A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Three Panel Soul
Matt Boyd, Ian McConville
It's a pretty rigid format but we keep the content loose, you know?
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Not Drunk Enough
Tess Stone
Logan Ibarra is possibly the unluckiest repairman in the world. A late night job should not have landed him in the middle of a mad scientist's squabble, but he soon finds himself surrounded by monsters and further madness with little tools to get out.
Sleepless Domain
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
In a world where magical girls and their battles are commonplace, loss has become all too common as well.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Barbarous
Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
A crummy wizard and an anxious monster have to get over themselves and bring order to an apartment building full of misfits.
Freakshow
Scotty
A festival of broken people, blood flows in the center ring. Come one and come all, to the greatest show in all of Paris.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Peritale
Mari Costa
A fairy godmother with no magic tries her best to successfully fulfill a Fairytale and win the respect of her peers.
Little Tiny Things
Clover
What are the little things that move us? The simple joys that warm our bodies and hearts? The micro life of insects that influence our world more than we think? The tiny steps we make everyday to have a happier tomorrow?
Lies Within
Lacey
Lysander's aimless and carefree life is turned upside down when he accidentally discovers that the cute boy next door, Simon, is a literal monster
Edison Rex
Chris Roberson
The adventures of the world’s greatest villain who, after defeating his superheroic nemesis, decides that he’s the only one left to defend the world.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Nigh Heaven & Hell
Scotty
Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
Augustine
Winter Jay Kiakas, Windy
August and her ragtag group are just like everyone else, simply surviving in the treacherous Crater... When they stumble into what may be an artifact of the ancient past, their lives are thrown into a much bigger loop as they trifle with bounty hunters, monsters and gods.
Novae
KaiJu
A historical romance with a touch magic and a dash of astronomy. It chronicles the romantic adventures of Sulvain, a sweet tempered necromancer and Raziol, a passionate 17th century astronomer.
Ozzie the Vampire
Eric Lide
Ozzie and her best friend Kimmy are your average everyday normal art students – except one is an immortal vampire with superpowers and the other possesses a magic talking grimoire. Also they have to save their town from a demonic invasion.
Saint for Rent
Ru Xu
Saint Halliday runs an inn for Time Travelers. Unfortunately, he seems to attract other supernatural "guests," too.
Heroes of Thantopolis
Izzy Strontium Hall
A living boy fights to save the City of the Dead.
The Messenger
indui
In a ruin-abound town cursed with bad luck, Kai and Kalla--a young boy and a fledgling dragonbird spirit--take on a quest in hopes the reward will solve all of their problems.
ARISE, YE SKELETON KING
Brian Clevinger, Escher Cattle, Lee Black
A troupe of wandering "adventurers" down to their last silver "acquire" a map only to find the real treasure was the fiend they dug up along the way.
The Weave
Rennie Kingsley
A young woman pursued by bad luck is witness to the murder of the Fairy Queen of Summer. Can she get to the bottom of this mystery?
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
The Golden Boar
Magnolia Porter Siddell
A young woman joins a group of summoners who call forth Guardian Beasts to protect their isolated magical island. Unfortunately, her Guardian Beast is nothing like she'd imagined, and he's about to change her life, and everything she thought she knew about herself...
Sakana
Mad Rupert
Our heroes must navigate a hazardous dating scene, overcome personal anxieties, and wrangle unruly seafood in order to find love, peace of mind, and a paycheck.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Monster's Garden
Ash G.
Champion pit fighter Kilo Monster was content to spend the rest of his days tending to his quiet garden alone... until he met a curious robot girl and her human family.
Angel's Orchard
Harry Bogosian
After the events in Demon's Mirror, Gerda has accepted her role as a Demon Hunter, and Cezar has traveled back to the Demon City. Demons have existed alongside humans for millennia, so things begin to return to normal. But an impossibly powerful Relic has been taken by one of the Demon Masters, and a silent war enters its final stages.
Darkling Bright
Chris Hazelton
Kieran Bright is a college student home for the summer and roped into an online reunion with his old neighborhood friends in the most recent update of their favorite childhood MMORPG.
At least, he was, and that was the idea...
Join Kieran and his friends as they are pulled into another reality that may or may not be real and are forced to confront their own identities, the nature of simulated universes and reality itself.
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I came here to post “JOYCE SMASH”, but thought, “hey, lemme do a search on the page to see if someone else already said it”. … and it was 5 posts down, so there’s no point in me saying it.
Well there’s gotta be like at least 50 people coming here then refreshing and stuff. It is nice to see the comic that inspired your current profile pic.
Formally the ding dong bandit, her love for her friend and hatred of her past self and everything like her past self, she discarded her dingdong marker of mischief and donned the boots of anger, becoming…The Bible Thumper!
Well, Ross and Ryan would be at the top. John might be up there? I don’t think Joyce wants to kick her mom. And she seems like she might be starting to come round on Joe.
“I mean, I normally don’t say that word, “cusses”, because even if it isn’t a swear it REFERS to swears and that’s kinda swear-adjacent but I’m pretty miffed right now so I’m going ahead and saying it, cuss it all.”
I mean, think about it. The odds of seeing an Avengers movie and then coming across an Avenger’s reference are about equal to those of coming across an Avenger’s reference. Which… are pretty dang common these days.
So grammar question. Is ‘none of us is’ correct in the second panel, or should it be ‘none of us are’? Just because it’d keep bugging me if I knew it was off.
Neither implies two, and there’s three of them. I think general standard would hve been to use are, but is can be used as a colloquium in this case, I believe.
What I’m imagining now is that this conversation went on (and on) between Joss and Becky, which is why the Joyce-face and why the McIntyre window is now in South Bend.
colloquialism. colloquial means “relating to speech”, so a colloquialism is a phrase used primarily in speech, and a colloquium is a facility or convention where speech occurs, much like a gymnasium is where you would perform gymnastics.
In my grammar, it’d be “none of us are.” And I think that might be what most people consider correct. But in someone else’s grammar (Jocelyne/David Willis’, evidenty) it could be “none of us is.” It depends on whether you conceptualize “no one” as being the absence of one person or the absence of everyone, imo. (I’m referring to the idea of multiple grammars from a descriptivist linguistics standpoint.)
Yes, but there are also writers who use a conversational style, which also forgives 99% perfect/1% imperfect grammar like this. TBF we don’t know what style of writing she uses.
Writing isn’t speech. You can re-draft anything you write down, and your copy editor, first readers, and so on will correct a lot of what you miss. Your first draft is rarely perfect, and conversation is always first draft.
I’m not saying it’s grammatically correct, but in certain situations one can make an argument for writing that way, as long as it’s not completely blatant. (I’m a proofreader.)
Traditionally “none” is supposedly always a singular pronoun, so it would be “is” in all cases. But realistically, none can be used as either a singular or plural pronoun, so either way works.
It should be “neither of us are” or “none of us are” because neither is the negative of both and none is the negative of all. We wouldn’t say “All of us is” unless we were joking around.
It definitely shouldn’t be “neither of us are”. “None of us are” is defensible for the reason Skemono said, although because Joss is indeed a writer you would expect her to use the more formal and traditional “none of us is”.
The word “none” is an evolution of a contraction for “not one”. “Not one of us is” works, so “none of us is” also works. Plural is historically incorrect but widely accepted as well.
Correct grammar would be “none of us is”, because in this instance “none” is being used as a contraction of “not one” or “not a single one” and would take the singular form.
Perhaps she isn’t a Paladin. Smite Evil doesn’t usually work on windows, regardless of their exposure to Toedads.
Still not necessarily a Barbarian, though; clerics with the Strength domain are better at the single, monumental strikes she’s used so far.
Nah. Said DM made a home brew class called a fanatic for people like Mary. It was really obnoxious because it functioned kinda like a mix between a monk and a rogue, but it was only ever applied to cultists.
Nah, Pathfinder’s Smite Evil is a sustained effect, not a huge fire-and-forget like her strikes thus far. That’s more 3.5… granted, they’re the same system at the core, and my preferred one for statting preexisting characters since they’re granular enough for unique detail without being as absurdly involved as, say, Shadowrun. Strength domain cleric is looking pretty good, though – has she ever had to SMASH more than once in a day?
