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Comicsbeat @comicsbeat.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
24 hour Luigi Mangione report @weloveluigi.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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⚧️ Alexandra Merideth Erin [she/her]
well, he got one vote
(is that one Sue lol)
slightly disappointed the poll doesn’t match the canon voting
Yes yes truely unfortunate. Barry’s looking pretty good though.
The readers are working off a different set of information than the class though, so that’s not particularly surprising.
Hmmm this is politics. I give it to the questionable white guy with the British accent over a black man with an impeccable record and dyed hair.
You’re not wrong, but in a functioning society, you should be.
100%
It’s not impossible that’s his natural hair colour
Yeah! I know folks like that!
You know black gingers!? They exist?
They do indeed. In Jamaica they were often called “red ash” as skin tone was a bit paler, usually, with an ashy kind of tone.
Pretty much every ethnic group around the world includes at least a few redheads. They’re usually dark auburn red, though. Bright copper red is pretty much exclusive to northern Europe. Of course, when people move around and mix and match a bit you can get all sorts of interesting combinations.
Yes, they are more common in North Africa than other regions of Africa, but that can be a natural hair and skin combination.
unfortunately Barry shaved his eyebrows so we’ll never know for certain
Well, now I feel bad for voting for the long-running character rather than the new guy invented for a bad pun
Don’t blame me, I did my part.
So, before you go into the No-Fit of Rage, we turn to the camera and say “Ah! Free Barry Bus!”
“Yeah, that’s a good one. ‘Wewease Bawwy bus!’ lolol”
Looks like someone likes to party with babies
I wash my hands of this whole thing.
I see what you did there
Making this a Pilate study?
Thanks. I needed that. I am not versed enough in biblicality to have made the Barry Bus Barnabas connection. Not even with the “Give us…” quote.
It’s not Barnabas, it’s Barabbas.
Roz can see where this is going and is not pleased lol. I mean, I assume Jason’s gonna get picked anyways and that’s the lesson, I could be wrong lol.
All she knows about him is he was fired for fucking a student. The fact her sister is considering him as a TA is probably enough to piss her off. NGL if my professor told me that, I’d probably take it to the department.
Honestly I’m kinda bewildered that Jason is even allowed on campus
There’s been no official complaint about him, just an accusation he chose not to contest. And as far as we know he’s still a student. What grounds would there be for barring him?
He is a student, yeah, it comes up when he’s talking to Walky when he decides not to contest it, though frankly, Sal probably would have lied for him if asked to. That isn’t really something Jason would have asked of her, though, hence him not even attempting it.
Your avatar was perfect for that comment.
Roz is totally within her rights to be pissed, I’d be pretty uncomfortable too, I just think it’s funny that she’s sitting there as the literal expression of “>:(“
Granted, I’m not a huge Roz fan. I dislike her abrasion, some of her takes, and I just find her generally unpleasant more often than not (but she does still have good moments I like). But she would definitely be in the right here to be upset about rehiring Jason.
I think Roz knows exactly where this is going.
@BBCC well now the whole class knows because of how Robin introduced him tho idk how many ppl would be able to drop out/transfer if they rly felt uncomfortable with his actions or so
well, idk if she’s still politically ‘active’ other than just making her own show of things on campus, maybe she’d have ‘connections to hook jason up with a proper job, although jason isn’t esp. wanting to work in politics as far as i’ve seen
Jason’s problem is not ‘getting a job’ (he has one). It’s ‘getting a job that specifically fits his work visa so he isn’t in the country illegally’
as long as he works for the school hpoefully that’d count. maybe he can help Asma with sorting packages lol
Honestly, the fact that this is going to get Roz steamed up is my shining light in this bit. And the best part is, this really is part of Robin’s approach to ‘teaching’ politics–because she’s absolutely correct that in the real world, ‘white guy who is sorry for his abominable misconduct’ usually will beat out ‘person of color with impeccable credentials’. (If Barry had been a lesbian, that would’ve cinched it.)
So Robin’s point will get made, and the class WILL learn something, something they’ll need to be aware of if they actually want to go into politics. And Roz will hate all of it, and probably even fail to understand why Robin did it, assuming instead it was somehow about her.
