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Bee tee Dubs, i was sexually assaulted a few weeks ago and have taken no action in this regard aside from pretending it didn’t happen. figured i’d tell you this while we were on this “i’m an adult” thing
Carol: “Who’s this ‘biker chick’?”
Joyce: “Oh, she’s really cool. Her name is Sal. Sal Walkerton.”
Linda: “Weird, that’s our last name, too.”
Walky: *head explodes*
It seems to be a pattern that the moms are worse than the dads. Sal’s parents, Ethan’s parents, Joyce’s parents… I guess it takes a lot in that column to balance out Blaine.
Willis warned us that yesterday’s strip was not the climax. While this would be a good resolve (or at least a hook to hang this on for now and then come back to it later), I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Bill: “Willis warned us that yesterday’s strip was not the climax. While this would be a good resolve (or at least a hook to hang this on for now and then come back to it later), I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Hank (flashback): “But like him you’re an adult now and can make your own decisions…”
Hank (next strip sneak peak): “… which is why your mother and I are going to do the responsible thing for your growth as an adult and stop funding your education experience at this place so that you may be even more of an adult and continue to grow.”
Fortunately, women are frequently subordinate to men in religiously fundamentalist subcultures (not just Christianity, mind, and often worse outside it) and she knows her place, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
That’s true to some degree, but I know plenty of older ‘traditional’ and religious couples (like, all of my grandparents) where the husband is just along for the ride most of the time.
My sister and her husband do that, with all decisions being his final say. Scot’s no dummy tho’. He knows damn well which decision will make his life miserable and if it’s not that important to him, he goes with Leslie’s opinion…
Good on Hank! I mean, no sign of regrets for treating people he’s never met like dirt, but at least as far as demanding his daughter stay away from them, he can agree to disagree. Definitely the better option…but “reasonable”, really?
That seems way too mild a backdown after they “took it to Jesus.” When did she magically become an adult in the evening after they dragged her away in the morning? She wasn’t any less combative on the issue then.
Maybe, but in the morning, they weren’t all “you’re an adult, you can make your own decisions.” She was a wayward child.
The only thing I can figure here is that in the morning, they were in the privacy of her room and now, they’re in public where her “rebellion” puts them in an awkward place.
So they can put a good face on it now, when there are people around, but there will be a reckoning later (“Pick your battles,” Joshua said; that implies to me that a reckoning will come, so the fight had better be worth it), where if they’d been isolated again, I doubt very much she gets the “you’re an adult” treatment.
I think it was easier for them to feel like they were being Christian when Dorothy’s family was far away and they could talk about Satanic influences without attaching a face to it.
Now that the atheists are there in the room, Joyce is right that they’re just being rude to strangers. And that’s not Christian.
Yeah, like that has ever stopped anybody. If you’re being rude to the strangers because you think they’re the spawn of satan, the fact that they’re present isn’t going to slow you down, it’s going to kick you into gear.
No, the difference is that Joyce went in swinging a Bible this time. That they can’t dismiss.
I do find that there’s a difference between having no respect for some faceless group and having no respect for a member of said group right in front of you.
Especially when said daughter is making a faith based decision; it would be very difficult for them to make an argument against what she just said to them that wasn’t transparently hypocritical. Just because they’re fundies doesn’t automatically mean they’re lacking *that* much self-awareness.
I think it makes sense. Joyce’s initial arguments regarding Dorothy were secular – she’s a good person, she’s my best friend, bla bla bla. Since Papa Brown thought the Bible condemned their friendship, it seemed like Joyce was letting secular reasoning and personal desire win out over the word of God. But Joyce explained that it’s actually the word of God that inspires her friendship with Dorothy – it’s not faith vs. friendship at all.
Big difference between “kid turning away from the Bible” and “kid interpreting the Bible differently”.
I think you nailed it, TSB. I’m glad that once Joyce used Biblical arguments (and thus showed that she hadn’t turned her back on her faith for the sake of her friend), she was at least able to get through to her Dad, even though her Mom still seems rather unhappy about it.
I think you’ve called that correctly. Part of the problem with religious folks (myself included) is that we can be touchy and sometimes down right grouchy in the way we express ourselves when it comes to our faith. Part of that is the fact that we believe in something we can never prove to you, yet we’re supposed to testify to our belief, and sometimes we fail miserably in presenting a decent example. That being said, this was the ending I was hoping for, but in the back of my mind I had a feeling the opposite was going to happen because that seemed what a lot of people were hoping for, and it would have been easy to do. I started posting here in the hope of showing a different view point. Maybe I should have had more faith.
Most Christian sects believe in voluntary salvation, where asking Jesus will extend God’s grace. Avoiding non-believers almost says you don’t want them to have a chance to be saved.
I think it’s more likely for the comic to follow Joyce to a different school, writing everyone else, than for her to be written out of the comic. She’s the autobiographical one, remember?
Or it could fork into two storylines, following Dorothy and Billie and Amber and so on as they learn and grow at Indiana University, and Joyce and Becky as they descend into hedonism and debauchery at Bible school.
And again, why on Earth do you think a girl, with good grades, going to school in state, and willing to work hard for what she believes in would have to leave if her parrents stop paying? Yes, it is $40k a year, but as long as you get yourself declared independent so your parrent’s money isn’t counted, most of that either gets covered by loans or paid by grants and scholarships.
God i love this comic.
No drama, just emotional advancement and conflict resolution with one panel of witty comic relief.
Now all we need is a strip of Joshua doing something gay and I’ll be 150% satisfied with this story line.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (I still suspect something’s up….but meanwhile…)…Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww …
Obviously “your brother Jordan” helps for expositional purposes, to remind folks who this Jordan guy is who’s been mentioned only once before, but I swear my mom uses the words “your brother Stephen” like all the time to refer to, well, my brother Stephen.
or they were clarifying which non-present brother they were talking about, or they have a lot of jordan’s in the extended family. on my mom’s side of the family we have 3 william’s (my brother, my deceased uncle, and my deceased grandfather), 4 if you count my cousin’s middle name (except he goes by DW so it’s not an issue, so much). granted, with two of them dead (may they rest in peace), clarification when discussing current familial events isn’t really necessary…
but it was kind of funny that one time at a restaurant when i was ordering, and my mom took my distraction as opportunity to joke to my aforementioned cousin about my brother being referred to as “uncle will” one day. it was a proper sitcom moment, i did a doubletake and said “wait, what?” and everything. (she knows i’m never having kids, if i can help it; being asexual kind of helps a lot with that particular life…ungoal…i guess.)
but yeah, what willis said was probably what that was about.
Awwww. I was hoping they were going to be really, really awful in having their judgement challenged, such that the comments section would explode again. I was hoping for conflict and disruption and Joyce receiving new incite into just how brainwashed her parents are.
It’s as if Gandalf and Aragorn rode to the Black Gate and they and Sauron politely settled their differences over a cup of tea. Sure, a lot more people walk away alive, but man if it doesn’t leave you feel a bit deflated.
I have witnesses a similar situation in real life….the parents werent thrilled, but both recognized that their son had grown up…and also realized that his decisions were made for the right reasons, as was Joyce’s….
