Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 12, 2026

Revenge

by David M Willis on May 3, 2016 at 12:01 am
  • 03 - When God Closes The Door
└ Tags: carla, mary, ruth

Discussion (461) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    May 3, 2016 at 12:01 am | #

    It’s kinda ironical, I can sorta see Mary trying to get closer to Ruth in a very warped, roundabout way.

    • SmilingNid
      SmilingNid
      May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

      So an even more messed up version of the Ruth/Bille dynamic, that will end in blood.
      Also welding not at all ominous.

      • Havtorn
        Havtorn
        May 3, 2016 at 7:34 am | #

        Meh, in my experience your friends usually tend to end up being the people you interact the most with, not always the people you get along the best with at the start. I could see them looking back at this peroid in time in five years and cringing at how dumb their conflict really was.

        Also welding is 97% guaranteed to be skate-related. Carla seems like the person who draws and elaborate plan on a chalkboard before losing intrest and just opting for hiding some stinky fish in Mary’s room.

        • Havtorn
          Havtorn
          May 3, 2016 at 7:38 am | #

          Peroid – the hormone you use for remembering specific times. Obviously.

          Sometimes I really wish there was an edit-button here.

        • Schpoonman
          Schpoonman
          May 3, 2016 at 8:27 am | #

          Eeehh. Mary being a MASSIVE transphobe is not something you look back at and think “Gosh, I was so silly then.” Ruth is right to be furious and appalled at Mary for that and then turning on Ruth and threatening to get her fired for trying to stop her bigotry.

          • Havtorn
            Havtorn
            May 4, 2016 at 11:14 am | #

            In my mind Mary, not Ruth, was indeed doing pretty much all of the cringing. Sorry, I thought that would be obvious.

            And idunno, “Gosh, I was so silly then” sounds pretty close to how ex-white supremacists I’ve known akwardly sum up that part of their life. And I don’t have any problem seeing Mary follow a similar trajectory. Although I doubt it simply because it doesn’t have a lot of entertainment value.

            • skaryzgik
              skaryzgik
              May 11, 2016 at 11:13 pm | #

              Ex? As in, they stop somehow? It is possible?

              My hope has now increased a hundred-fold!

              We might could go for another factor of ten if anyone knows how to bring it about?

              But even knowing only *that* it is possible is still extremely exciting!

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          May 3, 2016 at 9:19 am | #

          OR she could be creating a concealed robotic arm… with which to throw pies!

          PIES.

    • Commo
      Commo
      May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      *Ironic

      • Dana
        Dana
        May 3, 2016 at 1:54 am | #

        *Ironical. It’s a more funner word.

        • DarkoNeko
          DarkoNeko
          May 3, 2016 at 3:12 am | #

          Mock people who have english as 3rd language, why don’t you.

          • gamtos
            gamtos
            May 3, 2016 at 3:54 am | #

            Yup, all uses of bad grammar are there to mock those who aren’t English. Lolcats are a long established vile tactic of dehumanizing the non-English by reducing them to pictures of harmless kittens, similar to blackface.

            Also the government is bees.

            • DarkoNeko
              DarkoNeko
              May 3, 2016 at 4:36 am | #

              Lolcats are pretty much unreadable, can’t those fuckers write in actual english <_<

            • Cody B
              Cody B
              May 3, 2016 at 9:26 am | #

              I freakin knew it.

            • a snow mouse
              a snow mouse
              May 3, 2016 at 11:09 am | #

              I suppose maybe Dana just likes to use bad English, but it could also be seen as making fun of the person who actually said “ironical” in the first place by throwing in more bad grammar.
              Still, I’m sure even if Dana was poking fun of bad grammar, they meant it playfully, and their intent was not to condemn DarkoNeko. We all make mistakes, and it is good to laugh at that sometimes, remembering our own stupid errors of the past. It just happened that DarkoNeko had a reason to have trouble with vocabulary, and (quite naturally) interpreted the comment as saying that typos were equivalent to stupidity.

              • Dana
                Dana
                May 4, 2016 at 2:46 am | #

                I was annoyed at Commo’s jumping on the error.

                • DarkoNeko
                  DarkoNeko
                  May 5, 2016 at 6:20 am | #

                  don’t worry about it.

        • Deanatay
          Deanatay
          May 3, 2016 at 9:21 am | #

          Don’t MAKE me have to crawl through this Internet to slap you!

    • jepmz
      jepmz
      May 3, 2016 at 12:33 am | #

      So she has a girlfriend AND a best friend? Interesting

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        May 3, 2016 at 9:21 am | #

        Both in Canada.

    • Idontcarenomore
      Idontcarenomore
      May 3, 2016 at 1:41 am | #

      Never ever in a million years.
      Mary is a first class bongo and hasn’t got enough blood to allow her to ever consider getting close to anyone.
      I don’t think the girl can stand herself.

      • TPman
        TPman
        May 3, 2016 at 2:15 am | #

        I actually think DarkoNeko might have a point. If you look closely at Mary’s lips she’s saying “Give into your (self)hate and Join me on the dark side”.

        • DarkoNeko
          DarkoNeko
          May 3, 2016 at 3:12 am | #

          Mary’s remark/face in panel 4 of the previous page, and here sorta disappointed look in panel 1 of this one.

          • DarkoNeko
            DarkoNeko
            May 3, 2016 at 3:13 am | #

            The only way she seems to be able to interact with people is throught conflict.

        • AlexDenton
          AlexDenton
          May 3, 2016 at 12:38 pm | #

          I actually went back and looked at her lips. Man I’m tired XD

      • NelC
        NelC
        May 3, 2016 at 5:19 am | #

        The first step to recovery from self-hatred is finding someone about whom you can say, “I may be bad but at least I’m not Mary that person.”

  2. Kindra
    Kindra
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Carla Rutten, Agent of ACME.

    • Jay Eff
      Jay Eff
      May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

      ACME Little Giant Roadrunner Trap:
      Now works on Self-Righteous College Freshmen, too!

    • Lan
      Lan
      May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

      Dammit now I really hope that becomes a thing.

    • Harvey Janus
      Harvey Janus
      May 3, 2016 at 1:16 am | #

      Why did I think her last name was Dutton?

    • NaYa
      NaYa
      May 3, 2016 at 1:55 am | #

      Carla E Coyote…… Genius.

      Wait a minute, doesn’t ACME product always fail? D:

      • Meibolite
        Meibolite
        May 3, 2016 at 3:50 am | #

        Nah, ACME only fails for Wile E. Coyote. When used by anyone else they seem to work perfectly well.

  3. Stephen R. Bierce
    Stephen R. Bierce
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    *plays some Bonnie Tyler on the hacked Muzak*

    • Stephen R. Bierce
      Stephen R. Bierce
      May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zefaQgPqqac <- Followed by THIS cut.

      • m-m
        m-m
        May 3, 2016 at 12:12 am | #

        Nicely done Mr DJ

    • Mordecai
      Mordecai
      May 3, 2016 at 12:22 pm | #

      I was playing ‘I Need a Hero’ in my head!!!

  4. AdeptArcanist
    AdeptArcanist
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Heck yeah, there’s nothing like a mad science revenge plot!

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

      If there’s not thunder and lighting outside, I’ll be very surprised.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        May 3, 2016 at 2:49 am | #

        There’s a very localized thunderstorm surrounding the metal shop, it’s sunny everywhere else.

    • This device!
      This device!
      May 3, 2016 at 2:55 am | #

      I can see Galasso saying something to that effect, making your gravatar appropriate.

  5. Mollyscribbles
    Mollyscribbles
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    YES! I keep saying defenestration is the solution.

    • Dellaran
      Dellaran
      May 3, 2016 at 12:58 am | #

      Finally, a good use for Windows.

      • Gamaran Sepudomyn
        Gamaran Sepudomyn
        May 3, 2016 at 1:17 am | #

        Badump-dump-thish.

  6. Chengrel
    Chengrel
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Carla is my hero.

    • miados
      miados
      May 3, 2016 at 1:29 am | #

      for some reason I thought of her making an iron man suit in that last panel. Sadly I can’t think of a good hero name for her like that.

      • merbrat
        merbrat
        May 3, 2016 at 3:04 am | #

        I was gonna… FeMale! (Fe=Iron?) No?… yeah, I’ll just leave.

      • WolfLann
        WolfLann
        May 3, 2016 at 10:02 am | #

        UltraCarla!

  7. gkheyf
    gkheyf
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    FINALLY something ceases to make sense in this world! thank you, carla!

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

      kid-tested, deadpool-approved

      • Some1
        Some1
        May 3, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

        What if Mary realized she was in a comic strip, and went mad from the revelation?

        Your not the hero…Joyce is!

        • Shiro
          Shiro
          May 3, 2016 at 12:36 am | #

          But this comic is already at capacity for masked vigilantes…

          • Dana
            Dana
            May 3, 2016 at 1:56 am | #

            Given how it’s treating Amber, maybe over capacity.

  8. Wheelpath
    Wheelpath
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Wait, omg! Thank you so much Willis. She’s returning!

  9. Kingmabel
    Kingmabel
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    She shouldn’t be handling dangerous tools in such a state.

    But Mary requires special attention

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      She appears to be using all the appropriate safety gear.

      Not sure about how dark the room appears to be, though.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 3, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

        That’s because of the glare from the welding arc. Everything else seems dark in comparison.

      • Architex
        Architex
        May 3, 2016 at 5:54 am | #

        Welding mask with tinted visor? Check.
        Heavy gloves? Check.
        Hair tied back and away from face? Check.
        All skin covered? Check.
        Plus she’s got that apron to boot.

        • Gigafreak
          Gigafreak
          May 3, 2016 at 9:46 am | #

          …Sigh.

          The joke is a simple misdirection. Carla may be handling literal dangerous tools, but Ruth is handling Mary: a dangerous tool.

          “[Ruth] shouldn’t be handling dangerous tools in such a state.
          But Mary requires special attention”

    • Aeonitus
      Aeonitus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

      What’s wrong with Carla’s state?

      • Proxy
        Proxy
        May 3, 2016 at 12:39 am | #

        I think Kingmabel mistook Carla for Ruth.

        …I sure did.

        • Shade
          Shade
          May 3, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

          Oh I thought they were calling Mary a tool.

          It’s less funny now.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 9:29 am | #

            That would also be an accurate statement.

      • John
        John
        May 3, 2016 at 1:33 am | #

        It keeps giving its electoral votes to people who want her to be oppressed.

      • Dana
        Dana
        May 3, 2016 at 1:58 am | #

        http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/indiana-is-weird/

    • Historyman68
      Historyman68
      May 3, 2016 at 12:18 am | #

      What state? She’s got all her skin covered up!

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

      Anger focuses her hand and steels her nerve.

  10. Senior Beans
    Senior Beans
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Kill her.
    Kill her with fire!

  11. Mandy
    Mandy
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    I’m hoping the trampoline means that throwing Mary out a window will be a part of the plan.

    • Some1
      Some1
      May 3, 2016 at 12:36 am | #

      Maybe Carla will make it so that Mary falls out of a window, hits a trampoline and falls into a pile of garbage or something.

      • Mandy
        Mandy
        May 3, 2016 at 12:54 am | #

        Yes! Or a beehive. Or a tiger pit. Or hell.

        • Tacos
          Tacos
          May 3, 2016 at 1:10 am | #

          Or how about a beehive in a tiger pit in Hell.

          • EvilMidnightLurker
            EvilMidnightLurker
            May 3, 2016 at 3:22 am | #

            Hell in a tiger pit in a beehive.

            The bees are extremely large.

            • TheHorseCouncil
              TheHorseCouncil
              May 3, 2016 at 6:30 am | #

              All of those will be unsatisfactory if there does not involve a pie to the face.

              • Deanatay
                Deanatay
                May 3, 2016 at 9:28 am | #

                Off a trampoline, into a tiger pit, and THEN a dozen pies to the face!

                Sorry, won’t be in Hell, Carla specifically stated her revenge would be COLD.

                • Some1
                  Some1
                  May 3, 2016 at 9:59 am | #

                  Its in the 9th circle, nuff said

                • Hollis
                  Hollis
                  May 3, 2016 at 8:23 pm | #

                  So it’s Hel instead of Hell.

      • Willinwoods
        Willinwoods
        May 3, 2016 at 3:44 am | #

        *something, something* hoverboard *something, something* manure! … Eh?!

    • Wildlebendes
      Wildlebendes
      May 3, 2016 at 7:14 am | #

      That’s called defenestration.

  12. Ross
    Ross
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    Do we know Carla’s major, and does it explain how she got welding equipment?

    • Lapin
      Lapin
      May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      She likely somewhere in the bowels of the campus arts building. The theater/arts buildings always have a shop somewhere, full of all sorts of nifty stuff.

      • Ross
        Ross
        May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

        Oh, yeah, my school always has scary looking half finished projects in workrooms that either belong to the artists or the engineers.

    • No Name
      No Name
      May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

      I think her parents are engineers.

    • nightsbridge
      nightsbridge
      May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

      She’s engineering of some kind so it makes sense. Carla has likely been trained and has access to campus facilities.

    • tim gueguen
      tim gueguen
      May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      Given her supposed fondness for the DoA version of Ultra Car I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s mechanical engineering.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

      She got it the same place Amazi-Girl gets her grappling hooks, suction cups, and caltrops — ACME Corporation.

    • Just Me
      Just Me
      May 3, 2016 at 12:19 am | #

      I’d say it confirms Carla’s major as being Engineering.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 3, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

        Or Mad Science. What, it is a major…

        • Harvey Janus
          Harvey Janus
          May 3, 2016 at 1:18 am | #

          Carla as a Spark? God save us all.

          • Just Me
            Just Me
            May 3, 2016 at 10:25 am | #

            Can’t wait to see what she is building. Hopefully it will be both effective and outrageous.