And I’m here for that in the way some folks are here for Ashen.
A master class in realpolitik.
Maybe, but it seems that’s about all Robin’s been teaching. It’s funny and it’s cynical and in many cases it’s not even wrong, but if she’s not mostly teaching the actual political science the class is supposed to teach, they’re being cheated out of the education they’re supposed to be getting.
Considering DOAs time scale, it’s probably like a week or two in.
True, but it’s all we’ve seen and we’ve little reason to think Robin knows any more.
Every time we come back to this, we get lots of commentary about how she’s teaching “A master class in realpolitik”.
This reminds me of a class I had in grad school while getting my Master’s in teaching. The course was *supposed* to be about how to teach reading, but the professor used it as an opportunity to complain about and try and teach us about the internal politics of schools. Which wasn’t *necessarily* worthless, but it sure as hell didn’t help me become a better reading teacher.
Honestly, most of what we were shown in Leslie’s classes was a disaster, too. It’s too soon to say if Robin is covering any of the actual curriculum in the space between strips.
As much as I don’t think Jason should ever be put in charge of a class again (I’m a teacher myself, it’s somewhat personal), I still don’t think what he did should be called “abominable”. Despite what he did being grossly inappropriate for someone in his position, it was still a consensual relationship.
Oh my god, Becky, that was going to be my joke all the way back in panel 2.
Oh my god, Becky, look at her butt. It is so big, she looks like one of those rap guys girlfriends
I like Barrington Bus and I cannot lie!
You other brothers can’t deny!
When a guy walks in with priorities in place,
And confusion on his face, you get sprung
Wow, I didn’t think I’d actually be right who people voted for in this class.
Barry Bus, Barry B-
Oh, I get it. Goddamn it.
Can you explain it to the rest of the class?
Linked down below as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barabbas
Against someone with the initials JC, at that.
That’s what makes the joke truly great.
Thanks I had absolutely no idea. I wouldn’t even have know there was a joke.
From Becky’s line in the last panel, I knew there was something I wasn’t getting– a search for “barry bus” didn’t help, but when I tried “barry bus bible,” I got “Did you mean to search for: barabbas bible.” So, got there eventually!
It’s a pretty weak pun, I have to say
Ah, I knew I was too Jewish for this one.
That sure is one great Barrington declaration from Robin there
Very nice
The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Had to go back and double-check to make sure that Barrington Bus wasn’t a beloved character who’s been around for years and years and years and dated Carla or assassinated the president once back in Book 3 or whatever.
He’s one of the seasonal employees from Shortpacked!
ahh i thought he looked vaguely familiar
Simp? Guy? Becky?
She didn’t even clarify “oh, but not that way I’m super gay” this time.
As far as I know, simping is synonymous with fetishizing, and the latter need not necessarily be sexual?
dunno really someone fill in this alien if need be XD
The acronym is sexual and also pretty misogynistic.
it’s an acronym? i thought it came from the “simpleton” sense
Yes homo. All the homo.
Maybe Becky’s not clear on how the term is used and just thinks it’s a way to shorten up “sympathize.”
Stan woulda been a more appropriate term.
But does Becky know that? Possibly not.
The meaning got incredibly diluted with time. Lots of people use it to mean “support” or “like” now with nothing strong attached
Doesn’t it come from “sympathy”, as in showing sympathy = simping. The spelling is atrocious, but such is American culture.
/snide European mode
…Huh.
I had assumed that the acronym meaning was where it originated from (I won’t be sharing it, it’s pretty misogynistic all things considered), but turns out it’s not so simple!- https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/simp/
It’s probably reasonable to assume any cute acronym etymology without extensive documentation (e.g. ‘laser’ or ‘radar’) is completely made up—cf. the linguistically unlikely stories people tell about ‘fuck’ and ‘golf’. I think ‘thot’ is an outlier for *actually* originating from a misogynistic acronym, as far as I can tell.
For example…
I always assumed it was from simpering, since that’s really close to the slang meaning.
Huh, this is not what I expected to happen. I thought Jason would get more support than a single person who likes his eyebrows.
That comment made me realize Barry doesn’t even have eyebrows, so maybe it’s not the quality of Jason’s eyebrows, just that he has them.
