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.
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.
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?
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.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
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.
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!
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.
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
“No sound apart from the ring of the tinnitus of silence…”
-“Death Dream,” Frightened Rabbit
Go listen to it…maybe not quite immediately. You might need to space out your feels.
I actually have a bunch of cookies from a festival in an MMO still in my character’s bag years later because the spell they cast is awesome but once I use them all there is no way to ever get more.
I dunno. That applies to we fools who go through entire games not using healing potions ‘in case we need them [all] later.’ The cookies are providing benefit even unconsumed.
I tried making a ginger snaps recipe that someone posted here a few weeks ago and failed miserably (I burned the hell out of them.) I’d trade cookies with Ruth if she doesn’t want them.
This comic speaks to me way too strongly right now (pharmacy fucked up and now I’m looking to be out my anti-depressants for the week during which there’s a bunch of important things happening I can’t let slip through the cracks).
Been there exactly where she’s been before where it’s murder to get out of bed but you know you have to.
I did that. The FUBAR’s lasted longer than those could last. Now it’s just the crash but I have to be extra-functional tomorrow cause we’re being observed for renewal of our accreditation. Luckily I still have my anti-anxiety otherwise I’d be crewing my own arm off.
Good luck on the renewal. I hope your pharmacy can give you some extras to tide you over if they haven’t already (they do that with some of my meds but not the protected substances). I find that chocolate helps a little, because it’s also a stimulant, and because it scares away dementors. Thinking of you.
*hugs* Stay strong, you got this!
I know this feeling well, when getting out of bed feels like an impossible task, I’m sending you all the good vibes <3
That’s been happening this week w my gf’s insurance being a pain in the ass about getting ADHD meds. Multiple times the pharmacy said “it’ll be ready at 5:30” and then when that time came was like “actually you won’t be able to fill it for another two days.” And then her pharmacist gave her the wrong prescription! Yeesh.
So, sympathy. I can only imagine how much worse it would’ve been if they’d have been antidepressants instead of adderal.
That’s bad news, friend. Try to stay grounded and, no matter how bad or freaky things seem to get, know that there are those thinking about you and wishing you well.
Man, if Mary reacted that badly to Ruth being in a lesbian relationship, imagine what will happen when she learns Ruth is experimenting with cookiesexuality.
I got to say that I prefer that character design on Ruth anyways, so I’m glad that she is using that hairstyle. The feels, however, are not entirely welcome.
I…. love this? I mean, at first I thought it was sad, but I’m now interpreting it as kinda hopeful! She’s sort of using the cookies as a crutch, but at least it gets her out of bed and ready to face the day. Baby steps!
Or idk, maybe I’m just a hopeless optimist. But I really kinda love this one. (I’d probably also love it if it was just plain sad, in terms of storytelling, but the optimistic undertones are really doing it for me^^)
Still not as confused as me. I was wondering where the Mass Effect reference was, then I looked up to the url and saw the comic title, only then did it click.
I am not much of a Billie/Ruth person, I can’t empathize with their relationship very easily… but those last four panels. I am so happy for her. Making that first choice to stand up and take care of yourself takes a lot of willpower.
Even though she isn’t entirely happy still, it is a big step to do these things for herself for sure!
Even though Billie and Ruth’s relationship dynamic wasn’t great, Billie was very good at helping with getting stuff done so it is encouraging that a reminder gives Ruth the willpower to do this stuff.
Is it bad that I found this strip encouraging progress? Like, she got out of bed and showered and everything, while very depressed. That’s very hard! There have been days when I’m proud of doing that much, you know?
Especially given that in a dorm taking a shower risks having to deal with people while going to and from. People are exhausting. Even ignoring them takes effort.
And then imagine if she goes outside and there’s a problem that’s her responsibility to deal with! Better to stay inside and retain plausible deniability.
Thank you for for giving our day that extra bit of sunshine by pointing out the extra level of sadness.
