Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
Godslave
Meaghan Carter
Edith has been thrown into the dangerous world of modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and dealing with family drama of godly proportions.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
Caramel Corn
Potchimew
Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Ghost Junk Sickness
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
Between Failures
Jackie Wohlenhaus
The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
Devil's Candy
Rem, Bikkuri
A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Cut Time
Juby
Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Fireweeds Moors
Gato Iberico
A cat-headed man and a girl with a sandwich hankering accidentally end up in a myth-infused country where magic chalices are a really big thing.
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
The Sanity Circus
Windy
Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Go Get a Roomie
Clover
Experience the queer journey of an upbeat hippie and the friendships she makes along the way! A tale of self-discovery and love of many forms.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Jailbird
Charlie Davis
An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Paranatural
Zack Morrison
Superpowered middle schoolers fight evil spirits in their rural hometown. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast, the creatures, and the mystery that ties them all together!
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
The Automan's Daughter
Mike Stamm
Aisha Osman and her uncle Siddig outwit bikers, spies and kidnappers while gearing up for a showdown with the formidable Widowmaker mecha.
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
Dog Rates is a twitter that posts pictures of dogs and then “rates” them on a scale of 1-10.
All the dogs score above 10, because “they’re all good dogs.” “Bront” did not appreciate the humor in this.
I think what Joe is comparing himself to Brent/Bront, as a person who believed that there should be a serious 1-10 rating of something. He recognizes now that there really isn’t any value in that.
Okay, now explain to me exactly what letter substitution scheme turns “Brent” into “Bront”, but also turns “Joe” into “Jor”. Otherwise I’m gonna be up all night trying to figure out the code.
It’s not a fixed/constant substitution. I’ve seen other refs to the meme with all kinds of other ways of deliberately misspelling/getting the name wrong.
Dog Rates always mispells the name when answering a troll or hater like Brant. It wasn’t the first time they did something like that, just the one that went viral.
I am very happy with this. I don’t exactly ship it,but both of them need some interactions that are radically different from what they have become accustomed to, and having that with each other is helpful for both of them.
Specifically, it always rates every dog 12/10 or higher, and when someone named Brent complained, the guy who runs it replied “they’re good dogs, bront”
I enjoy wearing shirts with labels. I have two that I made, both of which make people varying levels of uncomfortable, so that’s fun.
I’d wear a “Nerd” shirt too.
That’s cool. I make my shirts by cutting the letters out of the front of a t-shirt and then attaching fabric to the inside so that the letters show in that pattern/color. I’m not that great at making them exactly, but I think it’s a cool style.
These two could learn a lot from each other. Amber could do with not taking herself so seriously. And Joe could do with more soul consuming rage and self loathing.
I’m pretty sure a photographic memory does not enable you to remember things you weren’t actually there for. Unless the photograph is taken by, like, that camera from that one episode of The Twilight Zone.
The next time she wore the nerd shirt after that (she had worn it the previous day, but we’ll ignore that) was Book 6 Chapter 3: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/parkour-2/ Joe is not seen that day other than much later back in his & Danny’s room. It is a Saturday, and Amber was doing a fair amount of running around, so it is entirely feasible that Joe saw her in the shirt off-panel at some point this day.
It’s also entirely possible she wore it while visiting Danny or that Joe’s seen her around since they’re on the same dorm floor and he’s been known to creep around the girl’s wing.
I have high hopes for Joe. He’s in a vulnerable spot right now, hurt, and questioning his conception of the world, and his place within it. It’s the perfect time to mold him into a weapon against the very misogyny he once perpetrated. Those who feel that they have something to atone for always fight harder. Amber might be the perfect teacher for him.
I am a feminist and a card-carryng SJW(tm), and yet still this post sounds creepy to me. Social justice warrior is one thing, social justice weapon is another.
And I can’t quite tell if this is meant as a joke 0.o
1) IIRC from Shortpacked, Joe is a closeted nerd himself. Plus he knows memes.
2) People like Amber seem to think women are invisible to him if he’s not trying to sleep with them. He’s actually pretty attentive, and Amber has been at least tangentially part of his social circle.
3) I know he exaggerated his sexual prowess, but I think he did have some success besides, Roz, and he certainly texted with Joyce well enough. So I think he does know quite well how to talk to women — vs. Dina’s ability to converse with people in general — and is suffering insecurity due to recent upheaval. He may have to unlearn a habit of talking to women with his “sex game” on, but having done so, he *knows* how to talk to people.
