Amber is cute even when she’s in pain. I really hope that she and Walky end up dating again; they seem to have good chemistry. Especially if Amber is thinking about fanfiction while sharing a bed with him.
She definitely has a wound on the right side of her stomach, when Sal found her there was blood there, you can kinda see the patched up wound here and in the next strip Sal mentions Amber being patched up with surgical glue, but I don’t think it’s been stated how she got the wound. My assumption is a laceration, but unsure from what.
Dina later told Dorothy she wasn’t shot to reassure her. I can’t think of a any standard SWAT gear that would stab or pierce like this, makes me wonder if Dina lied.
Doopyboop
It could be a friction sort of tear. I just don’t imagine Dina would be the type to sugarcoat something as serious as a wound.
butting
Surely if there’d been any gunshots they would have been heard and reported? And possibly even mentioned on the front page alongside the THIRST?
Doopyboop
Also another suggestion, Amber’s injury could also have come about from the environmental while fleeing the cops. For example, she was found in the woods so maybe while running she brushed against a branch that scraped her. Or, in a more urban setting like the park the protest was in, maybe she got hurt on a fence, or brushing past a car.
embe13
she could have taken piercing damage from the chain link fencing. also if hit hard enough with a blunt object (like a police baton) the trauma can lead to bleeding. thankfully never experienced it but have seen images as part of workplace safety training. NEVER BREAK LIGHTBULBS! ENSURE PROPER FOOTWEAR WHEN CLEANING THEM UP!
All we know is that she wasn’t shot. If we didn’t know the cops inflicted it I would have assumed a stab wound.
My read was that she took a severe blunt force impact to the lower chest that was exacerbated by her having to flee the scene into the forest and collapsing in the underbrush.
How dare you compare this to “there’s only one bed”. No, no, Walky has plenty of bed to find, it’s just that he’s too emotionally damaged to use it. This is the advanced “Rather be with you than with my feelings” trope.
Ah, the abdomen lesson is a hard one to learn. I got food poisoning once, spent all night/morning projectile vomiting (and sometimes missing the toilet…), threw up to the point that I tore my throat. A good safety lesson! If you see something brownish with the consistency of coffee grounds in your vomit, that’s blood! It gets that look because of the way blood mixes with stomach acid! I had to spend all weekend recovering from how much it tore up my abdomen muscles, and that was without getting sliced like Amber did. I couldn’t even sit up to get out of bed, I had to do an awkward roll…
Is anyone else having issues with commenting? Whenever I successfully write a comment the site says page not found, but the comment goes through anyway. Also it still refuses to save my name and email despite me having the little box checked.
Yes, I and many others have this problem, most of the time. Sometimes you don’t get the error and have a 10 minute edit option, but even then your name and email are not saved, regardless of checkmark.
i do not know why but that stopped for me a week ago, it takes 10 seconds for the site to update when i post, but it has gone through everytime, i wonder if it has to do with the site cookies, the save your name and email are saved but i have to click and they autofil.
on pc
The error message probably happens depending on how long it takes the type the comment and how active the comment section is. Data on a server uses a database format, your browser downloads a HTML representation of that data. The identity and size of the comment section of that HTML document are dynamic. With many comments being posted the size and identity change too much to be re-integrated and generate an error condition. This is fixed by reloading the website.
On a similar point, has the Buffer Watch stopped showing up for anyone else?
Cause the alt text made me curious if Willis meant Valentines day last year or this year (as in a very recent insert strip), so I went to check if he was again a full year ahead – and nothin. No Buffer Watch.
Edit: Oh wait. Buffer Watch appears on the Main DoA Page. It just doesn’t appear when on comments – which I always am.
The only “wetness” Amber can do at this moment is bleed, but hopefully she’ll live up to her own fanfiction expectations once she isn’t in so much pain. Knowing Amber she’ll probably try before she’s fully recovered, but not tonight.
I can’t help but think Amber feels like she deserves this by her own logic. She (thinks she did at least) played a part in what broke Walky and Dorothy up so she deserves to suffer, laying up close and in pain.