No wait, what we meant to say was [redacted] you, you [redacted] [a whole lot of redacted] for reminding us just how depressing it is that she’s still essentially being blackmailed by that bigot.
I only ever seem to be able to sympathize with Ruth when she’s in the throes of depression.
I remember stuff like this, how it felt hopeless to get up. Medication really helped me and now it all feels so far away, like it happened to a different person.
Poor Ruth! She’s got such a menagerie of issues, I barely know where to begin! She’s lonely, has self-esteem problems the size of a major nation-state and clearly lacks the self-confidence and sense of security needed to get help.
It’s so sweet that she’s sleeping next to Billie’s gift and putting up her hair in the way Billie liked as a sort of way to be near her by one remove.
Same. It felt about like this. Everyone who is like “does this mean she’s getting her life together?” is able to think about the future a whole lot more than Ruth or I can. She’s getting this half-hour together, though!
I am, at least, glad Ruth is moving beyond Billie. Those two weren’t good for one another and once they can just let go of the pain, Ruth and she will both be in a better place emotionally. I’m also supporting Carla/Ruth and am in no way biased.
“She needs to start, though. She can’t just live for Billie. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on doing that.”
And there-in lies the conundrum. Yes, Billie is not actually -good- for her*, the way we think what a good and healthy relationships mean. But even so, she’s shown a capacity for caring about Ruth. And Ruth could very possibly have been in an even worse place right now than she already is. Including being dead.
I guess the best way I can describe this is: Billie is the person that is currently putting pressure on a bleeding major artery to stop Ruth from dying right now. But what Ruth really needs is something/someone to actually close the wound and get it treated. And Billie lacks that medical expertise to do that.
*Although I’d say that Ruth is even worse for Billie.
But mostly I was saying that I don’t see it in this strip. Yes, she got up on her own, but she was pretty obviously using reminders of Billie to do so – both the cookies and the ponytail.
I’d call that clinging to Billie, rather than moving beyond her. I also don’t think their relationship is at all over – whether they’re officially broken up or not.
Hey! The fact that she didn’t need Billie there physically making her do these things is a sign of improvement. Not… a lot of improvement, but something at least. You take the small victories when you’re as far into depression as Ruth is at this point.
He was getting dressed. Men who’d done isolated duty all agreed, you had to keep the standards up or things went to hell. Miles had been awake three hours now, and had his trousers on. In the next hour he was either going to try for his socks, or shave, whichever seemed easier.
Sad, but hopeful. Ruth gets out of bed, showers, get some work done and even cares about how she appears. She puts on her ponytail armor. Now she is ready to kick some ass – hopefully Mary’s.
Seems counterproductive, since it’s still insulting. I actually prefer being called the other one, since I can say, “yeah, I care about social justice enough to argue about it on the Internet. So what?”
“Glistening phallus” just comes across as a gendered insult to me. It’s just calling me a dick.
I always thought it was something that made the speaker just sound ridiculous. Usually because the context would make it sound like they were saying something like,
“The problem with the world is all these glistening phalluses ruining comics!”
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
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 ⋅ 3d
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...
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Loading ...
she was gonna eat those cookies in bed but it reminded her too much of doing the same to Billie
No she tossed her cookies on Billie.
And missed.
…. The cookies… Or…
**slowclap**
The cookies are in Billie’s spot in the bed, that’s just heartbreaking.
Hurts see characters we love hurting.
I’m sad now.
Hello sad
Hello Darkness my old friend.
My old FRED, amirite?
It’s time to talk to you again
see, now you made it sad. we were all having a fun time watching ruth spiral, but you had to go and make it sad
But on the upside it did get her moving.
It may not seem like much but it really is a big deal sometimes just to act human.
Cookies sure are a crumby substitute.
Sad comic puns are unavoidable. That’s just how the cookie crumbles.
The silence.
It burns me.
“No sound apart from the ring of the tinnitus of silence…”
-“Death Dream,” Frightened Rabbit
Go listen to it…maybe not quite immediately. You might need to space out your feels.
