145

But
Posted on April 13, 2018 by David M Willis
THE SEVENTH DUMBING OF AGE KICKSTARTER IS GO!  Collecting (obviously) the seventh year of Dumbing of Age, this 228-page book's also got strip commentary and 27 Patreon bonus strips!  Also, hey, as always, character magnet add-ons.  This year we're starting out with Sierra, Amber, and Ukulele Danny!  Since then, we've added Hatless Dina, Double Dukes Malaya, Double Birds Carla, Lucy, and Blowjob Cat!  If/after we hit $50k, everyone who pledges for a paper book gets a Ruth magnet for freeeeeeeee! Next stop: $45k, where I'll show everyone a comic strip from... THE FUTURE  

145 thoughts on “But”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “n/m, that’s all I got”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      “OH YEAH… ‘kid’ is pretty generous, isn’t it–he IS a butt”

    2. Deanatay

      …wait, there needs to be more?

  2. King Daniel

    Butt what

    1. King Daniel

      “butt his caramel abs”

    2. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      What what?

      1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

        I am officially disappointed that no one replied to me with “In the butt”

        1. Charlie Spencer

          That’s just an urban legend, Bob.

        2. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          I don’t know what you mean by that.
          Also, I basically never use links, so there is at least a 50% chance that this is not going to work. If there was an edit button, I would have added this to my previous comment, but se la vie.

        3. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          Oh hey, it worked. Yay me.

  3. AnvilPro

    Ruth can’t hide what’s inside.

    1. Fart Captor

      All of that skin and clothing is doing a good job of it, actually

    2. Dean

      Unless she uses an unmarked grave.

    3. Deanatay

      You mean spite, right?

      You mean spite

  4. Achallenger

    This is a chat I’m excited to see

  5. Dex

    “No, I can’t say I liked his butt either.”

  6. butting

    BACK OFF, BUTTS, THIS ONE’S FOR THE GERUNDS

    1. Pat

      The whats.

      1. Amazi-Stool

        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund

  7. Yumi

    Remember when Ruth was in the health center, and Walky…was also there…

    1. Deathjavu

      Or within the last week or so when Walky said they both needed to level up to deserve their girlfriends.

      Walky’s been judgmental towards Ruth in a way we haven’t really seen him be towards anyone else, at least not that I remember.

      1. Mr D

        so…recognizing someone is on an equal level with you is being judgemental?

        no, wait, let me rephrase that: Equating YOURSELF with someone who tried to drink herself to death is judgemental?

        1. Yumi

          Of the things you could, fairly, throw at Ruth in you second statement, going with “tried to drink herself to death” seems…strange.

        2. Mr D

          I mean, didn’t she? She locked herself in her room, refused to eat while only consuming alcohol until they had to hospitalize her?

        3. Yumi

          Yeah, she did. But that’s not, like, something that would be a moral failing or whatever. “Equating yourself with someone who was suffering” is basically what you went with, which doesn’t really fit with what I think you were trying to say, and it comes across as faulting Ruth for her suicidality.

          “Equating yourself with someone who hurt her girlfriend” or whatever seems more relevant.

        4. Axel

          What Yumi said; attempting suicide via drinking is definitely not a moral failing. And I’m saying this as someone with pretty low tolerance to drinkers.

        5. Mr D

          Also Also: The morality of suicide is a topic I do not feel either comfortable or qualified enough to argue about.

        6. Mr D

          Fair enough, I was fishing for what I thought was the lowest point for her (that he’d know of), not her biggest moral failing 😐

        7. Leorale

          Specifically, Walky is angry that he went to Ruth for help with Billie, and then learned that Ruth wasn’t trustworthy to help her.

        8. Yumi

          Also, yeah, equating someone with yourself could be judgmental, depending on how you do it. And Walky is judgmental of Ruth. Now, is he unfair in that judgment? That’s something different.

