Back when I lived in South Florida, much hilarity ensued when our local daily paper once reported that the Mosquito Control Commission would be hiring a full-time etymologist.
LOL. I looked up the french before I realized that you had in fact said written “deported” which is an accurate word for “thrown out the door”. (not as an etymological backformation of the actual “deported” but by its own parallel construction).
Asher really seems to care for her in that second panel. It’s sad to see Jenifer waste so much energy on Walky even if I get how their past leads her to it.
The fact that her response to Asher was “…..” followed by “whatever” leads me to believe that she, in fact, did not take any of Walky’s words to heart and is going to cut and run because they like Walky.
She technically expressed displeasure verbally by stating her desire for violence to Radiah. Ideally she woukd go back to therapy. I think a therapist would be much more helpful and less dismissive of all her anger.
That’s the only version I care to know. And also only the studio album. The voice acting is phenomenal. Actually seeing it on the stage doesn’t carry the same magic for me.
To each their own.
I much prefer seeing musicals over just listening to them as it affects me in two ways instead of one.
Side note: I only recently saw Mean Girls and then found out that Mean Girls also has a musical version.
Apparently, the woman who played Veronica in Heathers plays the friend (Iām forgetting her name) of the main character in Mean Girls.
Since the MC is basically playing a similar role as Veronica did in Heathers, Iāve seen people claim their head canon is that the friend is Veronicaās daughter (possibly with JD) and that part of the reason she makes the choices she does is because sheās heard Veronicaās stories about her own similar past.
Yes!
Because I love musical animatics.
Yes!
Because thatās the woman Iām talking about, that voice is unmistakable.
And Yes.
Because her name is Janice and now I wonāt forget it (until the next time that I do).
When you have short hair like that you’re constantly waiting for the day it’s long enough to pull back, for convenience sake. She probably can pull the top back though, which is necessary sometimes
I hope so but Lucy has some heavily rose tinted glasses on where Jennifer is concerned. Carla flat out told her that Jennifer was never popular in her old dorm but she still believes that everyone looks up to her when it’s more accurately a few people respect her opinions on certain topics.
ā¦huh, with the line break I read Jennifer’s line as four words instead of three, so I didn’t even bother checking how many letters it was. That’s probably it.
Y’ALL Okay I literally YELLED when I read the alt text because I immediately understood it I GOT YOU.
It’s a lyric from the song “Yeah Sure Whatever” from S1 from the Apple TV+ series the Afterparty! The show is a murder mystery and every episode is filmed and written in a different style (and from a different character’s perspective.) The song is performed by Ben Schwartz in his character (Yasper)’s episode. It is incredibly catchy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4KpQehR_g
So the alt text is referencing that Billie’s line “Yeah Sure Whatever” in panel 1- or that line itself is a reference to the song that the alt text is quoting.
Mutual affection, molecular reaction
For every action there’s an opposite reaction
Multiplication, love and variation
First constellation, equal stimulation
You’re like Gravity pulling me, Gravity pulling me
You’re like Gravity pulling me, Gravity pulling me
Pulling me–Michael Sembello
(Milligan reused it to describe his father’s exit from an Air Ministry building after walking in off the street with some harebrained scheme or other, which… definite Walky vibes from both.)
I wonder if Lucy might call Jennifer directly out for throwing her boyfriend. She gently did so at breakfast and the way Jennifer has ignored her outside the dorm up until today might have already caused some hurt. “We were there for you at your lowest now suddenly we’re not good enough to be in your presence?!” Is something I think Jennifer might need to hear.
i think it’s the serene peace of the last panel that gets me. no over the top cartoony expression or wilhelm scream-esque sound effects- not even action lines like in the previous panel. just a pure instant of tranquility, captured in time, before walky hits the ground.
well she’s allowed to ask him to leave but considering he was there in the capacity of lucy’s boyfriend versus just a friend/guest intruding upon their dorm rooms, she’d at least have to ask lucy first too instead of just grabbing him but hopefully walky would be like “what the hell” versus “ok guess i’ll give you space, talk to you later lucy” since walky would prolly be more likely to be confrontational
Lol Iām pretty sure that post is also just making a gossip girl reference, the original quote is āThree words, eight letters. Say it and Iām yoursā, referring to I love you. So I assumed that meant āYeah, sure whateverā is Jenniferās way of saying I love you.
lol, love the rage-drenaline, though surprise she has that kinda strength otherwise because i imagine she hasn’t kept up with any exercises she did as head cheerleader
Hmmmm, a thought. Sal was freinds with Asher as kids, and Walky at least knew him via that, but did Jennifer? Its stated she’s basically Walky’s other sister but that doesn’t mean she knew everyone the twins did.
