Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
Go Get a Roomie
Clover
Experience the queer journey of an upbeat hippie and the friendships she makes along the way! A tale of self-discovery and love of many forms.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Jailbird
Charlie Davis
An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
Fireweeds Moors
Gato Iberico
A cat-headed man and a girl with a sandwich hankering accidentally end up in a myth-infused country where magic chalices are a really big thing.
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Kiwi Blitz
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
The Automan's Daughter
Mike Stamm
Aisha Osman and her uncle Siddig outwit bikers, spies and kidnappers while gearing up for a showdown with the formidable Widowmaker mecha.
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Between Failures
Jackie Wohlenhaus
The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
Ghost Junk Sickness
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
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!
Devil's Candy
Rem, Bikkuri
A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
This is Not Fiction
Nicole Mannino
What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Godslave
Meaghan Carter
Edith has been thrown into the dangerous world of modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and dealing with family drama of godly proportions.
The Sanity Circus
Windy
Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Caramel Corn
Potchimew
Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Paranatural
Zack Morrison
Superpowered middle schoolers fight evil spirits in their rural hometown. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast, the creatures, and the mystery that ties them all together!
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.
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
Cut Time
Juby
Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
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:
*Door kicked open*: WHO HAS DARED TO SUMMON THE MIGHTY GALASSO, AND ALSO A PIZZA WITH EXTRA SAUSAGE?
“Ooooh, we seem to be all out of tip. Maybe we can do SOMETHING ELSE for you?”
“THE MIGHTY GALASSO WOULD ALSO ACCEPT THE HEADS OF YOUR ENEMIES AS PAYMENT”
“Sure, come with me and Billie, we will find Mary for you”
…
“Anyone else up for a hot, lesbian orgy?”
“Eat your pizza, Becky.”
Well, there is a reason. A tonne, ‘metric ton’, is larger than an American ton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ton
1000 kg = 2,204.6 lbs > 2,000 pounds = 907 kg.
So a metric ton of stuff is more than a regular ton. It’s hyperbolic in a way. The usage of ‘metric [other things]’ just comes naturally from that.
I ‘unno about that, man. I’ve worked on a lot of hentai– very little of anything makes me uncomfortable anymore when it comes to mashing jibbly bits together.
It’s so nasty that the site it’s on flags it as “Offensive for Everybody”, and when a hentai site is putting a content warning on something, you’d best believe it’s some nasty stuff.
It’s a girl… getting fucked by a creature of unknown species… that has her boyfriend’s head sewn into the creature’s head in such a way that the face is visible when the creature’s mouth is opened.
There’s probably an entire subculture for that sort of thing on DeviantArt, buried somewhere under all the ponies and inflated Sonic the Hedgehog original characters.
Yes, he’s an asshole because he wants Dorothy to get off his case and let him (fail/neglect to) deal with his own problems. Not like he’s just insecure about having problems in the first place or about relying on the girlfriend he knows is eventually going to leave him for Yale.
We, the audience, need to see that Walky is being dismissive of Dorothy, (and yesterday, that Dorothy was being domineering over Walky) to know that the way they treat each other is not good; that their relationship is strained.
Would it be just as belittling and demeaning if it were a man? Because it’s a person being portrayed as an animal? Or is it the association with the word for a female dog that concerns you?
Yeah, it definitely has to do with the word. But also with the persisting stereotype of the ‘nagging’ wife/girlfriend or just in general prescribing animal characterists to women. And not strong, fierce animals, but small, yappy animals. The, y’know, percussion instrument word is just the extreme of it, where literally a word for a female dog is being used to negatively describe women, often to silence them or their opinions.
It just bothers me in context. And I also kind of think it’s supposed to bother us? This is definitely not being done to show Walky in a sympathetic light, that’s for sure.
Jeeze! It is more like he is “throwing her a bone” (Sal) to distract her from the bigger problems. Comparison can be used for anyone, not just a woman!
That term is used in any situation (ie: give the insistent press(media) a little info, so they don’t get the real story, etc) “Throw ’em a bone so they don’t ask too many questions” Misdirection!
It can have more than one meaning. It can evoke something in me because I’m a woman who’s been called the percussion instrument word by men before and because many women have and continue to be called that – and it can also still mean what you said. The two are not mutually exclusive.
True, but I do think there is a better argument for the “throwing her a bone” argument based on what we’ve seen so far in the comic. I don’t really think he thinks of her as a female dog.
He just resents the controlling way she’s trying to get him to talk about his feelings.
Well arguably he’s thinking of her as a dog because he’s thinking of the “tossing her a bone” metaphor and female because she is female rather than thinking of her as a female dog because he’s thinking “bongo”.
I certainly don’t think it’s intended to show Walky in a sympathetic light, but I also don’t think it’s intended to show him thinking of her as a bongo.
No, it’s not. He’s thinking of her as a yapping dog who he has to throw a bone. It’s a way to show a common metaphor, not a way to say she’s a witch with a B.
All of this. She’s showing concern, and he sees it as yapping that he has to somehow deflect. It’s uncomfortable because I Know Walky doesn’t actually disrespect or demean Dorothy, and yet the comic male protagonist avoiding the oblivious/nosy female partner is such a common trope.
But it’s not the guy who is 100% the bad guy in this, either.
He can’t tell her, because he is not willing to do what she would make him do. He can’t trust her to just commiserate rather than try to fix the problem.
It’s the same reason a lot of women I know say they don’t tell their husband’s their problems. They aren’t looking for a fix.
And, while Walky needs to fix this problem, that’s not what he’s looking for.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised if this were to break them up.
Her place here isn’t just to commiserate. Walky needs, for his own damn sake, to learn this shit to continue with the basic arc he has planned for his life. He can’t avoid learning how to study and graduate college. And he plans to graduate college. She probably can’t teach him how – I miiight be getting my wires crossed with another thing, but I seem to recall she’s rubbish at teaching people. But until Walky expresses that he no longer cares about college, which has not been a thing he’s said or felt or thought that we know? She should try to help him. Not at any given moment, and not necessarily by doing the teaching. But convincing him to talk to Jason, Danny, or similar is an important thing she can do.
Keep in mind, what I’m saying *is based on Walky’s basic plans for himself*. It’s not taht he’s failing to live up to her expectations on how life should be lived. It’s that his stated goals haven’t been contradicted, he just has problems making them happen. And helping him solve those problems is a legitimate valid thing to be doing, especially because it’s clearly been bothering him a lot. About the only person he talks with regularly who hasn’t commented is Sal, and Sal’s had bigger shit to deal with in the context of her family (And doesn’t really know her brother all that well, and is aware of it).
I… think it’s meant to be a little insulting? I mean, it’s his internal thought. We all think things that other people would find disgusting or insulting. The measure of a decent person is whether we filter those things out, or express them.
Bongo? Is this a non-American cultural thing? I have never heard the word used to describe a woman. I’m not even sure how you can make a negative connotation to that.
“Sal doesn’t feel appreciated”? That’s the understatement of the Entire Webcomic. Well, so much for a chance to perhaps help Sal out in some way. Just means more cookies fro Walky.
First: OMG puppy!Dorothy. I laughed out loud. Then I shook my head at Walky for how his brain works.
Second: I’ve done this. Deflected with the ‘less severe’ (to me) problem to avoid talking about the bigger one. Walky is clearly using Sal as a shield to not have to talk to Dorothy about his worsening grades. He may not have planned to do this, but an opportunity presented itself and so he took it. I feel this. It’s not nice and/or healthy behavoir, but I recognize it in myself. Walky, you and I need to work on this!
But seriously dude, stop thinking of your girlfriend as a dog. JEEZ.
Thing is, I kinda wonder is she sees him kinda that way at times, too. She does seem to see him as a project–someone she can fix up. Kinda like training a dog.
I used to think this was the healthy relationship in the comic, but I’m far from sure about that anymore.