Mom might not be thrilled now, but i imagine deep inside both parents have to be pleased that Joyce took her beliefs and used them the right way…to include, rather than exclude (and for the record, the best friend at the time was gay and this was the 1970s…..a HUGE leap in those years….)
I’d mentioned that they all had J names, but I’d not named them until this DoA storyline. (Though if we’re talking the Walkyverse, I’d still need two more.)
Since you’ve chosen the “Biblical names beginning with J” category, there’s always Jeremiah (although you’ve already assigned that one to Dorothy’s father), Jonah, Jesse, Jacob, Jared, Jedediah, Jesse, Jason, James, and Jethro, just to name a few.
It sounds almost like it could be a celtic girl’s name or something. I wonder if I can convince any of the people around me who will imminently pass from slightly embarrassed fuckbuddies to newly minted parents to name their kid that without them realising what it means.
Natasliah. It’s ethnic. It means “glory to the bringer of light”.
Looks more Hebrew than Celtic to me. Not enough vowels to be Gaelic and too many to be Welsh.
Also, “any of the people around me who will imminently pass from slightly embarrassed fuckbuddies to newly minted parents” is basically the perfect thing from a Mary avie. Congrats for that.
“Hail Satan, hail Satan, hail hail hail, Satan, Satan. Satan hail! Satan Satan Satan Satan Satan? Hail Hail. Ha-ha-ha-hail! Satan-tan hail Satan Satan Hail Satan Satan.”
Obviously, Joyce’s parents love the letter J. And I just now remembered what you said about the characters retaining their personalities. Joyce’s parents weren’t all that unreasonable in the other comics that I can remember/
I’m guessing that mom and dad don’t always see eye to eye. Not just with their children but with each other, plus I have to see what grab roulette gives me today.
Well for me at least…I stayed the same gender. Lol
I am pleased with my current gravatar…my previous one, “Danny” resembled me more physically (except my having glasses)
But “Walky” is more closer to my actual personality.
Speak for yourself, I think I’ve been female for about the last four changes now. Might have spent a short while as Mike before that, but that might have been a body dysphoria fever dream.
OK, if they are going to keep changing, I’ll actually register for one. It’s just with four emails, three blogs, two facebook accounts, four different Google accounts, three Amazon log ins – I am tired of new accounts. Bunch of those are work related, but even so.
Good for Mr. Brown, however, I agree that maybe it is only a public show of forgiveness and if not, then very good for him.
Mrs. Brown however is not forgetting or forgiving., look at that face.
Joyce did good. I am not in any way a religious person, but I can see where the way she used the Bible in her ref’s. made a good point with her father anyway…she used what she’d been taught to explain why she was going to do just what she felt she had to do.
Any parent should be happy with a kid who does it this way. Except Joyce’s mom.
I don’t think assertive is the right angle to try, though… any assertiveness would look like “Yeah my atheism totally brainwashed your daughter! Suck it!”
Not really. She can at least ask to be treated like a human being, and not like she’s Hellspawn or something. Joyce’s parents really crossed a line in basic decency here, why doesn’t Deborah call them out for that?
Maybe because she feels her daughter has been through enough drama with the Browns already and wishes for this awkward scenario to end altogether so they can go their separate ways. She’s probably a lot more worried about Dorothy’s stress levels than how she herself is being perceived in the eyes of religious fundamentalists.
As an atheist you learn that even if you’re the nicest, most well behaved person in the world everything you say or due will be absolutely horrifying to fundies.
Or worse, “Allah akbar”.
“How about we go out for dinner and a sal allah allay we sallam”
“Then later we can go to our bedroom and mafeesh allah illa allah”.
uh…because they’re not? deborah’s been very un-conga-like so far. also mike’s parents probably drove an RV so she could offer freshly baked cookies to go with ALL OF THE HUGS.
although technically i guess amber’s mom got a little more mileage out of hers this time around, if you want to be literal.
I was hoping it would turn out something like this, but I didn’t think it actually would. Usually hoping is the opposite of predicting when it comes to this comic.
Isn’t Deborah religious though? Would that be a problem to Carol, or is it more of a ‘you let this heathen choose atheism without correcting her’ or something?
ohhhh. nvm. please disregard both of these comments (and also I love your webcomic and it gives me another reason to look forward to each morning, thank you)
To quote Cthulhu himself (from Ask Cthulhu): “Do you have nine tongues? Is your mouth more than six feet wide? Then give it up, it’s an alien language kid, you’ll never get it.”
“Pick your fights” — Dad is doing just that. He already “took it to Jesus” so why should he sustain an ugly, unpleasant confrontation that will only result in greater pain for everyone. Also he knows his children have to learn to deal with regular life (in the Xtian parlance: Be IN the World, not OF the World).
Also, by standing up and momentarily leaving her mom speechless, Joyce gave him an opening to be the one who takes the lead instead of his wife, and actively play the Good Cop role. Which he probably wanted to all along.
So does her dad suspect that Jordan is gay? Because I know that’s been hinted at in the last few weeks. Or maybe their dad just knows he’s a more “open spirit” in the family.
Jordan’s the gay one? Are you confusing him with Joshua? ‘Cuz all we know about Jordan is that he’s too Jordan to visit Joyce, and he’s “individualistic”.
Also, um… am I the only one who thinks third panel Carol is the cutest we’ve ever seen her? Like seriously, she’s kind of adorable, in that kicked puppy sort of way.
Alright I’m going to be a bit offtopic here but I just started re-reading the comic and I have some questions.
Now I might dislike Dorothy’s whole being, starting from character design to personality, but what really bothers me is that she seemingly broke up with Danny because she wants to transfer to Yale later on. I don’t understand this reasoning. How would the girl going to a different uni be such a huge barrier in a relationship? I assume she doesn’t love him anymore, alright, but she never ever mentioned this, in fact it was the exact opposite, she said she loves him and worries for him.
And then later on she gets into a relationship with a guy who’s almost equally as emotinally unavailable and autismal as Danny.
Why?
Yeah, that was my interpretation as well. Dorothy is an extremely career-driven and moral person, and she wouldn’t like someone to spend his life just hanging around and wasting his life waiting for her. And Danny would do just that. There was a HUGE emotional imbalance in that relationship.
Walky is a different story. He is, like she says, just for fun. He is not overly invested, and he likely won’t become so. He’s an independent person. It won’t break him when she leaves (like it would Danny), and he won’t destroy all else in his life to follow her (like Danny would).
Danny needs something who’ll match him in relationship investment. And Dorothy needs someone as independent as she is.
The difference is that Danny was completely obsessed with Dorothy to the point of not having a life of his own. He came to this school just to follow her, and was intent on following her the rest of his life. Which, in addition to being sad for him, was probably really off-putting to Dorothy. The fact that she said she worries about him wasn’t because she wanted to still be in a relationship but because she was worried that he might take the breakup badly and become depressed instead of picking up his own life separately from hers.
Walky, however, has his own life and once he got used to her enough to not freak out, it turned out he could be clever and confident as well. He doesn’t want to make his entire life about Dorothy, he just wants to be her boyfriend and have fun and hang out and stuff. She wasn’t even planning to turn around find another boyfriend that was better than Danny, it just kind of happened, and without the huge emotional baggage that Danny carried around with him.
