146

Sufferable
Posted on April 1, 2022 by David M Willis

146 thoughts on “Sufferable”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    J: *puts in a NEW room transfer request*

    1. Ana Chronistic

      YOU’RE the April Fool, Willis!

      “DAMN RIGHT I AM”

      1. Stephen Bierce

        MR. T: Again, I’m hearing about somebody and my pity. Who dat?

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          I don’t know about pity, but if you need a fool…

          ✋

          I know what I am.

        2. Clif

          When I was young, I used to be the fool on the hill.

          Now I’m the fool over the hill.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Sort of like how having a ringing noise in one ear, or a single blocked nostril, is actually more annoying than both.

    1. Clif

      I’m really not sure how a ringing noise in one ear AND a blocked nostril is going to make either of them better.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Not better, but they do distract from each other. So in the end you’re left with kind of a general malaise instead of a distinct … earitation.

        I’ll see myself out, I nose way to the door.

        1. Clif

          Groan. Consider yourself Will Smithed.

        2. milu

          Groan men like you, tsk.

    2. Disastroid

      Ugh now I have a ringing noise in one nostril

      1. Clif

        Unblock the ear and see if that helps.

      2. milu

        and i can only smell from one ear
        help

  3. The Wellerman

    I assume that was an April Fool’s joke, Walky? ?

    Unlikely for the polycule to happen I know, but still fun to dream!

    And make April Fool’s jokes and try to find joy in the small things in tumultuous times like these!!!

    *plays “Seaweed” by Steve Belfer on Hacked Muzak*

    1. King Daniel

      Walky IS the April Fool

      (by which I mean his canonical birthday is April 1, Willis being forever disappointed with themselves that they were born on April 3 instead)

      1. Ana Chronistic

        I was going to ask if it’s also Sal’s bday or if they were separated by a midnight but then I found the answer https://www.itswalky.com/comic/wheres-my-prince-charming/

    2. Thag Simmons

      Oh right, happy April Fools.

      May all your inconveniences be minor and at least somewhat amusing.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        I am hereby unilaterally declaring that from this day hence, April 1st and June 14th will be exchanging holidays.  April 1st will be known hereafter as Flag Day, and the 14th of June – which is also Donald Trump’s birthday – will forevermore be celebrated as Fool’s Day.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Well… is it actually restricted _which_ flag can be celebrated on June 14? Cause there’s a fabulous rainbow flag that I think is just *perfect* for the occasion.

      2. milu

        success! my inconveniences have been slight today.

        1. milu

          …oh except that time i read the news, i’m carefully suppressing that one that i may reiterate the painful process tomorrow morning

  4. Sirksome

    It’s good to establish these boundaries early in the relationship. No polycules…for now.

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      I mean, yeah.

      One of my (then future) wife’s first conversations after we started dating was that neither of us felt that our romantic relationship should preclude us from pursuing other sexual relationships, but that we should be open and honest about all such things. SOOo many later potential issues side-stepped via one good conversation.

      1. The Wellerman

        Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom here Rose!!!

        It’s so good to see more and more people being open about sex and sexuality like this, after it has seen hundreds, even thousands of years in darkness ?

        1. Formedras

          About 2000 years. (Thanks Saul, I mean Paul.) Plus I think another 4000 in one specific part of the Middle East.

        2. thejeff

          I don’t think it’s really fair to blame that on Paul. Polycules and open honest relationships weren’t exactly allowed in any of those civilizations – in any of the city builder cultures that I’m aware of.

          Elite men did get to have multiple wives (and concubines and other women), but that’s not really a model to aspire to.

        3. Decidedly Orthogonal

          This is the ideal yes. However don’t for a second think that the community here is representative of the wider world. This is a comparatively **very** progressive group. It’s certainly what I admire about you all.

        4. Delicious Taffy

          And like any progressive group, prone to infighting and severe arguments over what many would perceive as minor quibbles.

        5. Ed Callahan

          Which I generally keep out of since as a white straight 66-year-old man living in the Indianapolis suburbs and being married for more than three decades I’m not sure I can bring much to the conversation.

  5. brionl

    If Walky & Lucky did that, they’d have to get all new orgie friends.