Cookies, the best bed mate, though not the cleanest.
The rats will get ’em, don’t worry.
*insert appropriate Archer quote*
Well, that just broke my heart a little.
*plays the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” on the hacked Muzak*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNrpAgTXiC4 <- Lost in the Fifties tonight…
…and a pony tail, hangin’ down…
Ah, the classics. Nothing but the best.
After everyone finishes their nostalgia trip to the 50s, Vagabond J makes a request for some music possibly unfitting to the strip at hand.
Yehudi Menuhin plays the Adagio to Bach’s Violin Sonata Nr 1 in G Minor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkZvyA69wCo
Awww.
Imagine if she rolled over in the night…
*CRUNCH*
OH GOD BILLIE WHAT HAVE I oh it’s just the cookies.
The only crunch Ruth is used to hearing is the sound of femurs cracking.
Some people’s skulls are too thick to beat them to death with their own bloody femurs unless you go for torso hits.
OH GOD THE COOKIES!!! WHY COULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN BILLIE!?! WHY!?
NOOOOO, THE RAMEN BROKE
Sorry Ruth, but i gotta say those cookies are not a good replacement for Billie spot on the bed.
Was it the crunching sound when you roll over them or you just don’t like ginger snaps?
she just did that telekinetically thanks to the cookies, didn’t she?
Huh. Where have we seen that hairstyle before?
Oh right!
Joyce!
Think Billie put her hair up when she made her change her shirt and go ‘do her job’.
How dare she not eat those cookies.
Enchanted cookies of +1 sanity. Too useful to eat.
Oh, I better leave them in my bag full of awesome stuff that I’ll never use!
It’s okay, the +1 sanity is a passive bonus you get simply for keeping them in your inventory.
What else is a bag of holding for?
I actually have a bunch of cookies from a festival in an MMO still in my character’s bag years later because the spell they cast is awesome but once I use them all there is no way to ever get more.
Too Awesome To Use trope applies.
I dunno. That applies to we fools who go through entire games not using healing potions ‘in case we need them [all] later.’ The cookies are providing benefit even unconsumed.
They’re better when they’re stale.
Dunk ’em in Scotch. Yum
You know you’ve had too much when you wake up next to cookies Ruth
No, if she’d had too much she would have tossed them.
You know you’ve had too much when you wake up with cookie crumbs inside you.
…No, I don’t mean inside your stomach.
The ginger’s naps with her gingersnaps.
That’s my kind of joke
mind~blown
(mathematical approximation)
If your mind is blown, 1=1.
1=1, your mind is now blown.
p→q
q
does not imply P
or does it???? now that would blow my mind
Affirming the subsequent!
A few more wordsw and we have ourselves a tongue-twister.
Well, with how often the aforementioned ginger snaps, I’m sure those words will get here soon. Too soon.
Well now I’m sad.
I tried making a ginger snaps recipe that someone posted here a few weeks ago and failed miserably (I burned the hell out of them.) I’d trade cookies with Ruth if she doesn’t want them.
This comic speaks to me way too strongly right now (pharmacy fucked up and now I’m looking to be out my anti-depressants for the week during which there’s a bunch of important things happening I can’t let slip through the cracks).
Been there exactly where she’s been before where it’s murder to get out of bed but you know you have to.
That’s happened to me before. Often my pharmacy will give me a couple of pills to get through the week. Maybe yours can help you?
I’m sorry, and please insert encouraging stuff here because I’m shit at this, honestly, but know that we’re all pulling for you <3
[Insert Generic Platitude Here]
I hate when that happens. Stretching out the pills and wondering how long the lag is before the crash happens.
I did that. The FUBAR’s lasted longer than those could last. Now it’s just the crash but I have to be extra-functional tomorrow cause we’re being observed for renewal of our accreditation. Luckily I still have my anti-anxiety otherwise I’d be crewing my own arm off.