Danny is an unambitious, inert lump.
To love somebody and be concerned about them isn’t the same as “being in love” marriage-wise. It really isn’t a binary thing, there are different levels.
Joe already recognized it was over during the summer and tried to tell Danny, but Danny wasn’t hearing any of it.
Danny’s dream is to be carried by Dorothy, that all he needs to do was love. Even his dad knows how utterly passive his dream is.
I agree with most of what people above said, but want to add that I don’t think Danny was obsessed with Dorothy. I think he was obsessed with the fantasy relationship he had invented in his head that he happened to have cast Dorothy in the starring role of… despite the fact that his fantasy had little to no bearing on reality. And Dorothy wasn’t interested in Danny’s fantasy world. She has real goals and ambitions, and is taking real steps towards achieving them. (Even if she falls short, she’s still actively working in that direction.) And when Danny insisted on ignoring Dorothy’s real ambitions and real feelings and real actions in favor of his fantasy about how he thought things were supposed to happen, she dumped his ass.
And he couldn’t understand that she was dumping him even while she was doing it, because it didn’t fit into his little fantasy scenario.
He’s doing the same thing with Amber now. It’s a different girl and a different fantasy, but he’s still obsessing over his fantasy scenario to the exclusion of actually paying attention to the actual girl.
Dorothy, on the other hand, has found someone who, however unambitious he may be, is dealing with her, not with some imagined fantasy girl wearing Dorothy’s face as a mask.
She dislikes Danny because he’s clingy, wants her to settle down with him, and actually asked her to reconsider her dreams. In short, she’s just not that into him.
He also lacks all ambition and drive.
In addition to what you said, his dream was to get his degree and then update patches on her computer (when she was president), something a kid could do. Then they have sex.
Even Danny’s father recognizes this. He tells Danny to stick with her because she is going places. That is, you aren’t doing to do much but it’s going to be pretty good riding her coattails.
This is a reversal of classic gender roles and similar to what Joyce wants to do. Then again, those are my two least favorite characters.
Wait, are Dorothy’s parents atheists or just Dorothy? It IS possible for families to not be shattered by this. In mine, I just say, “well, you’ll owe me a Coke when we reach Heaven.”
“What happens if there’s nothing?”
“Well, then I suspect I’ll certainly look foolish.”
That’s more like the Hank I thought I knew. Hoping Carol just needs a moment to process this, because my threshold of pain for bat shit insane douchebaggery is just about reached.
Dorothy’s mom and dad aren’t heathen, exactly. They are Christian and let their daughter decide what was right for her.
So not Christian enough or whatever.
I’ve never seen people so sheepish about being atheist.
Saying “Hail Satan” backwards is actually quite hard. Especially the “t” is very hard to do; you have to say something like (but not quite) “nashdas li-eh”.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
AND THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE, BY OUR LOVE,
YES, THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE.
Jordan is one of those Hippie Drifter, dippie hrifter all loving pastors who probably officiates gay weddings as well as those for people who dont speak english and are from other cultures! Isnt he?!
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
confirming that the reason there's been no Galaxy Version female characters in Blokees until now is that they felt they needed to make Round Lady Thighs For Ladies
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 17h
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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“ATHEIST HARBORER”
I’m pretty sure she’s *also* an atheist…?
“ATHEIST HARBORER WHO’S ALSO AN ATHEIST”
She’s Catholic
You aren’t helping her cause right now.
Well, that’s kind of sweet. -holds breath-
…
Bee tee Dubs, i was sexually assaulted a few weeks ago and have taken no action in this regard aside from pretending it didn’t happen. figured i’d tell you this while we were on this “i’m an adult” thing
0_o wut?
Happened to Joyce in the story line awhile back.
Or:
“My boyfriend is gay, but it’s ok! I’m going to fix him, and he’s not going to be attracted to me!”
“My boyfriend is gay, and him and Joshua seem to really connect, y’know? Wonder what that’s about…”
“There’s this super cool biker chick, and I just want to brush her soft, luxurious hair for hours and hours… -sigh-“
Oh, or: “Hank, I want a divorce.”
Carol: “Who’s this ‘biker chick’?”
Joyce: “Oh, she’s really cool. Her name is Sal. Sal Walkerton.”
Linda: “Weird, that’s our last name, too.”
Walky: *head explodes*
Almost. Guy got hit with a glass and bat first.
i did not expect this
D’aww? Is this Feels or not? I’m confused…
I rule this…
Feels. *Bangs gavel*
Youngest only daughter.
Oh my gosh, ACTUAL ADULTS BEING MATURE!
IT’S A CONSPIRACY!!!
Reminds me of the roomies strip with sal and joe
“Tell me miss dingo, what’s the difference between preschool and high school again?”
I do not know this strip. I feel like I should, given that I’ve read all of them.
Technically, it wasn’t published until recently.
http://www.bringbackroomies.com/comic/boop-boop/
Ms. Dingo is still the best name. She needs to make a reappearance.
Actual dad being mature.
Mom still looks like she’s going to rip some heads off.
It seems to be a pattern that the moms are worse than the dads. Sal’s parents, Ethan’s parents, Joyce’s parents… I guess it takes a lot in that column to balance out Blaine.
If Robin and Roz’s parent’s are like the ones in Shortpacked!, then they’re probably the exception too.
Well, sort of. I suspect Dorothy isn’t going to get an apology for their behavior anytime soon.
Aww, so sweet, at least from Dad.
that’s how you can tell he’s not a real proud ‘merican god-fearing man.
statue picking Joyce’s nose
More like shoving 8 fingers up Joyce’s nose hole.
I find that’s one of the best ways to pick someones nose.
How big is your nose hole anyway?
That sounds dirty.
Well, the nose does have boogers.
So l-lewd.
Did he pick a winner?
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Don’t ask me how she got a whole chicken dinner up there.
(I am very tired)
Doo dah, doo dah.
Hank, you are almost like a normal parent there. Stop it. It makes me think you are possessed by the devil.
As opposed to the anti-devil? Wait, anti-christ, christ…. Would the anti-devil be god?
No. The anti-devil is Richard Simmons.
TOO HAPPY!!!! MORE PATHOS!!!! NOW!!! I DEMAND IT!!!
Angst for the angst god! Feels for the feels throne!
TEARS FOR THE TEARS FOUNTAIN
Feels for the Feels Fountain!
KETCHUP FOR THE KHORNE DOGS
LET THEIR ARTERIES DROWN IN IT
LET THE ARTERY CLOG!
Things stopped being terrible!
This is the most relieved I have ever been by an anticlimax.
Willis warned us that yesterday’s strip was not the climax. While this would be a good resolve (or at least a hook to hang this on for now and then come back to it later), I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Bill: “Willis warned us that yesterday’s strip was not the climax. While this would be a good resolve (or at least a hook to hang this on for now and then come back to it later), I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Hank (flashback): “But like him you’re an adult now and can make your own decisions…”
Hank (next strip sneak peak): “… which is why your mother and I are going to do the responsible thing for your growth as an adult and stop funding your education experience at this place so that you may be even more of an adult and continue to grow.”