I think the problem is his new awareness of how his “sex game” drives everything he does. So now he is constantly doubting every thing he does. Like a newly woke, he is worried about stepping on toes that he previously never saw.
I wouldn’t call that a problem. He never saw anything wrong with how he was acting before, so he SHOULD be questioning all of his behavior, as well as his judgement about what is or isn’t appropriate.
He’s got a lot of stuff to relearn. The self doubt is natural. It’ll go away as he gets more practice at being a people
Yeah! His newfound caution is very appropriate, as he examines and reevaluates all his actions ever. I also appreciate his new willingness to learn from others, even when it’s very uncomfortable for him, because he doesn’t want to hurt people like Joyce anymore. Go character-development-Joe, go!
Joe’s caution around not dehumanizing women is a good analog to Joyce’s caution around her overt religiosity/homophobia after she figured out what was wrong with that.
I did have to go through a similar phase myself on racism once I left the town I grew up in (literally 98% white) because being brought up in a racist town by parents who were in a political movement also heavily populated by white supremacists (i.e., right-wing libertarianism – my folks themselves are not active white supremacists, but they’re the kind of people for whom white supremacy isn’t a deal breaker to their associations so long as you don’t go after any of their friends directly) so I had some seriously screwy beliefs on race and racism, and once I realized how screwy they were, I went through a similar period of over-caution on that one.
It’s less a sense of “I don’t know how to talk to people and am terrible” and more a sense of “I obviously don’t know what I don’t know about what is offensive here.” Being extra cautious not out of a sense of self-loathing (neither Joe nor Joyce have much issue in that area) but out of a sense of consideration for other humans.
Joe’s thought process right now is probably: “The thing I didn’t even think about before is apparently really hurtful, so what if other things I don’t think about are also really hurtful and people have just been playing along all this time?”
Or, he noticed her wearing a shirt which said “nerd” on it. Either way, he’s doing well here, and the fact that he’s gotten Amber talking again is doing a lot towards getting him off of my shit list
Considering that he didn’t expect to meet women in the computer science building, the nerd t-Shirt on a women just might have stuck to his memory because it was unexpected.
…I never thought I’d say this, but now I actually want more Joe. These Joe and Amber interactions are so good. And I don’t know why. All I know is that I need more.
I wouldn’t worry about it. The internet has been a thing for about thirty years, which is practically three hundred (if not more) in internet years, so there are going to be memes and moments people weren’t around for. Or literally even alive, which is a weird goddamn feeling tbqh.
Yep. It makes for a well-rounded community, and (for us introverts) a way to pick up on something without asking out loud in front of the whole class.
I learnt this here, and in return I leave behind something from my interests. Now, who wants to learn about pre-Code era Hollywood and German Expressionism?
Wow, I didn’t have anything prepared. Okay, here’s one:
Marlene Dietrich stars in Morocco, made in 1930. She’s wearing a tuxedo, and looks incredible in it. Almost 9 decades ago. The significance of that was not lost on people who, because of legal dangers, had to be underground for many aspects of their lives.
I don’t think he plays a sport, but he’s certainly built like a guy who does. He might be more of a frat boy without a frat, if I’m not confusing my broad stereotypes.
I’ve got the impression that this is the most enjoyable conversation that Amber has had in at least a week. I wonder how long it will be before she realises that she’s enjoying spending time in Joe’s company and will freak out?
Well in all fairness, promiscuous men are often called “dogs”. (Damn dog you hit that!?)
And aggressive and/or annoying women are called “bongoes”. (You stupid bongo (bongo being a female dog))
Ehhh… the censorship bot really shouldn’t react to this. (Context matters)
But I get it would be annoying to program context. (Maybe let the mods deal with it instead?)
On this site, some often irl used derogative words are automatically rewritten. Putting all that shit on moderation would be an incredible waste of time. I’d rather Willis put his time to creating comics and doing enjoyable stuff that waste his time on slurs.
I don’t mind people swearing but slurs referencing parts of the anatomy or sexual behavior used in a non-sexual context are something I really hate. And I usually peg people who do as “not worth knowing better” – at best.
I’m not sure if an actual definition is appropriate here, but ‘pegging’ is the name for a particular kind of sex act. Google or urbandictionary will give you more details.