Only reason I said “Walky” is because he and Joyce ended up together in “It’s Walky” (resulting in the famous “man of steel, woman of steel, bed of Kleenex” strip); and in Willis’ most recent offering, “It’s Pregnancy” (drawn in the period before his own twins were born), he again cast Joyce and Walky as the couple. So even though we will never see it in the DoA universe, I’m firmly of the opinion that when Joyce obtains her MRS degree it would be with young Mr. Walkington.
This. The fact that Joycelyne has the ability to ‘unlock’ Joyce’s pent-up an suppressed emotions and give them focus makes them a fairly powerful pair, in a way that neither is on their own.
The point is that she knew that Joyce is carrying around a lot of suppressed emotions, and that she could get them to release that easily. Most people would not expect an on/off switch to be so dramatic or effective; Joycelyn has a deeper insight into Joyce’s personality than most.
Probably but this isn’t reflective of that. Anyone with eyes can see that Joyce is on a hair trigger right now when it comes to her anger especially when it’s on Becky’s behalf.
Also helping your friend break into her house to pretty must retrieve her own property not illegal, Grand Theft Auto of your family’s car may be legal if they press charges, vandalism of somebody’s house that’s definitely illegal.
Yes. And it was because of that particular role (the Prince Regent on Blackadder III) and his role as Wooster on Jeeves & Wooster that I could never get into House, MD.
In these last couple of strips we get a bit of insight into Becky’s history. It seems she was sneaking out and doing forbidden stuff. Which in Becky’s case probably means going to see a mainstream Hollywood movie, or reading magazines in the local bookstore.
“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.”
Not really, but I’m used to carefully considering who knows what. Not spilling any secrets you don’t mean to is important in life and tabletop gaming alike.
Not really. She hasn’t outed herself, for good reason. She doesn’t know how exactly Joyce will react. She’s supporting Becky, but it took weeks before it was to the point that she COULD. Jocelyne hasn’t seen that progression and has a LOT to lose if Joyce blabs. So no, not really. It’s prudent.
When Jocelyne comes out, she’s expecting to say goodbye to all the family she has known so far and be rejected by all of them. So she’s not planning to out herself until she feels she can survive fully on her own and is emotionally ready to fully cut the Browns out of her life.
Hopefully, in this outing with Becky and Joyce she can get a spark of belief that she can hold on to one little piece when she goes.
I like (I love) that her involvement is to empower them both. When she walks away this the part of the family that she’d like to take if she could, and she’s doing damnfine things to make sure that whether she gets to or not, they’re in the best possible place they could be.
Yeah. Joyce has three sisters now. And this little triad, especially, has each other’s backs to a fierce degree and are doing so much for each other. They’ll be a proud, strong, stable, family, even if everything crashes and burns around them.
And I’m so happy for them that they’ll have that, because I know how important it was for me that there was one little splinter of family that came spinning off the wreckage after me.
I really hope someone has mentioned to Joc that her dad was surprisingly mellow about Becky coming out, so there’s at least a chance she’ll be able to hold on to one of her parents too which I’m sure she never, ever, imagined.
But her mother might lose her shit, however. This is the main problem. I can see Jocelyne ending up like some people, close people, I know personally: getting a stable life, then living that life free of the family. Relatively painless, but heart wrenching all the same.
Well he was less stupid/crazy before Omega, and had some wrong ideas carried over from his childhood, but he also didn’t rage until O’Malley “taught him to be angry.” So yes, absolutely, the similarities are there. And Mike can be Church, Joe already is Tucker, Walky could almost be Grif… I should probably stop while I’m ahead.
Becky: …can’t open it.
Window: Yeah, you are not so tough now when you forgot to leave it unlocked, are you, toots.
Jocelyne: We may have to break the glass.
Window: Hah, try it and it will be chipmunk party in here. Face it, darling, this window is tougher than you. Just give up already.
Jocye: …
Window: um… you are the one that took out Ross, right?
Joyce: …
Window….you are, aren’t you?
Joyce: …
Window: OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT
Joyce: JOYCE RAGE!!!
Panel 1: I love Jocelyne’s low-key snark at all points, makes such a good foil for Becky’s earnest optimism and gives them such good on-panel comic timing together.
Also, poor Becky, she was riding a high on knowing how to break-in, but she forgot the crucial step that allowed her to break-in quietly before.
Panel 2: And there’s the heartbreak where Becky still views it at lease in a tiny part as her house. Still feels awkward about smashing it and causing vandalism. Still wants to believe that pieces of this edifice to that which is broken could one day be fixed.
She’s got a lot of conflicted feelings about this poisonous architecture, just as she does about her family. And it’s eating her up a bit.
Panel 3: God I love Becky. Deflecting the pain of that vulnerable moment and channeling the bitterness into a nice biting joke. She’s not allowed to live there because of being disowned, because it will be reclaimed by the bank with Toedad in jail, because it is where she never wants to come back. Well, so be it, but no damn chipmunks are going to have what she can never have.
Some slight bit of control on the whole affair, but overall a blaring sign to how much Becky has lost and how much that would eat up anyone and how much she is no exception. She wants to be seen as carefree and wacky (homeless, what? Nah, everything’s chill), but she’s still gone through the meat-grinder too many queer kids have gone through.
And it’s why she can’t even manage a single trademark Becky smile this comic.
Panel 4: Jocelyne is slick. Teaching her to hold the anger in and ride it out as a survival mechanism, but just setting her off when needed. She knows that Joyce has desperately needed to hit something this trip. That suffering through John and Carol’s passive-aggressive bullshit and all the passive threats to strip her of the only well-meaning support network she has has left her with even more rage than before.
That Joyce wants to destroy something now more than anything, so Jocelyne uses that like it was a screwdriver in her back pocket. And it reveals that gliding on the edge of her siblings’ and parents’ emotions surrounding her has probably been one of her major survival strategies so far.
Panels the rest: Joyce has been freaking out. Underhanded, she doesn’t know how to handle, but punching? Righteous fury? She’s got this.
And if this putrid reminder of Becky’s imprisonment is what she can direct that towards. If she can channel all her hatred of what has been going on and what has been happening to her best friend and if her secret sister gives her the go-ahead, she is going to take it.
And so she does, full of fury, full of strength, smashing that window into pieces. Sure, the neighbors probably heard and are calling the cops, but that was going to happen this night sometime anyways by the law of drama, but this is the release she needed to not bruise her mom’s face or throw John’s car into a lake.
And I think it’s the turning point from which we’ll see serious Joyce from here on out, running on adrenaline and rage and not caring if the police come, because she’ll take them on, she’ll take the whole world on that would continue to shit on those close to her.
This is the reckoning, and Joyce is the reaper. And she’s taking souls tonight.
I agree. This is such a wonderful meeting point between Wacky!Becky, Underhand!Becky and the usually hidden DebbyDowner!Becky. The joke about chipmunks was a great way to take control.
And Jocelyne is GOOD at this. She is such a cool big sis for both Joyce and Becky.
You know, I’ve been wondering which DoA character would be the muscle in a post-apocalyptic settlement. This strip gives the role of chief enforcer to Joyce pretty firmly. Obviously Dorothy would be the mayor, and either Sarah or Ruth would be chief of security, but Joyce would be their top law keeper.
See, Ruth would have the edge up until Joyce got super angry, at which point Joyce would put Ruth through the ground. Meanwhile, Ruth is the obvious intimidation factor while Joyce gets to be the secret weapon.
“Chipmunks don’t get ta live here if I don’t”, the client said with disdain, staring at frustration at the locked window.
“Big words for a homeless girl,” came a hiss from the alleyway.
Chipmunks. Three of them in trenchcoats and too large hats.
I sighed. Apparently the junior league was getting bold. I didn’t have time for this.
“You girls go and play on someone else’s street,” I said said with my deepest voice.” …And there won’t be any accidents.” Three set of yellow eyes turned to me.
“You’re the snoop, right? Word is, you used to play it safe. Believe me, now is NOT the time to get your hands dirty. The people behind this are not to be trifled with. Be smart. Step of the case.”
“Aint doing that.” I said with more bravado than I felt. “Got paid already, and since I used that package of Arby’s sauce on my fries I doubt there will be refunds.” The chipmunks grinned.
“I hoped you’d say that, toots.” she turned to the client. “We have wanted to get payback” on YOU for a long time, and there are three of us and three of you.”
“No, there are three of you, there is one of HER.” I pointed at the goon who snapped out of her prison flashback.