    1. brionl

      Lucy, damnit. Walky would be the lucky one. :b

      1. brionl

        Also, also…
        Why is Becky tagged in this strip? Spoiler for the next Slipshine?

        1. CrazyJ

          She’s part of the polycule I guess.

        2. butts

          gotta imagine it’s a mistake, Walky’s not tagged

        3. Doctor_Who

          And Walky’s tag is missing.

          Plot twist: now that Becky’s down with pre-marital hanky panky, she’s disguising herself as various characters and trying to initiate polycules all around campus.

        4. The Wellerman

          Another April Fool’s joke at our expense or it’s really happening?

          Either way, WEEEEEE!!!! ???

          *plays “”by Die Woodies on Liz’s jail-broken iPhone*

        5. RowenMorland

          Dinah banged her 4 strips forwards.

  6. Sirksome

    So the question now is who has Walky been side-eyeing? Amber, Dorothy, some third entity we couldn’t possibly guess? Does a Walkman really dare to have his cake and eat it too?!?!?

    1. Nono

      I mean, he basically said it. Nachitos.

      1. Sirksome

        So the new question is if “Nachitos” is the name of some student at IU with cruel parents that really loved snack food or does Walky have a food fetish? I mean both of those options are equally plausible.

        1. Nono

          He’s implied he’d blow a dude for free pizza. So, maybe food.

        2. Clif

          I’m not sure that actually saying it counts as an implication.

    2. Viktoria

      I mean, there’s a unicorn in the same room as them right now, so…

    3. Yotomoe

      Is the Walky Harem canon?

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        If I had a harem, I seriously doubt I’d ever be loaded enough to be called a cannon. No backpressure.

        1. Clif

          If it’s Walky’s cannon, he gets to name it Harem or whatever he wants.

    4. Ophidiophile

      That’s not what Walky is thinking. He’s thinking that if individually they are insufferable, and the two of them are almost sufferable, then getting a third or fourth should push them into sufferable or higher territory (math). There is no whom; the world always just surprises him.

      1. Amelie Wikström

        He’s maybe trying to figure out who’s the third least sufferable student in the school. If he and Lucy turns their respective negative social worth into a vague positive by combining their powers, more of that should improve the math, maybe even multiplicatively.

        So who would that be? Raidah? They haven’t met I’m pretty sure. Mary, same problem, thankfully. Dorothy, I think Walky is blind to how little everyone else likes her. Ethan? Could work, Walky thinks he’s a drag from their last encounter, you should look for someone even you think is a chore to be around.

        So I think it has to be Joyce.

        1. Nono

          Honestly… it’s probably Sarah.

        2. Amelie Wikström

          Makes sense, and it would be hilarious to see Sarah fight it so she doesn’t have to be popular. But then she’d probably find endlessly negative stuff to say about Starfire and make Lucy sad.

        3. Schpoonman

          Nice projection about Dorothy.

      2. Lena

        Yeah, that’s how I read it as well.

    5. Sombrero

      Last panel Jennifer is having some nasty inklings about that question.

      1. Xaeon

        I prefer to believe Jennifer’s face in the last panel is her reaction to discovering she felt disappointment when Lucy said no.

    6. Azhrei Vep

      I’m figuring … Amber, Amazi-Girl, and Booster.

      1. Azhrei Vep

        Yeah, nope. Let’s try this again.

        1. Azhrei Vep

          Too desperate, one more try for today.

    7. the jighole man

      i don’t think walky is side eyeing anyone, i think he had a dumb moment and thought “if 2 people made us popular, then 3 people will make us popularer…. maybe if we got ten people we could be popularerererererererer”

  7. RassilonTDavros

    …PolyWalky is canon confirmed?

  8. Carms

    christ ‘verifiable value’ way to be insufferable, Billingsworth. what are you an econ major now? fuk.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I would attribute it to her being the child of billionaires, but as far as I can tell they have had basically zero actual presence in her life so who knows. Maybe we’ll get a glimpse of them in “Don’t Stop Billie-ving,” since that’s probably a Jennifer-centric chapter.

      1. King Daniel

        Are Jennifer’s parents billionaires? I don’t think that’s ever been stated.