Well that’s a hypothetical, because we’ve only seen Walky’s inner thoughts now and not Dorothy’s. I mean, I agree with you that she’s trying to ‘fix’ him a bit, but I feel like that happens in a lot of relationships in the beginning – you try to see how malleable your new partner is, you test out certain things to improve what you think is lacking in that person. And Walky doesn’t put up much resistance. Dorothy buys him shirts, etc. She’s testing it out and it’s working. I don’t think I’d go with the dog analogy for what she is doing.
Also, let’s not kid ourselves, Walky’s school problems need outside intervention. That’s the whole point of his arc. This is less about Dorothy fixing him (For youkhrist’s sake, *MIKE* has offered aid) and more about Walky avoiding the simple, obvious truth. He’s going to keep denying help, even though it’s been offered so many times, by so many people. Dorothy trying to help him with something that’s eating him *IS WHAT A FRIEND SHOULD DO*. She should maybe have backed off sooner, but being proactive and trying to help people in pain is still, ultimately, something you should be doing for people you’re in a relationship with – romantic or not.
No, it’s really not. Helping them with a problem when they tell you about it is a friendly thing to do. Asking them what’s wrong when they seem down is a friendly thing to do.
Trying to make them talk when they’ve said no? Not friendly. Forcing them to write a thank you note, and then giving them a reprieve only if they tell you what’s wrong? Not a friendly thing to do.
Dorothy is being controlling right now. She’s not acting like a friend or a girlfriend. At best, she’s acting like a mom.
Oh my Lord and Taylor. Forcing them to write a thank-you note is kind of dumb, but the actual goal is to get him to fucking talk about his problems. And frankly, Walky avoiding them is seriously fucking him up. Getting him to actually face up to them, or at least trying to is not ‘controlling’ just because it’s uncomfortable. And yes, it is. It’s not easy to learn to leave your shell at all, much less in dire need which shouldn’t exist (Because your shell is awesome and should be protecting you).
And this is part of why relationships are hard, incidentally. This is not an easy line to really walk, between where someone is clamming up about something they know they need to share and where you’re nagging. And I’m saying this as the quiet, taciturn one in my relationship. Wifey is fairly open, all told. But while she usually doesn’t press, she will ultimately figure out where she should.
Being hard doesn’t mean Dorothy’s necessarily succeeding. But she’s not failing merely because she’s pressing him on a thing he doesn’t want to talk about, because we already know he NEEDS to talk about it. He HAS to learn how to study.
Yep. Seen (and been one of) plenty of very smart kids coast through school on pure brain power, until they can’t anymore and the lack of study skills catches up with them. Slab-o-problems is small compared to what it can be feel like. Immovable wall more like. And it just gets worse the longer one goes without hitting it. Freshman or sophomore year of college away from home is probably the worst time for it, because there is no really authority that can quickly step in and force the student to start putting in the work.
That isn’t enough for you? For an 18 or so year-old kid who’s not had the world’s hardest life so far and hasn’t really been used to struggling with grades or wasn’t really concerned/confronted with people with SERIOUS problems, that can be quite the culture shock. Adulting is hard!
Besides you have to remember, Walky doesn’t have huge problems, but he thinks he does, cause he’s stressed and young. He does need to talk to someone though. It’s kinda like how you think you have a lot of homework, but once you plan it out, its not so bad.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean. He’s had a comparatively (to many others in this comic) easy life so far, at least from what we’ve seen, so of course now that he runs into some problems, they start to feel like the end of the world. It’s an early adulthood rite of passage, almost^^
I mean, ‘small’ problems, or what others perceive as small, can still be really severe in someone else’s head, if they for example struggle with mental health but to everyone on the ‘outside’ it loosk like they’re making a big deal out of nothing. But I dont think that’s what’s going on with Walky here.
2) Failing when his entire life he has been successful
3) Inability to study
4) Falling for amazing GF who plans to leave him
5) GF asking him to talk about his feelings when he is not touchy feely
6) Poor relationship with sister which he feels is his fault
7) Worrying over parents being potentially racist, how this has effected him as perhaps being less deserving of what he got and knowing that your sibling and parents who you both love may have messed up relationship
Also while he is not that close with Joyce or Becky I doubt them being assaulted and held at gun point just this week calmed his nerves any.
8) Is Billie suicidal/going to drink herself to death? She’s at least once actively sought out his company despite usually acting like he’s a nuisance.
And he eats lunch with Joyce several days out of the week, so he’s at least been in close proximity to the current not-happy-all-the-time Joyce, and it’s put everyone on edge (Billie and Walky have both voiced concern).
Sometimes the best way to lie is to sprinkle a little bit of truth in there. I don’t remember who said that, but I feel if there were ever a place where it applies it’s here.
It’s pure interpersonal relationships. There’s no political or religious element to it, there’s nobody to ship (since they’re already in a relationship, it’d be like dipping chocolate in more chocolate), there’s nobody to metaphorically shout about (whether it’s shout outs or shout ats).
The slab isn’t actually a giant ass pad about all the problems he has. It’s a list of all the problems he has pertaining to Giant Asses. Dottie clearly needs to gain some more ass mass. He may have come out Whiter but Walky’s still BLACK Damnit!
I can’t help but giggle simply because this is actually how I deal with problems myself. A little bit at a time. Sure it’s slow work but it gets the job done.
That would be hellish for him. Dorothy’s a source of solace when she isn’t needling him about opening up; asking her to help him study would be signing all his free time’s death warrant.
Are you kidding? Study groups are organised to the nth degree, you meet at certain times, study for a certain amount of time and stop at a given time. They are perfect.
Walky just needs to say he wants to spend more time with her and he thinks they can help each other. She already thinks he is a brain.
I dislike this representation, and yes I’m female, but …. I wouldn’t like to see a male depicted that way either. It is a nasty way to feel about another person who is supposed to be your bf/gf.
If Walky doesn’t want to talk about something that’s his right, so he shouldn’t be pressured. And Dorothy should respect that.
It is too bad though, because he hasn’t a clue what to do with his feelings that he is just facing about the way his sister really has been treated like shit by the parents over the years.
As to his grades, he should open up to Dorothy, because she can help him with that problem, if he lets her.
It’s an analogy his mind is making in passing, not the way he normally thinks of her. Yes he should open up to Dorothy but he’s not going to easily. It’s easier to be a cool untroubled-by-anything laid-back person if people think of you that way. And that’s an identity he strives for.
He’s picturing her as something endearingly adorable and well-meaning but incessantly obnoxious that keeps doing the same thing over and over again.
Seems pretty accurate.
From his perspective? Yes. He’s already expressed that he’s uncomfortable talking about this, and she keeps bringing it up, trying to persuade or guilt him into opening up.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting communication and emotional availability, but her methods for going about getting them are questionable. Though I don’t know that other methods would prove any more effective on Walky…
I mean, kinda? But he’s never even been straightforward about that either. He’s never made it clear that while there are problems, he doesn’t want to talk about them and he wishes she would stop pushing. He always just deflects, which isn’t the best thing to do when someone can tell you’re visibly in trouble and is concerned. Maybe her methods aren’t the best, but without knowing Walky’s problem or his thoughts on it, and how severe it may be, she doesn’t have too many options other than ignoring it, which wouldn’t be smart either.
Any of the characters can have their mistakes explained away in that sense, doesn’t mean they’re not mistakes. Pretending like what this view of Dorothy implies isn’t wrong is silly, because the comic is entirely about characters becoming more aware of their flaws and working past them.
So, yeah, I’m still not a fan of when Walky does stuff like this, especially since there’s a chance he’s actually older than I am, depending on when he graduated high school. Plus, the comic’s been running for 5 and a half years now, it’s time for Walky to grow as a character in the opposite direction.
Yes. in fact, she’s being worse than obnoxious. She’s being controlling. She forced him to write a thank you note. And then she’s offering him a reprieve if he tells her about his problems.
I don’t think that thinking he needs to throw her a bone is such a horrible thing. That’s all this is. He didn’t think of her as an actual female dog. He thought of her as a yapping puppy. She’s annoying him, not bad.
And I don’t think it’s right to judge him for a single thought, when we’ve seen he’s a pretty good dude who just has a problem saying things without thinking.