“Oh yeah,” sneered the first Chipmunk. “She doesn’t look that tough.” but the other two suddenly looked worried. I understand them. She was a bit like Zhenyuanlong suni. Easy to dismiss at first sight, but you do it at your own peril.
“Ask the man who used to live here.”
A quick round of whispers followed, and they were off.
“You won’t get through the window anyway, the last of them sneered as they diapered down the alleyway.”
In response the goon simply walked up to it and kicked it in with enough force to send it flying through the room and showering us all in splinters.
“Are we going?” she said, and we were going.
Out of the frying pan…
And this is where my #JocelyneNoir story happily sailed away from whatever small thread of sanity that still remained…
Because “300” was overrated, had a lackluster sequel, and made it so we’re pretty much stuck with Zack Snyder as a movie director? Although it did give us a lot of half-naked Gerard Butler…Then again the source material is both historically inaccurate and really racist…
Okay, now I’ve got a theory for the end of Dumbing of Age (no matter how many decades away that is):
Eventually, Amber is going to have to confront her issues and realise just how destructive her whole alter-ego strategy is for her mental health. Simply put, she can’t keep compartmentalising parts of her psyche. In the end, if she’s going to be healthy and something approaching happy, Amazi-Girl has to go.
The things is… There is no question that Amazi-Girl does do good, both in practical and in broader terms. In this imperfect world of ours, there need to be heroes who stand up for the little guy and make sure that no crime falls below the threshold of ‘someone there with the time and desire to help you’.
Joyce Brown has the anger at the injustice of the world. She has anger at the lies with which she was raised and are expected to follow, no matter how much it harms the innocent. She has a belief in an objective standard of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and feels that people should be willing to act to help and to stop those who do wrong. Most importantly, she has the strong self-identity that will not fracture when having to lead a double-life of sorts.
Maybe, just maybe, this story will climax with Amber realising that the time has come to pass on the torch… and also the mantle.
Joyce Brown is an elementary school teacher in Indianapolis. Her students find her to be one of those teachers you can talk to. They’ve also found that problems that they bring to her have a habit of being… solved and not always by the ‘proper authorities’. That’s because Joyce Brown is also a woman with a secret.
She is Vengeance.
She is Justice.
She is The Night.
She is… Amazi-Woman
P.S.: This is not unprecedented, in the Walkyverse, when Amber moved to Colorado with Mike and little Donna, she passed on the mantle of Amazi-Girl to Lucy.
Small thing, but I love how Jocelyne immediately identifies her little sis as the one in the group strong enough to kick in the window.
Given Joyce’s early line about “girls can’t hurt boys [by punching them repeatedly in the face]. Boys are strong” we know that the Brown siblings grew up with that kind of misogynic bullcrap, so it’s nice (even if not totally unexpected) to see that Jocelyne has outgrown them.
Okay-one thing I’ve never quite understood is why Becky doesn’t know/have her social security number on her.
She’s at least 18 if in college so you need that around campus (at least I did back in the day). And if nothing else she should have a state issued ID card-again, for use in everyday life. If she’s not driving or ever been trained to drive not having a license is understandable, but a valid state issued ID card could have the social on it, or at least enough info to fill out some job applications. It would also be necessary for identification places a School ID wouldn’t be accepted.
Granted her info might not be wholly accurate (it might show her college or home address) but many employers for an entry level job might not bother checking any of that long as she passes a drug test. If she needed an address she could have used Joyce’s at school and say she transferred and her ID hasn’t updated yet.
I’m not very religious so maybe it’s just something I’m not aware of, but would her father deliberately kept her card/knowledge of her number from her so she’d be completely subject to his will? I can’t see any father-even one as screwed up as Ross-do that if for no other reason than every time she needed it for a school form she’d have to call him (and one would think if she was needing it that much she would have wrote it down at some point, just to keep from calling home so much).
Or am I putting too much thought into this that’s really a simple plot device and shouldn’t worry about it?
Yes, fundamentalist families sometimes really do keep their kid’s SSN’s from them, particularly girls, who often aren’t expected to get jobs outside the home. They would probably give it to the husband after she got married. And even if that weren’t a factor, it’s generally advised that you not carry your card/number on you to reduce the change of someone stealing your identity, and she may not have had much reason to memorize it before now.
Fundamentalist families of the Toedad ilk think of children and especially daughters as one’s spiritual property to mold in Christ-centric ways in order for them to make the cut for the Rapture, which is happening any day now.
Daughters are raised to birth a brood of godly white children and provide them free education in the godly ways in the form of homeschooling and serving as a combination house-slave/sex-slave for a “good” Christoan man of either the father’s choosing or approval.
They are not kids so much as property that is transferred between father and husband.
Similarly, they tend to ascribe to sinful Earth theory, believing that children are born pure and unsullied and become sinful as they grow up and are exposed to more secular godless ways and corruptions. As such, absolute control and “stewardship” of the children is a moral imperative and so the children are not taught how to survive without the church or even that there are support systems or meaningful education outside the church.
Folks like Joyce and Becky, especially Becky, do not get access to their records or given training on how to find jobs, because that is not “God’s Plan” for them. And since anything that is not “God’s Plan” is literally Satan’s handiwork there is no reason a caring and “Godly” father would risk his daughter’s soul out of worldly financial concerns.
Add a healthy dose of abuse and a level of fanatical control above and beyond even that vile standard and you’ve got Becky’s situation and what a shit show it is. Hell, we can see her talk a little about it here:
Even non-fundie families: I didn’t have my SIN (Canadian SSN) continuously in my possession until I “borrowed” it for a job application at 23 (yes, 23, as in after I graduated undergrad) and “forgot” to give it back.
Basically, Ross withheld all these documents from her. She was ‘only a girl’, so he had to do everything from her because her pretty little head should only be worrying about scripture, obedience and child-rearing.
Anderson University would have probably quite willingly cooperated with his handling all applications on Becky’s behalf (without openly condoning for political reasons). After all, it wasn’t as if she had any personal input in any of these things!
US drivers licenses don’t have the social security number written on them, and my dad didn’t give me my social security card until I graduated college. Not because he didn’t think I shouldn’t have it, but I didn’t have a safe place to store it and if your wallet gets stolen with it it can open a whole load of trouble. So my dad gave it to be to bring to job interviews and for my drivers license application (both of which it looks unlikely for Becky to have). He encouraged me to memorize it once I started applying for jobs, but I doubt Becky’s dad let her have a job and probably filled out financial/id information on her college forms.
Please tell me Joyce turned green and grew an additional two feet of height. I’m a fan of She-Hulk alright? She’s one of my main picks in Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.
As someone who has broken into a house for a friend recently, I would like to say all that crap about picking locks or using cards is BS. We ended up doing this except we just got something wedged between the window and the frame until it was out enough to pop it out.
I really hope we get a more detailed idea of what joyce is going through right now… she’s…. very angry and it hasn’t cooled off for at least a few days… of course it keeps being re-ignited again and again…. but seriously would love some detail on whats going on in that head of hers.
From experience of someone who has gone through *very* similar…
Here’s my guess…
Rage. Pure, seething rage. Distrust for EVERYTHING as literally every comfort has been ripped away, but being forced to engage in acts of trust in order to survive. The entire time the brain is running 10 thousand miles a minute rebuilding your entire outlook live, and taking stock of the damage the collapse of religion’s house of cards has caused, likely finding entire moral, ethical, relationship, social structures have all crashed and burned to the ground. Reflecting on every single memory, lesson, etc. of childhood on to see if *anything* is salvagable, being repeatedly angered by each new thought that turns up to be a lie, and… if lucky… finding one point that by its own philosophical merits can actually stand on its own (such as finding a single moral lessons like “don’t be a jerk” or “try to discover truth” that can stand backed by the few non-religiously oriented experiences I’ve had). At that point, the rage finally ends, and obsessive focus begins, as that small kernal is focused on and begins to be extrapolated into how that value necessitates interacting with others and the surrounding world, until you have step back and found you have built up a whole new morality structure from the ground up, and unlike the previous lie you lived, it’s… pure.