        1. Thag Simmons

          Carla’s parents more or less have to be, given the scope of the company they run, but according to Sal the Billingsworths are smaller fish than Asher’s mob family

        2. King Daniel

          Yeah, I obviously knew about Carla, but so far as I remember Jennifer’s parents have only been (implied to be) locally-influential-in-their-area millionaires.

  9. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    Billie is sus of Walky. Will this be the new grand investigation? Find out next time on “Dumbing. . . OF. . .AAAGE>”

  10. drs

    Last panel Jennifer: “I made a mistake talking to them” or “Polycule, hrm”?

    1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

      Porque no los dos?

    2. Cass

      How ’bout “I hate my brain for giving me a mental picture of the three-or-moresome my brother in all but blood might be aiming for.”

    3. BarerMender

      It looks like Jennifer is considering something. Being part of a polycule, perhaps?

      1. BarerMender

        Oh, I missed the end of your sentence.

  11. Rose by Any Other Name

    New Shortpacked strip yay!

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      Ahh. Classic Robin – the good Robin.

      I am happy.

      1. Spencer

        Robin in this series is such a weird vibe for me.

        Because on one hand she’s a horrible
        monster even beyond the innate standard that comes with being a Republican since in-universe she tried to push through laws to make life worse for queer people, and so there’s a good deal of incongruity with being funny kooky Robin while Roz, the comic’s only actual leftist, is her bratty annoying grifter foil who it turns out actually has none of the values she advocates for.

        On the other hand, it’s beloved Shortpacked character Robin, and so acknowledging any of her crimes against human decency means we don’t get to see her in her best element: a goofy nutbar who falls into unearned success, but is so charismatic that you don’t really mind.

        Hindsight is 20/20, but Robin as an incompetent poli-sci teacher would have been the best place for her to start, so I’m cool with ignoring everything prior. Maybe there was a cosmic reboot in that timeskip and Robin’s dalliance with a fascistic grift was erased from canon.

        1. RassilonTDavros

          The sliding timescale pretty much undermined DoA Robin’s entire original character premise. She’s tied inextricably to a point in time where one could almost believe that well-meaning Republican politicians exist, if they squinted reeeeally hard, as opposed to the modern day where they don’t even bother pretending they’re not fascists.

        2. Spencer

          I think every artist eventually runs into some unfortunate timing when working in perpetuity, but I hope the sentient cosmic will that controls the course of destiny has a very sincere apology gift to David Willis for foisting onto them the absurd bad luck to reintroduce Robin as a major character in strips that premiered while the 2016 election was happening.

          Like, some really nice shelves to put some more Transformers onto, at least.

          But yeah even as early as Robin’s’ first appearance in the series, it was pretty clear she was still gonna be Robin at heart (including an immediate heart-on for Leslie), and so it was easy to roll with the Shortpacked thing of Robin as a kooky, uncaring politician in a more realistic circumstance where she was a cheerfully oblivious grifter who’d immediately do the right thing when given sufficient context to what kind of wrong she was doing, which is more or less exactly what happened because it’s Robin and that’s how Robin rolls.

          It only really falters because the amoral grift she was participating in was, y’know, the modern right movement, and so the kind of amoral grifting she obliviously engages in “let’s make life worse for everyone all the time,” though Robin herself is still perfectly Robin in this scenario; there’s no Robin who wouldn’t totally abandon her political career in the name of proving to Becky she absolutely does care for about her.

          Robin now is in her best use because you still run with her being wildly unqualified for her position and still being a kooky weirdo, and even the preceding events still have some positives to draw from; Robin gets to be Becky’s Fun Mom and slip her $20s in the middle of class.

    2. The Wellerman

      I’m LOVIN’ IT!!!!

      ???

      Thanks Willis!!! ?

      *plays “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails (NSFW song) on Amber’s iPhone*

  12. drs

    “proven your worth to exactly one other person on Earth”

    Has she forgotten Walky was dating Dorothy?

    1. C.T. Phipps

      And Dorothy nicely dumped him because she has the idea she can get elected but will actually end up defeated by Joyce’s obnoxious brother.

      1. Clif

        Who will have hired Becky.

