the worst
260

Transcript

Joyce: Um, knock knock! We're looking for Amber.
Walky: GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE, JOYCE! I haven't seen any Amber!
Joyce: Then who's that up in bed with you under the covers?
Walky: This is... Booster. You know, my roommate. They live here?
Joyce: ...in your bed?
Walky: Yeah, they just... crawl up in bed with me like all the time and we spoon.
Amber: OW! It hurts when I'm aroused!
Joyce: They SOUND like Amber.

Looking for Amber
Posted on May 14, 2026 by David M Willis

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Tags: amber, joyce, walky

135 thoughts on “Looking for Amber”

  1. Pocky

    From experience, do not work through the pain after an injury. Even if you are hungry. Ripped tissue and stitches are not fun.

    1. Rictus

      Agreed.
      Your body is both your temple and your fortress.
      Let it serve you best by helping/letting it heal.

  2. IntangibleMatter

    Amber…. what part of you hurts? Do you feel it in your lungs….?

    Either way there’s only one way to solve this:

    Heal and get better and sadly abstain from anything like that so that you can get back to it faster.

    1. Yumi

      Uterine contractions, maybe.

  3. Wack'd

    rules post
    .
    reminder: all replies to this get deleted
    .
    additional reminder: starting this coming monday i will no longer be posting this in every comments section and you’ll either need to check the blog posts or find it linked on the “read before posting” page

  4. Grimey

    Amber not wanting to be found was not on my bingo card.

    1. Reltzik

      So far Amber’s shown little concern about being found out. It’s Walky that’s trying to cover up things. … Amber, specifically.

    2. Fail Earnhardt

      Every new person that sees her injured in Walky’s room increases the risk of somebody Amber wouldn’t want putting two and two together about her situation and Amazi-Girl getting shot at the protest. She has every reason to be extra careful now that the cops are ransacking dorms.

      1. clif

        Pretty sure Joyce knew she was at the protest. Walky doesn’t know that however.

        1. Wack'd

          walky’s insinuated to booster that he knows that amber is hiding from the police because of something amazi-girl did. ‘s unclear whether he’s put the rest of the pieces together or if amber’s told him any more.

        2. clif

          Sorry, I was trying to say that Walky doesn’t know that Joyce knows.

    3. anon

      idk if amber cares about what joyce thinks but better safe than sorry if another person walks by

  5. Taffy

    That’s a hell of a sentence.

    1. SunflowerBanjo

      You’ll need to be more specific

      1. Taffy

        But for whose benefit and to what end?

        1. SunflowerBanjo

          Mine and until I’m satisfied

        2. Taffy

          Then no.

        3. SunflowerBanjo

          Mod, delete them

      2. clif

        They’re all pretty specific.

    2. QueenofSodor

      well it DOES!!!

    3. Steamweed

      And you can, too!

  6. Astariel

    Probably not the most believable lie Walky could have come up with.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Should have claimed it was Reginald, Duke of Thingley.

      1. tim gueguen

        If he keeps doing that he’ll make the real Duke of Thingley mad.

      2. mneme

        Should have claimed it was Mike, That would have passed without comment. (in fairness, Mike in Walky’s bed is hardly improbable, except for one thing).

    2. clif

      Astariel, I want to agree with you, but then I was casting my mind about for something that would be more believable and I’ve got nothing.

      1. Astariel

        Well, he could have said, for example, um…

        Actually, you’ve got a point.

      2. Deanatay

        It was Billie!

        I mean, Jennifer, but, Walky would have used ‘Billie’.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Walky’s deflection lies work in the immediate short term, but they don’t hold up to even mild scrutiny.
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/bone/
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/rapture/

      1. Steamweed

        I miss puppy-Dorothy.

  7. Marianne

    Amber’s definitely gonna be writing a longer version of that scenario later!

    1. Doctor_Who

      That’s her secret, Cap. She’s always aroused.

      1. Wack'd

        that’s a secret?

        1. clif

          Sh!

  8. RassilonTDavros

    Man, all that armchair psychoanalysis has really paid off if Booster’s Amber impression is that accurate.

    1. mneme

      New theory: Booster is Amazagirl/person!

  9. Rakeesh

    I wonder if Joyce will ever grapple with, or be made to grapple with, how *mean* she is to Walky on the regular.