She said she was on the other side of the playground from him when he said something like āIf I knew there was such a great woman around.ā
Basically, the twins had their own social circles, so they would know of each otherās friends while not necessarily being friends themselves.
So considering that, Iād bet Jennifer only knew him as that guy Sal hung out with.
Thereās roughhousing.
Thereās bullying.
And then thereās this.
Leaving aside that Walky didnāt do anything wrong in this strip.
Leaving aside that almost all of her negative feelings over breakfast were her own doing.
Leaving aside that this is Lucyās room, too, so she doesnāt get to throw out Lucyās guest without her permission or a damn good reason.
Dude is almost horizontal 3.5 ft off the ground (assuming the door is 7ft).
This is not how you treat your friend, let alone your pseudo sibling (unless youāre ok with the possibility of an actual physical fight).
This sober āpopularā Jennifer has just treated Walky worse than weāve ever seen alcoholic āloserā Billie do.
Sure we can see the humor in it, and maybe it will be played for laughs next strip (despite there supposedly being no super powers, weāve seen major and minor instances of teleportation through the years) so maybe this is nothing.
But weāve also seen multiple forms of scarring and physical mutilation, so itās entirely possible that this could be as physically harmful as it would be in real life.
This bothers me more than I thought it would and probably a lot more than it should.
Oh, Iād be surprised if Walky actually got anything worse than a bruise.
But I donāt like that she did this and would prefer to see the next strip take this with the seriousness of real life and have either Lucy, Walky, or both call her out on it vs them taking it in stride like āOh, that Jennifer!ā, like itās some sitcom with a laugh track.
Thank you. I haven’t like Jennifer for a long time in this strip and this most recent arc only reinforces those feelings. She’s not a good person. Let’s hope Lucy and the rest of the people in her hall start to realize that.
Even though the toss has bothered me (enough to make a sizable comment about it), seeing tall the āyeetsā in the comments makes me unable to not think of this:
Fun fact: I had forgotten Lucy and Billifer shared a room, so for about half of reading the comment section I was assuming Walky was just there to annoy her and that her reaction was perfectly justified.
Honestly, I feel like Jennifer’s mostly just mad here because no one was indulging her mean girl tendencies. All of her aggression towards Walky was either ignored or pushed back on, and she’s mad that her mean girl alpha-bongo behavior doesn’t earn her social status anymore. And I think she’s kinda floundering because she doesn’t really know how to “earn” social status without directly putting someone else down. Also, maybe Raidah’s push back towards her has made her realize even more that she’s not the “leader” of this group.
I also wonder if any of her animosity is stemming from Walky trying to make her THINK about whether or not her new friends are actually good people.
At her best she’s plays the role of the helper which is what Lucy admires but whenever insecure or not needed she has need to tear someone down. I think theres still not much about herself shes happy with which is why making others look bad is her go to method. Im hoping breakfast might have atleast made her question if going along with radiah is actually what she wants.
Panel 6 – Walky glows with a bright bluey/white light as electricity sparks off him, utters a swift “oh boy”, and looks around from the floor in confusion.
Something tells me editing the last panel onto the end of every existing DoA strip won’t work quite as well as YeetGarf, but “defenestrated Walky” is still hilarious.
Reading this back, I think I’m coming across as sorta very antagonistic, like I’m coming after you a little? I apologise, there’s no call for it. I was trying to basically say “oh hey i recognise you”, but I’ve been very very high for the duration of this exchange. Sorry for this antagony.
I think Billie is upset by being called Jennifer by the symbol of the only safety and normalcy she felt during her youth. She hates seeing Walky grow up because it feels like she’s losing the only part of herself she likes.
That’s an interesting read on it, and I think it may indeed have some truth to it, yeah. As much as Jennifer loves the feeling of popularity and being in the “inner circle” (a need that she’s also sating by joining Raidah’s group), I think deep down she’s aware of the superficiality of these groups and fears what would happen if they knew about the “real” her. The Jennifer that, honestly, is a bit of a dweeb, likes hanging out with geeks and other “uncool” people, and wrote erotic fanfiction about Kit Fisto.