Good luck on the renewal. I hope your pharmacy can give you some extras to tide you over if they haven’t already (they do that with some of my meds but not the protected substances). I find that chocolate helps a little, because it’s also a stimulant, and because it scares away dementors. Thinking of you.
Yay! Pharmacy called today and apologized for FUBAR and has approved some emergency supply I can pick up today! So happy!
and you don’t even have the pills yet! \o/
8-)}
That’s great.
YAY! No withdrawal for you.
Yay! That’s awesome!
*hugs* Stay strong, you got this!
I know this feeling well, when getting out of bed feels like an impossible task, I’m sending you all the good vibes <3
They won’t give you anything to tide you over?
That’s been happening this week w my gf’s insurance being a pain in the ass about getting ADHD meds. Multiple times the pharmacy said “it’ll be ready at 5:30” and then when that time came was like “actually you won’t be able to fill it for another two days.” And then her pharmacist gave her the wrong prescription! Yeesh.
So, sympathy. I can only imagine how much worse it would’ve been if they’d have been antidepressants instead of adderal.
*Sympathy via light touch* Just let me know if there is anything I can do over the internet.
*hugs* I know how hard going without medication is, and I know you can do it.
Remember, when things start going dark, that isn’t you thinking it and it never was.
*hugs* We love you, Cerberus. You can make it.
That’s bad news, friend. Try to stay grounded and, no matter how bad or freaky things seem to get, know that there are those thinking about you and wishing you well.
Man, if Mary reacted that badly to Ruth being in a lesbian relationship, imagine what will happen when she learns Ruth is experimenting with cookiesexuality.
As long as those cookies are kosher the Bible doesn’t rule against cookiesexuality.
Except for Passover.
Only if they’re leavened.
Which would be all cookies other than, like, Manischewitz macaroons.
That is a fast path to a nasty infection.
Adds a whole new meaning to the term “Caught with your hands in your cookie jar”.
Hey, the title word doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the comic. Isn’t that breaking a rule or something?
No, see, if there are no words in the strip, then the title will refer to an object in the strip, like here.
Also, sometimes after Willis has picked the title he rewrites the dialog without that word, but doesn’t change the name.
[citation needed]
I did say that.
Does not apply to this strip, though. It was wordless, had to come up with something.
wait up, you can just conjur citations in this forum? that makes things so much easier
I can call spirits from the vasty deep!
So can I, so can any man;
But do they come when you call them?
(not exact, but it’s from memory)
The question is, are the cookies or the ponytail the talisman?
Also, that outfit looks awfully familiar….
The answer is yes.
It’s what she was wearing on the first day. Not sure if she’s worn it since.
She wore it the night she first kissed Billie. Back in…Book 3?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/pie/
If she puts those cookies on her back while she walks around, I will smile greatly.
On the bright side, now maybe this is the first step in Ruth getting all her shit together?
This was my instict about this as well, but we’ll see I guess.
eh, could be, but managing to do that once, hard as it can be, isn’t necessarily a sign that things are going to get easier/better. I know.
At least getting her hair all together?
She looks drunk as hell in one of the preview panels.
I think she’s working on getting her half-hour together. It’s one step at a time.
I got to say that I prefer that character design on Ruth anyways, so I’m glad that she is using that hairstyle. The feels, however, are not entirely welcome.
I…. love this? I mean, at first I thought it was sad, but I’m now interpreting it as kinda hopeful! She’s sort of using the cookies as a crutch, but at least it gets her out of bed and ready to face the day. Baby steps!
Or idk, maybe I’m just a hopeless optimist. But I really kinda love this one. (I’d probably also love it if it was just plain sad, in terms of storytelling, but the optimistic undertones are really doing it for me^^)
Do the cookies just symbolize guilt in general?
I think they represent Billie, who still cares about her.
*Reads Alt Text*
I almost thought that said “TailsWOMAN,” which sounds like a screen name for a particularly devoted fan of Miles Prower.
