Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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everything's perfectly all right now, we're fine, we're all fine here now, thank you.... how are you?
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May 12, 2026

Chief

by David M Willis on June 24, 2016 at 12:01 am
  • 04 - It All Returns
└ Tags: carla, jennifer, ruth

Discussion (289) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. butts
    butts
    June 24, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    She’s fine.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      June 24, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

      I was worried for a while that she might not be 100% in a good place right now. Good to know she’s fine.

      • user 18
        user 18
        June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

        The smile in panel 3 is how we know she’s fine.

        • Wheelpath
          Wheelpath
          June 24, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

          as do the squigly lines of the speech bubble in panel 5

          • Scott John Harrison
            Scott John Harrison
            June 24, 2016 at 6:51 am | #

            confusion.

            • Clif
              Clif
              June 24, 2016 at 12:48 pm | #

              Hans fined first.

      • Kris
        Kris
        June 24, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

        Hate to break this to you but sometimes being “fine” is the problem…..I-I mean everything’s great she’s fine!

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      June 24, 2016 at 12:15 am | #

      Ruth, you are fined five thousand credits for repeated violations of the verbal morality statute.

      • a snow ʍousɐ
        a snow ʍousɐ
        June 24, 2016 at 9:04 am | #

        She’s fine!

        • Gigafreak
          Gigafreak
          June 24, 2016 at 10:10 am | #

          She’s fined.

      • ThatRobGuy
        ThatRobGuy
        June 24, 2016 at 6:27 pm | #

        Be well!

        • TempestDash
          TempestDash
          June 24, 2016 at 10:26 pm | #

          So much for the three sea shells…

    • TheAnonymousGuy
      TheAnonymousGuy
      June 24, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

      Wait a second, Ruth doesn’t smile unless she’s one-upping, threatening, or generally pissing on somebodies day (Billie an occasional exception to this.). that can only mean…..she’s lying.

    • Cholma
      Cholma
      June 24, 2016 at 12:27 am | #

      Freaked out
      Insecure
      Neurotic
      Emotional

      • Ember
        Ember
        June 24, 2016 at 12:42 pm | #

        Yep.

      • LadyAdri
        LadyAdri
        June 24, 2016 at 3:05 pm | #

        love this! Going to use this again with your permission…

        • Michael
          Michael
          June 25, 2016 at 10:47 pm | #

          he didn’t make it up or anything. In fact my first instinct after reading the coming was to ctrl+f for that.

    • Idontcarenomore
      Idontcarenomore
      June 24, 2016 at 12:51 am | #

      Yeah she’s fine…she’s smiling.
      But, she don’t smile.

    • David Alexander McDonald
      David Alexander McDonald
      June 24, 2016 at 1:25 am | #

      She’s fine…ly ground.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      June 24, 2016 at 10:14 am | #

      (F)ucked-up
      (I)nsecure
      (N)eurotic and
      (E)motional

    • Mr BreaksIt
      Mr BreaksIt
      June 24, 2016 at 10:44 am | #

      EVERYTHING IS FINE! LARS GERHARDT WAS NEVER HERE!

  2. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    June 24, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

    s̴̶̶͝h̕͞͠e̵’̢̀s̸̴̕͝ ͟͝҉f̨͜͞͏í̡͟n̕͞e̷͟͜͢

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      June 24, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

      In other news, funky fonts slow down your posting speed.

      • butts
        butts
        June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

        I thought Ana usually just copy-pasted these, though.

        • Reltzik
          Reltzik
          June 24, 2016 at 12:17 am | #

          Fancy fonts still take up bandwidth or something? Look, I don’t claim to understand it, but you can’t argue with empirical facts.

          …. well, you CAN, but you’d look silly carrying on a debate with a table of data.

          • Ana Chronistic
            Ana Chronistic
            June 24, 2016 at 12:28 am | #

            no, slow internet slows down posting speed X(

    • JepMZ
      JepMZ
      June 24, 2016 at 4:44 am | #

      That just looks like butts pooing everywhere

      • AGV
        AGV
        June 24, 2016 at 7:09 am | #

        That’s the graphic definition of her level of fine

      • Hijean
        Hijean
        June 24, 2016 at 4:49 pm | #

        Jeff Jaquice would be so jealous

  3. Some1
    Some1
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    And now for the fourth Dumbing Tournament Battle!

    Announcer: Stepping into the ring are Mary Bradford and Jennifer Billingsworth!

    Billie: Call me Billie.

    Billie studies Mary. Mary gives a slight smirk; she raises her hand and does the “bring it” gesture with her hand. Billie runs at her, opening with a serious of quick punches….none of which connect.

    Billie: Dammit! Why can’t I hit you?

    Mary continues to dodge, not even breaking a sweat, while Billie looks exhausted.

    Billie: CHEERLEADER KICK!

    Billie kicks up as hard as she can with her right foot, striking Mary in the face. At first Mary appears to be injured, before she tilts her head back down and smiles.

    Mary: Now it’s my turn.

    Billie is besieged by a series of punches so fast, she feels like she’s being hit everywhere at once. By the time Mary’s attack ends, Billie is exhausted, and about to pass out.

    Billie: how…how are you this powerful?

    Mary seems to teleport next to Billie and whispers into her ear.

    Mary: I’ll tell you a secret Jennifer Billingsworth…this is only a fraction of my true power.

    Billie: h…h…how!?

    Mary kicks Billie out of the ring.

    Ruth: Billie!

    Billie coughs up blood and passes out, Mary grins evilly and walks off the stage.

    “Because that was a really short fight, (mainly to show how dangerous Mary is) I’m going to do the next one…right now!

    The fifth Dumbing of Age Tournament Battle!

    Sal vs. Marcie!

    Announcer: The next to contestants are some of the better-known fighters, and great friends! Sal Walkerton vs. Marcie Diaz!

    Sal: Lets finally find out, which one of us is stronger.

    Marcie smiles, not evilly like Mary, but genuinely warm. She pulls out her skateboard and sets it on the ground. She starts to roll quickly towards Sal.

    Sal: I know full well how to counter you when you use your board.

    Marcie (thinking): do you now, Sal?

    Marcie does a back flip, kicking her board towards Sal, who just barely manages to dodge it.

    Sal: Close one! But at least Marcie doesn’t have her board anymore…

    Sal senses something behind her and barely manages to duck; before Marcie’s skateboard goes flying over hear head.

    Sal: she must be using magnets to control the board!

    Sal takes her cigarette out of her mouth and points it at Marcie.

    Sal: Smoking flames!

    Sal (thinking): By concentrating my energy though this cigarette, I can greatly enhance the heat of the tip into a raging inferno.

    Marcie rolls out of the way and tosses her skateboard at Sal again. Sal leaps out of the way, and realizes that smoke has blocked Marcie’s eyesight.

    Sal (thinking): this is my chance, if I can hit her before this smoke clears…

    Sal studies the smoke and finds Marcie’s figure. She’s preparing her skateboard again. Sal starts to run at Marcie; Marcie spots her and tosses her board as hard as she can. Sal notes that the board is traveling parallel to the ground, and leaps up. Marcie looks shocked as Sal manages to leap off of the board while it travels in midair.

    Sal: Downward kick!

    Sal’s foot slams into Marcie and knocks her out of the ring. Marcie stands up, and brushes herself off; she gives a salute to Sal, and walks of.

    Next time on Dumbing Tournament!

    Mike Warner Vs. Carla Rutten!

    • butts
      butts
      June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

      Jesus, you must have spent a lot of time writing that.

      Yesterday.

    • Edhead
      Edhead
      June 24, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

      Billie should have used her rage art.

      • Some1
        Some1
        June 24, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

        first I have Dina lose in the first round, today I had Mary beat the crap out of Billie…apparently I want the comment section to murder me.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      June 24, 2016 at 10:19 am | #

      I call bulls**t!! Sal and Marcie would NEVER fight. They may make lots of dumb mistakes, but their friendship was never one of them.

      • Mordecai
        Mordecai
        June 24, 2016 at 10:30 am | #

        This is a tournament battle!! In this world, it’s kill or be killed!!!

      • Some1
        Some1
        June 24, 2016 at 2:50 pm | #

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0sgRQ8ReqM

  4. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Oh lord.

  5. Carms
    Carms
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Return of beady eyes

    • Random832
      Random832
      June 24, 2016 at 11:58 am | #

      I think that’s just because she’s not wearing her glasses and a bunch of the glasses-wearing character designs aren’t set up to have proper eyes.

      • Random832
        Random832
        June 24, 2016 at 12:01 pm | #

        Some of the non-glasses wearing characters (e.g. Joe) don’t have sclera either but they have bigger pupils so their faces at least look properly balanced even if they’re still cartoonish caricatures.

      • Random832
        Random832
        June 24, 2016 at 12:05 pm | #

        Nope, I’m wrong. Normal Ruth eyes without glasses – she has sclera and those weird blue pupils.