      2. Some1

        Well, Ruth did hurt Billie. Remember she was essentially a villain only a few weeks ago in this strips universe. Walky may still be in the process of forgiving her. Hell, i would argue most of the side cast is still processing forgiving her, we just don’t see it.

        1. Yumi

          And Billie is more important to Walky than she is to any other cast member. Like, Joyce and Becky care about Billie, but not to the same extent Walky does.

          I don’t think Walky’s being completely fair, but he does explain some of his dislike of Ruth in this strip: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/labcoats/

        2. Mr D

          That reminds me of this strip here http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/funk/

          Man that was SOME argument in the comment sections.
          IT was basically a division between people going “Yeah Billie you tell that Mansplainer” and other people going “But wait, this was always the relationship between Billie and Walky, this here is Billie trying her hardest to hurt Walky”

        3. Needfuldoer

          Good times, good times…

        4. Paradox

          I just noticed that Walky had a Faz face on in that strip. He was possessed by the Chart Lord.

      3. Thulcandran

        I mean, he was right, is the thing. He went to Ruth to tell her about Billie’s depression and she . . . kept up the lesbian suicide pact. And then broke up with her. And he was right about them needing to both deal with their shit for their partners’ sakes.

    2. thejeff

      Though if you look back at when he’s with Ruth and Billie in the context of the strip you link below where he talks about his problems with Ruth, he gives no hint of how upset he is with her while he’s in with them. He’s all support, admittedly in his awkward joking way.

      1. Yumi

        Yeah, my initial comment was about how past interactions between Ruth and Walky can sort of show why she’s never liked him– such as when she was in the health center.

  8. Kernanator

    Ruth channeling a certain segment of the comment section.

    1. Some1

      Eventually were just going to erupt into civil war. I think I can rent out the airport for next week.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        Cool, I think I can sleep in a van, then do what I’ll insist is a cool new trick, but ultimately ends in disaster.

    2. skart

      I’m hoping she’s about to channel the section of the comments section that says “no, you idiots, this is not a good way to solve your problems.”

  9. Stephen Bierce

    *half a dozen Peter Gabriel songs are fighting over which one gets played on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Dara

      Then Disturbed comes in and overrides all of it with their cover of “Land of Confusion.”

      1. Deanatay

        Technically, that’s Genesis, but, I’ll give it to you. Because it’s awesome.

        dun dundun dun dun
        dun da dun DA dun da dum
        dun da dun DA dun da dum
        dun da dun DA dun da dum
        dun da dun DA dun dun dundun

    2. CJ

      Isn’t it time for some Van der Graaf Generator?

  10. Bagge

    I assume there is a strip named “butt”.

    Also, this strip made the chapter title much more understandable. “Faz is great but…”

    1. Pablo360

      Faz is great butt

  11. Architex

    Does every Freshman need an alcoholic mentor?

    1. Dana

      Not Billie.

    2. Deanatay

      “I’m supposed to encourage you to gyeehh, never mind.”

  12. Passchendaele

    “…ehhhh, still don’t like him.”

    1. Deathjavu

      Much like Sarah, Ruth not liking someone only tells us that they have a pulse.

      1. C.T Phipps

        “No but, that was a good decision.”

        1. thejeff

          Be interesting if this provokes Dorothy into defending Walky.

        2. cbwroses

          She has no reason not to defend him. It’s not like she broke up with him because he did anything wrong or had behavior she could no longer deal with.
          She’s well aware of his faults and loves him anyway. She just has no room in her life right now for the type of relationship he made her want.

        3. thejeff

          True. I may have been thinking more that it might make her reconsider.

          That said, I think she’s wrong about the “no room in her life” part. All indications are this is going to be decidedly unhealthy for her.
          Nor am I sure it’s so much “type of relationship he made her want” as “type of relationship she develops”. I suspect Dorothy is bad at casual relationships, despite the boundaries she tried to lay down initial. I’m much the same way – if I’m involved, I’m involved – it’ll either get deeper and more serious or break up.
          I doubt Dorothy is going to be able to either remain single or stick to casual relationships for the rest of her college career. Nor is that necessarily a good idea.

