Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
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How come you’re always such a fussy young man?
Don’t want no Captain Crunch, don’t want no Raisin Bran!
Well don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan?
So EAT it! JUST eat it!
If it hadn’t been drawn like four months ago, I’d say this was a direct response to all the people insinuating that Willis makes them “blacker” when they mess up.
Yeah, I saw yesterday, went “Wow, I wonder how many people will see this as anything but a clever callback to Sal doing the same thing?” And decided ‘Almost everyone’ and left the comments well alone
…I’m pretty sure the first time I failed a test in college I had to keep from crying. (Then again, I was also a 4.0 student in high school with high parental expectations and “If you don’t keep such-and-such GPA and thus your partial scholarship you can’t continue going to college” so the irrational stress and anxiety exponentially climbed as the semesters went on.)
My first one was also in my freshman year in college, as the result of a TERRIBLE math teacher. To be fair, there’s one more contributing factor, but I’m debating whether to share it or not, honestly.
I feel that. I had a 3.9 GPA last year, now I’m getting a C in a math class. There is basically no way I’m getting into the colleges I want to go to. It’s not a pleasant experience.
plus, community college is cheaper. I got my AA and then transferred over to the best university in the state so it doesn’t automatically mean you won’t get into the school you wanted to. Chin up, man. There are many paths to get to where you want to go in life.
Do the first two years at a JC, then transfer. There is no stigma attached to your diploma. Nobody will know, and you can work to build your GPA there.
I failed out of school, and I have a PhD now. Things can be overcome if you work at it.
Seriously, we do such shitty things to people’s expectations going through school. Grades and diligence are important. But aptitude isn’t destiny. If you want it, you can finagle a way to get to a way to where you want to be. Failure isn’t a value judgement on you as a person, it just means you didn’t do well. That took a long time for me to understand. I failed more than a few classes in my major, mostly because I started to struggle, started over-stressing and spiraling, and thought I was gonna get kicked out. The worst part though was being made to feel ashamed, as if my best wasn’t good enough. If you power through the dark thoughts (and are lucky enough to have awesome friends) you can totally make it in the end.
Plus it’s cheaper, and doing well in a community college can open doors to really amazing four-year universities. I was an alright high school student, did poorly at the first university I went to, and then I moved and did amazing at a community college, and I then transferred to an ivy league school. More people should take advantage of community colleges.
For most majors, you can get your first year or two out of the way at a community college because they teach pretty much the same classes. Do be careful however to make sure that the classes you take WILL transfer to the college of your choice.
There are a few majors where you really can’t get some of the key freshman and sophomore courses because they are sufficiently specialized that community colleges simply don’t carry them. I certainly saw that with engineering. I taught a Sophomore “Mass and Energy Balances” class when I was a Prof. I’ve only seen that one taught at ONE community college – and that case it was for an unusual major to prepare folks to become a “Chemical Technician” or “Chemical plant operator”.
(Seriously, I once failed an eye exam. My eyes were so swollen from allergies that the optometrist told me she could not refract them, and sent me home with instructions to take antihistamines for a week and then come back for a retest.)
I think your comment is going to really piss some people off … and anyway the guy tells a completely different version:
He was peeing at the guy, who was clearly a villain since when running off was heard to yell ‘soiled again!’.
There are people who say AB+ is the best blood type cause there’s always blood available for you when you need it. I rather think O- is the best cause you’re made to help people.
Largely because it was an art class, and I did less than ideally because I couldn’t get up in time to go to class. (It was 8:30 AM. I thought I’d be fine because that meant I could sleep in a full hour or two from high school! Instead I had college freshman-itis, coupled with an underacting thyroid and a vitamin D deficiency that had gotten down to a 7 by the time we finally got it checked. The normal range starts at 30.)
In high school, we had a real talented artist. He did not get along with the teacher at all. So whatever he handed in got a B. It did not really impact his confidence all that much since the other two students handing his work in consistently got straight As for it.
You’re in college, Walky. Your parents aren’t going to see this. Unless, of course, this is indicative of your GPA for the semester in which case you could get thrown out of the house and forced to join the Army like I did.
I needed a home and a job on short notice. Uncle Sam was willing to provide both at once in exchange for being howled at by drill sergeants and forced to live and work where they said.
Walky has learned a valuable lesson that all college students eventually learn: Coasting in high school doesn’t mean you can coast in college! (Also, studying is a lot harder to do than it looks. Having that practice from high school when the work has less on the line is pretty valuable. I definitely had a hard time transitioning to “actually having to put in effort” around my first semester of sophomore year, when I actually began major-related courses.)
I coasted everywhere, and I failed a lot. I can retain info (not math/numbers, but everything else) very well, but I didn’t really do homework. Aside from math my test scores would usually be fine, but the homework grades dragged everything down.
And your major. I did soft sciences for my humanities credits. Never cracked a book, aced the classes. English classes were the same way, thanks to how much of a hardass my dad was when I was younger- my first drafts were everyone else’s final drafts in terms of polish.
Math and engineering classes were asskickers but interesting.
It was interesting to realize if I’d gone for an arts or humanities/social sciences major I could have basically phoned it in till halfway through the third year. Nooo I chose the tough major.
True fact. The only test I actually studied for in college, I failed miserably. Apparently I’m the sort that only retains knowledge by listening and taking notes, even though I almost never refer back to the notes. Made me popular with the cute kid who couldn’t be arsed to make it to history 101, since my notes were as good as being in class for them
The only prerequisite for coasting in college is to actually have an interest in what you’re studying. Well that’s my personnal experience at least. Tried three different cursuses (I have a doubt, “cursus” being a roman word does it need to be accorded in english? It sure doesn’t in french. ) and once I found the one where most of the classes were interesting I could board again like in high school, since I naturally did the extra work out of curiosity.
Still, same problem as Kelly below, usually my homework is done the night before the due date, or just due two days late with a prayer that it gets accepted XD
That, and doing group work alone.
This seems to happen to a lot of exceptionally smart students when they hit college. In high school they could coast on their brains. When they get to college, all of a sudden they are with a lot of other smart folks and have to actually STUDY and WORK in order to keep up and get by.
Okay, that’s funny. But only because it’s still in his mouth and the nutrience don’t start being incorporated into his system until the stomach, where only a limited amount gets processed. Unfortunately, that paper will be destroyed in the acid long before it hits the intestines.
I do doo don’t you? When doo is due, why not dump as large a load as you can?
…
Though, TBH I hope this thread poops out soon as its gotten really crappy …
“When you don’t study, you fail. And when you fail, you have to swallow your shame. And when you swallow your shame…
…a gateway into an alternate universe opens up, releasing the scourge of the Soggies upon an alternate universe in which you married Joyce and had kids.
This quiz would be from Wednesday, right? I know this comic is more leaning towards “Walky failed because he never studies and expected to get an A like always”, but you could conceivably argue that he was preoccupied with Billie at the time.
Also; Jesus, panel 2. He looks like he’s about to burst into tears.
Yeah. At least some of the material it was on was probably from Monday, though, when he skipped class because Dorothy didn’t set her alarm after Walky performed a sex.
Even if you’ve got the kind of brain that soaks up information like a sponge, skipping class will kill ya.
It was a 7 AM Electromechanical Systems class on the far side of campus that got me. Seriously, who schedules a class like that for seven in the frigging morning? I should have dropped that shit as soon as I saw my schedule. I didn’t actually need it for my degree. Even when I was able to drag myself out of my nice warm bed at that insane hour to slog through the snow to class, I couldn’t stay awake in it.