        • Random832
          Random832
          June 24, 2016 at 12:06 pm | #

          (I meant to cross out blue and write green after, but it’s the same effect as Other Rachel and Joyce’s eyes, which are blue)

        • Slartibeast Button, BIA
          Slartibeast Button, BIA
          June 24, 2016 at 12:13 pm | #

          Note she doesn’t have eyes at all in the shower, but does once she dresses. So clearly she takes her eyes out at night and leaves them soaking in something. Since she is in a funk this morning, she hasn’t put them back in yet.

  6. Edhead
    Edhead
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55208042e4b0bf9fbff41c53/t/56d6398f86db43480a9dae20/1456880129389/

    She’s fine

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:29 am | #

      Great, even:
      http://www.depressioncomix.com/posts/005/

  7. gkheyf
    gkheyf
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    dina, she requires your tutelage

  8. AnvilPro
    AnvilPro
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    THE END

    Well guys it was a good run, comic is clearly over now but it was a great time while it lasted

    • Clif
      Clif
      June 24, 2016 at 12:15 pm | #

      Yeah, it was a good run.

  9. Stephen R. Bierce
    Stephen R. Bierce
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    *looks for some Spin Doctors to play on the hacked Muzak*

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      June 24, 2016 at 2:27 am | #

      https://youtu.be/eu7TOncR7FU

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      June 24, 2016 at 3:16 am | #

      Shouldn’t you be playing “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor?

  10. Cattleprod
    Cattleprod
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    Things are too positive, there must be a turn coming up. Is the building on fire?

    • Zatar
      Zatar
      June 24, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

      This….isn’t really positive. Ruth is fairly clearly lying about being fine. And since Carla believed her the person most concerned for her well being thinks she’s doing well.

      • NelC
        NelC
        June 24, 2016 at 12:19 am | #

        Carla doesn’t believe it, though. That is not a convinced expression.

        • foamy
          foamy
          June 24, 2016 at 12:56 am | #

          Especially not with that forced smile when she’s talking to Billie. But Billie believes it. It’s like a game of telephone. =/

          • Dana
            Dana
            June 24, 2016 at 1:36 am | #

            Billie needs to believe it for her own sanity right now.

            • Clif
              Clif
              June 24, 2016 at 12:17 pm | #

              We all believe what we have to.

      • Reltzik
        Reltzik
        June 24, 2016 at 12:19 am | #

        The problem isn’t that Ruth’s lying about being fine. That’s par for the course for her. Billie was always calling her out on that bullshit.

        The problem is that she isn’t even putting any effort into making it believable. At least with Billie she’d back it up with an edge of “don’t question me” menace.

        (Also, I think Carla didn’t buy it, but took the excuse to get the hell out of there, obligations fulfilled.)

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          June 24, 2016 at 12:31 am | #

          I’m not so sure this is a bail and never come back (she’s been shown to much in comic to circle back on things like this and check in), but more a “see, I did the thing, she’s great, now get off my back to Billie.

          I’m suspecting she’ll be either swinging back in next comic or in her next appearance arc to call Ruth out on her “bluff” and ask how things are actually going.

          • Reltzik
            Reltzik
            June 24, 2016 at 12:47 am | #

            Oh, sure, I’d give at least 50/50 that she’ll be back.

            But right now?

            As a wise individual once coined the phrase: NOPE. Nopenopenopenopenope.

            • Cerberus
              Cerberus
              June 24, 2016 at 1:16 am | #

              Temporary nopeing out? Yeah, okay, I could definitely see that.

              After all, Ruth is not in any immediate danger and does not seem to have an active plan, so nopeing out of dealing with the murder cave for a bit until her conscience comes a’callin’ again would be entirely in keeping with her character.

  11. David Fenger
    David Fenger
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    One counselling group I was in did not much care for ‘I’m fine’, claiming that it stood for F-ed up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional…

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      June 24, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

      That’s silly. Everyone knows it stands for Feeling Incredible No Exceptions.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      yes, i have heard that before. i like to respond “that’s a fine interpretation” if i’m not in the mood for that conversation

    • J
      J
      June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

      Sounds about right. Is anyone else in this thread fine?

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        June 24, 2016 at 12:30 am | #

        sure, I’m Fucking In New England

        (*not actually in New England)

        • Dana
          Dana
          June 24, 2016 at 1:38 am | #

          I was fine until a few months ago. It was wicked fine.

        • Clif
          Clif
          June 24, 2016 at 12:21 pm | #

          That’s what the Internet is for.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          June 24, 2016 at 1:23 pm | #

          I’m In New England, but not Fucking.

    • TheAnonymousGuy
      TheAnonymousGuy
      June 24, 2016 at 12:30 am | #

      I’m alright, okay fine, you got me. Look I could complain but I don’t have the time to write novel.

    • Leorale
      Leorale
      June 24, 2016 at 12:33 am | #

      I always thought it meant “I’m choosing not to answer your question (but not in a rude way)”.

      • Will
        Will
        June 25, 2016 at 3:01 am | #

        More like “you get the short socially acceptable answer because I don’t want to look crazy” but it could go either way.

  12. miados
    miados
    June 24, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

    (possible triggery mention)

    As someone who has tried to end my life more than once I’m fine is something i said a lot when i needed help the most. Two words mean nothing if you don’t take context and the face/actions/etc into account.

    • Audkitten6
      Audkitten6
      June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

      I’m worried this means she’s going to spiral down quickly, and this is… the calm before the storm so to speak.

      Trying not to use potential trigger language.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        June 24, 2016 at 12:35 am | #

        Yup, this is definitely her trying to quickly mask how much pain and numbness she’s in.

        The positive is that she’s numb (if she was genuinely up and relaxed and “happy”, that’d be a sign that she’s got a plan in place), but the negative is that it looks like she’s fully out of spoons to play-act functional.

        *Also hugs to both of you*

        • miados
          miados
          June 24, 2016 at 1:24 am | #

          I’m not someone who feels sad anymore like i used to, but honestly I am not sure if I ever really feel happy either. Even just feeling kind of meh is good now compared to what i did so at least to me at least she doesn’t seem to be fully as far down as she could even if she is heading there.

        • ischemgeek
          ischemgeek
          June 24, 2016 at 7:22 am | #

          When I was depressed, the numb was the worst. Like Ruth goes out of her way to get angry so she can feel something, I would do really self-destructive things just to feel something because I could still feel terror.

          Yeah. I totally get the “I’m fine.”

          … Kinda wish I could give Ruth a hug right now, but she’d probably punch me for it.

          • Clif
            Clif
            June 24, 2016 at 12:24 pm | #

            But then the punch would make Ruth fell better, and that’s what’s important isn’t it?

            • Slartibeast Button, BIA
              Slartibeast Button, BIA
              June 24, 2016 at 12:31 pm | #

              Serious mode: I found that anger was one of the few ways to feel anything in depression. It can wash the gloom away in a surge of adrenaline. You aren’t happy, but at least you are something. In the short term.

              Long term, it eats away at you in lots of ways, physically, mentally, and socially. Or very quickly if it motivates you to do something stupid.

              • pyrpyr
                pyrpyr
                June 24, 2016 at 3:35 pm | #

                Confirming Slartibeast’s experience of anger, I was pretty much the same way until halfway through college, at which point I had used up all the angry fuel my body and brain could possibly procure, and could no longer be angry, and so I crashed COMPLETELY for a good long while (unit of years).
                Fun stuff. And that’s IF you live long enough with the switch broken in the “angry” position to even *see* the burnout.
                … Worried now.

              • miados
                miados
                June 24, 2016 at 11:39 pm | #

                i had theraphy that actually helped me with anger for a while. some people say they have short fuses well for me i had an amazingly long fuse, but the explosion was equal to the fuses length.

                It helped me ration it out easier so to speak

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      June 24, 2016 at 12:37 am | #

      Yeah, this is… the face and voice of someone who has said “yes! Everything is good now!” either to call off the worriers or because it actually is great, there’s a way forward now! or both.

      Oh shit I just realized he really did put in a reference to THAT song in the title.

      I am very, very worried about Ruth.

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      June 24, 2016 at 1:00 am | #

      And as always, *solidarity hugs indeed*

    • Griffin
      Griffin
      June 24, 2016 at 3:21 am | #

      Yeah, I have depression and anxiety, and “I’m fine(/okay/alright)” is pretty much my go-to for when I’m /not/. I’m very wary of ‘I’m fine’.

  13. Cacturne
    Cacturne
    June 24, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    If it was t obvious before, it is now.
    Ruth is Ditto, smile and everything. She’s not fine.

    • Jay Eff
      Jay Eff
      June 24, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

      It’s only a matter of time before some brat traps her in one of those cramped Pokeballs again.

      She’s definitely not fine.