        4. cbwroses

          I choose to think that something about Walky just hits her in the right way, thereby making her break her boundaries, vs she’s just not disciplined enough to stand by the boundaries she herself put in place.
          The former implies he’s special to her. The latter implies any guy she starts dating would have the same effect on her.

        5. thejeff

          He’s special to her in the way that any guy she’d fall in love with would be. Any guy worth dating would have the same effect. The other ones she wouldn’t have fallen for in the first place or wouldn’t have stuck with. It seems to me that’s what she’s looking for in a relationship in the first place – whether she knows or admits it to herself. Emotional connection, support, etc. Which she seemed to be looking for even when she first started connecting to Walky.
          Mind you I also think a big part of the whole emphasis on the “I’m leaving, it’s just for fun” aspect was that she was trying to avoid another Danny situation.

        6. cbwroses

          But you don’t start out in love. And you don’t go from “for fun” to in love in an instant. Of course someone she loves is special to her, but they have to already be special to her to before love blossoms in the first place.
          And since every guy isn’t going to pull that off, that makes Walky special to her vs just being a worthwhile dating prospect.
          Heck, it seems a lot of people on here don’t even consider him a worthwhile dating prospect, which, if that’s true, would mean he’s even more special to her than if people do consider him worthy.

  13. Marsh Maryrose

    Re: Alt-text with a missing final “t”:

    “The lady requires your butt.”

  14. DailyBrad

    Feeling was mutual, so I doubt Walky would be too torn up about it.

  15. newllend(henryvolt)

    well you can’t really like or hate someone you didn’t have that much interaction with.

    1. CJ

      When you read the internet, didn’t you get the impression that most of the hate is directed at people they commenters don’t know squat about?

  16. BBCC

    Oh, Ruth, you tried.

    1. Mr D

      Okay, I gotta know, what DOES your screen name stand for?
      Mine is easy, D is the first letter of my first name. Mr is pretty self explanatory.

      1. BBCC

        BB and CC are both nicknames I’ve acquired over the years online.

        1. Mr D

          Makes sense!

  17. Ivy

    Does Ruth realize she’s not an RA anymore?

    1. Yumi

      Well, Puddinghead doesn’t.

    2. Shiro

      …she is, though, unless I missed something?

    3. JepMZ

      Her dad banged her boss to keel her RA in exchange of the moving Billie out

      1. King Daniel

        …what?

        1. Yumi

          Ruth’s father came back from the dead to have sex with Chloe so that Chloe would turn Ruth over on her side, thus keeping her as RA, for which they moved Billie out.
          Did you miss that arc?

        2. 3oranges

          Was that meant to be canon? If so, I have to say that as good as both authors have gotten, the T Campbell crossover back in It’s Walky made more sense.

      2. alice

        wait what?

    4. Sam

      …She is still the RA. Her grandfather and RM forced her to still be and instead moved Billie elsewhere to solve the problem.

    5. Pat

      Almost certainly not.

  18. Shiro

    Heartwarming real talk coming?

    1. BenRG

      I’m honestly not sure. At the very least, I think that Dorothy is going to come out of this understanding Ruth a bit better!

  19. Tacos

    It was only a matter of time before Butts Disease also claimed the strip title.

  20. Woobie

    A strip named But(t) should feature Walky.

    1. Mr D

      As much as it disgusts me to say this:

      If you’re talking about Butts, I think Malaya has the best hips/butt in the cast.

      1. Paradox

        We may need to have a side by side comparison of the whole cast, male and female. For the most scientific representation of the butts, of course.

        1. Mr D

          Hmmmmno. I think that would definetly get people banned.

      2. Victor

        No.

        Dorothy does.

        Ruth is a close second.

        1. Woobie

          Are you starting a list?

      3. cbwroses

        I too regret having to recognize the radius of Malaya’s rump to be rated (reluctantly) rather ravishing.