    1. Taffy

      First cultivated in China, radish crops spread through the Northern Hemisphere and into Europe in the 1500s. Radishes had reached Massachusetts by 1629.

      1. TrueSurvivor

        I don’t understand how that is relevent, but I love the fun fact. Keep up the good work!

        1. clif

          It’s a metaphor. The spread of radish crops represents Joyces ability to grapple. Once she grapples how mean she is to Walky, represented here by the spread into the Northern Hemisphere and Europe, it’s only a historically short time before she is inevitably grappling Walky himself.
          …
          The pajama jeans are represented by Boston.

    2. Grimey

      There’s a strip from way back when where Sal had to check Walky with physical violence because he was doing way too much to Joyce. I am sure there will come a time someday that we see a callback to that in reverse. Law of averages is it’ll be Amber doing the threat.

      1. zee

        I’d appreciate if it was dotty, seeing as she’s the only one Joyce will listen to

      2. deliverything

        This strip?
        https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/foranybody/
        I can’t be sure if this’s the only one.

    3. Bill Erak

      Let it be known Walky has earned the treatment by consistently being mean to Joyce in the early strips. Their enmity did not just stem out of Dorothy dating him, they had beef prior to that and neither really ever took steps to fix that.

      1. Grimey

        Counterpoint: Walky was mean to Joyce in the early strips. Of that we can agree on. Then Joyce started firing back. At some point between the kidnapping and I’d say…Maybe after Mike died? I feel like it became a sitcom arch-nemesis situation of mutual escalation. Lulls in their rivalry until there’s something (newspaper comic) or someone (Dorothy) to antagonize each other over. For me, waiting for Walky to clap back on Joyce stems from her having…Well, won everything. She (to paraphrase any 80’s action movie ending) got the promotion and got the girl in the end.

        1. Sirksome

          I feel like this line of argument gets pretty reductive. We know Joyce and Walky are going to be jerks to each other at basically every opportunity. It maybe stings more for Walky now since Joyce has ultimately won their romantic rivalry over Dorothy but neither have really shown any active steps in trying to treat each other better as friends despite both saying they will. I think it’s better to analyze from the context of the scenario presented. In this case they are violating Walky’s privacy, it comes from a place of genuine concern from Amber and Joyce and Dorothy even had an entire conversation about this in the previous strips. Dorothy is concerned about Walky’s right to privacy. Joyce only cares about being right. I think it’s clear who the asshole is in this moment but I also don’t think that really moves the needle to either side in the who is the biggest one debate. Maybe it will next round.

        2. Wack'd

          @Sirksome: heck, i don’t even remember joyce and walky saying they would treat each other better. they’ve been like this to each other basically always with no breaks.

    4. Bill Erak

      Joyce: I’m respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as lesbian love sleuth by coming in anyway!

      1. Bill Erak

        This was NOT meant as a reply. thanks new website. I don’t even know how it got here, I had the comment box open at the bottom of the page.

        1. ResRam

          New comment section is buggy af. Really slow, too.
          I´ve seen the “edit” panel exactly two times, with 30 out of 1 posting going directly to some script hickup error message that disables it.
          And the thread depths basically precludes loger discussions, going no deeper than 3-4 answers.
          I get that the old code was problematic too, but so far the update has made function worse.

        2. eh, whatever

          And the thread depths basically precludes loger discussions, going no deeper than 3-4 answers.
           
          Unless you simply quote what you’re replying to.

        3. zee

          @eh or hit em with the @

  10. GreyICE

    “Booster has also been practicing their impressions, what did you think of their Amber?”

  11. Dot

    I don’t think the punchline really works on this one. Needed another pass or two.

    1. Dot

      As another issue, why exactly are we focusing on this Amber-hunt? This situation has no urgency behind it. What’s gonna happen? They’re gonna see that Amber is still injured and then be like “ok, well, not much we can do about that I guess” and move on. If it’s a vehicle to facilitate fallout between Walky and the problem children about how they’ve treated him then yeah I’m all for it, but otherwise this is once again a meandering subplot that could have been a text message taking up space that could have been devoted to any of the half-dozen plotlines already in motion.

      1. Grimey

        Let me dream for red panel Walky, Dot. It is my Moby Dick.

      2. clif

        Out of curiousity, if Walky had claimed that it was Dorothy in bed with him, would that change your opinion any?