Seeing Walky like this just brings into sharp focus her own attempts to bury and deny her true personality, and I think the idea that a fake version of Walky is able to win such popularity when she knows it’s not the real him is maddening, that if Raidah and the others only knew the truth, they’d probably shun him (and her) post-haste. Plus, we all know Walky won’t be able to keep up this act forever, so when the truth eventually comes out, it might drag her down with him.
Is Walky being fake though? I feel he was genuine throughout the entire breakfast. Putting on a bit of a show perhaps, but not being a fake version of himself.
I think it’s less “Walky is being fake” and more “Walky has grown/changed but Jennifer intentionally ignored this fact until it was shoved in her face by her peers, so now it FEELS fake.”
There was some insightful comment the other week suggesting Jennifer’s hair trigger aggression throughout the breakfast is due to the cognitive dissonance of trying to divorce herself from every part of the life she had before college while also keeping Walky as the personal stuff-into-lockers-to-relieve her-stress butt monkey he’s always been to her. Like, how many times does she tell Raidah to stop calling him David. . .
I’m looking forward to her figuring out what she actually wants and possibly getting into a fistfight with Raidah over Kit Fisto.
Actually, Walky’s sudden terror activated his latent levitation power and he unthinkingly flew away to escape. We’ll see him next week, doing lazy-eights over the golf course a few minutes later.
Third comment I’ve made on the alt text so I’ll stop here but I would really really love to know who else is in the intersection of reading Dumbing of Age and having watched the Afterparty TV series.
Because as someone who reads DoA daily and spent an absurd amount of 2022 watching and talking about the Afterparty with my sibling (up to and including writing our own version of the finale),,, the first panel and the alt text reference made me lose my mind
(also, i really love jennifer and asher’s faces in this strip. They’re messes, but they’re hot messes)
Billie is so goddamned lucky Walky is willing to give her so much grace when she keeps pulling shit like this. Presumably this lines up pretty cleanly with their relationship in high school.
Iām going to join the anti-Jennifer contingent, but not for any good reason, rather because this is BLATANT clitblocking, Jennifer. Lucy was closer than ever to getting a ride on the Caramel Schooner and you went and ruined it with your Uncle Phil impression. Unforgivable.
Didn’t realize that was their dorm room. She was doubling down on radiah calling him David in a ” I named him” way now shes basically telling Lucy that he’s hers to throw around.
Frame five: Walky is solving a complex problem in orbital physics, under quite a bit of time pressure. After he picks himself up, he’ll have other problems to solve.
Guess its hard for her to feel like she’s “popular” and high above everyone else if her friends actually like those she considers “lower”.
She makes this big deal of “changing”, and shoving it in everyone’s face… but hates that anyone else is liked for just being themselves.
I really hope she gets a rude comeuppance. Especially when Raidah and company boot her to the curb. But then she’ll just blame Walky and everyone else.
Walky is easily deported
…defenestrated by door
While not the actually entomology that strangely makes a ton of sense. It is a great pun. 100 internet points to you.
Etymology.
Sorry for the correction, but when people misuse “entomology” it really bugs me.
Why so antsy about it?
Maybe it just bugs him.
some people cant let these things bee
Don’t mind me. I’m still trying to decide what you would call the study of entoms.
Well, so long as he doesn’t go apiary.
Indeed. We’re finally going to get the xkcd/forum crossover we need!
Back when I lived in South Florida, much hilarity ensued when our local daily paper once reported that the Mosquito Control Commission would be hiring a full-time etymologist.
It’s not even surprising that this was south florida.
What kind of monster just leaves internet rabbit-holes just lying around like this?
Yeet the Walky
LOL. I looked up the french before I realized that you had in fact said written “deported” which is an accurate word for “thrown out the door”. (not as an etymological backformation of the actual “deported” but by its own parallel construction).
I would argue it should be “deforated” from “foris”
Lets hope this doesnt lead to a 30 year war.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Three words, sixteen letters, and none of them were from Yale,.
I had to count up the letters in “Perverse Sexual Lust” just in case. Nope, two letters too many.