Joyce’s mom does not look very pleased at any of this.
Fortunately, women are frequently subordinate to men in religiously fundamentalist subcultures (not just Christianity, mind, and often worse outside it) and she knows her place, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
That’s true to some degree, but I know plenty of older ‘traditional’ and religious couples (like, all of my grandparents) where the husband is just along for the ride most of the time.
In their theory, sure. In practice, people’s actual personalities are what determines the power dynamics of their relationship like 90% of the time.
~Fondly thinks back to my step-uncle who claimed total manly dominance over his wife/children despite having no actual power in the house~
“I decide the important things, like who should be president, while my wife decides the unimportant things, like where we should live.”
I’m the MAN of the house. I can hide wherever I want to.
hahahah gravatar Ethan is saying that, yay.
“The problem is that my husband is ALSO the man of the house. Let me think about this for a minute…”
I’m torn. On the one hand I find that repellant, and on the other I adore it.
And now I feel bad. Fuck.
Bloody hell! I’ve been revealed! My stark, naked Englishness has been captured in full view of the public!
Publically. Behind the scenes things are different.
And unforgiving.
Or, in other words, two wrongs are making a right!
And three rights make a left!
She’s tired of her dispondant kids having healthy relationships with heathans.
If anything, Carol looks completely bewildered that there is any sort of tolerance going on here.
My sister and her husband do that, with all decisions being his final say. Scot’s no dummy tho’. He knows damn well which decision will make his life miserable and if it’s not that important to him, he goes with Leslie’s opinion…
Isn’t that usual for the kids to rebel against the folks? BTW, Deborah, one step at a time.
What’s this? Joyce’s parents actually being reasonable? Well, I’ll be!
Well at least one parent…
Yeah… her mom seems to be on the verge of an oration.
I think they make a topical ointment for that now.
One of them at least.
Shutting up, waiting, and listening seems sort of reasonable.
Completely refusing to engage with a person who’s talking directly to you and has done nothing wrong to you is not reasonable. It’s rude.
Good on Hank! I mean, no sign of regrets for treating people he’s never met like dirt, but at least as far as demanding his daughter stay away from them, he can agree to disagree. Definitely the better option…but “reasonable”, really?
Aaww, this is so cool.
Oh good, her parents (or at least her dad) respect her right to make her own decisions.
YOU MAY RESUME BREATHING.
Too late
*dead.*
YOTOMOE!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
On the bright side, we don’t have to suffer through any more No Yay!
Oh sweet child of summer..
Oh, honey…
Yotomoe? YOTOMOE!
YOTTTOOOMOOOOOE!!!!
That seems way too mild a backdown after they “took it to Jesus.” When did she magically become an adult in the evening after they dragged her away in the morning? She wasn’t any less combative on the issue then.
It’s one thing to ‘gently’ correct their daughter’s behavior through faith than it is to have their daughter basically spit in their faces
Maybe, but in the morning, they weren’t all “you’re an adult, you can make your own decisions.” She was a wayward child.
The only thing I can figure here is that in the morning, they were in the privacy of her room and now, they’re in public where her “rebellion” puts them in an awkward place.
So they can put a good face on it now, when there are people around, but there will be a reckoning later (“Pick your battles,” Joshua said; that implies to me that a reckoning will come, so the fight had better be worth it), where if they’d been isolated again, I doubt very much she gets the “you’re an adult” treatment.
I think it was easier for them to feel like they were being Christian when Dorothy’s family was far away and they could talk about Satanic influences without attaching a face to it.
Now that the atheists are there in the room, Joyce is right that they’re just being rude to strangers. And that’s not Christian.
Yeah, like that has ever stopped anybody. If you’re being rude to the strangers because you think they’re the spawn of satan, the fact that they’re present isn’t going to slow you down, it’s going to kick you into gear.
No, the difference is that Joyce went in swinging a Bible this time. That they can’t dismiss.
I do find that there’s a difference between having no respect for some faceless group and having no respect for a member of said group right in front of you.
(This also explains 90% of the Internet.)
I think some of it was that before she hadn’t quite crossed that invisible line.
Especially when said daughter is making a faith based decision; it would be very difficult for them to make an argument against what she just said to them that wasn’t transparently hypocritical. Just because they’re fundies doesn’t automatically mean they’re lacking *that* much self-awareness.
You’d be surprised.
I think it makes sense. Joyce’s initial arguments regarding Dorothy were secular – she’s a good person, she’s my best friend, bla bla bla. Since Papa Brown thought the Bible condemned their friendship, it seemed like Joyce was letting secular reasoning and personal desire win out over the word of God. But Joyce explained that it’s actually the word of God that inspires her friendship with Dorothy – it’s not faith vs. friendship at all.
Big difference between “kid turning away from the Bible” and “kid interpreting the Bible differently”.
That’s actually a good point. I hadn’t considered it that way.
I think you nailed it, TSB. I’m glad that once Joyce used Biblical arguments (and thus showed that she hadn’t turned her back on her faith for the sake of her friend), she was at least able to get through to her Dad, even though her Mom still seems rather unhappy about it.
Woah, this is a really interesting take on it. Hadn’t even thought about it like that.
I think you’ve called that correctly. Part of the problem with religious folks (myself included) is that we can be touchy and sometimes down right grouchy in the way we express ourselves when it comes to our faith. Part of that is the fact that we believe in something we can never prove to you, yet we’re supposed to testify to our belief, and sometimes we fail miserably in presenting a decent example. That being said, this was the ending I was hoping for, but in the back of my mind I had a feeling the opposite was going to happen because that seemed what a lot of people were hoping for, and it would have been easy to do. I started posting here in the hope of showing a different view point. Maybe I should have had more faith.
Most Christian sects believe in voluntary salvation, where asking Jesus will extend God’s grace. Avoiding non-believers almost says you don’t want them to have a chance to be saved.
This time Joyce took it to god first and went all in. That’s more than combative.
Well someone still has to pay Joyce’s tuition else she’d have to be written out of the comic.
I think it’s more likely for the comic to follow Joyce to a different school, writing everyone else, than for her to be written out of the comic. She’s the autobiographical one, remember?
writing out everyone else*
Not that I think either is particularly likely
Or it could fork into two storylines, following Dorothy and Billie and Amber and so on as they learn and grow at Indiana University, and Joyce and Becky as they descend into hedonism and debauchery at Bible school.
And again, why on Earth do you think a girl, with good grades, going to school in state, and willing to work hard for what she believes in would have to leave if her parrents stop paying? Yes, it is $40k a year, but as long as you get yourself declared independent so your parrent’s money isn’t counted, most of that either gets covered by loans or paid by grants and scholarships.
I dunno how “home-schooled” affects the financial aid situation.
Four for you Mr. Brown you go Mr. Brown andnoneforMrs.Brownbye
So, how soon until the other shoe drops?
Next week..in DoA time.
AKA 2014.
It already dropped. Dorothy kicked it across the hall.
Where’s Danny when you need his shoes?
Replace every line she’s had in the comic so far with just Hail satan.
End replace Deborah with a demon infested teddy bear.
Yay! YGOTAS reference.
God i love this comic.
No drama, just emotional advancement and conflict resolution with one panel of witty comic relief.