  13. BBCC

    Ahhhhhh, this is familiar behaviour from Jennifer. Social status ranks are silly and you’ll realize that one day, kiddo.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      Or she’ll become a famous news commentator.

  14. Delicious Taffy

    Why is Jennifer talking like a weird robot?

    1. DailyBrad

      Honestly, a lot of who she is as Jennifer really seems put on, so stilted conversation fits right in with that. It’s an act and it chafes.

      1. The Wellerman

        Or maybe one of my parasite spores got into her by accident! Oops! ? ?

        1. Clif

          Nonsense. It’s because she’s mature now and is hanging out with mature friends.

        2. The Wellerman

          Yeah, that’s exactly what I want you to think, human!!! ?

    2. Bryy

      Because she’s regressed to apparently this super shittier version of herself. Her new friends are not exactly helping.

    3. Imogen

      She’s talking like Carla. New ship?

  15. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

    Jokes aside, knowing someone likes you can really help your sense of self-worth when you think you might be thoroughly unlikeable. (You have a counter-example.)

  16. DailyBrad

    Jennifer’s face in the final panel is hilarious.

    Also, I find it amusing this is what passes for a compliment from Jennifer right now because it really just kind highlights how put-on so much of this is.

    That said, I do actually really like Lucy and Walky as an item.

  17. newlland(Henryvolt)

    I was going to say Walky and Lucy as a pair is really starting to come into its own until Walky had to do his Walky thing and ruin the vibe, good job.

  18. Delicious Taffy

    “I’ve just been so on edge since we had to kick Jennifer out of the polycule, ’cause she could only name two of the Beatles.”

    1. Clif

      what did she name them?

      1. khn0

        167-761 and 167-176

        You did say Beagles?

    2. RassilonTDavros

      Snapcube is a treasure.

      1. Clif

        I had to Google Snapcube, and then I had to Google fandub and … I’ll be back in about a month.

  19. AdamJ

    Pretty sure Walky is going to be regretting that joke for the rest of this relationsip, ha. Might be best to just cut his losses and get out now.

    I’m unsure how serious he’s being though, if it was the final panel I’d assume it was just a joke about Walky doing his typical thing of making awkward jokes that kill the mood, but since we ended on Jennifer I’m less sure.

    1. Regalli

      Option A: Jennifer’s thinking ‘ugh, these dweebs.’
      Option B: Walky’s still REALLY not over Dorothy and/or Amber.
      Option B1: Jennifer knows it and has spent MONTHS dealing with the pining from Lucy, not this again, please god no.
      (In standard option B, Jennifer is still thinking ‘ugh, these dweebs.’)

      1. Yotomoe

        C: She’s considering the proposition.

        1. Clif

          Probably not, but she did hear it.

      2. Daibhid C

        Option A1, Walky is over Dorothy and Amber and was totally kidding, but Jennifer thinks otherwise, because she thinks she has a keen sense for relationship drama, but actually doesn’t.

      3. khn0

        Option Y3,14: Is he referring to a threesome with amazi-girl not knowing she’s secretly his sister?

        1. Clif

          Mike is his sister?

  20. Dean

    Also, a polycule would mean that they would need to bring more chips.

    1. Clif

      Nothing without a cost.

  21. C.T. Phipps

    Sadly, Lucy, Walky meant Dorothy.

  22. mrnoidea

    Just realized: has Walky ever actually been to a college party? Does he imagine it’s filled with polycules?

    (That fifth panel sounds like a plate shattering on the floor. Blind horniness is the downfall of many men, Walky!)

    1. Regalli

      Look, he primarily hangs out in Clark, like half that hall’s queer and a lot of them are polyam.

    2. Daibhid C

      He’s been to one college party that we know of. No polycules, but one lesbian relationship got started.

      On the other hand, he may think that that specific party was an exception, since it was a Joyce party.

  23. Regalli

    It is a good punchline of Walky’s, though, including the Nachitos followup. Not sure if he is serious or not but it is FUNNY. The April Fool’s alt text addition is especially delightful.