Uh, I *think* ellegos meant literally ‘bongo’, not the female dog. (Discussing word filters gets confusing!
…btw, Gaia, your original point doesn’t make Joe’s mistake any better, it just explains part of *why* it was a mistake. Referring to women as female dogs is derogatory. He’s trying to stop doing shit like that.
Wait, how is “bongo” relevant to parts of the anatomy or sexual behavior? It’s a word replacement for the one that means “female dog”.
Last I checked, I neither have a bongo, nor can I do the bongo in bed. (Well, I guess I could do the latter, but you can do just about anything in bed.)
Though it would be cool if it was smart enough to not make the substitution when actually talking about female dogs. Much, much harder to program, but cool.
A while back it was used excessively, hence why Willis introduced the censorship bot. Context may matter in casual conversations, but to the degree it was being used at the time, having mods deal with it simple wasn’t worth the effort.
Personally, I find the use of bongo to replace ‘the word which is derived from female dogs’ more disturbing because I’ve seen bongo be used as a derogatory racial slur for people of colour.
To be fair, I grew up in a place with only a few hundred people and the nearest city having scarcely fifty-thousand inhabitants, so it’s probably not very widespread. But your first thought was sort of the point. It was a derogatory slur denouncing people of colour as primitives who contribute nothing to society and spend all day playing bongo drums.
I see. That sort of makes sense. As an origin for how the word was used as a slur I mean.
Race is probably the area I’m still fuzziest on- I manage to avoid actual racism I think (a small miracle growing up with racist parents and a not very diverse town) but I still have quite a hefty amount of ignorance around matters of race and racial experiences. So I appreciate little bits of information like that, thank you.
No problem. I’m pretty ignorant on such matters myself too. I didn’t even really start reflecting on my own ignorance and the importance of words I grew up around until I made a habit of reading Cerberus’ reviews of DoA.
Semi-related, why do we call non-whites people of color anyway, it’s us white folks that change color all the time. (If it’s cold we become blue or red, when it’s hot we become red, when we are in the sun to much we become brown..etc etc)
So shouldn’t white people be “people of color” ?
Also never heard “bongo” as slur. (Though anything can be a slur if you use it right i suppose)
Holy eff, get out. Color refers natural skin color and/or ethnicity. You’re still white folk when you’re cold, aren’t you? Or do you turn into a Native American?
I’m really more of a pale peach colour myself or as one fictional character would put it, “spotted”, because I have lots of freckles.
(and apparently the irish weren’t even considered “white” until sometime in the last… century or something? despite being so pale. it really was a BS system from the start)
I dunno, the way it’s explained under the first comment thread is almost perfect for this context…guy thinks a concrete, 1-10 rating is necessary/appropriate, and that idea is dismissed and set aside with the comment “they’re all good dogs, Brent” by someone who prefers to recognize the unique awesome in ALL of the ‘ranked’ parties.
Personally, as a female bodied person, I feel like being compared to the most life enriching, loyal, loving and overall perfect creature is an extremely good compliment
Loading ...
Why are you so mad Bront
Alt-text JINX
DANGIT
I admit; I don’t get the reference. Anyone want to help out?
It’s a reference to this
I’m… still confused.
Did they take down the site after that exchange? Otherwise, how does it relate to this strip?
i think it’s about how the dude just accepted he’d been a jerk afterward and leaned into his role as Bront
admittedly, it’s a pretty different scenario
Dog Rates is a twitter that posts pictures of dogs and then “rates” them on a scale of 1-10.
All the dogs score above 10, because “they’re all good dogs.” “Bront” did not appreciate the humor in this.
I think what Joe is comparing himself to Brent/Bront, as a person who believed that there should be a serious 1-10 rating of something. He recognizes now that there really isn’t any value in that.
Ah, that makes sense. Thanks.
Thanks for sticking with your pursuit. I didn’t have a clue either.
lol
Okay, now explain to me exactly what letter substitution scheme turns “Brent” into “Bront”, but also turns “Joe” into “Jor”. Otherwise I’m gonna be up all night trying to figure out the code.
It’s not a fixed/constant substitution. I’ve seen other refs to the meme with all kinds of other ways of deliberately misspelling/getting the name wrong.
So… like a one-time pad?
or, to put it another way, part of the joke is that the guy gets “Brent” wrong a different way every time, over and over.
I mean, the correct spelling appears to be “Brant”, soooooooo.