    • Chandra
      Chandra
      June 24, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

      I’m glad I’m not the only one who came to this conclusion.

  14. Paul
    Paul
    June 24, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    I’m fine. It’s just that nothing I do matters and life is meaningless.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

      finally, a logical clear-headed youngster

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:35 am | #

      *hugs* You do matter. Believe me.

    • Vex Godglove
      Vex Godglove
      June 24, 2016 at 1:55 pm | #

      To be fair, ultimately that’s true whether you are fine or not. One doesn’t have to let the meaninglessness of existence get one down.

  15. Cheshrin
    Cheshrin
    June 24, 2016 at 12:04 am | #

    Panel three may possibly be the most frightening smile in the comic, and I’m saying that with Dina’s attempts at a Joycegrin still freshly burned into my retinas.

    I blame Context.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      Context? Conquest’s long-lost twin sister?

      • inqntrol
        inqntrol
        June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

        She was switched birth with…oh wait, wrong comic.

  16. Chromacandi
    Chromacandi
    June 24, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    I have a bad feeling about this..

    • Clif
      Clif
      June 24, 2016 at 12:27 pm | #

      Williis’s job here is done. … For today.

  17. Mandy
    Mandy
    June 24, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    Ruth’s eerie face in panel 3 reminds me of something, but I can’t put my finger on what. Peanuts character, maybe?

    • Woobie
      Woobie
      June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

      It is reminiscent of a Peanuts smile. Like Charlie Brown thinking he was going to kick that football THIS time.

  18. Cephalo the Pod
    Cephalo the Pod
    June 24, 2016 at 12:05 am | #

    Took me a whole day to figure out that Ruth’s eyes being dots again was a metaphor.

    Unless it isn’t?

    In which case, it took me a whole day to be wrong.

    • Clif
      Clif
      June 24, 2016 at 12:29 pm | #

      I’ve taken much longer to be wrong. So no worries.

  19. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    June 24, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    Hair is fine!

    • Rheinman
      Rheinman
      June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

      How’s you’re hair? Fine.

      I’m not unwell.

    • No Name
      No Name
      June 24, 2016 at 1:52 am | #

      Here, have a future seeing laser Ruth.
      I don’t know why. Just thought it would be nice.

  20. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    June 24, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    Let’s see:

    Carla fooled? NOPE. She dgaf, but she’s not fooled. Just a way out.

    Rest of floor fooled? NOPE! Anyone watching sees Billie overjoyed. So much for subterfuge.

    Billie fooled? YEP!

    C’mon Billie. You’re giving cheerleaders a bad name, and that takes some doing.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      June 24, 2016 at 12:12 am | #

      yeah, drunken quasi-manslaughter pales in comparison to your current ass-hattery!

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:37 am | #

      Too be fair, she’s probably lit like a candelabra and internally freaking out and assuming that Ruth is one second from offing herself without her around to babysit things.

      So, Carla simply not screaming and running out of the room like she saw a dead body probably was positive sign enough for her.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        June 24, 2016 at 12:40 am | #

        I mean, Billie has been shown in comic to not really get numb persistent depression fully and so more likely to take “I’m fine” at face value or Carla saying “she’s awesome” at face value.

        For Carla… it’s damn telling how incredulous she is of Ruth’s attempted deflection. I suspect she, like a lot of trans folks, has been through that ugly depressed phase and so more than recognizes what is going on.

        • Reltzik
          Reltzik
          June 24, 2016 at 12:53 am | #

          MAYBE.

          I suspect that she’s a bit on the “less shit happened to me” side of the trans bell curve, simply from having awesome and supportive parents who could probably afford to send her to a private school, and Carla doesn’t strike me as the most emotionally sensitive of individuals. I wonder if she really has Billie’s wealth of knowledge about how to deal with awful situations.

          That said, it’s pretty clear she realizes that SOMETHING’S up. I read her as realizing that she’s completely unequipped to deal with it and getting the hell out of there because either she doesn’t know what and it’s creepy, or she does have a clue and holy crap.

          Not that I think she’ll be able to STAY away.

          • Cerberus
            Cerberus
            June 24, 2016 at 1:14 am | #

            Ehh, being rich buys you out of some oppressions, but she’s still a girl who grew up trans in central Indiana who has personal experience tending her own wounds alone after having “mysterious” accidents and empathizes strongly with that experience and has extensive experience with being authority figures’ “collateral damage”. Enough so, that she’s tired of it and has fully given up on authority figures in general.

            So… I’m pretty sure she’s had a good deal of the standard Transphobia Special. Not to mention that dysphoria tends to fuck with you in new and exciting ways during puberty and living in central Indiana it would have been a chore and a half just to get blockers before turning 18.

            • Reltzik
              Reltzik
              June 24, 2016 at 11:53 am | #

              I meant that if anyone in the trans community was NOT familiar with this type of thing, it would most likely be someone with a background like Carla’s, and so her knowing this stuff wouldn’t be a good assumption to make. But I’d forgotten about her… not so much disdain for authority (which is no more than her disdain for everyone else) but her practice of self-reliance absent of authority. You’re right, that suggests she’s had a hard road, advantages or no.

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              June 24, 2016 at 1:21 pm | #

              Ah, intersectionality. Having some privilege, and wealth is one of the biggest, doesn’t make the other prejudices disappear. It does usually make it easier to cope with the other problems.

    • showler
      showler
      June 24, 2016 at 9:20 am | #

      Just to note, the last panel takes place at Billie’s room with Carla just inside the door. So the rest of the floor didn’t really say anything.

      Unless Ruth keeps her light switches outside her door.

      • showler
        showler
        June 24, 2016 at 9:21 am | #

        say = see

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        June 24, 2016 at 1:18 pm | #

        Nice observation. I’d missed that. Thought Carla had basically turned around to talk to Billie right outside.

  21. brionl
    brionl
    June 24, 2016 at 12:06 am | #

    “We’re going to send an RA up.”
    “Negative, negative. We’ve got a cookie leak here, very crumby…”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYAbFqkvzQA

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      June 24, 2016 at 12:17 am | #

      Leaky cookies doesn’t sound too appetizing.

  22. Woobie
    Woobie
    June 24, 2016 at 12:07 am | #

    She’s not fine.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      June 24, 2016 at 1:30 am | #

      But… she says she is fine.

      • Clif
        Clif
        June 24, 2016 at 12:36 pm | #

        Conclusion. She’s suffering from FDS – Femur Deficiency Syndrome. She needs to take some stat.

  23. Jay Eff
    Jay Eff
    June 24, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

    You know, I’m gonna go out on a limb here– correct me if I’m wrong–

    I think she’s fine.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 1:11 am | #

      Checks out.

  24. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    June 24, 2016 at 12:08 am | #

    Really, she’s fine, for certain values of “fine”.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:40 am | #

      0 is a value, right?

      • Reltzik
        Reltzik
        June 24, 2016 at 12:55 am | #

        Everything you can possibly type is a value.

        For that matter, complex numbers are value.

        I’m going to go with -2i, because her being fine is leaving me imagining things that are doubly negative.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          June 24, 2016 at 1:10 am | #

          *slow clap* Oh well played with that math pun. Well played, indeed.

          • Reltzik
            Reltzik
            June 24, 2016 at 1:20 am | #

            Math puns are the BEST puns!

            *crickets*

            …. okay, fine, puns about the wars between Rome and Carthage are the best puns.

            • butts
              butts
              June 24, 2016 at 1:36 am | #

              more like punnic wars amirite

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      June 24, 2016 at 1:10 am | #

      You only beat me to it by about an hour, Opus.

  25. magicallady
    magicallady
    June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

    is it safe to say ruth has depression?

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      June 24, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

      Yes.

      And the fact that you won’t lose your femurs for saying it is what confirms it.

      • magicallady
        magicallady
        June 24, 2016 at 12:57 am | #

        well thats good, if i didnt have my femurs i wouldnt be able to do my job

        • Reltzik
          Reltzik
          June 24, 2016 at 1:02 am | #

          Yeah, having a femur can really give you a leg up.

          • Clif
            Clif
            June 24, 2016 at 12:38 pm | #

            No bones about it.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      June 24, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

      For the moment, because she doesn’t have the energy to rip out your femurs right now.

    • Griffin
      Griffin
      June 24, 2016 at 3:30 am | #

      Oh yeah, she most certainly does.

  26. Hamstadini
    Hamstadini
    June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

    “It was a stupid conversation anyway.”

    (Read the alt-text to understand this comment)

    • Woobie
      Woobie
      June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

      I love the wince right after “…how are you?”

      • Hamstadini
        Hamstadini
        June 24, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

        Did Harrison Ford ad-lib that? I forget.

        • TheAnonymousGuy
          TheAnonymousGuy
          June 24, 2016 at 12:34 am | #

          Harrison ford adlib most of his han solo, he famously told George Lucas “You can type this shit but, you sure as hell can’t say it.”