Hold now, aim is steady
An otherworld awaits you
That for flirting with her boyfriend!
Yeah, throw Asher out!
She did take on Ruth once, but Asher might not be a good gamble. Bullies look tough but usually play it safe.
If only he was locker adjacent.
Yep, seems right for these two.
This bongo empty
I’ve got an urge to make that final panel some intense lovemaking.
Give in to that urge.
We’ve never dared to try to stop you before.
I would endorse but that would clearly be a hatefuck and Mike, bless his soul, already has the title for most epic of hatefucks.
True but a title can be revoked for a multitude of reasons.
It certainly can!
Also Mike is dead! You canāt keep a title posthumously!
The title gets renamed in the deceased’s honour: the Mike Warner Memorial Most Epic &c &c
Tell that to George Washington, the father of our country.
Or how about Benjamin Franklin, the only president of the US who was never actually president.
But Benji was the 2nd President of the University of Pennsylvania, /and/ the 6th President of Pennsylvania!
it’s got real ‘step on me’ energy haha
Until Walky asks if Asher wants to join in and then it goes back to the final panel.
Slipshine exists
for a reason
Or put some Sayajin Flames around him.
Asher really seems to care for her in that second panel. It’s sad to see Jenifer waste so much energy on Walky even if I get how their past leads her to it.
+1
Either he cares for her or he’s amused by seeing how clearly triggered she is. Not ready to give him the benefit of the doubt yet.
Next strip Walky discovers he has the power of flight, leading to a new superhero identity.
Quick, someone tell Walky that the secret of flight is to aim for the ground and miss.
+1
Flight Guy!
Super strength? Red eyes? Watch out Lucy, its a Terminator!
Lucy might level up to terminator herself.
That or whatever is going on with [redacted] on Picard
Well, given the way this comic is always distorting time, attracting Terminators, Time Lords, and Hound of Tindalos is unavoidable.
Okay so… When will we get to see Jennifer actually express her feelings about what happened at lunch in words?? To Lucy? To a therapist?
The fact that her response to Asher was “…..” followed by “whatever” leads me to believe that she, in fact, did not take any of Walky’s words to heart and is going to cut and run because they like Walky.
Might be or could be she’s also a bit angry with Asher for encouraging Walky.
She technically expressed displeasure verbally by stating her desire for violence to Radiah. Ideally she woukd go back to therapy. I think a therapist would be much more helpful and less dismissive of all her anger.
ANYONE would be more helpful than Radiah.
Which is exactly why she’s going to double down on joining Raidah’s mean-girl club!
Nope. There are no words in Jennifer’s mind right now. Only violence. Those red eyes confirm it.
It was supposed to be a nice breakfast. This is why Jennifer is so angry at the world.
*I’m kidding.*
Okay, if there’s any recent strip I should make into a game it’s this one!
If you wanna see that happen, send me your energy DBZ style!!! ?
Ok, but it will take a few episodes.
ą¼¼ ć¤ ā_ā ą¼½ć¤
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vUNDY45Jc
I heard the yell in my head in the final panel.
Thank God I wasn’t the only one thinking that.
Yes, exactly this.
Get Jazz’d.
Have they done that in Bel Air yet? (Did it result in hospitalization and a lawsuit?)
Uncle Phil would be proud of that toss. Walky got some good air.
Why is she carrying a scrunchie with such short hair?
She’s a Heather.
Heather Duke, probably.
And I hope itās the musical version of Heathers.
That’s the only version I care to know. And also only the studio album. The voice acting is phenomenal. Actually seeing it on the stage doesn’t carry the same magic for me.
To each their own.
I much prefer seeing musicals over just listening to them as it affects me in two ways instead of one.
Side note: I only recently saw Mean Girls and then found out that Mean Girls also has a musical version.
Apparently, the woman who played Veronica in Heathers plays the friend (Iām forgetting her name) of the main character in Mean Girls.
Since the MC is basically playing a similar role as Veronica did in Heathers, Iāve seen people claim their head canon is that the friend is Veronicaās daughter (possibly with JD) and that part of the reason she makes the choices she does is because sheās heard Veronicaās stories about her own similar past.
Even funner fact. I’ve done an animatic with my skunk character singing a song from the Mean Girls musical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bdF5HRJWoA
Yes!
Because I love musical animatics.