        1. gatherer818

          Wow. We wandered while we wondered where we would find an upvote button, but there doesn’t seem to be one, despite you clearly deserving it.

    2. joe archer

      It is about Walky, so what’s your complaint?

      1. Woobie

        That he isn’t in it; not tagged.

  21. chromacandi

    needs more but strips

  22. Bagge

    Are you feeling productive yet, Dotty?

  23. Carms

    Heheh butt

  24. NF

    Buts Disease

  25. Zaxares

    “He seems like a good kid, but you did the right thing. He would only hold you back. Sometimes, two people can love each other with all your hearts and you’d STILL not be right for each other. Trust me, I know this from personal experience.”

    1. Mr D

      I…Don’t think she’d say that.

      Also: Looking at how Dorothy’s been acting when she doesn’t have Walky to help her settle down, I think poor old Dotty may end up dropping out before Walky due to a stress-related mental breakdown.

      1. Zaxares

        No, but it’s what she SHOULD say. 😉

        1. thejeff

          If that’s all she’s got, she shouldn’t say anything.

          RAs are not obligated to comment on every break up.

  26. Keulen

    Maybe Ruth should’ve thought about what she wanted to say before she started this conversation.

  27. JessWitt

    Coping with a breakup by throwing oneself into work, Dorothy?

    That doesn’t sound healthy but hope she also receives proper sustenance and hydration.

    1. 3oranges

      Dorothy was planning to throw herself into her work in any case. If it helps her cope, that’s only a bonus.

      1. JessWitt

        Yeah, whatever works.

        1. JessWitt

          Within reason and without harm, that is.

        2. Mr D

          From what we’ve seen of por old Dotty so far? She’s gonna end up in the hospital with a serum for dehydration.

        3. JessWitt

          Hence my addendum she makes time to eat and drink sufficiently.

        4. thejeff

          She’s already wasted a bunch of time today with the sex/cuddles, nap and breakup drama. She can make up that study time by skipping dinner and sleep tonight.
          It’ll be fine. She had a nap and she had some pudding earlier. What could go wrong?

  28. stoodmuffin

    Ruth, I am scared by how you are going to do this. You, of all folks.

    You’ve already proven my point

  29. Danni

    im kinda siding with ruth on this

  30. BenRG

    “‘But’…? Oh, yeah, this was supposed to be some encouraging and morally-uplifting counselling, wasn’t it? Hang on, let me think for a second; I haven’t ever done this before!”

  31. BenRG

    Or how about: “… but I don’t really like anyone with possibly only a tiny few exceptions, so my opinion shouldn’t count.”

    1. thejeff

      How about: “… but, it’s none of my business. I’ll leave you alone. My door’s open if you do want to talk.”

  32. Edem

    …and not only is the comic called “but”, it’s even “Faz is great / but”….

  33. CJ

    Giving her pose and the start of her sentence, I expected Ruth to say something really intelligent about dumping your lover so you can overwork is not a sound strategy. It just looks like she lost her thread of thinking or something when she realized what she was doing, because it’s weird she should give relationship-advice.

    1. thejeff

      Not sure Ruth has much of a clue about the overwork. Just whatever she overheard in the hall a few minutes ago.

      1. CJ

        Yes, you might be right. Though I think she notices a lot when she puts her mind to it.
        Just now, she might have noted strong desire and looking at her own reaction to ending something you want might have doubts.
        She sure looks like she doesn’t think it was a good decision, else she wouldn’t bother to comment.

  34. C.T Phipps

    Ruth and Dorothy need to hook up.

    As well as Jason and Walky.

    Billy didn’t say it was exclusive!

  35. Rateus

    Have you ever really liked anyone Ruth?

    1. C.T Phipps

      “Satan.”

      “Do you really like him, though?”

      “He destroyed Peter Parker’s marriage. That pleased me.”