          • Orion Fury
            Orion Fury
            June 24, 2016 at 12:50 am | #

            Alright, let’s build that reactor.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      June 24, 2016 at 12:22 am | #

      Is Ruth in Room 1138?

    • Orion Fury
      Orion Fury
      June 24, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

      Boring conversation anyway.

    • Dave1135
      Dave1135
      June 24, 2016 at 2:25 am | #

      I was wondering who would get a HANdle on where that was from.

    • Griffin
      Griffin
      June 24, 2016 at 3:32 am | #

      LUKE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY!

    • TachyonCode
      TachyonCode
      June 24, 2016 at 6:57 pm | #

      Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one who caught this, then 🙂

    • MeHael
      MeHael
      June 25, 2016 at 2:43 pm | #

      Uh, negative negative, we have a, uh, a reactor leak, just give us a few seconds to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.

  27. Smooti
    Smooti
    June 24, 2016 at 12:09 am | #

    Ohhhhhh no no no NO

    NNNNNOPE

    Straight up nope

    • Audkitten6
      Audkitten6
      June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

      My thoughts :c

  28. cmd1095
    cmd1095
    June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

    damn it Carla, I don’t expect you to dive into the emotional troubles here, but don’t lie when you clearly know Ruth isn’t actually fine. Sure in the short term you may be making Billie stop worrying, but Ruth needs Billie to worry and keep checking in on her. Long term, or even mid-term, this will come back to bite you, Billie, and Ruth…

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      June 24, 2016 at 12:22 am | #

      She has an out with plausible deniability.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:44 am | #

      Maybe… I dunno, I think Billie actually could do with some distance. Right now, she’s been trying to mold her life around supporting Ruth and worrying over her (to the point where she is compulsively making copies of her room key every day and snapping at the person she asked to occasionally check in on her). Like, I’m not saying she should never worry about Ruth again, but she could use some separation where she’s not freaking out 24/7 and forgetting to get on with her life and actually tackle her own depression and alcoholism.

      And I think Carla will definitely be back to check in on her and maybe give her a nudge to getting some genuine help.

  29. Kamino Neko
    Kamino Neko
    June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

    You know who Ruth is reminding me of, here? Robert the Doll. Specifically the version of Robert who exists in The Last Halloween, but the real Robert, too…

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      June 24, 2016 at 2:38 am | #

      Here’s hoping she doesn’t end up like dear Robert did helping Mona.

      • Kamino Neko
        Kamino Neko
        June 24, 2016 at 4:10 am | #

        She does seem to be dead set on self-destruction, but also seems unlikely to do it for someone else’s sake…

  30. LuniasM
    LuniasM
    June 24, 2016 at 12:10 am | #

    Bad smile. Not fine. NOT FINE.

    • TachyonCode
      TachyonCode
      June 24, 2016 at 6:56 pm | #

      Not fine? Fine, then.

  31. Moose
    Moose
    June 24, 2016 at 12:11 am | #

    Isn’t Ruth’s smile a sign of the apocalypse? Could have sworn I read that somewhere.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      June 24, 2016 at 12:13 am | #

      you’re over-blowing it. it’s probably just a child dropping his ice cream

    • inqntrol
      inqntrol
      June 24, 2016 at 12:22 am | #

      Only if her smile resembled a triangle, then we are all doomed.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      June 24, 2016 at 12:57 am | #

      Ruth smiles!

      …. right when she’s about to hurt someone.

  32. Svata
    Svata
    June 24, 2016 at 12:14 am | #

    youtube.com/watch?v=C7sE0agEVNg

  33. AgentKeen
    AgentKeen
    June 24, 2016 at 12:16 am | #

    : )

  34. Tacos
    Tacos
    June 24, 2016 at 12:16 am | #

    She’s fine y’all. Everything is “FINE.”

  35. Ryek Hvek
    Ryek Hvek
    June 24, 2016 at 12:19 am | #

    She’s Fein. The other two Ruths are Howard and Howard.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      June 24, 2016 at 12:23 am | #

      Doctor!

  36. LimeSheep
    LimeSheep
    June 24, 2016 at 12:20 am | #

    she smiled, clearly shes okay
    🙂

  37. Teddae
    Teddae
    June 24, 2016 at 12:21 am | #

    holy shit that smile, it’s so creepy

    • inqntrol
      inqntrol
      June 24, 2016 at 12:23 am | #

      It’s a fake smile, that’s why.

  38. Doopyboop
    Doopyboop
    June 24, 2016 at 12:23 am | #

    Welp, I found a new icon to use! (Here’s hoping I did the Gravatar thing right). On a more serious note, I really hope Ruth won’t do anything drastic…

    • Doopyboop
      Doopyboop
      June 24, 2016 at 12:23 am | #

      Oh god I suck, it didn’t work.

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        June 24, 2016 at 12:38 am | #

        Sometimes you have to refresh or even close and reopen your browser to get the new gravatar to show.

        • Doopyboop
          Doopyboop
          June 24, 2016 at 12:47 am | #

          OH YAY IT WORKED. Also ha we’re both Ruth.

          • Slartibeast Button, BIA
            Slartibeast Button, BIA
            June 24, 2016 at 12:49 am | #

            The Two Faces of Ruth.

            • Reltzik
              Reltzik
              June 24, 2016 at 12:58 am | #

              It’s like watching Gollum and Smeagol talk.

              • Bagge
                Bagge
                June 24, 2016 at 1:27 am | #

                They are both fine

                • inqntrol
                  inqntrol
                  June 24, 2016 at 1:55 am | #

                  “The Precious agreesss!”

            • Geneseepaws
              Geneseepaws
              June 24, 2016 at 1:15 am | #

              The Three Faces of Eve, the Four Riders with the Apoplexy, er… Epoxy-Lips. … Or someone like him.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          June 24, 2016 at 3:28 am | #

          Shift+F5 can help too. (That should force your browser to refresh the entire contents of the page, ignoring cached copies of images.)

    • trlkly
      trlkly
      June 24, 2016 at 12:47 am | #

      The gravatar thing warns you that it can take up to 10 minutes or so for the new image to show up.

    • No Name
      No Name
      June 24, 2016 at 1:57 am | #

      TOO MUCH SAD RUTH!!
      FUTURE SEEING LASER EYES ACTIVATE!!

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        June 24, 2016 at 3:58 pm | #

        Ruth has future seeing laser eyes because she is a Terminator. She was sent back to prevent the birth of resistance leader Joshua Seigal.

        She is sad because since she has completed her mission, she has no purpose anymore.

  39. Lucena
    Lucena
    June 24, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

    That’s the kind of smile + fine that i give to my parents when i know i am near breaking down but don’t actually trust them to talk about it.

    Ruth don’t trust Carla enought to open up with her or anyone in this college.

  40. cynicwithcinnamon
    cynicwithcinnamon
    June 24, 2016 at 12:24 am | #

    This smile creeped me out, down to my soul for some reason and I didn’t know why. Then I realized;

    Become a magical girl, Billy /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

    • Why do i even bother
      Why do i even bother
      June 24, 2016 at 1:36 am | #

      ^^^^ yes kyubae

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      June 24, 2016 at 2:48 am | #

      Hm. Billie is a little older than Kyuubey’s usual targets, but she should have enough emotional anguish to be worth the while.
      It’s a pity the damn things are invisible to humans unless they choose not to be, because someone on the floor is bound to know that Incubators should be exterminated on sight and kept away from the emotionally vulnerable.

  41. 0kami
    0kami
    June 24, 2016 at 12:26 am | #

    She’s fiiiiiiiine

  42. Kitschensyngk
    Kitschensyngk
    June 24, 2016 at 12:30 am | #

    Boring conversation anyway.

  43. MapleAmber
    MapleAmber
    June 24, 2016 at 12:38 am | #

    Well I’m going to be at breakdown stage by the weekend anyways, and I feel like both of these storylines are gearing up for characters to implode/explode, so let’s just have it this weekend so I can get all my crying out of the way at once, okay, Willis?
    But seriously… Ruth… go hug a Billie. Or tell someone. Or eat the cookies. Something. You’re not fine.
    :'(

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 12:46 am | #

      *hugs* You are awesome and will get through this weekend.

      • MapleAmber
        MapleAmber
        June 25, 2016 at 12:02 am | #

        *Hugs* thank you <3 one of my main supports is moving to another country after this weekend 🙁

    • Regalli
      Regalli
      June 24, 2016 at 12:56 am | #

      *Gives internet blankies*

      • MapleAmber
        MapleAmber
        June 25, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

        Thank you <3 love the blankies … I feel like making a blanket fort.

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      June 24, 2016 at 2:50 am | #

      I reccomend ginger snaps and, if possible, a heavy punching bag.
      Stomach crunches are good, too.