        1. zee

          I mean that’d be really fucking funny

        2. clif

          I think so, but would Dot?
          …
          DOA functions on several different levels. It’s a daily humor strip. It’s a continuing slow motion drama. It’s a romantic comedy. It’s social commentary. It’s a series of character studies of quirky characters. I get the impression that Dot is either oblivious to or doesn’t value some of those levels, but in ways I don’t quite understand. My question to Dot was intended to probe that.

      3. Rov

        > They’re gonna see that Amber is still injured and then … move on. … could have been a text message.

        They last saw Amber before the police raid, so I think they’re checking to see if she’s been imprisoned like Leslie and Robin were.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/kneed/

        Amber hasn’t responded to any texts since the raid:

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/thetitle/

      4. Moonracer191

        If you were a kidnapping victim and you had a friend that you knew had been stabbed by the cops (or anyone) and that they were still actively searching for your friend so they could do who knows what to her and then she mysteriously disappeared without a word you wouldn’t feel any urgency to find her?

        1. Big Z

          All true, but I think if I had just dumped a guy/mocked a guy for getting dumped, respectively, I might not barge into his room even if the door was unlocked, either.

        2. Li

          @Big Z: that requires Joyce to see that moment as a big mean thing she did to Walky that he might be really mad about, though, which… she doesn’t. The last time they spoke, she tried to “no hard feelings, right?” about it.

        3. Dot

          If they think she’s with Walky, then they can text Walky. Or, if that feels too awkward, ask someone else to text Walky. None of this is necessary.

        4. Dandi Andi

          @Dot
          They may have reasonably extended the idea that they shouldn’t discuss the details of activism over text to include not discussing the whereabouts and identity of a woman wanted by the police related to that activism over text. So they may feel that checking on her in person is the only safe way to do so.

        5. Dot

          I’m not unwilling to accept this explanation, except:
          1. The cops are not specifically looking for Amber
          2. The cops know that Walky has a girl in his room
          3. “Have you seen Amber?”/“yeah she’s in my room” does not break opsec in any meaningful way.

  12. Suet

    someone’s a tease—
     
    A THUMBS UP FOR THE COMIC?!

    1. clif

      Sure, but who’s going to sacrifice their thumbs?

  13. QueenofSodor

    this strip actually really makes me want to see a Walky/Booster relationship happen in the comic. like, if booster actually did crawl up into walky’s bunker and cuddle him for comfort, how would walky react to this? what would happen?? i’m dying to know??? also maybe they can give walky estrogen or smth*(i am legally obligated to add this aside on every post i make about walky walkerton)

    1. QueenofSodor

      I LOVE HITTING ‘POST COMMENT’ TOO SOON AND FUCKING UP MY FORMATTING YAY

    2. TimeKiller

      I think Amber found her way to our universe and is reading the comic real time

      1. OttawaTom

        Wait she’s Gwenpool now?!?

  14. CT Phipps

    Why are they hiding Amber? I mean aside from Dorothy’s massive cop energy.

    1. Taffy

      As a guess, Amber probably wants to be left alone to hang out with her slacker and recover from her wound. Joyce and Dorothy finding her means they’ll be disrupting that R&R, so it’s not a desirable outcome.

    2. MCD

      The more people who know a secret, the more likely it is that it’ll get out, even if by mistake. The more people who know about Amber’s injury, the more likely it is someone Amber has no reason to trust will put the pieces together. And at this point that completed puzzle could well be lethal for Amber.

      1. TrueSurvivor

        Possibly. However, while Amber was initially in Walky’s room to hide from the police when they raided the girls’ dorms, I do not think Walky is hiding Amber to conceal her wound or identity at this momment. Joyce and Dorothy know who she is, as does her roomate, and given that the police did not find any evidence and, therefore, Amber is not wanted there is no reason for Amber to be hiding in another dorm. Amber isn’t visably injured while in the bed with Walky and it would not be suspicous for Amber to be in an known lover’s bed. As consequence, I believe Walky is merely hiding Amber because they were or were about to be in the middle of something.

    3. Jed!

      I think it’s mostly because they’re (literally) in bed together and he doesn’t want to give off the wrong idea. He’s been dumped, so it wouldn’t be a big deal if they were together, but they aren’t dating.