Then comes a zen-like peace with the world, but you are forever changes. “Normal” no longer applies to you, because you have analyzed yourself to a level that people rarely do, and you have ripped up the old flowerbed of your own psyche and burned all the thorny rosebushes and replaced the whole thing with a single tulip that you know will, with your nurturing, become the basis for a new tulip garden. And as a result, you, yourself are pure, and fully understand your own thoughts. The growth and development becomes exhilarating, paradigm shift after paradigm shift follows as you grow, study, and nurture your newfound growth. Until finally everything makes sense. But you’ve gone too far, you’ve changed too much. The pattern of growth has become who you are, but you can find little to do with yourself… but the growth must continue, because growth has become who you are. So you turn your attention outward. You have seen the damage in yourself, and you have fixed it, and become better. Then the ugliness of the world catches your eye. Unlike many others who would shrug and move on, you have become change and improvement incarnate, and without anything left in yourself, the ugliness of the world calls to you. You then pull on your gardening gloves and turn your attention to the problems of the world…
From experience of someone who was highly dedicated to my religion, had the safety of it ripped out from me, replaced by a loathing for the wool it had pulled over my eyes, and then seeing all the ways it had used me for a patsy and still continued to use people I cared for as patsies, and was forced, as a result, to change my entire outlook on life, and then had a major college situation that wasn’t pleasent, and proceeded to take my anger out on a solid steel table and discovered that my kicks when fueled with my most unbridled rage could literally break through 4 inches of cast steel…
That window got off lucky.
Also, said destruction can be VERY therapeutric.
That last panel looks funny. She should be kicking the frame, the foot placement looks like she kicked the glass, which means we should see a severely cut Joyce’s leg stuck in the middle of a shattered window.
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There’s no way Joyce isn’t making a patented Miss Piggy “Hiiii-YAH!” sound in the last panel.
Depends if Muppets are allowed in fundie households.
New headcanon
“Hmph.”
Personally I heard a HULK SMASH!!!
Lookit that.
I came here to post “JOYCE SMASH”, but thought, “hey, lemme do a search on the page to see if someone else already said it”. … and it was 5 posts down, so there’s no point in me saying it.
…
…
…
JOYCE SMASH!
I came for this too…
Yeah, I was also going to post Joyce Smash!
Eh, what the heck.
And Joyce? Smash.
JOYCE: SMASH?
“I’ve got an ARMY!”
*shrug* “We’ve got a Joyce.”
Is she angry?
Joyce, show them how angry you are.
My femurs!!!!
I’m sure there was a Miss Piggy “Hi-YAH!” or a “JOYCE SMASH!” But I genuinely couldn’t hear it over the sound of her BEAST MODE.
I was gonna go with JOYCE KICK!
Captain Falcon would be proud
“Hi-YAH!” and “JOYCE SMASH” are for show. Silence means the time for f… udging around has ended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpzYQvgds_E My headcannon is “nyeh”
Always thought Joyce was the silently angry type, like that nice history teacher you push too far
“Joyce, now might be a good time for you to get angry.”
“That’s my secret, Joss. I’m always angry.”
okay yeah this site SPECIFICALLY chokes ONLY around midnight Eastern time
yup
gah it wasn’t HALF this bad before I moved, wtf
Well there’s gotta be like at least 50 people coming here then refreshing and stuff. It is nice to see the comic that inspired your current profile pic.
Works extra because Joss directed that film, and here Joss is directing Joyce to get angry.
Which Joss?
elyn
Whedon
Damn, ya beat me to it.
Joyce SMASH
You beat me to it.
When God closes the door, kick in the window.
Beat me to it. I’m saying it anyway: When God closes the door, Joyce kicks in the window.
When God closes the door, you just need a goddamned cheerleader.
Save the cheerleader, save the….
Na. Heroes reference. Meaning no one will remember or care.
considering heroes reborn was not THAT long ago and allot of people like heroes I’d say more people will remember than you think.
world
I remember and/or care.
LET THE WINDOWS HIT THE FLOOR
LET THE WINDOWS HIT THE FLOOR
LET THE WINDOWS HIT THE
FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRR
Oddly enough, most of the rest of the song still works.
There’s nothing wrong with Joyce, but something has to give.
LET THE BODIES HIT THE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54iqEr1flQ
Matches with today’s “It’s Walky”
Nothin’ wrong with her.
Blue Screen of Death!
Joyce never skips leg day.
She stole all of Toedad’s allotted Leg Days.
Joyce is the new Lady Legolas!
I feel like that should be “Legolass“, only now it just sounds like a a girl who’s really into Legos…
Leg-o-lass, a hero to rival Amazi-Girl.
Formally the ding dong bandit, her love for her friend and hatred of her past self and everything like her past self, she discarded her dingdong marker of mischief and donned the boots of anger, becoming…The Bible Thumper!
Bible Belt
Girl of Ministry
Or maybe, Leg O’Lass
Legless LEGO Legolas’ LEGO Lass!
Not if she dons Elven attire.
If I read that as “Elvis attire”, does that make me a moron or a genius?
Yes.
Mea culpa. I screwed up.
I meant Joyce could be the new “Lady Legasus” (Teen Titans Go! reference; Raven’s alternate superhero identity)
Just as long as she doesn’t become enamored with her new powers and start using them for evil.
Yesss… recall your memories of Walky. Channel them into your kick. The frame is his face.
At this point, Walky might not even be in the top 5 faces she wants to kick.
Well, Ross and Ryan would be at the top. John might be up there? I don’t think Joyce wants to kick her mom. And she seems like she might be starting to come round on Joe.
Mike and Mary, though.
Doesn’t she barely know Mary?
To barely know Mary is to want to kick her.
With hobnail boots.
In the FAAAAAAAACE.
That is probably going to change sometime in the future.
Been there, done that, gave Joyce the SEMME t-shirt.
LANA!
…Danger Zone.
There isn’t enough chemo in this rampage.
And neither Jocelyne nor Becky has a camera. Sigh, no Terms of Enrampagement Part 2
Still Go Team Live Badass
If it’s cameras they need, they should check the bathrooms.
FEEL, DON’T CONCEAL
LET THEM KNOW, MAKE IT SHOW
IF SOMEONE TRIES TO BLOCK, SHOW THEM YOU ROCK!
Another obligatory Hulk reference!
[Insert Standard Hulk Reference]
You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry. I say cusses.
“I mean, I normally don’t say that word, “cusses”, because even if it isn’t a swear it REFERS to swears and that’s kinda swear-adjacent but I’m pretty miffed right now so I’m going ahead and saying it, cuss it all.”
Cut to a month from now, when Joyce has mastered the Glow!
…you know, from Last Dragon?
…damn, I’m old…
“I’m gonna ask you one mo’ time! Who’s the Mastah?”
“I am.“
Sho Nuff!
OK that’s it, is Joyce just Bruce Banner from the first Avengers movie now? She can just turn it on and off but not really because she’s always angry?
“JOYCE SMASH!”
I know it was said before, but it totally fits here.
“I have an army.”
“We have a Joyce.”
“Oh crap! Run!”
D8 D8
“Puny window.”
“You shoulda brought a gun instead of a beer, mate.”
“Nah. I don’t need one. I got a Donk.”
“A WHAT?”
*GRAB**TOSS*
“Donk!”
*PUNCH*
I saw Age of Ultron for the first time last night and this feels deeply appropriate.
Wow, how about that timing?
Unsurprising timing is unsurprising.
I mean, think about it. The odds of seeing an Avengers movie and then coming across an Avenger’s reference are about equal to those of coming across an Avenger’s reference. Which… are pretty dang common these days.
What are the odds on binge watching all of Archer in time to get the alt text? ‘Cause that’s what I apparently did.
So grammar question. Is ‘none of us is’ correct in the second panel, or should it be ‘none of us are’? Just because it’d keep bugging me if I knew it was off.
Instinctively it feels off to me too. I’d say ‘neither of us is’ but ‘none of us are’. But I’m not a native speaker, so I don’t actually know.
Neither implies two, and there’s three of them. I think general standard would hve been to use are, but is can be used as a colloquium in this case, I believe.
I want to attend a colloquium of English doctorates debating exactly this point.
What I’m imagining now is that this conversation went on (and on) between Joss and Becky, which is why the Joyce-face and why the McIntyre window is now in South Bend.
colloquialism. colloquial means “relating to speech”, so a colloquialism is a phrase used primarily in speech, and a colloquium is a facility or convention where speech occurs, much like a gymnasium is where you would perform gymnastics.