If you think staying awake for a 7 AM class is hard, try taking a class that meets right after lunch, in the winter, in a room that is also used as a theater, with nice, soft, cushioned seats, where most of the course material is stuff you covered already….
I just sat in the back and usually surrendered to the zzzzz’s until near the end of the semester when they started covering new material. At that point I sat on the front row and tried to keep asking the Prof questions to help me stay awake.
nah, there was that whole bit before with Sal and Jason where she still got a bad grade and he said he wasn’t gonna give her good grades even though he wants to sleep with her. If he refuses to give her a better grade for sex then it seems pretty unlikely he would do something as nasty as giving someone a bad grade they don’t deserve
Once, with Dorothy. The only thing he seemed to learn was that if he squints correctly at the words in his Gender Studies text book, it makes a 3D image of a rocket ship.
Also, last time we saw Sal’s getting back a graded paper in this class, she gotten a 76, and Jason confirmed that it was another T.A. who graded it, not him, meaning it was her own effort to improve that got her the grade.
Admittedly, I ate the paper bits that held the papers into spiral notebooks for years after that. (Usually, the main part of the paper was already out, but…
I was hit rather hard with my first below A in college also: but I don’t think it was anywhere near Walky’s reaction. Total meltdown.
Poor thing.
Well now he can emphaitize with others who go spat when they don’t study/discover sex.
I know the feeling, Walky.
Of course, the low grades were in a high school math class, and I didn’t eat the papers (had to give them back for a grade), but I know what he’s feeling.
I don’t actually remember my first failing grade, even though it was fairly recent. The event has been completely wiped from my memory, leaving behind only a pervasive sense of terror and self-loathing that would persist for years to come.
On the whole though, I’m actually glad that this is the storyline that hits too close to home, considering what other characters have been through. Reminds me of how lucky I’ve been.
I think my first failing grade was in fourth grade. I got a forty four on some science thing. Cried my eyes out, both cause it was my first failure, and also I was like ten
The thing I don’t get is the “Pay Attention!” comment. I have graded many thousands of quizzes, exams and papers in my life, and most of the time I’m not sure what the problem is. Even when I have a pretty good clue, I don’t write my hypothesis on an exam. And for a math course, you can often not pay attention and still get a good grade–provided you do the homework conscientiously.
I think I’d remember the kid who drew a picture of me getting eaten by a dinosaur on his notes for the first lecture. Doesn’t seem unreasonable to imagine that Jason does too and that the first thing he’s going to think that kid needs to do to get his test scores up is actually concentrate in class.
I’m not a teacher and we don’t really see the characters when they’re in class, but if this class is mostly taught through lecture I would assume Jason can tell who’s listening and taking notes and who isn’t. The thing is in college teachers don’t have to force you to pay attention if they don’t care. You wanna goof off? That’s fine actually. It’s your time. Also in my experience math’s all about showing that work. Did Walky do that? I have no idea but that’s something Jason would probably pick up on when grading.
That being said declining grades is something from my experience teacher’s notice and most will come ask if something’s up before a huge test so you can prepare, but maybe Jason’s not that guy.
Maybe the parts he did badly on involved principles he’s already shown that he knows how to apply, in previous work? If, say, he made a lot of procedural mistakes that he’s never made before.
I second that Jason probably graded these and correctly blamed Walky’s lack of attention based on the dinosaur drawing, but it could also be something like a mistake that the professor specifically warned them about in a lecture, or getting a result that he should be able to just look at and say “wait, that’s not right” even if he barely understood what was going on (for instance, deriving a function and getting a constant when the slope is clearly not constant).
I’m not sure this situation does call for either of those things, though, and I say this as someone who managed to drop out of college not once but twice.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a grade that low on anything I completed. I did get a D in high school English one year because I didn’t turn in my homework. I also got threatened with failing gym if I didn’t quit ditching class.
I vividly recall Physical Chemistry doing that to me on several homework assignments. I love my field, but I swear ritual flogging would not make the curriculum much more rigorous.
This happened to me in Biochemistry. Autotutorial Biochemistry. At Cornell. In the winter. With no car. Living about 2 miles away in a house inaccessible to a bus.
Reminds me of an old joke about why colleges are repositories of knowledge: Students enter knowing little, leave knowing nothing, and knowledge accumulates.
Walky, Walky, Walky… You thought you could get by without studying in Calculus? As a student with tons of Calculus in both my present and future, I have no sympathy for you.
Hey, look, Walky turned into me. Literally me. This is still only like a few weeks into the semester, right? Yes, that is exactly me, several months ago. Exactly. Except the grade wasn’t 26 and I didn’t bounce back like Walky will probably do.
Ooh, that’s bad. Thing is, though, Walky should have been expecting this. A smart kid, even one like Walky, should realize he’s badly failing a quiz as he’s taking it, not days later when he gets the quiz back. He should not have been surprised. I remember being in the same boat once. It was a chemistry test I didn’t study much for because I thought I already knew the material well enough. I get there, though, and after reading it realize I didn’t know how to do it at all. I remember going to the professor at the front of the room during the test, desperately asking if I could retake the test later or something. Nothing doing. I think his policy was that we all would automatically get 50 points just for writing our name on the test, and I still ended up failing it (< 70)!
A low 20s score is wildly different from just getting a D. I failed several tests and quizzes in college, but getting a 21/100 on a midterm (yup) and seeing the curve that showed my score as a low outlier was a whole different story even though I was well aware my score was going to come out <60 when I was taking the test. I think it's just easier psychologically to pretend it didn't happen, but then reality HURTS when the score comes back a few weeks later.
I took a graduate fluid mechanics course once where the typical range of scores was 25-50 (lowest grade was a 25, highest was a 50). The guy with a 50 got an A for the class. 25 got a C+. The material was just that friggin’ difficult.
As others have pointed out, this quiz was taken on the day when he woke up to find Billie in his bed with him, and he had to fetch Ruth to deal with her. It was also after he had missed a day due to Dorothy forgetting to set her alarm after they’d had sex the previous night. It wouldn’t be that far-fetched to believe that he was so preoccupied with worrying about Billie during the quiz that he didn’t notice it was about material he hadn’t covered because he missed a day.
So stage one of freaking out over his test score was his hair turning into super black guy hair, stage 2 it reverts to straight “white hair” (I hate that name but whatever), and he turns fully into a white guy.
Honestly, I’m happy this happened to Walky. His attitude was way to cavalier, and if he had continued to ace tests I would’ve been really mad. College isn’t something you can goof off to.
Well I guess this is the difference. Sal immediately went looking for help. Walky eats his test. Just own up to it man. One bad test’s not the end of the world.
Yeah, but you don’t know that until you’ve gone through failure. Something in which Sal has greater experience. Except in being badass. She does not know how to fail there.
True enough. The point I was trying to make was that Walky’s pride’s all mixed up in this for some reason. Sal was up front about her bad grade which in turn gave Joyce the opening to urge her to “take charge of her education”. That’s not really possible with his test in his mouth. I’m not sure if he’s upset that he failed or what that failure implies. I think the only one expecting him to be a genius is him.
I’m still wondering about that. I haven’t seen enough to make an opinion about them yet. They seemed nice enough. The mom might have her flaws and the dad seemed like he was just a dad. Who knows? Maybe Walky had it harder at home than people think, maybe Sal got off easy being sent away cause nobody expects anything from her? Is all the pressure on Walky to make something of himself while Sal’s fine as long as she’s not commiting crimes? All these questions from his reaction to one bad grade.
