by a supervillain dad into kidnapping their entire friend group in a petty revenge scheme,” “better than expected” still rather undersells the contrast. Still, it would be nice to have a direct parent that gets this sort of revelation and says, “Huh, well, OK then,” without any extra drama attached for a change.
Media in the nineties and naughties taught me to expect lots of vitriol for being a man with long hair, but all I ever get are compliments. I am immeasurably disappointed by this.
That’s because you aren’t being extreme enough. You need to add bows and flowers. If the results are still disappointing, take to wearing revealing feminine wear. If all else fails, try kissing every stranger you see, particularly cops.
Is Sirksome okay? I need to know what not to trust. I mean I assume not to trust Ken, but that’s more of a yesterday thing. Is it not trusting deadnames? Or would yesterday have been not trusting diversions and today is in fact not trusting Ken? Not trusting initials? Not trusting lip-bites?
Okay, no, I take that last one back, I will die for lip-bites.
Joshua is a lie. The cake is a lie. Therefor Joshua is a cake. Not to be confused with Carla, who is a pie, Becky, who is a pizza, or Walky, who is currently an explosion of McNuggets. Definitely not to be confused with Jocelyne, who is right in front of you.
To everyone wondering if Jocelyn is ‘going to come out’ to Hank–she already has. Long jacket is open in front, by about a hand-width. She’s wearing a dress we’ve seen earlier. Hank, as established in this arc, is not blind. She’s out. The only point of contention is whether she’ll say the actual words before or after Hank notices the hemline.
And, of course, Hank’s reaction. I give three broad categories:
1: Spontaneous and surprising acceptance, possibly with comedic overtones. “So long as you’re not a commie, we’re good.”
2: Shock and needing time to process, but not rejection or abandonment. Ultimately, he comes around, possibly with some lingering confusion.
3: ToeDad II: The Somethinging.
I’m betting on 2, myself–it’d go pretty solidly with Hank’s prior reactions to things like Becky’s sexual orientation.
It’s the same color as the dress she was wearing when she came out to Joyce, but it’s not the same dress. The neck, which is all we can really see here, is completely different.
I actually had the same thought, but the cut on the top is different from the one she was wearing previously. It’s hard to say for certain that she’s wearing a dress (though it does seem rather likely) – but it definitely has a very feminine cut to it, and the undershirt is showing through in a very feminine style. So, it’s very likely that she outed herself to Hank just by showing up wearing that outfit.
Its a newspaper, back in the day you might see someone reading something and go ‘Whoa, can I see that!’. grabbing it that way does feel pretty rude but sometimes you’d watch older movies of an event on the newspaper and other characters snatching it away to read the event. Joyce’s Dad seems pretty old so I don’t think the incredibly rude part was part of the decision to see what Becky was trying to cover up. Ken is owed an apology.
It’s rude, but understandable under the circumstances. At least if we weren’t worried about what his reaction seeing his daughter on the front page was going to be.
So, I think the sequence of events is that Hank started picking up on Becky trying to distract him, glimpsed enough of the front page of the newspaper to get an inkling that someone he knows is on there, Ken walked by as Hank processed that information, Hank moved to grab the paper to get a closer look, and Jocelyne showed up right as Hank grabbed the paper. Without knowing where Jocelyne was prior to showing up, it’s hard to say if she stepped forward to keep Hank from low key stealing the paper from a kid, or if she just happened to show up at just that moment – but either way, things are probably going to get a WHOLE lot more awkward for Ken in the very near future.
I am a little confused here. Before Joshua came out as Jocelyn to Joyce, there was a text from them saying they wanted Joyce to hear the reveal from them and not their Dad. In the last few strips as well as today, it sure looks like Hank doesn’t know about ANY sort of transition, name or otherwise. Looks like he toyed with the implications of his son being gay at least, but seems he’s about to be blindsided with a LOT of new information.
I worry we’re about to tread the trope of “You lost a son, but gained a daughter”. Yet with how Hank is suddenly being written, again, the same Hank who stood up to his wife’s and church’s zealotry with regards to Joyce’s gunpoint kidnapping, he’s going to be written only to fixate on the “You lost a son” part. I’m really with Ken on this whole thing-“What is going on?”