Remember the dancing banana singing ‘peanut butter jelly time’? Yeah, that’s really Walky’s peener. There, feeling better now? Though I don’t see how this related in the slightest to today’s comic, but penis jokes are always appropriate… right?
Anyone who has been in a long term relationship has had ‘thoughts’ similar to this, maybe not this exactly, but something derogatory towards your other. It’s normal and healthy.
Puppy Dorothy is ADORABLE!!! Let’s vote for her for the next patre… *reads alt text* …oh, OK.
But seriously, despite their problems this is a beautiful relationship moment. Dorothy pushes and pokes maybe a liiiiiitle too much, but then she apologizes and backs off. Walky keeps his shit to himself, but he throws her a scrap.
Well the problem is you don’t get unvarnished access to a person’s interior mind with a “just for fun” relationship. Dorothy is treating Walky like this is a serious relationship and that’s going to run into problems as there’s stuff he doesn’t intend or want to share.
Very true. Though I’m thinking this is more harmful for Walky then Dorothy (precisely because it’s not her place to poke and prod too much). Keeping this to himself is eating at him and covering it up won’t help.
I think that Dorothy is sensitive and feels the vibes he gives off. And now, he’s misleading her… which might in turn cause her to doubt her own perceptions.
I really don’t think that’s beautiful. If this escalates it could lead to psychological abuse.
I’m not so sure about that, tbh. Their relationship has evolved from when it was conceived. Not to mention there’s no real guarantee Dorothy will get a spot at whatever university she wants, or if Walky won’t join her eventually.
More to the point, university’s still years in the future (right?) and meaningful relationships don’t have to last a lifetime to be such. There’s plenty of time left for a tangled web of lies to ruin a potentially unexpectedly fruitful relationship.
It has changed, but it hasn’t changed at the same time. The basic deal still stands. The problem is it’s a stupid deal and that’s mostly on Dorothy. She laid down the law early on and she’s been gradually trying to make it more serious without changing the basic premise of “I’m going to another school and this is going to end.”
Of course it’s a silly deal from the start. She’s planning on being there for the first two years anyway and the vast majority of early college relationships don’t last that long even if you’re trying. And there’s no real reason for it.
She was obsessed over that because she wanted to make sure she didn’t end up with another Danny. She was still reacting to those relationship dynamics and how that ended. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes again, so she made different ones. Walky isn’t Danny. Their relationship will go differently.
(this, by the way, is a mistake I’ve made, in different circumstances. It’s incredibly easy to do. Ruin one relationship trying to avoid the problems of the last.)
And from a meta point of view, Dorothy’s never going to Yale. The strip isn’t going to last long enough. So if there’s a time limit on the relationship, it’s the length of the comic.
Depends. Epilogues are a thing that exists for stories such as this.
From our viewpoint it won’t matter much, but from hers it will be her life going forward. Details of such might be vague for us but likely will involve some sort of resolution on their relationship status, given how popular a couple they are.
“Psychological abuse”? I guess. I mean, if it escalates for miles and miles.
But that’s true of lots of non-perfect behavior.
Dorothy’s prying and controlling could escalate to psychological abuse. Walky’s keeping all his problems to himself could do the same, as they escalate and he gets more and more remote while manipulating Dorothy into being content with the scraps he gives her.
But both of those are so far from where either of these characters are that it doesn’t even start to make sense to worry about. It could escalate to something nasty, but there’s no reason to think it will.
I think Dorothy’s just concerned about Walky, since she cares about him. He’s been acting like something is wrong since before the package from home came, so she knows that that’s probably not all that’s bothering him right now.
I actually think Walky has the right not to tell her right now if he doesn’t want to, though I don’t think his reasons for not wanting to tell her are good, and I don’t like the way he’s reacting, imagining her as a yappy dog. He’s being very immature.I don’t think Dorothy is being especially pushy here, just caring and wanting to help. But he has the right not to tell her everything, especially since it doesn’t directly concern her.
But I hope he does tell her very soon, because she really does care and want to help if she can, and Dorothy is someone who could really help him learn to study. He needs to realize that real men ask for help when they need it, and Dorothy isn’t going to think any less of him for needing help and asking for it.
I’m actually kinda surprised there’s not more people reacting poorly to Walky’s thought bubble after Becky’s terrible joke.
Like, I think Becky calling Jocelyne a Nazi was worse than what Walky is doing here, but he’s still equating his girlfriend to a yappy dog. That’s some pretty sexist shit coming from Walky right now.
There isn’t? I only hang out on the bottom of the comments section, and honestly part of that is that the top comments sometimes feel a bit like mass social media… which I left for reasons. (Interesting fact : a study came out recently that publishing opinions on such media didn’t create diversity and discussion, but intsead fostered self-censorship and a tendency for everyone’s opinions to become more normative.)
Discussion will eventually lead to some convincing others that they are in the right, which results in the entire thing becoming more normative over time. This is not a bad thing, since consensus is usually a good thing, as is self-censorship to some degree (like not calling people names in the heat of the moment… well, except in bed). Problem is when strongly/deeply-held beliefs get self-censored due to social pressures.
True. And an important part of begin a decent adult is knowing when to keep such things to yourself and being able to do it. And not letting it adversely effect how you treat people.
Keeping it from telepathic authors and fans is trickier.
His mental image is a symbol of his feelings here, not what led to his actions. His thoughts on the matter, his opinions and feelings are what led to his actions – which for the most part are somewhere in the ballpark of ‘get off my case, you cute/annoying little thing you’. Feeling annoyed when someone bugs you about something you don’t want to face is a rather normal human reaction – a stupid one as well considering he really should get it off his chest and DO something about it, but rather banal as far as reactions go.
the difference is that becky was joking and didnt actually see anyone as a nazi or a bad person of any sort, while walky is right now thinking of his girlfriend as an annoying dog and we dont know if he thinks of her like this often or not
A little late, but it’s because it’s only sexist because Dotties a girl. I saw it as Walky thinking of her as annoying, persistant and obnoxious, like a yapping dog who’s right at his pants leg, giving him hardly any piece. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s FEMALE. Just that she’s being annoying. At least that’s how I interpret it.
A little late, but it’s because it’s only sexist because Dotties a girl. I saw it as Walky thinking of her as annoying, persistant and obnoxious, like a yapping dog who’s right at his pants leg, giving him hardly any piece. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s FEMALE. Just that she’s being annoying. At least that’s how I interpret it.
..?? obviously its only sexist because shes a girl. thats like saying catcalling is only sexist because theyre girls. like.. thats exactly what it is?
the point is, no matter if its sexist or not, its not a nice way of thinking of your girl/boyfriend
Precisely why I advocate chilling the fuck down every time someone gets offended by implications. Now actions on the other hand, those carry more weight.
I agree that Walky’s set up in a way that can be interesting, but his arc doesn’t have to appeal to everyone. I like the twerp, but I like pretty much every kid except Ryan. No one’s obligated to, though.
This would imply you where invested in him at some point. Only ones I have some sort of investment in DoA are Sal, Becky, Dina, Ruth & Billie. Completely different story for Walky’s alternate from joyceandwalky, I am quite fond of him there (Joyce even more so… damn she’s adorable there >.< ), but they are separate characters.
Because it’s not a serious relationship and Dorothy made it clear this is a “just for funzies” thing. Walkey not wanting to open up is entirely valid in an openly non-committed relationship.
I dream that one day all people who continually pester you when you don’t want to be pestered may be safely thought of as small yappy dogs, regardless of their gender. Trigger warning: Roy Rogers’ horse.
Really Walky? Are there problems I don’t know about? Seems to me your problem is that you’re failing college and trying to hide it. What are your other problems?
He’s learned that his parents have been neglecting his sister, he’s directly benefited from that neglect by virtue of having more white traits then Sal, he’s fallen in love with someone who is inevitably going to leave him, and he’s been raised by a culture that tells him expressing frustration or sadness over any of these things makes him a little diaper baby who needs a little rattle.
If he wasn’t afraid of expressing his feelings like a baby (i.e. he being perceived as weak) then he’d be able to talk to his girlfriend about his problems.