      • Dr. T
        Dr. T
        May 3, 2016 at 11:57 am | #

        I doubt it is engineering since I’m not sure IU actually offers that major. The schools in the IU network that offers that major are IUPUI and Purdue. The best engineering school in Indiana is Rose Hullman, but she really would not want to go there.

        I figure better odds on her going to the business school to help run the business. I imagine her parents taught her whatever engineering she needed.

        • Inspector Hound
          Inspector Hound
          May 3, 2016 at 3:02 pm | #

          Rose-Hulman became coeducational in 1995 (yeah, way past due, but at least it happened). Granted, that doesn’t necessarily cover all facets of Carla’s life.

          As far as I can tell you are right about IU not offering engineering majors, but some of the sciences are pretty equipment-oriented.

          • Dr. T
            Dr. T
            May 3, 2016 at 5:19 pm | #

            I know Rose-Hulman became coed in ’95 because I knew one of the first women to get admitted there. They may have welcomed women’s tuition money, but all of the trustees still hated them for being there. I can only imagine how they would react to Carla.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:30 am | #

      I want to say that Willis said Engineering and possibly said Electrical Engineering, so I’m gonna guess she either raided the Engineering building or she’s using some tools her parents gave her for making shit.

    • Tomas
      Tomas
      May 3, 2016 at 1:35 am | #

      She traded it for stock options.

  13. MM
    MM
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    She’s not the hero we deserve. We’re not worthy.

  14. Guairdean
    Guairdean
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Please tell me she’s not ordering parts from Acme.

    • No Name
      No Name
      May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

      Nope, A1.

    • DonDueed
      DonDueed
      May 3, 2016 at 5:45 am | #

      Maybe Black Mesa.

      • WolfLann
        WolfLann
        May 3, 2016 at 10:08 am | #

        Haha fat chance

  15. Mr. Mendo
    Mr. Mendo
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Oh, Mary. What’s about to happen to you… ^_^

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

      “To shreds you say.”

      • heyman
        heyman
        May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

        Good News!, then.

  16. Nicster216
    Nicster216
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Carla’s plan is basically just like mary’s. wait for the perfect moment (a few strips) and BOOM! payback will be a bongo

    • DarkoNeko
      DarkoNeko
      May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

      And it’s probably gonna backfire as badly

      • Nicster216
        Nicster216
        May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

        yep kinda of a trend in this comic😆

  17. FuryOfFirestorm
    FuryOfFirestorm
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Carla’s revenge will be even more satisfying and hilarious if it actually involves rearranging furniture.

  18. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    So… any idea as of what Carla’s soldering ?

    I have absolutly no clue.

    • Shiro
      Shiro
      May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      My heart is set on personal mecha armor.

      • Doctor_Who
        Doctor_Who
        May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

        Modeled after Ultra Car.

        • DarkoNeko
          DarkoNeko
          May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

          daaamn if only.

          • Orion Fury
            Orion Fury
            May 3, 2016 at 1:49 am | #

            That’s what came to mind as well. Then a Civil War Arc or Something.

    • StClair
      StClair
      May 3, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

      Could be a pantograph, as in an extending arm. Suitable for mounting pie(s) on.

    • Tom T.
      Tom T.
      May 3, 2016 at 12:25 am | #

      My assumption is that it’s some sort of ultramodern car, with various hidden combat capabilities. The danger I foresee is some kind of terrible accident in the manufacturing process, such that the only way to save Carla is to download her consciousness into the vehicle.

    • Steph
      Steph
      May 3, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

      Nothing at all, because she’s welding, not soldering
      (sorry I’m usually not this pedantic but I just spend several hours soldering wires to potentiometers so I couldn’t resist!)

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        May 3, 2016 at 2:54 am | #

        Resistance was beyond your capacity? That’s shocking!

        • Gigafreak
          Gigafreak
          May 3, 2016 at 9:52 am | #

          Ohm my gawds you guys

        • Steph
          Steph
          May 4, 2016 at 9:42 pm | #

          Sounds like you really got a charge out of these puns, in fact I’m positive you were absolutely amped! Not to sound like I have any reluctance in relaying this news; I love to run the whole circuit of puns with great frequency as well, all the way down to the wire. I find it keeps me grounded and insulates me against negativity…my magnetic personality helps as well, but I don’t want to switch topics…

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      May 3, 2016 at 12:28 am | #

      It looks like the rear triangle of a tandem bike.

    • showler
      showler
      May 3, 2016 at 11:06 am | #

      I assumed it was a leg of the trampoline on the picture behind her. Why she would be welding that end of the leg, I don’t know.

  19. Nicster216
    Nicster216
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    bongo

  20. Jabberwocky
    Jabberwocky
    May 3, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    It’s actually Carla’s capstone.

  21. MrInsecure
    MrInsecure
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    Hilariously, Mary thinks she’s the hero, and not the villain that’s going to be defeated by a bunch of children and a hilarious talking dog.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

      “And I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling liberals!”

    • Boxilar
      Boxilar
      May 3, 2016 at 1:27 am | #

      I don’t think any of the three qualify as “hero” here. Ruth is in the position she’s in because she’s an asshole who up to not long ago was abusing the Hell out of her power and position. Mary is a giant flaming asshole who is fully taking advantage of Ruth’s previous assholery to get her way. Carl’s is an asshole who goes out of her way to piss people off. Out of the three, Carla is at least not quite as big an ass as the other two. Hell, she may qualify as an antihero, depending on how this plays out.

      • Idontcarenomore
        Idontcarenomore
        May 3, 2016 at 1:43 am | #

        I don’t think Ruth went so far as to abuse her power as to use it to threaten people’s and make them leave her alone so as to expend as little energy as possible on her job.
        Can’t stand up for the way she put the push on Billie, that was abusive. But, Bille and she did end up a pair.
        Carla is just a sociopath.
        Mary is a true bongo though.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          May 3, 2016 at 2:00 am | #

          Ruth is pretty much a Dumbing of Age character whose comic psychopathy is running into the problem of being a real-world environment where she’s a terrifying bully. Carla is interesting because she’s actually a really nice person from all appearances, which is an interesting contrast to Ultracar. She’s just snarky and opinionated. Which I happen to like in RL. Mary is…yeah.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 9:23 am | #

            Yeah, I think Carla might be the jerk who made out the best in the universe change, because becoming more realistic means she’s definitely earned her disillusionment and weariness towards humanity.

      • Lapin
        Lapin
        May 3, 2016 at 2:46 am | #

        Carla hasn’t actually done anything to hurt anyone though. She’s more a brat than anything else, and some of that attitude is probably her developing a tough skin because of her gender identity. (ie “If I don’t care, your opinions can’t hurt me”)

        Ruth’s issues come from a place of an abuse victim and a substance abuser who is unfortunately perpetuating the cycle of poor anger management, and even worse coping techniques.

        Meanwhile, we know very little about Mary, and so far, all her motivations seem to come from a place of genuine bigotry, hatred, and better-than-thou syndrome. She seems to really believe she is morally superior to everyone else in the dorm, despite taking every opportunity to show how smug, hateful, homophobic and transphobic she is. So for now, she really just comes across as a terrible human being.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 9:23 am | #

          I agree with all of this.

        • 3-I
          3-I
          May 3, 2016 at 11:42 pm | #

          Thank you. Oi. I am really getting sick of the “RUTH IS AWFUL AND NEEDS TO BE TAKEN DOWN A PEG” diatribe. And similar notes towards Carla. It all seems to be apologia for Mary, who is legitimately hateful.

    • John
      John
      May 3, 2016 at 4:21 pm | #

      Talking car, methinks.

  22. Shiro
    Shiro
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    Ah yes, here’s the hero 😀

  23. Luzahn
    Luzahn
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    And now: The birth of ULTRA-CARLA! The campus’ greatest hero, now that Amazi-girl got all dark and brooding.

    • DarkoNeko
      DarkoNeko
      May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      But… where is she gonna fit a 3rd hand to plaster pie on people’s face with ?

      • Stephen R. Bierce
        Stephen R. Bierce
        May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

        Alimentary, my dear Neko.

        • Shiro
          Shiro
          May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

          “of or relating to nourishment or sustenance”? …pie pun?

          • heyman
            heyman
            May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

            Pun.
            Alimentary canal, contextually the exit.
            Sherlock Holmes’ “Elementary, my dear Watson”.
            and from Diamonds Are Forever, James Bond to Felix Leiter-
            (Leiter asks where in the coffin or on Peter Franks’ body the diamonds are)
            “Alimentary, my dear Felix”.

            • Shiro
              Shiro
              May 3, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

              I believe everyone is familiar with the “elementary” version of the line. 😛 I couldn’t decide between food pun or autocorrect.

      • Luzahn
        Luzahn
        May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

        What did you think she had under her fancy preview-panels hat?

        • DarkoNeko
          DarkoNeko
          May 3, 2016 at 12:12 am | #

          Hairs

  24. Dave
    Dave
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    Tramampoline! Trambapoline!

    • DarkoNeko
      DarkoNeko
      May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

      Dramapoline !

      • Orion Fury
        Orion Fury
        May 3, 2016 at 1:51 am | #

        I have no idea what just happened.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        May 3, 2016 at 9:34 am | #

        Trauma-poline?

        • WolfLann
          WolfLann
          May 3, 2016 at 10:12 am | #

          Throwmarypoline

  25. chris73
    chris73
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    Marys knows the best burns always have the most truth

  26. meegan
    meegan
    May 3, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    so did we ever find out what carla’s majoring in?

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      May 3, 2016 at 12:30 am | #

      Mechanical Engineering or Mad Science, there’s a lot of overlap in the curricula for the first 2 years.

      • Deathstalker
        Deathstalker
        May 3, 2016 at 2:28 am | #

        Pfft. MEs and plain vanilla MS are so boring.

        Fun fact: The only other person I know with Anthropology and Math degrees saw I had a CNC machine… and plans to begin pestering me about using it. None of the many engineers who have seen it have had that reaction. Even those without access to their own.

        Another fun fact: I can tell different types of bones apart based on animal to a fair degree. I’ve probably handled more human bones than 99+% of the people on here.

        Fun Fact 3: I was laser cutting tortillas to turn into records today. The laser was being too powerful, which was frustrating. A few minutes before that I was helping someone do milling for injection molding.

        Anthropologists and math people are awesome, there need to be more of them. Name something that doesn’t require really expensive or specialized equipment/materials, and either of us can probably do it, given a little practice. I think though that the rest of the world would consider us crazy.

        • Gigafreak
          Gigafreak
          May 3, 2016 at 9:58 am | #

          > I’ve probably handled more human bones than 99+% of the people on here.
          Well Ruth hasn’t actually collected any femurs so you have her beat, at least

  27. Vonniesaur
    Vonniesaur
    May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    Carla is the hero

    • Boxilar
      Boxilar
      May 3, 2016 at 1:29 am | #

      I’ll give her “antihero”. Hero is stretching it.

    • Grant
      Grant
      May 3, 2016 at 1:56 pm | #

      Carla Stark was able to build this in a CAVE! With a BOX OF SCRAPS!

  28. Vex Godglove
    Vex Godglove
    May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    Here’s another secret, Mary: Neither are you.

  29. Cheshrin
    Cheshrin
    May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    If a lemon meringue doesn’t get comedically smashed into Mary’s face by the end of this subplot, I’m going to be severely disappointed.

    Channel your alternate universe robo-self, Carla. Do what must be done.

    • Leorale
      Leorale
      May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

      Or sweet pickle pies, the most hilarious pie of all.

  30. Kole
    Kole
    May 3, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    please let this mean that Carla will have some agency in her own plot lol

    I love you Willis I’m just really tired of seeing ally-centered plotlines

    • StClair
      StClair
      May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

      I saw this strip and thought of you, no lie.

      • Kole
        Kole
        May 3, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

        LOL I didn’t realize I commented enough for someone to think of me. This probably means I complain too much lol

        I wouldn’t say anything about it though if I didn’t believe in Willis as a storyteller ok Im invested in the characters

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 12:34 am | #

          Oh yeah, I think this means exactly that. I believe we’re about to see Carla start to step up to center stage and show her method of handling the type of dehumanization and awfulness she received.

          And yeah, ditto on thinking of you when I saw the preview for this one.

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

        Same here.
        With the ‘hero’ and the immediate cut to Carla, my first reaction was that Carla will indeed be the hero of her own story… I hope I read the implication right. Go Carla Go!

        • Leorale
          Leorale
          May 3, 2016 at 12:29 am | #

          (er, the ‘same here’ was that I also thought of you / your point, Kole.)

    • Kole
      Kole
      May 3, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

      what I mean by that is not “how dare ally’s have their own plot”, but it’s just really aggravating to see tons of screentime dedicated to seeing “how is JOYCE going to handle THE GAY” “how is JOYCE going to handle BECKY’S DAD BEING BANANAS” “how is RUTH going to handle MARY BEING A TRANSPHOBIC JERKBUTT”

      Like, I am interested in these plotlines, it’s just, idk, it feels like you’re using lesbians and trans people as a prop to a straighter, cis-er plot. It’d feel a lot less like that if we actually saw Carla more instead of a few one shot jokes. This is good Ruth development, but at the cost of one of our few trans ladies.

      Anyway I’m not saying this to be a hater because I know plot is nuanced and you’re in the right place by including such a diverse cast. It just feels a bit like an ally trying to tell our stories for us, then getting it…………….. weird. A little uncomfortable? I guess? I know it’ll improve with time though.

      • Shiro
        Shiro
        May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

        I feel like it’s worth pointing out that Ruth is very much a queer lady being attacked for her queerness, too. Like I’m happy to see more Carla too, but I feel like making Ruth into just an ally is doing her a disservice.