The ‘lost a son/daughter’ trope is a common reaction from coming out stories I’ve read. I suppose it depends on how much emotion the parent had invested in the child’s gender, and that’s something our culture puts a lot of energy into.
Yeah, I’m wondering about that part as well. Was it because Jocelyne was going to be at the protest? That makes sense – but it’s clear that Hank didn’t know about that either. The coming out as transgender thing was the most obvious guess – but at this point it’s painfully clear that Jocelyne hasn’t actually come out to him. There was also the divorce – but that was already resolved quite a bit earlier (well, in our time, still fairly recent in DoA time). So… what else was there to cover that Jocelyne would worry about Joyce hearing from Hank first? I honestly don’t know – and I’m left wondering if something ended up getting lost in the shuffle.
Could be. Best I can figure out, she was planning to come out to Hank, and wanted to come out to Joyce first. (Dumb Brother)
So if she hadn’t told Joyce, then Joyce would have wound up hearing about it from Hank.
She’s been on HRT long enough that she’s seeing physical changes. If she doesn’t cut Hank off completely, he’ll pick up on it eventually, so she wanted to get out in front of it and let Joyce know first.
I see a bunch of Tylenol memes that I guess people find funny
but meanwhile as an autistic who grew up having to put up with dipshit conspiracy theorists who think using us to guilt trip is a personality, I don’t find this a laughing matter in the slightest
I haven’t laughed at this specific thing, but I honestly wonder if some of it is like a Jewish friend of mine who makes the occasional holocaust joke and collects examples of anti-semitic propaganda, on the grounds of “I can laugh, or I can never stop weeping, and I’d rather laugh.”
that’s fair yeah, in that sorta vein I unapologetically call myself a Jewish Anarchist — that I know calling us anarchists is typical antisemetic garble, the irony is that the common misdefinition of “anarchist” used as an insult is still right-wing propoganda.
I guess the tylenol thing hits closer to home because I know first hand what the people are like who actually believe this crap, they act like you’re attacking their religion or some shit if you dare challenge their beliefs which objectify us like this
The arguments they offer are bad, and they repeat them non-stop because they’re bad. They’re MANTRIC. The constant repetition dulls the shock of the most egregious statements, making them appear NORMAL, and preparing them for accepting more extreme ideas, and game the system like to over-represent what’s basically actually unpopular fringe.
TL;DR the right may not know how to meme, but leftists (at least a lot I’ve seen the US) don’t seem understand engagement.
That’s why I’ve taken to replying to them with, “I’m not autistic because my mom took Tylenol; I’m autistic because my dad watched westerns and criticized the historical inaccuracies.”
Also because my maternal uncle taught me to play chess when I was 6, and gave me an apple crate full of old SF magazines for my seventh birthday. (I mean so old that I had a couple dozen issues of Astounding Science Fiction in there. He was my favorite uncle.)
Your sense of humor is not broken; there is a very unfunny side to the whole Tylenol thing. I think the memes are just focusing on the side that is kind of funny, which is how dumb the whole thing is and that anyone believes it.
Your sense of humour is not broken. I’m sorry and I apologise for being one of those who made a joke. I most certainly DO want you to exist. And, more to the point, to be you, and not anyone else, nor “cured”. You are who you are and there is nothing “wrong” with you.
As a scientist, I hate this nonsense about Autism, and every other nonsense about it. I spend a lot of time doing public education. But what Big Z and Vulcanodon said is true of me, I have to laugh at ‘how [stupid] the whole thing is and that anyone believes it’, or never stop weeping.
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WHAT IS GOING ON
i mean even if you say excuse me, kinda rude to just grab someone’s stuff like that . poor ken
Ding ding
This is the crazy frog
heyeyeyey
Ken’s just trying to read his paper, but all this drama keeps happening. 🙁
Donkey!
I’m definitely with Ken here. What is going on
Ken is very uncomfortable right now!
Hank was really just gonna grab a rando’s newspaper lololol.
