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Well, you never know, Joe might eventually discover some kind of crazy middle ground between being a complete dick and swearing off all romantic and sexual relationships forever.
Does he really want to be wearing a shirt that might be advertising that he’s into bones while exercising around other guys if he’s that worried about it?
Ooo, their exercise room has nicer equipment than my dorm’s did. Of course, we’ve only seen one machine; the exercise room we had only had a few, so if they only have a couple of things, they may be equal.
Our dorm exercise rooms were closed, I believe because someone had hurt themselves. In the middle of winter, walking the quarter mile to the gym, I missed them…
At the university I attended about twenty years ago, the student housing didn’t have their own and instead there was one in the student union building where those of us who didn’t live on campus could also access it. Because it was centralized, it had reasonable facilities to get a solid workout regardless of one’s fitness goals where splitting the equipment budget across each student housing complex would have left each underwhelming in that regard.
I mean, my university was a very large school which of course had several gyms on campus. But again, it was a very large school, so similar to Deathjavu’s experience, the convenience factor of having one close by, even if it was kind of crappy, was significant. Plus the campus gyms were always packed and often full of dudebros.
(And they cost additional money, in case you weren’t paying the university enough. During my senior year, I actually got a gym membership at the city community center because I found it to be a better deal and experience.)
Gotta say I’m damn impressed they’re it as this time in the morning though, for some reason, Jacob seemed the type that would shun machines and keep it old school barbell training
So Joyce is now seeing the first guy she crushed on and the current all sweaty and muscles bulging…this could get interesting very interesting
This could indeed be a interesting time, especially to se how the two male J interacts with each other in presence of the interested (but in denial) female J who they both may be interested in.
Classical triangle love set up!
In relation to the comment about Jacob being the type to shun machines for free weights, I’ll just point out that most who do that will still use the machines if not in a situation where free weights are either reasonably safe or else not available. Joe seems like he wouldn’t be the best choice of spotter, and working with free weights, other than maybe dumbbells, at a reasonable level of weight compared to one’s strength to actually get a good workout without a solid reliable spotter is dangerous enough only someone actually crazy would do it.
eh, a squat rack or bench that’s properly adjusted (and properly using the clip thingies on the bar) is safe. I found that out the hard way when some idiot bumped into my barbell – instinct took over and dropped me straight down, the rails took the bar, and I was fine once I recovered from the shock
I suspect the real reason they’re on a machine is so Willis can fit both of them into one panel. although a gym for just one dorm is probably pretty small and neglected, so there’s no guarantee it’ll even *have* a squat rack
I bench without a spotter. When I can’t put up the weight, I roll sideways to drop one side to the ground, and then I can scoot the rest of the weight down off me by way of my hips. But the squat boxes are real life savers.
my husband’s method for that was the “roll of shame” – slowly roll the barbell down to your hips, then sit up. I don’t think my stomach could take that, though let alone my breasts the area the barbell is over, iirc, gets irritable just having an underwire pressing on it too much.
I don’t know how anyone could get that big working exclusively on machines. Perhaps he does free weight exercises, and supplements them with the machine.
machines neglect the little balance muscles that you need if you’re planning to lift real things outside the gym. otoh, this also makes them safer and simpler to use.
Oh yeah. Jacob seems pretty strict with his own routine and achievements. I’m guessing Joe was in the habit of going, bonded with Jacob there, and is there because it’s habit for them to work out together now? A workout partner can make so much difference in getting in the gym or not.
I now have the song playing in my head, which is trying to generate a gym montage to go with…. Im curious what you all think Joyce’s reaction would be watching The J Bros working out to that tune?
Makes sense. He realises that he has no idea how to get women into bed without being a disgusting sleazemonster. Until he works through that and better understands how to communicate sexually without being an arse, it absolutely makes sense to not be trying at all.
More that he thinks that if he does try to have an actual relationship with a woman, he’ll wind up like his father and hurt them even more. His sleazemonster behavior was an attempt at having sex while avoiding that. He didn’t recognize the lesser, but broader damage he was doing in the process.
It also didn’t work particularly well at getting them into bed – He was apparently mostly boasting and the only actual sex he had was with Roz and Penny – both very likely initiated by them.
While swearing off all romantic and sexual relationships may be good idea for now, given how extreme Joe was in the other direction, I don’t think it is a good idea to do long term. Trying to force yourself to the opposite end of asexuality as a form of penance is also not healthy.