        • Kole
          Kole
          May 3, 2016 at 12:42 am | #

          That is true, and I did not touch on it (I should have), is that in this sense Ruth is an ally. Not “just” an ally, but she is cis. She is acting as a cis ally to a trans peer. I really *really* hate this term, but for lack of a better phrase, I’m tired of seeing Ruth white knight over transphobia.

          Mary, here, is talking very clearly about how she talks to Carla. This plotline is centered on Mary’s special hatred for Carla. So it is nice to see Carla take the reigns and center stage for this because it affects her the most.

          I hope it makes sense why as a trans person, I’m tired of reading how difficult it is for cis people to be around transphobia lol. Ruth and her relationship with Billy seemed like a footnote in where Mary’s bigotry is focused.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 12:54 am | #

            The irony is the points you make is also why I love how parts of this have been handled so far. Especially the way that Carla just has no time for Ruth using the excuse of her “failure” to “protect” her to beat herself up on “her behalf”. Like, yeah yeah, this is clearly your first rodeo, but it ain’t mine so save me your half-hearted apologies and Ally 101 shit and definitely your victim-blaming nonsense and either shit or get off the pot cause I have my own thing in the works.

            It makes a nice contrast and subversion of the exact trope you mention… or at least that’s been my experience with it. Obviously your mileage may vary.

          • Shiro
            Shiro
            May 3, 2016 at 12:55 am | #

            I agree that it’s going to be great to see Carla take the reigns and get some totally ridiculous and imaginative revenge on Mary. 🙂 Just wanted to note that Mary’s homophobia is also a part of this and it’s having some profound effects on Ruth’s life too, it’s not a zero sum thing.

            • Cerberus
              Cerberus
              May 3, 2016 at 1:05 am | #

              Yup, it was a two-fer. Transphobia against Carla (which Ruth is responding to like someone who’s known about transphobia in the abstract but has never had to wrestle with it face to face on a daily basis like trans folks do). And homophobia against Ruth.

              The irony is that Ruth is overemphasizing her “moral duty” to stand up for Carla because she simply doesn’t value herself enough to stand up for herself and protect herself.

              Like, that was a nasty blow. Just a vomit explosion of homophobia which it is seeming like might have been the first instance of homophobia directed at herself she has experienced and it cost her a really valuable relationship and made her fear for what little she had left.

              That’s some scarring shit. But it’s probably a lot easier to “stand up” for a student who’s faced that shit than for Ruth to acknowledge that she has worth and that she doesn’t deserve to experience that level of pain and dehumanization.

              • Rutee
                Rutee
                May 3, 2016 at 1:16 am | #

                This is why what Kole is saying frankly pisses me off. Ruth is clearly struggling to avoid having to deal with being a person with value. She is as much a victim as Karla, and while she has a less powerful societal urge to be smacked down, she’s still got one, and she’s dealing with her own personal shit that makes her feel she’s worthless to START with. It’s not about ‘ally-hood’.

                • Kole
                  Kole
                  May 3, 2016 at 12:28 pm | #

                  You can be pissed off all you like, but my point still stands that transphobia is being used to further a cis plot which is going to be sketch anyway. There’s plenty of wlw on that floor to get this arc out of Ruth. Don’t use a trans person as a prop to a cis plot, it’s uncomfortable.

                • Rutee
                  Rutee
                  May 3, 2016 at 1:33 pm | #

                  1: Carla’s doing her own fucking thing, so she isn’t a prop. For fuck’s fucking sake. Cissexism is being ‘used’ to demonstrate that cissexism is fucking wrong. I’m pissed off because you’re missing the damn obvious.

                  2: The primary struggle Ruth is dealing with, is you know, the heterosexism that is /her/ fucking problem. She /is/ hiding from that and trying to do so with Carla, but seeing as Carla is solving her own fucking problem, what we’re left with is just that Ruth doesn’t want to admit that she has value and ‘her’ problems (which, lol, they fuckin’ ain’t, they’re a bunch of people’s) have value.

                  What you want is super obvious neon signs to show that the narrative says what you want – this makes a narrative terrible.

                • Shiro
                  Shiro
                  May 3, 2016 at 1:46 pm | #

                  @Kole: I totally understand why you feel like that, and the preview panels and word of Willis is that we’re going to start getting more Carla pretty soon. I believe by the end of the arc, we’ll be able to comfortably call it a Carla-centric storyline. All anyone is saying is that she’s not the only character hurting here, and relegating the other character being actively oppressed to ally status is doing her a disservice.

                  (I hope that made sense, I woke up with a migraine and my thoughts are so much marshmallow right now)

              • Idontcarenomore
                Idontcarenomore
                May 3, 2016 at 1:45 am | #

                I agree with both of you.

      • Lolly
        Lolly
        May 3, 2016 at 12:22 am | #

        I also wonder if maybe Willis feels uncomfortable sometimes being a straight white male trying to tell these stories that aren’t actually his lived experience, and he worries that if he spends too much time with Carla that he will mess up the storytelling and hurt people. I know that might sound silly, but when getting stuff right and reaching people feels so important it can also feel like a lot of pressure to not mess up.

        • Kole
          Kole
          May 3, 2016 at 12:38 am | #

          See, and that’s absolutely fair. I’m white and I constantly worry that I’ll mess up telling a POC’s story when writing for them.

          Then something a friend of mine told me changed the way I see it forever: don’t do it.

          That is not to say don’t have a diverse cast. It IS to say just. Stop telling people’s stories for them. Have a trans character that’s allowed to just be trans. We’re perfectly happy just being included in the story and shenanigans with everyone else. You don’t need to make every minority included get into the nuances of their oppression. Examples of this being done well is Steven Universe imo. All these gay ladies and POC just unapologetically existing.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 1:11 am | #

            Eh, while that is my frame of mind usually owing to how badly allies often fuck up stories about minorities (thinking of some of the truly cringe-worthy attempts to “reach out” to ace or trans audiences), I feel like Willis has been really solid on doing his research and bringing justice to stories that are not his.

            I’m especially thinking of some of the ones that hit me where I live recently like that whole Carla and Mary initial conflict and follow-up or just all of Becky’s arc.

            If there’s one cis straight dude I trust to get this shit right and do it justice, it’s definitely Willis.

            • Idontcarenomore
              Idontcarenomore
              May 3, 2016 at 1:47 am | #

              Willis does his homework, I agree.

            • Kole
              Kole
              May 3, 2016 at 12:32 pm | #

              See, I trust Willis to eventually get it right. I don’t expect it to be perfect the first time around. The fact that he’s willing to tell the stories in the first place is neato already.

              And really I’m being critical of a mostly solid plot, just pointing out the parts that make me (and others who don’t read anymore because of this) uncomfortable and why. The fact Carla has been a footnote in this arc that started because of her has made me frown quite a bit.

              I still think I’d rather see people tell stories that belong to them, but Im not going to harp on people who believe differently than that.

              • Cerberus
                Cerberus
                May 3, 2016 at 2:21 pm | #

                Given that he’s been saying on twitter lately that Carla has been earning her spot on the cover of this book in the strips he’s writing currently, I’m gonna guess that your concerns are already being addressed by future Willis.

                I get the fear. I have the same fears when cis authors take on trans works, but I think Carla will get just as much involvement in her own story as Becky did in hers and that we’ll both likely be happy with what we get.

                For now, the narrative seems to already be addressing a lot of your fears, with Carla mocking Ruth’s efforts to make the narrative the ballad of Ruth’s failure to “protect” her and openly rejecting it.

                And that’s important, because Ruth’s conflict with Mary isn’t actually about Mary’s transphobia, it’s about Mary’s homophobia and Ruth’s lack of ability to believe in her own worth and thus is clinging to this paired oppression she observed, because standing up for herself feels absurd right now.

                • Spencer
                  Spencer
                  May 3, 2016 at 6:23 pm | #

                  Yeah, I was in the same frame of mind as Kole when this storyline started, and come on; there was like two months straight with no Carla where the focus was entirely on Ruth being sad about it. The positive strides now, like seeing a deeper side to Carla outside of just being a wacky prankster and now her major, makes me feel more confident that this isn’t just going to be the Ally Story I initially dreaded it would be.

                  And in hindsight, Carla not bothering to feed into Ruth’s self pity over failing her was a really good move, much like how Becky didn’t bother to praise Joyce’s sudden realization that loving Becky wasn’t something she had to add conditions to.

                  As for the part about writers writing outside something that’s “theirs”, the way I see it is that everyone should be able to write about whatever they want, and everyone else should be free to criticize that work for any legitimate reason. There’s things I know Willis isn’t drawing from personal experience to write, but to deny him that opportunity because he’s too straight and too male, I feel, would be depriving readers who don’t get to see themselves in fiction with any regularity. It’s totally cool to say “hey the way you’re writing this bothers me” though, and that can be something writers who are dedicated to being representative need. We’re probably not going to get another Squadron 48, the team of hot bisexual ladies who exist so we can coo about how Joe is such a stud, for example.

                  Cause, hey, if this middle aged straight white dude from Ohio who obsesses over Transformers can write a massively successful, critically acclaimed webcomic that entirely focuses on minority characters to the point where there is exactly one significant straight white dude, and get five grand in donations every month from people who give him money to read his comic a day early, what’s the next guy’s excuse for not wanting to “force” diversity?

          • Rutee
            Rutee
            May 3, 2016 at 1:36 am | #

            I mean yes, the safe response is to not do it. But they’re the ones with the societal power to be taken seriously, who have voices that go a lot further in legitimizing us than our own do. That’s not fair, but it’s how it is. Speaking personally, it hurts to see fuckups, but I’d rather have that scar over than not have the direct help, even though you’re right and there will sometimes be harmful errors – even grave ones.

            It’s a world of shitty options, unfortunately, and I don’t begrudge a preference on either end here.

            • Kole
              Kole
              May 3, 2016 at 12:35 pm | #

              Like I said above, I’d rather see people like Willis stick to stories that belong to them (like Joyce) instead of trying to tell our stories for us. I’d much rather see him showing us gay and trans artists and supporting their work than him trying to create our own content for us.

              I do completely understand why you feel the way you do, though, and admit it does have merit. Still doesn’t make me feel comfortable about it though.

              • Cerberus
                Cerberus
                May 3, 2016 at 2:26 pm | #

                I wouldn’t, but YMMV. I don’t like a world where cis creators feel comfortable pretending we don’t exist or making us into stock characters or stereotypes and our stories being relegated to a webcomic alley tucked away from the main street.

                And Willis is an artist who has worked hard to do the stories justice. So, to me, at least, it’s important to see him tackle shit like this in front of a more mainstream audience.

                But that’s just me. Though I would note that Willis has pretty regularly decided to tackle the stories of identities he doesn’t belong to. That’s kind of always going to be a central aspect of his comic, no matter what and he’s not likely to change that anytime soon.

                • Kole
                  Kole
                  May 5, 2016 at 12:22 am | #

                  I feel like it’s worth pointing out that I don’t mean make your casts less inclusive, I mean stop focusing so much on their coming of age “dealing with phobias and isms” aspects of their stories.

                  Those… are our stories to tell. I dont want people reading a cis/straight author telling our gay/trans stories and coming of age stories. It’s *always* going to have a cis/straight slant, and that’s not the fault to cis and straight people. They just can’t pull it from the intimate spot it needs to be pulled from to connect with who it needs to resonate with.

                  There’s having a diverse cast, then there’s telling those special stories for us. DoA ventures off into the latter way too often for my comfort, not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment of diversity. Especially all the bi people, that’s great.

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        May 3, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

        I’ve got my money on it’s the pace of the comic, and that Carla will get lots of screen-time, too. She’s in tons of preview panels. Time will tell!

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 12:36 am | #

        I can see that concern and I do think there’s a lot of ally plotlines, but we’ve also been with Becky for a lot of her arc with her dad, so there’s a precedent for letting queer story arcs be helmed by the queer person, especially in the meat of things.

        And I think that’s exactly what we’re starting to enter into with this arc, the meat of things.

      • Dana
        Dana
        May 3, 2016 at 2:20 am | #

        Not to speak for Willis, but I can’t see how he could skimp on the Joyce becoming and acting as an ally, seeing as it’s so critical to the character development of his most autobiographical character.

  31. Elf Royalty
    Elf Royalty
    May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    i didn’t think i could love carla more, but this strip proved me wrong. <3

  32. Cerberus
    Cerberus
    May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    Carla!!!! YAY! I’ve been waiting for Carla to start showing her response to this shit and this doesn’t disappoint.

    I’ve long theorized that Carla has had the sort of life where she’s done being the victim or showing how things bite at her. I think we’re about to see the lengths she will go to to avoid reliving those dark days and just how ridiculous her revenge plan can get.

    • Yossarianduck
      Yossarianduck
      May 3, 2016 at 12:20 am | #

      My running reading of Carla is that, despite the bullshit transphobia she’s encountered, she’s also got an inbuilt amount of arrogance instilled from being from a considerably wealthy family. This doesn’t stop her from getting hurt, but it does mean she is perfectly comfortable in treating those who’d hurt her as inferiors who deserve nothing less than open contempt.

      Coupling with that is her tendency for flights of fancy, which means operation CCSARRAMP is a go. I have popcorn on standby.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 12:38 am | #

        I dunno, the interaction with Amber and the “ha ha, bothered, me, no, don’t be silly, hey what about those cookies” interaction with Billie and Ruth has me convinced that she’s got a habit of hiding how much being shit on hurts her.

        That and all the money in the world doesn’t make it any easier to be arrogantly convinced of your superiority to others when you’re a trans girl and all the world is just waiting to drown you with infinite messages of hate and rejection and threats.