Ken doesn’t know these people at all, Ken is not emotionally prepared for any of what’s about to happen
He knows Becky at least! 😅
“Grab `em by the newspaper.”
Which, on second thought…😓 they´re doing that too.
who wouldn’t be with some cracker practically hutchin over them like a tired old goose while callin out to their kid?
i just wanna read the paper in peace dammit XD
Better or worse than talking to Walky?
A yawnchasm of normality.
if an older white man tried grabbing at a minority’s thing i’d assume they’re about to get assaulted or peppersprayed
Whaaaaaat, when has an older white man ever grabbed something from a minority, especially an Asian person since… oh, let’s say about 2020-ish for Some Reason, and then attacked them, all in public? Why, what an unusual occurrence that would be, in this day and age, when there’s so little anti-Asian sentiment in the United States of America, especially in rural and semi-rural areas.
(That’s /sarcasm, for the willfully stupid.)
yeah, Asian Hate is unfortunately very real in our country 😔
Ken has had kenough of this nonsense.
heh 😀
“Why is this old guy calling that lady a boy’s name?” –Ken
So: Closet or nah?
Gods and heroes I am hoping she pulls that band-aid off quick, if the reaction is going to be negative at least it is better to know sooner and in a public venue then later and potentially in private.
Closet for the moment. She knows her father will, at beast, need a bit of a run-up to accept this.
Note that this is the same coat that Jocelyne was considering wearing when meeting Joyce as herself for the first time, but opted not to wear. She’s definitely hiding it from her father, but I don’t think she’s going to stay hidden for the entirety of the conversation (note the glimpse of what she’s wearing *under* the coat).
Jocelyn that said “when I am truly myself the world bends” and went to a protest knowing the risks, and introduced herself to Joyce with no problem… The closet was burnt
Yeah I’m assuming this is just speeding up the timetable
Jocelyn is wearing a long jacket. Underneath that jacket is a dress that we’ve seen before. The jacket is open several inches, and not hanging in a way that suggests the bottom is not any more buttoned than the top is.
Jocelyn is already out; the only thing left to resolve is if she says the words before or after Hank (whom this arc has shown is not blind) looks a few degrees downward.
Oooooh! What timing!
Also, this is a f-ing tease, Mister Willis! A tease! How dare! [lolz]
Gotta get that Patreon money. Get that Bag, Monsieur Willis!
No, no: Mister W.
So my guess
Joyce and Dorothy contacted Jocelyne to warn her that Hank was here looking for her and Jocelyne decided to confront him to hopefully prevent him from seeing the front page picture
The first intelligent decision a Brown has made today!
Hey, Joyce showered on purpose.
Jocelyne appears wherever she is most needed. Or she was standing off screen stalking Ken and waiting to strike.
He is a difficult prey since he is so unremarkable that he is practically camouflaged.
NGL, I was hoping to get Hank seeing the kissing, asking Becky why they would keep that secret from him, and then Becky explaining through a trauma-lens why a daughter would be afraid to tell their dad about this sort of thing, buuuut…we’re getting a Jocelyne appearance instead, so I can’t be mad!
Still hope for both!
Jocelyne is still early enough on that she can still boymode semi-effectively, thankfully(?)
Well, good for her safety here at least. She’s been doing it for years though so it sucks that she has to do it again, even if she’s probably used to it.
Ken: “What is with these crazy white people hovering around me??”
DONT I BE SAYIN IT XD
Oh god oh god oh god it’s all about to collapse.
That is a masc-looking coat. Is the gang going to pretend that she’s the one on the front page and that she’s also Dorothy’s new boyfriend?
Could be, but only if Hank just gets a passing glance at the photo. Any closer and he’ll see Joss’ face in the crowd.
Then again, Jocelyne is coming with a very open “Here I am.” I think there’s a chance she’ll open up. If not because she already intended to, then also because she can take the heat off her sister.
Perhaps.
If it’s a fuzzy enough picture, he might assume his eyes are playing tricks on him. Isn’t it more likely the photo shows his son the writer, who can’t afford a haircut, kissing a girl? And isn’t that a less stressful thought for Hank to consider right about now?