    4. Skewbrow

      I dare guess the blanket is because it might have been cops knocking on the door. Not that it would help, but anyway.

    5. Bash

      Joyce in particular has no chill, and would make it a big THING

    6. Dr. T

      The cops are actively searching for Amazi-Girl, who they know suffered a specific set of injuries. The more people aware of Amber’s injuries means that more people could accidentally say something about it in front of the wrong person. I think the real risk is Jennifer. The cops are raiding other girls dorms and may find the costume in her room, prompting her to reluctantly “out” Sal as Amazi-Girl. Imagine the cops’ joy at being able to possibly go after a minority in addition to thinking she was the one who roughed them up.

  15. The Rev

    Aaand we have Book 16’s title

    1. Taffy

      Walky’s first line in Panel 2?

      1. The Rev

        I definitely meant Amber’s line but that’s funnier by far.

    2. Jennifer

      Came here to say the same thing! Or at least I think I am, if we’re both thinking, “It hurts when I’m aroused” for the title :)

    3. clif

      This was very clever on The Rev’s part. If any of the lines wind up getting used, they get CALLED IT credit.

  16. TrueSurvivor

    I was trying to figure out how Walky and Booster where oriented, and then relized they are in fact lying side by side, possibly spooning. Walky was telling the truth the whole time. Good on him.

    1. Wack'd

      regret to inform you that one bed starts at the foot of the other, so they’re actually lying, uh. like some kind of human chain, or something. dunno how you’d describe that orientation.

      1. TrueSurvivor

        An ouroboros, the snake eating its own tale? Though, in this case, I guess it is more like two-snakes entwined and they are eating … other things.

      2. Aura

        Centipede :P
        (Sorry)

      3. clif

        Wait. Are you telling me that Amber’s head is between Booster’s legs?

  17. Anonymous

    Panel 5 brought me both laughter and joy. (I have no laughter-aggravatable injuries at this time.) Gochisousama!

    1. Thomas

      Gesundheit!

  18. Bedovian

    I’m going to be honest, as a black guy myself if someone barged into my room unannounced the day after I just had to face down a cop outside my bedroom it would give me a fucking heart attack.

    1. Li

      This is beyond fair. I don’t know if it makes any difference that the boys’ wing wasn’t raided? (That’s why Amber went there.)

      1. Mr D phone posting

        I mean, a cop just stood outside of Walkys room to snoop on whether there was a girl there, only for walky to somehow manage to make the cop uncomfortable enough to leave.

        1. deliverything

          The strip in question: https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/agirl/

        2. Li

          . That’ll teach me to rely on other commenters! I’ve seen this said more than once and I repeated it without checking.

  19. Ace

    Oh hey, is this comic’s title a Looking For Alibrandi reference?

  20. Fireprincesslily

    GOD DAMN IT WILLIS! Normally this comic gets like a “heh, funny” out of me.

    SO when I tell you I had a mouth full of Lemon Tea that is now EVERYWHERE because I wasn’t prepared for “OW! It hurts when I’m aroused!” believe me. That was great.

    10/10

  21. Sajuuk-Khar

    Walky, you little shit. You fucker. You can’t make me consider a Booster/you/Amber threesome situation! I’m still trying to purge the outline of a dumb goddamn smutfic of Jocelyne and Sarah having a [SISTERHOOD] contest using Tony’s [SOUND, LOGICAL JUDGMENT] from my mind!

    1. Rowan

      Ooh, I like it! Booster/Amber/Walky is a more compelling polyamorous triad than the comic suggested Joe/Joyce/Dorothy to me.

  22. Reaver

    Ooof sympathy pains..sorry Amber, I bet those muscles down there doing involuntary movement does NOT feel good on a stab wound.

    1. Rimwalker55

      Yes, The first tumescence after surgery is a bugger. :-)

  23. FacelessDeviant

    Hmmm, there is a Hellraiser/Cenobite joke in there somewhere.

  24. Grimothy

    I assume Introject!Mike is dormant and/or doesn’t front, but it would be fun to let him be Mike at Walky again. As a treat.