Point. It is an overcorrection, which is the opposite of baby steps.
I meant baby steps on finding the right path to becoming a better person, even if the path he is on now is very much not baby steps. He is starting journey to find the path to become a better person, but now I am just getting meta.
(Also, I thought Danny was my avatar. Why did it change?)
I don’t think there’s an over in his correction. If the options are “make women feel uncomfortable” or “don’t actively try to find a sexual partner”, the latter is absolutely the better option- and, until Joe better understands how to communicate and empathise, he’s making the right call. In my opinion.
I don’t think we had exercise rooms in any of the dorms when I was in college. I never checked, but I’m pretty sure if we had any exercise rooms they were in the sports building or something.
I find it very heartwarming that, the very strip after Joyce remind us of her trauma and her fear of “Shrödinger’s rapist”, she happily skips into the gym early in the morning with Joe and Jacob. No fear here!
Yes, yes, Joe. You learnt something new about yourself. Stop being such a drama queen about it.
Drama queening is actually very common to huge realisations that challenge a person’s concept of self. He needs to re-evaluate who he is and how he behaves. It takes time and in the interim he’s allowed to make a big deal of it- because to him, it is.
I predict Joe will immediately spot Joyce flirting-but-not with Jacob, point it out to her (with some valiantly repressed jealousy?), and it will fluster or upset her. TRIANGULATED SHENANIGANS.
i hope this all leads to joyce in a polyam relationship with Jacob and post-self-work Joe so that her formerly repressed self can get all kinds of healthy dickings forever.
also I hope this comment isn’t wildly inappropriate but i just woke up and i’m not all here yet
I haven’t even seen Dr Tran in what, a decade? but that was still the first thought to show up also you forgot Jacob’s in a monogamous relationship already. and sadly I think joyce is very monogamous.
I do think that Joyce is going to have an interesting morning here. I don’t think that she’s ever really had a ‘lust’-type response to a man before – I mean totally physical attraction. Now she’s in an enclosed space with these two who are also engaged in strenuous physical activity! Meanwhle she is in her exercise clothes, which are a lot more revealing than her normal clothing. I wonder if she’ll find herself subconsciously responding to them?
But that’s before Joyce got to know both of them any better, and still had the goal to just find a husband in her college time. Now that she knows they are persons, with personality, flaws etc., she might get flustered (possibly afterwards), but that’ll be it. At least that’s my take on it, for now.
Judging by her expression, that’s not “Hello hot man-meat!” That’s, “Hello people who are my friends and thus have no reason to dislike my obnoxious cheerfulness because what sort of friend doesn’t like that!”
Prediction: Joyce kisses Jacob at the end of it. It’s entirely chaste and sisterly but it is a bit too much of a taster for Joyce’s peace of mind. That’s why she is seen in one of the preview panels from early next year apparently begging Sarah for advice.
Joyce has fantasised about sexy man bod (minus face) in the shower before. And promptly broke down crying. She HAS lust, she just represses it very hard.
I’ve been extremely interested in seeing Joyce’s relationships with both Joe and Jacob develop further, so hooray!
Also maybe J men are inherently comforting and approachable to her…?
Aw Willis but the machine is drawn REALLY well…. Like I feel like it’s its own character and it needs a name and a character photo (I would rock an excercise machine profile picture soo hard)
That grey bit of machine in front of Joe’s crotch… Are you suppose to put your knees under for resistence though? Or am I confusing this with something else
As I understand it, it’s to lock your knees under to support a correct sitting position for pushing the weights forward/up (the higher the weight, the more difficult to hold a correct position, and wrong position often equals wrong training up to even the possibility of hurting oneself).
Though I’ve personally never seen a chest-press-type of machine like that with a ‘foothold’ – those are normally at machines where you have to pull the weight down, while sitting (e.g. while training your shoulders, like with a cable pulldown machine).
Okay, I just realised we got to see most of it in the last strip anyway, my bad. But use the headband, Joyce, if you’re really going to use the treadmill, your fringes will definitely stick to your face! That’s not specifically a comfortable feeling!
Thankfully, I don’t think I had a 9 am class at uni. It didn’t help – my college career was not unlike Dave Lister’s (except I lasted more than a day):
“They had lectures, like, first thing in the afternoon! Half past twelve every day! Who’s together by then? You can still taste the toothpaste!”