Still not as confused as me. I was wondering where the Mass Effect reference was, then I looked up to the url and saw the comic title, only then did it click.
You’re saying Ruth is FemShep in disguise?
Well they’re both angry redheaded Canadians.
oh god now I’m hearing Ruth’s voice as Jennifer Hale.
For Billie
I love the way Ruth looks in that fourth panel for some reason.
Ruth should go for a braid. And a Chinese style shirt. And replace Billie with a girl named Akane.
This is Dumbing Of Age. Panda attacks are over in PVP.
I’m assuming that’s a Ranma reference, but could work on another level, since Akane can also mean ‘deep red’.
“The role of Joe Rosenthal will now be played by Tatewaki Kuno.”
Ruth is the pigtailed girl?
She’s the closest fit in this comic. Red hair, apparent martial arts skills, a temper, and has an elder who apparently is an insensitive asshole.
I love this comic, keep up the good work.
She had to wash that girl’s cookies right out of her hair.
At least she did not toss those cookies.
You sure, it looks like she was in the last panel.
I am not much of a Billie/Ruth person, I can’t empathize with their relationship very easily… but those last four panels. I am so happy for her. Making that first choice to stand up and take care of yourself takes a lot of willpower.
Even though she isn’t entirely happy still, it is a big step to do these things for herself for sure!
Even though Billie and Ruth’s relationship dynamic wasn’t great, Billie was very good at helping with getting stuff done so it is encouraging that a reminder gives Ruth the willpower to do this stuff.
This coincides with my doing things. Pretty serendipitous.
Ah, the ponytail is a Billie thing, I take it.
that was my take away
I think Billie has said that she liked it up.
Yes, I think when she put Ruth’s hair up and made her change her shirt and go ‘do her job’.
Yeah. For comparison the strip is here:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/eh/
Thank you!
Is it bad that I found this strip encouraging progress? Like, she got out of bed and showered and everything, while very depressed. That’s very hard! There have been days when I’m proud of doing that much, you know?
Especially given that in a dorm taking a shower risks having to deal with people while going to and from. People are exhausting. Even ignoring them takes effort.
And then imagine if she goes outside and there’s a problem that’s her responsibility to deal with! Better to stay inside and retain plausible deniability.
would people say her hairstyle is reminiscent of Billie’s?
Billie’s hair doesn’t go flat at the top like hers does. Besides, she had it up like that yesterday.
It’s how Billie put Ruth’s hair up. It’s also a nice flat shelf, she could put a beer on it.
I would’ve eaten the cookies, that usually helps me feel better when I’m sad
I can see two reasons why she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t want to lose that object from Billie, and when you’re that depressed eating can be haaaard.
Or it can be way too easy.
One of the differences between sadness and depression.
Don’t bang cookies, Ruth, the sugar’ll give you a yeast infection.
I’d suggest Bread, but something tells me it would just have the same effect…
*dodges rolling pins*
That moment when you notice, on the shower panel, the water streams are right below where her eyes would be.
won’t cry, can’t cry, things need doing.
(repeat)
(not me, Ruth.)
(… aw heck. also me.)
I know that mode all too well. “Just keeps moving, even if it’s not very fast. Keep. Moving.”
Good for Ruth. She’s up, cleaned herself help, maybe getting in a little studying. It’s sad.
But also optimistic?
Ruth, you’re gorgeous. Why you gotta be so anti-people?
This comic is ideal for fart noise embellishment.
By the way, will we ever see Sal’s care package? Did she get the same kind of cookies as Walky, but fewer of them?
She got the same kind, plus a note that says “Give these to your brother, they wouldn’t fit in his box”.
I’m actually really hoping that Linda sent her a hair care product.
No, it is symbolic, like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
Wait, so it has the Holy Grail in it?
I like how Ruth looks in a ponytail~ Let’s hope our beloved dictator of an RA makes a great comeback~!
No chicken fingers?
DAMN YOU, WILLIS!!