In my grammar, it’d be “none of us are.” And I think that might be what most people consider correct. But in someone else’s grammar (Jocelyne/David Willis’, evidenty) it could be “none of us is.” It depends on whether you conceptualize “no one” as being the absence of one person or the absence of everyone, imo. (I’m referring to the idea of multiple grammars from a descriptivist linguistics standpoint.)
Plus, its dialog so it would make sense that it wasn’t grammatically perfect. I don’t pay attention to grammar when I speak.
Yeah, but Jocelyne is a writer. We need to hold her to higher standards.
Hm yeah. It would seem a bit weird for a writer like Jocelyne I guess.
Yes, but there are also writers who use a conversational style, which also forgives 99% perfect/1% imperfect grammar like this. TBF we don’t know what style of writing she uses.
Writing isn’t speech. You can re-draft anything you write down, and your copy editor, first readers, and so on will correct a lot of what you miss. Your first draft is rarely perfect, and conversation is always first draft.
I’m not saying it’s grammatically correct, but in certain situations one can make an argument for writing that way, as long as it’s not completely blatant. (I’m a proofreader.)
It is fair to say that those situations are the minority, though.
Traditionally “none” is supposedly always a singular pronoun, so it would be “is” in all cases. But realistically, none can be used as either a singular or plural pronoun, so either way works.
Sorry, Skemono, I didn’t see your post when I posted. You answered my question.
It should be “neither of us are” or “none of us are” because neither is the negative of both and none is the negative of all. We wouldn’t say “All of us is” unless we were joking around.
It definitely shouldn’t be “neither of us are”. “None of us are” is defensible for the reason Skemono said, although because Joss is indeed a writer you would expect her to use the more formal and traditional “none of us is”.
Both ways are grammatically acceptable at least here in the US.
The word “none” is the subject of this sentence, not “us”. Is “none” considered to be singular or plural?
Singular: Referring to 1 individual.
Plural: Referring to more than 1 individual.
None: Refers to 0 individuals.
Therefore “none” is plural.
BECAUSE REASONS!
… those reasons being that a lot of English majors don’t learn a lot of math.
The word “none” is an evolution of a contraction for “not one”. “Not one of us is” works, so “none of us is” also works. Plural is historically incorrect but widely accepted as well.
^ That’s the one.
Zero isn’t one, so it can’t be singular.
But it CAN be a singularity!
…….
….
…
… I did two years of post-bacc math and I have NO IDEA if what I just said is true.
No, you… just… NO.
Don’t ever try to make math noises again.
Anyhow, I’ve had some sleep and no, what I said wasn’t true.
Functions CAN have a singularity AT 0, but 0 itself cannot be a singularity.
Correct grammar would be “none of us is”, because in this instance “none” is being used as a contraction of “not one” or “not a single one” and would take the singular form.
Perhaps she isn’t a Paladin. Smite Evil doesn’t usually work on windows, regardless of their exposure to Toedads.
Still not necessarily a Barbarian, though; clerics with the Strength domain are better at the single, monumental strikes she’s used so far.
I’m still voting Pally, it is said Evil Person’s Evil Lair we’re talking about here.
True.
Joyce obviously is a paladin who multiclassed into barbarian. My DM made a home-brew class for just such a combination called the zealot.
Zealot sounds like it’d be Mary’s class.
Nah. Said DM made a home brew class called a fanatic for people like Mary. It was really obnoxious because it functioned kinda like a mix between a monk and a rogue, but it was only ever applied to cultists.
Doesn’t Zealot just mean Fanatic?
Wizard means Sorcerer and they’re still distinct classes (in the rules systems that make that distinction).
Nonono.
She’s unarmed and she attacked with a kick. She’s a monk.
….
… wait, what edition are we talking here?
I thought we were using Pathfinder.
Nah, Pathfinder’s Smite Evil is a sustained effect, not a huge fire-and-forget like her strikes thus far. That’s more 3.5… granted, they’re the same system at the core, and my preferred one for statting preexisting characters since they’re granular enough for unique detail without being as absurdly involved as, say, Shadowrun. Strength domain cleric is looking pretty good, though – has she ever had to SMASH more than once in a day?
Right now, she’s flirting with being a berserker!
Nah, Strength cleric seems like the best bet. It’s more Joyce’s style, anyway.
Joyce kicks ass for the Lord!
Glass.
She kicks GLASS for the Lord.
…. I think that means she’s destined to have a traditional Jewish wedding, which is kind of surprising.
It’s actually the groom who breaks the ceremonial glass, but I could see Joyce elbowing Walky aside while saying, “Chill out, I got this.”
Actually, _Joe_ is the Jewish boy, in this comic…
Actually, so is Ethan, forgot.
Only reason I said “Walky” is because he and Joyce ended up together in “It’s Walky” (resulting in the famous “man of steel, woman of steel, bed of Kleenex” strip); and in Willis’ most recent offering, “It’s Pregnancy” (drawn in the period before his own twins were born), he again cast Joyce and Walky as the couple. So even though we will never see it in the DoA universe, I’m firmly of the opinion that when Joyce obtains her MRS degree it would be with young Mr. Walkington.
Damn …. WalkERton, not Walkington.
not that surprising, considering the two boys she’s tried dating so far…
I love that Jocelyne completely knows what to say to Joyce and also totally knows that it would work. Sisters <3
This. The fact that Joycelyne has the ability to ‘unlock’ Joyce’s pent-up an suppressed emotions and give them focus makes them a fairly powerful pair, in a way that neither is on their own.
“Hey Joyce, get angry”.
That’s not a very specific phrase there.
The point is that she knew that Joyce is carrying around a lot of suppressed emotions, and that she could get them to release that easily. Most people would not expect an on/off switch to be so dramatic or effective; Joycelyn has a deeper insight into Joyce’s personality than most.
Probably but this isn’t reflective of that. Anyone with eyes can see that Joyce is on a hair trigger right now when it comes to her anger especially when it’s on Becky’s behalf.
Yep, She’s ready to kick asses.
So long as she’s not allowed to combine one’s jawbone with Sal’s hair. The world would never recover.
I guess Joyce has abductee powers in this universe after all
No, she got these powers by being a WITNESS to an abduction.
I’m going to pretend that the foot in the last panel isn’t there, so that I can imagine that Joyce blew the window out of its frame with MIND POWERS.
That’s some nice glass-kicking, Joyce!
Captain Falcon, you’ve got yourself some competition
Welp, time for an obligatory Hulk reference.
That’s her secret.
I’ve been in that “This is wrong but I’m doing it for someone I love” place before. I really like how Joyce has been portrayed during this whole arc.
Are we sure Joyce isn’t an Abductee in this universe?
I came here to ask the exact same thing.
Willis has made that perfectly clear. No.
well, your no fun!
What about their no fun? Did it escape?
It got into Amazi-Girl’s current arc, and is on a rampage!
Becky IS an abductee, though.
Same, Joyce. Same.
“Yes, father. I shall become a window.”
+1
Joyce in panels five and six looks a lot like Akane Tendo.
WINDOWRANMA NO BAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAlso helping your friend break into her house to pretty must retrieve her own property not illegal, Grand Theft Auto of your family’s car may be legal if they press charges, vandalism of somebody’s house that’s definitely illegal.
Not vandalism if they ask.
Eh, we’ll call it a grey area.
Like, it’s a really technical stance.
Best not get caught then…
reminds me of how people described my anger.
One of the longest fuses of anyone I know attached to the most potent dynamite you would run from.
KA-ME-HA…
I was thinking that too… Krillaaaaaaaaannnnnn!
*plays Eurythmics’ “Walking on Broken Glass” on the hacked Muzak*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y25stK5ymlA <- I forgot; it was after Annie went "solo".
Oh man… haven’t heard that one in a few years. Thanks for the memories!
Is that Hugh Laurie at the beginning?
Yes. And it was because of that particular role (the Prince Regent on Blackadder III) and his role as Wooster on Jeeves & Wooster that I could never get into House, MD.
Stone Cold Steve Austin’s theme, if only for the beginning.
Disturbed did a cover of it called ‘Glass Shatters’.
Now we know what happens when you mess with sweet ‘lil Joyce.
I think Ryan and his face learned quite some time ago.
And ‘Pastor’s Son’ with the glass
That was Ryan.
She is a saiyan
Righteous fury!
Gotta love exploding d10s, but I don’t think the Imperium of Man would win Joyce 2.0’s loyalty.