    (Since it’s come up: Generally trying to get to sleep earlier when I can, especially because I’m going through a host of new and exciting doctor’s appointments including some pretty early ones by my sleep schedule’s standards, so less time for commenting even though I am on the whole feeling better. Still have tendonitis and seriously tense and inflamed arms, 0/10, would not recommend, but we got some strategies to work on that the last few weeks. Good news is we’re finally starting to get more in the realm of treatment and ‘what the fuck is going on with my body.’ Said answers are akin to Willis’s hernia surgery a few years back in ‘treatable but when you think about it, that there’s some body horror,’ but hey: Treatable! At some point I will get a Slipshine subscription but funds did not coincide well with the recent sale, alas.)

    1. The Wellerman

      So glad to see you here once again Regalli, even more so to know that there’s progress! ☺️

      Quite a coincidence you mention this stuff, I’m actually going through some pretty heavy stuff myself.

      As hard as it is for me to admit, my anxiety and depression made it really hard for me to fully enjoy the new Slipshine, and I feel hella guilty about it and I don’t know what to do! ?

      Also, I’m in the midst of getting an ADHD diagnosis and have the funny feeling that I have a shitty clinician between me and the relevant help and medication. You have any tips on how to deal with these kinds of “professionals”?

      1. Regalli

        Sadly, not a ton – or at least, my advice is mostly dependent on ‘I have supportive parents and they have good health insurance so we are capable of getting a second opinion once the threshold of shittiness has been crossed.’ Lucky but by no means universal. I also tend to use them as my Designated Medical Advocate/Translator/Witness – if you can find someone who is in your corner and can add credibility for the doctor (the more Stereotypically Respectable, the better,) that helps. But generally I’d recommend checking ‘how to get diagnosed with ADHD adult’ and add Reddit or Tumblr or Twitter to the end of your search, you’ll likely find resources that work better. (Beyond that, research and a willingness to occasionally say something you can’t VERIFY as accurate but they’re looking for, like ‘oh yeah I had all these traits as a child, everyone just thought I’d grow out of it.’ If caffeine puts you to sleep or at least doesn’t keep you wired, that might help?)

      2. Spencer

        Had a longer post and it got eaten so cliffnotes!

        If your clinician is giving you a hard time then they need to prove to you every step of the way why they think they’re correct. They’re the authority here, but they’re an authority with an obligation to do right by you.

        Get some second opinions, preferably someone who can describe how you’ve been since childhood. My psych who diagnosed me also talked to my mother since I don’t have any real understanding of how the way I acted as a kid differed.

        It’s also important to know going in why you believe you have it. I was, essentially, living as a person who ‘knew’ I had ADHD months before my final diagnosis, as the assessment test I was given was one of those “do you exhibit these behaviours on a scale of 1 – 5” and I had all of them at max.

        1. milu

          yeah. then there’s the issue of queer-friendliness, if that’s an issue you’re concerned with. there’s your downright essentialist/reactionary/basic freudian therapist who might actually try to pathologize your queerness. Then there’s your run-of-the-mill uninformed therapist who will say dumb stuff and will need to be diplomatically educated. Best not waste precious time and money.

          So my advice is find your local queer community and ask around, queer people tend to go therapy a bunch (when they can afford it) and will know who to try and who to avoid.

        2. milu

          (…and will generally be really chill about openly and non-judgmentally discussing therapy/medication etc.)

        3. milu

          (…in my parochial experience in a different country, i mean ok, don’t blindly follow online advice anyway, obviously)

        4. milu

          (also i wasn’t replying to you spencer, this was for Wellerman. GOD i’m high)

        5. The Wellerman

          Awe man, I’m jealous!

          I’m saving up my tolerance so I can really enjoy the hell out of 4/20 bruh!!! ?

        6. The Wellerman

          By the way thanks SO MUCH for the tips everyone!!! It means so much!!! ?

  24. Bryy

    Wow, Billie is super shitty now.

    1. AeromechanicalAce

      When HASN’T she been? She’s been pretty consistently just below Mary in the Shittiest Student character rating IMO.

    2. Needfuldoer

      She has been especially “High School Billie” lately, hasn’t she. Maybe her upcoming chapter will give her a much-needed dope slap.

      “Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”?