Now all we need is a strip of Joshua doing something gay and I’ll be 150% satisfied with this story line.
AUGH
MY GRAVATAR
WHY
WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN IT
Leave 50 grand in unmarked bills behind the laundromat or you will never see it again!
Don’t do it!! He’s kill him anyway!!
( He’ll )-stupid auto correct
You know, he could just be an atheist.
don’t you dare sink our ships
But! But! The mortars and the torpedoes. They were on sale.
And what am I supposed to do with the mines now?
Wait, I know! Use them to destroy the SS Fazina!
Yotomoe won’t mind, he’s dead.
I think it would be good if Joshua turned out to be a Muslim, actually. Considering how just how few Islamic people there are in fiction.
Jordan is a occultist, obviously.
Maybe he converted to Judiasm. That would really stick it to them.
And it would make Ethan want to stick it to HIM even more.
*ba dum tss*
Alright at least the dad can be a reasonable person. Jury is still out on the mother though. Kinda want her slapped a few times. Just for fun.
You can’t just slap people you don’t agree with. Keep your pimp hand weak, my friend.
Thought you were dead Yotomoe, and I love pimp slaping people I diaagree with.
Your enjoyment if it doesn’t make it okay. (Yay! Yotomoe’s not dead!)
*of
Natas Liah, Deborah! Loud and proud!
Ah, crap, I’m Danny now.
Could be worse. I’m not sure how, but it could.
It could’ve been Mary
Yeah… it could’ve…
>_>
~whistle~
Mary’s expression here makes this comment hilarious. It’s like she’s being judgmental and disapproving of herself.
The only way it could possibly be worse is if it was Blaine!
(Please Willis do not add Blaine)
Don’t tempt him – next week all the gravatars will have been replaced with jerks. With parents day he’s built up enough of them now to pull it off.
Joyce’s mom still ain’t havin’ any of this.
…Amber said, staring at her own chest.
Now’s the time Josh!
Then Carol says “DIE SATAN!!” and blows her away with a Desert Eagle.
And then, Deborah pulled out 2 Desert Eagle and said “Not today!”
Since they both held the guns gangster style, they both miss.
And hit some random dude…or Blaine.
They hit Joshua, then Eathan yells, NOOOOOOOO!!!!
Suddenly … FRIGGIN DOVES
John Woo presents: DUMBING OF AGE!
I TOLD YOU CAROL WAS A GANGSTA!!!!
and, if gangster-style is sideways, and they’re pistols not revolvers, eject casings into their own faces. Gangster-style is stupid.
Personally, I prefer my gangster-style old-school. Tommy gun with a drum magazine from a sedan with running boards.
Don’t forget your fedora. It’s integral to being a proper gangster.
I dunno… I wouldn’t want people to think I was an MRA.
If you’re two-handing it gangster-style, does that mean the left-hand gun shoots casings into your crotch?
“I like trains”
“Oh no-no-no-no-wait-!”
Did Carol just lose 50 pounds out of sheer shock between panels 1 and 2? She suddenly looks very gaunt…
Accepting people is killing her inside. Literally.
OH, that’s the real plan, isn’t it?
“We accept your choice, Joyce. Unless, of course, God disagrees…”
“AURGH! SUDDEN PAIN AND WEIGHT LOSS!”
“LOOK WHAT YOU MADE GOD DO, JOYCE! REJECT THESE ATHEISTS BEFORE YOU KILL YOUR MOTHER!”
…..
actually….
I think only her Dad feels this way….
looking at her Mom, she’s seems pretty irate
Some of us when expecting this, and some of us where expecting to open up the dragons gate
Personally, I was expecting the dragon’s gate. But I much prefer this.
FE reference? If so, I applaud you.
Still better than that “Hail Mary” nonsense.
“Why yes. It’s like you have satanic Tourette’s syndrome.”
Well I’m so-Hail Satan-rry.
I’d be soooo tempted to ask Carol ‘So, uh, wanna go suck cocks in hell or something?” in the growly voice from The Exorcist.
Well, go, Joyce’s Dad. He seems like an OK guy.
Compared to other dad’s that we seen so far, he could be a shoe in for the Father of the Year award.
I’m sure Dorothy’s Dad is going to win this year.
Sierra’s!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (I still suspect something’s up….but meanwhile…)…Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww …
Cue “adult” decisions
Joyce doesn’t appear to know Jordon very well, especially given it seems Hank had to inform her that Jordon’s her brother.
I’m assuming they sent Jordon away for “reeducation”.
Obviously “your brother Jordan” helps for expositional purposes, to remind folks who this Jordan guy is who’s been mentioned only once before, but I swear my mom uses the words “your brother Stephen” like all the time to refer to, well, my brother Stephen.
Of course, we do know a lot of Stephens.
That’s something I hear often with people who have fairly common names.
I avoided this entirely by not having siblings.
or they were clarifying which non-present brother they were talking about, or they have a lot of jordan’s in the extended family. on my mom’s side of the family we have 3 william’s (my brother, my deceased uncle, and my deceased grandfather), 4 if you count my cousin’s middle name (except he goes by DW so it’s not an issue, so much). granted, with two of them dead (may they rest in peace), clarification when discussing current familial events isn’t really necessary…
but it was kind of funny that one time at a restaurant when i was ordering, and my mom took my distraction as opportunity to joke to my aforementioned cousin about my brother being referred to as “uncle will” one day. it was a proper sitcom moment, i did a doubletake and said “wait, what?” and everything. (she knows i’m never having kids, if i can help it; being asexual kind of helps a lot with that particular life…ungoal…i guess.)
but yeah, what willis said was probably what that was about.
As part of a family with about 10 variants of Jim or James, I second this
“i’m never having kids, if i can help it”
This is a very amusing sequence of words.
Haven’t you ever heard of accidental insemination? It’s quite the serious problem.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Jordan was one of those kids who just couldn’t leave home fast enough.
Awwww. I was hoping they were going to be really, really awful in having their judgement challenged, such that the comments section would explode again. I was hoping for conflict and disruption and Joyce receiving new incite into just how brainwashed her parents are.
It’s as if Gandalf and Aragorn rode to the Black Gate and they and Sauron politely settled their differences over a cup of tea. Sure, a lot more people walk away alive, but man if it doesn’t leave you feel a bit deflated.
don’t worry, willis said this isn’t anticlimactic because the climax hasn’t happened yet.
this is a willis comic, no matter how heartwarming things get, they’ll probably get worse quickly enough.
Am I the only one concerned that her mother doesn’t look happy?
I do not trust this. But I do not trust much.
I have witnesses a similar situation in real life….the parents werent thrilled, but both recognized that their son had grown up…and also realized that his decisions were made for the right reasons, as was Joyce’s….
Mom might not be thrilled now, but i imagine deep inside both parents have to be pleased that Joyce took her beliefs and used them the right way…to include, rather than exclude (and for the record, the best friend at the time was gay and this was the 1970s…..a HUGE leap in those years….)
JoyceMom does not look pleased.
She has that “You’re not my daughter anymore” look. Or it could be “My daughter has been corrupted.”
Why not both?