    2. BenRG

      I don’t think that she even likes herself very much, so the answer is probably ‘no’, with the exception of ‘Billie, currently’. Her mental image of Billie is probably reminiscent of a pre-Raphaelite angel.

    3. Fart Captor

      She likes Billie quite a lot. And Howard. Definitely seems like she was pretty fond of her parents, too

    4. CJ

      Yes, part of her rough exterior is that she loved her parents and after their sudden death had to live with that sorry excuse for a grandfather who was constantly putting her parents down and not allowing her to grieve for them.
      She obviously loves her brother and tries to protect him, has feelings for Billie and protected Amber from Blaine.
      If she didn’t like anyone she’d already be dead.

  36. ValdVin

    I like the composition with the overwhelming amount of dark space.

  37. BenRG

    “Are you willing to make him wait for you, do you think that he will wait for you and how would you feel if he finds someone else and they’re happy together?”

  38. Fire_daws

    A for effort Ruth.

    1. thejeff

      D- for execution?

      1. Pablo360

        Oh, no, she’s not allowed to perform public executions anymore.

  39. RaulTsi

    heh heh heh she said ‘butt’

  40. hof1991

    Dorothy and Walky getting advice from older, more experienced people. This will end well. Nice dual track narrative.

    1. Deanatay

      Still a JaceLess fan.

  41. abysswatcher1993

    Ruth doesn’t know any good qualities about Walky, but I am sure she is going to giver her personal opinion about being a similar situation like Dorothy. Something like “he is a loser, but I am in love with a loser too.”

    1. cbwroses

      I wouldn’t be so sure about which one is the loser in the relationship between her and Billie.
      They’re both alcoholics, but Billie is at least functioning.
      Both families are messed up, but a negligent family is arguably better than an abusive one.
      And Billie actually has friends who want to hang out with her, which doesn’t seem to be the case with Ruth.
      Best case scenario is they’re both losers, which, if you’re saying Walky is a loser and Dorothy is not, is not a situation comparable to Dorothy’s.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        I guess loser is a relative thing to say. However, Ruth is Ruth and will try to say something motivational while at the same time being rude.

      2. ischemgeek

        Negligent family is an abusive one. Neglect is a type of abuse.

        Also, not so fun fact: Kids who are victims of neglect (which often goes hand in hand with emotional child abuse) have outcomes on par with those who are victims of other types of child abuse – which is to say, as far as the child’s development is concerned, neglect is not hugely better than physical abuse.

        My own experience among friends of mine who’ve survived abusive households and my own life is that I honestly don’t believe an abusive household exists that just has one type of abuse – most of them have a grab-bag of abuse. Mine did emotional, physical, and neglect, frex. Which is to say I suspect Billie might have more than is just visible on the surface in her household.

  42. Freezer

    ★ You Tried. ★

  43. Just for kix

    Please, Ruth, you are the last person that should give any comment on Walky.

  44. Roborat

    Dorothy needs to go the medical centre to get that black thing on her chest looked at. It is getting bigger. And appears to be moving? Maybe it’s a bug.

    1. BBCC

      It’s just a shadow on her clavicle (I’m not sure if you’re joking).

      1. ValdVin

        Willis draws clavicles regularly, on men and especially women. Makes me wonder if it’s Author Appeal, along with gllssss.

        1. SpaceshipPilot

          If you squint, it kind of looks like everyone’s wearing little microphones. I find that funny for some reason.

      2. Roborat

        I am usually joking. If in doubt, assume.

  45. mrnoidea

    For some reason I imagined Yelling Bird making this motivational talk. “OK FRECKLES I KNOW YOU’RE ALL BUMMED OUT ABOUT THE NACHITOS KID BUT… FUCK IT I GOT NOTHING BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS”

    1. Roborat

      Jeph, is that you?

  46. Meagan

    OK usually we get these at 9pm pacific and the next one isn’t up. getting worried 😉

  47. DJFlare84

    Oooooh, be VERY CAREFUL what you do with THIS story, man.

    This is pretty hot-button-y…

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