Don’t worry Walky all you have to do is fuck the TA and your grades will shoot up and no one will blame you for anything because you have some insecurity or the other.
Well I mean…fucking the TA didn’t get her anything but laid a couple times. Jason pointedly graded her on the merit of her math skills, not her aerobics. These test results are a direct result of Danny’s math tutoring and Sal’s ability to process his advice.
You could make the argument that while the sex isn’t directly responsible it allowed Sal to de-stress thus focus better while studying thus better retain the information resulting in a better grade. It takes a little forcing but we can give Jason credit! If you care.
Heck, Jason very pointedly gave her tests to another TA to grade! Not only did he not improve her grades in exchange for sleeping with him, he doesn’t even know what her grades ARE anymore.
I guess you could argue that by letting her think she had an advantage he gave her a confidence boost that let her do better so she realized she could master the maths.
Sounds like an interesting comic though, I would like to read it one day.
#ConsequenceFreeDramaOfAge – where Sal get’s away with everything because she’s cool, where everyone just laughs at Joyce’s antics because she’s cute, where no ones feelings get hurt and where character growth is unnecessary.
…wait, that’s basically just the drama-tag-free shortpacked joke again. OK, I’ll see myself out.
Sal sleeping with Jason to get a good grade was completely shitty, even acknowledging why she did it and the circumstances around her, but it pointedly did not work. She failed. Regardless of how scummy it was that she even tried, it had no effect on the better grade she received now because she earned it.
You know, I think people mocking Walky for this or gloating are assholes and I don’t find Sal’s complex very convincing, but you’re wildly twisting the facts here or else delusional.
Sal goes to Jason for tutoring. It doesn’t work because Jason is a -bad tutor-.
Sal embraces the underlying sexual tension and initiates a fuck session because that’s the sort of person she is.
Jason passes her tests off to another TA to grade in the future, she continues to get shit grades.
They continue to fuck.
Due to a series of Comedic Misunderstandings, Danny winds up tutoring Sal in math, with sex very -explicitly- not part of the equation.
Sal’s grades go up!
Though whatever comic you’ve been reading on the side that’s gotten mixed in here sounds interesting?
Kudos to Mr Willis for successfully visually conveying a character blanching (that’s what’s happening here I think, you can see some of the color gradually returning in the last two panels after the initial shock). For a long time I thought when a character in a book blanched, it was the same as wincing, but I eventually figured out it was the same thing as “the blood drained from his face”.
Blanching is real, I’ve seen it happen, though thankfully not often.
In terms of what happens physiologically, it’s basically the opposite of blushing.
“Blanch”
1. make white or pale by extracting color; bleach.
2. (of a person) grow pale from shock, fear, or a similar emotion
Middle English: from Old French blanchir, from blanc ‘white,’ ultimately of Germanic origin.
In other words, to “blanch” is to take the color out of something.
Says something ungood about our ed “system” that so many bright kids skated until college without serious challenge–lot of wasted time and potential in that.
It’s always been that way. That moment where you realize you may have been the smartest guy in the room in high school calc, but now you’re in a room full of smart people, and you might just be on the dumb side of smart.
Happened to me in the 70s. You’ve got two choices, buckle down and learn to work and study or quit and admit you peaked.
In Harvard and suchlike its common for people to have breakdowns when they get graded by tough teachers because for the first time in their lives they get something other than an A.
For me it was the opposite, once I was free of the bullshit in secondary school I consistently aced everything.
We have Amber and Amaziegirl and Danny who is dating her
And Ethan (Sexo Loco!), and Marcie who hangs with Sal,
who is cool and Walky’s silly, Ruth does secret stuff with Billie
We have Dina who likes dinosaurs
And Mikes who likes nothing
Sarah is sarcastic, Joyce is a joy
Becky is fantastic (as is Jacob, man and toy)
Carla likes her roller skates and Roz likes to Joe
Dorothy is smart and that’s the comic that we know.
Danny’s parents are insulting, Walky’s tend smother him
Ethan’s mom and dad deny him his own identity
Joyce’s parents try to shelter her, Sal’s mother just ignores her
Joe’s parents used to scream a lot
And Dinas’ are OK
Billie’s dad don’t know her, tries to buy her instead,
Amber’s father’s abusive and Ruth’s parents are dead
Becky’s father is a butthole and he looks like a toe
Dorothy’s are great and that’s the comic that we know
Lemme help! Lemme help! I’m awful at rhymes but lemme help!
Then there’s Leslie doing gender studies, Jason who does math,
Penny might be helping grading quizzes taken by Sal.
Jocelyne writes freelance, Daisy writes the paper for a thrill.
Pamela, Galasso and Conquest serve you pizza, subs and drinks.
Mary believes in cruelty and God
Alice is toxic and Faz needs to rot
Raidah is Sarah’s nemesis cos Dana is gone.
Ryan is a fuckwit. That’s the comic that we know
All this is cause Willis says it’s so?
But one question: Where is Joyce’s bow?
Oh, and that guy that looks like a toe?
And now that it’s said, you get the flow?
Great tension is stored in the seeds to sow?
Oh, I totally didn’t look at the song, umm… Yeah, I’m not looking it up while I’m listening to another one.
After the strip where Walky’s hair turns black-curly for failing the test, now Walky’s face turns white as he is overcome with sheer stupidity. Racial balance has been restored.
(Kidding. Just kidding.)
This has happened because you were having sex with Dorothy all the time. Of course, all day … pa, pa, pa, Zaca, Zaca, Zaca, pla, pla, pla, Pumba, Pumba, Pumba, … It´s that. In the end what happened happened. All day thinking about Mandanga. You may have had a good time with her, but now you get to pay bills, man.
Walky has now discovered that it’s not enough to be smart in college, you have to study too. How will he respond to that discovery? Welp, I guess we’ll find out…
Also while this is cute prior information seems to indicate Walky has the money to stay in University for a long time due to rich parents and that his mother wouldn’t let him leave even if he wanted to. He could completely fail and just come back. His mother already said the course he’s on isn’t the one he’ll graduate from if she has anything to do with it.
I have a friend with rich parents who has been in and out of university for almost ten years now, longer than I have known him.
Ah, yes. The first moments of the realization that college isn’t going to let you pass by half-assing everything and relyingnon your natural intelligence. I know it well. Hopefully Walky handles it better than I did and doesn’t have a nervous breakdown before isolating himself in the fiction section of the library for the entirety of finals week.
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Walky 2: The Whitening
“Hey, everyone, it’s Michael Jackson!”
“Just Beat It” turned into “Just Eat It”.
No, that’s Weird Al.
How come you’re always such a fussy young man?
Don’t want no Captain Crunch, don’t want no Raisin Bran!
Well don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan?
So EAT it! JUST eat it!
They could use some Cap’n Crunch in an AU about now
Soggies may rule!
God I wish I could star this!
That was the first album I owned. I didn’t even realize that “King of Suede” wasn’t an original.
The Just Eat It video.
If it hadn’t been drawn like four months ago, I’d say this was a direct response to all the people insinuating that Willis makes them “blacker” when they mess up.
You say that like Willis doesn’t know us.
Heh, it actually took me a while to realize that the blood drained from Walky’s face due to his horror at getting a 26.
People really say that?!
Where were you yesterday?
Yeah, I saw yesterday, went “Wow, I wonder how many people will see this as anything but a clever callback to Sal doing the same thing?” And decided ‘Almost everyone’ and left the comments well alone
I can relate
Amen. First “F” I ever got burned into the core of my soul.