“You are not my corrupted daughter anymore”? Hm. That looks awkward.
You’re just like your brother, Joyce. That’s why Ethan likes you so much.
No, they said she’s like Jordan, not Joshua. Through there is enough of a similarity to perk Ethan’s interest.
We now have Joyce, Joshua, and Jordan. Whoever it was that first commented about alliterative names seems to be right.
The other brother is Jonathan.
Joshua already told us all the names: Jonathan, Joshua, Jordan, Joyce.
Weren’t they already named in the Walkyverse? I’m pretty sure it was at least mentioned somewhere that they all have J names.
I’d mentioned that they all had J names, but I’d not named them until this DoA storyline. (Though if we’re talking the Walkyverse, I’d still need two more.)
If I’m not reading this strip wrong, you named the oldest brother in the Walkyverse “Bobby”.
Full name: Jrobert.
It could have been a middle name. Or one of those weird nicknames that everyone, including your parents just pick up…
Bob is a nickname for Robert sometimes (don’t ask me why), and further extrapolated could become Bobby?
Best possible response.
why would anyone name their kid bobby brown
It’s better than Dick Lesse!
‘cuz it’s their perogative? Why can’t you just let them live? They don’t need your permission to make their own decisions. (etc)
You dont know who Bobby Brown is, do you tahrey?
Frank Zappa fans?
“Don’t make me come over there, Moon Unit!”
Watch me now. I’m goin’ down.
Since you’ve chosen the “Biblical names beginning with J” category, there’s always Jeremiah (although you’ve already assigned that one to Dorothy’s father), Jonah, Jesse, Jacob, Jared, Jedediah, Jesse, Jason, James, and Jethro, just to name a few.
Joseph
John
Let’s not forget Jehoshaphat!
Judas
Somehow, I don’t think they’d pick that one.
No, but it’s been Jordan’s nickname for a while
MOOD WHIPLASH!
Let’s see what my home PC’s gravatar is…
It seems to be the anti-Danny.
Say it fast enough, and people will think you’re speaking German or something.
Deborah: Hail Satan! Hail Satan!
Joyce: Ice Cream does sound nice, Mom.
Actually, it’s “!nataS liaH”
Nah, Punctuation isn’t scrambled; Natas laih!
It sounds almost like it could be a celtic girl’s name or something. I wonder if I can convince any of the people around me who will imminently pass from slightly embarrassed fuckbuddies to newly minted parents to name their kid that without them realising what it means.
Natasliah. It’s ethnic. It means “glory to the bringer of light”.
Brilliant.
I love it.
Looks more Hebrew than Celtic to me. Not enough vowels to be Gaelic and too many to be Welsh.
Also, “any of the people around me who will imminently pass from slightly embarrassed fuckbuddies to newly minted parents” is basically the perfect thing from a Mary avie. Congrats for that.
“Hail Satan, hail Satan, hail hail hail, Satan, Satan. Satan hail! Satan Satan Satan Satan Satan? Hail Hail. Ha-ha-ha-hail! Satan-tan hail Satan Satan Hail Satan Satan.”
“Don’t try to argue with her, Mom”
Yes, Deborah, yes it does.
Acceptance. Yesss.
Megatron? Is that you?
Man, Joyce’s mom looks she just aged twenty years.
On the plus side, Hank has become somewhat higher in my estimation of him as a parent. It’s not easy to let go.
Oh my God, I love Dorothy’s mom, Deborah. She is a hoot! Otoh, Mrs. Brown looks as if her bone structure has collapsed into a pile of wrinkles.
She has become the epitome of wrinkle. Niether human nor woman. JUST WRINKLE.
little known fact, joyce’s mom is actually a shar-pei.
What are you people talking about? I count a couple little tickmarks under her eyes, and that’s it in the wrinkle department.
Please point out to me where these imaginary masses of wrinkles on her face supposedly are…?
And, er, nice avi btw. Whatsit?
A shockingly passable approximation of sanity! JoyceMom doesn’t look too happy about any of this, though.
Things worked out! Yay!
Natas Liah!
Yag s’nos rouy, osla.
Yawa htiw uoy, nomed!
Sdrawkcab drow laudividni hcae yas tsuj ew od ro, oot sdrawkcab ecnetnes eht yas ot desoppus ew era?
I t’nod wnok/wnok t’nod I.
Yretsym a si ti…
.kcigam si sdrawkcab gniklat :rebmemer tsuJ
!nataS liaH
.ylreporp ksamkcab ot woh wonk t’nod syad eseht sdik ,naM .sdrawkcab drocer eht yalp yeht nehw egassem cinataS ruoy raeh nac elpoep taht os sdrawkcab gniht elohw eht yas uoY
ssecnirp em esucxe llew
.oddik, pil ruoy fo yna su gnivig erofeb thgir ksamkcab\2nrL, zeeJ.
* Oddik
* zeej.
Ecivda nwo ym fo emos ekat dluohs I ssueg.
Syug gniyonna yllaer si siht
yojllik
ECYOJllik
Ecyoj llik t’nod, ooooon
I just want to say I like Dorothy and her parents a lot. Where do I find them in real life?
Yeesh, and now my grav’s Dottie. Talk about uncanny coincidences.
What Joyce’s mum hears: “Blah blah blah blah blah Hail Satan blah.”
“Bla Bla, Yap Yap, Dribble Dribble Dribble.”
“Cancer cancer cancer amputation cancer bald cancer.”
Blah blah blah MOM blah blah blah SATAN blah blah blah JORDAN blah blah blah SINNER blah blah blah ICE CREAM
Obviously, Joyce’s parents love the letter J. And I just now remembered what you said about the characters retaining their personalities. Joyce’s parents weren’t all that unreasonable in the other comics that I can remember/
I’m guessing that mom and dad don’t always see eye to eye. Not just with their children but with each other, plus I have to see what grab roulette gives me today.
Grav roulette is fun, but the gender changes come a little fast.
I was scrolling up really fast and read “[grav] roulette” as “gay roulette”.
…Yeah.
Well for me at least…I stayed the same gender. Lol
I am pleased with my current gravatar…my previous one, “Danny” resembled me more physically (except my having glasses)
But “Walky” is more closer to my actual personality.
So yeah, upgrade!
Speak for yourself, I think I’ve been female for about the last four changes now. Might have spent a short while as Mike before that, but that might have been a body dysphoria fever dream.
OK, if they are going to keep changing, I’ll actually register for one. It’s just with four emails, three blogs, two facebook accounts, four different Google accounts, three Amazon log ins – I am tired of new accounts. Bunch of those are work related, but even so.
But I want it now. Turns out that grav registration isn’t immediate.
Good for Mr. Brown, however, I agree that maybe it is only a public show of forgiveness and if not, then very good for him.
Mrs. Brown however is not forgetting or forgiving., look at that face.
Joyce did good. I am not in any way a religious person, but I can see where the way she used the Bible in her ref’s. made a good point with her father anyway…she used what she’d been taught to explain why she was going to do just what she felt she had to do.
Any parent should be happy with a kid who does it this way. Except Joyce’s mom.
Phew, I can breathe easy now for Joyce. Now I can focus my anxiety on Ethan’s impending outing.