      • MapleAmber
        MapleAmber
        June 25, 2016 at 12:03 am | #

        <3 Cookies make life better for sure.
        Thank you!

  44. Russ
    Russ
    June 24, 2016 at 12:41 am | #

    It all checks out!

  45. Jeffrywith1e
    Jeffrywith1e
    June 24, 2016 at 12:45 am | #

    who is this? what’s your operating number?

  46. trlkly
    trlkly
    June 24, 2016 at 12:48 am | #

    This is actually one thing I’ve never been able to do. I can’t hide my emotions at all. When I went through being suicidally depressed, no one who interacted with me thought I was “fine.”

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 1:05 am | #

      I had the opposite thing. Cause I’m DID, I am really good at pushing my intense suicidal ideation to the side and playacting a super functional happy persona. It really helped me still do a good job as a “fun” science teacher even when I was suicidally ideating literally most every moment of every day, but it also means it’s still difficult to fully let down that mask and let people know how scared or bad I am when things are really off.

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        June 24, 2016 at 1:36 am | #

        Um… you’ll let us know if there is something a bunch of strangers can do over internet, right?

        *hugs*

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          June 24, 2016 at 2:16 am | #

          Heh, thanks, but my drugs and not being around my toxic hateful family and a job gaslighting me as part of a discrimination campaign has helped a lot with the suicidal ideation. Letting people know when I’m not okay…? Working on it.

          I’ve stated occasionally that this comic has basically become part of my therapy with my therapist and it and the comment threads have been really good for letting myself be more vulnerable and honest about just how much everything I’ve been through has messed me up.

          To reference a Ruth saying, the fact that I’m here talking about how messed up I’ve been is a good sign. 🙂

          • Bagge
            Bagge
            June 24, 2016 at 3:16 am | #

            I’m glad to hear that, and if me overanalyzing the lives of fictional people in a webcomic and ranting on the many ways Becky is awesome can help you in any small way, I’m there for you!

            And as always – thanks for your comments! 🙂

          • DarkVeghetta
            DarkVeghetta
            June 24, 2016 at 6:51 am | #

            Good to hear that, Cerb. I’m seconding Bagge’s hugs though. >^_^<
            If there's… well, I wish I could volunteer my ear if you ever need one, but truth is I'm mostly not online nor do I read every single comment you make, so that would be disingenuous of me to state at present (been avoiding going on Skype for a month+ now… there's complicated reasons). :/ But as Baggle sed, us random internet strangers can be a caring bunch. Many of us have even gone through tangentially similar experiences. Point is you've made an impact here and people care, me included. Bit by bit we all get to know each other… it's a rather unique environment.
            Hopefully you won't need it, but you do have our support, for all it's worth.

      • ischemgeek
        ischemgeek
        June 24, 2016 at 7:30 am | #

        Yeah, my therapist in HS was worried as shit about me because generally it’s not the kids who can’t leave the room that blindside the shit out of everyone when they have a crisis, it’s the kids who are for the most part able to hold it together with a fairly smiley persona (which was me – I was legit doing things like walking on railings of bridges so I could feel something and not one person clued in because I was 1, naturally smart enough to not have my grades drop despite sleeping through most of my classes and 2, weird enough to begin with that depression weirdness was just chalked up as me being me and weird, 3, from a medical family so my morbid jokes were just written off as a product of my upbringing and 4, introverted enough that me getting home from school and going to decompress in my room until dinner, emerging until I was done eating and then going back to my room and essentially being nocturnal when allowed to set my own schedule was basically already status quo.

        I have gotten better at handling social but yeah there is literally one person who I can be around when I need to decompress.

    • skdk
      skdk
      June 24, 2016 at 7:18 am | #

      ive hid it for 3 years, im a champion!

      • Silly Name
        Silly Name
        June 24, 2016 at 3:13 pm | #

        Pft, I’ve been doing that for five years! I’m the master of denial!

  47. Rukduk
    Rukduk
    June 24, 2016 at 12:51 am | #

    Ruth, you can’t just try to psych yourself out of depression by lying to yourself and others that you’re fine. I know. I tried. It doesn’t work, all it does is make the inevitable breakdown worse. Just…try to talk to someone. Anyone. Just admitting how you’re really feeling won’t solve the problem, but it’s a good first step. And damn but it feels good afterwards, and can give you the little boost you need to go on and take the next step.

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 1:06 am | #

      I’m curious to see if Carla tries to play therapist a little like she did in the “murder cave” arc or if she’s gonna try and push her to seek out some therapy options.

      • DarkVeghetta
        DarkVeghetta
        June 24, 2016 at 6:55 am | #

        Honestly, I’m imagining the next page will be Carla grabbing Billie, switching places with her and locking the door behind herself, key left in. Well, that’s the hopeful side of me.

  48. Orion Fury
    Orion Fury
    June 24, 2016 at 12:54 am | #

    I gotta say, you can tell who read the alt-text joke.

  49. Regalli
    Regalli
    June 24, 2016 at 12:56 am | #

    I was already going “Oh, fuuuuck” just reading this strip and the comments, but then I remembered Willis tweeting about potential arc titles coming from That Song from Neon Genesis Evangelion a couple months back, and um.

    Yeah it’s appropriate as a title for this arc in many ways but they’re all screaming at me now “we REALLY need to worry about Ruth.” There’s a reason I don’t let myself listen to that one when I can feel I’m not in a good mental state.

  50. Idontcarenomore
    Idontcarenomore
    June 24, 2016 at 12:56 am | #

    Ruth is fine. See that smile? Wait, Ruth doesn’t smile, unless it portends….

  51. Cerberus
    Cerberus
    June 24, 2016 at 1:02 am | #

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: I kinda love that Carla keeps referring to Ruth as Chief. It’s that nice line between begrudging respect for her authority and also complete lack of respect for authority and it totally works as an awkward term of endearment.

    Also, ah Carla, you blunt goddess you. Someday you’ll have to learn tact, but it is not this day!

    Panel 2: Okay, I love the amount of communication that is happening in the facial expressions. Like here, she is just so dead-eyed, you can just taste the monotone “I’m out of spoons, but I suppose I should approximate human, what are humans like” fatigue in her response.

    Panel 3: And that delayed smile, like her brain was going, wait, people who are fine smile. I should smile to get Carla to go away so I can get back to ripping myself apart. Tight-lipped dead-eyed smile completed. Nailed it. Humanity achievement unlocked. Today is a good day, I made it that far.

    Panel 4: That expression. Carla is buying literally none of it and probably has had experience with giving that stock answer to folks before. “How was school sweetie?” *hiding black eye* “Fine. It was fine”. And we see a similar tactful Carla that we saw hinted at when she was caring for Amber. She seems to actually understand what that “fine” means (bad, suicidal, but no active plan) and lets her tone communicate that she wants to know the truth.

    Panel 5: And initially I read it as Ruth still in denial, but on second look, there’s that wavy speech bubble and her shoulders are more drooped and head’s more down and sad. I think she is being more honest here in this panel and dropping the mask.

    And I think she might even mean what she’s saying. She’s not at risk… yet. She’s not functional by any stretch of the imagination. But she’s awake, she’s now sitting up, she’s processing the day and interacting with another human. By Ruth standards she is at her aggressively neutral base state, neither good enough to be out in the halls doing her job nor bad enough to be slipping back into her alcoholism… yet, but just neutrally, numbly “fine”.

    Panel 6: And Carla gets Billie off her back, because holy fuck is it not okay to just volunteer someone else to suicide watch a friend without letting them know that is what you want. So, getting Billie to bug out and let her handle this without her worrying at the door and putting Ruth at risk is a critical step towards Carla actually handling the enormous weight that was just dropped on her shoulders.

    Given Carla’s tendency to worry and history, I have no doubts that she’ll be circling back for a more in-depth check-in later in the day, but it was never going to happen with Billie hovering around the door convinced her recent ex was no longer breathing “because of her”.

    • pyrpyr
      pyrpyr
      June 24, 2016 at 3:15 pm | #

      Just taking a moment to say
      SPOON THEORY YES

  52. Palamdrone
    Palamdrone
    June 24, 2016 at 1:03 am | #

    It was a lousy conversation anyway.

  53. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    June 24, 2016 at 1:03 am | #

    What’s really preying on my mind is…

    … if there IS an incident… and if Mary realizes that she was part of the chain of events… will she feel guilt?

    I mean, we’ve mostly seen just awful from her. But how 1-dimensionally awful has Willis made her as a character?

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      June 24, 2016 at 1:09 am | #

      I doubt it. Abusers and bullies are very good at distancing themselves from the guilt or the culpability of how they drive their victims to suicide, even when trying to drive their victim to suicide was part of the abuse or suicide.

      There’s a really good arc in the manga series “Confidential Confessions” basically about that, showing that after a suicide, the bullies who caused it won’t feel a lick of guilt about it and will instead internalize it as their victim being “weak” or “crazy” instead.