Though on second viewing here, that’s not an intentionally masc coat; that’s just what Jocelyne was wearing the day previously, at the protest. And she’s got it somewhat open, showing the clothes underneath.
I just hope that Hank gets told the truth, and has the opportunity to choose how he will respond.
That would be a hard sell considering all three are in the photo.
Blurry photo, family resemblance, and cognitive dissonance could do it. I’m not saying I expect it to go this way. But this series is full of slow burns.
As in, trying to sell it as Joyce is the fuzzy one in the background while that’s the back of Joss’s head.
Honestly that would be really funny considering how they went through this whole production of showing off “Dorothy’s birth control”
She’d have to be in two places at the same time, because she’s also in the background facing the camera.
HANK: “So… Dorothy’s cheating on Joyce with you?”
“i knew that athiest was trouble!”
Hank’s not QUITE inbred enough to accept his son dating his daughter.
Dammit, I read that wrong. MY KINGDOM FOR A DELETE BUTTON.
this strip made my soul leave my body. its all coming together
I’m picturing a balloonish soul blob leaving your body all manga/anime like
yes, i feel that, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Surprise, Hank! You have another daughter! Mazel tov!
lol can someone please explain what the eff that alt text is about? I don’t understand the reference and it reads like I’m having a stroke
Also yay Jocelyne!
Also eek Jocelyne!! Be safe!
Mister B’s Ink -> Mystery Inc., the gang from Scooby-Doo
“And I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”
-Joyclyne Brown to Indiana Daily Student.
Wow that pun is atrocious. I hate and love it.
I spent a while last night just staring at that, sure that there was a Scooby-Doo reference i there somewhere, but unable to make it make sense in any way.
It’s about on my last fucking nerve, is what it’s about.
Ken “what the heck is going on oh no should I run”
If you have to ask that the anwser is often yes
Other times, it’s “too late”.
Hank is a father of five, he might not know he has two daughters but he knows when he’s getting the run-around
Isn’t Hank a father of four?
John, Jocelyne, Jordan, Joyce, that he definitely has DNA with. Becky by default since he was the nearest remotely bearable parental figure when she became legally eligible for Robin-hood.
5 points for the Robin-hood wordplay =) 💖
The what?
Robinification, as we call it in the neighborhood.
I think Jordan is older than Jocelyne
That’s neither here nor there.
No, Joss is older than Jordan, as seen in a couple of the Brown family flashback strips.
That’s totally what I meant and didn’t misremember at all!
wouldn’t be surprisedi f at least one Hank-like guy had a ‘secret familiy’/extra kids one nmight not know about
5 if you include Becky as found family.
Oh.
Well, good save at least.
I did not expect this turn of events— I had expected tonight’s strip to either be Hank seeing the newspaper or a cut to another scene— but in hindsight I really should have.
Gonna be biting my nails these next 24, I really really hope this goes well for Joss but with the way things have been going thus far… I really don’t know.
Ken: “I’m contributing!”
To me it’s more like
Ken: “Can I leave now?”
Of course the poor guy has no idea what’s going on. He’s just Ken. Anyone else would be certain, but it’s his destiny to live and die a life of incomprehensibility.
I kinda want it to be a running gag that Ken keeps appearing as an incidental part of major moments, and *only* as that. That he just has the worst/weirdest luck and timing. 😀
@wraith well hpoefully he hasn’t have to see anyone die/get stabbed yet
“Dang, college sure is an exciting place!” thinks Ken
So when does Hank put on the Peter Pan outfit, tell us he knew our father he did and teach us about the joy of playing an instrument? Seems natural.
What is this, Alien: Covenant? Hank probably looks alright, but he’s no Michael Fassbender.
Hold on a second. Hank can’t see the front page, so what is he seeing in the paper that is making him pause?
Maybe the full protest article?
I can’t blame you for the confusion, I actually was a bit confused too. I think based on last strip and this one ( https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-16/01-not-so-smooth-criminals/handle-4/ ) Hank caught sight of the front page picture in yesterday’s strip and the reason they are now behind Ken instead of in front is because Ken was walking past them.