They’re probably fake, like in FLCL. He did not have them last semester.
If they are fake, then at least he is doing something that helps make him feel positive about his appearance.
He probably just stopped trimming them.
(or waxing or whatever)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barabbas
For others like me, whose knowledge of the Bible pretty much taps out at Ezekiel 23:20.
“There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”
! That’s a part we never went over in Sunday School…
My knowledge of the bible is pretty much the edmund mcmillen matricide game
I only know what I’ve seen in VeggieTales, a weekend at “vacation bible school” (which is just an indoctrination camp and scarred me for life), The Simpsons, and Persona 3. If it weren’t for people providing links here, I’d be completely clueless.
Roz is not here for this shit, lol.
it’s almost like willis can sense jason is big with the lesbians. big fan of that dweeb, in fact
So, it looks like someone is going to thrown under a bus.
*Puts on sunglasses.*
Yeeeeaaahhhh!
I applaud you.
Give the class to Jason, Barry deserves to be with a proffesor that will actually utilize his skill set and may include him in research projects which will help him with his dissertation and get jobs out of college.
Let’s hope that happens once the vote is over. Barry finds a real professor that can use his knowledge and TA’s for them and goes on to have a good life safe from Robin and the whole weird “Dumbing of Age” universe.
I wish there was a way neither could get the job. Working for Robin is a punishment no one deserves and Jason shouldn’t be back in a IU classroom. There’s no real winner here.
depending on how it goes maybe she’ll hire them both and jason would be more of some kinda ‘assistant’ as long as he’s on the books/getting a paycheck somehow lol
Barrington Bus sounds like a route from IU. However, Barrington Chesterfield would be the poshest name for a TA.
BUS BUS BUS BUS
So you’re saying they should marry?
mmmmMaybe.
Yeah. Same, Roz.
I’ll be honest I feel like the Barrabus pun is a bit of a stretch there. Like if you gotta stretch to make it work it’s not a particularly good pun.
making an overwrought pun and then explaining it is on brand for Becky.
Jason is really dodging a bullet by not having to TA for Robin.
In fact, there should really be a contest to give the position to whoever *loses.*
That could be the direction I’d laugh if Robin came out and said “I ain’t qualified to teach this either so you get Jason” thus teaching the student about why elections in authoritarian regimes are meaningless but are used to create an illusion of a popular mandate in order to seem legitimate. But then you would say doesn’t that make Robin qualified and I’d say NO! She teaches is an American politics class not comparative or international realtions! Also it’s not that hard to realize that about authoritarian regimes.
Then Barry gets to be with a real proffesor who will include him on paper that gets published in AJPS or ASPR.
*”She teaches an American politics class, not comparative politics or international realtions!”
i mean, he has to work somewhere, to avoid being deported back to england, so dependso n how much he’ll be willing to put up with robin compared to his ‘supervillain’ dad
feels like Robin is doing some theater. Either she’s hiring them both or Barry is already someone’s TA and is helping her demonstrate something. Because otherwise she’s just publicly humiliating Jason and/or fucking Barry over in a way that’s probably actionable.
She seemed disinclined to publicly humiliate him without also helping him, yesterday.
Methinks the theatre is intentional, with mic drop imminent. Showing that American politics is mostly theatrical.
This doesn’t mean Jason is DoA’s Jesus does it?
Excuse me young whatever, Jesus in the DoA universe is just Jesus.
Yea he died and stuff but he got better.
Even if Jason is JC.
Sorry, but you got that all backwards. In the Walkyverse people die and get resurrected, including Historical Jesus, but the Dumbiverse is without SF elements, so people just die there. Joyce is an atheist in an atheist universe. Jesus probably existed, but when he died at the cross he never got better.
I mean, they are literally his initials, so…
A few things:
1. I’m amused by Roz being pissed in the background. I like to think she has that expression the entire time she’s in Robin’s class.
2. Who wants to bet that Robin is, barring any specific objections, fully planning on just hiring both? Maybe she could turn it into a lesson on manufactured consent or something, IDK.
3. Becky I don’t think you know what “simp” means.
For some reason I’ve been hooked on Robin’s choice of the word “poll.” Like: “it’s not an election; you just think it is because I’m asking who you would choose. I’m going to ignore the result and go with my own ideas. Lesson.”