Heh. Reminds me a bit of Just Stab Me Now…. (Book/audiobook/Youtube channel, plotline is about an author who periodically enters into her own novel to confront the heroine, who is absolutely NOT down with the whole “enemies to lovers” trope and its associated elements, including There’s Only One Bed.) Highly recommend!
off topic but useful tip for a mental health boost:
I just installed a chrome extension which removes all side bar videos when using YouTube, cuz let’s face it, the algorithm cares about nothing but traffic and has so much endemic rage bait it’s just not worth the trouble anymore
off topic but useful tip for a mental health boost:
I just installed a chrome extension which removes all side bar videos when using YouTube, cuz let’s face it, the algorithm cares about nothing but traffic and has so much endemic rage bait it’s just not worth the trouble anymore
having had my appendix removed recently, and making the mistake of moving a bit too much after the surgery, I can confirm that your doctor will get very upset with you, and sit you down to explain how much of what you do requires your core lol
Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but when I was in college I’m pretty sure the beds weren’t big enough for two people to sleep side-by-side in one bed comfortably. I guess Indiana University has bigger beds than we had at my college years ago? This isn’t really a complaint, I genuinely like today’s strip.
I shared a twin size bed with someone for like 3 years; you learn to adapt. Although we slept while holding each other which meant the lack of space wasn’t a problem.
Amber’s comment in panel 2 about how much of her is connected through her lower abdomen just made me think of Vic Michaelis asking “Am I a bag Hank?” and being worried about the answer.
If enough people are:
a) determined to read this comic and
b) hate Joyce or Dorothy or both
given that this is a comic about Joyce…. maybe someone should set up one of those websites like “Is it snowing in Dunedin”, only “does DoA feature Joyce & Dorothy today” then those people can check and give it a miss on Joyce&Dorothy days.
But maybe I’m reading it wrong. Maybe there are simply people who love loudly hating Joyce&Dorothy
Wait, the alt text says that Willis drew this on Valentine’s day, but….. Which one? Given their long buffer, it doesn’t feel right that it would have been the one last week, but the current buffer seems too short that it would have been the one last year? I guess we might be back into the buffer he drew before he had to change plans because of the Doyce swerve? The timeline matches better than expected, the swerve would only have had to have cost three months of buffer, which seems reasonable for having to have replanned a bunch of stuff.
Alright, I think I solved my confusion.
59 thoughts on “Perfect gentleman”
Astariel
If only real life was more like fanfiction…
Sirksome
Don’t trust uninspired smut scenarios in fanfiction. Do better Amber.
clif
I’m not sure I could do a better Amber.
eh, whatever
Commas are important people!
jabbingQuirker
i mean walky could probably do amber better
IntangibleMatter
“There was only one bed in the hospital room, so he had to sleep with me!”
deliverything
“He kept going on about something called ‘medical ethics’, though.”
ZombieKyrik
Amber is cute even when she’s in pain. I really hope that she and Walky end up dating again; they seem to have good chemistry. Especially if Amber is thinking about fanfiction while sharing a bed with him.
Stormtide Leviathan
I mean tbf it’s a safe bet that amber is thinking about fanfiction at any given moment. But yes, true
Needfuldoer
Amber and Walky have more chemistry together than all the other current main character pairings, except maybe one or two.
Allen Alberti
Amber and Walky and Sal and Danny are my faves.
Quinn
Do we know what kind of injury she has? I think they said she wasn’t shot.
Doopyboop
https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/anesthetized/
She definitely has a wound on the right side of her stomach, when Sal found her there was blood there, you can kinda see the patched up wound here and in the next strip Sal mentions Amber being patched up with surgical glue, but I don’t think it’s been stated how she got the wound. My assumption is a laceration, but unsure from what.
Quinn
Dina later told Dorothy she wasn’t shot to reassure her. I can’t think of a any standard SWAT gear that would stab or pierce like this, makes me wonder if Dina lied.