That actually makes a ton of sense. Thank you for you for putting that together for me.
Ken: I have lines??
Send me.
let’s unmask who this alt-text really is…
Damn Hank, leave Marisa alone (I will never get tired of this joke)
Come on, that’s obviously Juri.
No it’s Hakan
Poor Skullomania will need a nice relaxing tea break after this.
Vega is already having a bad day.
Becky does not deserve to be in the middle of all this
No, but Jocelyne does deserve to know a friend is with her, so that’s a silver lining at least.
“Here I am” sounds very biblical. You summoned me and I came, let’s do this.
Right? That’s gotta be intentional.
I’m thinking Genesis 22:1. Might not be what DYW had in mind, but there it is.
(KJV)
And then, verse 2:
What a vague bongo. “Upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”, like that’s any kind of instruction.
“Hey, I’m gonna tell you about some mountains. Basically just pick one and burn your son up there for me kthx.”
You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
and you never have been tempted
by a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now,
your hatchets blunt and bloody,
you were not there before,
when I lay upon a mountain
and my father’s hand was trembling
with the beauty of the word.
Wait, *God* tempted someone?
It’s all the little punk does, without ever delivering.
Remember that in Job, the Satan worked for God as part of his council.
Yes, that’s what I was thinking of. This motif starts with Adam (to YHWH) after the apple, again with Abraham and Isaac, again with Joseph and Jacob. (Probably a bunch of other times as well.). Really nicely done here.
“Here I am
Rock you like a hurricane”
for some reason this makes me think jocyline is gonna kick hank in the balls abd go “here i go” and run away
DAAAAMN YOOOOU WILLIIIIIS
Hank, man, you can’t just grab something from someone’s grasp, that is not okay, that qualifies as assault in parts of the country.
Hank Brown: “No child of mine is gonna be a commie!”
Also Hank Brown: “Our newspaper, comrade.”
Wait… Mister B? The Gentleman Rhymer?
i thought that was the zany british guy with the teddy bear
Now Hank and Jocelyne will have an agonizing, hour long argument full of tears and shouting while Ken stands motionless between them the whole time.
maybe she can get away with saying that’s her kissing dorothy
no way hank is going to get a bi pun
Coming out to Joyce was easier than she thought. And Joyce trusted Hank.
So…. here we go.
It’s either gonna be a like hell-yeah-fuck-you to fash dad, or it’s gonna be, ugh, nuanced, and anyway I hope it’s the first one
YES!
She appears!!!!
joyce had to get her tism somewhere
It’s gonna be interesting to see how Hank reacts to being told he has two daughters. Also I love Ken’s confused expression in the last panel.
It’s just information overload at this point. He thinks his kid is a terrist. He’s implied that he wouldn’t be ok with a gay kid. Now one is trans.
As Fearless Flightsuit so carefully taught us, terrrist is written and pronounced with triple R. Why do you hate America?
Hank is also already well aware that crushing and demanding grip on one child’s identity cost him that child: the ever-unseen and no-contact Jordan. I would suspect he’ll be motivated to try and GET TO okay with trans kid and bi kid, just because he has already gone through the bad ending of the Not Okay scenario.
This is likely.
Relevant strip:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/squeezing-2/
Looks like Carol was right about the being seduced by unbelievers and lesbians bit, though hard to blame Joyce. Unbelievers and lesbians are great.
And they’re both bi.
Except he’s practically adopted a gay kid already. He’d have issues with it, just like he does with Becky, but not enough to make him stop loving his kids.
Kens knee jerk response to being caught in a middle of white people nonsense is pretty perfect.
Ugh I’m so emotional. Jocelyne looks so much like Joyce in this panel.
Whatever happens, I’m glad she may get to say what she needs to say to him on her own terms and isn’t just outed to her dad by the paper.
(I’m sure continuing to ply Hank with increasingly convoluted lies in an option, however, Jocelyne tends to come across as mostly of age and thereby exempt from the same dumbing as the rest of the cast.)
Slow mode drinking game: have some punch every time Mr. B has a close call with seeing the front page.