  25. nadamás

    Is the like counter a new thing? I don’t remember it being there before

  26. Jerna

    Continued from “No Actual Plan”
    Lesbian Love Sleuth
    You pick up the Asma file after breaking the burner phones. You hoped she would get with Sal, but alas. Though there’s still a chance they could go together. You put in some papers about Sal in it as a “contingency”. After you have phoned Jennifer, you know that she is friends with this Alice cat. First you should get some data about her. Your options are: asking information from her friends or people who have talked to her or spying on her to see what she does and get an idea of who she is as a person.

    1. QueenofSodor

      Joyce should always be spying on people, so she should do that!

  27. Jerna

    Damn, Amber. You need to do some kegel exercises!

    1. Steamweed

      But not right now ’cause ouch.

  28. Mr D

    @Wack’d what’s the ruling on something that may skirt the rules, but is attempting to be funny rather than mean?

    1. Spriteless auntie

      The ruling is wack’d is not going to stress abt it and will skim it and decide in the momy

      1. Reaver

        Mommy..?

        1. clif

          morny.

        2. clif

          *moment
          No idea how that happened. Blaming it on gremlins.

    2. Wack'd

      the real thing is i don’t know you from adam and have no way of intuitively knowing whether something is supposed to be funny or mean besides intuition, so if i get it right it stays and if i get it wrong it gets deleted. the good news is i’m basically never banning anyone so you’re free to just keep trying until you get it right

  29. BSD

    “The back-alley doctor specifically told me not to fujo out for two weeks!”

    1. Wack'd

      this got an out-loud laugh out of me, thank you

  30. Donutholebandit

    This unfortunately absolutely tracks for Amber. I love her so much.

  31. Steamweed

    OMG Walky you can’t just SAY stuff like that around Amber (I mean, Booster)! She (I mean They) is still recovering from grievous injuries. You’ll cause her (I mean Them) to rupture something!

  32. poofdepoof

    In the spirit of various characters’ (e.g. Dorothy, Jocelyn) sense of justice & taking collective action, and also DoA’s relationship with Kickstarter 😊, I just wanted to invite people to check out this petition against union-busting retaliation against Kickstarter workers:

    https://actionnetwork.org/letters/kickstarter-stop-the-retaliation-reinstate-our-teammates-now?source=direct_link&

    Thanks for your support & please share as you can / are motivated to do so.

  33. RF

    Took me a moment to get the fifth panel joke.

  34. zee

    I wonder if Joyce will get upset at Walky for moving on too fast. Its something i think she did in the past for Walky and Amber. Will her actually having dotty now chill her out on caring about walkys love life? Their rivalry in general? Or since her dotty worship is up 1000% will she expect a ten year mourning period or something? (Being hyperbolic, before anyone takes me literally)

    1. Skychrono

      Absolutely she will. Nothing chills the Joyce.

      1. Throwatron

        except sub-scalding shower temperatures :3

  35. Banana

    The dialogue between Joyce and Walky is hysterical, but it totally highlights the absurdity of trying to hide a situation like this when the evidence is right in the text. The recent comments about injury recovery are spot on, though—trying to push through pain while dealing with post-injury healing is a recipe for doing more harm than good. Hopefully Amber can find some rest before the next chapter!

    1. NGPZ

      sorry this off topic but like how’d ya get a URL link in your name? o3o

      1. Li

        Probably by putting it as the email field? That would be my guess. Or something about a Gravitar integration.
        .
        Also: gross, gen “AI” image maker, what a waste of a good link.

        1. NGPZ

          RIGHT??? X-X goddamn

        2. NGPZ

          also sorry if off topic but are you potentially interested in an alternative to the comments section for fun and discussion of the comic, but which preferably isn’t the reddit or discord server that’s over-saturated with Willis-Hater-Aid? O3O
          (ʞuᴉʍ) ʇuoɹɟ uᴉ poᴉɹǝd ɐ puɐ ǝsɐɔ-ɹǝʍol llɐ ʇnq ǝɹǝɥ ǝɯɐu ʎɯ sᴉ ǝlpuɐɥ ʎɯ pɹoɔsᴉp uo ‘ʎǝllɐ ɹnoʎ dn ʇsnɾ uoᴉʇnlos ɐ ǝʌɐɥ I uɐɥʇ os ɟᴉ

  36. NGPZ

    sorry if off topic but like how’d ya get a URL link in your name? o3o

    1. NGPZ

      sorry this was meant to be a reply to Banana above, please ignore :/

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