Exactly. I only took a 9am class if I absolutely had to for some horrible reason. Now I’m awake every day by 7 or 8 am & all the masters classes I want to take are at 5 pm or later. Now I think that is a crazy late time.
Every man wants to be a macho man!
To have the kind of body always in demand!
Joggin’ in the mornings, go man gooo!
Workouts in the health spa, muscles grooow!
You can best believe me…
He’s a macho maaan!
Glad he took you down with anyone you can!
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Ok wow I try not to do this and silver lining that I’m commenting around the time the new strip is gonna be up so not many people will see me being an ass, but honestly there is A LOT of suspension of disbelief going on in this strip
1) The two of them being at the gym at like 5 in the morning
2) Joe going right after a night of not sleeping
3) Them working out at a dorm exercise room that has a seemingly well-equiped assortment of machines instead of a regular 24-hour gym. (I mean, the exercise room where I live has two treadmills. And one has been in repairs for the better part of the year.)
4) Joe having those guns without having developed self-discipline for himself instead of just for sex, or without liking the exercise itself.
5) Conversation in the middle of a series. You’re already short of breath, you wait until the rest period, it’s like 4 reps away anyway.
6) The line about “deafening siren call of the ladies” when basically the entire female schoolbody hates his guts
I’ve recommended this comic years past as a good read. This strip I would recommend to mock. It has the same level of coherence as a pot brownie, it just keeps on giving layers of nah, and honestly I just remembered that there’s supposed to be a punchline in there somewhere, but like in an AA meeting the punch line doesn’t exist, and it’s due to a lack of punch rather than a lack of line.
1) I know it’s an affront to nature, but somehow people actually do this
2) I think the only time I’ve ever worked out in the morning was in college, after staying up all night. You get a weird sort of second wind after a certain point.
3) IU is pretty big school that can probably afford nice amenities like a proper workout room
4) I dunno, given my experience with bros, I find it entirely believable that the only self-discipline Joe has developed is directly tied into both masculinity and attempting to get laid
5) Adding more grunting and heavy breathing to the dialog to make it seem more realistic would result in the panels being completely covered by word balloons
6) It’s Joe and nobody has duct taped his mouth shut. It would be out of character if nothing awful escaped. Pulling his head out of his ass will be an awkward, painful, and lengthy process, if that helps any
Also, I’m pretty sure that the punchline is the arrival of the one girl still talking to Joe, who also happens to be the ONE girl that he stopped trying to bang.
Most conversations in comic strips make more sense than most real conversations do. Every once in a while a comic strip conversation sounds as fragmented as real conversation does (when you record and transcribe it) and this is the result.
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Joyce and Joe are destined to do this dance forever
I like the term “augmenting my wares” for working out and I will henceforth do my best to work it in to my day to day life.
The word or the deed?
Damn, which capitalisation gave me Sal?
Browsers need a “clear all cookies but this” function.
Sighs
Last try for today
You think you have it bad…
BINGO!
The last time I tried the grav roulette I was unable to comment for days, so I guess I’ll stick with Mike.
That sucks. Hope you’re not totally anti-Mike.
I was so dissatisfied by the grav roulette that I switched to using my university email. I wonder if I can keep using this email after I graduate.
Well, you never know, Joe might eventually discover some kind of crazy middle ground between being a complete dick and swearing off all romantic and sexual relationships forever.
Except that one of their actors will die shortly after filming.
Did Joe borrow Dina’s shirt?
Dina is approximately a size zero, so guessing he has his own.
Also guessing the double entendre is NOT lost on him.
oops. i meant to say:
or is it?
And this is why it went from “daily wear” to “exercise shirt”. Circle of life and all that….
I mean, no reason to throw out a perfectly good shirt just because you’re not sure about what it says about your own sexuality.
Unless it has Powergirl level holes in front a college guy will not throw out a shirt.
Does he really want to be wearing a shirt that might be advertising that he’s into bones while exercising around other guys if he’s that worried about it?
Danny did ask him if he knew any quality gay dudes to hook up his friend with. Gotta find them somehow.
The entendre was actually discussed by him and Danny a few books back.
Hilarious, best joke in the comic.
Probably not quite true but up there
No, they both have it.
WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW, NOW WITH EXTRA GUNS
Yes! And today is the day that Joyce enjoys so early-morning window shopping!
Just read this to the tune of “Welcome to the Jungle” and now you are, too
WE GOT EVERYTHING YOU NEED, INCLUDING AWFUL PUNS
Joe’s shoulders. 030
those are dream shoulders. (º-°)
Ooo, their exercise room has nicer equipment than my dorm’s did. Of course, we’ve only seen one machine; the exercise room we had only had a few, so if they only have a couple of things, they may be equal.
Our dorm exercise rooms were closed, I believe because someone had hurt themselves. In the middle of winter, walking the quarter mile to the gym, I missed them…
At the university I attended about twenty years ago, the student housing didn’t have their own and instead there was one in the student union building where those of us who didn’t live on campus could also access it. Because it was centralized, it had reasonable facilities to get a solid workout regardless of one’s fitness goals where splitting the equipment budget across each student housing complex would have left each underwhelming in that regard.
I mean, my university was a very large school which of course had several gyms on campus. But again, it was a very large school, so similar to Deathjavu’s experience, the convenience factor of having one close by, even if it was kind of crappy, was significant. Plus the campus gyms were always packed and often full of dudebros.
(And they cost additional money, in case you weren’t paying the university enough. During my senior year, I actually got a gym membership at the city community center because I found it to be a better deal and experience.)
Gotta say I’m damn impressed they’re it as this time in the morning though, for some reason, Jacob seemed the type that would shun machines and keep it old school barbell training
So Joyce is now seeing the first guy she crushed on and the current all sweaty and muscles bulging…this could get interesting very interesting
Though it looks like, while they’re both there, Joe’s the one she’s focused on. But it’s hard to tell for sure with that angle.
This could indeed be a interesting time, especially to se how the two male J interacts with each other in presence of the interested (but in denial) female J who they both may be interested in.
Classical triangle love set up!
Of course, both the males would also be in denial about THEIR interest.
In relation to the comment about Jacob being the type to shun machines for free weights, I’ll just point out that most who do that will still use the machines if not in a situation where free weights are either reasonably safe or else not available. Joe seems like he wouldn’t be the best choice of spotter, and working with free weights, other than maybe dumbbells, at a reasonable level of weight compared to one’s strength to actually get a good workout without a solid reliable spotter is dangerous enough only someone actually crazy would do it.
eh, a squat rack or bench that’s properly adjusted (and properly using the clip thingies on the bar) is safe. I found that out the hard way when some idiot bumped into my barbell – instinct took over and dropped me straight down, the rails took the bar, and I was fine once I recovered from the shock
I suspect the real reason they’re on a machine is so Willis can fit both of them into one panel.
although a gym for just one dorm is probably pretty small and neglected, so there’s no guarantee it’ll even *have* a squat rack 
oh, I forgot, not all benches have rails. if there’s no rails, then yeah, you should have a spotter.
I bench without a spotter. When I can’t put up the weight, I roll sideways to drop one side to the ground, and then I can scoot the rest of the weight down off me by way of my hips. But the squat boxes are real life savers.
my husband’s method for that was the “roll of shame” – slowly roll the barbell down to your hips, then sit up. I don’t think my stomach could take that, though
let alone my breasts 
the area the barbell is over, iirc, gets irritable just having an underwire pressing on it too much.
I never bench without a spotter.
I also never bench, but that’s beside the point.
I don’t know how anyone could get that big working exclusively on machines. Perhaps he does free weight exercises, and supplements them with the machine.
From what I have been told, as long as you are doing the exercise properly, there is no difference between using free weights and a machine.
machines neglect the little balance muscles that you need if you’re planning to lift real things outside the gym. otoh, this also makes them safer and simpler to use.
Triple J Triple Trouble! I like where this is going.
Alternate universe: Joe does attempt to pork up, but Jughead-esque genetics prevent him from ever getting fat.
He hangs out at the bakery to load up on carbs, and winds up dating a pastry chef…
Well, when you’re in your late teens to early 20s that’s generally what happens anyway. He’s got a few more years before things slow down
Then a few years after that, you can start porking up by accident, even after cutting back on junk food. It’s… disconcerting.
Wait … I’m supposed to buy that two male university students who are not scholarship athletes are in the gym at 5am in the morning? GTFO
Well, Joe seems to be doing so under protest, and I can see Jacob doing so for the same reason Dorothy does – exercise.