This is the same Walky that refused to own more than one pair of shoes because more than one would indicate that he was less of a man.
Sure, he tries to -act- like he doesn’t care about what other people think about him, and that he’s perfect. But like most other characters in this strip; it is just that: An act.
Yes, but what HE thinks makes him look manly and what actually makes him look like a ‘diaper baby’ are mostly one and the same.
This is because his notions of manliness are mostly from his preteen years.
Dorothy is going to learn that you can’t go around fixing people. Yes, the intentions are probably good, but immature boys like Walky will resent that and it will all end in tears.
Nowadays I know that if someone is going to be a self destructive twat, I go ahead and let them. If they want help or ask for it, that’s one thing. If they ever lash out at you, just let them be!
Speaking as a recovered (I think) immature boy, I don’t agree with your advice. If I only heard what I need to hear when I wanted to hear it, I’d never have heard it.
When my wife and I married I became the step-dad of a 13 year old daughter. Her opinion was “He’s wrong, but we can fix him.” Let’s just say things were rocky for a while. She learned that people don’t “fix”, and I learned to listen and then privately ask my wife “What the hell’s going on?”
Loading ...
“Sit! Stay! Speak! Ignore my metric assload of skeletons in my closet! YEAH, WHO’S A GOOD GIRL”
Can I vote for ME in the Patreon bonus strips???
(…well YEAH, but not like I’m gonna WIN pretty much EVAR…)
But you have the best advertising of all of us.
I’d be torn between voting for Ana or voting for Jen. It’s just not fair.
Don’t forget Sue ~_~
Anna, Jen, Sue, and Mike. That would work.
Can I vote for myself in a slipshine?
I vote me X Joyce, Sal, Becky, Dorothy, Bille, Ruth and Sal (at the same time)
Would you be Galasso?Because that’d be one hilarious comic.
*Door kicked open*: WHO HAS DARED TO SUMMON THE MIGHTY GALASSO, AND ALSO A PIZZA WITH EXTRA SAUSAGE?
“Ooooh, we seem to be all out of tip. Maybe we can do SOMETHING ELSE for you?”
“THE MIGHTY GALASSO WOULD ALSO ACCEPT THE HEADS OF YOUR ENEMIES AS PAYMENT”
“Sure, come with me and Billie, we will find Mary for you”
…
“Anyone else up for a hot, lesbian orgy?”
“Eat your pizza, Becky.”
*Meanwhile, Joyce has re-entered Blue Screen Of Death mode at the sugestion…* XD
I think you mean D8
You said Sal twice but I’m not sure that’s a mistake
Dunno, you’d have a good chance to come first!
Well, in this universe, it’s significantly less likely that any of them are literal skeletons, at least.
Except for Dina, and that doesn’t count because it’s fossilized.
And Ruth, but that’s not an entire skeleton, only a selection of femurs.
Why do people keep measuring their assload of problems in METRIC?!? America does have it’s own system, peeps!
Well, there is a reason. A tonne, ‘metric ton’, is larger than an American ton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ton
1000 kg = 2,204.6 lbs > 2,000 pounds = 907 kg.
So a metric ton of stuff is more than a regular ton. It’s hyperbolic in a way. The usage of ‘metric [other things]’ just comes naturally from that.
b/c America is STUPID–even the peeps who INVENTED the Imperial system have mostly stopped using it
like, what is the reasoning for MM/DD/YYYY format, it’s terrible
/lives in Delmarva
YYYY-MM-DD only way to go. It sorts correctly in a directory listing.
The correct question would be: Why do americans keep clinging to that useless imperial system? http://www.zmescience.com/other/map-of-countries-officially-not-using-the-metric-system/
Dorothy: I helped!
I is contributing!!!!
…too smart for your own good.
oh my god puppy!dotty is SO ADORABLE
I don’t know something about is just off.
It’s blatantly obvious Willis is pandering to the furries
Sarcasm, in case nobody got that (Poe’s law and all)
Slipshineeeeeee…..feel free to puke in your mouth a little now.
Wow, this actually might be going too far.
I ‘unno about that, man. I’ve worked on a lot of hentai– very little of anything makes me uncomfortable anymore when it comes to mashing jibbly bits together.
its a guy fucking a dog…with his girlfriends face on it!
what have you seen!?
The internet.
Unfortunately in some cases
Would you believe the same thing except a pig?
Victim Girls 4.
It’s so nasty that the site it’s on flags it as “Offensive for Everybody”, and when a hentai site is putting a content warning on something, you’d best believe it’s some nasty stuff.
It’s a girl… getting fucked by a creature of unknown species… that has her boyfriend’s head sewn into the creature’s head in such a way that the face is visible when the creature’s mouth is opened.I’ve seen some shit.
Oh, is that all? The way you were building it up I was a little apprehensive.
Yeah, really. You had us going there for a minute.
Not even the worst from the author, really. But then again he does some silly stuff.
Yeah, you have a good point. Mentioning the toddlercon guro might have been in poor taste.
Put bluntly, the stuff of nightmares.
vagina dentata comes to mind
and human centipede (which was only cute when I thought it was some kind of Cirque du Soleil-esque act)
There’s probably an entire subculture for that sort of thing on DeviantArt, buried somewhere under all the ponies and inflated Sonic the Hedgehog original characters.
And all of the unnecessary details above are why I just said the internet. Because then you get to fill in what ever has horrified you the most.
I am sorry, but that visual reminded me of a VERY disturbing Japanese vore website I had the misfortune to stumble across a while ago.
This is gonna blow up in Walky’s face. I’ll get the popcorn…
Sits down with own popcorn & folding chair, ready for the show…
I’ve got some chips if you wanna share.
I’ve been trying to work out how the title “when god closes a door” relates to W&D. I can’t think of any good scenarios.
Clearly, Walky is closing the door so that Dorothy can’t see his problems. After all, Walky is a living god: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/missed-2/
That’s not going to end well, though.
Walky, stop being such a banjo.
Walky, you asshole.
Yes, he’s an asshole because he wants Dorothy to get off his case and let him (fail/neglect to) deal with his own problems. Not like he’s just insecure about having problems in the first place or about relying on the girlfriend he knows is eventually going to leave him for Yale.
That is a… really weird way to visualize the situation.
Weird yet faintly original.
Someone’s gonna take offense to portraying a female character as a dog, and I await with bated breath and popcorn at the ready
And percussion instruments!
Hi. I mean, ‘offfense’ is maybe not the word. But it bugs me. It rubs me the wrong way. It’s dehumanizing. Idk. I don’t like it.
I agree.
Same.
We, the audience, need to see that Walky is being dismissive of Dorothy, (and yesterday, that Dorothy was being domineering over Walky) to know that the way they treat each other is not good; that their relationship is strained.
I can relate to “giant-ass slab of problems” for sure, though
It also isn’t a way I’d ever like to imagine someone I’ve had PMHP with
‘weird’ is a nice way of putting it. It’s pretty belittling and demeaning, in my opinion.
Would it be just as belittling and demeaning if it were a man? Because it’s a person being portrayed as an animal? Or is it the association with the word for a female dog that concerns you?
Yeah, it definitely has to do with the word. But also with the persisting stereotype of the ‘nagging’ wife/girlfriend or just in general prescribing animal characterists to women. And not strong, fierce animals, but small, yappy animals. The, y’know, percussion instrument word is just the extreme of it, where literally a word for a female dog is being used to negatively describe women, often to silence them or their opinions.
It just bothers me in context. And I also kind of think it’s supposed to bother us? This is definitely not being done to show Walky in a sympathetic light, that’s for sure.
Also the use of “dog” as a term for an ugly woman.
Jeeze! It is more like he is “throwing her a bone” (Sal) to distract her from the bigger problems. Comparison can be used for anyone, not just a woman!
That term is used in any situation (ie: give the insistent press(media) a little info, so they don’t get the real story, etc) “Throw ’em a bone so they don’t ask too many questions” Misdirection!