This is wrapping nicely…. quickly someone mention the time she was drugged at a party!
What the Hell Joyce’s Mom??? What’s wrong with you and Deborah?
Something’s wrong with Deborah?
Someone’s name is Deborah???
Dotty’s momma, duh!
Well, she is a godless heathen.
I wanna see my baby Ruth again… even if the chance of her being bisexual is small.
???
What, I can’t be the only one who likes Ruth. Am I?
I’m mostly just confused about why there’s a small chance of Ruth being bi.
She’s been into guys and girls.
So you wouldn’t want to see her if she weren’t bi?
She must sound like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU9YM1Lfvt8
Nasat Laih!
Crap I screwed that up.
I meant Natas Laih!
HIAL TASAN!
He’ll be really confused by it.
I mean, jeez, he won’t know why you’re there OR what you’re doing, but even -I- don’t know how to hial someone.
http://llama.mshri.on.ca/~mtasan/
Don’t Tasan me bro
Plot twist! I dig this development.
Well that was… unexpected…
So… I’m Mary forever now, huh…
Fucking figures…
I think I’d take that as the cue to register a proper gravatar.
+10 Respect for Hank.
While this is nice, I don’t understand why Deborah isn’t at least a tiny bit more assertive.
I don’t think assertive is the right angle to try, though… any assertiveness would look like “Yeah my atheism totally brainwashed your daughter! Suck it!”
Not really. She can at least ask to be treated like a human being, and not like she’s Hellspawn or something. Joyce’s parents really crossed a line in basic decency here, why doesn’t Deborah call them out for that?
Maybe because she feels her daughter has been through enough drama with the Browns already and wishes for this awkward scenario to end altogether so they can go their separate ways. She’s probably a lot more worried about Dorothy’s stress levels than how she herself is being perceived in the eyes of religious fundamentalists.
honestly as an atheist you learn to not push too much get taken as an aggressor than someone who just wants to be respected
As an atheist you learn that even if you’re the nicest, most well behaved person in the world everything you say or due will be absolutely horrifying to fundies.
so many feels here. The look of sadness on the mom’s face, the feeling of bonding and paternal acceptance…
The incredibly awkward hand-shake…
Yay!
Somewhat more curious now about Jordon’s thought processes.
Speaking of which, the mental image of Joyce being descended from (‘taking after’) her brother is amusing.
Look on the bright side, Deborah, she could be hearing “Ph’nglui mgnl’wafh CTHULHU R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”.
AI! AI! CTHULHU FHTAGN! AI! AI! CTHULHU FHTAGN!
No, no, no! It’s “Iä!” Like if you saw a ghost, EE-yah!
Very nice “fhtagn”, though.
to be fair, when Cthulhu melts the last vestiges of your sanity like ice cream in a sauna, it’ll all sound the same anyway…
Or worse, “Allah akbar”.
“How about we go out for dinner and a sal allah allay we sallam”
“Then later we can go to our bedroom and mafeesh allah illa allah”.
I had to read all those words backwards, just to be sure they didn’t make sense that way.
you know I sort of expected Joyce’s dad to be reasonable. Most of it was her mom being a conga-
why are all the mom’s congas???? MAN
uh…because they’re not? deborah’s been very un-conga-like so far. also mike’s parents probably drove an RV so she could offer freshly baked cookies to go with ALL OF THE HUGS.
although technically i guess amber’s mom got a little more mileage out of hers this time around, if you want to be literal.
Mike’s mom has no respect for personal space or the word NO.
This is the most unrealistic thing that has ever happened in anything Willis has ever written. Ever. Period.
Hooray! Just as I predicted and stupidly didn’t tell anyone about!
I was hoping it would turn out something like this, but I didn’t think it actually would. Usually hoping is the opposite of predicting when it comes to this comic.
It felt far-fetched enough to be ludicrous. Expected unexpected plot twist!
Oh man I feel you Deborah.
wow, i guess i am the only one who read all of deborah’s lines in this strip backwards. you know, for funsies.
just to be sure.Actually, everything Deborah says sounds like “Hail Santa”.
Debbie like presents.
Sounds like a good time to link this.
Mom looks like she’s aged about 20 years in the last 5 minutes……………………………
Well, her little girl just grew all the way up, so 20 years isn’t that far away.
Isn’t Deborah religious though? Would that be a problem to Carol, or is it more of a ‘you let this heathen choose atheism without correcting her’ or something?
SMBC’s redbutton™ would totally have Joyce’s Mom’s inner thoughts right now. And it’d be great.
Every comic could use a red button.
Gah! Unexpected reasonableness!
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6100/j3kb.png
win
http://imageshack.com/a/img855/3092/4h6o.png
XD
I guess she might as well have said that
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/56/wecz.png
Carol’s take on an everyday conversation in the Keener family:
http://imageshack.com/a/img30/7232/chya.png
whoopsie, new link:
http://imageshack.com/a/img850/5236/tsa2.png
Okay, this one’s pretty funny
This comic needs a Satanist family now.
Obviously he’d say something like that in front of buncha strangers. I’ll reserve my judgement until they follow up on it in private.
Here’s to my sweet Satan!
Sweet Satan’s ass!
+1
I miss Casey & Andy at times…. Sexiest Satan in comicdom.
I’d tap that ass.
Hi! This is my first time commenting. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but how do I log in with my gravatar?
ohhhh. nvm. please disregard both of these comments (and also I love your webcomic and it gives me another reason to look forward to each morning, thank you)
ALL HAIL THE HYPNO-TOAD!
GLORY UNTO CUTHULU!
PRAISE THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!
If you’re going to give glory to Cthulhu, you really should learn how to spell his name.
Whoops
Yeah, but his name’s only a mash-up of letters in an attempt to approximate the sounds coming out of the Great Old Ones’ vocal chords.
To quote Cthulhu himself (from Ask Cthulhu): “Do you have nine tongues? Is your mouth more than six feet wide? Then give it up, it’s an alien language kid, you’ll never get it.”
All hail the mighty Glow Cloud?
ALL. HAIL.
How dare you forget the allmighty HYPNOCHIME!
“Pick your fights” — Dad is doing just that. He already “took it to Jesus” so why should he sustain an ugly, unpleasant confrontation that will only result in greater pain for everyone. Also he knows his children have to learn to deal with regular life (in the Xtian parlance: Be IN the World, not OF the World).
Also, by standing up and momentarily leaving her mom speechless, Joyce gave him an opening to be the one who takes the lead instead of his wife, and actively play the Good Cop role. Which he probably wanted to all along.
+1
*+10
See? Nothing DOES really matter! A zero made that 1 into a 10!
Or into a 2 if you’re using binary. XD
So does her dad suspect that Jordan is gay? Because I know that’s been hinted at in the last few weeks. Or maybe their dad just knows he’s a more “open spirit” in the family.
Nothing has been hinted about Jordan yet. We’ve never seen him.
Jordan’s the gay one? Are you confusing him with Joshua? ‘Cuz all we know about Jordan is that he’s too Jordan to visit Joyce, and he’s “individualistic”.
I think Joyce it too Joyce the way Joshua said Jordan was too Jordan.
Who reads Carol in Flander’s wife’s voice?