Holy crapscicles, Joyce! :O
In these last couple of strips we get a bit of insight into Becky’s history. It seems she was sneaking out and doing forbidden stuff. Which in Becky’s case probably means going to see a mainstream Hollywood movie, or reading magazines in the local bookstore.
Apparently it was on the level of watching Seinfeld:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/inseparable/
And now I’m left wondering when Willis rigged up his font.
Gohan, unleash your rage!
I would like to rage.
OMG!
Okay, how do you want to do this?
Cracked window > Broken Window
No chipmunks allowed!
I said yesterday I could win a fight against Joyce as long as she didn’t rage out. This, this is why
Raging out Is the only kind of fighting Joyce does.
Angry Joyce is Scary Joyce. Also, Awesome Joyce. Yes, she can be all these things at the same time.
“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.”
— Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
Ok, so does anyone else get kinda weirded out when they remember that Joyce and Becky still think of Jocelyne as “Joshua”?
Not really, but I’m used to carefully considering who knows what. Not spilling any secrets you don’t mean to is important in life and tabletop gaming alike.
Not really. She hasn’t outed herself, for good reason. She doesn’t know how exactly Joyce will react. She’s supporting Becky, but it took weeks before it was to the point that she COULD. Jocelyne hasn’t seen that progression and has a LOT to lose if Joyce blabs. So no, not really. It’s prudent.
When Jocelyne comes out, she’s expecting to say goodbye to all the family she has known so far and be rejected by all of them. So she’s not planning to out herself until she feels she can survive fully on her own and is emotionally ready to fully cut the Browns out of her life.
Hopefully, in this outing with Becky and Joyce she can get a spark of belief that she can hold on to one little piece when she goes.
I like (I love) that her involvement is to empower them both. When she walks away this the part of the family that she’d like to take if she could, and she’s doing damnfine things to make sure that whether she gets to or not, they’re in the best possible place they could be.
All three of these women are awesome.
Yeah. Joyce has three sisters now. And this little triad, especially, has each other’s backs to a fierce degree and are doing so much for each other. They’ll be a proud, strong, stable, family, even if everything crashes and burns around them.
And I’m so happy for them that they’ll have that, because I know how important it was for me that there was one little splinter of family that came spinning off the wreckage after me.
I really hope someone has mentioned to Joc that her dad was surprisingly mellow about Becky coming out, so there’s at least a chance she’ll be able to hold on to one of her parents too which I’m sure she never, ever, imagined.
But her mother might lose her shit, however. This is the main problem. I can see Jocelyne ending up like some people, close people, I know personally: getting a stable life, then living that life free of the family. Relatively painless, but heart wrenching all the same.
Might? Will.
RAMPAGE TIME! Will there be an interrogation later where she’ll shoot some kneecaps out to pretending to play Family Feud?
YES YES YES YES YES
Is it bad that I’m now imagining Joyce and Amazi-Girl angrily beating up baddies together for whatever reason?
‘Cause I wanna see it happen now
I see a glasier who needs to put more pride into their work.
Are we going to ignore that she cracked the window anyways?
It’s still good.
It’s nothing duct tape won’t fix…
…..
Isn’t that the lowest bar in the universe?
“Uh, guys? The sun just went supernova.”
“GET THE DUCT TAPE!”
Hey, if the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
… We’re all in this together. Keep your stick on the ice.
Chipmunks…
…Dumbing of RAMPAAAAAAGE?
Next strip:
Wewoo wewooo wewooo
Becky: Shit shit shit shit shit! I forgot about the alarm!
Finally, we get to see the director’s cut of Terms of Enrampagement.
So is joyce like caboose from Red vs blue. Minus the stupidity
Well he was less stupid/crazy before Omega, and had some wrong ideas carried over from his childhood, but he also didn’t rage until O’Malley “taught him to be angry.” So yes, absolutely, the similarities are there. And Mike can be Church, Joe already is Tucker, Walky could almost be Grif… I should probably stop while I’m ahead.
“And that would make you ‘Ruth,’ the gruff and regimented leader of the Red Team…
…and also the captain of their pirate ship.”
What about Amber as Carolina and Blaine as the Director? Though the Director did have more redeeming qualities.
A bit obvious, but to the point.
I’m starting to think Amazi-Girl may have some competition in dealing with problems with physical violence.
Goddamn chipmunks think they can take our homes.
Alvin!!!!
well I am not completely sure they can put back the window frame after this, but at least they have access again.
Puny window frame.
I knew it. Joyce so swol.
I have come here to chew bubble gum and to kick glass… and I am all out of bubble gum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OImKPh6N_Lw
I love “They Live”!!
THey Live? The first thing I thought was Duke Nukem.
I hope that wasn’t as loud as the last panel made it seem…
I heard the alt-text in Sterling Archer’s voice… clear as a bell…
same lol ~<3
I can hear that rocket sound that Negasonic Teenage Warhead makes.
that settles it, Joyce is officially the Berserker in the D&D AU.
Zealot. An advanced home brew class that is created by a paladin multi-classing into barbarian, thus creating a holy berserker.
Isn’t that just in your campaign, though?
NOT ANYMORE *borrows for my campaigns*
RELEASE YOUR LIMITERS
Becky: …can’t open it.
Window: Yeah, you are not so tough now when you forgot to leave it unlocked, are you, toots.
Jocelyne: We may have to break the glass.
Window: Hah, try it and it will be chipmunk party in here. Face it, darling, this window is tougher than you. Just give up already.
Jocye: …
Window: um… you are the one that took out Ross, right?
Joyce: …
Window….you are, aren’t you?
Joyce: …
Window: OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT
Joyce: JOYCE RAGE!!!
That window had it coming…
It was saying disparaging, questionable even, things about Becky. And it took the last slice of pizza. Really, it’s justifiable homicide.
Please.
The window didn’t do anything.
It was framed.
*slowclap*
Have an internet.
I don’t know whether I hate you or love you for this comment. Probably a little of both.
Did that comment cause you pane?
Of course not, that would be sill-y.
It’s curtains on our comedy careers for sure…
Yup. They’re shuttered.
I don’t deserve my grav.
A shut and open case/
UMMMMMMM
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: I love Jocelyne’s low-key snark at all points, makes such a good foil for Becky’s earnest optimism and gives them such good on-panel comic timing together.
Also, poor Becky, she was riding a high on knowing how to break-in, but she forgot the crucial step that allowed her to break-in quietly before.
Panel 2: And there’s the heartbreak where Becky still views it at lease in a tiny part as her house. Still feels awkward about smashing it and causing vandalism. Still wants to believe that pieces of this edifice to that which is broken could one day be fixed.
She’s got a lot of conflicted feelings about this poisonous architecture, just as she does about her family. And it’s eating her up a bit.
Panel 3: God I love Becky. Deflecting the pain of that vulnerable moment and channeling the bitterness into a nice biting joke. She’s not allowed to live there because of being disowned, because it will be reclaimed by the bank with Toedad in jail, because it is where she never wants to come back. Well, so be it, but no damn chipmunks are going to have what she can never have.
Some slight bit of control on the whole affair, but overall a blaring sign to how much Becky has lost and how much that would eat up anyone and how much she is no exception. She wants to be seen as carefree and wacky (homeless, what? Nah, everything’s chill), but she’s still gone through the meat-grinder too many queer kids have gone through.
And it’s why she can’t even manage a single trademark Becky smile this comic.
Panel 4: Jocelyne is slick. Teaching her to hold the anger in and ride it out as a survival mechanism, but just setting her off when needed. She knows that Joyce has desperately needed to hit something this trip. That suffering through John and Carol’s passive-aggressive bullshit and all the passive threats to strip her of the only well-meaning support network she has has left her with even more rage than before.
That Joyce wants to destroy something now more than anything, so Jocelyne uses that like it was a screwdriver in her back pocket. And it reveals that gliding on the edge of her siblings’ and parents’ emotions surrounding her has probably been one of her major survival strategies so far.
Panels the rest: Joyce has been freaking out. Underhanded, she doesn’t know how to handle, but punching? Righteous fury? She’s got this.
And if this putrid reminder of Becky’s imprisonment is what she can direct that towards. If she can channel all her hatred of what has been going on and what has been happening to her best friend and if her secret sister gives her the go-ahead, she is going to take it.