Yeah, Jamie’s got it. How do people keep missing the proper spelling? Or is his own name on Twitter a joke he made?
The scheme is: Change a vowel to another letter that forms a valid-sounding name.
Dog Rates always mispells the name when answering a troll or hater like Brant. It wasn’t the first time they did something like that, just the one that went viral.
it’s a phonetic shift, not a letter-based cypher. you have to, like, HEAR it.
Thanks to this comic I’m now following @dog_rates on twitter.
These two play off each other better than I would have expected
I feel like at least part of my brain should be rebelling against this, but I’m actually really liking how this is going so far
I am very happy with this. I don’t exactly ship it,but both of them need some interactions that are radically different from what they have become accustomed to, and having that with each other is helpful for both of them.
i friend-ship it.
I totally don’t get the reference here, but I’m still loving this exchange loads
It’s a reference to a twitter that rates dogs.
Specifically, it always rates every dog 12/10 or higher, and when someone named Brent complained, the guy who runs it replied “they’re good dogs, bront”
and that became a meme.
It was so pure, so beautiful, of a reply, that I had to follow Dog Rates immediately. A year later, I haven’t regretted it.
The reference.
(Top hit on google, btw.)
Grah. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/theyre-good-dogs-brent
Dead Link.
Amber needs a break from feeling sorry for herself. Irritation may be a good outlet.
She can turn the anger outwards or inwards. Two settings!
Hey now, Amber’s more complicated than that. She can do both simultaneously!
True!
(In fairness, she has a lot to be angry about… plus her best method for dealing with anger proved very problematic, so here we are.)
“Anger turned inward is depression, anger turned sideways is Hawkeye”- Sidney Freedman
I enjoy wearing shirts with labels. I have two that I made, both of which make people varying levels of uncomfortable, so that’s fun.
I’d wear a “Nerd” shirt too.
Unfortunately, only one person I met got the joke on my nerd t-shirt. It was really disenheartening.
It took me a minute or two to get the joke, too.
Cool shirt.
I hate it when people get jokes on my shirt. So careless! And they never really wash out unless you use stain remover.
Also, cool shirt. There are people in the world who get it quickly and think it’s funny. (I also recently recognized a DNA base on a shirt.)
I think we’ve talked about this before, but while I get the joke, I probably wouldn’t acknowledge it in real life.
No, admit it.
Nerds and geeks need to support each other.
See, that’s why I wouldn’t acknowledge getting it, because my reaction wouldn’t be support.
If only one person got the joke, maybe you’re hanging around the wrong people.
I would have laughed and congratulated you on the shirt.
Math jokes are the best jokes.
That shirt is just too complex
But the right part is quite real.
custom shirts can even be art. Some are displayed in galleries.
http://susanbarnett.com/
That’s cool. I make my shirts by cutting the letters out of the front of a t-shirt and then attaching fabric to the inside so that the letters show in that pattern/color. I’m not that great at making them exactly, but I think it’s a cool style.
ooh, that’s a good way to use up scraps of old shirt, too.
I have a few I haven’t wanted to part with despite all the holes…
These two could learn a lot from each other. Amber could do with not taking herself so seriously. And Joe could do with more soul consuming rage and self loathing.
I’ll add Amber ♦Joe to the shipping chart.
And now I’m picturing Joe hanging from a zip-line while having sex, thanks…
(No I’ve never read anything from slipshine, shut up!)
I got really confused before remembering that Homestuck shipping terminology is not as universal as it should be.
Rest assured that’s not a thing that would happen in this dynamic. Maybe cuddling on a pile of superhero gadgets.
Well…it’s a start.
Joe can say that about the (actual Amber ) Nerd shirt without sounding like a jerk? That’s progress.
Is Joe secretly a robot learning to be a human?
well lets look. has he ever broken the three laws of robotics?
Depends how you define harm, I suppose.
Pretty sure he HAS broken the second law.
No, Joe is nothing like Tommy Wiseau
Indi-star-ana
(ffft I don’t even know.)
*cues up a cut from White & Nerdy on the hacked Muzak*
Perfection, as usual, mr. dj
Jor is aware, and he is trying.
Stage 3?
Insecurely human Joe is unexpectedly the best Joe. But I still ship him with Joyce.
Well, duh. Getting together with a possible stepsister would just be awkward. Not out of character for Joe, but awkward.