Doopyboop
It could be a friction sort of tear. I just don’t imagine Dina would be the type to sugarcoat something as serious as a wound.
butting
Surely if there’d been any gunshots they would have been heard and reported? And possibly even mentioned on the front page alongside the THIRST?
Doopyboop
Also another suggestion, Amber’s injury could also have come about from the environmental while fleeing the cops. For example, she was found in the woods so maybe while running she brushed against a branch that scraped her. Or, in a more urban setting like the park the protest was in, maybe she got hurt on a fence, or brushing past a car.
embe13
she could have taken piercing damage from the chain link fencing. also if hit hard enough with a blunt object (like a police baton) the trauma can lead to bleeding. thankfully never experienced it but have seen images as part of workplace safety training. NEVER BREAK LIGHTBULBS! ENSURE PROPER FOOTWEAR WHEN CLEANING THEM UP!
Thag Simmons
All we know is that she wasn’t shot. If we didn’t know the cops inflicted it I would have assumed a stab wound.
My read was that she took a severe blunt force impact to the lower chest that was exacerbated by her having to flee the scene into the forest and collapsing in the underbrush.
Bill Erak
How dare you compare this to “there’s only one bed”. No, no, Walky has plenty of bed to find, it’s just that he’s too emotionally damaged to use it. This is the advanced “Rather be with you than with my feelings” trope.
ZombieKyrik
Amber doesn’t know that, so she’s going with the most common trope she knows/writes about.
clif
It’s complicated.
flake
thank you! i’ve been writing this trope and been struggling to put my finger on it
Dave Van Domelen
The whole “Hurt/Comfort” thing is working less well than in fanfic as well.
Isalis
Oh no, she’s genre savvy
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Hurt/Comfort fic
Doopyboop
Ah, the abdomen lesson is a hard one to learn. I got food poisoning once, spent all night/morning projectile vomiting (and sometimes missing the toilet…), threw up to the point that I tore my throat. A good safety lesson! If you see something brownish with the consistency of coffee grounds in your vomit, that’s blood! It gets that look because of the way blood mixes with stomach acid! I had to spend all weekend recovering from how much it tore up my abdomen muscles, and that was without getting sliced like Amber did. I couldn’t even sit up to get out of bed, I had to do an awkward roll…
ZombieKyrik
Is anyone else having issues with commenting? Whenever I successfully write a comment the site says page not found, but the comment goes through anyway. Also it still refuses to save my name and email despite me having the little box checked.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Yes, I and many others have this problem, most of the time. Sometimes you don’t get the error and have a 10 minute edit option, but even then your name and email are not saved, regardless of checkmark.
Alongcameaspider
This has been an issue since the new site went live
embe13
i do not know why but that stopped for me a week ago, it takes 10 seconds for the site to update when i post, but it has gone through everytime, i wonder if it has to do with the site cookies, the save your name and email are saved but i have to click and they autofil.
on pc
Rimwalker55
The error message probably happens depending on how long it takes the type the comment and how active the comment section is. Data on a server uses a database format, your browser downloads a HTML representation of that data. The identity and size of the comment section of that HTML document are dynamic. With many comments being posted the size and identity change too much to be re-integrated and generate an error condition. This is fixed by reloading the website.
Rose By Any Other Name
On a similar point, has the Buffer Watch stopped showing up for anyone else?
Cause the alt text made me curious if Willis meant Valentines day last year or this year (as in a very recent insert strip), so I went to check if he was again a full year ahead – and nothin. No Buffer Watch.
Edit: Oh wait. Buffer Watch appears on the Main DoA Page. It just doesn’t appear when on comments – which I always am.
Thag Simmons
I mean this is still pretty sweet and intimate, although I’m given to understand that Amber’s fanfic leans a lot… wetter than this.
ZombieKyrik
The only “wetness” Amber can do at this moment is bleed, but hopefully she’ll live up to her own fanfiction expectations once she isn’t in so much pain. Knowing Amber she’ll probably try before she’s fully recovered, but not tonight.