Oh yeah. Jacob seems pretty strict with his own routine and achievements. I’m guessing Joe was in the habit of going, bonded with Jacob there, and is there because it’s habit for them to work out together now? A workout partner can make so much difference in getting in the gym or not.
Well, you know what they say – there’s no j in exercise room.
…Actually, wait, there’s three. Nevermind. ‹.‹
There is no P in our exercise room. Let’s keep it that way.
image of that one guy saying “ill give the best hugs”
*mulls over various songs associated with exercize*
*decides to play “Pump Up The Jam” on the hacked Muzak as a pass-and-promise*
Hums “let’s get physical” by Olivia newton-John. *chuckles*
I now have the song playing in my head, which is trying to generate a gym montage to go with…. Im curious what you all think Joyce’s reaction would be watching The J Bros working out to that tune?
I don’t know why but when I see Joyce’s “hello” I hear it in my head as John Stewart’s impression of the Queen of England…. >.>
Funny I was hearing it in Dot Warner’s voice… followed by “nurse”. (cf here if you need an example) ;D
I’m a little concerned that Joe sees no middle ground between “constant sex” and “volcel”.
I mean, discovering that middle ground is kinda his narrative turf.
Joe’s character arc is going to be about how he sets out on a quest to respect women but gets horribly lost and becomes a raging incel.
Geez I hope not. Those guys have the polar opposite of respect for women.
Well I’m learning some new celibacy-related slang today.
Makes sense. He realises that he has no idea how to get women into bed without being a disgusting sleazemonster. Until he works through that and better understands how to communicate sexually without being an arse, it absolutely makes sense to not be trying at all.
More that he thinks that if he does try to have an actual relationship with a woman, he’ll wind up like his father and hurt them even more. His sleazemonster behavior was an attempt at having sex while avoiding that. He didn’t recognize the lesser, but broader damage he was doing in the process.
It also didn’t work particularly well at getting them into bed – He was apparently mostly boasting and the only actual sex he had was with Roz and Penny – both very likely initiated by them.
Joe has worn that same shirt before. And I’m guessing that, unlike Dina, he didn’t need to have the “bone” metaphor pointed out to him.
He undoubtedly found the joke very humerus.
No, but he apparently wasn’t aware it could be taken as advertising his interest in boners.
While swearing off all romantic and sexual relationships may be good idea for now, given how extreme Joe was in the other direction, I don’t think it is a good idea to do long term. Trying to force yourself to the opposite end of asexuality as a form of penance is also not healthy.
Well, baby steps.
That is the exact opposite of baby steps.
Point. It is an overcorrection, which is the opposite of baby steps.
I meant baby steps on finding the right path to becoming a better person, even if the path he is on now is very much not baby steps. He is starting journey to find the path to become a better person, but now I am just getting meta.
(Also, I thought Danny was my avatar. Why did it change?)
I don’t think there’s an over in his correction. If the options are “make women feel uncomfortable” or “don’t actively try to find a sexual partner”, the latter is absolutely the better option- and, until Joe better understands how to communicate and empathise, he’s making the right call. In my opinion.
Damnit Joe you’re starting to look like Bruce Wayne
He’s always looked like Bruce Wayne. Now he’s starting to angst like Bruce Wayne.
Then, Dani makes for a good Robin now that I think about it
Danny can be Robin, but Ethan is totes Nightwing.
If Danny’s Robin, is Robin Danny?
I don’t think we had exercise rooms in any of the dorms when I was in college. I never checked, but I’m pretty sure if we had any exercise rooms they were in the sports building or something.
Yea, I had to walk two blocks from the dorms to the gym. Was not fun in February.
I find it very heartwarming that, the very strip after Joyce remind us of her trauma and her fear of “Shrödinger’s rapist”, she happily skips into the gym early in the morning with Joe and Jacob. No fear here!
Yes, yes, Joe. You learnt something new about yourself. Stop being such a drama queen about it.
Drama queening is actually very common to huge realisations that challenge a person’s concept of self. He needs to re-evaluate who he is and how he behaves. It takes time and in the interim he’s allowed to make a big deal of it- because to him, it is.
…fine.
Yeah, you are right. Please keep on drama queening, Joe.
Joyce has just discovered that beyond the candy machine is the eye candy machine.