You’re surprised?
Walky is the only one that can get chicken fingers.
Sal gets stuck with the chicken lips.
Jason isn’t that cowardly.
Whoever noted that we had an impressive streak of consecutive comics including trans characters, it ended. How many strips was it?
While I’m looking things up it turns out we had 1 with Jocelyne, 7 with Carla, and then another 13 with Jocelyne.
She kept the pony tail that Billie made for her.
*sad*
For some reason, the first four panels remind me of Ruth’s Walkyverse counterpart’s heavy-handed anti-premarital-sex backstory.
Which mean Ruth is really regretting rushing into a sexual relationship with those cookies.
She has lost her precious frosting?
Those cookies aren’t gonna eat themselves.
Willis, I come here to escape my life, not to witness it
Dang. I don’t like seeing Ruth remotely happy. Suffer more!
Just let it burn and endure. It’s a fire that goes out eventually, when it uses up its fuel. Not much else you can do but let it burn.
That was so cute and hopefull, it kind of melted me heart.
I just wanted to make a “who is the talis-man you speak of”-joke, but i see willis kinda beat me to it in the alt-text…
But who is this Talis-Woman he speaks of?
Ah, tears and cookies on a cold October morning.
Aw, scene change already? But I want to know if the waitress joins the Brown sisters on their merry break-in.
Anyway, Ruth’s ponytail is nice.
On the bright side, this means Mary valiantly succeeded in putting a stop to the evil lesbians’ sinful fornication.
Oh wait, that was not the bright side.
Thank you for for giving our day that extra bit of sunshine by pointing out the extra level of sadness.
No wait, what we meant to say was [redacted] you, you [redacted] [a whole lot of redacted] for reminding us just how depressing it is that she’s still essentially being blackmailed by that bigot.
(Oh, and just in case: Bagge and I like to make silly jokes around each other. I am not actually angry at Bagge.)
After all, every Emperor need his fool to point out that he is naked.
…I came up with 12 different responses to this. Not a single one of them weren’t inappropriate in one form or other.
You win this round, Bagge! *grumblegrumble*
Marry n’uncle, and yet the fool remains fool and the emperor remains emperor.
I applaud this foolishness, for ’tis in the finest tradition of the profession.
it’s a real nice way to depict having to go through life when you have depression. i like it.
Rise… https://youtu.be/Ts9UrfgnPEw?list=PLiQm319eSpZOzySeq0ggAGIy7sJDBe9rn
Last Panel – What am I looking at?
Did she just remove her fake hair extension?
I only ever seem to be able to sympathize with Ruth when she’s in the throes of depression.
I remember stuff like this, how it felt hopeless to get up. Medication really helped me and now it all feels so far away, like it happened to a different person.
Poor Ruth! She’s got such a menagerie of issues, I barely know where to begin! She’s lonely, has self-esteem problems the size of a major nation-state and clearly lacks the self-confidence and sense of security needed to get help.
It’s so sweet that she’s sleeping next to Billie’s gift and putting up her hair in the way Billie liked as a sort of way to be near her by one remove.
i’ve never seen so many sweater vests
That last panel is either adorable or heartbreaking. I can’t figure out which.
Yes.
Yes.
that ponytail is a nice secret lover secret sign ~look at me, I still think of you~
Been there Ruth, I fell ya.
Same. It felt about like this. Everyone who is like “does this mean she’s getting her life together?” is able to think about the future a whole lot more than Ruth or I can. She’s getting this half-hour together, though!
That shower nozzle looks like a shotgun.
How many shotguns have you seen?
I am, at least, glad Ruth is moving beyond Billie. Those two weren’t good for one another and once they can just let go of the pain, Ruth and she will both be in a better place emotionally. I’m also supporting Carla/Ruth and am in no way biased.
#GingerSnaps
If you think this strip at all shows Ruth moving beyond Billie, I don’t know what comic you’re reading.