QueenofSodor
walky should consider being a perfect Lovely Lady
Aura
I bet he could be such a good girl 😇🥰
Grimey
I can’t help but think Amber feels like she deserves this by her own logic. She (thinks she did at least) played a part in what broke Walky and Dorothy up so she deserves to suffer, laying up close and in pain.
Freemage
Heh. Reminds me a bit of Just Stab Me Now…. (Book/audiobook/Youtube channel, plotline is about an author who periodically enters into her own novel to confront the heroine, who is absolutely NOT down with the whole “enemies to lovers” trope and its associated elements, including There’s Only One Bed.) Highly recommend!
NGPZ
off topic but useful tip for a mental health boost:
I just installed a chrome extension which removes all side bar videos when using YouTube, cuz let’s face it, the algorithm cares about nothing but traffic and has so much endemic rage bait it’s just not worth the trouble anymore
NGPZ
off topic but useful tip for a mental health boost:
I just installed a chrome extension which removes all side bar videos when using YouTube, cuz let’s face it, the algorithm cares about nothing but traffic and has so much endemic rage bait it’s just not worth the trouble anymore
NGPZ
goddammit! sorry for the double post :/
Ray Radlein
that’s okay I just installed an extension which takes care of that
Pocky
having had my appendix removed recently, and making the mistake of moving a bit too much after the surgery, I can confirm that your doctor will get very upset with you, and sit you down to explain how much of what you do requires your core lol
Yotomoe
I love Walky and Amber so goddamn much y’all have no fucking idea.
ZombieKyrik
I agree. The only couple I equally love is DannyxSal, so a world where both of these pairings continue is a world I can enjoy.
Billie/JenniferxRuth was a nice relationship, but I feel like AlicexBillie/Jennifer could be better.
However I’m mostly rooting for DannyxSal, and AmberxWalky. The Walkertons are some of my favorite characters; not counting their garbage parents.
Kyulen
Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but when I was in college I’m pretty sure the beds weren’t big enough for two people to sleep side-by-side in one bed comfortably. I guess Indiana University has bigger beds than we had at my college years ago? This isn’t really a complaint, I genuinely like today’s strip.
ZombieKyrik
I shared a twin size bed with someone for like 3 years; you learn to adapt. Although we slept while holding each other which meant the lack of space wasn’t a problem.
Leorale
I think Willis once mentioned that they consistently widen the beds when you’re looking into them, to make more things possible.
Vukodlak
Guess she actually wants cuddles.
ZombieKyrik
I think she was secretly hoping Walky would join her in bed the whole time, but she’s in too much pain to enjoy it as much as she normally would.
Zamperla
Alas, fanfiction really leaves out the amount of interference incredible pain can do on romantic scenarios. For the best, mind, for the best.
Tawnee
Amber’s comment in panel 2 about how much of her is connected through her lower abdomen just made me think of Vic Michaelis asking “Am I a bag Hank?” and being worried about the answer.
Miroku2235
Ten Dimmadollars says that we get the irritating cheaters tomorrow.
Thing 2
If enough people are:
a) determined to read this comic and
b) hate Joyce or Dorothy or both
given that this is a comic about Joyce…. maybe someone should set up one of those websites like “Is it snowing in Dunedin”, only “does DoA feature Joyce & Dorothy today” then those people can check and give it a miss on Joyce&Dorothy days.
But maybe I’m reading it wrong. Maybe there are simply people who love loudly hating Joyce&Dorothy
Taffy
“determined”
Adept
Those beds look surprisingly big.
FluffyLlamacorn
Wait, the alt text says that Willis drew this on Valentine’s day, but….. Which one? Given their long buffer, it doesn’t feel right that it would have been the one last week, but the current buffer seems too short that it would have been the one last year? I guess we might be back into the buffer he drew before he had to change plans because of the Doyce swerve? The timeline matches better than expected, the swerve would only have had to have cost three months of buffer, which seems reasonable for having to have replanned a bunch of stuff.
Alright, I think I solved my confusion.
Adept
An excellent question. I’d be curious to hear this as well.
September 13/14, 2025 - Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, Table F2
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