And so she does, full of fury, full of strength, smashing that window into pieces. Sure, the neighbors probably heard and are calling the cops, but that was going to happen this night sometime anyways by the law of drama, but this is the release she needed to not bruise her mom’s face or throw John’s car into a lake.
And I think it’s the turning point from which we’ll see serious Joyce from here on out, running on adrenaline and rage and not caring if the police come, because she’ll take them on, she’ll take the whole world on that would continue to shit on those close to her.
This is the reckoning, and Joyce is the reaper. And she’s taking souls tonight.
Delicious souls.
I agree. This is such a wonderful meeting point between Wacky!Becky, Underhand!Becky and the usually hidden DebbyDowner!Becky. The joke about chipmunks was a great way to take control.
And Jocelyne is GOOD at this. She is such a cool big sis for both Joyce and Becky.
LET IT GOO, LET IT GO
CANT HOLD IT BACK ANYMORE
LET IT GO, LET IT GO
TURN AWAY AND SLAM… That… Window??
+1
Must it ALWAYS be Frozen with you people??
Yes.
Just let it go.
Love is an open window
Joyce, that window is ToeDad. You have to knock it out without breaking it.
Not?
You know, I’ve been wondering which DoA character would be the muscle in a post-apocalyptic settlement. This strip gives the role of chief enforcer to Joyce pretty firmly. Obviously Dorothy would be the mayor, and either Sarah or Ruth would be chief of security, but Joyce would be their top law keeper.
Are you sure Ruth wouldn’t be the muscle?
…..
Okay, now I want to see Joyce v Ruth in a Celebrity Deathmatch.
No, it’d be a squad composed of Joyce, Ruth, and Amber.
See, Ruth would have the edge up until Joyce got super angry, at which point Joyce would put Ruth through the ground. Meanwhile, Ruth is the obvious intimidation factor while Joyce gets to be the secret weapon.
Mary, of course, would be part of the Enclave.
So, Joyce’s D&D class is Barbarian. I would not have guessed that. But, it seems to fit sooo well.
Weirdly enough, she tries to be lawful good, though she may be slowly slipping into chaotic good.
I know, you’d think it was Paladin.
Actually, Cleric with Strength domain.
“Chipmunks don’t get ta live here if I don’t”, the client said with disdain, staring at frustration at the locked window.
“Big words for a homeless girl,” came a hiss from the alleyway.
Chipmunks. Three of them in trenchcoats and too large hats.
I sighed. Apparently the junior league was getting bold. I didn’t have time for this.
“You girls go and play on someone else’s street,” I said said with my deepest voice.” …And there won’t be any accidents.” Three set of yellow eyes turned to me.
“You’re the snoop, right? Word is, you used to play it safe. Believe me, now is NOT the time to get your hands dirty. The people behind this are not to be trifled with. Be smart. Step of the case.”
“Aint doing that.” I said with more bravado than I felt. “Got paid already, and since I used that package of Arby’s sauce on my fries I doubt there will be refunds.” The chipmunks grinned.
“I hoped you’d say that, toots.” she turned to the client. “We have wanted to get payback” on YOU for a long time, and there are three of us and three of you.”
“No, there are three of you, there is one of HER.” I pointed at the goon who snapped out of her prison flashback.
“Oh yeah,” sneered the first Chipmunk. “She doesn’t look that tough.” but the other two suddenly looked worried. I understand them. She was a bit like Zhenyuanlong suni. Easy to dismiss at first sight, but you do it at your own peril.
“Ask the man who used to live here.”
A quick round of whispers followed, and they were off.
“You won’t get through the window anyway, the last of them sneered as they diapered down the alleyway.”
In response the goon simply walked up to it and kicked it in with enough force to send it flying through the room and showering us all in splinters.
“Are we going?” she said, and we were going.
Out of the frying pan…
And this is where my #JocelyneNoir story happily sailed away from whatever small thread of sanity that still remained…
Into a land of pure awesome, you mean!
Awww, thanks
‘as they diapered down the alleyway’
This was excellent
…that MAY have been a typo, but now I’m committed. Diapered Chipmunks it is!
I like the “…ask the man who used to live here” line even better.
I am almost as interested in the next Jocelyne Noir installment as I am in DoA’s next page.
I have no idea where either is going, so I’m fully invested
I’m… not sure that’s the healthiest way to handle anger, but ok.
I know that it’s old now, but how is there not a single “This is SPARTA!” reference in this entire comics section?
Because “300” was overrated, had a lackluster sequel, and made it so we’re pretty much stuck with Zack Snyder as a movie director? Although it did give us a lot of half-naked Gerard Butler…Then again the source material is both historically inaccurate and really racist…
I’d hate to see Joyce do Jajanken.
Joyce is preparing herself to go through with her prison plans by taking out a house’s eye.
I love that she’s already halfway hulked out in panel 3.
4
“Joyce SMASH! Puny window-frame is no match for Joyce!”
Woo. Terms of Enrampagement: Re-Rampagement!
So is it safe to say Joyce could realistically threaten to beat her brother to death with his own bloody femurs?
I would love to see this new Joyce standing up to Ruth, or at least calling her out on her threat.
So a Catholic, A lesbian and a transwoman break into a house…
I’m sure the punchline has something to do with opening doors to closets or something.
Joyce is not a Catholic.
Yet.
And in this moment we realize that Joyce is actually capable of finding the toughest lady in prison and scooping her eyes out with a rusty spoon.
I’m getting the feeling Joyce is gonna be like Shizuo from Durarara by the end of all of this. Anyone who’s seen the show knows what I mean
Shizuo is my hero.
“I have a window frame”
“We have a Joyce”
When I read that last panel, an ’80s rock action theme automatically started playing in my head. Is this normal?
I dunno about any 80s rock action themes, but I heard the final “Let it burn!” of Into the Fire.
“Showtime.”
Daaamn
don’t get caught please don’t get caught please
Okay, now I’ve got a theory for the end of Dumbing of Age (no matter how many decades away that is):
Eventually, Amber is going to have to confront her issues and realise just how destructive her whole alter-ego strategy is for her mental health. Simply put, she can’t keep compartmentalising parts of her psyche. In the end, if she’s going to be healthy and something approaching happy, Amazi-Girl has to go.
The things is… There is no question that Amazi-Girl does do good, both in practical and in broader terms. In this imperfect world of ours, there need to be heroes who stand up for the little guy and make sure that no crime falls below the threshold of ‘someone there with the time and desire to help you’.
Joyce Brown has the anger at the injustice of the world. She has anger at the lies with which she was raised and are expected to follow, no matter how much it harms the innocent. She has a belief in an objective standard of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and feels that people should be willing to act to help and to stop those who do wrong. Most importantly, she has the strong self-identity that will not fracture when having to lead a double-life of sorts.
Maybe, just maybe, this story will climax with Amber realising that the time has come to pass on the torch… and also the mantle.
Joyce Brown is an elementary school teacher in Indianapolis. Her students find her to be one of those teachers you can talk to. They’ve also found that problems that they bring to her have a habit of being… solved and not always by the ‘proper authorities’. That’s because Joyce Brown is also a woman with a secret.
She is Vengeance.
She is Justice.
She is The Night.
She is… Amazi-Woman
P.S.: This is not unprecedented, in the Walkyverse, when Amber moved to Colorado with Mike and little Donna, she passed on the mantle of Amazi-Girl to Lucy.
“You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…”
Genuinely scared by scaryJoyceface…
Small thing, but I love how Jocelyne immediately identifies her little sis as the one in the group strong enough to kick in the window.
Given Joyce’s early line about “girls can’t hurt boys [by punching them repeatedly in the face]. Boys are strong” we know that the Brown siblings grew up with that kind of misogynic bullcrap, so it’s nice (even if not totally unexpected) to see that Jocelyne has outgrown them.
Jocelyne knows how strong Joyce is because she’s one of the ones who had to pretend to not be hurt when she brawled with her.
Ouch.
“When god closes the door… Joyce SMASH THE WINDOW!!!”
“Take that, God!”
i still feel like they should be carrying duffel bags or something. but i guess Becky probably has suitcases in her house to use.
Okay-one thing I’ve never quite understood is why Becky doesn’t know/have her social security number on her.
She’s at least 18 if in college so you need that around campus (at least I did back in the day). And if nothing else she should have a state issued ID card-again, for use in everyday life. If she’s not driving or ever been trained to drive not having a license is understandable, but a valid state issued ID card could have the social on it, or at least enough info to fill out some job applications. It would also be necessary for identification places a School ID wouldn’t be accepted.