…I’m pretty sure the first time I failed a test in college I had to keep from crying. (Then again, I was also a 4.0 student in high school with high parental expectations and “If you don’t keep such-and-such GPA and thus your partial scholarship you can’t continue going to college” so the irrational stress and anxiety exponentially climbed as the semesters went on.)
My first one was also in my freshman year in college, as the result of a TERRIBLE math teacher. To be fair, there’s one more contributing factor, but I’m debating whether to share it or not, honestly.
I feel that. I had a 3.9 GPA last year, now I’m getting a C in a math class. There is basically no way I’m getting into the colleges I want to go to. It’s not a pleasant experience.
Sorry to hear that. I hope it picks up!
Which math is it, if you don’t mind me asking?
Thanks! Honors Pre-Calc.
plus, community college is cheaper. I got my AA and then transferred over to the best university in the state so it doesn’t automatically mean you won’t get into the school you wanted to. Chin up, man. There are many paths to get to where you want to go in life.
Same here. Got my AS at a community college, then went to Cornell for my BS, which was my dream school!
Do the first two years at a JC, then transfer. There is no stigma attached to your diploma. Nobody will know, and you can work to build your GPA there.
I failed out of school, and I have a PhD now. Things can be overcome if you work at it.
Seriously, we do such shitty things to people’s expectations going through school. Grades and diligence are important. But aptitude isn’t destiny. If you want it, you can finagle a way to get to a way to where you want to be. Failure isn’t a value judgement on you as a person, it just means you didn’t do well. That took a long time for me to understand. I failed more than a few classes in my major, mostly because I started to struggle, started over-stressing and spiraling, and thought I was gonna get kicked out. The worst part though was being made to feel ashamed, as if my best wasn’t good enough. If you power through the dark thoughts (and are lucky enough to have awesome friends) you can totally make it in the end.
Plus you saved a buttload of money versus 4 years at University.
Plus it’s cheaper, and doing well in a community college can open doors to really amazing four-year universities. I was an alright high school student, did poorly at the first university I went to, and then I moved and did amazing at a community college, and I then transferred to an ivy league school. More people should take advantage of community colleges.
For most majors, you can get your first year or two out of the way at a community college because they teach pretty much the same classes. Do be careful however to make sure that the classes you take WILL transfer to the college of your choice.
There are a few majors where you really can’t get some of the key freshman and sophomore courses because they are sufficiently specialized that community colleges simply don’t carry them. I certainly saw that with engineering. I taught a Sophomore “Mass and Energy Balances” class when I was a Prof. I’ve only seen that one taught at ONE community college – and that case it was for an unusual major to prepare folks to become a “Chemical Technician” or “Chemical plant operator”.
My first F was in elementary. I was plenty used to them by the time I got to college.
Yeah, I recently got a B+ on my blood test. Apparently failure runs through my veins.
Well, at least you didn’t get an F. If you did, THE SCIENTISTS WOULD COME TO STUDY YOU.
Yeah, well, I got O- — that means I’m less than nothing at heart.
How did you get a 0 on the blood test? Signing your name gives you points, right?
I forgot and left it blank.
(Seriously, I once failed an eye exam. My eyes were so swollen from allergies that the optometrist told me she could not refract them, and sent me home with instructions to take antihistamines for a week and then come back for a retest.)
Ever hear about they guy who failed his urine test?
He was cheating.
They caught him peeking at the guy next to him.
I think your comment is going to really piss some people off … and anyway the guy tells a completely different version:
He was peeing at the guy, who was clearly a villain since when running off was heard to yell ‘soiled again!’.
There are people who say AB+ is the best blood type cause there’s always blood available for you when you need it. I rather think O- is the best cause you’re made to help people.
(I’m AB+ by the way.)
Hey an “O” on a test is pretty good – if you are a student at Hogwarts…
B+ is failure?
thatsthejoke.jpg
No it just means they’ll want your platelets. (I give blood. A lot.)
It was the first C that broke me.
Largely because it was an art class, and I did less than ideally because I couldn’t get up in time to go to class. (It was 8:30 AM. I thought I’d be fine because that meant I could sleep in a full hour or two from high school! Instead I had college freshman-itis, coupled with an underacting thyroid and a vitamin D deficiency that had gotten down to a 7 by the time we finally got it checked. The normal range starts at 30.)
In high school, we had a real talented artist. He did not get along with the teacher at all. So whatever he handed in got a B. It did not really impact his confidence all that much since the other two students handing his work in consistently got straight As for it.
That’s one way to get your fiber.
It really puts the “F” in “Fiber!”
I am so sorry.
mHmmmmmm nourishing cellulose…
NO NO I LOVE THIS STUFF
(no one must seeeeeeee)
Excellent reaction as always, Walky
YOUR FAAAAAACE
I GIVE IT TO YOU
FAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
OOOOOOOH, FACED!
Not FAAAACE, FAAAAAAIL!
No. FOOOOOOOOOOOD.
FOOOOOOD FAAAAAAAAAIL in your FAAAAAAAACE!
FOOOOOOL!
Eating you failure won’t hide your shame.
*your
I have failed at grammar. I must now eat my computer. Any suggestions for a nice wine to go with it?
A 1978 Ipecac and the number for poison control.
Considering how toxic a lot of inks are, that might not be a bad idea…
Hanibal Lecter suggests some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
A nice Pinot Noir from the Williamette Valley. I feel the earthiness in the wine would complement the metal content of the computer well.
To quote Mr Miracle: “Rare, with a mild cheese sauce.”
Know that feel.
You’re in college, Walky. Your parents aren’t going to see this. Unless, of course, this is indicative of your GPA for the semester in which case you could get thrown out of the house and forced to join the Army like I did.
Good times.
Wait, being forced to join the military is a real thing that happens?
I needed a home and a job on short notice. Uncle Sam was willing to provide both at once in exchange for being howled at by drill sergeants and forced to live and work where they said.
… we have got to fix the economy and education system. And maybe make new jobs.
Walky’s brain works the opposite of Malaya’s stomach when he gets older.
Oh, sweety. Sweety, Honey, that’s not going to make it go away.
Poor thing! Let me push you to someone who can help with that! DORITHY!
Wow, when he fails he fails hard.
Sal was right . Wally is whiter.
You Okay there Walky it looks like you saw a ghost…or more like you look like a ghost.
Damn. I was going to make that joke.
Failure has driven Walky’s soul from his body.
Walky has learned a valuable lesson that all college students eventually learn: Coasting in high school doesn’t mean you can coast in college! (Also, studying is a lot harder to do than it looks. Having that practice from high school when the work has less on the line is pretty valuable. I definitely had a hard time transitioning to “actually having to put in effort” around my first semester of sophomore year, when I actually began major-related courses.)
^ This. A rude awakening. BT,DT.
Some people can coast in college too, it depends on your ability to absorb and retain information.
I coasted everywhere, and I failed a lot. I can retain info (not math/numbers, but everything else) very well, but I didn’t really do homework. Aside from math my test scores would usually be fine, but the homework grades dragged everything down.
And your major. I did soft sciences for my humanities credits. Never cracked a book, aced the classes. English classes were the same way, thanks to how much of a hardass my dad was when I was younger- my first drafts were everyone else’s final drafts in terms of polish.
Math and engineering classes were asskickers but interesting.
It was interesting to realize if I’d gone for an arts or humanities/social sciences major I could have basically phoned it in till halfway through the third year. Nooo I chose the tough major.