Yes!
Because thatās the woman Iām talking about, that voice is unmistakable.
And Yes.
Because her name is Janice and now I wonāt forget it (until the next time that I do).
Itās not a scrunchie; itās a bracelet that grants +3 to yeet
When you have short hair like that you’re constantly waiting for the day it’s long enough to pull back, for convenience sake. She probably can pull the top back though, which is necessary sometimes
on the bright side, now at least lucy might parse that jennifer is, in fact, a human being
I hope so but Lucy has some heavily rose tinted glasses on where Jennifer is concerned. Carla flat out told her that Jennifer was never popular in her old dorm but she still believes that everyone looks up to her when it’s more accurately a few people respect her opinions on certain topics.
Honestly I really hope tomorrow’s panel is Lucy giving a lot of smack talk to Jennifer.
I don’t get the alt text ?
Yes, could some on explain that?
Act with integrity.
Ahhhh, because somebody is about to die. I get it. Thanks.
I’m thinking it refers to Jennifer’s speech. Why, I don’t know.
ā¦huh, with the line break I read Jennifer’s line as four words instead of three, so I didn’t even bother checking how many letters it was. That’s probably it.
Ruth’s line just before meeting Truck-kun, in the Walkyverse.
Y’ALL Okay I literally YELLED when I read the alt text because I immediately understood it I GOT YOU.
It’s a lyric from the song “Yeah Sure Whatever” from S1 from the Apple TV+ series the Afterparty! The show is a murder mystery and every episode is filmed and written in a different style (and from a different character’s perspective.) The song is performed by Ben Schwartz in his character (Yasper)’s episode. It is incredibly catchy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4KpQehR_g
So the alt text is referencing that Billie’s line “Yeah Sure Whatever” in panel 1- or that line itself is a reference to the song that the alt text is quoting.
Walky’s Thinking “So THIS is what Jazz felt like every time Uncle Phil threw him out…”
Now every time Walky wears that outfit we’ll know it’s because we’re about to see the stock footage of him getting tossed out.
Mutual affection, molecular reaction
For every action there’s an opposite reaction
Multiplication, love and variation
First constellation, equal stimulation
You’re like Gravity pulling me, Gravity pulling me
You’re like Gravity pulling me, Gravity pulling me
Pulling me–Michael Sembello
Jennifer, Walky did not create the divide between you and the rest of your new group, that was always there.
Oh right today’s Reddit post ironically is a Poll also including walky. Should last about a day:https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/1208he7/who_has_better_one_jokes/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
“And so I left, with my head held high. And my feet held higher!”
“In that position, we threw him out.”
—Goon Show
Aw, I came here to make the exact same joke!
(Milligan reused it to describe his father’s exit from an Air Ministry building after walking in off the street with some harebrained scheme or other, which… definite Walky vibes from both.)
Nah, Jennifer’s got a comedown coming, and it can’t come soon enough. She’s been just about the worst member of the cast- since the timeskip.
To be fair, 3 of the previous contenders to the position all died just before the timeskip, and Joyce’s mom hasn’t appeared since then.
That’s an uncomfortably fair point.
I wonder if Lucy might call Jennifer directly out for throwing her boyfriend. She gently did so at breakfast and the way Jennifer has ignored her outside the dorm up until today might have already caused some hurt. “We were there for you at your lowest now suddenly we’re not good enough to be in your presence?!” Is something I think Jennifer might need to hear.
i think it’s the serene peace of the last panel that gets me. no over the top cartoony expression or wilhelm scream-esque sound effects- not even action lines like in the previous panel. just a pure instant of tranquility, captured in time, before walky hits the ground.
3 words and sixteen letters… I don’t get it.
Also, from a former RA standpoint, she was allowed to kick him out but not literally “throw” him out
well she’s allowed to ask him to leave but considering he was there in the capacity of lucy’s boyfriend versus just a friend/guest intruding upon their dorm rooms, she’d at least have to ask lucy first too instead of just grabbing him but hopefully walky would be like “what the hell” versus “ok guess i’ll give you space, talk to you later lucy” since walky would prolly be more likely to be confrontational
Jennifer was never an RA.