        • Rutee
          Rutee
          May 3, 2016 at 1:23 am | #

          It helps a lot to receive infinite messages of worship for your richness. Of all the privileges to have, wealth is definitely, [i]and demonstrably[/i], the most useful for mitigating the negative effects of other -isms.

          Like, it doesn’t negate the cissexism, but it’s still really fucking helpful. That money makes it easier. It just doesnt’ make it easy.

          • fogel
            fogel
            May 3, 2016 at 6:40 am | #

            Definitely the case that LACK of money makes (just about?) everything harder in this American life.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 9:18 am | #

            True. I didn’t mean to imply that wealth doesn’t come with its fair share of privileges, merely noting that its really hard to escape the societal belief that trans people are shit.

            Hell, I despise Caitlyn Jenner, but she’s been running into this face first a lot where she believes her wealth will excuse her from societal transphobia and to a large degree it does, but there’s still enough that slams into her that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for her in public to pretend it’s not an all-encompassing thing that slams your sense of self-worth.

            And with supportive parents and money, Carla has a much rosier future than is available to too many trans folks.

  33. Tacos
    Tacos
    May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    I love that last panel so much. I wonder what Carla’s welding? Maybe she’s making a sentient death machine? Or a car that throws pies/strands people in the Amazon.

    • Orion Fury
      Orion Fury
      May 3, 2016 at 1:59 am | #

      Or scalps Transformers on eBay?

  34. Bicycle Bill
    Bicycle Bill
    May 3, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    That last panel reminds me of the coyote designing something to catch the Road Runner.
    I hope Carla enjoys better results.

    • fogel
      fogel
      May 3, 2016 at 6:36 am | #

      Better results than Willey Coyote? Don’t set the bar too high!

  35. Crazy Potato
    Crazy Potato
    May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

    i hope she gets killed off soon that character is really piss’en me off

    • Shiro
      Shiro
      May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      Word of God says no one dies in this one, the mourning period would be too long.

      • Warfoki
        Warfoki
        May 3, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

        That implies that anybody would bother to mourn her though…

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          May 3, 2016 at 1:01 am | #

          I’m sure at least one character in the story would, maybe that teacher Joe has been banging?

      • Foxhack
        Foxhack
        May 3, 2016 at 12:17 am | #

        He said no one dies, but he never said anything about extended vacations to Abu Dhabi.

        • Shiro
          Shiro
          May 3, 2016 at 12:20 am | #

          I’m totally on board with that one, except vacation implies she’ll eventually come back…

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          May 3, 2016 at 1:03 am | #

          Theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3br0tDqW3r8

      • caesaria82
        caesaria82
        May 3, 2016 at 12:18 am | #

        Not that I actually believe Willis is going to kill anyone off, but who would mourn Mary? Out of our main cast? I mean, ok yes, it’s very traumatic when anyone you know dies, especially a young person who you go to college with. But there could be a lot of mourning off-screen from a lot of unseen people.

        Not that I’m actually advocating for Mary to die, violence is never the answer. Do not kill Mary, Carla, you would never forgive yourself.

        All I’m saying is the ‘mouring period’ excuse isn’t really as pertinent with Mary as it was when we were all worried about Ruth and trucks.

    • fogel
      fogel
      May 3, 2016 at 6:34 am | #

      Mary delenda est.

  36. Yossarianduck
    Yossarianduck
    May 3, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

    Coming soon: Operation CCSARRAMP.

    • Orion Fury
      Orion Fury
      May 3, 2016 at 2:00 am | #

      ?

      • Dana
        Dana
        May 3, 2016 at 2:24 am | #

        See blackboard in final panel.

        • Orion Fury
          Orion Fury
          May 3, 2016 at 11:56 pm | #

          Thanks.

  37. Kris
    Kris
    May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

    She’s gonna do it!….She’s gonna kill Mary…..we-we might actually see a real removal of femurs!

  38. Rosicrucian
    Rosicrucian
    May 3, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

    So Mary only knew about the booze.

    That’s… worth filing away for later.

    • tim gueguen
      tim gueguen
      May 3, 2016 at 12:18 am | #

      Yeah, it does look like maybe Mary thought Ruth was “defiling” Billie by facilitating her alcoholism, and doesn’t get that they were sex partners.

      • Jason
        Jason
        May 3, 2016 at 1:15 am | #

        I disagree. She made very loaded comments to Billie earlier about homosexuality being a sin, and she only started doing that after seeing Billie sneak into Ruth’s room.

        • Rosicrucian
          Rosicrucian
          May 3, 2016 at 1:26 am | #

          I’m just really uncertain why Mary wouldn’t count Ruth among “the queers.”

          Granted, maybe the booze is all she feels she’s got leverage on.

          • Shiro
            Shiro
            May 3, 2016 at 1:33 am | #

            Yesterday, someone suggested that she thinks Ruth is choosing to be queer for…reasons, I guess? Liberal brownie points? Idek, it makes my brain hurt to twist up for justifications like that.

            • Orion Fury
              Orion Fury
              May 3, 2016 at 2:02 am | #

              I think it was something like Fundies can take Gold in Mental Gymnastics.

            • Cerberus
              Cerberus
              May 3, 2016 at 9:11 am | #

              Yup, exactly that. In Fundieland, queerness is a choice to defy God not an orientation, so clearly Ruth is choosing to have a same-gender romantic partner as a means of showing her liberal values and signaling to the other liberals that she’s a cool modern woman angering God with her loose morals just like them.

              And this is an important thing for types like Mary to believe, because if queer orientations are actually really an orientation and just the way someone is, then all their bigotry would be really vile and villainous. So, nope, all just a pose to signal “liberalness”.

              Plus, it’s a nice bit of projection, because fundie types like Mary are all about signaling their virtues to each other by making big public shows of how pious they are and how hard they fight against sinners.

  39. caesaria82
    caesaria82
    May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

    Carla, I love you. You are my favorite. Never change.

  40. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    May 3, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

    Alright, Mary’s getting a bit too Bond villain for my tastes.

    • Luzahn
      Luzahn
      May 3, 2016 at 12:16 am | #

      It’s a shame Mary has the whole traditional gender roles thing going, now I just want to see her in a fancy bad-guy suit. Maybe for church, or something.

      I don’t know how churches work.

      • Orion Fury
        Orion Fury
        May 3, 2016 at 2:03 am | #

        You’re lucky.

    • fogel
      fogel
      May 3, 2016 at 6:31 am | #

      “Do you expect me to talk?”
      “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”

      Best villain line ever.

  41. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    May 3, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

    Mary looks almost disappointed in panel 1.

  42. Mkvenner
    Mkvenner
    May 3, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

    Finally someone is doing something about Mary.

    • Cephalo the Pod
      Cephalo the Pod
      May 3, 2016 at 1:09 am | #

      There’s Something [Being Done] About Mary

  43. GrayMoon77
    GrayMoon77
    May 3, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

    Adding “punch Mary in the faaaaaaaace” to the list.

    • Killian
      Killian
      May 3, 2016 at 12:23 am | #

      *with a pie

      • Gigafreak
        Gigafreak
        May 3, 2016 at 10:11 am | #

        I’m told that Pillowfight League exists, and it is basically UFC with props, as you can totally punch people through your pillow since it still counts as “only hitting the opponent with the pillow”

        So now we just need to apply this concept to pies, so that Mary can receive her just deserts with just desserts

  44. Benjy
    Benjy
    May 3, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

    I get the sobering up before she reports it part , but why is she trying to act all neighborly?

    • Rosicrucian
      Rosicrucian
      May 3, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

      So the hall residents will side with her if Mary decides to go nuclear.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 12:40 am | #

        Yeah, that’s my guess too. She needs the dorm floor to see her as the lesser of two evils.

        Also, I imagine playing at being good RA is her best chance at distracting herself out of one hell of a nasty self-hatred spiral that could knock her back into her drinking habit and possibly another suicide attempt.

        • Idontcarenomore
          Idontcarenomore
          May 3, 2016 at 1:50 am | #

          That’s not my take on Ruth.
          I think she woke up (literally) saw Billies cookies on the pillow, and crawled out of bed into her shower. She brushed her hair into a ponytail like Billie did for her: put on the shirt Billie gave her, and went out into the dorm.
          I think (while there may very well be trying to make good impressions on her part) that she is simply trying to be a human being.

          I think she’s trying to climb out of her depression and alcoholism and smart enough to know that the only way to do that is stop hiding in her dark room.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 9:04 am | #

            That’s a really good point and that’s probably right. Ape being functional and human and maybe one day it’ll stop feeling unnatural and impossible.

      • Benjy
        Benjy
        May 3, 2016 at 1:44 pm | #

        Is there any legitimate threat that anyone will side with Mary?

    • Tacos
      Tacos
      May 3, 2016 at 12:18 am | #

      Probably in case her superiors see her. They can then think, “Oh looks Like Ruth is doing her job competently.”

  45. thomas
    thomas
    May 3, 2016 at 12:17 am | #

    The best character returns! Chalkboard, we’ve missed you!

    • AgentKeen
      AgentKeen
      May 3, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

      Where is Chalkboard’s tag!?!?

      • Yossarianduck
        Yossarianduck
        May 3, 2016 at 12:29 am | #

        Jinx!

    • Yossarianduck
      Yossarianduck
      May 3, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

      Willis, plz tag.

  46. Some1
    Some1
    May 3, 2016 at 12:18 am | #

    Carla: “Finishes art project” Well that was fun! Now to complete my real plan against Mary! Yes, is this the main I.U office? I’d like to make a complaint.

    • StClair
      StClair
      May 3, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

      “This? Oh, this was just an assignment for class. My true plan is MUCH more elaborate and diabolical. (Also cold, swift, etc etc.)”

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:42 am | #

      Heh.

      Though, more seriously, Carla’s not really the “reporting to authority” type and probably has learned the hard way, like a lot of trans people have, that authorities are not your friend and reporting things is more likely to end in badness for you than any consequences for the people who fucked you over.

    • Cephalo the Pod
      Cephalo the Pod
      May 3, 2016 at 1:11 am | #

      ART? Oh no no, Carla’s in engineering.

      • Jhon
        Jhon
        May 3, 2016 at 8:53 pm | #

        Engineering is the art of applied ingenuity.

  47. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    May 3, 2016 at 12:19 am | #

    Is that MIG or flux-core wire feed welding? Asking for a friend.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      May 3, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

      It can’t be TIG because she’s holding the workpiece, and you need both hands to TIG weld.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      May 3, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

      It’s certainly not Arc, otherwise the last panel would burn your eyes out cos looking at it with eye-protection is worse than looking straight at the sun.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 3, 2016 at 11:38 am | #

        Not oxy-acetylene either, that’s another two-handed process. But given the rest of the room looks very dark, I would say we are seeing what a camera would show with the arc going off for some kind of arc process like MIG or flux-core wire feed or even stick. I just don’t think it’s stick because of the curve between the thing that Carla is holding and the arc. If it was stick it would be straight because that would be the electrode, plus the thing she’s holding looks a lot like the “handle” of my flux-core welder.

  48. Cerberus
    Cerberus
    May 3, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

    Okay, now that I’ve gotten my Carla fangirl SQUEE out of the way, (but seriously, yay Carla!), I want to analyze Mary.

    I hate Mary, cause I know far too many people like her and know the damage that they cause all while thinking they are moral crusaders for good. But I kind of unironically love her as a villain and a foil to the cast, because she is kind of the perfect avatar of the normative world and all its petty hatreds and slights.

    She is relentless in harassing her targets and for all her deliberate ignorances, she is shrewd and calculating and willing to take her time to make someone hurt. She is a truly menacing force with a reason to go after any cast member at any time for the most minor of perceived slights and that makes her a legitimate threat.

    And I kind of love that she’s pitted up against Carla and Ruth here, because Ruth needs an external enemy to kick her out of her locked pattern of being her own worst enemy and this one is clever enough to throw her out of her comfort zone of threatening acts of violence and being really scary.

    Cause Mary does not give a fuck about the bluster and is really good at recognizing when you just tried to play a bluff. Hell, that moment of pause in the first panel is the most worrying for Ruth, because for a moment it seemed like Mary might have been worried she overplayed her hand with Ruth rejecting her so outright, but Mary now knows that Ruth still has her dirty laundry for Mary to exploit for a little bit longer at least.

    And Carla? Carla doesn’t need this shit at all, but she’s also probably been through an army of this sort of attitude and so recognizes the threat as real and willing to escalate to some really bad places. But she’s also got enough of a chip on her shoulder to refuse to back off without at least making her personal mark.

    Also, more worrying, Mary now has the drinking over Ruth’s head as well and that’s going to be the harder habit for Ruth to quit once and for all and one that does not make Mary look petty and paranoid (ranting about secret gay lovers is not going to be taken as seriously as expressing a sad concern that your RA has a drinking problem and is modeling bad behavior for the impressionable freshmen *crocodile tear*).

    And Mary realizes that every gasp of power like this is just more of a free reign to be all the her she can be and to feel free antagonizing the queer students for Jesus.

    Also, I love that line about Ruth not being the hero, because of course Carla is the real hero of this story in that it’s the thing that happened to her and it’s her tale to tell and Mary is undeniably the villain here. But also because of course Mary thinks she’s the hero of the story, standing against an evil queer-infested secular society, outsmarting her evil RA who is selling out her principles to promote unhealthy lifestyles, being a hero to the silent majority who will surely cheer her once she has set things right.

    It’s that delusional arrogance that truly makes Mary insufferable and also ensures that for all her pettiness and awfulness, she is still prone to overreach and can be taken down at least in the short-term.

    • StClair
      StClair
      May 3, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

      *marks this one ‘A’ and circles it in red pen*

    • Rukduk
      Rukduk
      May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

      This is an amazing analysis. I am deeply impressed.