True fact. The only test I actually studied for in college, I failed miserably. Apparently I’m the sort that only retains knowledge by listening and taking notes, even though I almost never refer back to the notes. Made me popular with the cute kid who couldn’t be arsed to make it to history 101, since my notes were as good as being in class for them
The only prerequisite for coasting in college is to actually have an interest in what you’re studying. Well that’s my personnal experience at least. Tried three different cursuses (I have a doubt, “cursus” being a roman word does it need to be accorded in english? It sure doesn’t in french. ) and once I found the one where most of the classes were interesting I could board again like in high school, since I naturally did the extra work out of curiosity.
Still, same problem as Kelly below, usually my homework is done the night before the due date, or just due two days late with a prayer that it gets accepted XD
That, and doing group work alone.
Yup, I had the same thing happen too, and kinda regret not buckling down in college more. I’m glad that this arc is happening for Walky.
Still coasted in college. Never studied a day in my life, often skipped class if attendance wasn’t part of the grade. Still graduated Cum Laude.
What was your major?
Again, I say LUCKY!!
I hate you
I coasted through my MA, too. Wrote my main dissertation on James Bond.
It’s luck, in that I was lucky to have a brain with really good recall and connection-making.
This seems to happen to a lot of exceptionally smart students when they hit college. In high school they could coast on their brains. When they get to college, all of a sudden they are with a lot of other smart folks and have to actually STUDY and WORK in order to keep up and get by.
Walky
No
This is not how you digest knowledge
But it is how you consume failure.
In my experience, it is the failure that does the consuming … but I try not to let it eat away at me …
Failure eats you away from the inside. Because you ate it.
Okay, that’s funny. But only because it’s still in his mouth and the nutrience don’t start being incorporated into his system until the stomach, where only a limited amount gets processed. Unfortunately, that paper will be destroyed in the acid long before it hits the intestines.
So in other words
He’s never going to pass that quiz
You sure about that? It is fiber.
He should know, you can’t eat your points and have them too.
Tell that to people on Weight Watchers.
OKAY FINE! I’LL EAT YOUR DUST!
What a crappy pun.
Why, was it too alimentary for you?
Please stop. I can’t stomach these puns.
Sounds like your completely boweled over …
Tyersome just wants to wipe up in the pun department.
Just wait, the best ileumunation you cecums after passing through dark and twisted nether regions.
Well in the final analysis, he’s going to end up dumping these results somewhere …
Then his grades will REALLY be in the toilet.
Very good – I suspect that this thread will continue plunging to (and also plumbing) new depths …
Maybe not, but I suspect he may be regurgitating that knowledge sooner rather than later.
Good thinking Walky, that’ll show it.
Eat the paper to establish dominance.
Over what, I have no idea.
Higher academia?
…You’ve learned our secret.
Destroy the evidence! Leave no trace of failure behind!
Well, butt one possibility is the failure will leave a trace on his behind …
(I’m appreciating the “butt” there… makes the joke so much better)
Thanks! I do try to wipe out as many asspects as I can in one go …
You doo?
I do doo don’t you? When doo is due, why not dump as large a load as you can?
…
Though, TBH I hope this thread poops out soon as its gotten really crappy …
CEASE AND DESIST!!!!
May I pees and digest instead?
Aaww Walky…just remember…you get grades but you are not your grades.
Can we pretend he can hear me and this made him feel better? Thanks.
In this case I think he IS his grades – Lazy.
His hair is normal again!? SORCERY!
WITCHCRAFT!
HAIROMANCY!
HERESY!
I was hoping it would stay that way for a bit. It was adorable, and could have led to some character development re: Sal.
HE’S A WITCH! He turned me into a NEWT!
Did you get better?
He’s straightening it out in the first panel. The side under his hand is still curly.
It deflated like Pinky Pie’s. Expect tiny pupils and conversing with inanimate objects.
“How did this happen, 2004 Monkeycon Special Edition Dexter? I thought I was supposed to be a genius!”
*creepy circus music*
This is how the soggies were really made…
And now I have the mental picture of the Walkyverse being destroyed by Walky’s bad grades.
Makes for a great PSA about studying doesn’t it? ^_^
NO! I AM NOT DOING THE EDITING FOR THAT! NO! NOOOO!
Okay, fine. I’ll have a compilation done by Tuesday.
Put it to a sufficiently sad Sarach McLachlan song, and have it on my desk before I leave for the day. It’s date night with the wife.
No. Tuesday ONLY.
“When you don’t study, you fail. And when you fail, you have to swallow your shame. And when you swallow your shame…
…a gateway into an alternate universe opens up, releasing the scourge of the Soggies upon an alternate universe in which you married Joyce and had kids.
Study…or soggies may rule.”
Reminds me of a Direct TV commercial.
I really like how Walky manages to fit his entire hand and the paper in his mouth. He’s just “ABORT PROCESS. Put gem in mouth.”
Walky should look on the bright side, at least his hair returned to its standard shape of its own volition.
He smoothed it down himself.
The appropriateness of that response is off the scale
Whoooooooooaaaaaa…
Damn! Just Damn, I expected him to fail but WOW that’s a heavy drop.
Oh, the curse of the smart kid finally being challenged…it had to come sooner or later, Walky.
This quiz would be from Wednesday, right? I know this comic is more leaning towards “Walky failed because he never studies and expected to get an A like always”, but you could conceivably argue that he was preoccupied with Billie at the time.
Also; Jesus, panel 2. He looks like he’s about to burst into tears.
Yeah. At least some of the material it was on was probably from Monday, though, when he skipped class because Dorothy didn’t set her alarm after Walky performed a sex.
Even if you’ve got the kind of brain that soaks up information like a sponge, skipping class will kill ya.
“Even if you’ve got the kind of brain that soaks up information like a sponge, skipping class will kill ya.”
^THIS, is why my first semester grades – when I attended every class – were always better than my second semester grades, when I would get lazy.
It was a 7 AM Electromechanical Systems class on the far side of campus that got me. Seriously, who schedules a class like that for seven in the frigging morning? I should have dropped that shit as soon as I saw my schedule. I didn’t actually need it for my degree. Even when I was able to drag myself out of my nice warm bed at that insane hour to slog through the snow to class, I couldn’t stay awake in it.
If you think staying awake for a 7 AM class is hard, try taking a class that meets right after lunch, in the winter, in a room that is also used as a theater, with nice, soft, cushioned seats, where most of the course material is stuff you covered already….
I just sat in the back and usually surrendered to the zzzzz’s until near the end of the semester when they started covering new material. At that point I sat on the front row and tried to keep asking the Prof questions to help me stay awake.
omg
TERRIBLE JOKE INCOMING
Hey, he really is whiter than Sal! She was right all along!
Yeah that joke is horrible. Prepare to be punished by means of guiltine.
Or saltine.
Oh, now that my brine is awake I can finally appreciate how much you packed into that …
… however, I’m pretty sure there won’t be any assalts happening over this … perhaps after a battery of similar results?
That joke was terrible it’s a complete white off.
However, it pales compared to some of what happens here … don’t ask me for examples though, I’m drawing a blanc …
I sympathize so deeply, Walky; I’ve wanted to eat my test papers as well.
Walky, maybe you should breathe before you pass out.
He’s getting the Vapors
Awwww, he didn’t keep the hair.
Also: Been there, buddy. Good luck.
Anyone else think it’s possible that nookie earned a grade swap between siblings?
Unless Walky slept with Jason in return for a terrible grade and then forgot about it, no.