Thankfully this is is not the manga Marmalade Boy, which is the embodiment of Just That Thing happening.
Apparently, it is also the plot of approximately 17.43% of porn.
conversations can be hard. i think have a roomie that is invisible a lot of the time doesn’t help amber with that right now.
Someone can go see if there’s a strip where Amber wears her ‘nerd’ shirt in Joe’s presence.
Doesn’t exist, at least not with both Joe and Amber tagged.
Not hard to imagine him noticing it off-panel, though.
Which really speaks to his observation skills. He has a damn near photographic memory when it comes to women.
I’m pretty sure a photographic memory does not enable you to remember things you weren’t actually there for. Unless the photograph is taken by, like, that camera from that one episode of The Twilight Zone.
Joe met Amber way back in book 1 chapter 5.
The next time she wore the nerd shirt after that (she had worn it the previous day, but we’ll ignore that) was Book 6 Chapter 3: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/parkour-2/ Joe is not seen that day other than much later back in his & Danny’s room. It is a Saturday, and Amber was doing a fair amount of running around, so it is entirely feasible that Joe saw her in the shirt off-panel at some point this day.
The shirt has not appeared on-screen since.
It’s also entirely possible she wore it while visiting Danny or that Joe’s seen her around since they’re on the same dorm floor and he’s been known to creep around the girl’s wing.
I have high hopes for Joe. He’s in a vulnerable spot right now, hurt, and questioning his conception of the world, and his place within it. It’s the perfect time to mold him into a weapon against the very misogyny he once perpetrated. Those who feel that they have something to atone for always fight harder. Amber might be the perfect teacher for him.
I am a feminist and a card-carryng SJW(tm), and yet still this post sounds creepy to me. Social justice warrior is one thing, social justice weapon is another.
And I can’t quite tell if this is meant as a joke 0.o
Well it’s a start at least.
1) IIRC from Shortpacked, Joe is a closeted nerd himself. Plus he knows memes.
2) People like Amber seem to think women are invisible to him if he’s not trying to sleep with them. He’s actually pretty attentive, and Amber has been at least tangentially part of his social circle.
3) I know he exaggerated his sexual prowess, but I think he did have some success besides, Roz, and he certainly texted with Joyce well enough. So I think he does know quite well how to talk to women — vs. Dina’s ability to converse with people in general — and is suffering insecurity due to recent upheaval. He may have to unlearn a habit of talking to women with his “sex game” on, but having done so, he *knows* how to talk to people.
I think the problem is his new awareness of how his “sex game” drives everything he does. So now he is constantly doubting every thing he does. Like a newly woke, he is worried about stepping on toes that he previously never saw.
I wouldn’t call that a problem. He never saw anything wrong with how he was acting before, so he SHOULD be questioning all of his behavior, as well as his judgement about what is or isn’t appropriate.
He’s got a lot of stuff to relearn. The self doubt is natural. It’ll go away as he gets more practice at being a people
Yeah! His newfound caution is very appropriate, as he examines and reevaluates all his actions ever. I also appreciate his new willingness to learn from others, even when it’s very uncomfortable for him, because he doesn’t want to hurt people like Joyce anymore. Go character-development-Joe, go!
Joe’s caution around not dehumanizing women is a good analog to Joyce’s caution around her overt religiosity/homophobia after she figured out what was wrong with that.
I did have to go through a similar phase myself on racism once I left the town I grew up in (literally 98% white) because being brought up in a racist town by parents who were in a political movement also heavily populated by white supremacists (i.e., right-wing libertarianism – my folks themselves are not active white supremacists, but they’re the kind of people for whom white supremacy isn’t a deal breaker to their associations so long as you don’t go after any of their friends directly) so I had some seriously screwy beliefs on race and racism, and once I realized how screwy they were, I went through a similar period of over-caution on that one.
It’s less a sense of “I don’t know how to talk to people and am terrible” and more a sense of “I obviously don’t know what I don’t know about what is offensive here.” Being extra cautious not out of a sense of self-loathing (neither Joe nor Joyce have much issue in that area) but out of a sense of consideration for other humans.
Joe’s thought process right now is probably: “The thing I didn’t even think about before is apparently really hurtful, so what if other things I don’t think about are also really hurtful and people have just been playing along all this time?”
I literally was not aware of this meme until this strip.
nor was I, although I had seen We Rate Dogs
There are so many memes out there.