(that reply was for everyone balking{barking?} at the puppy thing, not one person)
It can have more than one meaning. It can evoke something in me because I’m a woman who’s been called the percussion instrument word by men before and because many women have and continue to be called that – and it can also still mean what you said. The two are not mutually exclusive.
True, but I do think there is a better argument for the “throwing her a bone” argument based on what we’ve seen so far in the comic. I don’t really think he thinks of her as a female dog.
He just resents the controlling way she’s trying to get him to talk about his feelings.
@trlkly
I don’t really think he thinks of her as a female dog.
Only that is literally what he is doing in this very strip.
Yep.
Well arguably he’s thinking of her as a dog because he’s thinking of the “tossing her a bone” metaphor and female because she is female rather than thinking of her as a female dog because he’s thinking “bongo”.
I certainly don’t think it’s intended to show Walky in a sympathetic light, but I also don’t think it’s intended to show him thinking of her as a bongo.
No, it’s not. He’s thinking of her as a yapping dog who he has to throw a bone. It’s a way to show a common metaphor, not a way to say she’s a witch with a B.
… And you will never hear “Who Let the Dogs Out” in an innocent light again.
(Seriously why did they push that one hit wonder to kids?)
In “Who Let the Dogs Out” the dogs represent men, like, men are dogs, and they’re hounding the ladies.
… Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh.
The female dog word I know, I have no clue what percussion instrument is supposed to mean.
That is some kinda euphemism treadmill there.
The female dog word activates a filter when you use it in these comments that turns it into the word ‘bongo’
Oh. Okay. I thought there was some kind of hole in my education.
The female dog word is automatically replaced with a different, percussion-related word on this site. It starts with the same letter.
Psst, you guys, we actually can use the word ‘bongo’ in the comments.
Gasp!
Now, did you actually write ‘bongo’, thus proving your point, or the other word, thus disproving it?
All of this. She’s showing concern, and he sees it as yapping that he has to somehow deflect. It’s uncomfortable because I Know Walky doesn’t actually disrespect or demean Dorothy, and yet the comic male protagonist avoiding the oblivious/nosy female partner is such a common trope.
But it’s not the guy who is 100% the bad guy in this, either.
He can’t tell her, because he is not willing to do what she would make him do. He can’t trust her to just commiserate rather than try to fix the problem.
It’s the same reason a lot of women I know say they don’t tell their husband’s their problems. They aren’t looking for a fix.
And, while Walky needs to fix this problem, that’s not what he’s looking for.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised if this were to break them up.
Her place here isn’t just to commiserate. Walky needs, for his own damn sake, to learn this shit to continue with the basic arc he has planned for his life. He can’t avoid learning how to study and graduate college. And he plans to graduate college. She probably can’t teach him how – I miiight be getting my wires crossed with another thing, but I seem to recall she’s rubbish at teaching people. But until Walky expresses that he no longer cares about college, which has not been a thing he’s said or felt or thought that we know? She should try to help him. Not at any given moment, and not necessarily by doing the teaching. But convincing him to talk to Jason, Danny, or similar is an important thing she can do.
Keep in mind, what I’m saying *is based on Walky’s basic plans for himself*. It’s not taht he’s failing to live up to her expectations on how life should be lived. It’s that his stated goals haven’t been contradicted, he just has problems making them happen. And helping him solve those problems is a legitimate valid thing to be doing, especially because it’s clearly been bothering him a lot. About the only person he talks with regularly who hasn’t commented is Sal, and Sal’s had bigger shit to deal with in the context of her family (And doesn’t really know her brother all that well, and is aware of it).
I wouldn’t like it with either gender. It is demeaning to portray any human relationship on this basis. Imo.
yes, it would.
imagining one’s significant other as a yappy pest, at best a pet rather than an equal?
that’s crappy no matter who’s involved.
I… think it’s meant to be a little insulting? I mean, it’s his internal thought. We all think things that other people would find disgusting or insulting. The measure of a decent person is whether we filter those things out, or express them.
Walky has the weirdest imagination.
I believe there is some competition for that dubious honour.
*refuses to play “Who Let The Dogs Out?”*
Do it! Play the song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5EM
“Video is not avaible”
Damn it!
Pushes Stephen aside, plays “Puppy Love”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI2hgm65WhE
Folliows it with “How Much is that doggy in the window?” then The Stooges I wanna be your dog
How about an edumacational video about it?
https://youtu.be/kQ2NpuT4Dt0
How about “Word Up” then? The video definitely fits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q-k-uN73Gk
Watch it Walky. You’ll end up in the doghouse someday.
Ooooooh!
It’s called the White House.
Ooh, thinking of your girlfriend as a bongo is not nice, Walky.
slice
But srsly what’s wrong with Afro-Cubam drums m8
Bongo? Is this a non-American cultural thing? I have never heard the word used to describe a woman. I’m not even sure how you can make a negative connotation to that.
There’s a word filter!
The word for a female dog gets automatically word filtered to a percussion instrument.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature! Willis added it a couple of years ago, when the word ‘*itch’ became a LITTLE bit overused in the comments section…
Yes I know? I was just explaining it.
“Sal doesn’t feel appreciated”? That’s the understatement of the Entire Webcomic. Well, so much for a chance to perhaps help Sal out in some way. Just means more cookies fro Walky.
I’m guessing that that isn’t really 100% of how Walky sees it, but he isn’t willing to give Dorothy any more than that.
Maybe she’s a beatnik and really loves the sound that bongoes make! ;p
That was weird. Supposed to be a reply to David Herbet’s remark, where the bongo filter kicked in on his reference to a female dog.
He know what the problem is and he’s not dismissing it or thinking it is less than what it is, he just doesn’t want to talk about it.
Maybe he should talk about it. Dorothy is his girlfriend, he should be able to trust her enough to share this with her.
Well, yeah he probably should. It’s a character flaw. Good characters have them.
Maybe he should. But, right now, she’s trying to force it, which makes him resentful.
I hope the bongo filter has a big heat sink.
*cues dogsong.mp3*
hOI IM DOTTIE
Thank you!!
It doesn’t work unless you play it on the hacked Muzak.
Every time there’s an imagination bubble in this comic, it’s gold.
I have never considered this visual metaphor before, and yet I identify with it immediately.
“Giant ass slab of problems”
could’ve started to chisel it
BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now anticipating the all-puppy spinoff of DoA.
(Or would there be a bunch of different animal types?)
Danny’s a dog, too! Joyce is a squirrel. http://www.itswalky.com/comic/help-me-bury-this/
And Joe’s a wolf and probably has a all-female pack.
Dina’d be a dinosaur obviously. As for what species? Iunno.
Saurornithoides Mongoliensis
Zhenyuanlong suni these days
Well some manner of Maniraptor at least.
Walky shows us again how to be intelligently stupid.
And Dorothy shows us how to politely be rude.
We could learn something from them:do not act like them
All of this is correct.
First: OMG puppy!Dorothy. I laughed out loud. Then I shook my head at Walky for how his brain works.
Second: I’ve done this. Deflected with the ‘less severe’ (to me) problem to avoid talking about the bigger one. Walky is clearly using Sal as a shield to not have to talk to Dorothy about his worsening grades. He may not have planned to do this, but an opportunity presented itself and so he took it. I feel this. It’s not nice and/or healthy behavoir, but I recognize it in myself. Walky, you and I need to work on this!
But seriously dude, stop thinking of your girlfriend as a dog. JEEZ.
Thing is, I kinda wonder is she sees him kinda that way at times, too. She does seem to see him as a project–someone she can fix up. Kinda like training a dog.
I used to think this was the healthy relationship in the comic, but I’m far from sure about that anymore.
Well that’s a hypothetical, because we’ve only seen Walky’s inner thoughts now and not Dorothy’s. I mean, I agree with you that she’s trying to ‘fix’ him a bit, but I feel like that happens in a lot of relationships in the beginning – you try to see how malleable your new partner is, you test out certain things to improve what you think is lacking in that person. And Walky doesn’t put up much resistance. Dorothy buys him shirts, etc. She’s testing it out and it’s working. I don’t think I’d go with the dog analogy for what she is doing.