Simply meant he could have adjusted the first names..
nah, there was that whole bit before with Sal and Jason where she still got a bad grade and he said he wasn’t gonna give her good grades even though he wants to sleep with her. If he refuses to give her a better grade for sex then it seems pretty unlikely he would do something as nasty as giving someone a bad grade they don’t deserve
I think that if this were true, it would really undermine the development of both characters.
So, no.
Plus we’ve seen Sal working at this. Clocking in totally platonic study time with Danny. We’ve seen Walky?…Hrmm? Have we seen him study?
Once, with Dorothy. The only thing he seemed to learn was that if he squints correctly at the words in his Gender Studies text book, it makes a 3D image of a rocket ship.
Also, last time we saw Sal’s getting back a graded paper in this class, she gotten a 76, and Jason confirmed that it was another T.A. who graded it, not him, meaning it was her own effort to improve that got her the grade.
True, just an oddball theory
That is exactly the conclusion Mary would jump to. A+.
::facepalm:::
I’m having flashbacks to Nightmare on Elm St 5: The Dream Child.
Walky, most people quit eating paper at school in second grade.
…They do, right? I mean, it’s not like most people go to school NOT eating paper, right?
Admittedly, I ate the paper bits that held the papers into spiral notebooks for years after that. (Usually, the main part of the paper was already out, but…
My mom packed me a sandwich, personally.
That’s some Vitiligo.
And the ego takes a critical blow ! But will there be a come back !?
That’s probably how I’d react.
Ah, that moment of horror when a naturally gifted child realises they can’t coast on talent forever.
I was hit rather hard with my first below A in college also: but I don’t think it was anywhere near Walky’s reaction. Total meltdown.
Poor thing.
Well now he can emphaitize with others who go spat when they don’t study/discover sex.
So. Worried about the grade or worried that the grade might affect his relationship with Dorothy?
Probably the former atm, but I’m sure the latter will hit him the next time he sees Dorothy.
I don’t think she’d dump him for one bad mark. I think she’d be more inclined to have study sessions with him to help get him back on track.
Oh my god … he turns into Wacko Warner.
This is one of those strips I would love to see animated.
So his girlfriend will transform into his new sister Dot?
Or the sexy blond nurse.
HELLOOOOOOOOO DOROTHY!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Okay, I loved this comic more than is reasonable. WELL DONE!
Sal got an 83, Walky got a 26… so who got a 1?
+1. (You!)
Well if you’re trying to imply they add up to 100, someone would have to have scored -10 somehow.
-9 actually.
I’m the one who got a -9 on the math quiz. It’s me.
Walky may be failing college, but with his new complexion he’ll have no problem getting accepted as a member of the Country Club.
I know the feeling, Walky.
Of course, the low grades were in a high school math class, and I didn’t eat the papers (had to give them back for a grade), but I know what he’s feeling.
Failure changes your skin tone!
He’s turning American.
Your avatar seems suitably disgusted at the idea.
Was…was he not American before?
He was. I think they mean white.
Yeah that was a rhetorical question, but thanks for clarifying.
Okay what.
I don’t actually remember my first failing grade, even though it was fairly recent. The event has been completely wiped from my memory, leaving behind only a pervasive sense of terror and self-loathing that would persist for years to come.
On the whole though, I’m actually glad that this is the storyline that hits too close to home, considering what other characters have been through. Reminds me of how lucky I’ve been.
I confess that I kinda underestimated the impact of zeroes on averages and didn’t really flinch when I failed in school!
[may say something about my station in life at the moment, but still, NUMBERS DON’T SCARE MEevenwhentheyshould]
I think my first failing grade was in fourth grade. I got a forty four on some science thing. Cried my eyes out, both cause it was my first failure, and also I was like ten
The thing I don’t get is the “Pay Attention!” comment. I have graded many thousands of quizzes, exams and papers in my life, and most of the time I’m not sure what the problem is. Even when I have a pretty good clue, I don’t write my hypothesis on an exam. And for a math course, you can often not pay attention and still get a good grade–provided you do the homework conscientiously.
He must’ve drawn another dinosaur on his quiz
I don’t find it difficult to imagine that he has been so flagrantly inattentive in class that Jason has noticed …
I think I’d remember the kid who drew a picture of me getting eaten by a dinosaur on his notes for the first lecture. Doesn’t seem unreasonable to imagine that Jason does too and that the first thing he’s going to think that kid needs to do to get his test scores up is actually concentrate in class.
Maybe a future storyline’s going to involve Wally going on meds.
*walky
Oh, ok, I forgot the dinosaur.
I’m not a teacher and we don’t really see the characters when they’re in class, but if this class is mostly taught through lecture I would assume Jason can tell who’s listening and taking notes and who isn’t. The thing is in college teachers don’t have to force you to pay attention if they don’t care. You wanna goof off? That’s fine actually. It’s your time. Also in my experience math’s all about showing that work. Did Walky do that? I have no idea but that’s something Jason would probably pick up on when grading.
That being said declining grades is something from my experience teacher’s notice and most will come ask if something’s up before a huge test so you can prepare, but maybe Jason’s not that guy.
Maybe the parts he did badly on involved principles he’s already shown that he knows how to apply, in previous work? If, say, he made a lot of procedural mistakes that he’s never made before.
I second that Jason probably graded these and correctly blamed Walky’s lack of attention based on the dinosaur drawing, but it could also be something like a mistake that the professor specifically warned them about in a lecture, or getting a result that he should be able to just look at and say “wait, that’s not right” even if he barely understood what was going on (for instance, deriving a function and getting a constant when the slope is clearly not constant).
What you must remember is that Jason is an ass. He’s rude and condescending at all times, even when the situation calls for tact or sympathy.
I’m not sure this situation does call for either of those things, though, and I say this as someone who managed to drop out of college not once but twice.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a grade that low on anything I completed. I did get a D in high school English one year because I didn’t turn in my homework. I also got threatened with failing gym if I didn’t quit ditching class.
I vividly recall Physical Chemistry doing that to me on several homework assignments. I love my field, but I swear ritual flogging would not make the curriculum much more rigorous.
I don’t remember any flogging in P-chem … however, there was much racking of my overstretched brain …
This happened to me in Biochemistry. Autotutorial Biochemistry. At Cornell. In the winter. With no car. Living about 2 miles away in a house inaccessible to a bus.
That…that was not a good semester.
I have gotten a couple of Fs in my life, but none of them have been as low as Walky’s.
lol I got a 6% on an algebra test once
Now that sounds familiar. Math is cool, but just impossible to me.
I failed gym, and not a single fuck was given that day or any day since.
Reminds me of an old joke about why colleges are repositories of knowledge: Students enter knowing little, leave knowing nothing, and knowledge accumulates.
Walky, Walky, Walky… You thought you could get by without studying in Calculus? As a student with tons of Calculus in both my present and future, I have no sympathy for you.
Dina needs to take after Walky and diversify her diet.
OM NOM NOM NOM
Geeze, Walky!
At first I thought he might be overreacting but 26, man, I would be on the floor crying.
Meh
I have been waiting for this day.
Hey, look, Walky turned into me. Literally me. This is still only like a few weeks into the semester, right? Yes, that is exactly me, several months ago. Exactly. Except the grade wasn’t 26 and I didn’t bounce back like Walky will probably do.
Oh, also I didn’t eat my test. I wanted to, though.
He can always hope they grade on the Olympic figure-skating system —
Throw out the highest and lowest scores, and average the rest.
Walky, Walky, Walky…eating your paper doesn’t make the bad grade go away.