Better rip that band aid now.
and a few layers of skin, just to be safe.
Joycelyne’s confession is coming up.
Jocelyne: *Anakin voice* I killed them. I killed them all. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals.
Hank: But you’re not a communist.
Jocelyne: No dad.
Hank: Oh thank God.
Jocelyne: I’m also trans.
Hank: But not a communist.
Jocelyne: Baby, I’m an anarchist.
Hank: But not a communist.
I feel like if Hank sees the newspaper now his head might literally explode
Poor Ken, he’s always confused when he shows up.
He disnae ken whit’s gaun on.
Chris Claremont?
It’s hard to tell, but it kinda looks like Jocelyne has on a dress under her fairly generic looking jacket – but whether it is or not, her top definitely has a very feminine cut to it. So, I’m guessing we’re going to see Jocelyne coming out to Hank tomorrow. I’m hoping that we’ll get her coming out, then see Hank’s reaction immediately afterwards, but… I could honestly see her coming out then switching over to some other part of the story for a bit to keep the emotional tension going for a while. It would suck to deal with as someone who is rather invested in this particular portion of the story (and was rather unhappy about the significant shakeup that happened in the Halloween party being relegated to a flashback a fair while after the time skip happened) – but I understand that it’s a solid writing technique that can keep tension up for longer. Especially if this ends up having a happy ending with Hank going, “Huh, I did not see that one coming… Well, I’m glad you’re able to be your authentic self, then!” I could see wanting to keep the tension up as long as possible beforehand.
But as a reader, I’d much rather this particular plotline have a happy ending for a change – we’ve had enough of bad parents taking these sorts of revelations extremely poorly (though Ethan’s mom did take finding out he’s gay better than expected), it would be nice to have the parent of a main character react positively to learning about how their kids have changed recently.
Um, Ethan’s mom spent the entire time between his prom and the September 26th 2024 strip blaming Amber for being such a bad girlfriend she turned Ethan gay, before deciding that his depression was bad enough that she would, on a purely interim basis, give him permission to be gay.
I honestly believe Hank is already further along than that, although possibly not to “actual acceptance”.
True. “Better than expected” really did a LOT of heavy lifting there – and given the reaction we had previously to that was, “Pull his daughter out of college and try to kidnap her to force her to go to a conversion camp before being manipulated by a supervillain dad into kidnapping their entire friend group in a petty revenge scheme,” “better than expected” still rather undersells the contrast. Still, it would be nice to have a direct parent that gets this sort of revelation and says, “Huh, well, OK then,” without any extra drama attached for a change.
“Oh good, you’re trans. For minute there I thought you had long hair like a hippie.”
Media in the nineties and naughties taught me to expect lots of vitriol for being a man with long hair, but all I ever get are compliments. I am immeasurably disappointed by this.
That’s because you aren’t being extreme enough. You need to add bows and flowers. If the results are still disappointing, take to wearing revealing feminine wear. If all else fails, try kissing every stranger you see, particularly cops.
%But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine%
%He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine%
>grabs popcorn
Brace for Drama!
“Dad, here I am… knowing this would be the exact place and precise moment you would be able to find me.”
C’mon … it’s a big campus! This ought to be good.
Definitely not because I received any text messages from Joyce or Dorothy.
Still think Joyce was texting her when she first caught up to Hank and Dorothy.
The alt text is the biggest stretch for a pun I’ve ever seen and i love it
Ken used to do Shakespeare. He’s listed as “third waiter”
Is Sirksome okay? I need to know what not to trust. I mean I assume not to trust Ken, but that’s more of a yesterday thing. Is it not trusting deadnames? Or would yesterday have been not trusting diversions and today is in fact not trusting Ken? Not trusting initials? Not trusting lip-bites?
Okay, no, I take that last one back, I will die for lip-bites.
Don’t trust Joshua. Joshua is a lie.
Joshua is a lie. The cake is a lie. Therefor Joshua is a cake. Not to be confused with Carla, who is a pie, Becky, who is a pizza, or Walky, who is currently an explosion of McNuggets. Definitely not to be confused with Jocelyne, who is right in front of you.