Is the alt textā¦ a gossip girl reference??
https://www.reddit.com/r/EASportsUFC/comments/87zmu5/three_words_sixteen_letters_say_it_im_yours/ first result i got was some sports thing lol but maybe
Lol Iām pretty sure that post is also just making a gossip girl reference, the original quote is āThree words, eight letters. Say it and Iām yoursā, referring to I love you. So I assumed that meant āYeah, sure whateverā is Jenniferās way of saying I love you.
bitchās empty, YEET
Oh well in that case.
Throw. Smartass. out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4KpQehR_g
Pretty sure it’s from this song but then that song bit itself could be a reference to gossip girl!
lol, love the rage-drenaline, though surprise she has that kinda strength otherwise because i imagine she hasn’t kept up with any exercises she did as head cheerleader
You don’t need to be on a sports team to maintain a pilates routine ._.
Jennifer shoots and she scores! Hoosiers lose!
“I thought we’re meeting up after class?” “I am.”
Walky becomes Fly-ey.
Winner
I’ve been low key against the Jennifer hate in the comments, but she’s making it hard.
Now, okay, bear with me, people, but I have this wild hunch: I think Jennifer/Billie has some unresolved angst related to Walky.
I know, it’s a longshot, but I’m getting some subtle hints about it here. š
You noticed that too?! I thought the clues were buried too deeply, myself.
Um-hmm. She mad, as my colleagues would say.
Fourth panel we just hear the āIronside!ā siren from Kill Bill lmao
Hmmmm, a thought. Sal was freinds with Asher as kids, and Walky at least knew him via that, but did Jennifer? Its stated she’s basically Walky’s other sister but that doesn’t mean she knew everyone the twins did.
She said she was on the other side of the playground from him when he said something like āIf I knew there was such a great woman around.ā
Basically, the twins had their own social circles, so they would know of each otherās friends while not necessarily being friends themselves.
So considering that, Iād bet Jennifer only knew him as that guy Sal hung out with.
Thereās roughhousing.
Thereās bullying.
And then thereās this.
Leaving aside that Walky didnāt do anything wrong in this strip.
Leaving aside that almost all of her negative feelings over breakfast were her own doing.
Leaving aside that this is Lucyās room, too, so she doesnāt get to throw out Lucyās guest without her permission or a damn good reason.
Dude is almost horizontal 3.5 ft off the ground (assuming the door is 7ft).
This is not how you treat your friend, let alone your pseudo sibling (unless youāre ok with the possibility of an actual physical fight).
This sober āpopularā Jennifer has just treated Walky worse than weāve ever seen alcoholic āloserā Billie do.
Sure we can see the humor in it, and maybe it will be played for laughs next strip (despite there supposedly being no super powers, weāve seen major and minor instances of teleportation through the years) so maybe this is nothing.
But weāve also seen multiple forms of scarring and physical mutilation, so itās entirely possible that this could be as physically harmful as it would be in real life.
This bothers me more than I thought it would and probably a lot more than it should.
I think this is just slapstick. It would be a pretty severe tone shift for Walky to get seriously hurt from a gag in this situation.
Oh, Iād be surprised if Walky actually got anything worse than a bruise.
But I donāt like that she did this and would prefer to see the next strip take this with the seriousness of real life and have either Lucy, Walky, or both call her out on it vs them taking it in stride like āOh, that Jennifer!ā, like itās some sitcom with a laugh track.
As all the Fresh Prince callouts have been referencing, this is literally a sitcom gag.
Walky hasnāt done anything wrong in this arc, and thatās exactly why Jenniferās furious with him.
He’s been low-key kind of douchy this whole chapter in my opinion.
We’ve seen “teleportation” used as a visual metaphor.
Thank you. I haven’t like Jennifer for a long time in this strip and this most recent arc only reinforces those feelings. She’s not a good person. Let’s hope Lucy and the rest of the people in her hall start to realize that.
The fact that we keep seeing slapstick come back in flashbacks as serious physical trauma is what continually bothers me more than it should.
SOME one’s got anger issues!
Ah, the Jazzy Jeff maneuver. Uncle Phil would be impressed by her form.
omg asher ? he adores her
Is…is Asher just not reading into Jennifer’s expressions? Is he lovey-dovey because they all hung out and peace was done?
Because Jennifer was a fan of the goose game with the meme “Peace was never an option.”