    • Cephalo the Pod
      Cephalo the Pod
      May 3, 2016 at 1:15 am | #

      Yeah, Mary’s a great A-tier villain. She’s not just a family member hurting a particular student; she’s out to screw over everyone.

    • Orion Fury
      Orion Fury
      May 3, 2016 at 2:07 am | #

      I’m going to come back and read this ‘tomorrow’. That’s a long analysis.

    • Jhon
      Jhon
      May 3, 2016 at 8:57 pm | #

      tl,dr:
      Mary is the nemesis Ruth needs.

    • Orion Fury
      Orion Fury
      May 4, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

      I was thrown off by the first line of the analysis. At first I thought you said that you hated MAry because so many people liked her, then I wondered “Wait, who likes Mary?” Then I realized you know people who ARE like Mary, then it all made sense.

      9/10 Would read analyses again.

  49. AgentKeen
    AgentKeen
    May 3, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

    CARLA
    CARLA
    CARLA

  50. Catapostrophe
    Catapostrophe
    May 3, 2016 at 12:28 am | #

    YES. You go, Carla.

    I am now okay with the high concentration of Mary in this storyline, because it means that cold, swift, and ridiculous revenge is forthcoming.

  51. Mr. Random
    Mr. Random
    May 3, 2016 at 12:32 am | #

    So… I wonder if Mary’s prejudices blind her to the fact that Carla will retaliate?

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

      I could see that. She certainly doesn’t value her as a complete person. To the point where Mary is far more concerned with attacking at the person who dared try to stand up for her than Carla herself.

      So, I can definitely see her feeling that Carla has been “dealt with” and thus won’t be expecting Carla to retaliate.

      • StClair
        StClair
        May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

        Presumably she thinks that Ruth is the one with the power, which she is attempting to nullify and/or usurp for herself.
        Carla? pfft. that ‘freak’ is just another resident. what can ‘it’ do?

        (we will see, and it will be glorious.)

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 1:00 am | #

          Yeah, Carla is powerless. Just a “delusional (slur for trans woman)”. Not even worth noticing other than to disparage how by existing she is “making a mockery” of “moral values”.

          But as you note, Ruth is someone with power. And one whom Mary has gotten over on at least once before. And if she can take that power she can remake the hall into one of her chosen values, where “freaks” like Carla no longer feel free to exist in her general location.

          And so, she enjoys the power struggle with her, because the worst part of her bigotry with Carla is that that was just the swatting of a fly for Mary, just her way of saying “hello” and that she wasn’t even emotionally invested in what was truly an awful pile of out of the blue bigotry.

          • Rosicrucian
            Rosicrucian
            May 3, 2016 at 1:29 am | #

            I have a feeling that Mary’s undoing will be her tendency to write off people she thinks she’s figured out already.

          • Deanatay
            Deanatay
            May 3, 2016 at 9:47 am | #

            Mary may simply see Carla as a tool with which to press her crusade against Ruth, and not really as a person at all. It will make Carla’s upcoming revenge all the more satisfying.

          • Sovnyavitch
            Sovnyavitch
            May 3, 2016 at 12:53 pm | #

            How exactly was it truly awful? All Mary did was say, “…where you belong”, which is definitely rude, but it’s not as though she outed Carla before the entire school.

            • Cerberus
              Cerberus
              May 3, 2016 at 7:04 pm | #

              Well, where she said Carla “belongs” was the boy’s side of the dorm. It was an act of intentional misgendering, which is definitely an act of transphobic abuse and certainly was intended that way considering the next act by Mary is to act smug that that type of emotional violence was enough to knock the wind out of Carla’s sails and render her momentarily speechless.

              The point was to cause emotional harm, to deny Carla’s womanness and call attention to societal power dynamics and passive threats. And that’s no joke, because misgendering frequently occurs as a precursor to most physical and verbally abusive encounters trans people and especially trans women encounter and many have stories of where someone actively misgendering us where the ones who shortly after nearly killed us or threatened to kill us.

              Overall, it’s a truly hateful action that does lasting harm. Here’s an article that goes a bit more into detail:
              http://www.entirelyamelia.com/2014/01/02/misgendering-okay-justifiable-yes-big-deal/

              • Sovnyavitch
                Sovnyavitch
                May 4, 2016 at 9:34 am | #

                But Carla, to Mary, utterly lacks woman-ness. And what’s this about power dynamics? There was, to Mary’s knowledge, no other person around, and she wasn’t threatening Mary. She was almost certainly saying, “If you’re going to be rowdy and annoying, which are traits I associate with boys, why bother to pretend to be one of us?”

                • nightsbridge
                  nightsbridge
                  May 5, 2016 at 4:55 pm | #

                  . . . That’s . . . not a justification. It doesn’t make it better. It’s like saying that ‘But Amber, to Blaine, is using the money he must provide to her for purposes he does not approve of.’ You’re highlighting their reasons but that doesn’t make the things they do any less heinous.

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      May 3, 2016 at 4:59 am | #

      I suspect that Mary is the sort of personality who would take retaliation as validation. She would welcome it and, make no mistake, go to the authorities to complain in the serene assurance that she has always been in the right and done nothing of which she should be ashamed.

      I have suspected for a while that a number of characters will transfer out before the end of DoA’s promised end at the end of Freshman Year. Mary is one of them. I can see her going to Anderson because no other college will accept someone with such a thick wedge of complaints of provocations listed therein.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 9:02 am | #

        Oh definitely. Carla is the personality to rise to shit like this and go along with the escalating “prank” war with increasing bad blood and Mary is the type who when she’s exhausted her methods for trying to exploit a situation and harm people will calmly just go down to the authorities and whine about how unfairly she has been treated with a severely edited timeline of events.

        Cause for her it’s all about “winning”.

        And yeah, whenever the strip ends, I hope we get a short coda showing some of what happens to the characters in the remainder of their lives.

        • Commodore Jeep-Eep
          Commodore Jeep-Eep
          May 3, 2016 at 4:38 pm | #

          Assuming we don’t get a sequel strip.

  52. AY
    AY
    May 3, 2016 at 12:32 am | #

    Assuming that’s just oxy/acetylene, the full welding mask seems a bit much. I’d prefer the tinted goggles, personally, every mask I’ve used is too dark.

    • pyrpyr
      pyrpyr
      May 3, 2016 at 12:46 am | #

      BUT IT’S NOT RIDICULOUS ENOUGH OTHERWISE

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      May 3, 2016 at 12:52 am | #

      If I recall correctly, oxy/acetylene is more like concentrated high-speed rusting.

      • Dellaran
        Dellaran
        May 3, 2016 at 1:12 am | #

        An oxy-acetylene cutting torch is “high-speed rusting”, yes, but oxy-acetylene can also be used to weld. It’s generally inferior to other welding techniques, but it still has its place.

        • AY
          AY
          May 5, 2016 at 12:14 am | #

          That place being my sculpture studio in college, lol. Maybe IU has more than O/A available to undergrads, though

  53. doubleW
    doubleW
    May 3, 2016 at 12:35 am | #

    Carla’s revenge: installing a skateboard inside a carpeted hamster wheel + motor that will hang outside Mary’s window and make skating noises day and night.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

      I could honestly see that as a possibility. At least half of my wild speculations about her plan involve some sort of noise machine or automated skate.

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        May 3, 2016 at 9:50 am | #

        Mine are all about pies. Many involve some sort of concealed robotic arm.

  54. Linkara
    Linkara
    May 3, 2016 at 12:35 am | #

    And since the Walkyverse chalkboard is now here, I fully expect us to pan over and reveal that it says “TIME IS BROKEN!” in huge letters and pictures of Robin taped to it, with little arrows pointing at her and the words “ALL HER FAULT” written in.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 8:58 am | #

      Hmm, who would be the version of Skeets there… I know, Robin’s been hiding in Puppy Dorothy the whole time.

  55. Bagge
    Bagge
    May 3, 2016 at 12:35 am | #

    Looks like Mary is on top of this.

    Would be a shame if something cold, swift and UTTERLY RIDICULOUS were to happen, wouldn’t it.

  56. Plasma Mongoose
    Plasma Mongoose
    May 3, 2016 at 12:40 am | #

    Needs moar A-Team music in the final panel.

    • inqntrol
      inqntrol
      May 3, 2016 at 5:02 am | #

      I got it covered.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      May 3, 2016 at 9:51 am | #

      OLD A-Team, not new A-Team.

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 3, 2016 at 11:42 am | #

        There’s a new A-team?

        • Bicycle Bill
          Bicycle Bill
          May 3, 2016 at 9:31 pm | #

          Yeah, they put a new group together (Liam Neeson as Hayes, Bradley Cooper as ‘Face’, Quinton Jackson as ‘B.A.’, and Sharlto Copley as Murdoch) for an eminently-forgettable 2010 movie.  Only made back about three-quarters of its $110 million budget, so you may be excused for not being aware of it.  Apparently there are a lot of other people, including yours truly, who didn’t see it either.

          • Bicycle Bill
            Bicycle Bill
            May 3, 2016 at 9:34 pm | #

            Sorry — Neeson played Hannibal SMITH, not Hannibal Hayes.  I had a momentary flashback to an old 1970s Western, “Alias Smith and Jones”.

  57. trlkly
    trlkly
    May 3, 2016 at 12:40 am | #

    Wow, Ruth’s depression and wasting her energy acting nice has really taken its toil. There’s no way Mary should have come out completely unscathed in that conversation. Where’s the “It’s the fucking weekend, asshole.” or “My plans are not as simple as that,” or stuff like that?

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:47 am | #

      Withdrawal symptoms mixed with depression are a hell of a thing to push through and remain mentally sharp against someone as focused and nasty as Mary.

      Plus, I suspect Ruth is used to being the blunt instrument that smashes through things or at least threatens to and so doesn’t have the tools to handle someone as underhanded and passive-aggressive as Mary.

      • StClair
        StClair
        May 3, 2016 at 12:50 am | #

        Oh hey, I just realized someone else Mary reminds me of:
        Frank “ferret face” Burns.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 1:00 am | #

          I could see that.

        • Tan
          Tan
          May 3, 2016 at 3:55 am | #

          Really the person Mary’s reminding me of since last strip is Kellen from the webcomic Rain (the title character is a transgirl in high school just starting to present as a girl; Kellen is her estranged older sister).

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 8:57 am | #

            I could also see that.

        • Kamino Neko
          Kamino Neko
          May 3, 2016 at 5:00 pm | #

          Big difference is Frank was right once in a blue moon.

      • trlkly
        trlkly
        May 3, 2016 at 4:25 am | #

        Yeah, I know. But I hope she’s mentally preparing some stuff for later now, like “I may not be the hero, but you are definitely the villain.” Or, after seeing what Carla does “You were right. I’m not the hero. She is.” With the biggest accent on “she.”

  58. Kater
    Kater
    May 3, 2016 at 12:41 am | #

    There’s nothing quite so exhilerating as a women welding for revenge

  59. Bagge
    Bagge
    May 3, 2016 at 12:41 am | #

    “Rearranged furniture” OUCH! I doubt Mary knows exactly how much it hurt for Ruth to throw out Billie, but it was not lost on Ruth.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 12:50 am | #

      Yup, it’s a nice little cold dig at her. Oh, did you throw away a powerful relationship that was your literal lifeline because of my threats? Well, that’s just like you moved some beds around.

      Intentional devaluing of a queer relationship. It’s a tried and true method for fuckheads and it never fails to serve as just a dagger in the side especially when the fuckhead is all or partially responsible for the end of said relationships (spewing bitter thoughts from my head of how my family after pushing my relationship with my ex to its breaking point then tried to act like it was the end of a short summer fling and not a divorce after nearly a decade together).

  60. Kamenhero25
    Kamenhero25
    May 3, 2016 at 12:43 am | #

    Carla occasionally annoys me. Mary makes me want to strangle the nearest person. I swear I’ll never be annoyed by Carla again if she makes Mary miserable forever.

  61. Zatar
    Zatar
    May 3, 2016 at 12:46 am | #

    As has become increasingly common with Mary comics I spent a lot of this one mad. That is until I saw the last panel.

  62. Rukduk
    Rukduk
    May 3, 2016 at 12:46 am | #

    Hmm, Carla is welding and there is an elaborate chalk schematic behind her. Oh, but I’m getting happy tingly feelings all over. Soon there will be much joy and rejoicing.

  63. Taz
    Taz
    May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

    I don’t remember if Joe has decided on a major yet (mechanical engineering). Or if Carla has yet either (more mechanical engineering).

    Which is cool because in the original verse Joe’s mechanical engineering created Carla.

    • Cephalo the Pod
      Cephalo the Pod
      May 3, 2016 at 1:20 am | #

      Carla is in Engineering.

  64. dailybrad
    dailybrad
    May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

    In case I was worried Carla couldn’t get hotter, she welds.

  65. Fwip
    Fwip
    May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

    … Who the hell gave her acetylene?

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      May 3, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

      EXACTLY that question will be asked by Mary in a day or two in universe.

      (probably uses a school workshop)

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      May 3, 2016 at 4:54 am | #

      In all probability her engineering tutor. Sometimes, pre-grad practical projects need a lot closer supervision!

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 3, 2016 at 11:46 am | #

        My freshman tech project was a transonic model rocket. The exhaust plume from the motor does funny things at Mach 1. Funny interesting, not funny ha-ha.

  66. kkiten
    kkiten
    May 3, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

    Carla’s got to do it herself because Ruth can’t help her.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 1:18 am | #

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FBxnAP7Ox8

  67. Thebatman22
    Thebatman22
    May 3, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

    *mission impossible theme plays*

    • StClair
      StClair
      May 3, 2016 at 12:51 am | #

      followed by “The A-Team”.