LOL, have a gold star.
Heh
+1
Your avatar works pretty well with this comment, too.
(Claps)
And, Joyce has discovered the font of her type. Joe and Jacob, both sweaty and musculating.
I predict that she will flirt with Jacob, then give Joe the look, to tell him, it could have been him.
I don’t think she will SAY it.
I think he will THINK it.
I predict Joe will immediately spot Joyce flirting-but-not with Jacob, point it out to her (with some valiantly repressed jealousy?), and it will fluster or upset her. TRIANGULATED SHENANIGANS.
I also think that she might have a guilt trip afterwards, being Joyce.
Joe’s self esteem is subterranean isn’t it.
Given that he just discovered that the one thing he hitched it to is kinda shitty… yeah.
i hope this all leads to joyce in a polyam relationship with Jacob and post-self-work Joe so that her formerly repressed self can get all kinds of healthy dickings forever.
also I hope this comment isn’t wildly inappropriate but i just woke up and i’m not all here yet
HOT
…
DICKINGS.
I haven’t even seen Dr Tran in what, a decade? but that was still the first thought to show up
also you forgot Jacob’s in a monogamous relationship already. and sadly I think joyce is very monogamous.
i DID forget that! :U
also i use that phrase a lot and still haven’t thought about dr tran in years despite having stolen its wording! how dare i
I watched a porn video that started this way, but minus Joyce.
I thought porn videos always started with pizza being delivered.
I have, um, particular tastes.
Anchovies?
I do think that Joyce is going to have an interesting morning here. I don’t think that she’s ever really had a ‘lust’-type response to a man before – I mean totally physical attraction. Now she’s in an enclosed space with these two who are also engaged in strenuous physical activity! Meanwhle she is in her exercise clothes, which are a lot more revealing than her normal clothing. I wonder if she’ll find herself subconsciously responding to them?
I dunno about not having a ‘lust’-type response to a man before: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/03-men-are-from-beck-women-are-from-clark/temple/
But it is nice she feels safe with both double J
And don’t forget about her sexy Ethan dream, which I would totally link to if it wasn’t past midnight and I had to be up in the morning.
But that’s before Joyce got to know both of them any better, and still had the goal to just find a husband in her college time. Now that she knows they are persons, with personality, flaws etc., she might get flustered (possibly afterwards), but that’ll be it. At least that’s my take on it, for now.
Judging by her expression, that’s not “Hello hot man-meat!” That’s, “Hello people who are my friends and thus have no reason to dislike my obnoxious cheerfulness because what sort of friend doesn’t like that!”
I agree that it is likely the latter and not the former.
YET!
It’s still early, and unless I’m mistaken this will be Joyce’s first true exposure to the magnificent temple that is Jacob’s body.
Prediction: Joyce kisses Jacob at the end of it. It’s entirely chaste and sisterly but it is a bit too much of a taster for Joyce’s peace of mind. That’s why she is seen in one of the preview panels from early next year apparently begging Sarah for advice.
Or asking to borrow “other Jacob”.
Joyce has fantasised about sexy man bod (minus face) in the shower before. And promptly broke down crying. She HAS lust, she just represses it very hard.
Sooo, seeing both Jacob and Joe all sweaty and muscly must be like… ULTRA TEMPTATION MODE for Joyce. XD
Yup, she is going to want all the things rubbing on her tummy.
*shipping intensifies*
“You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate starts to play over the PA…
I’ve been extremely interested in seeing Joyce’s relationships with both Joe and Jacob develop further, so hooray!
Also maybe J men are inherently comforting and approachable to her…?
It’s surprisingly difficult for me to recreate the dumbing of age style in a profile picture…
How long do you spend on each one of these?
I’m kind of impatient so I doubt I will ever create a daily web comic of my own…
I have to say, I REALLY liked the dialogue in this one, it made me burst into laughter, that hasn’t happened for some time!
Aw Willis but the machine is drawn REALLY well…. Like I feel like it’s its own character and it needs a name and a character photo (I would rock an excercise machine profile picture soo hard)
That grey bit of machine in front of Joe’s crotch… Are you suppose to put your knees under for resistence though? Or am I confusing this with something else
As I understand it, it’s to lock your knees under to support a correct sitting position for pushing the weights forward/up (the higher the weight, the more difficult to hold a correct position, and wrong position often equals wrong training up to even the possibility of hurting oneself).