She needs to start, though. She can’t just live for Billie. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on doing that.
Yesterday it took Billie forcing her up and tying her hair for her. Today she did it herself. That’s a good sign.
“She needs to start, though. She can’t just live for Billie. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on doing that.”
And there-in lies the conundrum. Yes, Billie is not actually -good- for her*, the way we think what a good and healthy relationships mean. But even so, she’s shown a capacity for caring about Ruth. And Ruth could very possibly have been in an even worse place right now than she already is. Including being dead.
I guess the best way I can describe this is: Billie is the person that is currently putting pressure on a bleeding major artery to stop Ruth from dying right now. But what Ruth really needs is something/someone to actually close the wound and get it treated. And Billie lacks that medical expertise to do that.
*Although I’d say that Ruth is even worse for Billie.
I agree with my Emperor.
But mostly I was saying that I don’t see it in this strip. Yes, she got up on her own, but she was pretty obviously using reminders of Billie to do so – both the cookies and the ponytail.
I’d call that clinging to Billie, rather than moving beyond her. I also don’t think their relationship is at all over – whether they’re officially broken up or not.
It makes me think of captain hero crying in the shower.
Hey! The fact that she didn’t need Billie there physically making her do these things is a sign of improvement. Not… a lot of improvement, but something at least. You take the small victories when you’re as far into depression as Ruth is at this point.
He was getting dressed. Men who’d done isolated duty all agreed, you had to keep the standards up or things went to hell. Miles had been awake three hours now, and had his trousers on. In the next hour he was either going to try for his socks, or shave, whichever seemed easier.
– The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Every time our Bard flips from one scene to another I hear the voice from the old Western Serials announce: “Meanwhile, back at the ranch.”
Sad, but hopeful. Ruth gets out of bed, showers, get some work done and even cares about how she appears. She puts on her ponytail armor. Now she is ready to kick some ass – hopefully Mary’s.
Poor Ruthless.
Depression. It’s a bongo.
Bongo? Ugh. Let’s try again.
“Depression. It’s a [term for female canine].”
There. Hopefully, that worked better.
It’s always a magical moment when a user first discovers the bongo filter.
And then they often experiment. Which is always fun.
As much as I like the bongo filter, the SJW one is my favorite.
Though I’ve started using “bongo” elsewhere in the hope it’ll catch on, which I doubt the other one would.
I have just discovered that the filters don’t apply to the RSS feed. Saves me having to ask what that second filter is.
I love SJW.
Would VFP SJW be a good name for a Culture ship?
There is a long history of calling depression “the black dog”.
Going with older Sisters for soundtrack times
https://youtu.be/UI3yKorifpY
What is being censored to “glistening phallus”? I do not want to post a long list of obscenities just to find out.
A controversial TLA (Three Letter Acronym) sorta like Societal Judgement Worriers.
The abbreviation for Social Justice Warrior.
Seems counterproductive, since it’s still insulting. I actually prefer being called the other one, since I can say, “yeah, I care about social justice enough to argue about it on the Internet. So what?”
“Glistening phallus” just comes across as a gendered insult to me. It’s just calling me a dick.
Might be the idea is to make guys complaining about them look like gay guys, which they would likely consider a bad thing. Just guessing.
the idea was it was a funny pair of words
I always thought it was something that made the speaker just sound ridiculous. Usually because the context would make it sound like they were saying something like,
“The problem with the world is all these glistening phalluses ruining comics!”
Remember that these are not Ruth’s first emotional metaphor cookies.
Argh! http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/cookie/
Nothing like “sharing” cookies with your sibling.
I don’t think Sal feels that way about Dorothy.
Ruth, that stool sample is going to remain a Type 1 no matter how many times you look at it.
That was disgusting. And informative.
But mostly disgusting.
Does she want ants? Because that’s how you get ants.
Sorry.
Nah, these are in a ziploc bag. Sweet and sour sauce dripping from the foil wrap is how you get ants. Also donuts, I think.