  68. pjeseb
    pjeseb
    May 3, 2016 at 12:50 am | #

    Funny, when I think “ridiculous revenge,” welding doesn’t really come to mind.

    Btw, does this mean that Carla is also a genius billionaire playgirl philanthropist?

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      May 3, 2016 at 5:59 pm | #

      She is rich, actually. IIRC her parents own a tech firm and would mail her a functional replica of Johnny 5 in a few weeks if she asked.

  69. Some1
    Some1
    May 3, 2016 at 12:50 am | #

    Is anyone here a psychologist? and if so, is there any mental illnesses that Mary could possibly subscribe to? Like delusions of grander or something?

    • cmd1095
      cmd1095
      May 3, 2016 at 12:54 am | #

      I think it’s just extreme “holier than thou” syndrome. She’s a religious fanatic who subscribes to the idea that everyone is a sinner and deserves to be hated, and that because she acts in the name of god she can be as nasty to them as she likes.

    • cmd1095
      cmd1095
      May 3, 2016 at 12:57 am | #

      Though I am a psychology minor and if it weren’t 1AM I probably could diagnose her with something or another. Not delusions of grandeur because that is a symptom rather than a illness itself. Maybe antisocial personality disorder, or maybe she’s a high functioning sociopath… Idk I’m too tired to psychoanalyze atm

      • Some1
        Some1
        May 3, 2016 at 1:05 am | #

        A-Mary-can Psycho

        • cmd1095
          cmd1095
          May 3, 2016 at 1:12 am | #

          *gives you a medal and cookie*

      • Gamaran Sepudomyn
        Gamaran Sepudomyn
        May 3, 2016 at 3:09 am | #

        Seems less like sociopathy and more like just being an idiot asshole. I mean, aren’t both sociopathy and psychopathy both defined by lack of empathy, rather than lack of sympathy?

      • Jess
        Jess
        May 3, 2016 at 11:19 am | #

        I’m thinking probably a psych minor ought to know better than to use a term like ‘high-functioning sociopath’.

        • trlkly
          trlkly
          May 3, 2016 at 11:40 pm | #

          Or maybe you don’t know as much about it as you think. It is definitely an actual diagnosis, even if it’s not in the DSM-V.

          And, yeah, despite everyone else making excuses, it fits. Mary is missing the part that Carol or John have, where they show empathy at least for their own. Mary is just purely misanthropic.

          • Jess
            Jess
            May 4, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

            It’s an outdated and offensive diagnosis is what it is. A simple Google search will inform anyone of that.

            Also, I’d say it’s impossible to diagnose Mary with anything related, since we haven’t seen her interacting with ‘her own.’

    • WingedBeast
      WingedBeast
      May 3, 2016 at 1:18 am | #

      If there is, it’s something her entire subculture suffers from.

      Really. Look at the Christian movies she’s likely watched her whole life. With some uniformity, they paint Christians as the only people who can do any good and everything done in the name of Jesus (Jesus being that particular version that prefers their subculture and their practices regardless of all other things) is good.

      There are exceptions, like Saved, but they’re rare and rarely listened to.

      So, in a way, Mary is just the victim of her upbringing. But, it’s kind of hard to feel sorry for her.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 8:56 am | #

        Yeah, she’s a sane member of her tribe and is merely reflecting the “best” aspects of said tribe and its worldviews towards teh queers and teh fornicators.

        She’s a “good Christian girl” of that worldview. A worldview that Joyce shares and serves as the illustration and reminder that Joyce, for all we’re proud of her, is actually seen as a “troubled teen” rejecting “obviously clear morals” in order to act unChristianly to “moral degenerates” by the Church she was raised in.

        The other irony in this is that this same worldview tends to view things like being trans as a mental disorder. Which might also be why Mary isn’t piling on on Carla as much as Ruth, because while Carla may be a “diseased degenerate mocking God’s plan and invading her womanly spaces” in her eyes, she’s also seen as just a delusional and troubled teen with a mental illness.

        • WingedBeast
          WingedBeast
          May 3, 2016 at 8:20 pm | #

          And, I’ll note that Mary is acting in a way that is explicitly applauded in many of those same movies. In the movie God’s Not Dead, Josh Wheadon, the main character arguing for the existence of God, after having found out that his professor’s atheism comes from having lost his mother to cancer at an early age (I’m not defending the movie, I’m just reporting it), uses that as an arguing tactic in front of the whole class later on.

          In most movies, that would be either a bit of dark comedy or Josh would be painted as having done wrong in that case, perhaps both. In this movie that Mary’s subculture loved and praised and advocates as an ideal way to turn nonChristians into Christians, finding out about someone’s painful loss and playing it as a card in some kind of (Christian alternative to) Magic: The Gathering game is goodness itself.

          What we’re seeing in Mary is where Joyce could easily go if not for a bit of education and a readiness to learn things that require recontextualizing her understanding of the world.

          Unless Mary does the same, herself, she’ll be praised for acting like this. She’ll be loved for acting like this. She may even reap monetary rewards for acting like this, in the form of public speaking gigs and writing a book in order to be purchased and read by people who will use that to tell their children “see this, this is how you should be”.

          Meanwhile, Joyce has a difficult task in front of her. She has to give up a lot of the connections and the support that Mary will be able to take for granted.

          I guess, what I’m saying is that, by the time Joyce graduates, don’t be surprised to find books with Mary’s beaming face on the cover.

          Carla’s best revenge isn’t in physical pain, but it will be in subjecting Mary to what Joyce has had to go through. Being defeated by someone you think is the bad guy is one thing. Being forced to acknowledge that you are the bad guy is Hell in itself.

    • zoelogical
      zoelogical
      May 3, 2016 at 7:30 pm | #

      not a psychologist, but i sincerely doubt that mary has any mental disorders that would explain away her behavior. mostly because most of the mental disorders out there that were made to explain away people’s behavior are kinda BS.

      like, after a point, you have to engage with people’s behavior as the behavior is. what Mary is doing is malicious and she knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s doing it to have this specific effect. she’s not…disorganized. she’s planned this all out. it’s not something you can label and put in a box. she’s b eing homophobic and transphobic for the sole purpose of being homophobic and transphobic.

      like, maybe you could argue depression, but if there was a drug out there that could make Mary feel better about her life and her choices it would do just about nothing because she already feels great about her life and her choices. she already thinks she’s a good person. she thinks she has a right to do the things she’s doing. she’s this person, and she’d be this person whether she was neurotypical or not, is what i’m saying.

      • zoelogical
        zoelogical
        May 3, 2016 at 8:03 pm | #

        by “mental disorders made to explain away people’s behavior” i mean like. okay. this is sort of something i’m working through and trying to turn into a real opinion, but like. shit like hysteria used to be a real diagnosis. stuff like Relationship Attachment Disorder diagnoses gets used on foster care kids so that their terrible foster parents can justify not letting them go to a better home until they’ve learned to “bond” with people who are terrible to them. oppositional defiant disorder is a thing, and the cure is basically just psychotherapy for the kid and learning better parenting techniques for the parents.

        there are legit, medically diagnosed disorders out there that just describe behavior we don’t like because the field of psychology is very much a realm of doctors from the outside describing stuff that effects patients on the inside, and the patients don’t often get to speak for themselves on a professional basis. even though they’re the people who get to experience having the disorder.

        and that’s the sort of shit i’m talking about – you can’t always explain away antisocial behavior with a mental disorder diagnosis because it doesn’t deal with the person where they are. and with people like Mary, they gotta want to change. if she was autistic she’d still be this terrible person. if she was bipolar she’d still be this terrible person. if she had ADD she’d still be this terrible person.

        to go back around to what you were actually talking about, Mary could totally have delusions of grandeur, but like she’s totally responsible for her own understanding of what makes somebody grand. which she thinks is making people fall into her image of what she thinks people ought to be. which comes back around to what she thinks people ought to be. you got Emperor Norton I in the late 1800s going around claiming to be the ruler of the United States but he’s not pulling this nonsense

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 9:03 pm | #

          Yup, I mostly teach students who’ve got some flavor of mental disability, mental disorder, or social disorder. Many of them are wonderfully empathetic kids despite some having the worst of luck when it comes to brains to have been born into.

          What makes Mary awful isn’t a disease of the mind. It’s a disease of society.

          • zoelogical
            zoelogical
            May 4, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

            -EMPHATIC NOD-

            • Jess
              Jess
              May 4, 2016 at 11:22 am | #

              THANK you.

  70. cmd1095
    cmd1095
    May 3, 2016 at 12:51 am | #

    I’d say I almost feel sorry for Mary right now… but that’d be a lie, give her hell Carla.

    • cmd1095
      cmd1095
      May 3, 2016 at 12:58 am | #

      pay no mind to my double comment, I used the wrong login…

  71. Saaaam
    Saaaam
    May 3, 2016 at 12:51 am | #

    Really Carla just needs to show Mary Yotomoe’s fanart of them.

  72. cmd1095
    cmd1095
    May 3, 2016 at 12:52 am | #

    I’d say I almost feel sorry for Mary right now… but that’d be a lie, give her hell Carla.

    • Some1
      Some1
      May 3, 2016 at 12:54 am | #

      Eh, I doubt Carla is gonna do anything that would really hurt Mary, embarrass yes, physically harm though…no. Carla simply isn’t that kind of person.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        May 3, 2016 at 1:01 am | #

        Yeah, Carla is not really a physically harm person. But I think we’re about to see her version of a “sweet prank” to show her dominance.

        • BenRG
          BenRG
          May 3, 2016 at 4:52 am | #

          Or, she might just be brainstorming on a blackboard whilst focussing on some shop work for her BEng in mechanical engineering.

      • cmd1095
        cmd1095
        May 3, 2016 at 1:02 am | #

        Harm, embarass, it’s all the same, so long as Mary is delivered some well deserved retribution. Personally, I’m more than ok with harm, or serious harm… or accidental death, but I have a family full of Mary-like people so my tolerance for people like her that I don’t need to put up with because of family ties is in the negative zone. My reaction may be a bit more… volatile… than is actually appropriate

        • Some1
          Some1
          May 3, 2016 at 1:12 am | #

          No, Mary cannot die or even get seriously injured! Carla would never forgive herself!

          • cmd1095
            cmd1095
            May 3, 2016 at 1:18 am | #

            Aside from my hatred of Mary, it might be interesting to see her get harmed and have Carla feel guilty. Carla is usually an unapologetic ass to everyone because that’s just who she is as a character. From a story perspective, having her face fallout from her actions that she feels legitimate guilt about? That might make for an interesting development opportunity

          • Gigafreak
            Gigafreak
            May 3, 2016 at 10:35 am | #

            We cannot let Mary die or even suffer a knockout.

            If Mary dies or loses consciousness, her suffering would be over, you see.

      • Cybersnark
        Cybersnark
        May 3, 2016 at 9:44 am | #

        It occurs to me that Joyce (who, significantly, is basically the mirror-Mary) is.

        So, Carla’s “sweet prank” will happen at the end of the weekend, just as Joyce and Becky are returning from the emotional roller-coaster of their weekend heist.

        Carla’s prank does no permanent damage, but triggers a loud flood of enraged trans- and homophobia –which is enough to set Joyce off, at which point she punches Mary into next week like God’s Fist of Righteous Justice.

        • Commodore Jeep-Eep
          Commodore Jeep-Eep
          May 3, 2016 at 4:34 pm | #

          I suspect Dina might end up joining in on a curbstomping, given that preview panel we saw.

  73. EvergreenFir
    EvergreenFir
    May 3, 2016 at 12:53 am | #

    Goddamn it Willis… You’ve gotten me to the point of saying that Ruth is my waifu. And I hate you for it.

  74. ESM
    ESM
    May 3, 2016 at 1:04 am | #

    I can’t think of anything Carla can be making with that blowtorch that wouldn’t be more effective at shutting Ruth up than the blowtorch itself.

    • ESM
      ESM
      May 3, 2016 at 1:08 am | #

      ….That may have come out a little more violent than I intended it to

      • Some1
        Some1
        May 3, 2016 at 1:10 am | #

        Pretty sure you meant Mary, also I like how your one of the few people here who isn’t advocating the murder of an 18 year old girl.

        • Idontcarenomore
          Idontcarenomore
          May 3, 2016 at 1:56 am | #

          “Sometimes Death is better.”
          Stephen King’s Pet Cemetary.

  75. Rick Robin P. Cagnaan
    Rick Robin P. Cagnaan
    May 3, 2016 at 1:13 am | #

    Not gonna happen, Mary.

  76. Cephalo the Pod
    Cephalo the Pod
    May 3, 2016 at 1:24 am | #

    Oooohhh, that’s what the preview panels are about.

    I thought Carla was, like, in fencing or something.

  77. Tomas
    Tomas
    May 3, 2016 at 1:31 am | #

    Two Gravatar-worthy close-ups in this one.

  78. Greylurker
    Greylurker
    May 3, 2016 at 1:39 am | #

    …oooh, Mary is going to learn what happens when you poke the badger.

    Never
    ever
    poke the Badger

    It’ll rip your arms clean off

    • Lizzie
      Lizzie
      May 3, 2016 at 3:39 am | #

      I’m looking forward to the idea that when Mary does try to get Ruth in trouble, everyone calls BS because they thought Billie had a boyfriend and they all point out that they know Mary is an ignorant cow, so the higher ups disregard anything she says since everyone can attest to being victims or witnesses of her bigotry.

  79. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    May 3, 2016 at 1:57 am | #

    I do agree Ruth isn’t a hero. She’s not a person who protects people but a person who threatens them. However, there’s a long way to being the villain and well maybe she could be an ANTI-HERO.

    Femurs away!

  80. Darwin
    Darwin
    May 3, 2016 at 2:09 am | #

    I foresee mischief, and I foresee wicked pranks that would be abuse if it was not in a comic.