Ooh, that’s bad. Thing is, though, Walky should have been expecting this. A smart kid, even one like Walky, should realize he’s badly failing a quiz as he’s taking it, not days later when he gets the quiz back. He should not have been surprised. I remember being in the same boat once. It was a chemistry test I didn’t study much for because I thought I already knew the material well enough. I get there, though, and after reading it realize I didn’t know how to do it at all. I remember going to the professor at the front of the room during the test, desperately asking if I could retake the test later or something. Nothing doing. I think his policy was that we all would automatically get 50 points just for writing our name on the test, and I still ended up failing it (< 70)!
A low 20s score is wildly different from just getting a D. I failed several tests and quizzes in college, but getting a 21/100 on a midterm (yup) and seeing the curve that showed my score as a low outlier was a whole different story even though I was well aware my score was going to come out <60 when I was taking the test. I think it's just easier psychologically to pretend it didn't happen, but then reality HURTS when the score comes back a few weeks later.
Depends on the class.
If I recall the curve my ochem class used correctly, a 26 would be a D-
I took a graduate fluid mechanics course once where the typical range of scores was 25-50 (lowest grade was a 25, highest was a 50). The guy with a 50 got an A for the class. 25 got a C+. The material was just that friggin’ difficult.
As others have pointed out, this quiz was taken on the day when he woke up to find Billie in his bed with him, and he had to fetch Ruth to deal with her. It was also after he had missed a day due to Dorothy forgetting to set her alarm after they’d had sex the previous night. It wouldn’t be that far-fetched to believe that he was so preoccupied with worrying about Billie during the quiz that he didn’t notice it was about material he hadn’t covered because he missed a day.
Even so, he would have noticed while he was taking the quiz that he didn’t know the material.
Well, whatever. It’s just a comic strip, I should really just relax.
Silly Walky, THAT’s not paying attention!
No need to stress out, Walky!
Just hold it upside down, and now you’ve earned a 92! SCORE!
97! 97! Upside down 2 is 7!
A weird seven with a circular bottom?
Yeah, and? It’s better that a weird 2 with a flat top and a hook for a base!
Point taken.
Welcome to my world walky, and I fucking study for the shit.
Oh, Walky, ink is bad for you.
Speaking as a smart guy who farts his way thru everything. I have had this happen and it was world shattering.
So stage one of freaking out over his test score was his hair turning into super black guy hair, stage 2 it reverts to straight “white hair” (I hate that name but whatever), and he turns fully into a white guy.
That’s quite a process.
Honestly, I’m happy this happened to Walky. His attitude was way to cavalier, and if he had continued to ace tests I would’ve been really mad. College isn’t something you can goof off to.
Well I guess this is the difference. Sal immediately went looking for help. Walky eats his test. Just own up to it man. One bad test’s not the end of the world.
Yeah, but you don’t know that until you’ve gone through failure. Something in which Sal has greater experience. Except in being badass. She does not know how to fail there.
Sal got help because Joyce pushed her to and wouldn’t leave until Sal talked to the TA.
True enough. The point I was trying to make was that Walky’s pride’s all mixed up in this for some reason. Sal was up front about her bad grade which in turn gave Joyce the opening to urge her to “take charge of her education”. That’s not really possible with his test in his mouth. I’m not sure if he’s upset that he failed or what that failure implies. I think the only one expecting him to be a genius is him.
What about his parents? His mom at least seems pretty intent on him being a genius.
I’m still wondering about that. I haven’t seen enough to make an opinion about them yet. They seemed nice enough. The mom might have her flaws and the dad seemed like he was just a dad. Who knows? Maybe Walky had it harder at home than people think, maybe Sal got off easy being sent away cause nobody expects anything from her? Is all the pressure on Walky to make something of himself while Sal’s fine as long as she’s not commiting crimes? All these questions from his reaction to one bad grade.
Because the first ten seconds of reaction reveal absolutely everything about someone, right?
No, wait, I got that wrong, they reveal nothing about a person, that’s right.
Evidence destroyed. It never happened, and you can’t prove it did.
Walky’s mum: Hrrmph. Some how, this is Sal’s fault! ):<
Dear Walky,
It’s going to be ok.
Don’t worry Walky all you have to do is fuck the TA and your grades will shoot up and no one will blame you for anything because you have some insecurity or the other.
what the fuck
That’s what he said.
Do gay males use “That’s what he said” amongst themselves when turning things into innuendos?
The term can be adjusted as needed.
There’s a girl on YouTube who says both “that’s what she said” and “that’s what he said.”
I always enjoy these moments in the comments section.
Well I mean…fucking the TA didn’t get her anything but laid a couple times. Jason pointedly graded her on the merit of her math skills, not her aerobics. These test results are a direct result of Danny’s math tutoring and Sal’s ability to process his advice.
You could make the argument that while the sex isn’t directly responsible it allowed Sal to de-stress thus focus better while studying thus better retain the information resulting in a better grade. It takes a little forcing but we can give Jason credit! If you care.
Heck, Jason very pointedly gave her tests to another TA to grade! Not only did he not improve her grades in exchange for sleeping with him, he doesn’t even know what her grades ARE anymore.
I guess you could argue that by letting her think she had an advantage he gave her a confidence boost that let her do better so she realized she could master the maths.
That very specifically did not happen.
Sounds like an interesting comic though, I would like to read it one day.
#ConsequenceFreeDramaOfAge – where Sal get’s away with everything because she’s cool, where everyone just laughs at Joyce’s antics because she’s cute, where no ones feelings get hurt and where character growth is unnecessary.
…wait, that’s basically just the drama-tag-free shortpacked joke again. OK, I’ll see myself out.
Sal sleeping with Jason to get a good grade was completely shitty, even acknowledging why she did it and the circumstances around her, but it pointedly did not work. She failed. Regardless of how scummy it was that she even tried, it had no effect on the better grade she received now because she earned it.
You know, I think people mocking Walky for this or gloating are assholes and I don’t find Sal’s complex very convincing, but you’re wildly twisting the facts here or else delusional.
But… That is exactly what -didn’t- happen.
Sal goes to Jason for tutoring. It doesn’t work because Jason is a -bad tutor-.
Sal embraces the underlying sexual tension and initiates a fuck session because that’s the sort of person she is.
Jason passes her tests off to another TA to grade in the future, she continues to get shit grades.
They continue to fuck.
Due to a series of Comedic Misunderstandings, Danny winds up tutoring Sal in math, with sex very -explicitly- not part of the equation.
Sal’s grades go up!
Though whatever comic you’ve been reading on the side that’s gotten mixed in here sounds interesting?
Try not even going half the time, works a charm
I would like to make a Sal joke here, but nah…
Kudos to Mr Willis for successfully visually conveying a character blanching (that’s what’s happening here I think, you can see some of the color gradually returning in the last two panels after the initial shock). For a long time I thought when a character in a book blanched, it was the same as wincing, but I eventually figured out it was the same thing as “the blood drained from his face”.
Blanching is real, I’ve seen it happen, though thankfully not often.
In terms of what happens physiologically, it’s basically the opposite of blushing.
Honestly it didn’t really click till I was shocked by something and experienced the sensation myself, but yeah. It’s a thing.
“Blanch”
1. make white or pale by extracting color; bleach.
2. (of a person) grow pale from shock, fear, or a similar emotion
Middle English: from Old French blanchir, from blanc ‘white,’ ultimately of Germanic origin.
In other words, to “blanch” is to take the color out of something.
Bad grades, you might say, slapped the black right off of Walky.