      It’s why the best revenge against a bully is to stay alive, no matter how hard that is to do.

      • Cerberus
        Cerberus
        June 24, 2016 at 2:42 am | #

        Content Warning: Fucked up shit beyond all reason involving really shitty people

        NO FOR SERIOUS, I’m going to be talking about groups that are really fucked and some of the awful they do surrounding suicidal kids. BIG FAT CONTENT WARNING OVER THAT.

        For example with some of this, there’s certain hate groups out there that have an MMO of finding young vulnerable feeling mentally ill kids and trying to push them over the edge into suicide. A lot of them targeting either folks with mental illnesses specifically, people on the autism spectrum, or trans kids.

        And well, these hate groups sometimes find out about the rather direct line their harassment had to exacerbating the suicide. Some take the tactic of blaming the victim for being weak or their families for faking the news in order to make them look bad. Some blame it on the person having the traits that caused the groups to target them in the first place and use it as proof that said groups could never be happy as they are.

        And the worst of the groups actually celebrate their destructions, patting each other on the back for “confirmed kills” as if driving people to suicide was a video game and they were racking up a high score.

        And still other hate groups don’t directly do that, but will parade around the dead of groups they hate as if they were props for their hate-filled arguments (very frequent among transphobes, who love parading around trans kids who kill themselves or the statistics about them as “proof” that the “transgender lifestyle” “only leads to death” and “makes people miserable”.

        Very few of them actually show any culpability or genuine remorse for their heinous acts.

        And that’s in reality. If anything, Mary will likely be infinitely less awful than that.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          June 24, 2016 at 3:49 am | #

          There are no words sometime. Ugh. Okay, there’s a word.

        • BenRG
          BenRG
          June 24, 2016 at 8:56 am | #

          The thing is that study after study shows that, on a certain level, on-line bullies actually do think that it’s a video game. There is something deeply poisonous about how the social centres of our brain react to communication via a computer monitor that detaches our sense of empathy and our subconscious limits that we normally put into communications when the other person’s face isn’t hanging in front of ours.

          Horribly, there really does seem to be a mindset of: “It’s the Internet; it’s only make-believe!”

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            June 24, 2016 at 1:16 pm | #

            I think it’s more the other way around: Our sense of empathy is really only designed to kick in in the physical presence of others because that’s how it was useful throughout the vast majority of (pre)history. That we can adapt it at all to something as abstract as text on a screen is pretty amazing.

        • Silly Name
          Silly Name
          June 24, 2016 at 3:10 pm | #

          Holy… That’s a real thing? There are people who can delight in the knowledge of being indirect murders? Why… how… what the hell is wrong with them?!

        • ischemgeek
          ischemgeek
          June 24, 2016 at 7:27 pm | #

          LIKEWISE TALKING ABOUT HORRIBLE HUMAN BEHAVIOR. NO SERIOUSLY, IF YOU GET TRIGGERED BY TALK OF BULLYING, ABUSE OR GENERAL HORRIBLENESS, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS A LEGIT TRIGGER WARNING AND EXERCISE DISCRETION.

          … I got bullied to the point of self-injury and suicidal ideation and actually to within about 2 minutes of actually making a very-likely-to-kill-me attempt which I will not discuss in detail but suffice to say I don’t have it in me to do shit by halves, and a person to whom I will forever be grateful saved my life by figuring out there was something unusual about me not being online at my usual time and spamming my inbox with 30 emails of increasing level of worry until I finally responded because I felt bad for them about how obviously distressed I was making them, and they managed to get me to agree to put it off by 48 hours and seek help andyeah. The stupidest shit can save your life sometime, and in my case the fact that I was skipping out on my normal chatting/fangirling/talking about girl crushes routine with a queer online friend saved mine.

          Because my high school therapy office was shite for confidentiality (they called you out of class, in the middle of class for the appointment and it didn’t take a master detective to figure out who was missing time on a semi-regular basis), word got out, and once word got out, my bullies had a fucking field day with it. They thought it was the funniest shit in the world that I was suicidal, and it then became a challenge for them to see of they could bully me to do it (and that’s when I discovered that I can, in fact, be powered entirely by spite and hatred).

          Stuff they did once they found out I was suicidal:
          * Come up behind me and whisper, “Just do it, everyone hates you anyway, the world would be better with you gone.”
          * Put notes with drawings of nooses or mangled bodies in my locker
          * Print a pamphlet with detailed instructions on how to successfully off oneself on them in my locker, with handwritten note of, “Because you can’t even do this right.”

          … and I could go on.

          I sincerely believe that if I had killed myself, they would’ve talked about me being a dumbass for taking them seriously and joked about how stupid I was, and never once would they have contemplated the fact that their actions caused someone’s death.

          … buuuuut yeah.

          Summary being: Abusive shits are terrible, terrible people.

          And, genuinely speaking, I think Mary is exactly the same kind of sadistic, genuinely nasty asshole that I dealt with as a teen. I have very little doubt that she’d find it every bit as funny as they did to try to torment someone to death.

          (I am reminded of a set of Twitter posts I read a short while ago Ka href=”https://twitter.com/meakoopa/status/742238554093281280″>from Twitter user @meakoopa: “Oh sorry if we are being unfair unfortunately you guys murdered all the nice gays and now there’s just us: the assholes. The queers who were nice/patient/gentle all got shot or bullied to death all that’s left r me & the other pissed off cockroach motherfuckers.” In response to the Pulse shooting but yeah. Fits about pretty much any fucking time straight people are upset that queer people are pissed off about something.

          Pardon the language. It’s not a time I look back on fondly. With good fucking reason.

          But that should tell you exactly how much hatred I have for the Marys of the world. They made me one of the pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers.)

          • Ana Chronistic
            Ana Chronistic
            June 24, 2016 at 11:31 pm | #

            Thank you for harnessing your inner spite! Those kind of bullies, unfortunately, are largely insulated from the reality of bad things in the world, or have gone so far around the wrong way as to find a sadistic PLEASURE in the worst possible tragedy… I’d be sad but not surprised if they did laugh at you after you would’ve been gone. I mean, people used to get fed to lions for sport, after all–if that isn’t the height of privilege, I don’t know what is.

            This feels a bit rambly, but I wanted to acknowledge your beautiful heart-outpouring!

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      June 24, 2016 at 1:47 am | #

      Billie and Carla, on the other hand, will.

      Life is unfair like that.

    • Palamdrone
      Palamdrone
      June 24, 2016 at 2:04 am | #

      Guilt? She’d probably be proud of herself for a job well done.

      • Disloyal Subject
        Disloyal Subject
        June 24, 2016 at 3:03 am | #

        Yeah. Having met folks who delight in driving others to suicide, I have a hard time to imagine Mary feeling any guilt, and satisfaction is probable.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      June 24, 2016 at 9:40 pm | #

      ….

      Okay, two things.

      First, I withdraw my comment about a Mary not feeling guilt being an indication of a 1-dimensional character.

      Second, I have a question about triggers. If rather than reacting with horror, depression, PTSD attacks, or so forth, I am instead suddenly inclined to go “Hulk Smash” from what I’ve just read, does that count as a trigger?

      • ischemgeek
        ischemgeek
        June 25, 2016 at 6:40 am | #

        Trigger warning in the sense I used it is to refer to people who have mental illnesses that can get triggered by reading certain content, with consequences that can have a severe effect on their quality of life – I know one person, frex, who on exposure to an article that had a body-shaming statement about people who have a high-end-of-healthy BMI, had a relapse of her eating disorder which lasted for 2 years and nearly killed her. Other people I know can have panic attacks or a PTSD episode lasting days. Back when I had a phobia, exposure to needles could send me into a full-blown panic attack. The reason why I avoided discussing the details of the suicide plan I had as a teen was because I know from when I was suicidal, reading about others’ plans can cement your own, and I don’t want to be responsible for someone hurting themself.

        Therefore, I would say it depends on whether it’s an actual aggravation of a disability – the mental equivalent of an asthmatic like me being exposed to cigarette smoke – or if it’s just a normal and healthy reaction to outrageous and terrible human behavior. If the latter, you’re not really being triggered – you’re having a healthy human reaction.