*yeets Walky, injuries be damned*
Y E E T
Even though the toss has bothered me (enough to make a sizable comment about it), seeing tall the āyeetsā in the comments makes me unable to not think of this:
https://youtube.com/shorts/IoW8fZoiKaM?feature=share
How dare you be yourself and enjoy life in a way that illustrates to me that you can both be genuine and happy.
I’m sorry. It won’t happen again! I promise!
…What the fuck, Jennifer?
This was literally my response and I’ve been looking through the comments to see if someone else said it or I had to.
Fun fact: I had forgotten Lucy and Billifer shared a room, so for about half of reading the comment section I was assuming Walky was just there to annoy her and that her reaction was perfectly justified.
Honestly, I feel like Jennifer’s mostly just mad here because no one was indulging her mean girl tendencies. All of her aggression towards Walky was either ignored or pushed back on, and she’s mad that her mean girl alpha-bongo behavior doesn’t earn her social status anymore. And I think she’s kinda floundering because she doesn’t really know how to “earn” social status without directly putting someone else down. Also, maybe Raidah’s push back towards her has made her realize even more that she’s not the “leader” of this group.
I also wonder if any of her animosity is stemming from Walky trying to make her THINK about whether or not her new friends are actually good people.
She also feels safe lashing out at Walky because she knows he wonāt abandon her.
I think Raidah is fucking with her. Jennifer’s trying to impress Raidah, and Walky’s behavior is something Raidah would typically look down on.
At her best she’s plays the role of the helper which is what Lucy admires but whenever insecure or not needed she has need to tear someone down. I think theres still not much about herself shes happy with which is why making others look bad is her go to method. Im hoping breakfast might have atleast made her question if going along with radiah is actually what she wants.
Last panel in colour sepia
message “To be continued”
“Roundabout” by the British rock band Yes play in background
Panel 6 – Walky glows with a bright bluey/white light as electricity sparks off him, utters a swift “oh boy”, and looks around from the floor in confusion.
??
Something tells me editing the last panel onto the end of every existing DoA strip won’t work quite as well as YeetGarf, but “defenestrated Walky” is still hilarious.
Not the first time she’s defenestrated one of her friends.
*adjusts binoculars* the mating ritual has begun *scritches notes in field journal*
Sorry, Walky; you’re not allowed to be as popular as Jennifer.
Uh, Billie?
I uh, think you can actually get into deep shit for that one
Five minutes in Walkys company and the cops would completely understand Jennifer’s actions
Of course they would, he’s a black kid and they’re cops. That’s just their natural state of mind.
(TW: police raid) They may just search all his hoodie pockets looking for a thousand pounds of weed and find nothing.
More that Walky is an annoying little gob shite
Oh wait, you’re the one who says that when he’s so much as visible.
What do you mean by that?
Not a whole bunch really, I just kinda feel like I’ve seen you making anti-Walky comments a lot. Not an indictment or nothin’, it’s just a perception.
Am I not allowed to?
Only if you accept you’re wrong about our Messiah. :shrug:
Reading this back, I think I’m coming across as sorta very antagonistic, like I’m coming after you a little? I apologise, there’s no call for it. I was trying to basically say “oh hey i recognise you”, but I’ve been very very high for the duration of this exchange. Sorry for this antagony.
I think Billie is upset by being called Jennifer by the symbol of the only safety and normalcy she felt during her youth. She hates seeing Walky grow up because it feels like she’s losing the only part of herself she likes.
That’s an interesting read on it, and I think it may indeed have some truth to it, yeah. As much as Jennifer loves the feeling of popularity and being in the “inner circle” (a need that she’s also sating by joining Raidah’s group), I think deep down she’s aware of the superficiality of these groups and fears what would happen if they knew about the “real” her. The Jennifer that, honestly, is a bit of a dweeb, likes hanging out with geeks and other “uncool” people, and wrote erotic fanfiction about Kit Fisto.
Seeing Walky like this just brings into sharp focus her own attempts to bury and deny her true personality, and I think the idea that a fake version of Walky is able to win such popularity when she knows it’s not the real him is maddening, that if Raidah and the others only knew the truth, they’d probably shun him (and her) post-haste. Plus, we all know Walky won’t be able to keep up this act forever, so when the truth eventually comes out, it might drag her down with him.
Is Walky being fake though? I feel he was genuine throughout the entire breakfast. Putting on a bit of a show perhaps, but not being a fake version of himself.