Also, let’s not kid ourselves, Walky’s school problems need outside intervention. That’s the whole point of his arc. This is less about Dorothy fixing him (For youkhrist’s sake, *MIKE* has offered aid) and more about Walky avoiding the simple, obvious truth. He’s going to keep denying help, even though it’s been offered so many times, by so many people. Dorothy trying to help him with something that’s eating him *IS WHAT A FRIEND SHOULD DO*. She should maybe have backed off sooner, but being proactive and trying to help people in pain is still, ultimately, something you should be doing for people you’re in a relationship with – romantic or not.
No, it’s really not. Helping them with a problem when they tell you about it is a friendly thing to do. Asking them what’s wrong when they seem down is a friendly thing to do.
Trying to make them talk when they’ve said no? Not friendly. Forcing them to write a thank you note, and then giving them a reprieve only if they tell you what’s wrong? Not a friendly thing to do.
Dorothy is being controlling right now. She’s not acting like a friend or a girlfriend. At best, she’s acting like a mom.
Or, yes, an owner telling a pet what to do.
Oh my Lord and Taylor. Forcing them to write a thank-you note is kind of dumb, but the actual goal is to get him to fucking talk about his problems. And frankly, Walky avoiding them is seriously fucking him up. Getting him to actually face up to them, or at least trying to is not ‘controlling’ just because it’s uncomfortable. And yes, it is. It’s not easy to learn to leave your shell at all, much less in dire need which shouldn’t exist (Because your shell is awesome and should be protecting you).
And this is part of why relationships are hard, incidentally. This is not an easy line to really walk, between where someone is clamming up about something they know they need to share and where you’re nagging. And I’m saying this as the quiet, taciturn one in my relationship. Wifey is fairly open, all told. But while she usually doesn’t press, she will ultimately figure out where she should.
Being hard doesn’t mean Dorothy’s necessarily succeeding. But she’s not failing merely because she’s pressing him on a thing he doesn’t want to talk about, because we already know he NEEDS to talk about it. He HAS to learn how to study.
is Walky Political cartooning himself?
I dunno, he doesn’t say DEBT, OBAMA, or similar, is it really a political cartoon.
Wait what are all these problems? Isn’t it just school, Billy, and Sal?
i mean school’s a huge problem, but it’s not a slob o’ problem*s*
The slab represents how the commenters see him. Danny’s has gotten slightly smaller.
When you’ve spent your whole life coasting through classes, to suddenly have trouble in school can sure seem like a slab o’ problems.
Yep. Seen (and been one of) plenty of very smart kids coast through school on pure brain power, until they can’t anymore and the lack of study skills catches up with them. Slab-o-problems is small compared to what it can be feel like. Immovable wall more like. And it just gets worse the longer one goes without hitting it. Freshman or sophomore year of college away from home is probably the worst time for it, because there is no really authority that can quickly step in and force the student to start putting in the work.
That isn’t enough for you? For an 18 or so year-old kid who’s not had the world’s hardest life so far and hasn’t really been used to struggling with grades or wasn’t really concerned/confronted with people with SERIOUS problems, that can be quite the culture shock. Adulting is hard!
Besides you have to remember, Walky doesn’t have huge problems, but he thinks he does, cause he’s stressed and young. He does need to talk to someone though. It’s kinda like how you think you have a lot of homework, but once you plan it out, its not so bad.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean. He’s had a comparatively (to many others in this comic) easy life so far, at least from what we’ve seen, so of course now that he runs into some problems, they start to feel like the end of the world. It’s an early adulthood rite of passage, almost^^
I mean, ‘small’ problems, or what others perceive as small, can still be really severe in someone else’s head, if they for example struggle with mental health but to everyone on the ‘outside’ it loosk like they’re making a big deal out of nothing. But I dont think that’s what’s going on with Walky here.
1) Poor grades
2) Failing when his entire life he has been successful
3) Inability to study
4) Falling for amazing GF who plans to leave him
5) GF asking him to talk about his feelings when he is not touchy feely
6) Poor relationship with sister which he feels is his fault
7) Worrying over parents being potentially racist, how this has effected him as perhaps being less deserving of what he got and knowing that your sibling and parents who you both love may have messed up relationship
Also while he is not that close with Joyce or Becky I doubt them being assaulted and held at gun point just this week calmed his nerves any.
8) Is Billie suicidal/going to drink herself to death? She’s at least once actively sought out his company despite usually acting like he’s a nuisance.
And he eats lunch with Joyce several days out of the week, so he’s at least been in close proximity to the current not-happy-all-the-time Joyce, and it’s put everyone on edge (Billie and Walky have both voiced concern).
That sure is a depressingly accurate representation of how I often deal with people close to me asking about my problems.
Yup…
RE: alt-text: And why not? >:O
Sometimes the best way to lie is to sprinkle a little bit of truth in there. I don’t remember who said that, but I feel if there were ever a place where it applies it’s here.
Good thing I’m not a patron. I would’ve voted for puppy Dorothy regardless.
Hoo boy. Walky is a-cruising for a-losing-the-best-girlfriend.
Walky isn’t dating Becky OR Sarah.
Somehow I don’t see him “failing upwards” to them.
Wow, I’ve never seen so few comments on here! So this is what it looks like to open the page right after it goes up…
It’s pure interpersonal relationships. There’s no political or religious element to it, there’s nobody to ship (since they’re already in a relationship, it’d be like dipping chocolate in more chocolate), there’s nobody to metaphorically shout about (whether it’s shout outs or shout ats).
So, no wonder it’s slow!
“… dipping chocolate in more chocolate …”
You say that like it’s a bad idea or sumthin’.
*starts drooling heavily at the idea…*
Oh, there’s plenty of bad relationship stuff to shout at, on both sides. But most people seem to be taking one side or not talking at all.
Or being sexist, apparently, like last time. And, normally, that stuff gets deleted instead of Willis deciding to cuss them out.
And then more and more comments appear, multiplying like bacteria.
Considering that nature of some of the comments, thats not a bad analogy.
The slab isn’t actually a giant ass pad about all the problems he has. It’s a list of all the problems he has pertaining to Giant Asses. Dottie clearly needs to gain some more ass mass. He may have come out Whiter but Walky’s still BLACK Damnit!
Walky should a pirate, pirates always get the booty.
I can’t help but giggle simply because this is actually how I deal with problems myself. A little bit at a time. Sure it’s slow work but it gets the job done.
Hovertext: “no you can’t vote for puppy Dorothy in the Patreon bonus strips”
—————————
But can we do a write-in vote for her to be doodled in book #6?
I might request a drawing of it at the upcoming Topatocon, if Willis attends.
“A problem shared is a problem squared” is what I always say.
Wait, doesn’t that make it bigger? Screw that… *Runs off into distance…*
Not if the problem is less than one.
Or, rather, if the problem is negative, then it becomes positive.
Not cool, Walky, not cool at all.
Ask Dorothy to form a study group with you, Walky. She will love doing that.
That would be hellish for him. Dorothy’s a source of solace when she isn’t needling him about opening up; asking her to help him study would be signing all his free time’s death warrant.
Are you kidding? Study groups are organised to the nth degree, you meet at certain times, study for a certain amount of time and stop at a given time. They are perfect.
Walky just needs to say he wants to spend more time with her and he thinks they can help each other. She already thinks he is a brain.
That’d be the logical thing to do. So OF COURSE Walky won’t do it.
Unfortunately, that is my opinion too.
Walky makes great choices.
Because that’s the name of the comic.
This is the Walky Makes Great Choices comic?
Walky, you idiot! If you feed a puppy from the table, you’re just training it to beg for more!
Loving the giant ass slab o’ problems board. I can totally relate lol.
Honesty might be the best policy, but Walky’s too lazy and too ad-hoc to have policies.
Policies sounds way too much like work
I dislike this representation, and yes I’m female, but …. I wouldn’t like to see a male depicted that way either. It is a nasty way to feel about another person who is supposed to be your bf/gf.