Well, I learned about a meme today.
Also, I’m with Amber – the thought did cross my mind that Joe equated women with dogs.
Then you’re reading too much into it
Good meme reference, Joh
Well, he does seem to genuinely be trying. And he knows Amber pretty well.
Or, he noticed her wearing a shirt which said “nerd” on it. Either way, he’s doing well here, and the fact that he’s gotten Amber talking again is doing a lot towards getting him off of my shit list
Considering that he didn’t expect to meet women in the computer science building, the nerd t-Shirt on a women just might have stuck to his memory because it was unexpected.
…I never thought I’d say this, but now I actually want more Joe. These Joe and Amber interactions are so good. And I don’t know why. All I know is that I need more.
I must be really out of touch, I don’t get the reference -at all-. Anyone want to help a confused guy?
Just scroll up and read the comments explaining it
I almost feel worse for knowing this meme so well, seeing how many people have better things to do than be familiar with it.
I wouldn’t worry about it. The internet has been a thing for about thirty years, which is practically three hundred (if not more) in internet years, so there are going to be memes and moments people weren’t around for. Or literally even alive, which is a weird goddamn feeling tbqh.
Yep. It makes for a well-rounded community, and (for us introverts) a way to pick up on something without asking out loud in front of the whole class.
I learnt this here, and in return I leave behind something from my interests. Now, who wants to learn about pre-Code era Hollywood and German Expressionism?
*raises hand timidly*
Wow, I didn’t have anything prepared. Okay, here’s one:
Marlene Dietrich stars in Morocco, made in 1930. She’s wearing a tuxedo, and looks incredible in it. Almost 9 decades ago. The significance of that was not lost on people who, because of legal dangers, had to be underground for many aspects of their lives.
http://c8.alamy.com/comp/ENN8T6/morocco-usa-1930-aka-marokko-regie-joseph-von-sternberg-darsteller-ENN8T6.jpg
I like this. May we have more?
Certainly. Here’s where, in all my honest fandom, I have to step back and throw it to folks with more expertise than I do. Useful starting places:
Expressionism: https://mubi.com/lists/german-expressionism-the-world-of-light-and-shadow
Pre-code: http://pre-code.com/community/
Here’s where I don’t pretend to more expertise than people who have geeked out about this greater than I have.
For pre-Code, try http://pre-code.com/community/.
German Expressionism, from Dr. Caligari, to Metropolis, and beyond:
http://www.filminquiry.com/german-expressionism/
I don’t have anything better to do, and I’m still not familiar with it.
They’re good memes, TemporalShrew
Joe a jock? Seriously?
I don’t think he plays a sport, but he’s certainly built like a guy who does. He might be more of a frat boy without a frat, if I’m not confusing my broad stereotypes.
Well he has been putting quite a lot of effort into athletic activity.
hey-o!
PUPPY DOR… PUPPY JOE!!!!
brunt
FCA!
I’ve got the impression that this is the most enjoyable conversation that Amber has had in at least a week. I wonder how long it will be before she realises that she’s enjoying spending time in Joe’s company and will freak out?
Well in all fairness, promiscuous men are often called “dogs”. (Damn dog you hit that!?)
And aggressive and/or annoying women are called “bongoes”. (You stupid bongo (bongo being a female dog))
Ehhh… the censorship bot really shouldn’t react to this. (Context matters)
But I get it would be annoying to program context. (Maybe let the mods deal with it instead?)
On this site, some often irl used derogative words are automatically rewritten. Putting all that shit on moderation would be an incredible waste of time. I’d rather Willis put his time to creating comics and doing enjoyable stuff that waste his time on slurs.
On the other hand, “Bongo” is swiftly becoming my favorite word to use in anger IRL.
I don’t mind people swearing but slurs referencing parts of the anatomy or sexual behavior used in a non-sexual context are something I really hate. And I usually peg people who do as “not worth knowing better” – at best.
‘Peg’ possibly not the best word to use in that context then.
I’m not a native speaker. What about that word?
I’m not sure if an actual definition is appropriate here, but ‘pegging’ is the name for a particular kind of sex act. Google or urbandictionary will give you more details.
Uh, I *think* ellegos meant literally ‘bongo’, not the female dog. (Discussing word filters gets confusing!