        FYI, I don’t have PTSD from my bullying stuff (as far as I know anyway – I’m no therapist, and like Sal my experience with most therapists is that they were less-than-useful in the sense that they wanted to take away the coping mechanisms that were keeping me alive without first teaching me healthier ones and they had no comprehension of exactly how difficult it can be to live your life and “just ignore” the fact that there were a half-dozen people actively trying to harass me to death so I tend to avoid them because the therapists I dealt with did a whole lot of victim-blaming and not much else on the bullying front – and were also terrible on the fact that I’m a sexual abuse survivor, even trying to get me to look at the “bright side” and take out “valuable lessons” that could “help” me “avoid” a similar instance in the future), and I can usually bounce back pretty quickly from talking about it. There is one big exception: usually if I’m the one who decides to pick the proverbial scab, I’m fine, but if I’m blind-sided by a news article or anecdote or something that’s way too close to home, my day is going to be ruined with brooding and possibly crying jags depending on how close to home it hit and irritability and possibly that thing where you’re just aware of everything and can’t shut it off and intrusive thoughts about ways in which I could hurt myself and just generally feeling miserable and depending on how close to home possibly get some of my teenage-years self-loathing mental routines stuck on repeat. But if I have time to prepare myself and just basically take steps to mentally separate myself from what I’m about to read, I can be okay. The blindside thing doesn’t happen nearly as much now that I’ve largely stopped getting news from sites that don’t use content warnings and taken the approach that any story about bullying is probably gonna hit hard and I need to mentally prepare accordingly. And that’s just an after-effect of trauma, when it’s not so bad that it significantly and negatively effects my day-to-day (I cope and function fairly well and genuinely speaking those things do not happen as often as they used to because I’ve learned what news stories are likely to hit home and learned how to do the mental-separation thing).

        At the same time, though, you totally have the right to curate your own viewing/reading content, and trigger warnings could just as easily be treated as a content warning at the start of a TV show. “Warning: This show contains scenes of violence and coarse language. Viewer discretion is advised.”

        You have the right to exercise your own discretion about what you see and and hear and read. If it is distressing to you, you are entirely within your rights to avoid being distressed by it, even if it doesn’t rise to the level of a mental illness trigger.

  54. Bea
    Bea
    June 24, 2016 at 1:05 am | #

    All I can hope is that in like a few years when all this is (hopefully) cleared up and Ruth is in a good place, removing femurs and striking terror into the hearts of all who cross her, we will look back at this moment and know that it all gets better.

  55. Keulan
    Keulan
    June 24, 2016 at 1:06 am | #

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KuH_RxUNE

  56. Bicycle Bill
    Bicycle Bill
    June 24, 2016 at 1:08 am | #

    She’s fine …. for a given value of “fine”.

  57. Nick Piers
    Nick Piers
    June 24, 2016 at 1:13 am | #

    This is like the running gag me and some friends have about wrestling company TNA. Every time it seems they’re slowly falling and inching closer to going out of business, we shout “BUT EVERYTHING IS FINE!”

  58. Bagge
    Bagge
    June 24, 2016 at 1:25 am | #

    She’s fine.

  59. podian
    podian
    June 24, 2016 at 1:28 am | #

    Look, she’s smiling, that means she’s fine!

  60. Kay
    Kay
    June 24, 2016 at 1:32 am | #

    Oh. Well. So long as she’s fine.

  61. NinjaNick
    NinjaNick
    June 24, 2016 at 1:35 am | #

    Then let’s have a fine party! 😀

  62. StClair
    StClair
    June 24, 2016 at 1:37 am | #

    Note that she doesn’t even have enough spoons to deny/protest the “without Billie” implication.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      June 24, 2016 at 1:56 am | #

      OUCH. That hurts.

      A positive side of the same coin is that she might now be comfortable enough with Carla to allow her to support her.

  63. LeslieBean4Shizzle
    LeslieBean4Shizzle
    June 24, 2016 at 1:40 am | #

    That smile on Billie’s face in panel six is heartbreaking. She looks so happy and relieved.

    • inqntrol
      inqntrol
      June 24, 2016 at 1:50 am | #

      Too bad that can’t be said for Ruth as well.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      June 24, 2016 at 1:56 am | #

      She is. Ruth is not dead right now, that counts as a victory

  64. Arianod
    Arianod
    June 24, 2016 at 1:45 am | #

    *screams internally*

  65. BenRG
    BenRG
    June 24, 2016 at 2:17 am | #

    Well… she was able to survive! She isn’t ‘good’ – far from it, in fact. However, I think that she’s surprised herself by just how ‘okay’ she actually is.

  66. Smiling Cat
    Smiling Cat
    June 24, 2016 at 2:17 am | #

    Painfully close to home.

  67. Aslee
    Aslee
    June 24, 2016 at 2:27 am | #

    Can I just… push my meds through the screen at her? I think she might need them more than I do right now.

  68. Disloyal Subject
    Disloyal Subject
    June 24, 2016 at 2:34 am | #

    “Lessik 421, why aren’t you at your post?”

    • StClair
      StClair
      June 24, 2016 at 2:51 am | #

      “Take over, we’ve got some bad neurotransmitters… like, a lot.”

  69. thecollector222
    thecollector222
    June 24, 2016 at 2:55 am | #

    I am very scared.

  70. NoNane09
    NoNane09
    June 24, 2016 at 2:56 am | #

    EVERYTHING IS FINE

    https://youtu.be/C7sE0agEVNg

    • thomas wrobel
      thomas wrobel
      June 24, 2016 at 4:35 am | #

      hay, was going to post that myself 😀

  71. Griffin
    Griffin
    June 24, 2016 at 3:15 am | #

    Suuuuuuuuuure. That’s what we all say.

  72. Mishyana
    Mishyana
    June 24, 2016 at 3:43 am | #

    She looks kind of like one of Kamala Khan’s clones from one of the latest Ms. Marvel storylines.

  73. Also Becky
    Also Becky
    June 24, 2016 at 3:49 am | #

    Carla you saint

  74. Zaxares
    Zaxares
    June 24, 2016 at 4:45 am | #

    Carla, here’s a piece of advice that you may have missed. Whenever somebody says “They’re/it’s/everything’s fine.”, it’s NOT fine.

    • Sam
      Sam
      June 24, 2016 at 5:37 am | #

      Carla doesn’t believe her. She is not convinced in panel 4. She’s likely just saying so to Billie to put her mind at ease for her sanity.

      • DSL
        DSL
        June 24, 2016 at 6:52 am | #

        Billie, however, wants so very much for Ruth to be “fine” that she’s not going to pick up on any signal Carla (may or may not be aware she) is sending.

    • BenRG
      BenRG
      June 24, 2016 at 8:53 am | #

      The hill is a steep one to climb. Ruth has only started stumbling up the slope. IMO, she isn’t ‘good’ but she isn’t in a bad state either and I think that she’s just surprised herself by realising that you can be ‘okay’ (functional and willing to stay alive) without actually needing to be full of joy at living.

  75. John Brewer
    John Brewer
    June 24, 2016 at 5:32 am | #

    http://gunshowcomic.com/648

  76. Sam
    Sam
    June 24, 2016 at 6:10 am | #

    That smile in panel 3 is so creepy because of how obviously fake it is.

  77. Crumplepunch
    Crumplepunch
    June 24, 2016 at 6:14 am | #

    She seems fine.

  78. LWS
    LWS
    June 24, 2016 at 6:16 am | #

    “Remain calm…all is well!” [couldn’t find clip]

  79. maxyai
    maxyai
    June 24, 2016 at 7:04 am | #

    this reminds me of an English teachers joke. It’s a joke that all TEFL teachers laugh at:
    A Taiwanese guy goes to America for the first time. He is walking down the street in New York City. He starts to cross the street when BLAMO! he’s hit by a car. The driver jumps out and runs over to the Taiwanese guy. He is lying in a pool of blood on the side of the street. The driver says “Oh my God! I didn’t see you there. Are you okay? How are you?”
    The Taiwanese guy says “I’m fine thank you. How are you?”

  80. Sheason
    Sheason
    June 24, 2016 at 7:07 am | #

    “Who is this? What’s your operating number?”

  81. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    June 24, 2016 at 7:10 am | #

    I am not a number, I am a free man!

  82. Joey245
    Joey245
    June 24, 2016 at 7:45 am | #

    Everything’s fine now that I know how to read alt text on mobile now. 🙂

  83. Tomas
    Tomas
    June 24, 2016 at 7:57 am | #

    This looks like the second to last scene in Paranormal Activity.

  84. Reed
    Reed
    June 24, 2016 at 9:07 am | #

    Reminds me of the comic strip where the dog is sitting in a burning house.

    • Amazi-Stool
      Amazi-Stool
      June 24, 2016 at 3:16 pm | #

      Linked above by John Brewer.

  85. Brian K. Pittman
    Brian K. Pittman
    June 24, 2016 at 9:52 am | #

    I have never seen Ruth look scarier than she does with that smile.

  86. batmatt
    batmatt
    June 24, 2016 at 10:02 am | #

    Even though the art in this strip is very simple, I liked it a lot. I really like your style Willis, but for some reason this strip looks really good.

  87. Nagzilla
    Nagzilla
    June 24, 2016 at 10:46 am | #

    Long time reader, first time commenter. Just wanted to say today’s alt text made me happy. That is all.