Oh i have a guess. I think that Barry is going to turn down this job. Like maybe he also does not really know how tf he got here and is going to go all “thanks but no thanks”??? maybe?
Jason and the Argonauts.
More like, um, Jason and are you nuts… for voting for him.
“Who live by the poll die by the poll”
Joyce meeting Historical Jesus would be more violent than Lesley meeting him.
Joyce: I SHALL SLAY YOU FOR YOUR EVIL WORDS!
H. Jesus: I hate religious fundamentalists, fascists, and the rich?
Joyce: I KNOW THAT YOU MEAN THE EXACT OPPOSITE!
H. Jesus: What?
Oh dang, it’s an obscure Bible joke that I actually recognized! I am so proud of myself!
No contest — it should definitely be Barabbas!
Is this gonna be a riff on the audience where we voted for the character we are familiar with, even though he is laughably unqualified and doesn’t want to be here, over the guy we haven’t heard about but deserves the job?
I’d respect the hell out of that.
Respect it? Why?
It’s authorial weak-sauce to hold up a random from the crowd and then ask the audience, “why didn’t you care about the person I gave you no reason to care about.”
I don’t think “riffing on the fact the audience obviously won’t care about the character, and this is so obvious the author can riff on it in a strip written months before the vote” is the same thing though?
He’s not even “a random from the crowd”. He’s a character created specifically for the purpose of not being Jason in this scenario. He’s Sydney Yus, if there was a vote for who got fired from Shortpacked.
Having said that, I’ve now actually looked at the poll and hey, it’s at the Cursed Brexit Ratio, so go, Barry!
Technically Barry’s from SP!, but he was a nonentity there too.
If it’s so weak, how did Harry Potter manage to get so big? Harry’s a boring asshole and he got to be the protagonist instead of his more interesting gay friend.
Is this a good time for me to say “BARRY SWEEP”?
…No?
No. You’ve got to change it to a biblical reference somehow.
Jesus Wept – BARRY SWEPT.
“Jason swept” sounds more similar, tbh (I mean, it’s got all the same consonants, albeit with an extra “n”)
That is a good one. I stand humbled and corrected.
I am kind of curious about Becky’s comment about “simping for the British guy”. Like, obviously, we know it’s not likely an attraction aspect. Maybe just that she’d otherwise vote for him as he is her coworker at Galasso’s, but could not resist making a Bible joke.
“Simping” always gave up fa monetary implication to me, but maybe he just finds her amusing. Tho i do remember some vague post on tumblr like “oh lesbians love this type of guy” as like a fandom thing or so but idk
She’s doing it to get you all talking about it and clue in those of us old enough to remember when “simp” was short for “simpleton”. Which was a word, back then.
i remember seeing some ppl on tumblr saying not to use that word tho, even if that’s what it’s short for, since it’s apparently either AAVE or used to insult black men? tho other than it being a slur i don’t see it going away anytime soon, like how ppl meme on/joke about ‘f*mboys’ XP
Barrington?
Barrington?
I’d vote for Jason just for that.
Barry Bus has a nice ring to it than Barrington.
Still an incredible run, still delighted, thank you Willis
Well this is uncomfortable
Of course the dude with eyebrows is hot!
I am glad that Barry gets an official tag. Whatever happens, whether this story goes the predictable route (which at this point would be Robin ignoring the actual vote) or suddenly veers in an unexpected direction, I hope we see more of him, since I can’t help sympathizing with him under the circumstances.
You think? He obviously deserves the job but he’s going to be the victim of one of Robin’s lessons. I can’t see any other reason for this “vote” scenario when only one candidate is actually viable.
He’s qualified for the job, but he doesn’t deserve to work for Robin. I’m not even sure Jason deserves that.
We want Barry!
I don’t know, I think we need to know his stance on microwaving babies first.
The secret is to just use the “baby” button. Otherwise you have to stop the microwave manually once there’s a second between pops, and even then half of it gets a little burnt.
I miss out on a lot of the pop culture references in this comic, I’ve just realized. Half the stuff the characters quote or riff on, I hear about for the first time here.
You are not alone.
Thanks, Face of Boe.