Ken show up, Sirksome goes missing… DEFINITELY don’t trust Ken…
Ken KILLED Sirksome
A logical conclusion.
Jinkies that alt text.
(alt-text)
Norville is not tagged, but somewhere, his ears are burning.
luckily ken’s yawnchasm of normality will keep things from escalating while he’s stuck there
To everyone wondering if Jocelyn is ‘going to come out’ to Hank–she already has. Long jacket is open in front, by about a hand-width. She’s wearing a dress we’ve seen earlier. Hank, as established in this arc, is not blind. She’s out. The only point of contention is whether she’ll say the actual words before or after Hank notices the hemline.
And, of course, Hank’s reaction. I give three broad categories:
1: Spontaneous and surprising acceptance, possibly with comedic overtones. “So long as you’re not a commie, we’re good.”
2: Shock and needing time to process, but not rejection or abandonment. Ultimately, he comes around, possibly with some lingering confusion.
3: ToeDad II: The Somethinging.
I’m betting on 2, myself–it’d go pretty solidly with Hank’s prior reactions to things like Becky’s sexual orientation.
It’s the same color as the dress she was wearing when she came out to Joyce, but it’s not the same dress. The neck, which is all we can really see here, is completely different.
I actually had the same thought, but the cut on the top is different from the one she was wearing previously. It’s hard to say for certain that she’s wearing a dress (though it does seem rather likely) – but it definitely has a very feminine cut to it, and the undershirt is showing through in a very feminine style. So, it’s very likely that she outed herself to Hank just by showing up wearing that outfit.
Becky: “Jocelyne!”
Jocelyne: “Becky?!”
Hank: “Josh?”
Jocelyne: “Dad.”
Becky: “Mr. Brown…”
Hank: “Becky!”
Jocelyne: “Dad!”
Hank: “Josh!”
Ken: “DONKEY!” 😀
Carla: “Doctor Scott!”
(everyone turns)
Carla: “What, we’re not doing ‘Rocky Horror’?”
dina appears from below and rescues ken
Why is he grabbing a stranger’s newspaper to talk to his own adult child? Seriously, what’s going on?
I don’t understand the wording here. Do you think he thinks newspapers are telephones?
Its a newspaper, back in the day you might see someone reading something and go ‘Whoa, can I see that!’. grabbing it that way does feel pretty rude but sometimes you’d watch older movies of an event on the newspaper and other characters snatching it away to read the event. Joyce’s Dad seems pretty old so I don’t think the incredibly rude part was part of the decision to see what Becky was trying to cover up. Ken is owed an apology.
It’s rude, but understandable under the circumstances. At least if we weren’t worried about what his reaction seeing his daughter on the front page was going to be.
So, I think the sequence of events is that Hank started picking up on Becky trying to distract him, glimpsed enough of the front page of the newspaper to get an inkling that someone he knows is on there, Ken walked by as Hank processed that information, Hank moved to grab the paper to get a closer look, and Jocelyne showed up right as Hank grabbed the paper. Without knowing where Jocelyne was prior to showing up, it’s hard to say if she stepped forward to keep Hank from low key stealing the paper from a kid, or if she just happened to show up at just that moment – but either way, things are probably going to get a WHOLE lot more awkward for Ken in the very near future.
Has Hank ever been associated with heart problems in this strip? Feel that would be the kind of cheap melodrama Willis loves.
When has Willis done something remotely like that?
Now Hank will reveal to Jocelyne that the entire family has been composed of secret Russian-speaking Bulmerian sleeper agents.
I am a little confused here. Before Joshua came out as Jocelyn to Joyce, there was a text from them saying they wanted Joyce to hear the reveal from them and not their Dad. In the last few strips as well as today, it sure looks like Hank doesn’t know about ANY sort of transition, name or otherwise. Looks like he toyed with the implications of his son being gay at least, but seems he’s about to be blindsided with a LOT of new information.