Says something ungood about our ed “system” that so many bright kids skated until college without serious challenge–lot of wasted time and potential in that.
It’s always been that way. That moment where you realize you may have been the smartest guy in the room in high school calc, but now you’re in a room full of smart people, and you might just be on the dumb side of smart.
Happened to me in the 70s. You’ve got two choices, buckle down and learn to work and study or quit and admit you peaked.
In Harvard and suchlike its common for people to have breakdowns when they get graded by tough teachers because for the first time in their lives they get something other than an A.
For me it was the opposite, once I was free of the bullshit in secondary school I consistently aced everything.
Judging from Problem 1, it appears as if Walky’s easy slide through school has reached discontinuous point!
Quite. He’s reached the point of limitless sorrow.
Somehow I hear a very pointed inflection in your voice when you say that …
Are you hearing that coming from the Left |–> or the Right <–| ????
So I was bored and wrote a song.
The cast song (mel. Animaniacs, states song. )
We have Amber and Amaziegirl and Danny who is dating her
And Ethan (Sexo Loco!), and Marcie who hangs with Sal,
who is cool and Walky’s silly, Ruth does secret stuff with Billie
We have Dina who likes dinosaurs
And Mikes who likes nothing
Sarah is sarcastic, Joyce is a joy
Becky is fantastic (as is Jacob, man and toy)
Carla likes her roller skates and Roz likes to Joe
Dorothy is smart and that’s the comic that we know.
Danny’s parents are insulting, Walky’s tend smother him
Ethan’s mom and dad deny him his own identity
Joyce’s parents try to shelter her, Sal’s mother just ignores her
Joe’s parents used to scream a lot
And Dinas’ are OK
Billie’s dad don’t know her, tries to buy her instead,
Amber’s father’s abusive and Ruth’s parents are dead
Becky’s father is a butthole and he looks like a toe
Dorothy’s are great and that’s the comic that we know
Lemme help! Lemme help! I’m awful at rhymes but lemme help!
Then there’s Leslie doing gender studies, Jason who does math,
Penny might be helping grading quizzes taken by Sal.
Jocelyne writes freelance, Daisy writes the paper for a thrill.
Pamela, Galasso and Conquest serve you pizza, subs and drinks.
Mary believes in cruelty and God
Alice is toxic and Faz needs to rot
Raidah is Sarah’s nemesis cos Dana is gone.
Ryan is a fuckwit. That’s the comic that we know
AWESOME!!!
I regret using “know” as the final word, it’s harder to rhyme than I expected.
I really want to see more of Conquest. One day I will afford the patreon. One day…
But this time, to death none shall go?
All this is cause Willis says it’s so?
But one question: Where is Joyce’s bow?
Oh, and that guy that looks like a toe?
And now that it’s said, you get the flow?
Great tension is stored in the seeds to sow?
Oh, I totally didn’t look at the song, umm… Yeah, I’m not looking it up while I’m listening to another one.
Thanks a ton. I might do some more stanzas.
But now I got stuck with Picard saying “make it so” in my head.
This was clearly the most logical choice.
I took my phone out during calculus to read today’s comic. It took about three minutes for the irony of this to hit me.
Walky handled that with all the grace and maturity I’d expect from him.
It’s a quiz. If you’re having trouble with the material, office hours, study group and get a tutor.
If it’s because you’re too busy being in college to study, well, then you’re fucked.
Walky vs Karma: The Winner……KARMA.
BTW, don’t know if anyone noticed from yesterday’s strip, but Mike’s sitting next to Walky. He WILL notice something’s up. Walky cannot escape.
The skewering shall commence. Mike wills it.
I’m going to go with Mike bullys Walky into studying. Cause that’s the kind of evil he is.
After the strip where Walky’s hair turns black-curly for failing the test, now Walky’s face turns white as he is overcome with sheer stupidity. Racial balance has been restored.
(Kidding. Just kidding.)
Ahhh crap.
Hopefully this means the studying together thing will get serious.
By devouring it he has absorbed its mathy wisdom.
Not sure how much wisdom Walky’s gonna get from that particular paper
Exactly.
I will never forget the first grade I got in college — it was also a 26.
The professor was nicknamed ‘Goddamnit!’ — but no one would explain why to us first-years.
Then I took my first test in college — honors physics. Got back the test. Front page? 26.
Flipped through the sea of red, with roughly the same amount of blood loss to the face. Got to the last page, where the letter grade was:
“A”
Involuntarily let out a “Damn it!” — and understood the teacher’s nickname.
That is both brilliant and diabolical
Sounds like a great teacher (once you get through the initial shock)
My graduate Electrodynamics I class was like that. I finished the class with a 36% average, which got me an A. It was the highest grade in the class.
Something something reality checks your body can’t cash.
Oh no! Walky is turning into a Squirrel! I knew this day would come!
Probably shouldn’t have spent all those time watching cartoon…
Remember mike to walky’s left? Just sayin’
There we go. Walky has finally hit the “smart kid finally encounters a real challenge” wall.
It’s funny when someone is drawing a feeling – like the life draining out of you – and you know that EXACT feeling, just from the visuals.
Here we see him, first despairing, then going stark raving mad.
This is what I meant to do:
That’s, uh… That’s some nice cover work there, Walky.
This has happened because you were having sex with Dorothy all the time. Of course, all day … pa, pa, pa, Zaca, Zaca, Zaca, pla, pla, pla, Pumba, Pumba, Pumba, … It´s that. In the end what happened happened. All day thinking about Mandanga. You may have had a good time with her, but now you get to pay bills, man.
Walky, crumbling up the test and EATING IT are NOT going to change the fact that you done fucked up, son!
Destroy the evidence!
And eliminate all witnesses…
Welp. It’s confirmed that Walky will also be diddling Jason now.
My head says “NO!” but my heart says “YES!”
That’s not your heart
Anyone else think Walky kinda looks like he’s gonna be sick in panel three?
Just 3?
I feel like some of you guys are wayyy too happy about this.
DoA fans can be a little mean
Actually I’m happy when something like this happens to someone IRL – IF – it serves as a wake-up call for them to make necessary changes.
Dina’s back to the top in the polls! http://crazyhead42.tumblr.com/post/108136469125 <3!!!!!!
http://crazyhead42.tumblr.com/post/108136469125/3 sorry, the other one didn’t work.
And that turned out way lamer than I thought it would be.
Like Dina
And that ladies and gentlemen is why you never skip breakfast in the morning.
Walky has now discovered that it’s not enough to be smart in college, you have to study too. How will he respond to that discovery? Welp, I guess we’ll find out…
Ha, a uni that gets that hard that fast?
Indiana must be hardcore.
Also while this is cute prior information seems to indicate Walky has the money to stay in University for a long time due to rich parents and that his mother wouldn’t let him leave even if he wanted to. He could completely fail and just come back. His mother already said the course he’s on isn’t the one he’ll graduate from if she has anything to do with it.
I have a friend with rich parents who has been in and out of university for almost ten years now, longer than I have known him.
Ah, yes. The first moments of the realization that college isn’t going to let you pass by half-assing everything and relyingnon your natural intelligence. I know it well. Hopefully Walky handles it better than I did and doesn’t have a nervous breakdown before isolating himself in the fiction section of the library for the entirety of finals week.
This is basically how that feels. I have finally found a visual representation of that feeling.
poor walky
Sorry, but when I see this page, that comes to my mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRT5rK4Q1nk
Act casual.
*Tears off a piece and gives it to Dorothy* “Mmmm?”