I feel that he was deliberately projecting a caricature of himself. More-Walky-than-Walky, so to speak.
But I’ve been wrong before.
I think it’s less “Walky is being fake” and more “Walky has grown/changed but Jennifer intentionally ignored this fact until it was shoved in her face by her peers, so now it FEELS fake.”
Counterpoint: I think that she’s perfectly fine being called Jennifer.
…unless the person saying the name is Walky…
There was some insightful comment the other week suggesting Jennifer’s hair trigger aggression throughout the breakfast is due to the cognitive dissonance of trying to divorce herself from every part of the life she had before college while also keeping Walky as the personal stuff-into-lockers-to-relieve her-stress butt monkey he’s always been to her. Like, how many times does she tell Raidah to stop calling him David. . .
I’m looking forward to her figuring out what she actually wants and possibly getting into a fistfight with Raidah over Kit Fisto.
Our Flag Means Death! <3 š
Kind of an ill omen to be sailing underneath it, then.
But… why Jennifer? WHY ALL THIS VIOLENCE???
Now, what could have possibly triggered this?
Cliffhanger!!! Who will Walky fall on? Wrong answers only.
Mike’s body.
Nailed it on the first try
Actually, Walky’s sudden terror activated his latent levitation power and he unthinkingly flew away to escape. We’ll see him next week, doing lazy-eights over the golf course a few minutes later.
Danny. Then Sal will come and finding them on top of each other she’ll say “I knew it was only a matter of time…”.
y e e e e e t
Flying is easy … landing is the tough part.
Gravity: not just a good idea, ITS THE LAW !
Lucy has an Our Flag Means Death poster! š She has good taste.
“yeah, sure, whatever” = 3 words, 16 letters.
Third comment I’ve made on the alt text so I’ll stop here but I would really really love to know who else is in the intersection of reading Dumbing of Age and having watched the Afterparty TV series.
Because as someone who reads DoA daily and spent an absurd amount of 2022 watching and talking about the Afterparty with my sibling (up to and including writing our own version of the finale),,, the first panel and the alt text reference made me lose my mind
(also, i really love jennifer and asher’s faces in this strip. They’re messes, but they’re hot messes)
Good eye/ear.
Billie is so goddamned lucky Walky is willing to give her so much grace when she keeps pulling shit like this. Presumably this lines up pretty cleanly with their relationship in high school.
Jennifer needs therapy for more than just her alcoholism, goddamn.
Do we call him DJ Jazzy Walky now? š
DJ Walky Dave.
Iām going to join the anti-Jennifer contingent, but not for any good reason, rather because this is BLATANT clitblocking, Jennifer. Lucy was closer than ever to getting a ride on the Caramel Schooner and you went and ruined it with your Uncle Phil impression. Unforgivable.
I get that it’s her room too, but she’s being really rude to Lucy by doing this.
Didn’t realize that was their dorm room. She was doubling down on radiah calling him David in a ” I named him” way now shes basically telling Lucy that he’s hers to throw around.
She’s very possessive of him, in a way. It’s interesting.
Frame five: Walky is solving a complex problem in orbital physics, under quite a bit of time pressure. After he picks himself up, he’ll have other problems to solve.
Wonder how Lucy will respond.
Lucy, save him! You’re his only hope.
Honestly I really do hope this is what gets Lucy to fiiiinally snap at Billie.
Next strip, Walky lands right next to Joe.
Billie remains a horrible person. No learning, no growth.
maybe she’ll grow after leaving raidahs’ friend group since she prolly would’ve if she hadn’t backslided into a ‘popular clique’ type thing
She’s stuck going in circles because she keeps trying to revert back to her high-school glory and still has a bit of main character syndrome.
getting Fresh Prince flashbacks there…
This comic was really satisfying to read.
Can you fly, Walky?
She’s gonna fuck your girlfriend.
She can’t help but be an abuser, can she?
Guess its hard for her to feel like she’s “popular” and high above everyone else if her friends actually like those she considers “lower”.
She makes this big deal of “changing”, and shoving it in everyone’s face… but hates that anyone else is liked for just being themselves.
I really hope she gets a rude comeuppance. Especially when Raidah and company boot her to the curb. But then she’ll just blame Walky and everyone else.