  88. wakeangel2001
    wakeangel2001
    June 24, 2016 at 1:09 pm | #

    looks like she finished detoxing and is getting used to feeling sober after who knows how long

  89. PomperaFirpa
    PomperaFirpa
    June 24, 2016 at 1:53 pm | #

    Welp, based on the Neon Genisis Evangelion song reference and the people this arc is focused on, I am now officially terrified.

  90. nothri
    nothri
    June 24, 2016 at 2:33 pm | #

    Carla: “She’s fine.”

    Billie: “Of course she’s fine. Why do you think she’s my girlfriend? Now stop telling me how great she looks and tell me how she’s holding up emotionally!”

  91. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    June 24, 2016 at 2:34 pm | #

    Tomorrow: We resolve this dramatic tension by checking in on La Porte!

  92. Silly Name
    Silly Name
    June 24, 2016 at 3:07 pm | #

    Well, I didn’t need my heart anyway.

  93. Roborat
    Roborat
    June 24, 2016 at 3:13 pm | #

    On first reading, I thought the way she said “I’m fine” the second time was her realizing that she actually is fine, but now I am not so sure.

  94. smylietron
    smylietron
    June 24, 2016 at 3:39 pm | #

    Carla, I swear to God you better not drop it after this, you’d better not assume your obligation’s over with and leave Ruth catatonic and Billie convinced she’s fine…

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      June 24, 2016 at 4:55 pm | #

      Her obligation is over. She has in fact gone far over and above anything she owed Billie. Who had absolutely no right to ask anything like this of Carla.

      That said, Carla’s a soft touch and concerned about Ruth. She won’t drop it.

  95. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    June 24, 2016 at 3:53 pm | #

    By the way, do we know what Carla’s shirt says besides “F”?

    • Haintsu
      Haintsu
      June 24, 2016 at 4:25 pm | #

      It’s a bomb that reads F. So, you know, a F-bomb.

  96. Tenn
    Tenn
    June 24, 2016 at 6:03 pm | #

    i’m more scared

  97. Wun Wun
    Wun Wun
    June 24, 2016 at 7:04 pm | #

    Did anyone else get the Star Wars reference when hovering over the comic? Or is everyone else too young to have seen the first Star Wars ?

  98. Spencer
    Spencer
    June 24, 2016 at 8:01 pm | #

    Considering how bad Ruth’s depression has gotten, the sudden swing to complete numbness (and that fucking smile jfc), and the next chapter’s title implying a significant lack of glowering…

    …I’m seriously wondering if we’re going to actually see Ruth attempt suicide.

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      June 24, 2016 at 8:07 pm | #

      Actually, that’s probably not gonna happen. Ruth doesn’t want to kill herself, she just considers it an inevitability.

      Considering that preview with a super pissed off Carla, I’m wondering if this here was her trying to get Billie off her back, and then she goes and informs the college that Ruth actually is in serious danger.

  99. Stacyswirl
    Stacyswirl
    June 24, 2016 at 8:18 pm | #

    Best alt-text ever.

  100. Dara
    Dara
    June 24, 2016 at 10:14 pm | #

    she’s not fine, she’s got tiny-eyes-and-mouth meme, that’s terrible!

  101. Luzahn
    Luzahn
    June 24, 2016 at 10:29 pm | #

    But…the smile looks so adorable.

  102. Onion
    Onion
    July 7, 2016 at 3:36 am | #

    Her smile in the third panel is so simplistic it’s unnerving. Like a Lego face on a human face.

Who should be the default doodle for Book 14?

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  • Polls Archive
CONVENTION APPEARANCES


May 3, 2025 - FCBD @ Laughing Ogre Comics in Columbus, Ohio

David M Willis! avatar
David M Willis!
@damnyouwillis.bsky.social
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 5h
help I had a big yawny stretch after I got into bed and threw out my back
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 6h
Dumbing of Age: "Dotty" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Dotty
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reposted by David M Willis!
brandyjensen.bsky.social's user avatar
Brandy Jensen @brandyjensen.bsky.social ⋅ 13h
fuck off
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 11h
Phew, they made NoHo Hank wear pants.
A McFarlane Toys action figure of Metamorpho, from James Gunn's Superman movie.  He's wearing pants.
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 11h
where's my hour loop of Vader fist-dancing
preternia.com's user avatarpreternia @preternia.com ⋅ 16h
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
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reposted by David M Willis!
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Ryan North @ryannorth.ca ⋅ 16h
hey, FANTASTIC FOUR got an Eisner nomination for best ongoing series!! I think this news is... really great! Fantastic even :0
the cover of FF #1 featuring some beautiful art of said Fantastic Four
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 13h
oh no, new content over at the nsfw patreon joe introduces joyce to fingers that aren't breaded chicken www.patreon.com/posts/joe-fi...
tastefully cropped art of joe and joyce discovering the joys of fingers
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 13h
I may have to pin this
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
#relatable
header image - a man in a hospital gown says
media.tenor.com
a man in a hospital gown says " stop pooping " to another man
ALT: a man in a hospital gown says " stop pooping " to another man
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reposted by David M Willis!
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OSMOTE @osmote.net ⋅ 1d
Screenshot of Jonathan Frakes on the set of Beyond Belief
brendelbored.bsky.social's user avatarBrendel @brendelbored.bsky.social ⋅ 1y
Politico: Ever been slapped by breasts?
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com ⋅ 1d
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the
government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts. Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset. See Trump v. United States,
603 U.S. 593, 630 (2024).
joshgerstein.bsky.social's user avatarJosh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com

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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Dumbing of Age: "Up, continued" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomic #webcomics
www.dumbingofage.com
Up, continued
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reposted by David M Willis!
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The Onion @theonion.com ⋅ 1d
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore. theonion.com/you-can...
header image - You Can’t Even Watch A Movie Anymore Without Seeing Some Theme Explored
theonion.com
You Can’t Even Watch A Movie Anymore Without Seeing Some Theme Explored
I’ve loved movies ever since I was a little kid. Just stepping into that dark theater, with the smell of fresh popcorn, was like being transported to a whole other world. It used to be so magical. But now I’m thinking about boycotting movies altogether. Why? Because I can’t seem to watch one anymore without […]
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
GOTTEM
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reposted by David M Willis!
parsnip.bsky.social's user avatar
geoffrey @parsnip.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
the 90s were a wild time. if i told you how many magazines there were you wouldnt even believe me
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7580
 
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aubreygilleran.bsky.social's user avatar
Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908. "You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
atrupar.com's user avatarAaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
1984 calendar meme reading 1529, the year of the first Ottoman siege of Vienna
spavel.bsky.social's user avatarPavel🐀 @spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
Who can forget the Swiss-Austrian Union, or its famous capital - Istanbul.
AI generated ad by a company called Travello showing the 10 most visited cities in Europe, except the cities are hilariously poorly placed. London is in Wales, Paris is in Ireland, Rome is in France, Rom (yes like Rome but without an E) is in Spain, Barcelona is in Morocco, Prague is in Germany, Vienna is in Italy, Istanbul is in Austria, Milan is in Libya, and Antalya is correctly shown as in Turkey but is in the wrong place. Also a few of the borders like Switzerland and Austria or Hungary and Slovenia are missing.
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
*at the very end of Andor, cassian travels through a vortex that makes everyone look a decade younger*
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
(May 14, 2026)
a bemused lucy watches as somebody collapses on her dorm room floor
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Dumbing of Age: "Up" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic #dofa
www.dumbingofage.com
Up
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
i mean i... guess there are people who want toy-accurate hyper-articulated original-toy-look guys but in cartoon colors for some reason
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Fuck you, Clayface!!!
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
www.ebay.com/itm/23609982... selling my LG34 Mindwipe, minus Servant
header image - Transformers Generations TakaraTomy Legends LG34 Wipe (Mindwipe), incomplete | eBay
www.ebay.com
Transformers Generations TakaraTomy Legends LG34 Wipe (Mindwipe), incomplete | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Transformers Generations TakaraTomy Legends LG34 Wipe (Mindwipe), incomplete at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many pro...
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Menace Level: up to date on his vaccinations
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Today in #9ChickweedLane I learned Gran is back from the grave so she can jerk it to furry porn with her daughter
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
www.ebay.com/itm/23609184... 5 hours left on my 4-jet titans return tidal wave
header image - Transformers Siege on Cybertron Titans Return Tidal Wave incomplete, restickered | eBay
www.ebay.com
Transformers Siege on Cybertron Titans Return Tidal Wave incomplete, restickered | eBay
Check out those stickers. They make him look pretty great, actually. That aircraft carrier mode shines. Tidal Wave is loose and incomplete! So there's only four (4) jets!
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
confirming that the reason there's been no Galaxy Version female characters in Blokees until now is that they felt they needed to make Round Lady Thighs For Ladies
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Dumbing of Age: "For you" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
For you
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
y'know there's not an awful lot of rocketeering in The Rocketeer
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