  81. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    May 3, 2016 at 2:10 am | #

    Well this explains why Carla looked like she was dressed as a dock worker in previews.

  82. Heather
    Heather
    May 3, 2016 at 2:14 am | #

    Mary, in her own head, is the ‘hero this damned university needs etc etc, continue to quote overused batman line’

    I think the most frustrating thing about people like Mary is the fact they’ll never be proved wrong and can’t be argued or reasoned with. Like if she ‘wins’ here then the Lord clearly approves. If she loses, well, perhaps it is a test as it were: she’ll /really/ ‘win’ when she dies and goes to heaven and all those rotten sinners will burn in hell as they deserve anyway. You can never get that feeling of satisfaction as a result where they’ll realise they’re wrong afterwards because well… they’ll probably just be dead. No-one will know they’re right or wrong.

    Frustration city.

    Like with people like Joyce- she at least feels uncomfortable with the whole hell concept or condemning people, so that’s a way in to reason with her eventually. But Mary seems to utterly relish in punishing so called sinners so there is no way to do so.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 8:43 am | #

      Yup, if she wins and ruins someone’s life or drives someone to suicide, well then, oh well, clearly it just shows that she’s been right to stand up against “degeneracy” and there was the one random point where she didn’t get literally everything she wanted so it’s still not good enough and blah blah blah.

      And if she loses, then it’s proof the world is indeed fallen and she’s been absolutely right to fight against the degenerate hordes and their sexualities. Look how they defile God’s pure law and all that nonsense.

      So yeah, all of what you said.

      And yeah, totally agree. Mary’s totally one of the types of Christians for whom the best part of Heaven is the ability to look down on the sinners below in Hell suffering.

      • Heather
        Heather
        May 3, 2016 at 1:40 pm | #

        Honestly since beliefs aren’t always a fully conscious choice (and are especially unlikely to be if you’re raised to have them as is often the case) I often think that how you react to said beliefs says more about you as a person then actually having them, (depending on the beliefs in question).

        For some of these people hell is as real as the sky is blue on a sunny day- what they /want/ to be real doesn’t affect what is actually real after all.

        If their reaction to hell/eternal torment for something as simple as disbelief is discomfort they either are or have the potential to be a good person at least. Unlike the person who adores or relishes the idea of people suffering forever.

  83. Yossarianduck
    Yossarianduck
    May 3, 2016 at 2:15 am | #

    I feel like the first panel here is relevant:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/curbstompings/

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 8:38 am | #

      Yup, and we’re about to see that in action. 😀

  84. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
    Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
    May 3, 2016 at 2:25 am | #

    Okay, so as best as I can figure, Carla’s plan involves a trampoline, a balloon, and a battery affixed to a pole. I guess she’s making this?

    • Gamaran Sepudomyn
      Gamaran Sepudomyn
      May 3, 2016 at 5:01 am | #

      Is she trying to attach Mary to a large balloon that’ll slowly deflate and strand her in the amazon?

  85. Alice Macher
    Alice Macher
    May 3, 2016 at 3:32 am | #

    Now I’m imagining Carla slowly approaching Mary, then pausing, looking at the fourth wall, and saying in Droopy’s voice, “Hello. I’m the hero.”

  86. Thomas
    Thomas
    May 3, 2016 at 3:49 am | #

    In which we establish that all that Mary ever suspected about Ruth & Billie was them secretly binge-drinking together. Which is sad & hilarious.

    • trlkly
      trlkly
      May 3, 2016 at 4:29 am | #

      Interesting idea. By using the word “defiled,” Willis could have been setting us up. We may think of sexuality, but there are many other uses of that word for someone like Mary.

      Has Willis ever pulled something like that before?

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 8:37 am | #

      I dunno, she used the defiled bit in a long rant about queer women on the floor, so I’m pretty sure it was the queer thing rather than the drinking thing that prompted the “defiled” comment.

      I think she’s just got a twisted worldview surrounding queer issues and thus believes it’s a temporary “lifestyle” that people cynically choose out of defiance to God rather than inherent sexuality and so is part of a general culture of liberals doing things to defy God in order to look “cool” to other liberals.

      Hell, it’s something I encounter a lot surrounding some of my students (I’ve got several non-binary students, including two who have identified as genderfluid for a time). A lot of adults who should otherwise know better and who are otherwise very liberal feel absolutely comfortable going down a path of trying to argue that non-binary or genderfluid identities getting more attention in society is actually proof that said kids are just being trendy and latching on to the Miley Cyruses rather than expressing their actual identities.

      And I’ve heard a lot of the same surrounding bi people, where that’s been seen as something that’s not a “real” orientation, but rather something trendy the kids are doing.

      So yeah, for someone who’s even more conservative than the folks that spout off that crap, I can definitely see Mary being convinced that this queer shit is all a pose to suck up to the degenerate liberals and inveterate sinners that plague her floor.

      • JBento
        JBento
        May 3, 2016 at 3:08 pm | #

        If you well recall (and I’m sure you do), that’s the exact same view Jonathan has with his “LGBQXYZ” thing. To them and their ilk, not being heterosexual isn’t something you ARE, it’s something you happened to choose at the moment. It’s not the equivalent of people being born with legs, it’s the equivalent of people choosing what pants they’re wearing that day.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 9:09 pm | #

          Yup, definitely!

  87. TheLurkerAbove
    TheLurkerAbove
    May 3, 2016 at 4:12 am | #

    Carla, if it works, it’s not ridiculous!

    • Liliet
      Liliet
      May 3, 2016 at 5:03 am | #

      If it works against all probability, it still is

      • Deanatay
        Deanatay
        May 3, 2016 at 10:09 am | #

        ‘ridiculous’ – deserving of ridicule. Just because it is silly, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          May 3, 2016 at 11:54 am | #

          Or makes the target of the revenge a target of ridicule.

    • Nemirthel
      Nemirthel
      May 3, 2016 at 1:37 pm | #

      “Ridiculous and works” is pretty much the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine.

  88. Crumplepunch
    Crumplepunch
    May 3, 2016 at 4:45 am | #

    “by proof we feel
    Our power sufficient to disturb his heaven,
    And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
    Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
    Which if not victory is yet revenge.”

  89. BenRG
    BenRG
    May 3, 2016 at 4:50 am | #

    You know what the sad thing is, Mary? You aren’t the hero either! The sad thing is that this is a story without heroes, only villains and victims. Do you know what makes this worse for you? You’re one of the villains!

    Of course, it is in the nature of this particular type of villain to consider themselves a hero.

  90. Willoughby Chase
    Willoughby Chase
    May 3, 2016 at 5:40 am | #

    Nothing more satisfying than a wildly over-engineered A-team solution to any problem.

  91. Amake
    Amake
    May 3, 2016 at 5:40 am | #

    I think Carla has the right idea. Talking to Mary seems pointless if she’s so completely detached from reality she can somehow get the idea that Ruth thinks she has “won”. I could get if Mary thinks she has won since it’s taken this long for anyone to begin to figure out how to fight her, and really, I’m looking forward to the day she doesn’t get everything she wants and isn’t mentally prepared to handle that possibility at all, but Ruth? How does anything that’s happened between them in any way constitute a victory for Ruth?

    Although the constant stream of nonsensical gloating is very heroic. I wonder how badly deep down Mary wants someone to punch her in the mouth and tell her she doesn’t have to be as horrible as her parents.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 8:27 am | #

      Mary didn’t get her way once even though she blackmailed her to be her meat puppet, and her blackmail target is trying to scrub away the blackmailable material to regain her life, so clearly Ruth must think she’s won, because nothing short of Ruth meekly surrendering to Mary in every sense and saying she was absolutely right about all her delusions will be enough to convince Mary she’s actually won this exchange.

      And that’s part of what makes Mary so dangerous and frightening. She will ruin your life and spit nasty bigotry at you, but really only accepts complete surrender to her way of looking at the world as a victory and even then it probably wouldn’t be enough.

      She’s eternally unsatisfied and that just drives her to continue to try and harm because nothing will make her stop feeling slighted and like the “real victim”.

      • Amake
        Amake
        May 3, 2016 at 8:57 am | #

        Of course, for Ruth to have any possibility of getting out of the trap Mary so charitably put her in is a victory. I maintain she’s completely delusional.

        Any attitude problem that can be fixed by putting a person on a deserted island until they learn to appreciate what the existence of other people add to their life is not frightening to me, though. For Mary, what’s waiting in the future is only the 2X combo reality check of getting thrown out of college when the administration learns of her campaign of discrimination and getting thrown out of a window by Carla.

  92. LWS
    LWS
    May 3, 2016 at 5:55 am | #

    Why do I look at the last panel and envision Wil E. Coyote at work?

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:15 pm | #

      the mask?

  93. Ragnarok101
    Ragnarok101
    May 3, 2016 at 6:16 am | #

    With Mary, it is best to follow the creeds of Khorne.

  94. L!ghtn!ng
    L!ghtn!ng
    May 3, 2016 at 6:40 am | #

    Awwww, yaaaas, I cannot wait!!

  95. Abel Undercity
    Abel Undercity
    May 3, 2016 at 7:20 am | #

    COLD, SWIFT AND ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS REVENGE IS ENTIRELY THE BEST KIND!

  96. CianM1301
    CianM1301
    May 3, 2016 at 7:36 am | #

    So, Carla’s plan involves a trampoline and a balloon which I can only imagine will be filled with some sort of ridiculous fluid. I cannot wait to see it finally unfold.

  97. Falling Star
    Falling Star
    May 3, 2016 at 7:55 am | #

    Oh, I didn’t realize Carla went into welding!

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:15 pm | #

      she probably makes her own skates

  98. Davethedavedave
    Davethedavedave
    May 3, 2016 at 8:01 am | #

    Wow, in my dorm I couldn’t even have a hotplate.

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:14 pm | #

      I think the last panel is in one of the Engineering School’s workshops

  99. Arkzus
    Arkzus
    May 3, 2016 at 8:09 am | #

    That last panel is exactly why Carla is the best.

  100. BenRG
    BenRG
    May 3, 2016 at 8:22 am | #

    Prediction: This whole thing will turn out to be a human-sized version of the Rube-Goldberg contraption in the board game Mousetrap.

  101. QWERTY
    QWERTY
    May 3, 2016 at 8:28 am | #

    Hey Willis, can you do me a favor and have someone strangle Mary?

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:13 pm | #

      wait till Carla’s plan unfolds. She deserves the first shot at revenge

  102. JBento
    JBento
    May 3, 2016 at 8:53 am | #

    Hmm, part of the device seems to include a popping balloon, so whatever effects it has are probably one-shot. Considering Ultra-Car’s proclivities, my guess is on some sort of automated pie-thrower.

    All bigots shall be defeated through the power of SCIENCE!!!!!

    • JBento
      JBento
      May 3, 2016 at 8:56 am | #

      Wait, where will Carla set up the device? Mary’s rooming with Roz, so if Carla doesn’t talk with her first there’s a chance the device victimises the wrong person. On the upside, Roz will probably be game for anything that humiliates Mary, so I can totally see the League of Extraordinary Not-Gentle Women…

      • SgtWadeyWilson
        SgtWadeyWilson
        May 3, 2016 at 8:16 pm | #

        She doesn’t have to set it up there, just post a set of flyers up for an aggressively Mary themed prayer circle in a secluded location.

        Next, set up the pie throwing contraption behind a door, and wait outside.

        Two types of people are likely to come: those like Mary, and those who wish to admonish those who are like Mary.

        Invite the second type of people to watch.

  103. Josh Spicer
    Josh Spicer
    May 3, 2016 at 9:03 am | #

    I fucking hate you.

    • Shiro
      Shiro
      May 3, 2016 at 2:01 pm | #

      …I’m genuinely curious, why do you keep reading a comic that is clearly never going to be written the way you want it to be? I think the only time I’ve ever seen you comment is to complain about the bigoted Christian characters existing.

      • JBento
        JBento
        May 3, 2016 at 2:08 pm | #

        Because then he’d have to find some other source of persecution fantasy. I mean, if the poor christian bigot can’t imagine being persecuted, what is he going to fap to? THINK OF THE CHRISTIAN BIGOTS!

        • Josh Spicer
          Josh Spicer
          May 3, 2016 at 5:41 pm | #

          Pretty presumptuous there. Like, to the point of personally attacking me.

          No, unless days go by where Mary never gets come-uppance for being such a dislikable antagonist, than I will stop reading.

      • Josh Spicer
        Josh Spicer
        May 3, 2016 at 5:39 pm | #

        Considering i AM a Christian myself, I hate the fact that Mary’s type of Christian exists since I know that isn’t how a Christian should act. Plus Mary has never gotten come-uppance for being a piece of shit.

        And I keep reading because I enjoy the comic. As the days go by, that’s changing as the story changes though.

        • Shiro
          Shiro
          May 3, 2016 at 6:09 pm | #

          You’ve mentioned. But the simple fact is that there ARE Christians who act like that. The bullshit North Carolina is pulling right now is proof positive, as if we needed any more. You can’t disown her or anyone like her from being Christian.

          She will get her comeuppance, but that’s the hazard of being a daily reader instead of an archive reader–sometimes that gratification is delayed quite a bit.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 7:11 pm | #

            It doesn’t seem like he is disavowing her from Christianity here, more lamenting that she’s doing this harm in comic in the name of Christianity like her real-world counterparts do.

        • JBento
          JBento
          May 3, 2016 at 6:17 pm | #

          That, I suppose, depends on how many days you’re willing to wait and exactly what degree of comeuppance you’re expecting.

          At one strip a day, and following multiple storylines as we are, it’s entirely possible this particular arc isn’t resolved for quite a bit. Real-time, nothing happens quickly in DoA. Though Carla’s workshop panel might indicate that we’re closer to payback than not.