I worry we’re about to tread the trope of “You lost a son, but gained a daughter”. Yet with how Hank is suddenly being written, again, the same Hank who stood up to his wife’s and church’s zealotry with regards to Joyce’s gunpoint kidnapping, he’s going to be written only to fixate on the “You lost a son” part. I’m really with Ken on this whole thing-“What is going on?”
The ‘lost a son/daughter’ trope is a common reaction from coming out stories I’ve read. I suppose it depends on how much emotion the parent had invested in the child’s gender, and that’s something our culture puts a lot of energy into.
Yeah, I’m wondering about that part as well. Was it because Jocelyne was going to be at the protest? That makes sense – but it’s clear that Hank didn’t know about that either. The coming out as transgender thing was the most obvious guess – but at this point it’s painfully clear that Jocelyne hasn’t actually come out to him. There was also the divorce – but that was already resolved quite a bit earlier (well, in our time, still fairly recent in DoA time). So… what else was there to cover that Jocelyne would worry about Joyce hearing from Hank first? I honestly don’t know – and I’m left wondering if something ended up getting lost in the shuffle.
Could be. Best I can figure out, she was planning to come out to Hank, and wanted to come out to Joyce first. (Dumb Brother)
So if she hadn’t told Joyce, then Joyce would have wound up hearing about it from Hank.
She’s been on HRT long enough that she’s seeing physical changes. If she doesn’t cut Hank off completely, he’ll pick up on it eventually, so she wanted to get out in front of it and let Joyce know first.
At least, that’s my theory.
apropos of nothing
I see a bunch of Tylenol memes that I guess people find funny
but meanwhile as an autistic who grew up having to put up with dipshit conspiracy theorists who think using us to guilt trip is a personality, I don’t find this a laughing matter in the slightest
:(
I get it but as an autistic person i see it as more making fun of those weirdos for hiw ridiculous the claim is
maybe my sense of humor is just broken or something
I find it kinda hard to laugh on account that these are the same people who want us to basically not exist anymore 👀
I haven’t laughed at this specific thing, but I honestly wonder if some of it is like a Jewish friend of mine who makes the occasional holocaust joke and collects examples of anti-semitic propaganda, on the grounds of “I can laugh, or I can never stop weeping, and I’d rather laugh.”
that’s fair yeah, in that sorta vein I unapologetically call myself a Jewish Anarchist — that I know calling us anarchists is typical antisemetic garble, the irony is that the common misdefinition of “anarchist” used as an insult is still right-wing propoganda.
I guess the tylenol thing hits closer to home because I know first hand what the people are like who actually believe this crap, they act like you’re attacking their religion or some shit if you dare challenge their beliefs which objectify us like this
The arguments they offer are bad, and they repeat them non-stop because they’re bad. They’re MANTRIC. The constant repetition dulls the shock of the most egregious statements, making them appear NORMAL, and preparing them for accepting more extreme ideas, and game the system like to over-represent what’s basically actually unpopular fringe.
TL;DR the right may not know how to meme, but leftists (at least a lot I’ve seen the US) don’t seem understand engagement.
That’s why I’ve taken to replying to them with, “I’m not autistic because my mom took Tylenol; I’m autistic because my dad watched westerns and criticized the historical inaccuracies.”
Also because my maternal uncle taught me to play chess when I was 6, and gave me an apple crate full of old SF magazines for my seventh birthday. (I mean so old that I had a couple dozen issues of Astounding Science Fiction in there. He was my favorite uncle.)
Your sense of humor is not broken; there is a very unfunny side to the whole Tylenol thing. I think the memes are just focusing on the side that is kind of funny, which is how dumb the whole thing is and that anyone believes it.
Your sense of humour is not broken. I’m sorry and I apologise for being one of those who made a joke. I most certainly DO want you to exist. And, more to the point, to be you, and not anyone else, nor “cured”. You are who you are and there is nothing “wrong” with you.
As a scientist, I hate this nonsense about Autism, and every other nonsense about it. I spend a lot of time doing public education. But what Big Z and Vulcanodon said is true of me, I have to laugh at ‘how [stupid] the whole thing is and that anyone believes it’, or never stop weeping.
The tags are going to out her! Oh no!!