Brits don’t use the slang ‘Prince Albert’ for dick
It’s for a dick pierced with mini barbells
It was started as a joke but it seems to have taken on a life of it’s own
They also don’t travel through time and space in poorly disguised magic ships, but there’s a whole show about that.
Robin’s thought process must have looked something like this:
“Prince” but not music -> royalty -> the British have royalty -> Jason is British -> lol royalty dick joke
She might also have just been thinking “Ya better let the poor fellow out”, knowing her.
Prince Albert is pipe tobacco. In a Can is part of a classic phone prank.
Doesn’t that technically work as a Robin joke, since she is stereotyping him as having the piercing because he is British and if he had sex with someone presumably it would go inside.
Ah yes, I see this is going to be a hands-on lesson on the electoral college and how the popular vote may mean nothing.
Oh c’mon don’t do Jason dirty like that, he’s a good guy if a bit uptight
Current polling: Robin’s TA?
Jason (51%, 1,120 Votes)
Barry (49%, 1,070 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,190
Dang near 50/50….Really? What comedic value in choosing Barry? Why don’t we all want Jason?
I don’t find Jason interesting or funny enough to think ‘ah yes, I want the unqualified person to be chosen for yucks instead of us getting a new character to learn about’.
The comedic value of seeing Jason be publicly humiliated repeatedly.
I didn’t vote based on comedic value. I voted based on not knowing who the hell Barry is, aside from a pop culture reference.
I find comedic value in choosing this complete unknown instead of an established character.
Right now Barry is up by two votes. Seemed obvious to me, but I probably should have thought more like a reader than like a student who would really not want Jason in the classroom after that presentation.
He does have nice eyebrows but I think that Barry is overall more attractive.
Aaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa
So, Robin’s about to teach the class a big lesson in the foolishness of voting, isn’t she?
Roz is making the most appropriate face for this. For a moment, I thought Jason would get it for the joke, but I’m glad he didn’t. Terrible for his self-respect, mind you. He didn’t even want to be here. He’s not even really British.
My vote changed the poll position ! Go Jason !
Jason (50%, 1,330 Votes)
Barry (50%, 1,329 Votes)
As of 1735 CDT Jason leads by 3 votes out of 2667.
You don’t suppose that Willis has 2 separate plots drawn out depending on who wins the poll IRL? I mean Barry wins we get competent TA with no drama but lots of humor because competent with screwball characters, Jason wins constant stream of sex jokes without him actually having sex because probation?
I’m pretty sure all DoA polls are just for fun and have no influence on the plot.
Robin is still depicted as a horrible, horrible person… Yet you can feel Willis loves her, I’m really troubled each time she appears…
I think Willis likes writing for her, but you say this as if she’s rewarded for her behavior, and she’s often not. This version of her lost her much more lucrative job, completely struck out with Leslie, and can only sometimes get Becky’s respect, and often fleetingly.
If anything, Robin feels like “what if you take a cartoon character out of a cartoon, and thus introduce them to the concept of consequences?” In Shortpacked, yeah, sometimes she faced adversity, but things typically worked out in her favor. Here, she’s Daffy Duck but the anvils do more than give her a bump on the head for 2 seconds.
Insteresting take, didn’t think about it like that ^^
The random student in the last panel raises questions: Does Barry not have eyebrows? Do people shown without eyebrows actually not gave eyebrows? Where are the eyebrows? Why don’t they have eyebrows?
I think it’s a little like people’s lips, where if they’re meant to be particularly prominent they get added in extra detail. Thick eyebrows can be really attractive (especially on women, if I ask me), so it makes sense to point them out for him.
Barry’s eyebrows might show up when he has to express something. Compare to fall semester Jason. https://www.dumbingofage.com/off/
I was genuinely going to suggest Hillary and Barry for next month’s patron poll, so these couple strips have really tripped me up lol
jason gets my vote for it’s walky nostalgia
Time to get Lindsey Graham to make a call and get some votes thrown out.
The hell kinda last name is “Bus” anyway?
The kind of name that was purely derived for a pun.
Dutch.
You named him that way so Becky could participate in the Passion of Robin’s Pageantry?
I was surprised that at 1:50 pm no one used the word passion in the comments.