If Walky doesn’t want to talk about something that’s his right, so he shouldn’t be pressured. And Dorothy should respect that.
It is too bad though, because he hasn’t a clue what to do with his feelings that he is just facing about the way his sister really has been treated like shit by the parents over the years.
As to his grades, he should open up to Dorothy, because she can help him with that problem, if he lets her.
It’s an analogy his mind is making in passing, not the way he normally thinks of her. Yes he should open up to Dorothy but he’s not going to easily. It’s easier to be a cool untroubled-by-anything laid-back person if people think of you that way. And that’s an identity he strives for.
That mental image really made me wince, not a cool way to think of your girlfriend Walky.
He’s picturing her as something endearingly adorable and well-meaning but incessantly obnoxious that keeps doing the same thing over and over again.
Seems pretty accurate.
She’s obnoxious for wanting communication and emotional availability in their relationship?
From his perspective? Yes. He’s already expressed that he’s uncomfortable talking about this, and she keeps bringing it up, trying to persuade or guilt him into opening up.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting communication and emotional availability, but her methods for going about getting them are questionable. Though I don’t know that other methods would prove any more effective on Walky…
I mean, kinda? But he’s never even been straightforward about that either. He’s never made it clear that while there are problems, he doesn’t want to talk about them and he wishes she would stop pushing. He always just deflects, which isn’t the best thing to do when someone can tell you’re visibly in trouble and is concerned. Maybe her methods aren’t the best, but without knowing Walky’s problem or his thoughts on it, and how severe it may be, she doesn’t have too many options other than ignoring it, which wouldn’t be smart either.
This is a result of him still being a kid. Give him more than twenty second to deal with this. Ain’t none of change overnight.
Any of the characters can have their mistakes explained away in that sense, doesn’t mean they’re not mistakes. Pretending like what this view of Dorothy implies isn’t wrong is silly, because the comic is entirely about characters becoming more aware of their flaws and working past them.
So, yeah, I’m still not a fan of when Walky does stuff like this, especially since there’s a chance he’s actually older than I am, depending on when he graduated high school. Plus, the comic’s been running for 5 and a half years now, it’s time for Walky to grow as a character in the opposite direction.
Remember it’s only been a month or so in comic time.
That’s true! But we, as readers, haven’t seen Walky change in personality in 5 years. i think that warrants a desire for change.
Yes. in fact, she’s being worse than obnoxious. She’s being controlling. She forced him to write a thank you note. And then she’s offering him a reprieve if he tells her about his problems.
I don’t think that thinking he needs to throw her a bone is such a horrible thing. That’s all this is. He didn’t think of her as an actual female dog. He thought of her as a yapping puppy. She’s annoying him, not bad.
And I don’t think it’s right to judge him for a single thought, when we’ve seen he’s a pretty good dude who just has a problem saying things without thinking.
He’s kinda like Becky in that way.
Or a bongo.
Hear hear
I feel like there is a joke to be had here about Walky rubbing peanut butter on his Johnson but I’m not clever enough to make it work.
Why.
Remember the dancing banana singing ‘peanut butter jelly time’? Yeah, that’s really Walky’s peener. There, feeling better now? Though I don’t see how this related in the slightest to today’s comic, but penis jokes are always appropriate… right?
Anyone who has been in a long term relationship has had ‘thoughts’ similar to this, maybe not this exactly, but something derogatory towards your other. It’s normal and healthy.
Nope, not cool indeed. Thankfully no one will ever know. We don’t count.
Puppy Dorothy is the most adorable thing I’ve seen lately.
Not QUITE as adorable as Puppy Joyce, but near enough http://sayahomu.tumblr.com/post/141942623309/quit-lookin-at-me-with-them-big-ol-eyes
I’m sorry but I’m with podian on this one – Puppy Dorothy it is more adorable.
OMG! OMFG!
My diabetus screams with this Joyce.
It’s just the sweetest of Joyce ever seen!
Giant-ass-slab-o’-problems TM, coming soon to stores near you
Still all out of solutions, though
But the help line has lovely on-hold music.
starting to hate Walky more now and his inability to communicate with people when it comes to his giant-ass slab o’ problems
You’d hate me then.
well shit, you seem real nice i really don’t want to :<
Puppy Dorothy is ADORABLE!!! Let’s vote for her for the next patre… *reads alt text* …oh, OK.
But seriously, despite their problems this is a beautiful relationship moment. Dorothy pushes and pokes maybe a liiiiiitle too much, but then she apologizes and backs off. Walky keeps his shit to himself, but he throws her a scrap.
Except the for the lies and dishonesty.
Well the problem is you don’t get unvarnished access to a person’s interior mind with a “just for fun” relationship. Dorothy is treating Walky like this is a serious relationship and that’s going to run into problems as there’s stuff he doesn’t intend or want to share.
Very true. Though I’m thinking this is more harmful for Walky then Dorothy (precisely because it’s not her place to poke and prod too much). Keeping this to himself is eating at him and covering it up won’t help.
“Was that really it?” I get the feeling Dorothy was worried about something specific, but I can’t figure out what that would be.
I think that Dorothy is sensitive and feels the vibes he gives off. And now, he’s misleading her… which might in turn cause her to doubt her own perceptions.
I really don’t think that’s beautiful. If this escalates it could lead to psychological abuse.
… how?
All this can lead to is regret and a tangled web of lies.
Well it won’t lead to anything because Walky and Dorothy are going to break up soon.
I’m not so sure about that, tbh. Their relationship has evolved from when it was conceived. Not to mention there’s no real guarantee Dorothy will get a spot at whatever university she wants, or if Walky won’t join her eventually.
More to the point, university’s still years in the future (right?) and meaningful relationships don’t have to last a lifetime to be such. There’s plenty of time left for a tangled web of lies to ruin a potentially unexpectedly fruitful relationship.
It has changed, but it hasn’t changed at the same time. The basic deal still stands. The problem is it’s a stupid deal and that’s mostly on Dorothy. She laid down the law early on and she’s been gradually trying to make it more serious without changing the basic premise of “I’m going to another school and this is going to end.”
Of course it’s a silly deal from the start. She’s planning on being there for the first two years anyway and the vast majority of early college relationships don’t last that long even if you’re trying. And there’s no real reason for it.
She was obsessed over that because she wanted to make sure she didn’t end up with another Danny. She was still reacting to those relationship dynamics and how that ended. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes again, so she made different ones. Walky isn’t Danny. Their relationship will go differently.
(this, by the way, is a mistake I’ve made, in different circumstances. It’s incredibly easy to do. Ruin one relationship trying to avoid the problems of the last.)
And from a meta point of view, Dorothy’s never going to Yale. The strip isn’t going to last long enough. So if there’s a time limit on the relationship, it’s the length of the comic.
Depends. Epilogues are a thing that exists for stories such as this.
From our viewpoint it won’t matter much, but from hers it will be her life going forward. Details of such might be vague for us but likely will involve some sort of resolution on their relationship status, given how popular a couple they are.
“Psychological abuse”? I guess. I mean, if it escalates for miles and miles.
But that’s true of lots of non-perfect behavior.
Dorothy’s prying and controlling could escalate to psychological abuse. Walky’s keeping all his problems to himself could do the same, as they escalate and he gets more and more remote while manipulating Dorothy into being content with the scraps he gives her.
But both of those are so far from where either of these characters are that it doesn’t even start to make sense to worry about. It could escalate to something nasty, but there’s no reason to think it will.
I think Dorothy’s just concerned about Walky, since she cares about him. He’s been acting like something is wrong since before the package from home came, so she knows that that’s probably not all that’s bothering him right now.
I actually think Walky has the right not to tell her right now if he doesn’t want to, though I don’t think his reasons for not wanting to tell her are good, and I don’t like the way he’s reacting, imagining her as a yappy dog. He’s being very immature.I don’t think Dorothy is being especially pushy here, just caring and wanting to help. But he has the right not to tell her everything, especially since it doesn’t directly concern her.
But I hope he does tell her very soon, because she really does care and want to help if she can, and Dorothy is someone who could really help him learn to study. He needs to realize that real men ask for help when they need it, and Dorothy isn’t going to think any less of him for needing help and asking for it.