…btw, Gaia, your original point doesn’t make Joe’s mistake any better, it just explains part of *why* it was a mistake. Referring to women as female dogs is derogatory. He’s trying to stop doing shit like that.
Wait, how is “bongo” relevant to parts of the anatomy or sexual behavior? It’s a word replacement for the one that means “female dog”.
Last I checked, I neither have a bongo, nor can I do the bongo in bed. (Well, I guess I could do the latter, but you can do just about anything in bed.)
this filter never stops being funny.
On the contrary, it’s working perfectly.
Though it would be cool if it was smart enough to not make the substitution when actually talking about female dogs. Much, much harder to program, but cool.
A while back it was used excessively, hence why Willis introduced the censorship bot. Context may matter in casual conversations, but to the degree it was being used at the time, having mods deal with it simple wasn’t worth the effort.
Personally, I find the use of bongo to replace ‘the word which is derived from female dogs’ more disturbing because I’ve seen bongo be used as a derogatory racial slur for people of colour.
…huh. I didn’t know that. My knowledge didn’t go beyond “a type of drum”.
Maybe it should be kettle. Or snare. Probably not box though…
To be fair, I grew up in a place with only a few hundred people and the nearest city having scarcely fifty-thousand inhabitants, so it’s probably not very widespread. But your first thought was sort of the point. It was a derogatory slur denouncing people of colour as primitives who contribute nothing to society and spend all day playing bongo drums.
I see. That sort of makes sense. As an origin for how the word was used as a slur I mean.
Race is probably the area I’m still fuzziest on- I manage to avoid actual racism I think (a small miracle growing up with racist parents and a not very diverse town) but I still have quite a hefty amount of ignorance around matters of race and racial experiences. So I appreciate little bits of information like that, thank you.
No problem. I’m pretty ignorant on such matters myself too. I didn’t even really start reflecting on my own ignorance and the importance of words I grew up around until I made a habit of reading Cerberus’ reviews of DoA.
Semi-related, why do we call non-whites people of color anyway, it’s us white folks that change color all the time. (If it’s cold we become blue or red, when it’s hot we become red, when we are in the sun to much we become brown..etc etc)
So shouldn’t white people be “people of color” ?
Also never heard “bongo” as slur. (Though anything can be a slur if you use it right i suppose)
Holy eff, get out. Color refers natural skin color and/or ethnicity. You’re still white folk when you’re cold, aren’t you? Or do you turn into a Native American?
Not to jump in the middle of something, but I _think_ Gaia was making a joke there. (At least that’s how I read it.)
Nooh! I was seriously suggesting we start a campaign to change the definition of “People of color”. :3
Also PlOx, yes every time I’m hot I become native american, just like I become middle eastern when in the sun to long.
Do not diminish and take it away from the ACTUAL people of color who have already claimed this phrase. I am seriously saying this.
I’m really more of a pale peach colour myself
or as one fictional character would put it, “spotted”, because I have lots of freckles. 
(and apparently the irish weren’t even considered “white” until sometime in the last… century or something? despite being so pale. it really was a BS system from the start)
…and to be clear, yes I know I still get white privilege, I’m just making fun of the name.
Thank you for pointing out that a censorship bot exists here. I thought you had actually typed the word ‘bongo’ originally, and was very confused.
Just don’t try to talk about what last Tuesday meant to you.
Jor, last name rosEnthaL… It is all clear now! Joe is Clark’s father!
What is this normal conversation thing you speak of ?
that’s not how that meme works :/
I dunno, the way it’s explained under the first comment thread is almost perfect for this context…guy thinks a concrete, 1-10 rating is necessary/appropriate, and that idea is dismissed and set aside with the comment “they’re all good dogs, Brent” by someone who prefers to recognize the unique awesome in ALL of the ‘ranked’ parties.
Joe just happens to be playing the part of ‘We Rate Dogs’ as well as being ‘Brant’.
It’s a little disturbing how many people don’t get the reference
is it really?
“Disturbing” is a strong word to use to describe people having not heard of a particular meme.
Anything I know is obvious. Anything I can do is easy. Any effort I have put into these things is to be ignored to maximize my mocking of newbies.
14/10
*Whistles*
Personally, as a female bodied person, I feel like being compared to the most life enriching, loyal, loving and overall perfect creature is an extremely good compliment
I really appreciate the growth that Joe’s been showing lately! He’s got a long way to go, but he’s taking the first steps.
This conversation is ambrosia to my soul