          As for comeuppance, if you’re expecting Mary to be expelled or face repercussions from the university administration, I wouldn’t bet on it. If you want her to be actually harmed, I wouldn’t expect it either. Carla’s Cold, Swift, and Absolutely Ridiculous Revenge plan is likely to be more humiliating than actually harmful, and I have a feeling it’ll just aggravate Mary more.

          TL;DR: Mary’s comeuppance might take a couple of weeks more, and it’s liable to be neither as satisfying nor as long-lasting as you want it to be.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            May 3, 2016 at 7:12 pm | #

            Yeah, it’s also a sad reality that marginalized groups don’t typically get justice from reporting bigotry and harm. And that is especially true of trans women.

            And I’m going to bet that Carla has learned that lesson the hard way and that’s why she’s turning to her CCSARR.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 7:10 pm | #

          That’s understandable. It’s definitely frustrating to see the amount of undue power that the Mary types have in society to do harm in the name of their particular brands of Christianity.

          And I may not be religious, but I can definitely see how being Christian it would be even more annoying and angering to see these types do it in the name of a faith that is very close to you. While obviously not even remotely in the same level of identity, I feel very similar in that way with regards to the cultural identity of gamer given the explosion of bigotry and harassment that a large number of very loud videogame players have done in the name of “gaming”.

          You have my sympathy and *hugs* if you want them.

    • Roborat
      Roborat
      May 3, 2016 at 3:51 pm | #

      I can’t figure out who he is responding to.

  104. jaimehlers
    jaimehlers
    May 3, 2016 at 9:12 am | #

    It looks like all Mary knows how to do is try to manipulate people so she can get her own way. The really sad thing is that this ultimately means her machinations are doomed to failure, since nobody is clever enough to manipulate everyone around them indefinitely, and that’s what Mary is going to have to do if she wants to keep getting away with this.

    All it takes is one whistleblower who doesn’t care if Ruth goes down too, and Mary is toast.

  105. Leila
    Leila
    May 3, 2016 at 9:12 am | #

    Go get ‘er, Carla.

  106. smooti
    smooti
    May 3, 2016 at 9:17 am | #

    Here’s the thing, Mary. Ruth is aware that she’s not the hero of this story. You’re the one who seems to think they are when they aren’t, though.

    Go get ’em Carla, whatever it is you’re doing there. …What’s Carla’s major again?

    • ShawnL
      ShawnL
      May 3, 2016 at 9:29 am | #

      Yes. That was Mary’s big fail. Carla’s not the hero, but the superior villain.

      In a conflict with no true hero, sometimes not being the bigger asshole is close enough.

      And a villain propelled by righteous fury? Get your popcorn ready.

      • Scar Man!!!
        Scar Man!!!
        May 3, 2016 at 4:11 pm | #

        I got the butter!

    • JBento
      JBento
      May 3, 2016 at 9:41 am | #

      Carla’s in Engineering.

  107. StarRose3
    StarRose3
    May 3, 2016 at 9:26 am | #

    YOUR NOT THE HERO EITHER MARY!

  108. hof1991
    hof1991
    May 3, 2016 at 9:34 am | #

    Mary busy monologing, the sure sign of a villain. And while she talks away without further action, the real hero is busy setting he up for a fall. One that involves a trampoline, a popped balloon and hopefully a window that God will open, since He seems to have closed the doors.

  109. GhostWriterL
    GhostWriterL
    May 3, 2016 at 10:13 am | #

    Hmm….

    Cons of this strip: Mary getting to be the smug rapturephile that she is

    Pros of this strip: Hints of a glorious tar and feathering and hopeful suspension and/or expulsion of the smug rapturephile

  110. Jen
    Jen
    May 3, 2016 at 10:14 am | #

    Oh! Panel Five fills me with so much glee! 😀

  111. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
    DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
    May 3, 2016 at 10:25 am | #

    Well, I suppose it beats actually making a friend or two. I mean, if you’re Mary anyway….

  112. Aquatus
    Aquatus
    May 3, 2016 at 10:57 am | #

    For someone who believes herself to be the hero, Mary’s dialogue sounds awfully villanesque.

  113. Makkabee
    Makkabee
    May 3, 2016 at 11:12 am | #

    *puts gentle finger to Carla’s lips*

    You had me at “acetylene torch.”

  114. Vorkon
    Vorkon
    May 3, 2016 at 11:40 am | #

    Whatever Carla’s plan may be, it should probably involve Amazon.com in some way.

  115. What Was The Question Again?
    What Was The Question Again?
    May 3, 2016 at 12:02 pm | #

    Holy shit, Carla’s become The Dog Welder!

  116. MTheM
    MTheM
    May 3, 2016 at 12:21 pm | #

    I’m… actually starting to really enjoy Mary. Maybe it’s because she’s one of the more proactive rather than reactive characters, and maybe it’s because i’m getting a bit burned out by the other characters’ plots, but I really want to see more of her. Heck, I even want to see her take a greater role.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 7:14 pm | #

      She’s an absolutely fantastic villain.

      I hate her, but she makes an excellent foil for the other characters.

  117. calvsie
    calvsie
    May 3, 2016 at 12:53 pm | #

    Having finally got all the way through roomies Ruth now disturbs me to no end in DoA. This is a prime example. I keep expecting Willis to do something crueler to her.

  118. PSadlon
    PSadlon
    May 3, 2016 at 1:07 pm | #

    Mary you aren’t getting some things. Ruth never claimed to be a hero, rather she’s the first to admit a raging witch (spelled with a b).And that the last sort of person you screw with. Next you are not the hero either, at best you are a pest whom few if anyone likes. It’s highly unlikely anyone will come to your rescue if Ruth or anyone else decides to take you down, no matter what their motivation may be.

  119. extremesalsaing
    extremesalsaing
    May 3, 2016 at 1:29 pm | #

    2 thoughts. 1: I really enjoy Carla becoming involved in teh story a bit more, and 2: I hope Carla and Ruth bond over a mutual venomous hatred of Mary.

  120. Regalli
    Regalli
    May 3, 2016 at 1:49 pm | #

    GO, CARLA.

  121. rectilinearpropagation
    rectilinearpropagation
    May 3, 2016 at 1:55 pm | #

    Oh man, I can’t wait to see what this plan is!

    Also, I can’t help but think Mary’s taunting is going to backfire in the form of encouraging Ruth to stick with this and remain sober.

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:10 pm | #

      rage and spite are powerful motivations

  122. Beachfox
    Beachfox
    May 3, 2016 at 2:03 pm | #

    Pie-throwing robot arm, Pie-Throwing Robot Arm, PIE-THROWING ROBOT ARM!

    • JBento
      JBento
      May 3, 2016 at 2:09 pm | #

      I thought of it, but I can’t see where the trampoline and the balloon would come in…

  123. NinjaNick
    NinjaNick
    May 3, 2016 at 2:16 pm | #

    RAM = Redheads Against Mary. 😀

  124. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
    Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
    May 3, 2016 at 2:33 pm | #

    WAIT – Faye from QC (known partly for her metalworking prowess) has been shown in this comic, and is assumably a student here. Is she involved in helping Carla weld?!

    • trlkly
      trlkly
      May 3, 2016 at 11:43 pm | #

      When?

      It would probbaly be out of continuity with the main comic–Faye lived in Georgia before she moved to Northhampton. Unless she just skipped a year of going to college in Indiana…

      • Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
        Jacques Cornelius Parrot III
        May 4, 2016 at 1:01 am | #

        Freshman family weekend! It was her only appearance, but she does actually exist within the Dumbiverse. I think her appearance in this comic is sort of “alternate-universe-ish” to Questionable Content.

  125. MagicalDemiGirlTWK
    MagicalDemiGirlTWK
    May 3, 2016 at 3:04 pm | #

    I just finished reading the whole comic in the last couple of days and i just wanna say that I am sooo sorry for brushing it off this whole time. Seriously this is such a good comic! It’s got everything I like short of high fantasy stuff and worldbuilding. The characters are multifaceted and deep and just not 2 dimensional. Especially the lgbtq and poc ones. It’s so hard to find stuff like that. I feel bad i never gave the comic a chance in the past. I guess i judged it too much on the covers of all its advertisements. Joyce neing the primary main and therefore the face of the comic made disregard it as just another really white and cishet cliche trainwreck. Plus i figured it would be just that when i found the creator was male. That sounds rly bad but honestly ive had experience with media created be men with female leads being a weird almost fetish-y fantasy type deal. I’m glad i gave it a chance. It’s really good and it feels pretty real…. Minus the whole superhero thing. (poor amber. She rly needs to talk to someone about her DID[disassociative identity disorder].)

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      May 3, 2016 at 7:16 pm | #

      Welcome and I definitely agree with all of that.

      • Spencer
        Spencer
        May 3, 2016 at 7:19 pm | #

        Why does everyone I agree with have Roz gravs?

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          May 3, 2016 at 7:54 pm | #

          The mighty Roz Avatar Empire will consume all!

  126. MagicalDemiGirlTWK
    MagicalDemiGirlTWK
    May 3, 2016 at 3:15 pm | #

    On a side note. Please for the love of every higher power in this universe, have mary expelled or turned into an utter social pariah. And let Jocelyn wear a cute dress. Neither of these things have to happen soon but pls let it jappen.

  127. Scar Man!!!
    Scar Man!!!
    May 3, 2016 at 4:09 pm | #

    And so she became Iron Lady, taker of femurs

    • Scar Man!!!
      Scar Man!!!
      May 3, 2016 at 4:13 pm | #

      thought that was Ruth at first.

  128. ladychalk
    ladychalk
    May 3, 2016 at 4:43 pm | #

    I am rooting for karma so fucking bad.

  129. Spencer
    Spencer
    May 3, 2016 at 5:57 pm | #

    Outta the way, Ruth, the true heroine has arrived.

    • Shiro
      Shiro
      May 3, 2016 at 6:12 pm | #

      Battle music intensifies

      • zoelogical
        zoelogical
        May 3, 2016 at 7:51 pm | #

        yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees i was hoping that was it!!

      • PSadlon
        PSadlon
        May 3, 2016 at 10:20 pm | #

        I was thinking more this.
        https://youtu.be/AphxyjrH4SE

  130. Joy Baker
    Joy Baker
    May 3, 2016 at 7:44 pm | #

    Mary is the kidn of person that plays Dark Souls for fun.

    • Russ
      Russ
      May 3, 2016 at 8:12 pm | #

      Is it not meant to be fun..?

  131. LooksLikeDaniel
    LooksLikeDaniel
    May 3, 2016 at 10:03 pm | #

    One of these days, Mary is going to display a single shred of human decency and we are all going to feint. I’m on to you, Willis!

  132. trlkly
    trlkly
    May 3, 2016 at 11:49 pm | #

    Carol and John are more a product of their Fundamentalist beliefs, sure. But Mary goes beyond that. As I’ve said before, I know plenty of Fundamentalists that would be appalled by the way Mary acts.

    I’m not saying it doesn’t play a part, of course. But I am saying that there’s something more. It’s closer to Russ, who apparently used Fundamentalism as a tool for his abusiveness. I think Mary would just use some other excuse to hate everyone and treat them poorly.

    She revels too much in being mean, instead of just being angry.

  133. NF
    NF
    May 3, 2016 at 11:59 pm | #

    Am I the only one who thought that the last panel was Ruth taking Mary’s comment about not being a hero to heart, and in reaction constructing a metal robotic suit a la John Henry Irons aka Steel?

    • Pedantic Peanut
      Pedantic Peanut
      May 4, 2016 at 12:01 am | #

      Bad choice of heroes. Nothing against Steel but his movie was awful.

  134. Henry
    Henry
    May 4, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

    She is probably right. Ruth isn’t the hero.

    Carla is. Carla is the hero we need. And possibly deserve.

  135. Lordess of madness
    Lordess of madness
    May 5, 2016 at 3:19 am | #

    Ruth isn’t the hero. Neither is Carla. They’re the anti-heroes. The badass nasties who might decide to do something good every now and then.
    And mary, if those two team up, you’re done for, and ruth might finally begin that femur collection she’s always talked about.
    As it is, you’re still doomed with only Carla in on the revenge plan

  136. CommentSpawn
    CommentSpawn
    May 6, 2016 at 12:34 am | #

    So I’m not really all that invested in Carla as a character, but I look forward to her cold, swift, and absolutely ridiculous revenge against Mary.

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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Man if they were arresting judges then this'd be the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard but thankfully that's not happening.
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Stop making the one toy I want the super-expensive chase, Auldey!!!!
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
And that's why you have Jesus wear a condom!
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
It's #webcomicday? We have a special day??? Well, my name is Pat McHoarney and I draw 69 Mouse-Ear Blvd, a multigenerational story about women who all have sexy legs and probably other features. There was a grandmother, but she wasn't hot and so she died off-panel.
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reposted by David M Willis!
bsweet.bsky.social's user avatar
hoanna newsom @bsweet.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
nytimes.com's user avatarThe New York Times @nytimes.com ⋅ 5d
Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through her blood-testing company, Theranos. Her partner, Billy Evans, is now trying to raise money for a company that describes itself as “the future of diagnostics.” nyti.ms/3FbtZm9
Elizabeth Holmes and Billy Evans, sitting closely on a couch. A headline reads:
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chrismcfeely.bsky.social's user avatar
Chris McFeely @chrismcfeely.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
That's the most upsetting LEGO Thing minifig possible
preternia.com's user avatarpreternia @preternia.com ⋅ 3d
LEGO Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps Fantastic Four vs. Galactus will release June 1st ($59.99) - bit.ly/3F4uRci #ad
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
what's going on with tariffs right now i dunno, what time is it today
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