Also, um… am I the only one who thinks third panel Carol is the cutest we’ve ever seen her? Like seriously, she’s kind of adorable, in that kicked puppy sort of way.
I love it when adults act, ya know–LIKE ADULTS
instead of like unreasonable piles of prejudice
Deborah: Why, yes, I actually am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Natas ot liah!
Only just realized that Joyce and her siblings’ names all start with J… I may be a little slow.
I realized it when they appeared in her room but I was too afraid to ask
…is it because of Jesus?
This is why I love your comics
Alright I’m going to be a bit offtopic here but I just started re-reading the comic and I have some questions.
Now I might dislike Dorothy’s whole being, starting from character design to personality, but what really bothers me is that she seemingly broke up with Danny because she wants to transfer to Yale later on. I don’t understand this reasoning. How would the girl going to a different uni be such a huge barrier in a relationship? I assume she doesn’t love him anymore, alright, but she never ever mentioned this, in fact it was the exact opposite, she said she loves him and worries for him.
And then later on she gets into a relationship with a guy who’s almost equally as emotinally unavailable and autismal as Danny.
Why?
I thought Dorothy freaked out because Danny made her the center of his universe and that responsibility was too much for her…
Yeah, that was my interpretation as well. Dorothy is an extremely career-driven and moral person, and she wouldn’t like someone to spend his life just hanging around and wasting his life waiting for her. And Danny would do just that. There was a HUGE emotional imbalance in that relationship.
Walky is a different story. He is, like she says, just for fun. He is not overly invested, and he likely won’t become so. He’s an independent person. It won’t break him when she leaves (like it would Danny), and he won’t destroy all else in his life to follow her (like Danny would).
Danny needs something who’ll match him in relationship investment. And Dorothy needs someone as independent as she is.
Did you really just say “autismal”?
The difference is that Danny was completely obsessed with Dorothy to the point of not having a life of his own. He came to this school just to follow her, and was intent on following her the rest of his life. Which, in addition to being sad for him, was probably really off-putting to Dorothy. The fact that she said she worries about him wasn’t because she wanted to still be in a relationship but because she was worried that he might take the breakup badly and become depressed instead of picking up his own life separately from hers.
Walky, however, has his own life and once he got used to her enough to not freak out, it turned out he could be clever and confident as well. He doesn’t want to make his entire life about Dorothy, he just wants to be her boyfriend and have fun and hang out and stuff. She wasn’t even planning to turn around find another boyfriend that was better than Danny, it just kind of happened, and without the huge emotional baggage that Danny carried around with him.
Danny is an unambitious, inert lump.
To love somebody and be concerned about them isn’t the same as “being in love” marriage-wise. It really isn’t a binary thing, there are different levels.
Joe already recognized it was over during the summer and tried to tell Danny, but Danny wasn’t hearing any of it.
Danny’s dream is to be carried by Dorothy, that all he needs to do was love. Even his dad knows how utterly passive his dream is.
I agree with most of what people above said, but want to add that I don’t think Danny was obsessed with Dorothy. I think he was obsessed with the fantasy relationship he had invented in his head that he happened to have cast Dorothy in the starring role of… despite the fact that his fantasy had little to no bearing on reality. And Dorothy wasn’t interested in Danny’s fantasy world. She has real goals and ambitions, and is taking real steps towards achieving them. (Even if she falls short, she’s still actively working in that direction.) And when Danny insisted on ignoring Dorothy’s real ambitions and real feelings and real actions in favor of his fantasy about how he thought things were supposed to happen, she dumped his ass.
And he couldn’t understand that she was dumping him even while she was doing it, because it didn’t fit into his little fantasy scenario.
He’s doing the same thing with Amber now. It’s a different girl and a different fantasy, but he’s still obsessing over his fantasy scenario to the exclusion of actually paying attention to the actual girl.
Dorothy, on the other hand, has found someone who, however unambitious he may be, is dealing with her, not with some imagined fantasy girl wearing Dorothy’s face as a mask.
She dislikes Danny because he’s clingy, wants her to settle down with him, and actually asked her to reconsider her dreams. In short, she’s just not that into him.
He also lacks all ambition and drive.
In addition to what you said, his dream was to get his degree and then update patches on her computer (when she was president), something a kid could do. Then they have sex.
Even Danny’s father recognizes this. He tells Danny to stick with her because she is going places. That is, you aren’t doing to do much but it’s going to be pretty good riding her coattails.
This is a reversal of classic gender roles and similar to what Joyce wants to do. Then again, those are my two least favorite characters.
Wait, are Dorothy’s parents atheists or just Dorothy? It IS possible for families to not be shattered by this. In mine, I just say, “well, you’ll owe me a Coke when we reach Heaven.”
“What happens if there’s nothing?”
“Well, then I suspect I’ll certainly look foolish.”
I have often wondered the same thing. You don’t have to be atheist to raise your children areligiously, even though it’s probably most often the case.
I’ve made an arrangement with my christian mother that if there is such a place as Hell, she’ll wave down to me from heaven.
And she’s never had a problem with me not sharing her faith, or at least she’s never shown any disapproval. Not even when I stopped being a christian.
So yes, it is very possible for families to not be shattered by this.
I thought that Dorothy’s parent explained to the Browns that they were Christian but let Dorothy decide for herself.
They did not specify how they personally identified religiously, only that they raised Dorothy areligiously. And Jeremiah’s mom is Jewish.
Joyce’s mom’s chin has always bothered me.
…..Yeah that’s it <<
My respect for Joyce and her dad shot upward during this past week.
That’s more like the Hank I thought I knew. Hoping Carol just needs a moment to process this, because my threshold of pain for bat shit insane douchebaggery is just about reached.
No, don’t hug him, you have him on the ropes! Finish him off!
Hugs are her finishing move.
I reach out, I hold out….
Yeah, this went nowhere really fast. *walks out of universe*
I reach out to the truth of my life…
…Yeah, I don’t really anything clever to say, just wanted to complete the reference.
*Gasp* OMG Hank is not the worst father after all!! Mmmm… Good for him, I guess? And good for Joyce. Especially good for Joyce. Hm.
Carol, on the other hand, looks like her chin is going to turn into a fist and punch the heathen lights off Dorothy’s mom.
Dorothy’s mom and dad aren’t heathen, exactly. They are Christian and let their daughter decide what was right for her.
So not Christian enough or whatever.
I’ve never seen people so sheepish about being atheist.
“They are Christian” is not correct.
Saying “Hail Satan” backwards is actually quite hard. Especially the “t” is very hard to do; you have to say something like (but not quite) “nashdas li-eh”.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
AND THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE, BY OUR LOVE,
YES, THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE.
(They need to think more like that.)
God, I haven’t heard that song in forever.
Dorothy’s parents are saints.
Uh…. metaphorically speaking.
NATAS LIAH! That’s going to be my new swearword.
Like Jordan?
Oh.My.God.
Jordan is one of those Hippie Drifter, dippie hrifter all loving pastors who probably officiates gay weddings as well as those for people who dont speak english and are from other cultures! Isnt he?!
Hail Satan, Hail Satan. Hail Satan? Hail Satan hail Satan hail. Satan.