Though I’ve personally never seen a chest-press-type of machine like that with a ‘foothold’ – those are normally at machines where you have to pull the weight down, while sitting (e.g. while training your shoulders, like with a cable pulldown machine).
You put a second set of gray rollers in the bottom bracket near the floor, hook your knees above the top set, and do knee extensions.
I somehow also hope we get to see the whole of Joyce’s training outfit! I’d so like to see if it’s completely 80’ies inspired!
Okay, I just realised we got to see most of it in the last strip anyway, my bad. But use the headband, Joyce, if you’re really going to use the treadmill, your fringes will definitely stick to your face! That’s not specifically a comfortable feeling!
Ruh-roh! Can’t wait until Jacob and Joyce get a look at each other in workout clothes…
Nothing wrong with looking for female companionship, Joe. Just, you know, remember that women are people.
HOW IS EVERYONE HERE AWAKE BEFORE 5AM?!! I could barely make it to a 9 am class. These people are exercising & studying?!
Thankfully, I don’t think I had a 9 am class at uni. It didn’t help – my college career was not unlike Dave Lister’s (except I lasted more than a day):
“They had lectures, like, first thing in the afternoon! Half past twelve every day! Who’s together by then? You can still taste the toothpaste!”
Exactly. I only took a 9am class if I absolutely had to for some horrible reason. Now I’m awake every day by 7 or 8 am & all the masters classes I want to take are at 5 pm or later. Now I think that is a crazy late time.
Listen here!
Every man wants to be a macho man!
To have the kind of body always in demand!
Joggin’ in the mornings, go man gooo!
Workouts in the health spa, muscles grooow!
You can best believe me…
He’s a macho maaan!
Glad he took you down with anyone you can!
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho maaaaan!
I gotta be a macho maaaan!
Oh good timing Joyce.
I hope Joyce is casually eating the honey bun in the next strip
Re: alt text: how long before Willis posts artwork of an exercise machine dressed in plaid? I give it a week.
Looks like they’re both been concentrating on their upper bodies…don’t neglect your legs Joe
grav roulette!
Ok wow I try not to do this and silver lining that I’m commenting around the time the new strip is gonna be up so not many people will see me being an ass, but honestly there is A LOT of suspension of disbelief going on in this strip
1) The two of them being at the gym at like 5 in the morning
2) Joe going right after a night of not sleeping
3) Them working out at a dorm exercise room that has a seemingly well-equiped assortment of machines instead of a regular 24-hour gym. (I mean, the exercise room where I live has two treadmills. And one has been in repairs for the better part of the year.)
4) Joe having those guns without having developed self-discipline for himself instead of just for sex, or without liking the exercise itself.
5) Conversation in the middle of a series. You’re already short of breath, you wait until the rest period, it’s like 4 reps away anyway.
6) The line about “deafening siren call of the ladies” when basically the entire female schoolbody hates his guts
I’ve recommended this comic years past as a good read. This strip I would recommend to mock. It has the same level of coherence as a pot brownie, it just keeps on giving layers of nah, and honestly I just remembered that there’s supposed to be a punchline in there somewhere, but like in an AA meeting the punch line doesn’t exist, and it’s due to a lack of punch rather than a lack of line.
In sum, What the Fuck.
1) I know it’s an affront to nature, but somehow people actually do this
2) I think the only time I’ve ever worked out in the morning was in college, after staying up all night. You get a weird sort of second wind after a certain point.
3) IU is pretty big school that can probably afford nice amenities like a proper workout room
4) I dunno, given my experience with bros, I find it entirely believable that the only self-discipline Joe has developed is directly tied into both masculinity and attempting to get laid
5) Adding more grunting and heavy breathing to the dialog to make it seem more realistic would result in the panels being completely covered by word balloons
6) It’s Joe and nobody has duct taped his mouth shut. It would be out of character if nothing awful escaped. Pulling his head out of his ass will be an awkward, painful, and lengthy process, if that helps any
Also, I’m pretty sure that the punchline is the arrival of the one girl still talking to Joe, who also happens to be the ONE girl that he stopped trying to bang.
Most conversations in comic strips make more sense than most real conversations do. Every once in a while a comic strip conversation sounds as fragmented as real conversation does (when you record and transcribe it) and this is the result.