Granted her info might not be wholly accurate (it might show her college or home address) but many employers for an entry level job might not bother checking any of that long as she passes a drug test. If she needed an address she could have used Joyce’s at school and say she transferred and her ID hasn’t updated yet.
I’m not very religious so maybe it’s just something I’m not aware of, but would her father deliberately kept her card/knowledge of her number from her so she’d be completely subject to his will? I can’t see any father-even one as screwed up as Ross-do that if for no other reason than every time she needed it for a school form she’d have to call him (and one would think if she was needing it that much she would have wrote it down at some point, just to keep from calling home so much).
Or am I putting too much thought into this that’s really a simple plot device and shouldn’t worry about it?
Yes, fundamentalist families sometimes really do keep their kid’s SSN’s from them, particularly girls, who often aren’t expected to get jobs outside the home. They would probably give it to the husband after she got married. And even if that weren’t a factor, it’s generally advised that you not carry your card/number on you to reduce the change of someone stealing your identity, and she may not have had much reason to memorize it before now.
This.
Fundamentalist families of the Toedad ilk think of children and especially daughters as one’s spiritual property to mold in Christ-centric ways in order for them to make the cut for the Rapture, which is happening any day now.
Daughters are raised to birth a brood of godly white children and provide them free education in the godly ways in the form of homeschooling and serving as a combination house-slave/sex-slave for a “good” Christoan man of either the father’s choosing or approval.
They are not kids so much as property that is transferred between father and husband.
Similarly, they tend to ascribe to sinful Earth theory, believing that children are born pure and unsullied and become sinful as they grow up and are exposed to more secular godless ways and corruptions. As such, absolute control and “stewardship” of the children is a moral imperative and so the children are not taught how to survive without the church or even that there are support systems or meaningful education outside the church.
Folks like Joyce and Becky, especially Becky, do not get access to their records or given training on how to find jobs, because that is not “God’s Plan” for them. And since anything that is not “God’s Plan” is literally Satan’s handiwork there is no reason a caring and “Godly” father would risk his daughter’s soul out of worldly financial concerns.
Add a healthy dose of abuse and a level of fanatical control above and beyond even that vile standard and you’ve got Becky’s situation and what a shit show it is. Hell, we can see her talk a little about it here:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/aspirations/
Even non-fundie families: I didn’t have my SIN (Canadian SSN) continuously in my possession until I “borrowed” it for a job application at 23 (yes, 23, as in after I graduated undergrad) and “forgot” to give it back.
Basically, Ross withheld all these documents from her. She was ‘only a girl’, so he had to do everything from her because her pretty little head should only be worrying about scripture, obedience and child-rearing.
Anderson University would have probably quite willingly cooperated with his handling all applications on Becky’s behalf (without openly condoning for political reasons). After all, it wasn’t as if she had any personal input in any of these things!
The saddest thing about all this? There are actually human beings that truely believe things like this.
“Her parents don’t let her have a cellphone.”
Tells a lot about of the amount of freedom that was granted to her.
US drivers licenses don’t have the social security number written on them, and my dad didn’t give me my social security card until I graduated college. Not because he didn’t think I shouldn’t have it, but I didn’t have a safe place to store it and if your wallet gets stolen with it it can open a whole load of trouble. So my dad gave it to be to bring to job interviews and for my drivers license application (both of which it looks unlikely for Becky to have). He encouraged me to memorize it once I started applying for jobs, but I doubt Becky’s dad let her have a job and probably filled out financial/id information on her college forms.
The last three frames put this music in my head.
“Good, good… give in to your anger…”
*Half the house is wrecked*
Joss: “Maybe I should have said five seconds. Or two.”
Chaklam… now there’s a catchphrase.
Please tell me Joyce turned green and grew an additional two feet of height. I’m a fan of She-Hulk alright? She’s one of my main picks in Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.
I usually go with Deadpool, Dante and Zero, but she is great in and out of UMvC3.
Hey, Willis, re 3rd-last panel: you left out the words “I’m Batman”.
I am now convinced that Joyce has a six pack, that Joyce is shredded. I need more of this.
Perfect gravatar is perfect
Now just try to imagine Joyce kicking a guy in the nuts with such force, Joe I’m looking at you!
Joyce is the business.
How can Becky not want the Chipmunks to live at her place?
I mean, come on! Has she HEARD their Beatles cover album? Nirvana said it was one of the biggest influences on their career.
Billie: However sometimes you just need a goddmaned cheerleader.
I’m sad that she is not along for the heist. She would have been a real asset.
She could put those skill points she put in Lockpicking to good use.
… I wouldn’t really have pegged Billie as the Rogue, but there you go.
Plus, we’ve SEEN her kick a door in. If Billie were here, she’d already be helping herself to Ross’ beer.
AND she would have slipped the waitress a twenty to keep quite about them.
I’m surprised no one just… googled how to pick a lock. It’s REALLY not hard.
As someone who has broken into a house for a friend recently, I would like to say all that crap about picking locks or using cards is BS. We ended up doing this except we just got something wedged between the window and the frame until it was out enough to pop it out.
I really hope we get a more detailed idea of what joyce is going through right now… she’s…. very angry and it hasn’t cooled off for at least a few days… of course it keeps being re-ignited again and again…. but seriously would love some detail on whats going on in that head of hers.
From experience of someone who has gone through *very* similar…
Here’s my guess…
Rage. Pure, seething rage. Distrust for EVERYTHING as literally every comfort has been ripped away, but being forced to engage in acts of trust in order to survive. The entire time the brain is running 10 thousand miles a minute rebuilding your entire outlook live, and taking stock of the damage the collapse of religion’s house of cards has caused, likely finding entire moral, ethical, relationship, social structures have all crashed and burned to the ground. Reflecting on every single memory, lesson, etc. of childhood on to see if *anything* is salvagable, being repeatedly angered by each new thought that turns up to be a lie, and… if lucky… finding one point that by its own philosophical merits can actually stand on its own (such as finding a single moral lessons like “don’t be a jerk” or “try to discover truth” that can stand backed by the few non-religiously oriented experiences I’ve had). At that point, the rage finally ends, and obsessive focus begins, as that small kernal is focused on and begins to be extrapolated into how that value necessitates interacting with others and the surrounding world, until you have step back and found you have built up a whole new morality structure from the ground up, and unlike the previous lie you lived, it’s… pure.
Then comes a zen-like peace with the world, but you are forever changes. “Normal” no longer applies to you, because you have analyzed yourself to a level that people rarely do, and you have ripped up the old flowerbed of your own psyche and burned all the thorny rosebushes and replaced the whole thing with a single tulip that you know will, with your nurturing, become the basis for a new tulip garden. And as a result, you, yourself are pure, and fully understand your own thoughts. The growth and development becomes exhilarating, paradigm shift after paradigm shift follows as you grow, study, and nurture your newfound growth. Until finally everything makes sense. But you’ve gone too far, you’ve changed too much. The pattern of growth has become who you are, but you can find little to do with yourself… but the growth must continue, because growth has become who you are. So you turn your attention outward. You have seen the damage in yourself, and you have fixed it, and become better. Then the ugliness of the world catches your eye. Unlike many others who would shrug and move on, you have become change and improvement incarnate, and without anything left in yourself, the ugliness of the world calls to you. You then pull on your gardening gloves and turn your attention to the problems of the world…
+1+1+1+1+1
It’s the Big Heat. Step aside, we’re coming through.
Homeschooler. Problem solver.
From experience of someone who was highly dedicated to my religion, had the safety of it ripped out from me, replaced by a loathing for the wool it had pulled over my eyes, and then seeing all the ways it had used me for a patsy and still continued to use people I cared for as patsies, and was forced, as a result, to change my entire outlook on life, and then had a major college situation that wasn’t pleasent, and proceeded to take my anger out on a solid steel table and discovered that my kicks when fueled with my most unbridled rage could literally break through 4 inches of cast steel…
That window got off lucky.
Also, said destruction can be VERY therapeutric.
Chaklams are not as good as chakoysters.
That last panel looks funny. She should be kicking the frame, the foot placement looks like she kicked the glass, which means we should see a severely cut Joyce’s leg stuck in the middle of a shattered window.
Goooood, your anger gives you much strength, my young apprentice.