Well, this is unedifying.
I’m actually kinda surprised there’s not more people reacting poorly to Walky’s thought bubble after Becky’s terrible joke.
Like, I think Becky calling Jocelyne a Nazi was worse than what Walky is doing here, but he’s still equating his girlfriend to a yappy dog. That’s some pretty sexist shit coming from Walky right now.
It is! I guess since most people see that it’s wrong there isnt a huge discussion about it?
Give it time, someone willing to argue repeatedly and at length about how Walky’s Totally In The Right Here will come along eventually.
There isn’t? I only hang out on the bottom of the comments section, and honestly part of that is that the top comments sometimes feel a bit like mass social media… which I left for reasons. (Interesting fact : a study came out recently that publishing opinions on such media didn’t create diversity and discussion, but intsead fostered self-censorship and a tendency for everyone’s opinions to become more normative.)
Discussion will eventually lead to some convincing others that they are in the right, which results in the entire thing becoming more normative over time. This is not a bad thing, since consensus is usually a good thing, as is self-censorship to some degree (like not calling people names in the heat of the moment… well, except in bed). Problem is when strongly/deeply-held beliefs get self-censored due to social pressures.
Because it is a thought, not a word or action.
Everyone here will think worse things today.
True. And an important part of begin a decent adult is knowing when to keep such things to yourself and being able to do it. And not letting it adversely effect how you treat people.
Keeping it from telepathic authors and fans is trickier.
Allow me to disagree, since he used his mental image to dictate what action to take.
His mental image is a symbol of his feelings here, not what led to his actions. His thoughts on the matter, his opinions and feelings are what led to his actions – which for the most part are somewhere in the ballpark of ‘get off my case, you cute/annoying little thing you’. Feeling annoyed when someone bugs you about something you don’t want to face is a rather normal human reaction – a stupid one as well considering he really should get it off his chest and DO something about it, but rather banal as far as reactions go.
the difference is that becky was joking and didnt actually see anyone as a nazi or a bad person of any sort, while walky is right now thinking of his girlfriend as an annoying dog and we dont know if he thinks of her like this often or not
Oh, I’m definitely reacting poorly to it. Guess I wasn’t specific enough about what and why in my first comment.
A little late, but it’s because it’s only sexist because Dotties a girl. I saw it as Walky thinking of her as annoying, persistant and obnoxious, like a yapping dog who’s right at his pants leg, giving him hardly any piece. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s FEMALE. Just that she’s being annoying. At least that’s how I interpret it.
A little late, but it’s because it’s only sexist because Dotties a girl. I saw it as Walky thinking of her as annoying, persistant and obnoxious, like a yapping dog who’s right at his pants leg, giving him hardly any piece. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s FEMALE. Just that she’s being annoying. At least that’s how I interpret it.
..?? obviously its only sexist because shes a girl. thats like saying catcalling is only sexist because theyre girls. like.. thats exactly what it is?
the point is, no matter if its sexist or not, its not a nice way of thinking of your girl/boyfriend
“I am offended by what I read into what you may or may not have said!”
Great summary of any and every conflictual relationship!
Precisely why I advocate chilling the fuck down every time someone gets offended by implications. Now actions on the other hand, those carry more weight.
I am just so uninterested in Walky at this point. There’s only so much “insufferable manchild” I can tolerate before I stop caring about a character.
I mean, he doesn’t really act like this all the time. Just a while ago we had him outright supporting Sal and give Amber some much needed advice.
Walky’s flawed because everyone is flawed.
I agree that Walky’s set up in a way that can be interesting, but his arc doesn’t have to appeal to everyone. I like the twerp, but I like pretty much every kid except Ryan. No one’s obligated to, though.
wtf
This would imply you where invested in him at some point. Only ones I have some sort of investment in DoA are Sal, Becky, Dina, Ruth & Billie. Completely different story for Walky’s alternate from joyceandwalky, I am quite fond of him there (Joyce even more so… damn she’s adorable there >.< ), but they are separate characters.
Well, we knew Walky is a chauvinist. Albeit, a mild relatively harmless one.
How is it harmless to be deceitful and condescending?
Because it’s not a serious relationship and Dorothy made it clear this is a “just for funzies” thing. Walkey not wanting to open up is entirely valid in an openly non-committed relationship.
You can’t be condescending to someone in your own mind – you become such once you express it. There is no such thing as a thought-crime.
I dream that one day all people who continually pester you when you don’t want to be pestered may be safely thought of as small yappy dogs, regardless of their gender. Trigger warning: Roy Rogers’ horse.
Willis seems to have described my parent’s relationship down to a t:(
Is Willis SURE he can’t include Puppy Dorothy in future strips? Maybe with a Puppy Walky?
I’m voting for Puppy Dorothy in the patreon strips and advise you all to do the same
You can’t stop us, Willis. Puppy Dorothy will succeed.
Vote!
Sorry, my desire for more Sayid trumps Puppy Dorothy.
I’m with ya.
Wait wait… … can we get Kitty-Joyce instead? Pweeeeeese?!
99 problems but the bongo aint one.
Giant Slab o’ Problems?
Really Walky? Are there problems I don’t know about? Seems to me your problem is that you’re failing college and trying to hide it. What are your other problems?
He’s learned that his parents have been neglecting his sister, he’s directly benefited from that neglect by virtue of having more white traits then Sal, he’s fallen in love with someone who is inevitably going to leave him, and he’s been raised by a culture that tells him expressing frustration or sadness over any of these things makes him a little diaper baby who needs a little rattle.
Bam!
Since when is Walky bothered by being viewed as a ‘diper baby’?
If he wasn’t afraid of expressing his feelings like a baby (i.e. he being perceived as weak) then he’d be able to talk to his girlfriend about his problems.
This is the same Walky that refused to own more than one pair of shoes because more than one would indicate that he was less of a man.
Sure, he tries to -act- like he doesn’t care about what other people think about him, and that he’s perfect. But like most other characters in this strip; it is just that: An act.
Yes, but what HE thinks makes him look manly and what actually makes him look like a ‘diaper baby’ are mostly one and the same.
This is because his notions of manliness are mostly from his preteen years.
To be fair, we all tend to see our problems as a giant slab o’ problems.
Random insane thought: If this was Super Mario Brothers, Yoshi would eat Puppy Dorothy.
That’s because that’s Yoshi’s standard answer to EVERY problem. Or in rare cases, laying an egg.
This strip should be titled : Walky and Dorothy’s first major step towards codependency.
Whyyyy
But codependency is FUN! Well, only if both are into that, then it can be quite fulfilling.
BANGS FISTS ON TABLE
PUPPY-DOROTHY PUPPY-DOROTHY PUPPY-DOROTHY
Kind of wish this was Honesty of Age now so we could avoid this entire issue of unnecessary lying.
Wait, who is that in the third panel?
Dorothy is going to learn that you can’t go around fixing people. Yes, the intentions are probably good, but immature boys like Walky will resent that and it will all end in tears.
Nowadays I know that if someone is going to be a self destructive twat, I go ahead and let them. If they want help or ask for it, that’s one thing. If they ever lash out at you, just let them be!
Speaking as a recovered (I think) immature boy, I don’t agree with your advice. If I only heard what I need to hear when I wanted to hear it, I’d never have heard it.
When my wife and I married I became the step-dad of a 13 year old daughter. Her opinion was “He’s wrong, but we can fix him.” Let’s just say things were rocky for a while. She learned that people don’t “fix”, and I learned to listen and then privately ask my wife “What the hell’s going on?”
First reaction when reading this: “Lol, I remember having a puppy. Gotta throw ’em that bone!”
Second reaction when reading this: “Oh. Oh wait. People are gonna jump all over Willis for this. >_>”
the people here sure are interesting
Whew, now I don’t have to tell her that I secretly moonlight as an alien-hunter for the government
God damnit, Walky
Damn, Walky sure has some weird fetishes.
Walky has that “I hope this doesn’t awaken something in me.” look on his face.