    3. Keulen

      She got better for a while when she was dating Ruth, but she seems to have gone right back to super shitty at some point after they broke up and she got with Asher.

  25. Yotomoe

    Yo, let’s not be hasty. Walky’s got a good idea there.

    1. Clif

      There are differences between a good idea, a workable idea and an idea you can sell.

  26. Amós Batista

    Hi, Jennifer. How are you feeling after discovered your bullied friend is, now, more cooler than you?

  27. Rabisch

    Jennifer’s journalist sense are tickling… Walky has revealed something that could implying other stuff Lucky would don’t like.

  28. Suet

    Chips? Nawh, if you want to improve your social standing, offer pizza, or milk tea or donuts

  29. Arianod

    In Which Jennifer Billingsworth Considers a Threesome

  30. ADLegend21

    Ok I like this idea of a Lucy, Jennifer, and Walky threesome.

  31. Darkoneko

    hah, you can barely handle one person, Walky, give it up

    1. MK15

      This is the correct take.

      1. Clif

        If you’re over your head with one person, you might as well be over your head with three. I mean Walky was doing pretty good with two until Halloween happened.

  32. ValdVin

    Lucy will have to introduce the idea of bringing chips, and sharing them, to Walk, right?

    1. ValdVin

      My phone hasn’t had Walky typed into it enogh.

      1. Agemegos

        I’m sure it amends your spelling with a degree of insight.

        1. ValdVin

          Hey, at least I haven’t tried commenting on Fuckface while on my phone–who knows what that would be turned into?

  33. Spencer

    Hot take time!

    I kinda like Jennifer more than Billie.

    When I think of Billie as a character, the first thing that comes to mind is her outrageous, bullheaded confidence. She’s wrong all the time in ways you can’t even talk her out of, but then when that confidence works for her she’s just actually completely correct and in control in a way she just assumes she is all the time.

    And as Billie kept having her ego utterly shattered, she became a lot more introspective and unsure, which is a good place for her to go because then it leads her earning that confidence back! But she never really did, I don’t think. The thing she wanted with Ruth was real, but Billie at this point is all heart and vulnerability but none of the confidence to carry her through a tumultuous (to put it lightly) romance. She loved Ruth to pieces, but was she good for her? I kinda think Billie figured out the latter part wasn’t working and just kept trying to make up for it with even more of the former.

    So getting lunged out of that status quo in a way where it’s transparent that Jennifer herself is trying to rekindle what she thinks of her old glory, it’s interesting! It’s putting her back to what she thinks she wants with the knowledge that stepping away it didn’t work out, like if Danny tried his hand at this self-confidence thing and went “nah this sucks, back to being a clingy tick.”

    The framing of Jennifer’s change (ie: ending one of the series’ most established relationship, avoiding all her friends, dating an accessory to murder) is definitely negative, but I think there’s a good place to explore Jennifer getting that absurd confidence back while rekindling the emotional vulnerability she got with Ruth in a way that doesn’t make her feel like her only worth is what she can give to other people. It reminds me of Walkyverse Billie in that regard, where after a dip into the Feelsmobile she just kept on being a volatile and aggressive dominator, and also she could aggressively be emotionally honest in ways without sacrificing an inch of that confidence she earned back.

    Also she’s hilarious becauseopenly bragging about how she has something Sal wants (besides the affection of her parents) is actual comedy gold. She’s such a total pill now, it rules. I bet when the truth comes out around Asher she’s gonna be horrified but also a little turned on, as if her most established relationship in the series isn’t getting bullied by someone she proceeded to wrap around her finger.

    1. Sombrero

      Oh! So you are not a Billie-ver. Beware of the Billie monster lurking beneath the thin Jennifer layer.

  34. Adept

    So is Billy considering it or…

    1. Clif

      She’s trying to decide if she digs the vibe of Nochitos.

  35. Bagge

    Both?

  36. Nathan

    Dorothy shouldn’t have talked Walky into this relationship

  37. Dev

    Walky knows what a polycule is? Wow. Color me surprised.

  38. Dana

    I feel like Willis is trolling certain vocal subsets of the comment section.

  39. plasticwrap

    Or bring chicken nuggets.

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